MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
In my youth one of the lads had a degree in Mathematics but couldn't operate a phone box.
It was the standing joke at the end of a night out to get him to book a taxi, and we would all give him 20p because he would invariably screw it up.
Most folk don’t know what the first man made object to break the sound barrier was.
Thick I tell ye, couldn’t even work it out FFS.
I've never even considered this before. Was it a whip?
I only recently realised that a sous chef wasn't a special kind of chef who made "sous" whatever that was supposed to be..
pondo
Full Member(It, err… It IS because they’re horizontally opposed fours, isn’t it…?)
Not exactly, it's because of the exhaust header lengths basically- the left hand pipes are much longer than the right. If you fit an EJ with an equal length header or a twinscroll turbo like on mine, you lose the subaru wubwub.
(It's kind of because it's a boxer, because with the turbo on one side of the engine it's way easier to make unequal length headers... But you can put unequal length headers on any engine and likewise you can equal length a boxer)
I read somewhere not so long ago that nobody can fully explain the physics of how a wheel stays stable when rolling. Probably bull but I certainly don’t got the maths.
Bicycles defy explanation a bit - I don't think anyone has really got to the bottom of why a bike, even riderless, tends to stay upright when moving. Theories about gyroscopic effect, trail (and the exchange of atoms with their riders) and so on don't hold up - you can make bikes with tiny wheels and negative trail and they still behave in the same way.
So even though nobody actually knows how bikes work we can all ride them - some people can ride them quite well.
I could be wrong, but I think the OP was hinting at this kind of intelligence:
sure… turns out it was the artic circle which he’d never heard of before!! mind blown.
Is that the turning circle of a lorry...
lol. yes must be
Is that the turning circle of a lorry…
Beat me to it. I wonder if his friend had heard of the arctic circle?
I used to wonder why something which was clearly quite private should be called public hair. In my defence I was quite young.
Is that the turning circle of a lorry…
No, it’s the outer sponge bit.
twinw4ll
Most folk don’t know what the first man made object to break the sound barrier was.
Thick I tell ye, couldn’t even work it out FFS.
I was that person once, then I became a self righteous arsehole.
Go on then....
I can think of an obvious one and a not so obvious one.
being pedantic a deerhound / greyhound cross isn’t a lurcher. A lurcher is, classically speaking, a sight hound of any breed crossed with a non-sight hound of any breed.
Both greyhounds and deerhound are sight breeds so fall at the first hurdle
Technically a lurcher is a sighthound crossed with a working dog, not just any dog....to be fair it's a pretty broad term these days...
Technically a lurcher is a sighthound crossed with a working dog, not just any dog….to be fair it’s a pretty broad term these days…
This thread is quickly going from one place to another.
This thread is quickly going from one place to another.
Did you not know that's how these things usually work?
I would rather spend time with people who are not interested in diesel engines that those that argue the toss about the technicalities of a Lurcher...
Did you not know that’s how these things usually work?
I've been lurking around these parts for as long as I can remember. Have you heard of r/whoosh? Perhaps it was too subtle.
I often have a greater understanding as to how things work than my ability to use those things.
About 30 years ago I could tell you exactly how a computer worked, but zero chance of doing anything useful with it.
About 30 years ago I could tell you exactly how a computer worked,
Analogue or digital?
I famously turned to my wife while watching Gogglebox one evening and said incredulously "Is there a stupid one in every couple?"
The short answer would appear to be "Yes"
This thread is quickly going from one place to another.
Very good.
only female cows have udders the other day.
Unless I'm very much mistaken, cows have one udder, with usually four teats on it.
Bulls have one, big, teat and it takes a lot longer to get a pint out of.
And I worked in a large farming insurer with a person who thought that cows and bulls were different species. Mind you, she also turned up for her first farm visit in 4" stilettos.
Rifle bullet is supersonic, so i am guessing at 1850 ish not googled btw
Woman at work always turns the thermostat to 9, because the room warms up faster.. Yep the 2kw heater miraculously becomes a 28kw combi boiler system
I know two educated middle-aged men who have literally never cooked a meal.
