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Things you've always wondered about but couldn't be bothered to find out


Mr Romanov Saviour of HMFC

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7 hours ago, A Boy Named Crow said:

Similar, train related, question. I’ve noticed on some electric trains (particularly the older ones, like those that used to do the Hamilton loop out of Glasgow Central) there’s often a loud, rumbling buzzing noise, accompanied by a lot of vibration when they are at the station. Why is that?

 

Sorry I’d have to hear the noise but from what you said I can only think of it being the powering down of the train on approach to the powering up of the train departing the station through the electrical current  

 

Train drivers on here might have a better answer 

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been here before

To get or to give pelters.

 

What is or was a pelter?

 

Was it originaly a thing or is it more to pelt with ridicule, abuse, punches? Something to do with animal hides?

 

 

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Why do newscasters tell us that someone has ‘pleaded’ guilty? Isn’t there a past tense of pleaded...ie, pled?

 

 

edit...found the answer...seems I WAS bothered enough to find out after all ?

 

 

FF9CFB07-1453-4933-9108-30C0A24AF34E.jpeg

Edited by Mr Sifter
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1 hour ago, LeftBack said:

Loser type post imo

 

:rofl:

 

Enjoy it while it lasts. You'll be soon like everyone else again. 

 

Congrats BTW. What did you win? My works a bit mental in December so I totally missed this competition. 

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Better call Saul

The fire station at sighthill once used the barrier opposite where it would lift   if heading west and maybe saving valuable time

 

Why not now ?

Edited by Ferris Bueller
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This NASA spacecraft "New Horizons".  It was launched 13 years ago and is travelling at 53,000 km/hour.

 

It just flew within 3,500 km of an object that is 6.5 billion km away, and is a mere 33 km long ... in almost complete darkness. All equipment is still working perfectly despite temperatures approaching absolute zero.  .

 

I know that it's all down to mathematics but, seriously, how did they do that? 

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What happened to the brushes that Curlers used to use, they all seem to use the blackboard erasers on a brush shank these days? 

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39 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

What happened to the brushes that Curlers used to use, they all seem to use the blackboard erasers on a brush shank these days? 

 

The straw brooms used to disintegrate, and left we bits scattered all over the ice.  This ruined some shots at key times, and it was taking up too much time to repeatedly clean up the debris.

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Why is it that police often stake the obvious?

 

For example, let’s say a dismembered body is found in a suitcase. A police spokesperson then says “we’re treating the death as suspicious”. No shit Sherlock! 

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13 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

The straw brooms used to disintegrate, and left we bits scattered all over the ice.  This ruined some shots at key times, and it was taking up too much time to repeatedly clean up the debris.

Well there you go?

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36 minutes ago, Swanny17 said:

Why is it that police often stake the obvious?

 

For example, let’s say a dismembered body is found in a suitcase. A police spokesperson then says “we’re treating the death as suspicious”. No shit Sherlock! 

 

How's about Gareth Williams?

 

Naked, padlocked in a holdall placed in his bathtub...and dead.

 

"Move on, nothing to see here", say the Met.

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1 hour ago, Swanny17 said:

Why is it that police often stake the obvious?

 

For example, let’s say a dismembered body is found in a suitcase. A police spokesperson then says “we’re treating the death as suspicious”. No shit Sherlock! 

 

Never played hide and seek at the old sawmill on an icy day?

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2 hours ago, Swanny17 said:

Why is it that police often stake the obvious?

 

For example, let’s say a dismembered body is found in a suitcase. A police spokesperson then says “we’re treating the death as suspicious”. No shit Sherlock! 

Unexplained death covers most,even the most obvious axe murdered victims..

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2 hours ago, Boof said:

 

How's about Gareth Williams?

 

Naked, padlocked in a holdall placed in his bathtub...and dead.

 

"Move on, nothing to see here", say the Met.

 

 

Inside the HQ of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service:

 

"And Dmitri, make sure his death looks like an accident."  :whistling:

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Do government shutdowns ever occur in the UK or indeed countries outwith the US? I've never heard this happening outside the US, although I'm sure it does.

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2 hours ago, Jambos_1874 said:

Do government shutdowns ever occur in the UK or indeed countries outwith the US? I've never heard this happening outside the US, although I'm sure it does.

 

An interesting article on the subject: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/22/why-other-countries-dont-have-government-shutdowns-2/

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Black Heoles. 

When your watching a programme about Black Holes on Discovery or the like, there's always a depiction of the Black Hole as a black disc with a distorted edged, but how big is the disc? Is it about the size of my TV? 

