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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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Captain Sausage
45 minutes ago, superjack said:

What I was thinking was, if there was a hollowed out sphere at the centre of the earth, as the mass of the planet is outside the sphere, would gravity be equal all the way around internal sphere and he you to the wall? Or am I over thinking.

 

Wahey, knew my uni degree would come in handy. 

 

The relative effect of gravity from other bodies (sun/moon/mars) is negligible, so at the centre of the earth, gravity is effectively zero. 

 

Defined by the following equation:

 

Fg = Gm1m2/r^2

 

Because m1 tends to zero, gravitational force tends to zero. Not quite sure what it means at the exact centre, as the radius would also be zero, so you’d end up with 0/0 which is both zero and infinite. 

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10 hours ago, Tazio said:

Two way zips. You know, the ones on outdoor type coats where when it's zipped up you can open the zip either from the top down or the bottom up.

Why?

I work on ship and we have the two way double zip on the boiler suits.  Means you can go for a pish and no have to unzip the hole thing just a wee bit at the bottom 

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been here before
10 hours ago, Tazio said:

Two way zips. You know, the ones on outdoor type coats where when it's zipped up you can open the zip either from the top down or the bottom up.

Why?

 

Say you're in a cold environment, couple of layers on, mibbes another coat or fleece on underneath. Well if you've something in your fleece pocket then you can get to it by undoing the zip up the way a little rather than unzipping your whole coat and getting cold.

 

Also if you're decide to sit with a few layers on then it can all get a bit tight and uncomfy. Much easier to unzip one coat/fleece up the way whilst sitting than doing it down the way. You can still keep it done up round your chest/neck area.

 

Or if you've a long coat on it makes having a slash easier.

 

Probably works up a ladder too. Maybe even scaffolding.

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Now that we have some pretty realistic answers on the reasons for the two way zip, I'll have to admit that my ladder answer was of course completely tongue-in-cheek (if anyone didn't notice ;)). Apologies. Couldn't help myself.

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4 hours ago, redjambo said:

 

Never underestimate the power of a chocolate Hobknob!

 

Spelling the King of biscuits with a ‘k’ in it  :facepalm:

 

Deliberate or not?  :biggrin:

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5 minutes ago, Morgan said:

Spelling the King of biscuits with a ‘k’ in it  :facepalm:

 

Deliberate or not?  :biggrin:

 

I know. What a waste of an education. :D I only realised it afterwards, but decided to leave it there to show what a nob I can be at times.

 

I guess I must have drunk too much of this:

 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQZb7cLo3BZSZ7PfJGElVN

Edited by redjambo
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2 hours ago, redjambo said:

Now that we have some pretty realistic answers on the reasons for the two way zip, I'll have to admit that my ladder answer was of course completely tongue-in-cheek (if anyone didn't notice ;)). Apologies. Couldn't help myself.

 

I couldn't decide if you were on the wind up or just a bit thick so decided to leave it. You might have got away with it of you hadn't mentioned tools in both hands, 3 pints of contact at all times boys.

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1 hour ago, Tazio said:

 

I couldn't decide if you were on the wind up or just a bit thick so decided to leave it. You might have got away with it of you hadn't mentioned tools in both hands, 3 pints of contact at all times boys.

 

Sounds good to me!

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How do birds know to mate with their own kind .

Eg How does a male robin know a female robin from a female sparrow or a blackbird know a female blackbird from a female thrush ?

Similar species , similar female markings , similar sizes but clearly different ?

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47 minutes ago, 3fingersreid said:

How do birds know to mate with their own kind .

Eg How does a male robin know a female robin from a female sparrow or a blackbird know a female blackbird from a female thrush ?

Similar species , similar female markings , similar sizes but clearly different ?

 

It will be a combination of sense-related and behavioural clues, but they often recognise each other by their calls, particularly during mating.

 

In general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intra-species_recognition

 

Specific study on blackcaps: https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/16/2/467/297887

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6 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

It will be a combination of sense-related and behavioural clues, but they often recognise each other by their calls, particularly during mating.