My brother in law while living at home post university uses to say "I'd like a bath" so his mother would run it for him.
Could translate medieval latin manuscripts but couldn't (or wouldn't) run a bath.
My sister, who has been driving for around 15 years, was really impressed when I changed gear straight from 3rd to 5th.
.
My girlfriend's colleague, in her mid twenties, had to ring her to ask how to warm a tin of soup.
A friend borrowed my van this week as his car is dying. He didn’t know you should wait for the curly orange symbol to go off on the dashboard or that diesel engines don’t have spark plugs.
Reminds me of when I was down at Southampton boat show. A promotor/owner of an fully electric sailing boat was singing its praises about how little maintenance is needed and saying something alongs the lungs of you wouldn’t ever have to get your hands dirty changing the spark plugs on an engine... don’t think Diesel engines have spark plugs to change in the first place
Oh gods, thermostat wars in an open-plan office. They boxed off the controller in a locked Perspex box in the end.
It's a bit warm, I'll knock the aircon thermostat down to 16'C.
It's really cold for some odd reason, I'll whack the heating on and ram the aircon up to 30.
It's hot in here, let's open all the windows and drop the aircon back down to 16 whilst leaving the heating on at full chat.
Hello, maintenance? Yeah, it's all iced up again. No, us neither, we were only trying to refrigerate the planet.
She’s got a first class law degree so clearly isn’t daft but I do wonder how some people see the world.
Is it just me or…?
I think it’s partly down to focus - there are very smart people who just have a specific focus on a certain thing, and there are others, like me, who just don’t have the brain ‘shape’ to have that sort of focus, I know a bit about all sorts of stuff, or at least what I can remember, because I’m interested in lots of different things, I’m not interested in specifics enough to spend time learning about it.
Like cars, over the last five years, I’ve driven hundreds of different cars and vans, and they continue to change all the time, but that doesn’t mean I know specific stuff about how they work, I can’t even figure out how to open the bonnet on some cars, but the manufacturers don’t make it easy if you haven’t read the user manual! And jump-starting vehicles is tricky when the battery is hidden in the boot, or under a floor panel.
As far as buying a car because of the colour is concerned, I’ve never done that, I’ve only ever made a point of never buying a car painted brown, or with a brown interior.
Or a cream interior, because I’ve seen first hand just how quickly they get very grubby!
Most folk don’t know what the first man made object to break the sound barrier was.
Not sure, but as someone said, was it a whip? On a similar subject, anyone know what the fastest man-made object was?
Oh gods, thermostat wars in an open-plan office. They boxed off the controller in a locked Perspex box in the end.
One of my jobs as an apprentice working on BMS, was to fit thermostats in offices. Not connected to anything, but stops complaints about temperature from the office drones
On a similar subject, anyone know what the fastest man-made object was?
Was it the manhole cover from one of the US nuclear tests?
On a similar subject, anyone know what the fastest man-made object was?
I'd suspect its one of the Voyager craft
On a similar subject, anyone know what the fastest man-made object was?
Laser beam?
On a similar subject, anyone know what the fastest man-made object was?
The first ever hire car?
#driveitlikeyoustoleit
Not sure a laser beam counts as an object.
I’d go with some sort of spacecraft, voyager/space shuttle/iss.
Not sure a laser beam counts as an object.
It is sometimes. Sometimes it's a wave though
reminiscences about purple anodising
Where have you been for the last 10 years? Gunmetal is the new purple.
matt_outandabout
Full Member
I could be wrong, but I think the OP was hinting at this kind of intelligence:
That video is both hilarious and terrifying at the same time.
I ride a bike on the road with people potentially like that.
IMO, it just boils down to curiosity
Some people have absolutely no interests/compulsion to understand how the things around them (often things they use every single day) work. Personally, I think curiosity comes to you from your parents/teachers etc, asking and being asked questions, showing you how things work when you are young.
