# Factual Questions **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/factual-questions/9.md?page=977 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 978 --- ## [Carbonation and bubble size](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carbonation-and-bubble-size/741961)
**Author:** [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carbonation-and-bubble-size/741961 "2016-01-02T16:25:33Z")
I buy club soda, I buy cheap club soda, and I buy really cheap club soda. The really cheap stuff seems to have much larger bubbles than the others. Is this a thing, and if so why, or am I just making stuff up again? --- ## [Replacement cell phone](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-cell-phone/741619)
**Author:** [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacement-cell-phone/741619 "2016-01-02T15:28:30Z")
I recently dropped my Android smart phone, and I want to get an inexpensive replacement. What are my options? I guess I could go to my local AT&T store and simply buy a bargain-basement phone, but would it be smarter to… --- ## [How fast can cancer kill?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-can-cancer-kill/593431)
**Author:** [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Replies:** 48\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-can-cancer-kill/593431 "2016-01-02T14:28:51Z")
In this thread, we’re talking about a rather unfortunate cancer diagnosis: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14159240 . And one poster raised an interesting point: Are there any cancers that will kil… --- ## [Bricks-and-mortar stores vs. online shopping: what's the advantage?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricks-and-mortar-stores-vs-online-shopping-whats-the-advantage/741644)
**Author:** [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Replies:** 60\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bricks-and-mortar-stores-vs-online-shopping-whats-the-advantage/741644 "2016-01-02T13:39:05Z")
I read about how online shopping is out doing conventional store business, but something doesn’t quite sound right. Specifically, the online sale requires that the merchandise be shipped to the buyer, necessitating a s… --- ## [Speeding tickets effect on employment!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-tickets-effect-on-employment/741506)
**Author:** [@Newbie77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Newbie77)\ **Replies:** 24\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/speeding-tickets-effect-on-employment/741506 "2016-01-02T07:08:48Z")
I got a couple of speeding tickets. First one in 2013 which it I paid off $200 of fine. The 2nd one I got it in August 2014 for which I did defensive driving course and also paid fine. I checked my online driving history… --- ## [Can you give a police officer who pulls you over collateral?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-a-police-officer-who-pulls-you-over-collateral/740834)
**Author:** [@pianodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pianodave)\ **Replies:** 90\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-give-a-police-officer-who-pulls-you-over-collateral/740834 "2016-01-02T06:39:09Z")
I am a musician and am always running to concerts, at which I have to arrive by a certain time. In my line of work, I accompany choirs so a whole lot of people depend on me to be on time. I haven’t been pulled over by … --- ## [New front door (home)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-front-door-home/741565)
**Author:** [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Replies:** 31\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-front-door-home/741565 "2016-01-02T04:58:05Z")
I am thinking of replacing my home’s front door. Is it possible to remove the door, and replace it with a new door by simply taking the current door off its hinges, and putting the new door on? Assuming the doors are t… --- ## [What Is/Was that Dubai Hotel Made Of Anyway?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-that-dubai-hotel-made-of-anyway/741888)
**Author:** [@rock\_party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rock_party)\ **Replies:** 27\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-was-that-dubai-hotel-made-of-anyway/741888 "2016-01-02T04:32:13Z")
If you’ve seen the pics and footage of the fire racing up the side of the 63 story Address Hotel in Dubai, you can see that it progressed up floor to floor fairly quickly. What would burn so quickly? The exterior of nea… --- ## [Lighting fixture question re: incandescent bulbs "or CFL equivalents"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighting-fixture-question-re-incandescent-bulbs-or-cfl-equivalents/741963)
**Author:** [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lighting-fixture-question-re-incandescent-bulbs-or-cfl-equivalents/741963 "2016-01-02T03:13:52Z")
I just bought a light fixture which takes 3 bulbs - the manufacturer says to use 60 watt bulbs maximum, “or CFL equivalents”. Three incandescent bulbs x 60 watts each leaves me to believe 180 watts (and the heat generat… --- ## [USA's Largest cultivated field?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usas-largest-cultivated-field/741786)
**Author:** [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Replies:** 36\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usas-largest-cultivated-field/741786 "2016-01-02T03:05:04Z")
Illinois is great farmland. I see miles and miles of open cultivated crop land. It got me thinking. Do we know and what is the country’s largest crop field? I’ll define it as: must be cultivated as in plowed, seede… --- ## [Is there a name for this series in pi?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-series-in-pi/741886)