 

In general: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intra-species_recognition

 

Specific study on blackcaps: https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/16/2/467/297887

Cheers for that ?? and I now know that bird watchers have difficulty in distinguishing between 2 species of birds and sometimes frogs like to mix it up ?

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Just now, 3fingersreid said:

Cheers for that ?? and I now know that bird watchers have difficulty in distinguishing between 2 species of birds and sometimes frogs like to mix it up ?

 

You never know, it might come in useful one day! :)

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1 hour ago, redjambo said:

 

You never know, it might come in useful one day! :)

Well it’s been stored in the old grey matter 

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6 minutes ago, Junta said:

Why does food taste better when cooked by someone else?

You've clearly never tasted my wife's cooking. I know that sounds like a Bob Monkhouse joke but seriously, she is an awful cook. It's like seasoning is an alien concept. I don't know if it's an East German thing or just her family but they are all pretty bad. If I didn't cook in our house, I'd probably never eat. 

Edited by Normthebarman
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23 hours ago, 3fingersreid said:

How do birds know to mate with their own kind .

Eg How does a male robin know a female robin from a female sparrow or a blackbird know a female blackbird from a female thrush ?

Similar species , similar female markings , similar sizes but clearly different ?

 

And how come dogs don't care, they will shag anything.

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27 minutes ago, graygo said:

 

And how come dogs don't care, they will shag anything.

That could also apply to certain posters on here.

Edited by superjack
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Should it be 'tele' or 'telly'?  I didn't realise anyone called a TV a 'tele', till I joined here, and saw it.  Have I been hearing people say 'tele', all these years and not realised it?  Maybe I should have put this i the seethe thread. :D

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1 hour ago, Lemongrab said:

Should it be 'tele' or 'telly'?  I didn't realise anyone called a TV a 'tele', till I joined here, and saw it.  Have I been hearing people say 'tele', all these years and not realised it?  Maybe I should have put this i the seethe thread. :D

As far as I'm aware, or as far as I thought anyway, everyone calls it a tele. The spelling I'm not sure of though, tele or telly. I've always used tele though.

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The Chinese food thread got me wondering this.  I've heard people say that the Chinese food served here is different from the actual food eaten in China, and the food here is modified to suit the Western palate.   When you see Chinese people eating in a Chinese restaurants here, are they eating stuff from the menu the same as you or I might order, or are they cooked something which might be more to their liking?

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On 24/10/2018 at 07:02, Lemongrab said:

Should it be 'tele' or 'telly'?  I didn't realise anyone called a TV a 'tele', till I joined here, and saw it.  Have I been hearing people say 'tele', all these years and not realised it?  Maybe I should have put this i the seethe thread. :D

 

I've always spelt it "telly". Never seen "tele" in English before, only in other languages. Chambers and Collins both confirm that it is "telly", a colloquialism introduced in the 1930s, neither source listing "tele" as other than a combining form.

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On 24/10/2018 at 13:43, Armageddon said:

Who the Businessman is that was successful with the Super Injunction!

 

Check the BBC news site - his name has just been revealed in parliament.

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9 minutes ago, redjambo said:

 

I've always spelt it "telly". Never seen "tele" in English before, only in other languages. Chambers and Collins both confirm that it is "telly", a colloquialism introduced in the 1930s, neither source listing "tele" as other than a combining form.

Yes, I've only seen 'tele' on here, and in nearly every thread about TVs or TV programmes.  Maybe it should have been in the Seethe thread?  If I see it again it's going in. :D

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9 minutes ago, Lemongrab said:

Yes, I've only seen 'tele' on here, and in nearly every thread about TVs or TV programmes.  Maybe it should have been in the Seethe thread?  If I see it again it’s going in :D

:oohmatron:  And yes, it’s telly.

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32 minutes ago, Lemongrab said:

The Chinese food thread got me wondering this.  I've heard people say that the Chinese food served here is different from the actual food eaten in China, and the food here is modified to suit the Western palate.   When you see Chinese people eating in a Chinese restaurants here, are they eating stuff from the menu the same as you or I might order, or are they cooked something which might be more to their liking?

