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

[graygo]

On 27/04/2021 at 15:54, Governor Tarkin said:

 

There was a bus drivers' shunkie on Oxgangs Road North next to the cop shop at one point. The building is still there but dunno if they still use it. 

 

One at the terminus south of Gilmerton too, or at least there was.

[graygo]

11 hours ago, Smithee said:

You don't constantly register vision, it's like film, your brain sees loads of snapshots.

What you're describing is an illusion from the wheel speed in tandem with your eyes' refresh rate and will only happen in certain speed ranges.

 

Basically your brain takes a photo, then the next time it takes a photo the spoke or whatever has turned just under a full turn, and again and again. As far as the brain can tell, without being able to see the movement between the snapshots, it looks like the wheel's going backwards.

 

Damn, I should have read on, wouldn't have posted my previous nonsense.

[Norm]

I'm sure I read an article a while back, that basically explained that a whole host of shit that you "see" is actually just made up bollocks your brain conjures up to make up for the gaps in our vision. Like, what you register as you "seeing", might be right, might not be right.

 

 

Your brain basically goes "We don't actually have any visual input right now, but that would freak you out if we just had occasional flashes of nothing, so here's some shit I've made up that I reckon makes sense." 

 

Apparently, it's a bit similar to the colour magenta. Magenta doesn't exist. It's not a real colour. Our eyes do not register magenta. If anything, it should show up green. But, as I understand it, our brain realised a long time ago that that would be dangerous. Anything magenta would essentially be invisible in a green background, and there's a whole **** ton of actual green in our world that invisible shit might be a problem. 

 

So, our brain basically decided "Right, we need to come up with a solution to light at this wavelength. We can't just not see it. I know, I'll make up a colour!" 

 

And so, magenta was born. 

 

 

Or at least, that's what I took from the article. I'm a dumb ***** so I could be totally wrong. 

[Angel eyes]

Can boris Johnson drive?

[Stu_HMFC]

On 11/05/2021 at 08:48, obua said:

There are about ten drivers toilets spread around edinburgh, Clermiston,

Niddrie, Gilmerton, morningside, to name a few.

I'm sure there is one down Newhaven at the roundabout over from Porto and Fi. its tiny. 

[obua]

2 hours ago, Stu_HMFC said:

I'm sure there is one down Newhaven at the roundabout over from Porto and Fi. its tiny. 

Correct.

[Stu_HMFC]

4 minutes ago, obua said:

Correct.

Shows how much I pay attention on the way to the pub 😂

[obua]

1 minute ago, Stu_HMFC said:

Shows how much I pay attention on the way to the pub 😂

Sure you didn’t break in on the way back from the pub🤣

[Stu_HMFC]

Just now, obua said:

Sure you didn’t break in on the way back from the pub🤣

Haha nah I just do it in the bus stop 😉 

[Alex]

I've ordered a coffee maker from the US. Depending what arrives, I'll need a socket converter and a voltage converter.

 

What would happen if I didn't bother with a voltage converter, would it just not work or would it/my flat explode? 

[Tazio]

1 minute ago, Alex said:

I've ordered a coffee maker from the US. Depending what arrives, I'll need a socket converter and a voltage converter.

 

What would happen if I didn't bother with a voltage converter, would it just not work or would it/my flat explode? 

It would destroy the coffee maker. The heater element would burn out very quickly, also the pump. Be careful you get a transformer with the correct power rating for the coffee maker. 

[Alex]

39 minutes ago, Tazio said:

It would destroy the coffee maker. The heater element would burn out very quickly, also the pump. Be careful you get a transformer with the correct power rating for the coffee maker. 

Cheers, will do.

 

I'm waiting till it arrives before buying anything so will have a good read of the paperwork. 

[Mr Sifter]

I use disposable contact lenses, although not every day. The ones I use are “fortnightly disposables”. I’ll maybe use them every second day or so. So are they good for fourteen days after being opened, or are they good for fourteen uses regardless of how long they’ve actually been open?

[Mr Sifter]

Double post. 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Mr Sifter

[Good Old Fashioned Scandal]

Why do people abuse animals? Children? Why have a baby and then intentionally hurt and neglect it? My rescue dog was clearly not treated right at her previous home and it breaks my heart 

[Stu_HMFC]

1 minute ago, Good Old Fashioned Scandal said:

Why do people abuse animals? Children? Why have a baby and then intentionally hurt and neglect it? My rescue dog was clearly not treated right at her previous home and it breaks my heart 

Easy targets and done by folk who are weak and cannot take on another growing man who they would fear. 

 

Its horrible. I could never hurt my dog with intent. Its just horrible even thinking of it. 

