DUE
What's that *really* bad smell on Campus Road next to Teagle Hall just across the street from the entrance to Schoelkopf Memorial? I usually just hold my nose, but a colleague of mine almost fainted and had an excruciating headache for hours after walking past the stinky area in question.
        Is it something toxic or dangerous? I walk past it daily on my way home and it makes me and others very uncomfortable sometimes. We're still alive, but should we be seeking medical assistance or getting gas masks?
        Thanks.

                                                          Holding my nose.

Dear Uncle Ezra,
Regarding your response to "Moon Watcher" on 11/24 (Q06), you may want to check with Dr. Warren Knapp, Atmospheric Sciences, Bradfield Hall, about this illusion.  It used to be covered in his "Physical Meteorology" class.  I believe you will find that atmospheric bending of the light will change the apparent position, but not the size, of the moon.  Measurements have shown that the moon still subtends essentially the same the same angle at the horizon as overhead.  The apparent larger size near the horizon is, as Dr. Maas suggests, "in the eye of the beholder."
        I really enjoy reading your column.  Keep up the good work.

                                                           Techno-derelict

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I understand that the spouses of professors maybe issued Cornell ID card. To my dismay this privilege is not extended to spouses of Teaching Associates or Lectureers. Yet spouses of students have this privilege. What do you think about that?

                                                                  Dismayed

Dear Uncle Ezra,
I was walking by Day Hall today (Dec. 7) and noticed that the flag was flying at full mast.  I was suprised to see this, since President Clinton had requested that all flags be flown at half-mast in rememberance of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Was the administration simply unaware of this, or do they feel it would not be politically correct to honor those Americanss killed by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

                                                                  Surpised

dear Uncle Ezra,
This is in reply to klepto (12/ 6/94 Q06) whose boyfriend lives in NYC.
        You mentioned several options of cheaper ways to be in touch.  For example, writing letters and looking to share rides.  I'll give a double recommendation for the ride board.  I would also suggest posting "ride needed" notes and reading "ride offered" notes in as many places as possible, for example the on-line ride board as well as the one in Willard Straight Hall (perhaps there are even others in Noyes and RPU)  Not everyone will post to all possible places.  For example, not everyone who might offer a ride even uses computers.  So to increase your chances of getting a ride, you should check them all out.  It is certainly the cheapest way to go.  I've offered rides on occasion when driving down to NYC, and since I share the cost of gas and tolls with the riders, if 3 people want to go, I've charged as little as $7 each - round trip.  It's hard to beat that.
        If you do share a ride, I would encourage you to show up a few minutes early.  The last time I offered a ride, on the way back, one of my riders arrived over half an hour late.  I don't offer rides because I'm trying to save a few extra bucks - which is nice.  I do it for two reasons.  1) It's sometimes nice to have a little company on a long trip, and 2) It's nice to be able to give someone a ride who might not be able to get there otherwise.  I know that when I was an undergrad here, I didn't have a car.
        Just remember, a bus wouldn't wait for you if you were late.  It's pretty rude to make the person with the car wait when (s)he's nice enough to offer such an inexpensive ride.
        As for phone calls which you mentioned.  A word of warning.  A phone call can cost you major $$.  I know, because my girlfriend lives in Massachusetts.  Even at the cheapest rates, a 2 hour phone call will probably cost you more than a ride share round trip to NYC.
        If your SO has E-mail, or has access to an interactive computer messaging system like "chat" or "talk," that is a nice middle ground between phone calls and letters.  You don't get to hear their actual voice, but it's much quicker than snail mail (interactive if you have access to "talk" or "chat" or something like that) and it's free! Unfortunately, my girlfriend does not have access to the internet :(.

                                             - Another long distance lover

Dear uncle Ezra
I am planning on travelling to Europe (probably just one country) and I don't have a US passport which means that I need to get a visa Since all the European Union countries have open borders, can I for example obtain a visa to France and travel to England instead without obraining a separate visa for England, i.e. can I obtain a visa dor one EU country and instead travel to another (just in case if I change my mind about the destination)
        Thanks.

                                                        Uncertain Traveler

Dear Uncle Ezra,
The footed pajamas you knew as a child (12/ 6/94 Q05) were called "Dr. Dentons" because this was a company that manufactured such things.  It was the most famous brand name.  Sometimes the general population overapplied the name, like asking for a "Kleenex".  I don't know if the Dr. Denton Co. is still in business, but I would assume so as that sort of product has been continuously popular at some level.