The size of the North Pole? The size of Saturn??????? 

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50 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

Black Heoles. 

When your watching a programme about Black Holes on Discovery or the like, there's always a depiction of the Black Hole as a black disc with a distorted edged, but how big is the disc? Is it about the size of my TV? 

The size of the North Pole? The size of Saturn??????? 

are you meaning the diameter of the disk? or the thickness of the disk? That would all be determined by the size of the centre of the black hole or singularity. Like people they come in all different sizes

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1 hour ago, Dawnrazor said:

Black Heoles. 

When your watching a programme about Black Holes on Discovery or the like, there's always a depiction of the Black Hole as a black disc with a distorted edged, but how big is the disc? Is it about the size of my TV? 

The size of the North Pole? The size of Saturn??????? 

 

As mentioned by milky, black holes come in different sizes.  Some are small as a city, some as large as the size of our sun.  Here's some additional info.

https://www.space.com/15421-black-holes-facts-formation-discovery-sdcmp.html

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4 minutes ago, Justin Z said:

Also, they're definitely not discs--they are spherical.

I presumed that, I find the whole Black Hole thing fascinating. 

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3 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

I presumed that, I find the whole Black Hole thing fascinating. 

 

Agreed. They might have a disc of matter around them called an accretion disc, which is basically a result of them hoovering everything up around them--just like in the solar system where all the planets are more or less on the same plane, the matter will do the same, matching the rotation angle of the black hole.

 

But yeah, the hole itself is a sphere.

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The singularity, I can't get my head around it!!! I understand that Black Holes are diffiirent sizes but would the singularity be infinitesimaly small? 

The maths involved on this subject are just mental!! 

 

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Well, I think the singularity is a mathematical construct, but since event horizons get in the way it's not like we've ever actually "seen" a singularity. Maybe they don't exist, maybe they are totally different than predicted, who knows.

 

I think Quantum Gravity might have singularities with nonzero size. Which instinctively makes sense since black hole event horizons come in all sorts of sizes.

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4 hours ago, Lemongrab said:

Why is it ok to write 'goodnight' but not 'goodmorning', 'goodafternoon' or 'goodevening'?

 

Is the form “goodnight” a contracted adjective?

eg “a goodnight kiss”

If you were saying bye to someone at night it would still be “good night”

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23 hours ago, Lemongrab said:

Why is it ok to write 'goodnight' but not 'goodmorning', 'goodafternoon' or 'goodevening'?

Never seen Goodnight written like that.

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2 hours ago, hughesie27 said:

Never seen Goodnight written like that.

It's quite common.  Did you ever watch the sitcom 'Goodnight Sweetheart' or listen to the Billy Joel song 'Goodnight Saigon'?  I think there's a few films with 'Goodnight' in the title too.

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3 hours ago, hughesie27 said:

Never seen Goodnight written like that.

As far as I'm aware, that is the correct way to spell it.

 

I think you would only split it (Good night) if you were saying maybe 'was it a good night out"?

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Sawdust Caesar

If you visit your elderly mum (say) and find that she has died in her sleep who do you notify of the death? It's not an emergency so you wouldn't dial 999, would it be her GP? Would her GP be the person who issues the death certificate? Would an autopsy have to be carried out even if there wasn't any suspicious circumstances?

 

I'm not looking for a way to murder my elderly mum and get away with it in case someone wrongly infers that.

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1 hour ago, Sawdust Caesar said:

If you visit your elderly mum (say) and find that she has died in her sleep who do you notify of the death? It's not an emergency so you wouldn't dial 999, would it be her GP? Would her GP be the person who issues the death certificate? Would an autopsy have to be carried out even if there wasn't any suspicious circumstances?

 

I'm not looking for a way to murder my elderly mum and get away with it in case someone wrongly infers that.

if it was expected call your gp. if not call 111. 

 

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/money-legal/legal-issues/what-to-do-when-someone-dies/

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Sawdust Caesar
3 hours ago, gjcc said:

 

Alternatively, I can get you a good deal on a hacksaw and heavy duty bin bags. 

I've got that covered, what I really need is a loan of a boat and some concrete blocks.

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Samuel Camazzola

Where's the thread regarding recent events in Hawick gone? 

 

Randomly, why are the display signs at bus stops in Edinburgh (the ones indicating what buses stop there) half the height the used to be? Health and safety? Less of a hazard when exposed to high winds? 