[Spitonastranger]

4 hours ago, Good Old Fashioned Scandal said:

Why do people abuse animals? Children? Why have a baby and then intentionally hurt and neglect it? My rescue dog was clearly not treated right at her previous home and it breaks my heart 

Do you mean all animals or just pets 

[BigAlim]

I've always wondered about eggs. When the cavemen or whatever discovered the bird egg, they must have surely attempted to eat it raw shell and all. 

 

What on earth made them go back to it after that horrible experience? They might have tried removing the shell and still eating it raw, they might have tried cooking it and eating it with the shell. 

 

The amount of persistence involved boggles the mind.

 

Chocolate is another one. How does someone discover that taking the insides of a plant, grinding it up and mixing it with sugar and other stuff produces a nice flavour?

[Maple Leaf]

3 hours ago, BigAlim said:

I've always wondered about eggs. When the cavemen or whatever discovered the bird egg, they must have surely attempted to eat it raw shell and all. 

 

What on earth made them go back to it after that horrible experience? They might have tried removing the shell and still eating it raw, they might have tried cooking it and eating it with the shell. 

 

The amount of persistence involved boggles the mind.

 

Chocolate is another one. How does someone discover that taking the insides of a plant, grinding it up and mixing it with sugar and other stuff produces a nice flavour?

 

Lots of animals eat the eggs of other species and homo sapiens is no exception, and the behaviour goes back millions of years, long before cavemen.  On the plains of Africa, our ancestors were foraging for food and would eat anything that was organic, including young birds, roots, small reptiles, insects, carrion, berries.  Raw eggs were almost certainly considered a nutritional bonus.  Using fire to cook food was an enormous step forward in human history as it made food easier to chew, easier to digest, and killed off parasites.

 

I've eaten raw eggs, more than once.  I prefer them cooked!   

[Governor Tarkin]

2 hours ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

I've eaten raw eggs, more than once.  I prefer them cooked!   

 

You ever tried balut?

Gives me the boak just thinking about it.

[Good Old Fashioned Scandal]

17 hours ago, Spitonastranger said:

Do you mean all animals or just pets 

All animals

 

[Spitonastranger]

17 minutes ago, Good Old Fashioned Scandal said:

All animals

 

Thanks for the response it was'nt mean't as a dig i just wish people who go on about cruelty to animals, meant all animals. 

[Good Old Fashioned Scandal]

1 hour ago, Spitonastranger said:

Thanks for the response it was'nt mean't as a dig i just wish people who go on about cruelty to animals, meant all animals. 

It's okay, I get what you mean. When i was in mexico we saw tiger cubs and maybe a panther cub (I cant really remember it was a few years ago) tied up as a tourist attraction, and you could pay to pet them. It made me feel sick 😠 

[Spitonastranger]

4 minutes ago, Good Old Fashioned Scandal said:

It's okay, I get what you mean. When i was in mexico we saw tiger cubs and maybe a panther cub (I cant really remember it was a few years ago) tied up as a tourist attraction, and you could pay to pet them. It made me feel sick 😠 

So much cruelty out there  

[Tazio]

46 minutes ago, Good Old Fashioned Scandal said:

It's okay, I get what you mean. When i was in mexico we saw tiger cubs and maybe a panther cub (I cant really remember it was a few years ago) tied up as a tourist attraction, and you could pay to pet them. It made me feel sick 😠 

I saw a figure that there are more tigers in private ownership in the US than there are in the wild. Why the hell does someone want to own a massive killing machine? Is it a power thing? 

[Good Old Fashioned Scandal]

49 minutes ago, Tazio said:

I saw a figure that there are more tigers in private ownership in the US than there are in the wild. Why the hell does someone want to own a massive killing machine? Is it a power thing? 

Yeah, I think it's sort of a status thing. "I'm so rich i have a private zoo filled with all these weird and wonderful animals". None of which are cared for or happy. Googled what you were talking about and there are 5000 privately owned tigers compared to 3800 wild ones! Even in the UK I found this quote; "There are currently around 200 wild cats and 50 big cats licensed to be kept privately, including four tigers in Lincolnshire, three cheetahs in Cumbria and six clouded leopards in Cornwall." Horrible stuff  

[Dennis Reynolds]

5 hours ago, Governor Tarkin said:

 

You ever tried balut?

Gives me the boak just thinking about it.

 

Just googled that.

 

 

[Maple Leaf]

7 hours ago, Governor Tarkin said:

 

You ever tried balut?

Gives me the boak just thinking about it.

 

No, and I'll pass.  It sounds disgusting.

 

I'm actually very conservative when it comes to food.  I'll leave all that exotic stuff for others.  I did try emu once and it was very meh.

