I bet you didnt know that

Sudance · 10-06-2017 5:37pm

Contrary to what they teach in school....the internal angles of a triangle can be greater than 180

The colour (of something) isn't it's actual colour...it's every colour except the one you see it as being

E.g. a red apple is every other colour except red..

Sudance · 10-06-2017 5:41pm

Glass isn't a solid, it lquid, it just has very high viscosity.

if you look at very very old glass windows (over 100 years old e.g.) you might see that the bottom of the pane is thicker than the top

Sudance · 10-06-2017 5:43pm

The believe that a bath/sink drain will empty clockwise in northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere is a incorrect...it's random in both hemispheres..

cdeb · 10-06-2017 6:00pm

Sudance wrote: »

The believe that a bath/sink drain will empty clockwise in northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern hemisphere is a incorrect...it's random in both hemispheres..

I don't think that's entirely true; it's just that the coriolis effect is tiny at that level, and is outweighed by stuff like the way the plug is removed or even where in the sink it is.

It's like saying a falling apple isn't affected by the moon's gravity, but it is. Just imperceptibly so.

Lady is a tramp · 10-06-2017 6:01pm

Sudance wrote: »

Contrary to what they teach in school....the internal angles of a triangle can be greater than 180

The colour (of something) isn't it's actual colour...it's every colour except the one you see it as being E.g. a red apple is every other colour except red..

I don't see how either of those could be true ...?

cdeb · 10-06-2017 6:04pm

Lady is a tramp wrote: »

I don't see how either of those could be true ...?

I think the point with the colours is that an object absorbs colour from the spectrum (i.e. light), and reflects back some of it. What's reflected back is the colour we see. So green grass has actually absorbed all light except for the exact shade of green that we view it as - because that's the part of the spectrum that's reflected back to our eyes.

Maybe a bit loose with the wording, but there is truth to it.

Not sure on the triangles

D3V!L · 10-06-2017 6:05pm

Sudance wrote: »

Glass isn't a solid, it lquid, it just has very high viscosity.

if you look at very very old glass windows (over 100 years old e.g.) you might see that the bottom of the pane is thicker than the top

This was caused by the way the pane was made, glass is most definitely a solid.

Buford T. Justice XIX · 10-06-2017 7:36pm

Sudance wrote: »

Contrary to what they teach in school....the internal angles of a triangle can be greater than 180

The colour (of something) isn't it's actual colour...it's every colour except the one you see it as being E.g. a red apple is every other colour except red..

How? I'd like to see that explained.

New Home · 10-06-2017 7:52pm

Something to do with infinity, or is it something more tangible?

Yourself isit · 10-06-2017 9:25pm

Sudance wrote: »

Contrary to what they teach in school....the internal angles of a triangle can be greater than 180

The colour (of something) isn't it's actual colour...it's every colour except the one you see it as being E.g. a red apple is every other colour except red..

Would be better with more explanation. Your first claim is I think referring to non Euclidean geometry. Maybe be clearer?

I totally disagree on the second point. A red apple isn't any colour other than red because it absorbs every other wavelength of light. That's redefining colour. The red apple is red precisely because it reflects the red wavelength of light when illuminated with a white light.

10-06-2017 9:40pm

One of the most overcrowded, diseased, and dangerous places to live in London at the turn of the 19th century was the South Bank, a miserable slum and home to the most squalid dwellings, the most destitute and the most dangerous people of the time. Huge numbers of people were arriving to live in London, and huge numbers were dying.

The cemetery situation was dire and they were filling up as fast as they were being opened, though in Cross Bones Cemetery the bodies weren't staying put for long. It's proximity to Guys Hospital meant that the bodies were plundered by career bodysnatchers to sell for medical teaching and research, and since the inhabitants of Cross Bones were drawn from the most destitute, prostitute and criminal fraternity, a blind eye was turned in gratitude that the graveyard wasn't filling up quite as fast as it appeared.

Cross Bones cemetery was closed in the mid 1800's, and was so overcrowded that during it's closure heavy rains often brought to the surface a raft of coffins that had be covered by mere inches of earth.

In the 1990's work began clearing the site for the construction of a mainly underground power station, but only 160 graves were excavated. More than half of the excavated graves belonged to children under five, and it's thought that less than 1% of the graves were relocated.

