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Why?

Started by Almost Yearly, March 02, 2004, 12:13:41 PM

Previous topic - Next topic
Quote from: "Ambient Sheep should have"Furry nuff.

mook - sheer shiftlessness, or possibly what the ethereal wispy one said^^

sore bottom mum

Quote from: "Almost Yearly"Why?

More intriguingly, What?  How?  and When?
There we are, 3 new threads just off the top my head. Any takers?

MonkeyDrummer

QuoteWhy after reading the Guardian for nearly 13 years do I find myself becoming more and more right wing?

it could be the amount of labour spunk you have to swallow with the news

Vermschneid Mehearties

QuoteAny takers?

I'll take them and hide them, never to be found again by the desperate and weak of word.

bill hicks

This has been annoying me for ages now and google turns up nothing:

Why does the UK use 240 volts but the US uses 110 volts?

What benefit does this provide and why did they do it in the first place?

Hairy Chin

I was simply going to reply to this thread with "do birds suddenly appear, every time you are near?"

But was distracted by this:

Quote from: "Ambient Sheep"Which means that every time I see a woman with hairy forearms, I think about the fact that she must have a high sex drive.

And thought I'd better share with you the fact that I was sitting next to a lady at a radio station meeting yesterday and I noticed she had a layer of fine, fair hairs all along her arm - only really visible if the sun caught it at the right angle, but there was hairs there. I should've hung back a while after the meeting. Tsk.

Vermschneid Mehearties

Yeah. Not before pointing to your wheels in the car park though.

*wink*

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: "bill hicks"This has been annoying me for ages now and google turns up nothing:
Really?

QuoteWhy does the UK use 240 volts but the US uses 110 volts?
At a guess, because the US found they needed thicker cables than expected to carry the amount of power they needed, so when we adopted it we decided to go to a higher voltage (which counter-intuitively needs thinner cable for the same amount of power, explanation coming up in a minute).

That's only a guess mind, I don't know the proper reason, although I'm sure I read it in my youth somewhere.

QuoteWhat benefit does this provide
Electrical theory isn't one of my strongest points, but I will attempt to explain.

The amount of power something uses is measured in Watts.  They are what your electricity company bills you for.  Electric kettles and immersion heater, typically 3000 Watts.  Two-bar electric fire, typically 2000 Watts.  Light bulbs, well you know how many watts they come in (60 or 100 usually).

Watts = Volts x Amps.  Volts are the "pressure" of the electrical connection, analogous to water pressure in your plumbing.  Amps are the current, i.e. how many electrons flow past a given point per second, analogous to how fast the water in your pipes is flowing.  One Amp is 6,240,000,000,000,000,000 electrons per second.  ;-)

Now to get, say, 1000 Watts of power, you need to make a choice of how you supply it.  You could have 250 Volts with 4 Amps (250 x 4 = 1000), or 125 Volts with 8 Amps (125 x 8 = 1000), and so on.  So as you can see, the lower the voltage, the higher the current (amps) needed to obtain the same amount of power.  And this is where the problems come in.

Higher current flows (more amps) generate more heat in the cables for the same amount of power, I shan't go into why as I think I've equationed enough for now. ;-)  Heat is bad for fairly obvious reasons (wastes energy, burns down your house, and causes pylon wires to sag in hot weather with high power loads).  Thus for the most efficient power-transmission you want to keep the volts as high as practically possible while not requiring heavy-duty equipment in order to handle it.

The Americans chose 110 volts, and to this day they have problems with the high currents required for even everyday equipment.  Perhaps because of this, Europe went for 220V, and the UK went for 240V (recently harmonised to a nominal 230V).  This reduces the required current flow for everyday appliances to a reasonable amount, at the cost of making mains electricity rather more fatal over here than in the States.

Incidentally, this is why National Grid and other pylon voltages are so astronomically high: even the ones on the local three-pronged telegraph poles are at 11,000V, some even at 33,000V.  Proper pylons generally start at 132,000V and the really large National Grid mothers (the ones with four cables per, um, cable) are at 400,000V.  All in order to be able to transmit megawatts without the currents getting ludicrously high - as it is they can be over 2000 Amps I think, as some NG routes are shown as carrying as much as 900 megawatts, and 900,000,000 divided by 400,000 Volts = 2,500 Amps.  Even then the National Grid has problems in hot weather as the lines get bloody hot even in cold weather; in a hot summer they can sag to buggery.  One reason they're seldom underground as some people would like is that they require air-cooling, the underground runs have to have complicated oil-cooling systems.