[Governor Tarkin]

20 minutes ago, Maple Leaf said:

 

No, and I'll pass.  It sounds disgusting.

 

I'm actually very conservative when it comes to food.  I'll leave all that exotic stuff for others.  I did try emu once and it was very meh.

 

It is disgusting. I used to work with a bunch of Filipinos who loved it. Boak.

 

On a run ashore in South Africa a number of years ago, we worked our way through Springbok, Impala, Gazelle, etc. it was all nice enough, but pretty meh.

We concluded that the more spritely and mobile the animal, the more tender the meat, which was sort of counter intuitive.

I'd been a vegetarian for around 16 years prior to all this lark.

[Governor Tarkin]

3 hours ago, Tazio said:

I saw a figure that there are more tigers in private ownership in the US than there are in the wild. Why the hell does someone want to own a massive killing machine? Is it a power thing? 

 

My mate's old man once owned a lion called Jason.

True story.

[Stu_HMFC]

22 hours ago, Good Old Fashioned Scandal said:

It's okay, I get what you mean. When i was in mexico we saw tiger cubs and maybe a panther cub (I cant really remember it was a few years ago) tied up as a tourist attraction, and you could pay to pet them. It made me feel sick 😠 

 Horrible! 

 

I remember going to Tunisia in 2014 had some wee twat in the hotel always trying to get us on a pirate boat goes out into the med does a show on the boat stops for a swim then they cook up some sea food. Bit of a drama getting to the port with every one in sousse trying to stop you because they have never seen a white man in their life. Anyway the boat left into the the sea they done their show THEN they bring out a baby monkey tied up letting folk touch it and get their picture taking with it. The monkey eventually escaped the rope it was tied on and was running about daft and scared trying to hide from them. Ran over my legs it wasn't scared of the people or a danger you could see who it was scared off. I think I have pictures of this on my laptop will have a look when I get home. 

[been here before]

8 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

 Horrible! 

 

I remember going to Tunisia in 2014 had some wee twat in the hotel always trying to get us on a pirate boat goes out into the med does a show on the boat stops for a swim then they cook up some sea food. Bit of a drama getting to the port with every one in sousse trying to stop you because they have never seen a white man in their life. Anyway the boat left into the the sea they done their show THEN they bring out a baby monkey tied up letting folk touch it and get their picture taking with it. The monkey eventually escaped the rope it was tied on and was running about daft and scared trying to hide from them. Ran over my legs it wasn't scared of the people or a danger you could see who it was scared off. I think I have pictures of this on my laptop will have a look when I get home. 

 

 

 

[Taffin]

What's the difference between keeping a dog captive and walking it about on a lead, than a monkey or big cat?

 

Would it be okay if we bred monkeys and panthers as pets?

 

Edit: for absolute clarity I'm not advocating breeding those animals as pets. I'm questioning why some think it's okay dependent on what type of animal it is 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Taffin

[jambo89]

1 hour ago, Taffin said:

What's the difference between keeping a dog captive and walking it about on a lead, than a monkey or big cat?

 

Would it be okay if we bred monkeys and panthers as pets?

 

Edit: for absolute clarity I'm not advocating breeding those animals as pets. I'm questioning why some think it's okay dependent on what type of animal it is 

Because dogs, and to a lesser extent cats, domesticated themselves. They have evolved to become “pets”,  whereas monkeys / panthers haven’t. 

[Taffin]

12 minutes ago, jambo89 said:

Because dogs, and to a lesser extent cats, domesticated themselves. They have evolved to become “pets”,  whereas monkeys / panthers haven’t. 

 

Given enough time of feeding scraps of food to monkeys though and they domesticate themselves too maybe, I'd guess.

 

 

 

[Boof]

 

"Bob"...  

Edited July 8, 2021 by Boof

[Maple Leaf]

6 hours ago, Taffin said:

What's the difference between keeping a dog captive and walking it about on a lead, than a monkey or big cat?

 

Would it be okay if we bred monkeys and panthers as pets?

 

Edit: for absolute clarity I'm not advocating breeding those animals as pets. I'm questioning why some think it's okay dependent on what type of animal it is 

 

The point you're making is valid, in that all animals should be treated in a humane manner.

 

But domesticated animals are treated differently from feral animals, and the history of that goes back a long way.  Even some domesticated animals are treated differently from others. For example, cows, pigs, and sheep killed an eaten by the millions, but dogs, cats, and hamsters are not, at least in Western countries. There's no logic behind it, it's all cultural.

