A quick question...

Does anyone know of ANYWHERE that i can get a beaverskin hat blocked? For those who don't know: back in teh day when men wore bowler hats and derbys and the like, they would get dents in the top of them. When this happened, you used to be able to take them to a dry cleaners and have them blocked. This was the removal and prevention of the dents and ripples. I have NO idea who still does this, but i imagine that if i found a place that still did it, I cold send it to them, and have them comb the felt as well.

I have a derby hat i need blocked and combed

Anyone? you might check with your dry cleaners or local hatter?

No, but they have processed pork brains in a can here locally. If thats any help I'll get you a can.

/runs

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Orpheus</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>No, but they have processed pork brains in a can here locally. If thats any help I'll get you a can.

/runs

</DIV></DIV>

Eww...
I've know idea Nickelplate. Maybe that was one of the operations they used to do with mercury and consequently is now impracticable.

I've know? o_O impracticable? o_O! Sorry.. sorry.. quietly leaves

As for your hat, try a hatmaker/hat shop (these exist, only in bigger cities though) or a tailor. They'll be able to sort it for you I imagine.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Gwil</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>I've know? o_O impracticable? o_O! Sorry.. sorry.. quietly leaves

As for your hat, try a hatmaker/hat shop (these exist, only in bigger cities though) or a tailor. They'll be able to sort it for you I imagine. </DIV></DIV>
"Impracticable" is a perfectly acceptable word, and used correctly in this case. Or maybe you were referring to the contrast between that and my grammatical faux pas with "know"? Whatever.

OMG so it is :smile: My apologies T_B, it's one of those that "sounds" wrong, if you know what I mean :razz:

I'll skulk off now.. with difficulty, all these bullets in my foot and all that

impracticable is "un-practice-able"

Anyway, The mercury was used for waterproofing the hats, not blocking. apparently this hat was also treated with "uranio" or Uranium in italian, italy is where this VERY old hat was made..

i need to get a geiger counter for this.

to orph. "soon they will come out with technology to punch ppl in the face over the net, I'm pre-ordering mine."

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Gwil</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>OMG so it is :smile: My apologies T_B, it's one of those that "sounds" wrong, if you know what I mean :razz:

I'll skulk off now.. with difficulty, all these bullets in my foot and all that </DIV></DIV>
It happens to be one of my favorites, maybe because it sounds odd, I don't know. Anyway, no offense taken. I just wasn't sure if you were joking or what.

Edit:

No worries about the uranium. U-238 (the most common isotope) has a half life of 4 billion years (I am not exaggerating), and every long lived isotope in that decay chain is an alpha emitter. In practical terms, this means there is no danger whatsoever as long as you don't eat it!

There probably isn't very much uranium in it, but even if there was a reasonable amount it probably wouldn't register much beyond backround noise as U-238 has a long half life, and decays by alpha decay, which wont register on most geigers as the alphas get stopped by the tiniest of margins. There will be the occaisonal fission, but that is much much lower probability than the decay.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting SaintGreg</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>There probably isn't very much uranium in it, but even if there was a reasonable amount it probably wouldn't register much beyond backround noise as U-238 has a long half life, and decays by alpha decay, which wont register on most geigers as the alphas get stopped by the tiniest of margins. There will be the occaisonal fission, but that is much much lower probability than the decay.

</DIV></DIV>
so what you're trying to say is that i can wear it without getting more drain bamage than i already have?

Points up to my edit ^

well, who knows if they used 238 in 1800's though?

Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of the isotope in 1896, so I
wouldn't worry about it containing fissionable material :razz: . You can't
come across U235 accidentally, so I doubt they'd put it in hats.

Edit: I never expected to be talking about radioactive hats. Wow.

Tracer-

Since you know everything, I have a question that i have NEVER been able to answer and you're my only hope now. What's a "Thyresistor?"

Tracer-
Since you know everything, I have a question that i have NEVER been
able to answer and you're my only hope now. What's a "Thyresistor?"

I'm not TB, but it's a Thyristor, not a thyresistor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyristor . Basically, it's a
three-junction semiconductor device. Diode= 1 junction. Transistor=2
junction. Thyristor = 3 junction.

maybe that's why i couldnt find it. cause the guy that asked em said "thyresistor." lol Anyway, where could i get one of these do you think? a REALLY BIG one.

This part of the world, they're hard to find. Go to your local hobby
shop (usually run by strange guys with bad haircuts and weird accents).
Ask them where to get it, they'll know. They know everything.

In this case, I didn't know. The physical sciences are my area of knowledge. I don't know very much about anything outside of those bounds.

Where to get one? Digi Key is a great source for electronic components.

I assumed U-238 because that is the isotope that has the highest natural abundance (99.3%). U-235 (0.7%) has to be "made" from naturally occurring uranium by separating it out in a process known as "enrichment".