Dupont · 10-06-2017 9:52pm

How long is a piece of rope

Twice the length of half of it

Quazzie · 10-06-2017 10:29pm

Sudance wrote: »

Glass isn't a solid, it lquid, it just has very high viscosity.

if you look at very very old glass windows (over 100 years old e.g.) you might see that the bottom of the pane is thicker than the top

Not true

Capt'n Midnight · 10-06-2017 11:07pm

How long is a piece of string ?

String theory suggests it would be the Planck Length.

so about ‎1.616229(38)×10−35 meters

panevthe3rd · 11-06-2017 12:34am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

How long is a piece of string ?

String theory suggests it would be the Planck Length.

so about ‎1.616229(38)×10−35 meters

Twice the length from the end to the middle.

PTH2009 · 11-06-2017 1:25pm

Aslans Christy Dignam never drank alcohol

I do find it hard to believe but unfortunately he took a lot of hard drugs

Sad news for him this week with him being told his cancer has returned. Best of luck too him

sunnysoutheast · 11-06-2017 10:41pm

Buford T. Justice V wrote: »

How? I'd like to see that explained.

I think this refers to Non-Euclidean geometry, such as spherical geometry. The Euclidian view of internal angles adding to 180 degrees is an only approximation on such a surface (e.g. Earth).

harry Bailey esq · 12-06-2017 12:33am

Dupont wrote: »

How long is a piece of rope

Twice the length of half of it

I'm writing that one down,well played.

begbysback · 12-06-2017 7:08pm

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

I'm writing that one down,well played.

Or, half the length of double it

BBDBB · 12-06-2017 7:11pm

How far can a dog run into a forest?

halfway, after that he's running out of it

Ray Palmer · 12-06-2017 8:31pm

Sudance wrote: »

Glass isn't a solid, it lquid, it just has very high viscosity.

if you look at very very old glass windows (over 100 years old e.g.) you might see that the bottom of the pane is thicker than the top

Nope it is an amorphous solid and it is the manufacturing method of old windows that cause them to be that way. Old windows were hand blown like a bottle and then cut and flattened out.

sbsquarepants · 13-06-2017 8:13am

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

How long is a piece of string ?

String theory suggests it would be the Planck Length.

so about ‎1.616229(38)×10−35 meters

I've a plank out my back garden and it's much, much longer than that, about 8 foot (what's that 3 or 4 times that length?)- and I've seen strings even longer, you clearly don't know what you're talking about:mad:

Kat1170 · 13-06-2017 10:09am

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I've a plank out my back garden and it's much, much longer than that, about 8 foot (what's that 3 or 4 times that length?)- and I've seen strings even longer, you clearly don't know what you're talking about:mad:

Well now you're into the realm of 'What does it take for some Plank to realise his piece of string is actually a rope'

:D:D:D

sbsquarepants · 13-06-2017 12:53pm

sunnysoutheast wrote: »

I think this refers to Non-Euclidean geometry, such as spherical geometry. The Euclidian view of internal angles adding to 180 degrees is an only approximation on such a surface (e.g. Earth).

This is it in a nut shell.
If you picture lines of longitude on a globe, they are parallel - ie they cross the equator at a 90 degree angle - therefore you've reached 180 degrees just in those 2 angles before you even count the third angle at the poles. (well it's not really a triangle - it's more of a bendy wendy triangly thingy:D)

Digital Solitude · 13-06-2017 1:38pm

sbsquarepants wrote: »

This is it in a nut shell.
If you picture lines of longitude on a globe, they are parallel - ie they cross the equator at a 90 degree angle - therefore you've reached 180 degrees just in those 2 angles before you even count the third angle at the poles. (well it's not really a triangle - it's more of a bendy wendy triangly thingy:D)

Like if you had a quarter sphere shape is it?

seagull · 13-06-2017 1:58pm

sbsquarepants wrote: »

This is it in a nut shell.
If you picture lines of longitude on a globe, they are parallel - ie they cross the equator at a 90 degree angle - therefore you've reached 180 degrees just in those 2 angles before you even count the third angle at the poles. (well it's not really a triangle - it's more of a bendy wendy triangly thingy:D)

I always thought the definition of a triangle included it being a two dimensional shape.