These days this is laid particularly bare by the fact like mundane knowledge of this sort is literally at your fingertips - all you need is to wonder something like "how does a microwave work? Seems to be magic" and you can have the answer in seconds.
I know a bit about all sorts of stuff, or at least what I can remember, because I’m interested in lots of different things, I’m not interested in specifics enough to spend time learning about it.
And yet, I'd consider you an authority on things that light up and things that cut stuff. Hence our previous interchange.
I pride myself on knowing a bit about a lot of things, but I perhaps sell myself short when it comes to things I am actually good at. You're doing the same here I fear.
One of my jobs as an apprentice working on BMS, was to fit thermostats in offices. Not connected to anything, but stops complaints about temperature from the office drones
Brilliant.
One of my daughters university house mates was filling out an application for a part time job in Manchester, this girl comes from Crewe. She had to check if her English language proficiency was best described as basic, intermediate or fluent, because she didn't know what fluent was. Alice suggested in that case she should tick intermediate. 🤣
On a similar subject, anyone know what the fastest man-made object was?
Fire as it emits light.
Different people know different things.
I can bore people for days about stuff that interests me works. Want to know about the intricacies of doping in sport and the effects various drugs have on human performance? Come and talk to me. Want to talk about the evolution of running shoe technology and why a carbon plate results in quicker times? Sit down, lets chat. Want to talk cooking and the different techniques in French cuisine? Lovely.
Want me to know literally anything practical around the house in terms of DiY? No chance, get a man in. Want to know anything about a car bar the very basic changing a wiper blade or filling up a washer bottle? Again, get a man in.
I could be wrong, but I think the OP was hinting at this kind of intelligence:
Watched a couple of sections of this for some reason and jesus christ the guy doing the commentary (why?) sounds like a smug pillock. Also, I often refuel on the "wrong" side when other pumps are busy. Literally every pump has a long enough pipe, and a sign telling you to do this...
On understanding how things work, a bit of a science background goes a long way. Someone mentioned how a stylus 'reads' from vinyl. I know bugger all about hifi whatever, but did make mechano turntable as a kid, pin in the bottom of a yoghurt pot and you can play 45s. Buggers them up mind. Also made an electric motor which involved coils of wire and a stick which could also light a bulb when spun, so know that moving a coil near a magnet makes current.
So whilst there's no way I could knock one up, or do the sums for speaker wattage or whatever, I do on a level understand how an old hifi works. I know a similar amount about how air molecules get that sound to your ear, and a tiny bit about how that makes it to the cochlear, translates into signals to hearing bits of your brain. Very slightly deeper knowledge, though closer to the edge of what's understood, of how the brain recognises patterns and interprets what's going on. And I could probably tell you it was a piece of Wagner that was playing, but probably not what as I'm not as cultured as I might be.
Which is my vague point: a fair bit of this comes down to the old arts v science dichotomy in the way we educate folks and what we value as culture.
(That said some people are thick when it comes to applying knowledge they actually have - thinking of a surf trip once where the guy driving was convinced that if his van only had a sixth or seventh gear he'd be able to cruise at 90 and save fuel. A british gas engineer. Hey ho.)
But:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.
Arthur C. Clarke, who knew how many things work.
I often refuel on the “wrong” side when other pumps are busy. Literally every pump has a long enough pipe
I'd say most rather than 'literally every,' and that's a big-ass car. I've done it in my Civic (fuelled from the opposite side, behave) with the tyres kissing the kerb and sometimes the hose has only just reached.
On a similar subject, anyone know what the fastest man-made object was?
On the planet, some sort of space object (capsule/shuttle?) re-entry I reckon.
Man made but extra-terrestrial, there are faster space probes.
Something I did for a mate to explain the turntable thing:
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
I’d say most rather than ‘literally every'
okay, figuratively, though I've never found one that didn't go round a berlingo including with bikes mounted on the back, and that's without squeaking the tyres. Just need to pull all the way forward. Either way, voiceover guy is still an idiot.
