Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 April 7

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April 7

House with no heating

I overheard someone who said that an unoccupied house "will develop mold within six months and be ruined within a year", ostensibly due to lack of heating. However, I've been living in my house for 40 years without any central heating and there is no mold. Is this normal? When I hang my wet clothes to dry indoors they are bone dry within 3 days, so the water vapor must be going somewhere. Is it a cause of good ventilation? ZutenGato (talk) 00:17, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Good ventilation and a dry climate, I would guess. But I would think a lack of A/C or dehumidifiers would lead to mold more than a lack of heat, unless a water pipe freezes and bursts and keeps the walls damp. StuRat (talk) 00:20, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I googled "mildew in unheated house" and this is one of a number of items that came up. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:12, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Even in a wet climate (100 inches of rain a year) a house without central heating can be kept in reasonable condition by good ventilation on the (occasional) dry days. Dbfirs 08:49, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

In places with a monsoon season, there may not be a dry day for quite some time. StuRat (talk) 23:11, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

• I lived in the desert in a house with no heat μηδείς (talk) 17:57, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Does your house have no heating at all, or just no central heating? That would make a difference. Iapetus (talk) 11:36, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

How much exercise is too much?

Sorry, we don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
I recently started with a personal trainer. He demanded 3 sets of 15 with increasing weight. He made me do reps and spotted me to make sure I didn't drop anything. He warned me I'd be sore afterwards but this is something else. I can't bend my legs, I feel weird and uncomfortable, my muscles are swollen, and my urine turned brown instead of yellow. Is this normal after a workout? He said not to worry but I've never felt anything like this before. How long until it goes back to normal? .anaxarchosanaxarchos (talk) 01:16, 7 April 2015 (UTC) You appear to be asking for medical advice. Medical advice isn't dispensed here. Please consult a doctor. -- Hoary (talk) 01:21, 7 April 2015 (UTC) Totally a request for medical advice, which we don't do. This much is certain, though: If you died from the exercise, then it was too much. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:05, 7 April 2015 (UTC) This page says "Muscle injury from extreme exercise can result in pink or cola-colored urine and kidney damage" (emphasis mine). I'm mentioning this not as a substitute for a doctor's advice but in the hope of convincing you to actually talk to a doctor and not trust this personal trainer's assurance that everything is okay. -- BenRG (talk) 08:24, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Traffic Signal Time and Coordinations

What I would like to know is the Traffic light control and coordination on various intersections it runs on different schedules and time modes, and when I contact the traffic engineers in my local city area, they all tell me the same thing "City of Mission Viejo have 70 intersection and the traffic engineer don't have all the schedules memorized at the top of their head". Is there any websites I can check my local intersections during the day if they run through free phase left turns lead and straight turns lag, or lead and lag phases when they allow one left turn to concurrent with straight turn and the other side have one left turn end as a concurrency terminus. I wish there is a website I can enter a "Intersection name" and they show me a data of the time stamps of how the signal phases runs during the day. Because contacting the city dept. is no use, they have too many intersections and nobody can ever memorize it, I wonder is there a website like that.--107.202.105.233 (talk) 04:21, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I can't answer the specific question about a website, but an additional complication could be that the pattern at any one intersection might be set to vary depending on the time of day/night, to better fit predictable changes in traffic density and direction.

On top of that, some places in the world use Adaptive traffic control (mentioned and linked from in the article you yourself linked above), so each intersection may change according to the actual traffic at or approaching it and also take into account traffic at/approaching adjacent intersections. In such a case the changes at any given intersection would be impossible to predict. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 212.95.237.92 (talk) 12:07, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

In my city, which is a very average U.S. city, there is no "set schedule." There is a general schedule that gets updated all the time. There are workers who adjust lights here, change lights there, and keep messing with the system as the traffic patterns change over time. So, it appears that you are starting with the opinion that there is a set schedule that states when lights will turn on and off. I do not believe that your opinion is based in reality. Therefore, the question that follows is more complicated that you appear to believe. A website that shows light timing would need to be updated constantly. I doubt anyone would want to pay taxes to fund a person who does nothing but update the light timing website all day long. 209.149.113.89 (talk) 12:09, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

The signals in my area are controlled by a county Road Commission. I have spoken to one of the traffic engineers there by phone several times about backups at a particular intersection caused by poor signal timing. He was receptive to my suggestions and made some improvements. Unfortunately for you, the information you are seeking does not seem to be available to the general public. Some of the signals in my area have cycles that change to flashing red/yellow at midnight (because of light traffic) and change back to their normal cycles at 6am. Some major highways have synchronized or "timed" signals that (in theory) allow cars moving at the posted speed limit to travel for many miles without stopping for a red light. We also have a system of cameras/sensors at major intersections in the county that allow some variation in the length of the green light and green turn arrows depending on the current traffic flow. In my opinion, the range is too narrow to adequately respond to eliminate the time spent waiting for a red light when no cross traffic is present. To get back to your question, it would probably take more money than is available in the budget to adequately address everyone's traffic concerns by providing the information you seek. --Thomprod (talk) 14:35, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Coming to an intersection near you - Here in Britain we're trialling a device which matches traffic light sequences to a vehicle's speed and distance from an intersection to ensure that it never has to stop at a red light. It's only operational in one small part of one city centre at the moment and only being used by ambulances but it's going to expand. The aim is to speed up the flow of the driverless vehicles which are soon going to be the normal means of transportation. 87.81.147.76 (talk) 14:45, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Whiskey losing its smoky flavour?

