Totally random thread

Coffee talk.
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TDub
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Re: Totally random thread

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I woke up really wanting fettuccine Alfredo. I haven't had it in a long time. Closest Italian place is an hour away. Hmm. Might have to make my own....but..that would require a trip to the grocery store...40 miles round trip....probably not worth it. I suppose I'll just see whats in the fridge and go with that instead.
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ousdahl
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Re: Totally random thread

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Road trip to Olive Garden time!
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TDub
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Re: Totally random thread

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im not driving 2+ hrs for olive garden
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Re: Totally random thread

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next up on the random morning thoughts.

mucus and snot etc have a smell.

Why don't we just smell that all day everyday?
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Re: Totally random thread

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TDub wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:42 am next up on the random morning thoughts.

mucus and snot etc have a smell.

Why don't we just smell that all day everyday?
Good question.

If I were you, I'd ask Randy.
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Re: Totally random thread

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TDub wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:42 am next up on the random morning thoughts.

mucus and snot etc have a smell.

Why don't we just smell that all day everyday?
Because our olfactory system is designed to detect differences, to alert us to something foreign, and possibly dangerous, to eat, etc. The receptors in our nasal passages that absorb the molecules of the different sources of odors become habituated, desensitized, i.e., "bored", when they're exposed to the same molecules of a particular odor continuously. That's why when you walk into the bathroom after someone else it's much more offensive than when you walk in after having been there, yourself. Or, when you first walk into a restaurant, say, Olive Garden, you really notice the garlic, but in no time, the garlic odor seems to fade.
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TDub
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Re: Totally random thread

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Feral wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 11:17 am
TDub wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:42 am next up on the random morning thoughts.

mucus and snot etc have a smell.

Why don't we just smell that all day everyday?
Because our olfactory system is designed to detect differences, to alert us to something foreign, and possibly dangerous, to eat, etc. The receptors in our nasal passages that absorb the molecules of the different sources of odors become habituated, desensitized, i.e., "bored", when they're exposed to the same molecules of a particular odor continuously. That's why when you walk into the bathroom after someone else it's much more offensive than when you walk in after having been there, yourself. Or, when you first walk into a restaurant, say, Olive Garden, you really notice the garlic, but in no time, the garlic odor seems to fade.
makes sense. Guess I should've known that.


explains why smokers can't smell the atrociousness of their constant stench.


and...same goes for people whonhsve strong body odors.
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Re: Totally random thread

Post by Shirley »

TDub wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 11:27 am
Feral wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 11:17 am
TDub wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 10:42 am next up on the random morning thoughts.

mucus and snot etc have a smell.

Why don't we just smell that all day everyday?
Because our olfactory system is designed to detect differences, to alert us to something foreign, and possibly dangerous, to eat, etc. The receptors in our nasal passages that absorb the molecules of the different sources of odors become habituated, desensitized, i.e., "bored", when they're exposed to the same molecules of a particular odor continuously. That's why when you walk into the bathroom after someone else it's much more offensive than when you walk in after having been there, yourself. Or, when you first walk into a restaurant, say, Olive Garden, you really notice the garlic, but in no time, the garlic odor seems to fade.
makes sense. Guess I should've known that.


explains why smokers can't smell the atrociousness of their constant stench.


and...same goes for people whonhsve strong body odors.
Those are great examples, too.

And imo, I don't think it's intuitive to somehow already know that.
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Re: Totally random thread

Post by Sparko »

And yet there are those like me who leave pleasant aromas only in the bathroom. So I am told. Except by MEAN LIARS UNFAIR!
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Re: Totally random thread

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I was going to bring up odor-thresholds, saturation-kinetics and binding-constants, but Feral’s explanation is much more eloquent. Besides, you all already knew those things.

The lab where I did my PhD work was one of the world-leading groups studying small molecules containing sulfur (eg. odorants in natural gas) and their formation in foods such as Allium plants. Very smelly compounds, and humans can detect parts per billion levels in the air. Of course, we couldn’t smell anything because our smell receptors were fully saturated. We all had lab shoes and outside shoes! One of my lab partners was describing a time when he forgot to change his shoes and he said that people were avoiding his proximity in the bus!!

Most important part of Feral’s explanation is that just about every system in the body is designed to detect and respond to DIFFERENCES in stimuli. Smells, tastes, equilibrium etc. If the left ear system detects an imbalance, for example, the body expects the right ear to detect the corresponding and complementary leveling. If it doesn’t one starts to feel woozy, such as during a ruptured ear drum or an infection.
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Re: Totally random thread

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zsn wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 12:14 pm I was going to bring up odor-thresholds, saturation-kinetics and binding-constants, but Feral’s explanation is much more eloquent. Besides, you all already knew those things.