Something I did for a mate to explain the turntable thing:
We'd best spend £10/m on speaker cable, then.
I've no idea how radios work. Are the radiowaves everywhere in the air all the time, all around us and going through us? Do they ripple through the air? What are they made of? Do I need a tin hat? Is there anywhere that they can't get too (radio dead spots, if you like)?
Either way, voiceover guy is still an idiot.
I'm generally cynical that these sorts of videos are staged clickbait (like the pizza slices woman for instance), but this did seem to be either genuine or particularly well acted. Agreed though that the guy was an arse, "shall I go mansplain to the silly little woman how to drive?"
It’s like some people are just wilfully ignorant, they wear it like a badge of pride. It amazes me sometimes how people get through their lives. But you’ve hit the nail on the head, their brains just aren’t that shape. They’re probably really good at, er, something else.
That's a particular thing with computers I reckon @Cougar .
Possibly less so in other areas.
I once designed the front end "look and feel" of a bespoke online entry system - we knew it had to be idiot proof and simple and easy to read and (after a couple of fairly basic incarnations) it got to something that was genuinely very good and very capable.
But the calls we got about it and everyone said (almost proudly) "oh I'm hopeless with computers, I leave all that to [family member]".
It's not like you had to know the inner workings of a computer or the internet, it was literally clicking big simple buttons on a screen. I want to enter this event. Click. We deliberately built it like online shopping on the assumption that everyone knew how to put "things" into a basket and then buy the contents of that basket.
In very few other common areas of life would anyone proudly say "oh yes I'm hopeless at that!". Cooking maybe? But even then most people at least know a few basic recipes they can get by on. Don't they?
In very few other common areas of life would anyone proudly say “oh yes I’m hopeless at that!
This is true to some extent, but it's easy to see this willful ignorance when it is something you know about or are interested in but I think it is a trait almost everyone has. Can you name the last 20 FA cup winners or all the Kardashian children, what about the hits of One Direction? I suspect there are many here who would happily declare their ignorance in these matters.
This is true to some extent, but it’s easy to see this willful ignorance when it is something you know about or are interested in but I think it is a trait almost everyone has. Can you name the last 20 FA cup winners or all the Kardashian children, what about the hits of One Direction? I suspect there are many here who would happily declare their ignorance in these matters.
True, but how does this then turn into pseudo virtue-signalling? At what point do I jump into a thread on football to go "I know jeff all about football, me, I think it's shite!" There, that's them told!
It's a weird mentality and I don't get it. I understand a lack of interest in a given subject, I understand the lack of knowledge that follows on from that, but I abjectly fail to see why it's something to be proud of. Like they're working towards their Vocal Ignoramus boy scout badge or something. Weird.
First man made object to break the sound barrier would be a whip? Little sonic boom is when it cracks. Maybe.
I’ve no idea how radios work. Are the radiowaves everywhere in the air all the time, all around us and going through us? Do they ripple through the air? What are they made of? Do I need a tin hat? Is there anywhere that they can’t get too (radio dead spots, if you like)?
Me as a non-expert on this, waiting to be corrected by someone who is...
Yep, all around us the time and going through us.
Not really ripple like sound waves, which actually are air moving, but they do radiate from a central point, the transmitter, and go in out circles from there.
Electromagnetic waves. Same thing as light, infrared, ultraviolet, microwaves, etc, etc. Frequencies and wavelengths vary but the principle is the same. Our eyes have evolved as detectors for one range of frequencies, which we see as light, different frequencies as different colours. Or is it wavelengths? Radios just detect wavelengths too small for us to see. Our skin can detect bigger wavelengths, we sometimes feel the heat when infrared hits us.
No.
Yes, Either too far from the transmitter (same way you can't see a torch too far away) or blocked by something really solid, hills, some buildings etc, in the same way light makes shadows from things it can't get through or how x-rays can't get through really dense stuff like lead.
different frequencies as different colours. Or is it wavelengths?
Same difference. Higher frequency <=> shorter wavelength, it's a direct correlation.