 

A friend had a Chinese girlfriend and the first time they went to the Rainbow Arch on Morrison Street the waiter gave them totally different menus, his in English with the usual food and hers in Cantonese with "proper" Chinese food. She made him eat off the Cantonese menu. He didn't like the chicken's feet very much. 

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16 minutes ago, Tazio said:

 

A friend had a Chinese girlfriend and the first time they went to the Rainbow Arch on Morrison Street the waiter gave them totally different menus, his in English with the usual food and hers in Cantonese with "proper" Chinese food. She made him eat off the Cantonese menu. He didn't like the chicken's feet very much. 

 

Chickens feet is actually really nice, us westerners are strange, meat is really just meat!

Edited by Tynieman
spelling
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1 hour ago, Lemongrab said:

The Chinese food thread got me wondering this.  I've heard people say that the Chinese food served here is different from the actual food eaten in China, and the food here is modified to suit the Western palate.   When you see Chinese people eating in a Chinese restaurants here, are they eating stuff from the menu the same as you or I might order, or are they cooked something which might be more to their liking?

The chinese at Longstone (forgot its name but the big restaurant) has different menus.

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44 minutes ago, Tazio said:

 

A friend had a Chinese girlfriend and the first time they went to the Rainbow Arch on Morrison Street the waiter gave them totally different menus, his in English with the usual food and hers in Cantonese with "proper" Chinese food. She made him eat off the Cantonese menu. He didn't like the chicken's feet very much. 

 

How was the sweet and sour dog?

 

edit: I don’t mean the girlfriend. 

Edited by gjcc
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37 minutes ago, Tazio said:

 

A friend had a Chinese girlfriend and the first time they went to the Rainbow Arch on Morrison Street the waiter gave them totally different menus, his in English with the usual food and hers in Cantonese with "proper" Chinese food. She made him eat off the Cantonese menu. He didn't like the chicken's feet very much. 

Thanks :thumbsup:

20 minutes ago, Tynieman said:

 

Chickens feet is actually really nice, us westerners are strange, meat is really just meat!

Meat may well just be meat. If you could get chicken feet meat on its own, so you didn't have to look at the scaly reptilian like bits that surround it, I might consider it.

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47 minutes ago, Lemongrab said:

Thanks :thumbsup:

Meat may well just be meat. If you could get chicken feet meat on its own, so you didn't have to look at the scaly reptilian like bits that surround it, I might consider it.

 

Do you not just cut those bits of and give it to your kids?

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16 minutes ago, gjcc said:

 

 

Do you not just cut those bits of and give it to your kids?

Just one of them. The others always get prime cuts.

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All roads lead to Gorgie

Changing the clock in the car. Why is there nothing in settings to do so. Trip computer, even balance of speakers but no clock setting ?

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18 minutes ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

Changing the clock in the car. Why is there nothing in settings to do so. Trip computer, even balance of speakers but no clock setting ?

my previous vauxhall did it automatically as long as you were tuned to a bbc radio station (it might work with others) but my current bmw i need to change it myself and is a bit of a nightmare to find in the settings

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All roads lead to Gorgie
26 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

my previous vauxhall did it automatically as long as you were tuned to a bbc radio station (it might work with others) but my current bmw i need to change it myself and is a bit of a nightmare to find in the settings

I did it once but with the help of the manual, the bit I seemed to have lost or didn't get back from a garage at some point. I have gone through all the settings but nowhere does it say clock. Baffling! 

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1 hour ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

I did it once but with the help of the manual, the bit I seemed to have lost or didn't get back from a garage at some point. I have gone through all the settings but nowhere does it say clock. Baffling! 

what type of car do you have

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All roads lead to Gorgie
2 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

what type of car do you have

Aston Marton :)

 

 

I wish. 

A humble Peugeot I'm afraid?