GritBiscuit · 14-06-2017 8:38am

Men can also get a positive result by peeing on a pregnancy test stick - but in their case it's not a sign of impending parenthood, it's a sign they have a tumour.

Pregnancy tests look for the presence of elevated levels of the hormone beta human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a hormone also produced by a certain testicular (seminoma) cancers.

Only 20%-40% of seminomas and 40%-50% of non-seminomas give off elevated levels of hCG so while any man getting the two lines should make an appointment with their Dr pronto - it's not a reliable form of checking if you are testicular cancer free.

IvyTheTerrible · 14-06-2017 9:02am

In 1631, Ottoman slavers raided the seaside village of Baltimore in Cork and captured between 100 and 200 villagers, and brought them to North Africa for a life of slavery. Only 3 of those captured ever saw Ireland again, and the remaining villagers moved to Skibbereen (further inland), leaving Baltimore virtually deserted for generations.

Persephone kindness · 14-06-2017 9:20am

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

In 1631, Ottoman slavers raided the seaside village of Baltimore in Cork and capture between 100 and 200 villagers, and brought them to North Africa for a life of slavery. Only 3 of those captured ever saw Ireland again, and the remaining villagers moved to Skibbereen (further inland), leaving Baltimore virtually deserted for generations.

Kinda shocking.

Bandana boy · 14-06-2017 9:36am

Daniel Stern the other robber beside Joe Pesci in the home Alone movies was also the Narrator and modern day Fred Savage in "the Wonder years "

steddyeddy · 14-06-2017 3:29pm

It might surprise you to find out who came up with the word "meme".

The meme is defined as a unit of cultural symbolism, idea or behavior that can be transmitted from one person to another through writing, media, gestures, rituals and human contact. The handshake is an example of one of the most successful memes. The meme and its definition might strike you as being very gene like. This might be because a very famous developmental biologist called Richard Dawkins came up with the term when he was writing "The Selfish Gene".

Ipso · 14-06-2017 5:38pm

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

In 1631, Ottoman slavers raided the seaside village of Baltimore in Cork and captured between 100 and 200 villagers, and brought them to North Africa for a life of slavery. Only 3 of those captured ever saw Ireland again, and the remaining villagers moved to Skibbereen (further inland), leaving Baltimore virtually deserted for generations.

Weren't most of the slaves English settlers?

snowflaker · 14-06-2017 5:42pm

YMCA was number one the day the current Taoiseach was born!

IvyTheTerrible · 14-06-2017 6:26pm

Ipso wrote: »

Weren't most of the slaves English settlers?

Yes, still an awful thing to happen.

castletownman · 14-06-2017 7:09pm

Bailey's Irish Cream Liquor isn't actually Irish but originates from Essex.

In the 1970s, Gilbeys decided to come up with an uniquely Irish drink to appeal to the modern market.

Well the Irish were believed to be among the first people to distill whiskey, and at the time Ireland had a reputation for producing the best quality fresh cream worldwide, so two executives from Gilbey's decided to combine the two to make a new drink.

They initially spend an afternoon in work mixing the two and recording the results- it was meant to taste awful. One of them decided to add cocoa to the combo which instantly improved the taste. Of course, they hadn't taken exact measures, and that process was carried out by distillery scientists, and eventually patented as Bailey's Irish Cream CHOCOLATE liquor. The chocolate was eventually dropped as it became the drink we know today.

Furthermore, the signature you see on the label of the bottle is entirely fictional. Gilbey's contacted Tony O'Reilly for advice how to approach the Irish diaspora, and they discovered that the less "Irish" the name of a brand, the more authentic looking it would appear. "Paddy O'Reilly's Irish cream liquor" wouldn't have the same ring to it. The eventual name Bailey's was actually gleaned from Bailey's Hotel in London

Ipso · 14-06-2017 7:16pm

castletownman wrote: »

Bailey's Irish Cream Liquor isn't actually Irish but originates from Essex.

In the 1970s, Gilbeys decided to come up with an uniquely Irish drink to appeal to the modern market.

Well the Irish were believed to be among the first people to distill whiskey, and at the time Ireland had a reputation for producing the best quality fresh cream worldwide, so two executives from Gilbey's decided to combine the two to make a new drink.