The lab where I did my PhD work was one of the world-leading groups studying small molecules containing sulfur (eg. odorants in natural gas) and their formation in foods such as Allium plants. Very smelly compounds, and humans can detect parts per billion levels in the air. Of course, we couldn’t smell anything because our smell receptors were fully saturated. We all had lab shoes and outside shoes! One of my lab partners was describing a time when he forgot to change his shoes and he said that people were avoiding his proximity in the bus!!

Most important part of Feral’s explanation is that just about every system in the body is designed to detect and respond to DIFFERENCES in stimuli. Smells, tastes, equilibrium etc. If the left ear system detects an imbalance, for example, the body expects the right ear to detect the corresponding and complementary leveling. If it doesn’t one starts to feel woozy, such as during a ruptured ear drum or an infection.
I'd love to hear what you have to share about it because I'm sure I'd learn a lot, but understand it isn't necessarily what you want to spend your Sat. afternoon doing.

Not to mention even if you did, I'm not sure I'm ready to have our resident all things science expert Randy drop by and tell us why you're wrong, and then spend the next several pages flexing and bragging about how "right" he is/was.
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Re: Totally random thread

Post by Mjl »

Bye bye Unabomber. I hope his brain is donated to science.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/unabomber-ted ... d=99984583
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Re: Totally random thread

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Feral wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 1:24 pm
zsn wrote: Sat Jun 10, 2023 12:14 pm I was going to bring up odor-thresholds, saturation-kinetics and binding-constants, but Feral’s explanation is much more eloquent. Besides, you all already knew those things.

The lab where I did my PhD work was one of the world-leading groups studying small molecules containing sulfur (eg. odorants in natural gas) and their formation in foods such as Allium plants. Very smelly compounds, and humans can detect parts per billion levels in the air. Of course, we couldn’t smell anything because our smell receptors were fully saturated. We all had lab shoes and outside shoes! One of my lab partners was describing a time when he forgot to change his shoes and he said that people were avoiding his proximity in the bus!!

Most important part of Feral’s explanation is that just about every system in the body is designed to detect and respond to DIFFERENCES in stimuli. Smells, tastes, equilibrium etc. If the left ear system detects an imbalance, for example, the body expects the right ear to detect the corresponding and complementary leveling. If it doesn’t one starts to feel woozy, such as during a ruptured ear drum or an infection.
I'd love to hear what you have to share about it because I'm sure I'd learn a lot, but understand it isn't necessarily what you want to spend your Sat. afternoon doing.

Not to mention even if you did, I'm not sure I'm ready to have our resident all things science expert Randy drop by and tell us why you're wrong, and then spend the next several pages flexing and bragging about how "right" he is/was.
Lol 😂😂

Seriously though, you pretty much explained the practical outcome of the physicochemical phenomena. When you said receptors become “bored” that’s the result of strong binding of odor molecules to the receptors (high binding-constant). There are on-off rates (kinetics) are another factor. Just because something binds strongly doesn’t mean that it’s bound forever, and vice versa. Slow off rates and high receptor coverage leads to saturation and thus desensitization. High rates of binding is the most important factor in odor threshold.

Compounds containing sulfur tend to have low thresholds. That’s why they put ethanethiol (related to ethanol, but with a sulfur in place of oxygen) as the odorant in natural gas. We have evolved to detect these kinds of chemicals in extremely minute amounts as they are among the first products of rotting living matter.

Small molecules containing nitrogen are also in the same category but we’re not as sensitive - think ammonia, putrescine, cadaverine and the like. However, these are easily neutralized by acids (eg. adding lemon juice to fish).
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Re: Totally random thread

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Re: Totally random thread

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Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?
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Re: Totally random thread

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I got ding-donged ditched tonight
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Re: Totally random thread

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Depending on where you live, that could be annoying or terrifying.
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Re: Totally random thread

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We're in a townhouse, prolly kids. Lil basterds did it again. Dog is going nutz.
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Re: Totally random thread

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I hope this isn't in your new residence in Minn?
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Re: Totally random thread

Post by Shirley »

There are many things I lament not inventing or even imagining, e.g., Apple Pay, but that purse, isn't one of them. smh

Loved the SNL video, I hadn't seen it.
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