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

[Dawnrazor]

25 minutes ago, Paolo said:

 

If I had the chance of a 3some I'd want a bit of difference between the two woman, one of the twins above yes, but with a Kimberley Walsh or Gillian Anderson or Jan Anderson or Angela White or Rochelle Humes or Konnie Huq, it just seems a waste of an opportunity to have two woman who look so alike. 

*edit*

This is a subject I've a lot of thought to. 

 

Edited May 8, 2018 by Dawnrazor

[Morgan]

49 minutes ago, Paolo said:

 

Wouldn't.

[Paolo]

I’m obviously easily pleased. 

[superjack]

7 hours ago, Dawnrazor said:

Twins, I've never seen the attraction. 

Schwarzenegger and devito weren't related in real life.

[I P Knightley]

Has a heterosexual music artist ever talked about a new album saying something along the lines of, "a lot of the songs deal with my sexuality."?

 

Not 'always' wondered, just sometimes. 

[Morgan]

18 hours ago, superjack said:

Schwarzenegger and devito weren't related in real life.

Shit Jack!

 

You've spoilt that for me now.

[Maple Leaf]

19 hours ago, superjack said:

Schwarzenegger and devito weren't related in real life.

Oh no!!!!

 

Now you've ruined the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it.  The only way I could tell them apart was their accents.

[Norm]

I could be wrong but I'm sure they're in pre-production for a Twins sequel with Eddie Murphy as the missing 3rd Twin, or triplet I suppose. 

[I P Knightley]

I wonder how tall Keeley Hawes is. 

[Sydney]

15 hours ago, I P Knightley said:

Has a heterosexual music artist ever talked about a new album saying something along the lines of, "a lot of the songs deal with my sexuality."?

 

Not 'always' wondered, just sometimes. 

 

I am sure Marvin Gaye said (when bringing out "Let's Get it On", "I can't see anything wrong with sex between consenting anybodies. I think we make far too much of it. After all, one's genitals are just one important part of the magnificent human body ... I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE."^[

Edited May 10, 2018 by Sydney

[Matthew Le Tissier]

On 24/04/2018 at 08:41, Smithee said:

 

 

Historically it formed part of the border between Lancashire and Cheshire, but border changes mean a fairly small stretch goes through the extreme south of Manchester before joining the irwell at the Manchester ship canal and later becoming the Mersey again.

 

 

I suspect it must be close between Tranmere Rovers and Stockport County, I can't help wondering if they got that right

Used to watch Stockport as a bairn and one of the stands straddles the river.

[iantjambo]

On 08/05/2018 at 13:04, Boris said:

 

 

On 08/05/2018 at 13:08, Morgan said:

 

Very good guys.

 

Keep it up

 

On 08/05/2018 at 20:02, superjack said:

Schwarzenegger and devito weren't related in real life.

 

On 09/05/2018 at 17:18, Normthebarman said:

I could be wrong but I'm sure they're in pre-production for a Twins sequel with Eddie Murphy as the missing 3rd Twin, or triplet I suppose. 

 

Any excuse to post this pic of Kelly Preston from ‘Twins’.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by iantjambo

[Morgan]

2 minutes ago, iantjambo said:

 

 

 

 

Any excuse to post this pic of Kelly Preston from ‘Twins’.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh my good God.

 

 

[Unknown user]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le Tissier said:

Used to watch Stockport as a bairn and one of the stands straddles the river.

Now that's local knowledge! Fair dos 

 

[Matthew Le Tissier]

8 minutes ago, Smithee said:

Now that's local knowledge! Fair dos 

 

 

[Unknown user]

16 minutes ago, Matthew Le Tissier said:

 

Sorry to do this mate but I checked as I was sure it wasn't THAT close- that body of water is apparently Sykes Reservoir, the Mersey is some way north

 

 

[LeftBack]

Why couldn't, as a single one-off, the government just print a billion pounds and use it to upgrade, for example, all school buildings and hospitals and invest in transport infrastructure. I know it would lead to inflation but I don't know how.