They initially spend an afternoon in work mixing the two and recording the results- it was meant to taste awful. One of them decided to add cocoa to the combo which instantly improved the taste. Of course, they hadn't taken exact measures, and that process was carried out by distillery scientists, and eventually patented as Bailey's Irish Cream CHOCOLATE liquor. The chocolate was eventually dropped as it became the drink we know today.

Furthermore, the signature you see on the label of the bottle is entirely fictional. Gilbey's contacted Tony O'Reilly for advice how to approach the Irish diaspora, and they discovered that the less "Irish" the name of a brand, the more authentic looking it would appear. "Paddy O'Reilly's Irish cream liquor" wouldn't have the same ring to it. The eventual name Bailey's was actually gleaned from Bailey's Hotel in London

We still have Guinness.

15-06-2017 12:05am

The discovery of the remains of people buried with dogs in Switzerland over a hundred years ago tells us that the human-dog relationship likely dates back about 15,000 years. It's thought that wolves first approached us to scavenge scraps and waste from the human table, and that the wolves who would be most likely to be bold enough and friendly enough to come to us were those with the characteristics to survive and thrive more readily. Dogs certainly appear to have been domesticated before any other animal and it appears to have been a multi-regional development rather than of single origin, and we've been together ever since.

The human relationship with cats isn't quite as long lived but also appears to be multi-regional in origin. It's estimated we were first tolerated by cats between 11,000 - 12,000 years ago around the advent of the first neolithic (or agricultural) revolution, and a symbiotic relationship arose as cats preyed on the rodents that early crops attracted. Humans quickly realised the benefits of keeping the rodent population down and encouraged cats to maintain a presence, and this likely gave cats the inflated sense of importance and entitlement that they've displayed ever since.

Interestingly, cats in the Middle Ages developed a bad rep and were thought to be evil agents of witches and carriers of all kinds of nasty business and were culled in the belief they spread the bubonic plague. A bad move since the disease was spread by rat borne fleas, the population of which would have been kept down by plenty of hungry cats.

EDIT: Nope, the cats are blameless, and the plague was airborne.

osarusan · 15-06-2017 12:09am

In Rainman there is a scene in which Dustin Hoffman's character refuses to fly because of his fear of plane crashes, listing off a catalogue of accidents. It's the scene which explains why they have to make the roadtrip which makes up so much of the film, but because of the content, it was cut from the in-flight version of the film by many airlines.

Can anybody guess one airline which left the scene in their in-flight version?

15-06-2017 12:15am

osarusan wrote: »

In Rainman there is a scene in which Dustin Hoffman's character refuses to fly because of his fear of plane crashes, listing off a catalogue of accidents. It's the scene which explains why they have to make the roadtrip which makes up so much of the film, but because of the content, it was cut from the in-flight version of the film by many airlines.

Can anybody guess one airline which left the scene in their in-flight version?

United?

Quantas!

osarusan · 15-06-2017 12:21am

Candie wrote: »

United?

Eh...no.

Quantas!

Eh...yes.

New Home · 15-06-2017 12:35am

Quick question about the plague - hasn't it been recently discovered that it was in fact an air-borne disease? I seem to remember that some bodies were found recently during some underground work in London, and when they were examined and analysed and what have you they realised the plague wasn't transmitted by fleas after all. Is that correct, or did I imagine it?

15-06-2017 12:47am

New Home wrote: »

Quick question about the plague - hasn't it been recently discovered that it was in fact an air-borne disease? I seem to remember that some bodies were found recently during some underground work in London, and when they were examined and analysed and what have you they realised the plague wasn't transmitted by fleas after all. Is that correct, or did I imagine it?

Edit: You're entirely right, it's airborne and the fleas are vindicated.

I think I might have misread that link and it doesn't say what I thought! I think it refers to A bubonic plague, an infection of the lympathic system, rather than what we think of as THE bubonic plague, in which case both the Black Death and The Plague refer to the same thing!

New Home · 15-06-2017 1:09am

So did I!!! Well, good to know, I guess...

Esel · 15-06-2017 1:11am

If a flea from a rat will bite a human, surely it will bite a cat as well? Cats coming into contact with infested rats would carry the fleas to humans... KILL THE CATS!

Btw, I have seen rabbits and hedgehogs teeming with fleas. Are there any fleas which confine themselves to one type of host?

15-06-2017 1:18am

New Home wrote: »

So did I!!! Well, good to know, I guess...