Quoteand why did they do it in the first place?
Why the numbers were chosen exactly as they were in the first place I don't know.  I will try to find out.

wu be eel

Quote from: "Almost Yearly"
Quote from: "Nearly Annually"Why is the sky blue?
Violet is scattered even more than blue light, but our eyes are much more sensitive to blue than violet, therefore we see the sky as blue. Ish.

How come camera shots always record light as blue then?

a question ill regret asking as soon as a reply follows. yes, i really am that thick

bill hicks

Cheers Ambient. I knew I could rely on you.

I know the equation bits (I got an A in GCSE Physics! Yay Me!) but for the life of me have never known why everyone decided to use different bloody voltages. Google just turns up expat forums guffing on about transformers and convertors.

Does anyone know of a place on the net that answers these sort of questions? I had major headaches when I became obsessed with the reasons we drive on the left, but everyone else on the right until I found the answer on page 100 of a google search.

This is what the net should be for. And porn obviously.

(EDIT: It's to do with swords in feudal britain, Napolean, Unions in the US and France and global homogenisation)

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: "bill hicks"I know the equation bits
Me too, but I had to assume that you (or whoever else was masochistic enough to wade through it) hadn't.

Quote(I got an A in GCSE Physics! Yay Me!)
Indeed.  One of the biggest disappointments of my academic career was that after getting 80%+, sometimes 90%+ in every single end-of-year Physics exam and mock O-level, I only got a B in the real thing.  There was something odd about it though, as me and a mate of mine were always vying for third place in the year overall (the top two guys always came top and went to Cambridge), we more-or-less took it in turns to be third and fourth, and he got a B too.  There must have been some sort of trick question on the paper, 'cos it looked like all the mocks we ever did, and thought it was the same sort of difficulty.  We were both gutted.

I got the A-Level though.  Grade E, thanks to a romantic disaster in my sixth form.

Quotebut for the life of me have never known why everyone decided to use different bloody voltages. Google just turns up expat forums guffing on about transformers and convertors.
I'll see what I can dig out, I'm sure I've read a history somewhere.

QuoteDoes anyone know of a place on the net that answers these sort of questions?
Not really, although there probably is one, however the Guardian's "Notes and Queries" section did the "drive on the left/right" thing in commendable detail a while back, much the same answer as your summary.

You can always try www.wikipedia.org or www.everything2.com as well.

Tokyo Sexwhale

Quote from: "bill hicks"Google just turns up expat forums guffing on about transformers and convertors.

The Convertors being an inferior brand of robots cum cars....

terminallyrelaxed

Quote from: "Ambient Sheep"Which means that every time I see a woman with hairy forearms, I think about the fact that she must have a high sex drive.

My god, you might just have something there. Actually didnt we discuss thse matters in a thread about whther or not you can tell if people are nymphos, or whether hairy people are nymphos or something?

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: "terminallyrelaxed"
Quote from: "Ambient Sheep"Which means that every time I see a woman with hairy forearms, I think about the fact that she must have a high sex drive.
My god, you might just have something there.
Do you speak from analysing the scientific argument I just put forward, or from personal experience?  ;-)

QuoteActually didnt we discuss thse matters in a thread about whther or not you can tell if people are nymphos
Might have done a very long time ago.  Not recently, certainly, but it does ring a vague bell.

Jet Set Willy

Why do people have more than one log in name when they act the same with each one and make it clear that they are who they are?

5 Knuckle Shuffle

Quote from: "Ambient Sheep"
Quote from: "Almost Yearly"
Quote from: "Virtually Perennially"Why are men hairier than women?
Nobody knows. It's not hormonal, apparently.
Uh?  Shome mishtake, shurely?  I thought hairiness was directly linked to testosterone levels, which in turn are also correlated with sex drive (and baldness in those whose follicles are vulnerable to elevated testosterone levels, not everyone's are though).

Although women naturally have some levels of testosterone, it's not generally as high as in men.  However when women are given testosterone in lab experiments their voices deepen, they grow more hair in "unwanted" places, and they get randier and more aggressive.