[Unknown user]

3 minutes ago, LeftBack said:

Why couldn't, as a single one-off, the government just print a billion pounds and use it to upgrade, for example, all school buildings and hospitals and invest in transport infrastructure. I know it would lead to inflation but I don't know how.

Printing money doesn't mean you've created wealth, money is just paper that represents wealth. 

 

If you double the amount of paper for the same amount of wealth, all it means is that each note is worth half of what it was. 

[LeftBack]

1 hour ago, Smithee said:

Printing money doesn't mean you've created wealth, money is just paper that represents wealth. 

 

If you double the amount of paper for the same amount of wealth, all it means is that each note is worth half of what it was. 

Nope - still don't get it...but then I'm stoopid

[Unknown user]

16 minutes ago, LeftBack said:

Nope - still don't get it...but then I'm stoopid

Nah, economics is complicated.

 

Money represents the value of the economy. The economy is made up of lots of things, but for simplicity let's say the economy is 100 bars of gold sitting in a vault, something that everyone agrees has value.

 

If you have 100 bank notes, each note is worth a bar of gold - simple.

But if you print another 100 bank notes, no gold bars, the things that everyone agrees have worth, are added. Each bank note is now only worth half a gold bar.

 

Hope this helps!

[Jambos_1874]

1 hour ago, Smithee said:

Nah, economics is complicated.

 

Money represents the value of the economy. The economy is made up of lots of things, but for simplicity let's say the economy is 100 bars of gold sitting in a vault, something that everyone agrees has value.

 

If you have 100 bank notes, each note is worth a bar of gold - simple.

But if you print another 100 bank notes, no gold bars, the things that everyone agrees have worth, are added. Each bank note is now only worth half a gold bar.

 

Hope this helps!

 

So why print money in times of financial crisis? Quantitive easing was the term I remember. How does printing money actually help?

[Unknown user]

3 minutes ago, Jambos_1874 said:

 

So why print money in times of financial crisis? Quantitive easing was the term I remember. How does printing money actually help?

Governments want growth at just the right rates, QE is normally used specifically when inflation is close to zero.

Economics is complicated, I don't claim to understand it all, but if it were as simple as printing money to solve your problems all countries would do it. But history has shown us that it will likely lead to hyperinflation if used too much. 

 

[Jambos_1874]

1 hour ago, Smithee said:

Governments want growth at just the right rates, QE is normally used specifically when inflation is close to zero.

Economics is complicated, I don't claim to understand it all, but if it were as simple as printing money to solve your problems all countries would do it. But history has shown us that it will likely lead to hyperinflation if used too much. 

 

 

Thanks. Another one; the UK debt is 80-90% of GDP. How realistic is it that this will be paid off or reduced to a manageable level under the Torie's plans? I am not a Tory voter but just genuinely interested to see how realiatic and achievable their plans are.

[Unknown user]

2 hours ago, Jambos_1874 said:

 

Thanks. Another one; the UK debt is 80-90% of GDP. How realistic is it that this will be paid off or reduced to a manageable level under the Torie's plans? I am not a Tory voter but just genuinely interested to see how realiatic and achievable their plans are.

Well that's political opinion and I wouldn't trust a tory as far as I could throw him - you should bear that in mind.

I'm out of the loop a bit politically with living away so long and losing interest, but as I understand it the Tories haven't met any/many of their economic goals from the last election. Maybe someone a bit more clued up can give facts and figures though. 

[3fingersreid]

Not sure how to word this but at Edinburgh airport as you head towards the holiday inn express, there is a blue aircraft shaped object ( without wings or windows) at the side of the runway , what is it used for ? 

[John Gentleman]

13 hours ago, LeftBack said:

Why couldn't, as a single one-off, the government just print a billion pounds and use it to upgrade, for example, all school buildings and hospitals and invest in transport infrastructure. I know it would lead to inflation but I don't know how.

You'd have more money chasing the same number of goods/services, leading to increased prices for these goods/services. That's the way capitalism works.