Horrifying to think you could still contract bubonic plague, though of course until antibiotic resistance gets us - and it will, and soon - at least we have treatment for it.

15-06-2017 1:20am

Esel wrote: »

If a flea from a rat will bite a human, surely it will bite a cat as well? Cats coming into contact with infested rats would carry the fleas to humans... KILL THE CATS!

Btw, I have seen rabbits and hedgehogs teeming with fleas. Are there any fleas which confine themselves to one type of host?

I get that impression, since apparently you can still get bubonic plague from squirrel fleas and the fleas of prairie dogs but other animals don't get a mention.

ETA: nope, seems that it's airborne and nothing to do with any fleas at all. You're safe.

New Home · 15-06-2017 1:41am

I know that hedgehog fleas are 'specialised' (not a technical term, but you get the gist) and wouldn't survive on other hosts, I'm not sure if other types of fleas are the same.

Back to the plague - I just checked, and according to Wikipedia (who's never ever wrong :rolleyes:), Yersinia pestis is the bacterium responsible for the plague, and depending on how a person is infected the plague manifests itself in different ways; the bubonic plague and the septicemic plague are likely to be transmitted by insect bites and sometimes by infected food, whereas the pneumonic plague is air-born; the Black Death seems to be a combination of all three. Charming.

I know gondolas in Venice are black supposedly as the fulfilment of a vow made to Our Lady to stop the plague, and that the mask of the plague doctor has such a long beak/nose because it would be stuffed with herbs and other things to act as a filter against air borne diseases, including the black death (I'm not sure as to how reliable the masks were, but I'm sure it was better than nothing), so the 'miasma' theory wasn't that far off, after all.

New Home · 15-06-2017 1:42am

Candie wrote: »

Horrifying to think you could still contract bubonic plague, though of course until antibiotic resistance gets us - and it will, and soon - at least we have treatment for it.

Ditto for leprosy.

15-06-2017 1:54am

New Home wrote: »

I know that hedgehog fleas are 'specialised' (not a technical term, but you get the gist) and wouldn't survive on other hosts, I'm not sure if other types of fleas are the same.

Back to the plague - I just checked, and according to Wikipedia (who's never ever wrong :rolleyes:), Yersinia pestis is the bacterium responsible for the plague, and depending on how a person is infected the plague manifests itself in different ways; the bubonic plague and the septicemic plague are likely to be transmitted by insect bites and sometimes by infected food, whereas the pneumonic plague is air-born; the Black Death seems to be a combination of all three. Charming.

I know gondolas in Venice are black supposedly as the fulfilment of a vow made to Our Lady to stop the plague, and that the mask of the plague doctor has such a long beak/nose because it would be stuffed with herbs and other things to act as a filter against air borne diseases, including the black death (I'm not sure as to how reliable the masks were, but I'm sure it was better than nothing), so the 'miasma' theory wasn't that far off, after all.

Almost all the plague docs died, as they probably knew they would. One of the oldest infectious disease hospitals in the world was in Florence where the plague was first concentrated and I think it's partly a plague museum now.

Those plague doc outfits were frightening enough, though the logic behind them was solid enough for the times.

osarusan · 15-06-2017 3:13pm

When planning the construction of Egypt's Aswan Dam in the 1960s, surveyors drilled down into the river Nile looking for bedrock. To their surprise, they had to drill down much farther than expected, as they found nothing but sediment for hundreds of metres. Further drilling and study revealed that the sediment had filled up what was a massive canyon under the Nile, as much as 1000 miles long and with a deepest point of as much as 2000 metres.

This canyon was formed during the Messinian salinity crisis, which occurred approx 5.9 million years ago, when the Strait of Gibraltar was forced closed through tectonic movement, and the Mediterranean Sea was cut off from the Atlantic ocean.

Over time, the Mediterranean gradually evaporated down to virtually nothing (causing it to become hypersalinated also). As the level of the Mediterranean dropped, the level of the Nile began to drop also as it eroded the rock beneath it, carving out a canyon.

This erosion continued until the Zanclean flood (5.3 million years ago), which was the Atlantic ocean refilling the Mediterranean basin through the Strait of Gibraltar. As the sea level rose again, this caused the Nile to stop eroding its bedrock, and the entire canyon was eventually filled in with sediment.

I bet you didnt know that

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