Which means that every time I see a woman with hairy forearms, I think about the fact that she must have a high sex drive.

You started this topic just to tempt me into this thread, didn't you?

I read somewhere that newborn babies have the same amount of hair as the hairiest grown up. It's just that babies hairs are obviously smaller, less bristly and therefore not as recognisable on the skin.

QuoteHow do CDs work?

If magnfied, you would notice little bumps on the CD layer that records the information (not the immediate layer as that's just a clear cover to protect it.) Light (the laser) beams towards these bumps and reflects off them at certain angles and reflects them back towards the source of the light to a detector whereupon it the information is converted to sound.

gazzyk1ns

An interesting fact about CDs is that if you make a horizontal scratch on them it'll likely bugger it up, as the data is arranged in blocks with various levels of error correction data at the end of those. Thus a minor horizontal scratch could obscure a whole data block and all/most of its error correction data, making the block unreadable. Even a pretty heft scratch travelling from the centre of the CD outwards probably won't cause any problems, as it will likely only travel through part of a data block or its error correction information, leaving the other one of those two intact.

A good way of exploiting the above to 'clean' CDs is to get some toothpaste or T-Cut on a rag and rub outwards from the centre several times. This should take off a small amount of the plastic surface (but not the metal azo layer) and literally remove some scratches which might be causing problems. Any minor scratches you create by applying the abrasive substance to the surface will be 'vertical' and won't cause problems. If you've got a badly scratched CD it's wrth trying it.

CD players have error concealment as well as more than one level of error correction. CD-ROM drives don't have error concealment and some have no (or just limited) error correction, which is why you will sometimes rip a CD only to hear glitches, whereas it will play 'fine' on your CD player.

Purple Tentacle

Quote from: "wu be eel"
Quote from: "Almost Yearly"
Quote from: "Nearly Annually"Why is the sky blue?
Violet is scattered even more than blue light, but our eyes are much more sensitive to blue than violet, therefore we see the sky as blue. Ish.

How come camera shots always record light as blue then?

a question ill regret asking as soon as a reply follows. yes, i really am that thick

They don't, it's all to do with light temperature settings. Florescant lighting has a lower temperature than sunlight, and so cameras set to the low "interior" temperature will record sunlight as violet as white indoors is very different to white outdoors.... the correct way to set up a camera is to focus on a pure white object, and adjust the temperature setting until it shows up as pure white...this is called "white balancing".

Conversly a camera white balanced outdoors will depict interior lighting as orange.

sore bottom mum

Quote from: "Jet Set Willy"Why do people have more than one log in name when they act the same with each one and make it clear that they are who they are?

Good point. I think it's because some people here realize they've made such a when out of themselves that it seems necessary to change identities....but unfortunately it's very difficult to shake off a true irritating self. Drinking makes me drunk...

I've just made this song, it's in a pre-production phase (and i'll probably wake up tomorrow and realize it's gate), so bad quality:
I haven't got a name for it yet

Cerys

Quote from: "mitzidog"How does the man who drives a snow plough get to work

The plough is inflatable, and he takes it home with in his pocket  every night for convenience's sake.

QuoteIs there anything smaller than the gap between freezing and scalding on the shower control

No.

QuoteWhy do you always think of the right thing to say EXACTLY five hours and twenty three minutes after the opportune moment (even if this wakes you at 4.17 in the morning)

Because this is precisely the length of time it takes the crucial 'retort' cells to get down that bloody staircase to the relevant bit of your brain.

QuoteWhy can't I think inside the box (and am I dead or alive - or a cat?)

Because you're uncertain.

Quote from: "5 Knuckle Shuffle"I read somewhere that newborn babies have the same amount of hair as the hairiest grown up. It's just that babies hairs are obviously smaller, less bristly and therefore not as recognisable on the skin.
Indeed, they have even more hair before they're born, from before 20 weeks gestation. It's fine, downy stuff called Lanugo. Used to be called Renault 19.