There's nothing wrong per se with a country 'printing money' (aka, 'quantitative easing') to get things done, providing it has a sound balance sheet (its assets are worth more than its liabilities) and that the money is used for investment rather than consumption. It's actually classic Keynesianism and was deployed by many countries to counter the GFC.

Further, because developed countries' currencies are no longer tied to reserves of gold (fiat currencies) there's not much to stop them printing money. About the only brake which can be applied is by international markets devaluing their currency against (mainly) the $US if they print too much, which leads to even more inflation....... 

 

[Cade]

6 hours ago, 3fingersreid said:

Not sure how to word this but at Edinburgh airport as you head towards the holiday inn express, there is a blue aircraft shaped object ( without wings or windows) at the side of the runway , what is it used for ? 

That's used to train the airport fire fighters. It's set ablaze during test runs

[Cade]

These days, money has no intrinsic value.

Cash is no longer linked to a physical commodity (which historically has been gold).

Money is now worth what the international and domestic markets say it is.

 

Quantitative Easing is not printing money per se, but it's when the government "sells" bonds and other assets to the central bank (Bank of England), which in turn "buys" assets of other financial institutions.

The end result is that the central bank ends up with more assets but less cash, as it's used that cash to buy up the assets.

The financial institutions which receive this cash now have a big cash surplus, which they are supposed to then lend out to businesses, thereby stimulating the economy.

 

As the Bank of England didn't actually have any cash available during the crash with which to buy bonds and assets, the Government authorised the "printing" of new cash. They just spun money out of thin air then gave it to the other banks.

Of course, the banks didn't end up lending it out, but used the cash to balance their own books and maintain their ludicrous executive bonus schemes.

 

Increasing the overall amount of cash in a system results in inflation. If you have more money available, then companies put their prices up in order to take advantage of the extra cash and to increase their profits. Their suppliers then put their prices up accordingly and so the price of everything rises, which drives inflation.

We saw this in the mid 1970's when unions had too much power and drove wages up by insane amounts every year. Prices rose fast, so then the next year the unions got more huge wage rises for workers so prices rose and this went around and around until inflation was running at eye watering rates:
1982    8.60%    
1981    11.90%    
1980    18.00%    
1979    13.40%    
1978    8.30%    
1977    15.80%    
1976    16.50%    
1975    24.20%    
1974    16.00%    

 

Inflation can be lowered by the government taking money out of the system by way of taxation. Less free cash available to companies and households means companies start lowering prices to compete for the smaller amount of cash, so inflation falls.

Inflation can also be managed by the central bank by the use of interest rates.  Higher interest rates encourage saving, so money is taken out of the system. Higher interest rates also make borrowing more expensive, so businesses and households don't borrow as much money, so the supply of money slows down and less cash is in the system. Of course, higher interest rates also means that the economy as a whole falters as to much cash can be taken out of the system and deflation can come into effect.

Deflation is a death spiral as falling prices leads people and businesses to not spend, waiting for the prices to fall further. Then companies lower their prices to try to attract customers, who then don't spend as they wait for the next price fall and so on and so on until nobody is buying anything and prices are so low that companies don't make profits. End result is massive unemployment, bankruptcy and a wrecked economy.

Lowering interest rates discourages savings and encourages borrowing, stimulating people to spend and growing the economy. This pushes inflation up. 

This is the current situation:
 

 

[jamboy1982]

6 hours ago, 3fingersreid said:

Not sure how to word this but at Edinburgh airport as you head towards the holiday inn express, there is a blue aircraft shaped object ( without wings or windows) at the side of the runway , what is it used for ? 

Fire training I think. 

[Unknown user]

7 hours ago, 3fingersreid said:

Not sure how to word this but at Edinburgh airport as you head towards the holiday inn express, there is a blue aircraft shaped object ( without wings or windows) at the side of the runway , what is it used for ? 

 

51 minutes ago, Cade said:

That's used to train the airport fire fighters. It's set ablaze during test runs

 

20 minutes ago, jamboy1982 said:

Fire training I think. 