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On 15/01/2019 at 16:15, Samuel Camazzola said:

Randomly, why are the display signs at bus stops in Edinburgh (the ones indicating what buses stop there) half the height the used to be? Health and safety? Less of a hazard when exposed to high winds? 

 

May be as simple as the company providing/cleaning and maintaining the bus stops (JC Decaux now maybe?) changed a couple of years ago so probably just in line with what they provide elsewhere

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luckyBatistuta
On 14/01/2019 at 15:38, Sawdust Caesar said:

I'm not looking for a way to murder my elderly mum and get away with it in case someone wrongly infers that.

 

On 14/01/2019 at 17:43, Sawdust Caesar said:

Thanks, much obliged.

 

Wonder no more ...Sawdust Caesars real name is David Mitchell, he is 48 years old and he lived in Damside. 

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John Gentleman
On 07/01/2019 at 04:50, Jambos_1874 said:

Do government shutdowns ever occur in the UK or indeed countries outwith the US? I've never heard this happening outside the US, although I'm sure it does.

It's happened once in Australia – in 1975. The Queen's representative (Governor General) responded by dissolving both houses of parliament and calling fresh elections. Problem solved.

One of the handier features of being a constitutional monarchy. 

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On 11/01/2019 at 17:11, Maple Leaf said:

 

As mentioned by milky, black holes come in different sizes.  Some are small as a city, some as large as the size of our sun.  Here's some additional info.

https://www.space.com/15421-black-holes-facts-formation-discovery-sdcmp.html

 

Even more scary is that fact that one's the size of our sun, relatively speaking, are nothing. 

 

"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TON_618

 

From the size of this region and the speed it is orbiting, the law of gravity reveals that the mass of the black hole in TON 618 is 66 billion solar masses.[2] With a mass this high, TON 618 falls into the new classification of Ultramassive Black Holes. [8] [9] A black hole of this mass has a Schwarzschild radius of 1,300 AU."

 

1AU is the distance between the Sun and the Earth.  Pluto, at it's furthest away point in it's orbit is a squeak under 50AU.

 

The Universe is a terrifying place, and absolutely impossible to visualise the scale of some (or most) of the things out there. Unbelievably fascinating though! :thumbsup:

 

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2 hours ago, John Gentleman said:

It's happened once in Australia – in 1975. The Queen's representative (Governor General) responded by dissolving both houses of parliament and calling fresh elections. Problem solved.

One of the handier features of being a constitutional monarchy. 

 

More to do with it's previous colonial status?

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Sawdust Caesar
14 hours ago, luckyBatistuta said:

 

 

Wonder no more ...Sawdust Caesars real name is David Mitchell, he is 48 years old and he lived in Damside. 

:laugh2:  The old bag has got a 5 year stay of execution, unless I get out early on good behaviour.

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luckyBatistuta
1 hour ago, Sawdust Caesar said:

:laugh2:  The old bag has got a 5 year stay of execution, unless I get out early on good behaviour.

 

So 5 it is then ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, tian447 said:

 

Even more scary is that fact that one's the size of our sun, relatively speaking, are nothing. 

 

"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TON_618

 

From the size of this region and the speed it is orbiting, the law of gravity reveals that the mass of the black hole in TON 618 is 66 billion solar masses.[2] With a mass this high, TON 618 falls into the new classification of Ultramassive Black Holes. [8] [9] A black hole of this mass has a Schwarzschild radius of 1,300 AU."

 

1AU is the distance between the Sun and the Earth.  Pluto, at it's furthest away point in it's orbit is a squeak under 50AU.

 

The Universe is a terrifying place, and absolutely impossible to visualise the scale of some (or most) of the things out there. Unbelievably fascinating though! :thumbsup:

 

 

You're right.  Human evolution didn't need us to comprehend large numbers in order to survive, so our brains can't grasp things that size. 

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Caught a few minutes of the movie "Darkest Hour" earlier on and there was a scene in what I assume is the commons. Do the parties always sit on the same side of the room or does it change based on who is in power? 

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2 hours ago, Thommo414 said:

Caught a few minutes of the movie "Darkest Hour" earlier on and there was a scene in what I assume is the commons. Do the parties always sit on the same side of the room or does it change based on who is in power? 

Changes based on who's in charge. 

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3 hours ago, Thommo414 said:

Caught a few minutes of the movie "Darkest Hour" earlier on and there was a scene in what I assume is the commons. Do the parties always sit on the same side of the room or does it change based on who is in power? 

When I seen that film all I could think was Churchill reminded me of Boris Johnson. And didn't Churchills family come out and say that the role was played perfectly?

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