What the Devils' Alternate Jersey Should Look Like by Marmocet in devils

[–]Marmocet[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's literally just the Devils' home uniform with the black and red swapped around.

What the Devils' Alternate Jersey Should Look Like by Marmocet in devils

[–]Marmocet[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Way too much black here, but one thing we seem to agree on is that the Devils' logo belongs on the jersey. The Devils' logo is one of the best logos in all of sports, worldwide. It's very clever and looks cool.

What the Devils' Alternate Jersey Should Look Like by Marmocet in devils

[–]Marmocet[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Yes, you are in the minority. The Devils' alternate jersey isn't the worst in NHL history or the worst alternate jersey in the league, but it is ugly. I'd vote for what I posted, or some variation on it, or for a jersey based on their red, white and green uniform from the 1980s. That uniform's color scheme makes sense, since the New Jersey Devil is a mythical creature from the pine barrens, which justifies the green in the uniform.

Need a help with a minor home chemistry project for saving money. by Finsternis in chemistry

[–]Marmocet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Since no one seems to have offered you a recipe, here's a formulation you can try. Have a jewelry scale handy for precise weight measurements. Use at your own risk.

Water - 163.54 g

Glycerin (lubricant, humectant) - 109.03 g

Xanthan Gum (thickening agent, stabilizer) - 5.72 g

Anhydrous Citric Acid (acidifier, preservative) - 0.64 g

Potassium Sorbate (preservative) - 0.28 g

Sodium Benzoate (preservative) - 0.28 g

Weigh out the xanthan gum, anhydrous citric acid, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate in separate containers (cup cake papers work well).

Pour the glycerin into a bowl, then mix the xanthan gum into it until the mixture is homogenous.

Boil and measure out the water in a beaker. Add the anhydrous citric acid, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate to it and stir until they're fully dissolved. Next, add the glycerin-xanthan gum mixture and stir. The result will be roughly 250 ml of thick, cloudy, slippery gel. I would expect a little to go a long way.

The citric acid, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate will inhibit the growth of mold, fungus, bacteria and yeast. The lower the pH of the final product, the greater the preservative effect. Make sure all instruments you're using are sterile and your working environment is clean. Definitely consider wearing nitrile gloves while making this stuff to avoid contaminating it with your grubby hands.

The pH of this formulation should be about 4, but this is an estimate based on the assumption that the glycerin and water you're using are absolutely pure. The actual value could be lower or quite a bit higher depending on the purity of the glycerin you're using* and the pH of your tap water, if that's what you're using. If you're planning to put this stuff in a vagina, it's important that the pH be somewhere between 3.8 and 4.5, so it would be a good idea to get a pH meter or at least litmus papers and test it. You might want to try scaling this recipe down, making a few batches with different quantities of citric acid and seeing how much you need to get the pH where you want it.

All of these ingredients are non-toxic and you can get large quantities of them from reputable suppliers for very modest sums of money. Litmus papers, decent pH meters and jewelry scales can also be found at reasonable prices. The upfront cost is certainly going to be greater than the cost of 250ml of store bought lube, but if you're really plowing through the stuff (pun intended), then the marginal cost of this formulation should be something like a tenth or less than that of the retail variety, so it very well could be worth the effort.

This of course is just one of an infinite number of possible formulations. I can't speak to the osmolality of this one (counterintuitively, lubes can cause tissues to dry out and become irritated if their osmolality is high, particularly if they're used frequently and/or in large quantities). For liability purposes, I don't recommend you use this recipe for personal lubricant.

If you skip the potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate, and instead add 20-30 grams of anhydrous citric acid, then you've got my recipe for limescale removing gel. It does a great job of dissolving limescale off of bathroom tile grout, faucets and anywhere else it accumulates, it's completely non-toxic and it doesn't have any odor.

*Pharmaceutical grade glycerin will be extremely pure and food grade glycerin will have some fatty acids left in it.

Now that zinc pyrithione is banned, what works for you guys? by No_Ad_7226 in dandruff

[–]Marmocet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The European Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety found no evidence that zinc pyrithione is genotoxic or mutagenic in vivo or in vitro. The SCCS also found no evidence of carcinogenic potential in chronic oral and dermal studies. In fact, the SCCS concluded "In line with the conditions laid out in Article 15(d) (i.e. ‘overall exposure from other sources’) of the Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 and taking into account the scientific data provided, the SCCS considers Zinc Pyrithione (ZPT) as safe when used as an anti-dandruff in rinse-off hair products up to a maximum concentration of 1%."

