So, here's something that I don't get

[conuly]

I recently dug up a stack of magnets from who-knows-when. It was very difficult to break them apart from each other, but of course, once I did it the first time they separated easily on subsequent efforts.

I've noticed this before with fridge magnets. When you first put a fridge magnet on, you can lift it easily and slide it around. But when it's been there a while, no matter how weak it is, you have to really work to get it to lift off and you can't slide it at all.

Why is this?

*************************************************

In the Middle Ages, The Upper Class Went Nuts for Almond Milk

It's Not Just A Bug, It's A Fine-Dining Feature At This Thailand Restaurant (I will never get tired of articles about insect eating)

‘Wolverine: The Long Night’ is Marvel’s first scripted podcast

Classic SF Radio Dramas to Stretch the Imagination

My Lousy Children Are Both Fake Geeks

Gene therapy shows promise against blood-clotting disease

The Psychic Tea Rooms of 1930s New York Didn’t Predict All the Police Raids

The fascinating reason why clowns paint their faces on eggs

This silent GIF is making the internet hear things

Kids aren’t protecting themselves against STDs during oral sex

A Medicaid challenge: Poor health, but a drive to improve

Knee surgery outcomes linked with education level

Alarming amounts of noise demand ways to silence noisy hospital environments

FDA proposes drug development guidance for rare pediatric diseases

New Research Suggests Social Issues are Down to Neurotypicals more than Autistics (Shocking.)

On Tybee Island, a glimpse of why flood insurance is a vexing US challenge

Mid-Atlantic residents see ocean health as major economic issue

The World's Largest Organism Is Dying (I find that so many of life's little problems could be solved with the reintroduction of large predators to the ecosystem.)

The Conflict in Jerusalem Is Distinctly Modern. Here’s the History.

US troops preparing for unrest in Jerusalem

US inner-city children suffer ‘war zone’ trauma (Video)

The Long Shadow of Childhood Trauma

Dystopian Sketches from Inside the Inauguration Protesters' Trial

Is fighting toxic waste worth collaborating with Islamophobes?

Comments

[jhetley]

A number of refrigerator magnets are ferrite bonded in plastic, to prevent scratching the surface. The plastic sticks to kindred material with age and close acquaintance.

[randomdreams]

Pretty much this.
The magnet slowly smooshes soft material and sinks into it.

[conuly]

So even my stack of plain magnets, which felt like metal, had a thin layer of plastic over them that I didn't realize was there? (I'm not being skeptical, I'm trying to confirm.)

[kengr]

Well, there's also the fact that the pressure from the attraction will lead to something similar to "vacuum welding".

Of course that'd take a *very* long time. But some partial bonding (especially as air is forced out from between the surfaces in contact) wouldn't be surprising.

[jhetley]

I couldn't tell, over the internet . . . :-)

But if they are intended for refrigerator use, they may have a non-scratch coating.

[peoriapeoriawhereart]

I can say that it wouldn't surprise me if you have magnets that came as fridge magnets or are like the poetry words, that those have a fair amount of plastic; plastics will stick if left in the same place. If plastic-plastic, they may Very Stick.

I had to be more careful when putting science! magnets on the fridge, since they could scratch, not being as soft without any plastic.

[randomdreams]

At the tapas restaurant that, being in a former mortuary, pushes the envelope a little: "Cricket & Cassava Empanada:
Micro Ranch Crickets, Fried Pork Belly, Cotija Cheese, Charred Leek Purée, Cilantro-Lime Crema, Pickled Cactus & Tomatillo Chutney"

When rebeccmeister ate there last month, I could have sworn she had a dish that had three different insects in it. She was in town for an entomology conference.

[wendelah1]

Adults aren't protecting themselves from STDs during oral sex.

[conuly]

Sigh.

[flexagon]

To be fair, the risk-reward ratio on using barriers during oral is different from the same ratio for penetrative sex.

I talk this through with every new partner and almost always, once it's confirmed that we both get all our tests annually or more often and are prepared to be adult about consequences, I don't use barriers for oral either.

[wpadmirer]

I love the geek failure blog. Though I thought it was from a woman's perspective until I hit the part about his wife disapproving. I guess my geekiness was identifying a bit too much with the narrative!

Classic SF Radio Dramas to Stretch the Imagination _ Tor.com

[nodrog]

Thank you. And it wasn't just SF, oh no!  I'll quote an entry of mine here, if you don't mind:


http://www.otr.net/r/esca/89.ram


Take twenty-nine minutes, and find out what “Old Time Radio” could do - why its fame is lasting.



        “Tired of the everyday routine?

        “Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure?

        “Want to get away from it all?

        “We offer you, Escape!  Escape, designed to free you from the four walls of today,
        for a half-hour of high adventure!

        “Tonight we escape to a lonely lighthouse off the steaming jungle coast of French Guiana, and a
        nightmare world of terror and violence, as George Toudouze describes it in his hair-raising tale,
        'Three Skeleton Key.'”



>  Although he penned numerous adventure novels and short stories, [G Toudouze] is today
>  remembered for a single work:  "Three Skeleton Key."
> 
>  James Poe adapted the story for radio in a version that aired on Escape in 1949 and returned
>  to the program by popular demand in 1950 and 1953.  Each episode featured a different cast.
> 
>  Vincent Price is the actor most associated with the play, performing it in 1950 for Escape
>  and in 1956 and 1958 for Suspense.



Yah, but I've heard his version, and the 1949 version is BETTER.  No one reading this entry who
takes the time to listen, will ever forget this.  You are there - and oh wow.

Re: Classic SF Radio Dramas to Stretch the Imagination _ Tor.com

[conuly]

Have you listened to any modern radio dramas (usually on podcast) at all?

Re: Classic SF Radio Dramas to Stretch the Imagination _ Tor.com

[nodrog]

1990s, is as recent as I've got.  Which for me, is nothing unusual; I never listen to anything contemporary, as I realized the other day.  It's not a fashion statement, I just don't bother.

Contemporary Listening

[nodrog]

Billy Murray, “The Little Ford Rambled Right Along” (1915)

https://youtu.be/OnDCMXyOscg

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I tested the silent GIF by turning off my speakers before I played it. My brain did fill in a whoomp sort of sound-effect, but not to the extent that I would have assumed it was a real sound coming from the speakers if they had been on.

[conuly]

Agreed - but I couldn't *stop* mind-hearing that sound!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

It seemed to wear off the more I watched it, as my brain got used to it not making an actual sound.

I'm hyper-auditory with both tinnitus and synesthesia, so I've had a great deal of practice at distinguishing between different types of sounds that I can hear but 'normal' people can't. Some of them are real sounds at frequencies most folk can't hear; some are 'white noise' generated by my auditory nerve; some are synesthesia illusions, like that whoomping wire GIF, where the sound-effect is coming from the brain's processing, not from the ear.

I'm convinced most people have some degree of synesthesia, even if it's mostly below their awareness threshhold. Mine is often above (though less as I age,) but the 'special effects' it generates aren't 'external' enough to be mistaken for the real thing most of the time.

EDIT: it seems the sound is coming from the ear itself, caused by the auditory reflex, which is basically the ear 'blinking', shielding itself against expected loud noise, particularly low frequencies. That may explain why (for me at least) watching it over and over and trying to hear the sound makes it decrease to the point that I can't tell whether or not it's still doing it. Quite fascinating!

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

The reason the magnets stick more when they've been on longer is because the magnetic domains (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_domain) align and become 'pinned'.

[conuly]

Thanks.