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All roads lead to Gorgie

Sticking with cars. I have never owned or even driven an automatic car but I am thinking about hiring a car in the States next year and most there are automatic. My question is how do you do a hill start in a car without a clutch. Do you have to hold it on the handbrake to stop it rolling back? 

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14 minutes ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

Sticking with cars. I have never owned or even driven an automatic car but I am thinking about hiring a car in the States next year and most there are automatic. My question is how do you do a hill start in a car without a clutch. Do you have to hold it on the handbrake to stop it rolling back? 

I took my works Land Rover in for a service last year, I asked for another Defender as a replacement but there was none available, when I turned up the girl behind the counter said my car was outside, it was a Range Rover Evoque(?) a wee hair dressers car, I got in, looked in vain for somewhere to stick a key in or a hand brake, I eventually saw a button on the dash that said "On/Off" pressed it and the bloody thing lit up like the space shuttle. It was also automatic, I sat in it like a ***** for a couple of minutes, pressed the "On/Off" button again and walked into the showroom, I said that it was of no use to me at all and I'd most probably crash the feckin thing before I got out of Kendal, and that I needed a ignition for a key, a hand brake and a gear stick, I got a Corsa!!!! 

I did say that giving a 50 grand car like that to someone who has never driven a car without a handbrake or a gear stick in his life without some kind of induction was bloody dangerous!! 

Edited by Dawnrazor
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31 minutes ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

Sticking with cars. I have never owned or even driven an automatic car but I am thinking about hiring a car in the States next year and most there are automatic. My question is how do you do a hill start in a car without a clutch. Do you have to hold it on the handbrake to stop it rolling back? 

when in gear my automatic wants to move forward(or back if in reverse) so hill starts are easy

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1 hour ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

Sticking with cars. I have never owned or even driven an automatic car but I am thinking about hiring a car in the States next year and most there are automatic. My question is how do you do a hill start in a car without a clutch. Do you have to hold it on the handbrake to stop it rolling back? 

 

I’ve always driven automatic cars. Some have had a creep so if I was sat on a hill and in drive the car would hold, try and go forward but definitely not roll back. I’ve also had others where that didn’t happen so I have to put it into drive and then release the handbrake when I felt the bite. 

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2 hours ago, All roads lead to Gorgie said:

Sticking with cars. I have never owned or even driven an automatic car but I am thinking about hiring a car in the States next year and most there are automatic. My question is how do you do a hill start in a car without a clutch. Do you have to hold it on the handbrake to stop it rolling back? 

As soon as you take your foot off the foot brake it will bite - and possibly creep forward.  It won’t roll back.

Only use your right foot.  Keep your left tucked away until you get used to it.

Be careful coming up to a junction or lights that you don’t forget and use your left foot to press the ‘clutch’ to freewheel to a stop - because it won’t be the clutch (obvs) it’ll be the brake and you’ll come to an alarmingly rapid stop.  (You might spot the voice of experience there...)

Seriously, it’s dead easy.  I wouldn’t go back to a manual now.

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All roads lead to Gorgie
2 hours ago, milky_26 said:

when in gear my automatic wants to move forward(or back if in reverse) so hill starts are easy

 

48 minutes ago, Helzibob said:

 

I’ve always driven automatic cars. Some have had a creep so if I was sat on a hill and in drive the car would hold, try and go forward but definitely not roll back. I’ve also had others where that didn’t happen so I have to put it into drive and then release the handbrake when I felt the bite. 

 

27 minutes ago, FWJ said:

As soon as you take your foot off the foot brake it will bite - and possibly creep forward.  It won’t roll back.

Only use your right foot.  Keep your left tucked away until you get used to it.

Be careful coming up to a junction or lights that you don’t forget and use your left foot to press the ‘clutch’ to freewheel to a stop - because it won’t be the clutch (obvs) it’ll be the brake and you’ll come to an alarmingly rapid stop.  (You might spot the voice of experience there...)

Seriously, it’s dead easy.  I wouldn’t go back to a manual now.

Thanks for the info. Might be best to hire one in this country first to get the feel for an automatic before risking it in the States. 

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