 

Correct, most airports have one. I saw the one at Schiphol up in flames a few years ago, the plane driver came on the radio to tell us what it was and not to worry 

[3fingersreid]

5 minutes ago, Smithee said:

 

 

 

Correct, most airports have one. I saw the one at Schiphol up in flames a few years ago, the plane driver came on the radio to tell us what it was and not to worry 

Cheers , might've been nicer for the passengers on planes if it was in a more discreet position tho  ?

[Justin Z]

18 hours ago, LeftBack said:

Why couldn't, as a single one-off, the government just print a billion pounds and use it to upgrade, for example, all school buildings and hospitals and invest in transport infrastructure. I know it would lead to inflation but I don't know how.

 

18 hours ago, Smithee said:

Printing money doesn't mean you've created wealth, money is just paper that represents wealth. 

 

If you double the amount of paper for the same amount of wealth, all it means is that each note is worth half of what it was. 

 

17 hours ago, Smithee said:

Nah, economics is complicated.

 

Money represents the value of the economy. The economy is made up of lots of things, but for simplicity let's say the economy is 100 bars of gold sitting in a vault, something that everyone agrees has value.

 

If you have 100 bank notes, each note is worth a bar of gold - simple.

But if you print another 100 bank notes, no gold bars, the things that everyone agrees have worth, are added. Each bank note is now only worth half a gold bar.

 

Hope this helps!

 

This is a good start but don't forget, LeftBack has asked why the government doesn't print a billion pounds and use it to pay for things like upgrades/refurbishments and transport. So it's not as simple as just saying printing the money will dilute all other money. I'd also quibble a bit and say money doesn't represent the value of the economy per se, plus as a general concept for our daily lives that's kind of a meaningless way to look at it anyway.

 

A much more accessible way to define money is as a receipt for labour performed which we can then exchange for goods, or for someone else's labour.

 

With that definition in mind: If the government prints a billion quid which it then spends into the economy by purchasing goods and employing workers to utilise these goods in public works projects, it's not going to be a scenario like the one you described with the gold bars where their value is diluted by half. There will be value added to the economy by the labour workers engage in and the products bought with the money--and then those workers will have money to spend personally, too. It might not be a 1:1 ratio, it might only add say £500 million of value to the economy . . . or, if it's used especially wisely it might actually turn out to be worth more than £1 billion to the economy. But regardless, it will definitely not just flatly devalue all other money with no other measurable impact at all.

 

Absolutely correct that it has to be done properly, in a controlled fashion, or you get hyperinflation and such. But the number one cause of inflation is not the creation of money, it's that the way 99% of money is created in modern economies is by loaning it, which means interest has to be paid to someone (private banks). But the interest owing hasn't been created! Only the principal balance exists as money. So the only way to make the money to pay for the interest is by loaning more money, at more interest--a vicious cycle. This fractional reserve system is literal fraud, but it's the system we're stuck under.

 

Edited May 12, 2018 by Justin Z

[peter_hmfc]

Given that football these days is becoming increasingly ruined by excessive amounts of TV money, doesn't that mean that people like me who watch it through illegal streams are helping mitigate the damage from TV money?

 

If so, you're all welcome.

 

[FWJ]

On 12/05/2018 at 09:29, 3fingersreid said:

Cheers , might've been nicer for the passengers on planes if it was in a more discreet position tho  ?

I’ve often thought just that!

[Sawdust Caesar]

On ‎12‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 09:22, Smithee said:

 

 

 

Correct, most airports have one. I saw the one at Schiphol up in flames a few years ago, the plane driver came on the radio to tell us what it was and not to worry 

Why don't you call them pilots? Or was that on purpose?

 

Why is it when I'm walking home from work (takes about an hour) and I feel I need a pee when I'm about ,say, half an hour from home but it's not urgent enough that I need to go somewhere immediately and even when I get to my stair door I'm not bursting, or when walking up the 2 flights of stairs I'm still not bursting but when I get to my flat door and am getting my keys out I feel like I'm gonna pee myself if I don't hurry up and get the door open?