Imagine a drummer hitting a drum at a consistent beat. The faster he hits it then the more beats per second you get (higher frequency) but the less time elapses between beats (shorter wavelength).
I’ve no idea how radios work.
A place I worked at years ago had a 1930s (IIRC) valve radio and a girl in the office was surprised to hear a current radio station playing on it - she assumed it would 'only be able to play old music'.
And yes, it's all EM radiation. How does radio work? The same way as light, Wi-Fi, 5G, microwaves, X-rays, TV remotes, sunburn, RADAR and a bunch of other shit. The only thing that really changes is the frequency / wavelength and the sensitivity of the receiving equipment (television, wireless card, eyeballs) to a given range within that spectrum.
I’ve no idea how radios work.
I like to imagine what the world would look like if someone could see radio waves as if they were light, but not see light.
It'd be sort of like a moonlit night, but there'd be a few really bright red lights on top of large towers around the countryside, and lots of smaller but bright blueish ones on top of buildings and lamp posts and stuff. And small lights like glowing LEDs all over your house. Your room would have pleasant blue mood lighting from the Wi-Fi router in the corner. People would be walking around with blue lights from their pockets as if they'd left the torch function on their phones on.
The weird part though would be that most things would look sort of like orangey clear perspex. You'd be able to see through your house and a few of your neighbours houses. But the wires and pipes and things would still be solid. In fact, even some parts of the landscape would have a dull red translucence.
Of course the colours would depend on what your radio-eyes could actually see as the difference between red and blue light is much less than the difference between FM radio waves and Wi-Fi or 5G.
A place I worked at years ago had a 1930s (IIRC) valve radio and a girl in the office was surprised to hear a current radio station playing on it – she assumed it would ‘only be able to play old music’.
I used to know someone who thought that if you held music cassette tape up to the light you would be able to see the notes and lyrics.
And yes, it’s all EM radiation. How does radio work? The same way as light, Wi-Fi, 5G, microwaves, X-rays, TV remotes, sunburn, RADAR and a bunch of other shit.
Well yes and no. That's like saying all substances are the same because they are all made of atoms - but drinking a glass of milk is not like drinking a glass of diesel.
Different parts of the EM spectrum interact with their surroundings and us in really quite different ways.
Yes, but would a pilot who thought a plane on a conveyor belt would take off be allowed to fly one?
Ben, step away from the LSD.
Well yes and no. That’s like saying all substances are the same because they are all made of atoms – but drinking a glass of milk is not like drinking a glass of diesel.
More yes though.. maybe a better analogy would be diesel, petrol, kerosene.. they're all hydrocarbons but with different numbers of carbons stuck together. EM radiation is just different frequencies/wavelengths from high/tiny (gamma radiation, x-rays) through visible then onto low/large (microwave, radio...).
I like to imagine what the world would look like if someone could see radio waves as if they were light, but not see light.
You'd need VERY big eyes to do that though! If a wavelength is metres / hundreds of metres..
IIRC some countries do insist on a minimal amount of mechanical knowledge as a part of the driving test - just basics like topping up fluids and tyres.
I am a person who needs to know the why and how before I can use something. I cannot learn by rote easily. thats a personality thing tho
Well yes and no.
I originally wrote at the end of that post, "note to Physicists, yes I know this is a gross oversimplification" but it got lost in editing somehow.
I am a person who needs to know the why and how before I can use something. I cannot learn by rote easily. thats a personality thing tho
Right?
This is one of the (many) concepts I tried to drum into the skulls of my apprentices. The difference it makes is that if you understand even loosely how something works then you're ahead of the game when you're presented with an issue that you've not seen before. You have the tools to work it out.
I once designed the front end “look and feel” of a bespoke online entry system – we knew it had to be idiot proof and simple and easy to read and (after a couple of fairly basic incarnations) it got to something that was genuinely very good and very capable.