[Good Old Fashioned Scandal]

But also there is a difference in the needs. The requirements of a domesicated animal are different to that of a wild animal. Everyone knows that dogs need walked. Everyone knows cats have a high prey drive, but that is nothing compared to the space and enrichment a wild animal needs. Walking a dog on a leash is fine because they are donesticated and it fulfils the dogs needs, keeing a monkey on a leash when they need to be in a herd (I dunno the name for a group of monkeys lmao) of 15 or 20 in a large heavily wooded area is abuse. 

[Beni]

There's an experiment in Russia started in the 1950s where they tried to domesticate silver foxes by breeding only from the tamest animals, and they made pretty rapid progress. 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_silver_fox

[jambo89]

7 hours ago, Taffin said:

 

Given enough time of feeding scraps of food to monkeys though and they domesticate themselves too maybe, I'd guess.

 

 

 

That would be true if the relationship benefited each party equally from an evolutionist stand point. 
 

With dogs, the ones with a lower flight (as opposed to fight) response would benefit from food left by human encampments, whilst the humans would benefit from the protection offered from the dogs from possible wildlife attacks. Likewise cats would help to keep rat / rodent populations down.

 

The popular belief is that we “set out” to domesticate dogs when in truth it was mutual. 
 

I can’t think of many other animals whereby the relationship between man and dog would be as mutually beneficial?

 

Monkeys is a good shout though, but would the relationship be as beneficial for both parties. I’m not so sure.

 

Sorry for the long spiel, it’s just a subject that I am really interested in!

[Taffin]

30 minutes ago, jambo89 said:

That would be true if the relationship benefited each party equally from an evolutionist stand point. 
 

With dogs, the ones with a lower flight (as opposed to fight) response would benefit from food left by human encampments, whilst the humans would benefit from the protection offered from the dogs from possible wildlife attacks. Likewise cats would help to keep rat / rodent populations down.

 

The popular belief is that we “set out” to domesticate dogs when in truth it was mutual. 
 

I can’t think of many other animals whereby the relationship between man and dog would be as mutually beneficial?

 

Monkeys is a good shout though, but would the relationship be as beneficial for both parties. I’m not so sure.

 

Sorry for the long spiel, it’s just a subject that I am really interested in!

 

No need to apologise. It's really interesting. Makes some sense as to why people are okay with it 👍

[3fingersreid]

I notice that most of the speed cameras have a cover over them saying not in use , surely even if they’re not working or needing a reset or even maintenance they’d be better left uncovered to act as a deterrent ?

 

Or is there some kind of law or even human right that says if not in use they have to be covered ?

[Jambos_1874]

Do new agricultural fields still get created in the UK anymore? Or, has the total UK acreage of fields remained more or less the same for a long time and we have just become much more efficient at farming? I don't think I have ever seen a new field being created from wasteland or moorland etc, and if anything I would expect the area of fields to have dropped due to this being turned over to housing etc. Google was of no help on this.

[Boof]

11 minutes ago, Jambos_1874 said:

Do new agricultural fields still get created in the UK anymore? Or, has the total UK acreage of fields remained more or less the same for a long time and we have just become much more efficient at farming? I don't think I have ever seen a new field being created from wasteland or moorland etc, and if anything I would expect the area of fields to have dropped due to this being turned over to housing etc. Google was of no help on this.

 

Have a look at Crofting Law - specifically Common Grazings and Apportionments.

 

As far as I'm aware, common grazings are in their natural untended state - essentially moorland. A crofter taking an apportionment of the common grazings can improve the quality of the land e.g. reseeding to provide better grazing for his/her exclusive use.

[Pap]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-57908134

 

When a company gets fined, who does the money go to?

[milky_26]

4 minutes ago, Pap said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-57908134

 

When a company gets fined, who does the money go to?

to the government/treasury 

[Pap]

3 minutes ago, milky_26 said:

to the government/treasury 

 

You'd think that relatives would get some of it.

[Ribble]

On 18/07/2021 at 09:55, Jambos_1874 said:

Do new agricultural fields still get created in the UK anymore? Or, has the total UK acreage of fields remained more or less the same for a long time and we have just become much more efficient at farming? I don't think I have ever seen a new field being created from wasteland or moorland etc, and if anything I would expect the area of fields to have dropped due to this being turned over to housing etc. Google was of no help on this.

 

Strangely the Jeremy Clarkson show on Amazon about his farm gives quite good insight to this, the myriad of farming subsidies have provisions and regulations for almost every inch of a farm, detailed plans need to be submitted for what is planted where and farmers get money for not growing crops etc, it's a fine balance over the money you can make from a successful crop over essentially not doing anything

[Konrad von Carstein]

US radio stations with a jumble of letters what do these weird names mean?

[been here before]

7 minutes ago, Konrad von Carstein said:

US radio stations with a jumble of letters what do these weird names mean?

 

Its the imitials of the radio stations name.