[Unknown user]

11 minutes ago, Sawdust Caesar said:

Why don't you call them pilots? Or was that on purpose?

 

Why is it when I'm walking home from work (takes about an hour) and I feel I need a pee when I'm about ,say, half an hour from home but it's not urgent enough that I need to go somewhere immediately and even when I get to my stair door I'm not bursting, or when walking up the 2 flights of stairs I'm still not bursting but when I get to my flat door and am getting my keys out I feel like I'm gonna pee myself if I don't hurry up and get the door open?

The word escaped me, I'd have checked but everyone understands. Why don't you use any full stops?

 

 

[Sawdust Caesar]

2 hours ago, Smithee said:

The word escaped me, I'd have checked but everyone understands. Why don't you use any full stops?

 

 

I like really long sentences.

[superjack]

3 hours ago, Smithee said:

The word escaped me, I'd have checked but everyone understands. Why don't you use any full stops?

 

 

Because he's bursting for a pre and won't go until he's finished typing his post.

[Unknown user]

7 minutes ago, superjack said:

Because he's bursting for a pre and won't go until he's finished typing his post.

I really got the sense of urgency to be fair!

[The Internet]

5 hours ago, Sawdust Caesar said:

Why don't you call them pilots? Or was that on purpose?

 

Why is it when I'm walking home from work (takes about an hour) and I feel I need a pee when I'm about ,say, half an hour from home but it's not urgent enough that I need to go somewhere immediately and even when I get to my stair door I'm not bursting, or when walking up the 2 flights of stairs I'm still not bursting but when I get to my flat door and am getting my keys out I feel like I'm gonna pee myself if I don't hurry up and get the door open?

 

Something to do with the brain knowing its surroundings and adapting based on experience/evolution. It knows you're getting close to a place where you normally relieve yourself and tells you this is the best time to do it. 

[Sawdust Caesar]

15 hours ago, Mauricio Pinilla said:

 

Something to do with the brain knowing its surroundings and adapting based on experience/evolution. It knows you're getting close to a place where you normally relieve yourself and tells you this is the best time to do it. 

Makes sense, cheers.

[Bindy Badgy]

If someone wanders around their flat naked and people in the flat across the road can see them does this count as indecent exposure?

[Norm]

1 hour ago, Stokesy said:

If someone wanders around their flat naked and people in the flat across the road can see them does this count as indecent exposure?

Only if it can be shown to be deliberate. So waving at them whilst you stoat about in the scud is a no-no. I think there'd have to be some repeat occasions as well. 

Edited May 17, 2018 by Normthebarman

[gjcc]

1 hour ago, Normthebarman said:

Only if it can be shown to be deliberate. So waving at them whilst you stoat about in the scud is a no-no. I think there'd have to be some repeat occasions as well. 

 

Waving what at them?

[milky_26]

11 minutes ago, gjcc said:

 

Waving what at them?

windmilling

[redjambo]

11 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

windmilling

 

Goodness, you learn something new every day.

 

I didn't realise that this even existed as a thing.

 

[3fingersreid]

What’s the bright star/ planet that’s currently in the night sky to the north ? 

[hughesie27]

28 minutes ago, 3fingersreid said:

What’s the bright star/ planet that’s currently in the night sky to the north ? 

Most likely Venus. Could be Jupiter. I can't see it out the window just now so can't telly you for certain.

Edited May 17, 2018 by hughesie27

[3fingersreid]

1 hour ago, hughesie27 said:

Most likely Venus. Could be Jupiter. I can't see it out the window just now so can't telly you for certain.

Not being arsey or smart but how would or could you tell the difference between it being Venus or Jupiter to the naked eye ? 

[redjambo]

1 hour ago, 3fingersreid said:

What’s the bright star/ planet that’s currently in the night sky to the north ? 

 

If you have a mobile phone, there are several apps that you can download that allow you to point your phone at a section of the sky and then tell you which stars and planets are there. Sky Map is one.

 

If you have a computer, Stellarium is worth installing.