                                                            Just a Thought

Dear Uncle Ezra,
In 12/8/94 Q08, a reader asks, "Is it true that water spirals down the drain in different directions in the northern hemisphere than it does in the southern hemisphere?"  You said that "the faculty in Applied and Engineering Physics confirm that water spirals clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, because of 'the Coriolis Effect'."
        You (and your reader) might be interested in the following:

From: lubars@marge (Steve Lubars) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban Subject: Re: alt.folklore.urban Frequently Asked Questions Date: 3 Jan 94 19:58:53 GMT

From sci.physics FAQ, part 2/2:

Which Way Will my Bathtub Drain?     updated 16-MAR-1993 by SIC --------------------------------     original by Matthew R. Feinstein

Question: Does my bathtub drain differently depending on whether I live in the northern or southern hemisphere?

Answer: No.  There is a real effect, but it is far too small to be relevant when you pull the plug in your bathtub.


        Because the earth rotates, a fluid that flows along the earth's surface feels a "Coriolis" acceleration perpendicular to its velocity.  In the northern hemisphere low pressure storm systems spin counterclockwise.  In the southern hemisphere, they spin clockwise because the direction of the Coriolis acceleration is reversed.  This effect leads to the speculation that the bathtub vortex that you see when you pull the plug from the drain spins one way in the north and the other way in the south.
        But this acceleration is VERY weak for bathtub-scale fluid motions.  The order of magnitude of the Coriolis acceleration can be estimated from size of the "Rossby number" (see below).  The effect of the Coriolis acceleration on your bathtub vortex is SMALL.  To detect its effect on your bathtub, you would have to get out and wait until the motion in the water is far less than one rotation per day.  This would require removing thermal currents, vibration, and any other sources of noise.  Under such conditions, never occurring in the typical home, you WOULD see an effect.  To see what trouble it takes to actually see the effect, see the reference below.  Experiments have been done in both the northern and southern hemispheres to verify that under carefully controlled conditions, bathtubs drain in opposite directions due to the Coriolis acceleration from the Earth's
rotation.
        Coriolis accelerations are significant when the Rossby number is SMALL.  So, suppose we want a Rossby number of 0.1 and a bathtub-vortex length scale of 0.1 meter.  Since the earth's rotation rate is about 10^(-4)/second, the fluid velocity should be less than or equal to 2*10^(-6) meters/second.  This is a very small velocity. How small is it?  Well, we can take the analysis a step further and calculate another, more famous dimensionless parameter, the Reynolds number.


        The Reynolds number is = L*U*density/viscosity


        Assuming that physicists bathe in hot water the viscosity will be about 0.005 poise and the density will be about 1.0, so the Reynolds Number is about 4*10^(-2).
        Now, life at low Reynolds numbers is different from life at high Reynolds numbers.  In particular, at low Reynolds numbers, fluid physics is dominated by friction and diffusion, rather than by inertia: the time it would take for a particle of fluid to move a significant distance due to an acceleration is greater than the time
it takes for the particle to break up due to diffusion.
The same effect has been accused of responsibility for the direction water circulates when you flush a toilet.  This is surely nonsense.  In this case, the water rotates in the direction which the pipe points which carries the water from the tank to the bowl.

Reference: Trefethen, L.M. et al, Nature 207 1084-5 (1965).

****end included message****

So what do the faculty in Applied and Engineering Physics have to say about this?  Or did you not use the word "drain" when you asked them?

                                              Don't know which way to turn

Dear Uncle Ezra-
The Water Spiral Down the Drain is up there in the questions which bother young physicists! And In fact, I am pretty sure that the latest scoop is that in fact water spirals with almost equal likelyhood clockwise or counterclockwise. If you took absolutely still water, there would be a preference due to the coriolis effect,
which is basically the same effect which makes it hard to throw a ball to a friend when you are both riding a merry-go round (Please, try this is your home, but not around windows!) But for a bowl of water on the earth's surface the effect is overwhelmed by little currents from various surfaces in the water.  The should be sources, not surfaces.
        For bigger things like hurricanes, the effect is significant, and hurricanes do turn different directions north and south of the quator.
        Anyway, if you wanted to check this your could easily do the experiment in your tub at home!
        Another problem made famous by Feynman is the question of what happens if you take a rotating lawn sprinkler, put it in a tank of water, and pull water into the nozzles instead of spraying water out. Which direction would it rotate? People are still publishing papers about that one. The answer seems to be it rotates only slightly , and in the opposite direction from when spraying.
        Anyway, just wanted to interject my $0.02! Thanks.

