Useless (but interesting) trivia

[lacanteen]

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[GJarrett]

My son lives in the Minneapolis/St Paul area and told me once that he lived farther north than most Canadians. I couldn't imagine that and had to look at a map to confirm, but he's right.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

My son lives in the Minneapolis/St Paul area and told me once that he lived farther north than most Canadians. I couldn't imagine that and had to look at a map to confirm, but he's right.

Reminds me of another useless but...

I was tracking an Amazon order. The tracking page has a map showing my home and eventually the delivery vehicle progress. For this order the map was completely blue. So after confirming my house was not currently underwater, I zoomed out repeatedly until land appeared.

For tracking, Amazon thought I lived somewhere in the Indian Ocean. But the package arrived just fine and on schedule.

I find it interesting but useless to know Amazon does not populate the tracking destination from the same place they get the address for the delivery label. Seems like a huge waste of resources to not have that automated, although if it was I suppose there is a 50/50 chance my package would now be at the bottom of the Indian ocean.

 

[Vlad Soare]

My son lives in the Minneapolis/St Paul area and told me once that he lived farther north than most Canadians. I couldn't imagine that and had to look at a map to confirm, but he's right.

Hmmm... Doesn't look like that to me:

Unless most Canadians live in Toronto. Which, according to this link, doesn't seem to be the case:
https://www.worldometers.info/population/largest-cities-in-canada/

All the cities on the right side of the table are north of the red line.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Sorry, I don't buy that.
First, the feeling you get in your mouth is not that of hot. It's a clearly different feeling from the one you get when sipping, say, hot coffee. So the taste receptors in your tongue must be sending a completely different signal to the brain, and not just a standard "hot" feeling turned up a notch.
Second, the feeling that you're burning comes later on and comes not in your mouth, but mostly in your head and then in the rest of your body. And again, it's completely different from the feeling you get after you've eaten, say, hot soup, or drunk a hot cup of tea. So, while the effect may indeed be caused by this capsaicin, it can't be the same signal that you get from contacting a hot substance. The brain certainly acts like it knows the difference.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Hmmm... Doesn't look like that to me:

Unless most Canadians live in Toronto. Which, according to this link, doesn't seem to be the case:
https://www.worldometers.info/population/largest-cities-in-canada/

All the cities on the right side of the table are north of the red line.

You are overlooking the "you call that living?" principle.

 

[Bob Lob Law]

Sorry, I don't buy that.
First, the feeling you get in your mouth is not that of hot. It's a clearly different feeling from the one you get when sipping, say, hot coffee. So the taste receptors in your tongue must be sending a completely different signal to the brain, and not just a standard "hot" feeling turned up a notch.
Second, the feeling that you're burning comes later on and comes not in your mouth, but mostly in your head and then in the rest of your body. And again, it's completely different from the feeling you get after you've eaten, say, hot soup, or drunk a hot cup of tea. So, while the effect may indeed be caused by this capsaicin, it can't be the same signal that you get from contacting a hot substance. The brain certainly acts like it knows the difference.

It doesn't mean temperature hot, but spicey hot.

 

[Vlad Soare]

It doesn't mean temperature hot, but spicey hot.

Exactly. It's a different kind of hot. And the brain knows the difference between them.
So the explanation that it's your own body heat that fools the tongue into sending fake hot messages to the brain can't be right.

 

[Bob Lob Law]

It is heat activated, just not like you are thinking.

Capsaicin works by activating the TRPV1 receptor on sensory neurons, creating a sensation of heat or burning and, with repeated exposure, reducing pain signaling.
Molecular Mechanism
Capsaicin is a lipophilic compound found in chili peppers that binds to the transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) receptor, a non-selective cation channel present on sensory neurons, mast cells, keratinocytes, and endothelial cells
creative-enzymes.com
creative-enzymes.com
+1
. Normally, TRPV1 responds to high temperatures (above 109°F or 43°C), low pH, or physical stimuli. When capsaicin binds, it forces the channel to open at normal body temperature, allowing Na⁺ and Ca²⁺ ions to flow into the neuron, which triggers depolarization and sends a pain signal to the brain, perceived as heat or burning
creative-enzymes.com
creative-enzymes.com
+1
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