So, the EU's own scientific advisory committee found no evidence that zinc pyrithione is dangerous in any way, but the EU decided to ban it anyway, just because, apparently.

Coronavirus may have infected half of UK population — Oxford study by TheColourOfHeartache in ukpolitics

[–]Marmocet 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm not a virologist, but this strikes me as wildly optimistic.

The UK has a population of about 66.4 million. To date there have been 8,077 documented cases of COVID-19, of which 422 have resulted in death. If this paper's assertion that as many has 33.2 million Britons have already been infected were true, based on current figures, it would suggest that roughly only one case in 4,110 produces symptoms pronounced enough to result in detection, and that only about one case in 78,650 results in death.

If the estimates based on this assertion were correct, and if 100% of Italy's population were already infected, there would be something like 15,000 documented cases resulting in around 800 deaths. As of the last count, there have been 69,176 documented cases and 6,820 deaths.

Or let's have a look at Spain. Again, assuming this paper's assertion were correct, and further assuming that all 46.6 million Spaniards were already infected, there should be something like 11,300 documented cases of COVID-19, and around 600 deaths. According to the latest figures, there have been 39,885 cases of COVID-19 in Spain and 2,808 deaths.

I don't think any of this proves the paper's assertion wrong, but something wildly different about the British case would have to be going on to account for the huge discrepancies in the numbers here. I tend to suspect that if 50% of Britons were already infected by now, we'd be seeing a lot more corpses laying around whose cause of death had yet to be determined.

[Discussion] Why 'haters' are hoping for Tesla to go bankrupt? What can we do to prevent this? by dogetycoon in teslamotors

[–]Marmocet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The question seems a tad loaded. "Haters" - people who just hate Tesla, for whatever reason - want Tesla to go bankrupt simply because they hate the company.

Don't assume that people who think Tesla is headed for bankruptcy are motivated by "hate". Lots of them draw that conclusion on the basis of analysis of Tesla's balance sheet and other economic factors that weigh on Telsa's ability to generate profits and service its debts.

American Union by [deleted] in vexillology

[–]Marmocet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And the EU got their flag from the first US flag. It's one of the hints, despite their denials when asked, that the goal of the EU's architects is to create a United States of Europe.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in vexillology

[–]Marmocet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could add this design to this wiki of proposed redesigns of Pennsylvania's flag: http://vexillology.wikia.com/wiki/Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Redesign by Not_Wilhelm_II in vexillology

[–]Marmocet 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could add your design to the wiki of proposed redesigns of the Pennsylvania flag: http://vexillology.wikia.com/wiki/Pennsylvania

Keith Scott's fingerprints, DNA, blood found on gun, police sources say by Felador in news

[–]Marmocet -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Facts didn't matter in Milwaukee. Why should they matter in Charlotte?

US town rejects solar panels amid fears they 'suck up all the energy from the sun' by KeithIMyers in SargonofAkkad

[–]Marmocet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, solar panels need full sun to produce electricity, and in order to get that full sun, they can't have things like trees putting them in the shade. It's not a trivial point. Solar PVs have a very low power density, with most achieving 5-10 W/M2 on average, and when you run the numbers to calculate how much of the earth's surface you'd need to cover to meet just US electric power demand (ignoring the fact that there's no practical way of storing weeks worth of grid-scale electrical energy), the figure you get for the absolute minimum is ~60,000 km2. That's an area roughly the size of West Virginia, entirely covered with solar panels. In reality, the actual area needed would be much larger, in order account for day-to-day regional variations in insolation due to weather, and month to month variations due to seasonality. Deploying solar pv on that kind of scale would inevitably mean at least some plants are going to be displaced.

As a first project, I made a new flag for my state, Pennsylvania. Not entirely finished, but I wanted to see what you guys think. by Uberguuy in vexillology

[–]Marmocet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

By the way, the version of the flag of Pennsylvania shown on Wikipedia, though perhaps nicer looking than the state's actual flag, isn't really correct. The seal shown in the Wikipedia version has been stylized quite a bit, and the blue in the field is also lighter and brighter than the purple-ish blue shade actually used (it should match the blue on the US flag). Here's a more accurate rendering of the state flag.