                                Graduate Physicist with time on his hands.

Dear Uncle Ezra,
Regarding the response to the question of the coriolis force and the direction of swirling water in a bathtub, experimental evidence has shown that the answer you quoted is false.  While indeed large scale phenomena such as hurricanes exhibit this behavior, small tanks of water have many real world phenomena occuring that make the coriolis effect irrelevant.  Basically, what the answer given would only apply in an ideal case that has never been shown to exist in reality.
        In fact, I remember of an experiment at MIT a few years back, where it was found that the rotation direction was pretty much randomly determined by chance, or by a small swirling of the water days ahead of the opening of the drain.
        This is yet another example of where a physical effect certainly does exist, but the manifestations of it are seen only in certain problems and yet rumors will circulate such as the one given to you. In fact, your readers might desire a simple method by which to determine the fallacy of the argument given.  Consider a town in Africa where the equator passes through.  Then, conduct the experiment above the equator, below the equator, and on the equator.  According to the theory quoted, the water should then fall straight down the drain when the tub is placed on the equator!  But, please don't take my word for it.  Simple research will show that your "applied physics faculty member" was in error.

                                          An Applied Physics grad student.

                                            (Unsigned for obvious reasons)

Dear Uncle E.
What do you do about a person that is always the first on to stand up and critize someone and this person is very far from "perfect" themself. Itis really tiering to listen to this person go on and on.

                                                      Yawning and Yawning.

Dear Uncle Ezra,
This is No More Mr. Naive Guy again (12/ 8/94 Q03). I'll have to type it all over again.  I was prompted to drop you a note after browsing thru some recent postings and reading several concerning a single topic: how women seem to be attracted to abusive males while "nice guys" only (and repeatedly) get a pat on the back...  So, what's new out there?
        The above used to drive me crazy too until I grew up and realized that, hey, some things are just the way they are and there is precious little I, or anyone else, can do about them.At one point, I remember, I was so exasperated by the female behavior that I almost regretted I was born heterosexual.
        Finally, it dawned upon me that sexuality can be viewed (and subsequently cured) as a form of an addiction. Hence, I went "cold turkey".  It's simple-all you need is strong will in order to succeed.  No need to change your character and become abusive yourself, but you also shouldn't waste time despairing over the unpredictability of the great question mark that female behavior is.
        So I nicely became non-sexual for a change without maiming myself (physically or psychologically). And I feel great! It saves so much energy. Consider this -you don't have to think,for example, how cute that blonde is sitting next to you in class. Likewise, you're not susceptible to the little games that women enjoy playing with (in fact, ON) us 24 hrs/day.  No more being used as a private (and free) tutor in math... No more being stood up because Her Female Highness had a sudden change of mind in the last minute (without even bothering to call).  And not even to mention "sudden changes of mind" concerning whole relationships without any warning signs whatsoever  ("It's not you,it's me... Shall we stay friends?" AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!). And on and on and on...
        Instead, I immersed myself in study and and work. At least here, at Cornell, there are ample opportunities for both. That is much more rewarding than being treated like a doormat by those with a double dose of the X chromosome.
        My message to Nice, Fed Up, Intrigued, and all those vexed and perplexed by women is- Lighten up, folks! Refuse to be their plaything, to be used and disposed of at will! You may (or may not) follow my example and divorce yourself from sexuality. In any case, be yourself-don't change your being nice, polite, and friendly. That is one big plus for you. Simply deny them the pleasure of shamelessly manipulating with you. You'll be surprised how surprised THEY will be when they find out that they have one toy less to play with.
        Who knows? Maybe one day the glorious members of the other gender will clean up their act if enough of us do as I did. Anyway, I'll be SANE when it comes.

                                                              Your nephew,

                                                  No More Mister Naive Guy

Dear Uncle Ez,
I was curious, why is a bear claw called a bear claw?

                                                        Scratching my head

Uncle,
I guess that it must be the Holiday spirit that brings out the goodness in some people.  If it is because of the Holiday - than why can't they be kind - just any other day? Example - A person that normally will not give me the time of day - waved to me this morning - I was shocked.
        Have a good Holiday!!

                                                             Still Smiling

Dear  elcnU,
I love your column!  Have a great break!  I'll be down in the southern hemisphere watching the water swirl around :) (the wrong way?;)

                                                                     A Fan