Quote from: "Jet Set Willy"Why do people have more than one log in name when they act the same with each one and make it clear that they are who they are?
It's proof that not everything has a reason. This question has already been asked, last page. Why don't people read a thread before replying to it? ;-)

Quote from: "wu be eel"
Quote from: "Almost Yearly"
Quote from: "Nearly Annually"Why is the sky blue?
Violet is scattered even more than blue light, but our eyes are much more sensitive to blue than violet, therefore we see the sky as blue. Ish.
How come camera shots always record light as blue then?

a question ill regret asking as soon as a reply follows. yes, i really am that thick
As a supplement to, nay précis of, Purple Tentacle's answer - it's because photographic reproduction in biased to resemble what we see with our eyes. Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention. But then again again, I've just mentioned them haven't I.


And finally, sore bottom mum - I have had to prove myself a consistent and actually really quite personable cunt over a period of time in order for my stupid thread to be at least semi-tolerated.



Why don't you just switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead?
One for the Comedy Chat Crew there ;-)

Morrisfan82

Quote from: "king mob"Why do fools fall in love?
Why do birds sing so gay?

Why don't ducks' quacks echo?

They do, it's a myth.

Why can't scientits explain how bees are able to fly?

They can, it's a myth.

Why do pigeons like wasps?

Coo knows!

mook

What are wasps for?

Why do spiders have so many eyes?

Why are Dutch people so fucking tall?

I love this thread, it's like being 6 again and being allowed to free the mind of whatever question is currently wobbling around in there.

Is Ned Sherrin really gay?

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: "The Boston Crab"Why can't scientits explain how bees are able to fly?
They can, it's a myth.
Sort of.  Originally they couldn't, hence the "according to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees can't fly" myth.  Turns out they'd forgotten to take into account the way the bumblebee's wings flex in the air.  They admitted it a few years ago.

Quote from: "mook"What are wasps for?
Someone asked this on Notes & Queries a while back.  Apparently they're good at eating aphids and eating up rotten fruit, so they do have some sort of purpose in the grand scheme of things.  Personally speaking I'd rather have the rotten fruit and the aphids.

Quote from: "mook"Why are Dutch people so fucking tall?
Dutch houses are notably tall and narrow, due to a tax in some century gone by that taxed homeowners on the width of their houses.  (The same way that old British houses often have very small windows, as there was a window tax at one point in history.)  Due to this, over the years Dutch people have evolved to be tall and narrow themselves in order to better fit into their tall and narrow houses.

Some of the above is a lie.

At least I *assume* it's a lie.  It could be true, you never know.

bill hicks

Quote from: "mook"Why are Dutch people so fucking tall?

Well up until recently Americans were the tallest nation (average 171cm, while the Dutch lagged behind at 164cm). However while the US has stayed pretty consistent, The Netherlands and Norway are now the joint leaders (178cm), with Sweden third (177cm) and the US fourth (175cm).

The reason....quite simple really.

In the post war years the scandinavians, and the Dutch, have seen the quality of healthcare grow across the whole population while levels of nutrition have risen as a result of this increased health. Better diets, better healthcare mean that they are healthier during their key growth periods and shoot up. The US has seen it's healthcare system falter and the growth in fast food has meant that kids aren't as healthy in America, so don't get the right proteins and vitamins when they are growing.

Our diets have always been lacking in the right ingredients for a race of aryan supermen, so we've always been shortarses.

I however am 6' 3" and have never knowingly eaten a vegetable, so it could be rubbish.

That's the reason scientists use though.

mook

Ta Bill, I sure your explanation is rooted in fact somewhere but I've chosen to believe Sheepy on this one though, I just love the idea of tall skinny Cloggie's being shaped by the very abodes they live in. It make sense if you think about it just look at hermit crabs.eh? see.

Oh, and I'd rather have rotten apple and aphids knocking about rather than those nasty black and yellow bastards.

Or what he said down there VVVVV

Quote from: "mook"Why are Dutch people so fucking tall?
I prefer to think it's because their feet are below sea level.

Ambient Sheep

Quote from: "mook"Ta Bill, I sure your explanation is rooted in fact somewhere but I've chosen to believe Sheepy on this one though...
The bit about the taxes (both Dutch & British) is true though.  Only the evolution bit was a fib (as far as I know!).

Like you though, I think AY's theory is the best, and he should know, since he lives with one.

Vermschneid Mehearties

Quoteso we've always been shortarses.

Though Verbwhores is swamped by the longshanked, beanpoled and stilt-donning. The last thread which polled on height discovered that hardly any of us are below 5ft 10.