In late March, I bought a bottle of Laphroaig 10 year old single malt Scotch whisky, because I had tasted it earlier and liked its extremely smoky flavour. I have been sipping it one or two centilitres at a time, and for the first week or so, it tasted extremely smoky, just as I liked it. But now I have found I can no longer taste the smoky flavour. Why is this happening? First of all, does this kind of thing really happen to whisky or is it only in my head? If it's really happening, what could I have done to prevent it? I have kept the whisky in plain view on my kitchen table at room temperature at all times. I just keep it almost constantly capped, I only ever remove the cap when I pour myself some whisky. During a 24-hour day, the whisky spends several hours in total darkness (while I'm sleeping), several hours in nothing but ambient sunlight (when I'm at work) and several hours in bright indoor lighting (when I'm at home after work). Could some of this affect it? JIP | Talk 20:06, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

I think it is just you have become accustomed to the taste. Islay produces some other good Scotches too. Get some others and rotate them. Once bottled they don't improve anymore but on the other-hand they don't go off. Verity is the spice of life and whisky is the aqua vitae. The mystery to me is how can you sip just a one or two centilitres at a time. I have heard of having just a wee dram but I think your taking traditional Scottish tightfistedness too far.--Aspro (talk) 20:44, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Laphroaig is my favourite tipple. This has never happened to me. Could it have been a rip-off imitation? --Dweller (talk) 08:39, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Just to clarify, the "smoky" taste of Laphroaig is usually attributed to peat, as is characteristic of most Islay malt whiskies (not whiskeys, as per question header). I suppose it's possible that exposure to the air in a half-full bottle could affect that element - perhaps you should do some controlled experiments with new and older bottles to see if you can really tell the differnce... AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:12, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

At a "whiskyconnosr" forum, in a thread titled "How long does whiskey [sic] last opened?" "Victor" seems to be saying that "heavily peated" whiskies may lose their "full peat blast" within the first month or two, particularly the smokey quality being based on the most volatile parts in the mix. ---Sluzzelin talk 13:33, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

No need for the [sic], that is a perfectly acceptable spelling. Whisky is Scottish, whiskey is Irish. --Viennese Waltz 13:51, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

The whisky really can't be a rip-off imitation. I'm certain it's the real deal. The reason is that I bought it from Alko, the only place in Finland where you can legally buy strong distilled alcoholic beverages, and they should know their stuff. I think the problem is that I've kept it out in the open for too long. Even though I have kept it almost constantly capped, I should have kept it in a closet shielded from sunlight and ambient temperature. I'll try another bottle of whisky in a few weeks. Hopefully I can find a better storage place. I don't have access to a cool cellar. I do have a fridge, but I think that would only worsen the problem. As I understand it, the whisky should be kept in a dark, only very slightly moist, environment a few degrees cooler than ambient room temperature. Currently I don't know of any way to do this. JIP | Talk 20:27, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

This is just a thought. The Finns are very technologically advanced (after all they invented Linus Torvalds and Rollmops). How about decanting this into a wine bag Some have oxygen getters (absorbers) and being a bag it collapse anyway as one draws the liquid off (so atmospheric air does not get in). The sales desks of these companies [[1]] may only be interested in selling whole-sale but you can put it to them, that you may have a new and unrecognized market sector that they haven't considered. Talk to the right person and they might gladly send you free samples with which to experiment with. Keep all the receipts for the Scotch etc., and you might be able to claim the tax back as R&D research. To do the research properly, you may need to fly to Islay to discus this with the distillers – hence another tax deductible business expense = cheap foreign holiday. --Aspro (talk) 22:26, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Been done before apparently, see Cromwell’s Royal De Luxe Scotch Whisky, although not entirely successful - one review says; "Nose: Industrial solvent. That stuff they disinfect combs with. Color: palest yellow, dear god this is going to be awful. Taste: alcohol. Straight alcohol. Tiny hint of what I think might be urine. Awful. Finish: nonexistent. more urine. make it stop...". [2] Alansplodge (talk) 19:02, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

That last link took me to Scotch in a can produced by a "proud to be Scottish" company in the Cayman Islands. Words fail me. Alansplodge (talk) 19:16, 9 April 2015 (UTC)

3D Custom Girl

Are there any video games similar to "3D Custom Girl" but with more features than just building and having sex with her? For example, I would like to feed her, bathe her, tuck her into bed, watch her fall asleep, etc. Sort of like a girlfriend version of a Tamagotchi but in anime style with good graphics. Thanks! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:FFEA:1:AD2:0:0:0:7B35 (talk) 20:51, 7 April 2015 (UTC)

Not anime, but there are lots of Skyrim mods out there, you can probably get something close to that by asking this question at a skyrim modding forum. SemanticMantis (talk) 14:16, 9 April 2015 (UTC)