Trouble with this is what seems idiot proof to you is not idiot proof to a proper idiot
We have this with computer systems at work. Fabulous complex databases that do all sorts of amazing things but you can tell that they were built by computer wizards with input from idiot users and that there was a huge comprehension gulf between them. I find navigating around it tricky for two reasons - its all TLAs and pictogrammes and unless I know what the TLA / pictogramme means ( and its not always obvious) then it just does not stick in my mind. the other reason is there are multiple ways to get to the same place - that confuses me and I am reasonably computer literate
Examples - the bit we use most is the EPR. what on earth is that? finally i found out its the Electronic patient Record the bit we called " the notes" when it was paper. "Notes" on the database is something very different. Or if i want to find the relatives phone number. Its a pictogramme of a stick person that when you hover over it says "demographics" so you have to click on that then into submenu for "other contacts"
My point being that what one person thinks is idiot proof really is not if you are not thinking in the same way
Ben, step away from the LSD.
If Ben is molgrips then I agree.
I had to explain to my 46 Year old girlfriend that only female cows have udders the other day.
I’m right aren’t I?
a degree qualified engineer i worked with thought that only bulls had horns (ie not cows). just wow
Try explaining the difference between a bull calf, a bullock and a bull
A place I worked at years ago had a 1930s (IIRC) valve radio and a girl in the office was surprised to hear a current radio station playing on it – she assumed it would ‘only be able to play old music’.
to be fair, with digital stations these days she'd be right.
to be fair, with digital stations these days she’d be right.
Yeah but this was around 1993 🙂
In very few other common areas of life would anyone proudly say “oh yes I’m hopeless at that!”. Cooking maybe? But even then most people at least know a few basic recipes they can get by on. Don’t they?
Can't cook to save my life but I'm not proud of it! It's basically due to me having a very limited diet due to allergies I had as a baby, thankfully I outgrew them! It means I have an involuntary stomach reflex to certain foods and tastes, makes me throw up spectacularly if I eat something like tomato. It's all mental as I no longe react to the foods, tomato for example made my throat close up, but my brain still goes "Nope!". Where it comes into cooking is I cannot taste a lot of stuff to see how it's going, meaning results are incredibly varied. I also have very little interest in food and it's taste due to not being to eat much while little so I don't have any interest in doing it. It causes issues with eating out, which I rarely do even in normal times, thankfully you can get pizza made without sauce!
Other things though I delve into how they work and my inquisitiveness can lead me down some proper rabbit holes, especially on YouTube!
Can you name the last 20 FA cup winners or all the Kardashian children, what about the hits of One Direction? I suspect there are many here who would happily declare their ignorance in these matters.
That's not really the same thing, that's general knowledge. It's not a "life skill" (other than perhaps not being able to answer a couple of pub quiz questions).
I can get through life knowing or not knowing that and it will make no difference whatsoever.
It's the knowing how things work from a user point of view (which is generally made as simple as possible) - like the earlier example, computers / the internet, certainly for the basics are generally very simple indeed. Kids can use a tablet, they're incredibly intuitive.
And then there's knowing how things work from a technical point of view but that is very different to the user point of view.
I couldn't tell you much about the inner workings of my computer other than I know the basic components and spec that it has. But I don't need to phone someone up and ask how to do online shopping!
I know why the Castle Bravo atomic test yield was almost three times that expected but I couldn't do the equations!
On the turntable thing, it's fun to put a record on and then lightly hold the edge of an A4 piece of paper in the groove. Amazes many folks
I remembered being told that if you drop a stone in a bucket the plop was air breaking the speed of sound but assumed I had remembered it wrong or Dad was taking the piss. I just Googled it and it turns out it is true. I claim the first thing humans made go supersonic was air from dropping stones into water
"According to one study, when a rock or other such object is dropped into water, an hourglass-shaped cavity of air is created, which then ejects the air at speeds faster than the speed of sound."
IIRC some countries do insist on a minimal amount of mechanical knowledge as a part of the driving test – just basics like topping up fluids and tyres.
You mean like England? As part of the driving test you have to answer a couple of basic questions about how to do just these kinds of tasks.