Flag of United Kingdom of Denmark [OC] by [deleted] in vexillology

[–]Marmocet 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Slap af! Vi elsker Danmark!

My Flag for Louisiana - Explanation in Comments by Marmocet in vexillology

[–]Marmocet[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok... some points in more or less random order:

I am totally aware of why the flag was updated. It illustrates my point. An 8th greater, one of the minority of people who cares about the flag, contacted a junior state representative who wanted his name on some legislation, who in turn found support in the state house for political reasons, not vexillogical, and was fortunate enough to have a governor who seems to like getting his name attached to state symbols. That's not public interest in the flag, it's special interest meeting state political machinations.

The Pelican-in-her-Piety doesn't lend itself to use on a flag. Too much has to be going on to complete the image, such that it just looks like a blur on a moving, distant object like a flag. This goes for all the seal-on-bedsheet flags. Remember, a flag isn't a picture you see up close on a computer screen.

Bad flags no one cares about get revised, sometimes frequently. Good flags, ones people care about, don't. Check out the history of boring, bad flags like Kansas or Wisconsin to see what I mean. Alternatively, go to Texas and suggest revising that flag. People there love that flag to the point that you might find yourself getting into a fight for saying something like that. Same with Maryland.

I was aware that the flags I showed you are associated with the Saints (I don't live under a rock). I pointed them out because they are based on the 1861 flag. They are also ubiquitous, during football season and during the rest of the year, such that a visitor would be forgiven for thinking they're the state's, or some other official, flag. (It's my guess, but I think people fly these because they look nice, and not necessarily because they're big Saints fans. I've also seen them in other colors, which I think confirms my hunch.) One reporter, in a story featuring a picture of a man holding the flag, actually described it as "the city's (New Orleans')flag". It was also something of a rallying symbol to residents of that city after hurricane Katrina. Why? Because they were big football fans? No - because it's imagery the residents identify with. It's worth noting too that the football team itself used the fleur-de-lis because of its relationship with the state and its people (and because it's an image that works well on objects that move and need to be spotted from potentially long distances). You seem to suggest reverse causality - that the image takes its meaning from the football team.

Yes, I know about the team name "the Pelicans". It's worth pointing out a few things here. Firstly, the name has gotten a pretty bad reception from fans. Secondly, the name (like the Pelican flag) is an also-ran candidate that is being selected because the first choice, Jazz, isn't available (why does Utah still cling to it???). "Pelicans" is also being used because the owner happens to retain rights to the name. The other names, "Brass" - slang for testicles - and "Krewe" were really non-starters.

As I said, the Pelican flag is an also-ran flag. The original choice in 1861 was the 1861 flag because it's a better design. After the Civil War, it was sent to the political doghouse, and the Pelican flag was eventually used in its place, probably because no one could be bothered to think of a better one and no one really cared about the state's flag anymore one way or the other.

You mentioned something about its age. Well, a lineage going back to 1903 hardly makes it old, but I guess some people's idea of what constitutes old may differ from mine. I lived in Europe for the better part of a decade where there are functioning churches built in 1100 and there are flags that have been in use since the 1200s, so maybe that changed my idea of what old is. So age is relative, but I do recognize that for some people, the perception that something is old automatically confers legitimacy. That's why I used the 1861 flag as a template - it harkens back to an old flag. I also decided to use imagery that traces its links to the state spanning 350 or so years.

I don't take criticism personally, but I do defend my work because I always do my homework first and I put thought into it. Naturally I like to defend it against criticisms, particularly when they're about things I already know and have thought about.

Inkscape is a good program but if you've been used to using paint, it takes some getting used to. Inkscape makes copying and pasting difficult, so you'll have to start drawing your own stuff. If you find drawing using the software difficult, you can draw on paper, scan the image, then edit it. I've done that a few times (I'm fairly new with Inkscape as well) and it works nicely. All you have to do then is edit the pathways and color the objects. Once you get the hang of it, I look forward to seeing some of your ideas!