**Author:** [@Ferris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferris)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-series-in-pi/741886 "2016-01-02T02:00:56Z")
If you read out the sequential digits of prime in such a way that you concatenate repeated digits until they make up a unique number, then presumably after an infinitely long process, you’ll create the set of cardinal nu… --- ## [Good sites like google translate](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sites-like-google-translate/741954)
**Author:** [@carlowplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlowplayer)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sites-like-google-translate/741954 "2016-01-02T00:55:39Z")
want to set up a blog with all my work ranging different folders and sub folders but want to reach a wide audience am wondering if there is a site like google translate or better that can translate files from english int… --- ## [Did anyone ever painted a computer?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-painted-a-computer/740667)
**Author:** [@Moris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moris)\ **Replies:** 20\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-anyone-ever-painted-a-computer/740667 "2016-01-02T00:52:07Z")
Ridiculous as it may seem, I was not able to find any clues on the internet, let alone pictures. By painting I assume oil on canvas in more-or-less realistic style, and computer could be anything from ENIAC to a modern-… --- ## [easy way to create subtitles for youtube videos](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-way-to-create-subtitles-for-youtube-videos/741957)
**Author:** [@carlowplayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlowplayer)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 2, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/easy-way-to-create-subtitles-for-youtube-videos/741957 "2016-01-02T00:22:56Z")
I want create subtitles for my youtube videos and dont have the time to write down the whole time stamps (the videos are at least 2-3 hours long) am wondering if there is software that can record the audio and then organ… --- ## [Difficulty in replacing glass screen on my Samsung Note II](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficulty-in-replacing-glass-screen-on-my-samsung-note-ii/741877)
**Author:** [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/difficulty-in-replacing-glass-screen-on-my-samsung-note-ii/741877 "2016-01-01T22:41:32Z")
Hello Everyone, I have a Samsung Note II. I realize that this is an outdated model, but it works great and does everything I need it to do. Unfortunately I had it out of the case and dropped it on concrete, cracking… --- ## [Is this the northernmost house in the lower 48 US states?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649)
**Author:** [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Replies:** 49\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-northernmost-house-in-the-lower-48-us-states/741649 "2016-01-01T21:49:26Z")
https://www.google.com/maps/@49.368364,-95.1523243,329m/data=!3m1!1e3 49.368271, -95.152335 Just curious . . . --- ## [Why So hard To Find Treasure galleons?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-hard-to-find-treasure-galleons/741818)
**Author:** [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Replies:** 10\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-hard-to-find-treasure-galleons/741818 "2016-01-01T20:14:57Z")
for all their faults, the Spanish Empire’s accountants were excellent record keepers. The Archives of the Indies (in Madrid, Spain) has huge bound books which record the output of the gold and silver mines, the output o… --- ## [How often do events occur on earth that would cause mass extinction of multi-cellular life](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-events-occur-on-earth-that-would-cause-mass-extinction-of-multi-cellular-life/741920)
**Author:** [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-often-do-events-occur-on-earth-that-would-cause-mass-extinction-of-multi-cellular-life/741920 "2016-01-01T17:27:09Z")
There have been five mass extinctions, roughly 50-150 million years apart due to various reasons (meteor strike, gamma ray burst, climate change, pollution). Technically we are in a 6th due to human behavior, but my ques… --- ## [How are wheels affixed to railroad cars?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-wheels-affixed-to-railroad-cars/741675)
**Author:** [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Replies:** 30\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-are-wheels-affixed-to-railroad-cars/741675 "2016-01-01T15:26:08Z")
There have been a number of derailments in the news lately, apparently for weather-related reasons. Aerial footage typically shows the rail cars lying on their side near the track, and as often as not, the axle assembl… --- ## [Movies translated from English to other languages](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-translated-from-english-to-other-languages/741755)
**Author:** [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Replies:** 26\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-translated-from-english-to-other-languages/741755 "2016-01-01T13:44:00Z")
I see a lot of movies that have been adapted from English to Spanish. In the olden days, the sound didn’t match the actor’s lips. We have come a long way. Thanks to digital movie making, we are able to see the actor’s… --- ## [What's the name of that whisk-broom-looking thing that Africans shake up and down?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whisk-broom-looking-thing-that-africans-shake-up-and-down/237675)
**Author:** [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-name-of-that-whisk-broom-looking-thing-that-africans-shake-up-and-down/237675 "2016-01-01T13:28:06Z")
I think Eddie Murphy used one when he was playing “exchange student from Cameroon” in “Trading Places.” --- ## [Silver and Gold](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-and-gold/741750)
**Author:** [@Stinky\_Pete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stinky_Pete)\ **Replies:** 32\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silver-and-gold/741750 "2016-01-01T11:38:18Z")
You have your colors of the visible spectrum ROYGBIV, and white which is all colors together, and black which is no colors. But where does gold fit in? Is it a shade or hue of yellow? (I don’t know the proper term to us… --- ## [Xs for eyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462)
**Author:** [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/xs-for-eyes/741462 "2016-01-01T10:56:10Z")
. . . to show unconscious or dead, that is. So, I’m watching Christmas Story for the billionth time and when Ralphie shoots the bad guys, they’re lying in a heap with Xs over their eyelids. The sudden thought popped in… --- ## [What was the legal status of individual slaves in the antebellum era?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-legal-status-of-individual-slaves-in-the-antebellum-era/741801)
**Author:** [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Replies:** 23\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-legal-status-of-individual-slaves-in-the-antebellum-era/741801 "2016-01-01T10:13:18Z")
I was listening to a public radio show this evening that interviewed a Southerner who had changed his mind about the Confederate battle flag in part because of something he found when doing geneology research. An ancest… --- ## [First Arrival of the New Year?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-arrival-of-the-new-year/741800)
**Author:** [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-arrival-of-the-new-year/741800 "2016-01-01T04:50:17Z")
The time is actually opportune to ask this question. It is now 12 Midnight (well a couple of minutes after, according to my computer clock), December 31st 2015. And I suspect the New Year may have arrived somewhere in th… --- ## [When did Ocean-Going Tugboats become Available?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ocean-going-tugboats-become-available/741853)
**Author:** [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-ocean-going-tugboats-become-available/741853 "2016-01-01T04:10:49Z")
Before there were any, a ship in distress had to fend for itself, or perhaps arrange a tow from a nearby merchant or naval ship. Tugboats are small ships with enormous engines…so building one that has a range in the t… --- ## [Is it ok to charge two AA batteries together, one nearly full, one nearly empty?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-charge-two-aa-batteries-together-one-nearly-full-one-nearly-empty/741774)
**Author:** [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-charge-two-aa-batteries-together-one-nearly-full-one-nearly-empty/741774 "2016-01-01T03:55:45Z")
I have a battery powered shaver that takes 3x AA batteries. The charger I have will only charge batteries in pairs. So in the charger I’m going to have to put in an empty battery with a full battery (the spare one that w… --- ## [What Happened to Dean Kamen's Stirling generator?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dean-kamens-stirling-generator/741866)
**Author:** [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-dean-kamens-stirling-generator/741866 "2016-01-01T03:40:46Z")
Nothing since 2014 (link:http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2014/07/02/dean-kamen-thinks-his-new-stirling-engine-could-power-the-world/2/ Like his ill-fated Segway, it appears his idea 9about the market) see… --- ## [What is the scent of baby powder?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-baby-powder/471769)
**Author:** [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-scent-of-baby-powder/471769 "2016-01-01T03:18:35Z")
Another thread about scented candles got me to thinking about this. Everyone can recognize the smell of baby powder as being unique. I know it’s just talcum powder with a fragrence added. But can anyone identify the s… --- ## [Mold under sink](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-under-sink/741449)
**Author:** [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Replies:** 25\ **Last updated:** [January 1, 2016, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mold-under-sink/741449 "2016-01-01T02:22:58Z")
I had a leak under the sink and have to fix my neighbors ceiling etc. Under my sink is bad quality pressed wood. I’m sure that it has got mold. It is still musty now. What should I do about the possible mold, the odor,… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/factual-questions/9.md?page=976) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/factual-questions/9.md?page=978)