Everything you ever wanted to know but were afraid to ask (Part II - The New Batch)

[Beagle 2]

Seeing as how the site has a temporary quirk again, can I now ask what the fuck that "Al Gores summat summat" thing on the banner was all about that time?

Ah what's the point, nobody's going to tell me..

[petula dusty]

I'm sure one of the photographer 'whores will have a more detailed answer to this but a quick google says a couple of reasons are that the exposure time in the early days could be up to a minute and it's very hard to hold a smile for that long and also because it was seen as kind of having your portrait done because, as you say, there were no handheld cameras at first so no spontaneous snap-shots and more sitting, posed and being captured for posterity. Bad teeth may have been part of it too apparently!

Got the info from this forum where someone asked the same question. The article extract someone posted is interesting but too long to cut and paste here.

http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/23235

Edit: This was a response to Lord Snooty's query which asked why old photographs rarely show anyone smiling. Ahem.

[Morrisfan82]

What's in snot, anyway?

Water, dust, complex polymers and custard.  I thought everyone knew that.

Or, if you listen to a kid I used to know at school, "snot is brain fluid and bogies are dead brain cells".

Something to think about next time you've got a cold.

[LordSnooty]

Excellent research on my behalf there Petula, thanks! It's a perfect explanation.

[butnut]

There's this picture of Proust (with tennis racket) mucking about. The woman on the right looks most unamused. The website says it's from 1892 - which would make Proust 21. I'd have thought it dated from a bit later than that, but there you go.

[Captain Crunch]

He looks a bit like Phil Lynott, with less hair.  Great!

[Ambient Sheep]

I wonder if the bloke on the left is Leslie Crowther's grandad or something?

[Gazeuse]

In fact the left side of that photo looks like a very early Thin Lizzie promo pic.

[Purple Tentacle]

He looks like that bloke from Sparks.

[butnut]

I just noticed something about the woman on the right -  is she swinging a tennis racket as the photo is taken? Is it about to smash into that girl's face?

[Mediocre Rich]

No, I think she is pretending to be the bass player.

[petula dusty]

The woman next to the one on the chair looks like Pam Ferris.

[Mediocre Rich]

This is all a bit depressing isn't it?

[Lady Beaner]

Rather!  Brainstorm... go team, go!

[Make me smile]

What's in snot, anyway?

Water, dust, complex polymers and custard.  I thought everyone knew that.

Or, if you listen to a kid I used to know at school, "snot is brain fluid and bogies are dead brain cells".

Something to think about next time you've got a cold.

Apparently when you have a cold snot (of the runny variety) is dead cells from both your immune system and the infection being expelled.

[Morrisfan82]

In a rich, tasty gravy.

[trotsky assortment]

He looks a bit like Phil Lynott, with less hair.  Great!

That's made me laugh properly for the first time today.  Thanks!

I'm a bit concerned about the woman with the thing on her head, actually.  Is she Jaz Colemans granny?

http://chilled.cream.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=333879&highlight=#333879

EDIT:  Ah, for Chrissakes, how do I do that thang where the dull looking URL is replaced with some words?

[Joy Nktonga]

TA - Follow the example in the code box below:

Code Select Expand

[url=www.bumfluff.org.uk]have a swanky picture of some bumfluff everyone![/url]

[gazzyk1ns]

Two related questions about Mastermind, and their famous black chair:

1. Has there ever been anyone on there who was too fat to be able to sit in it?

2. What do they do when a wheelchair user is on?

I'm pretty sure I've asked before, but equally sure there were no responses.

[Ambient Sheep]

1. I dunno, better ask Suttonpubcrawl.

2. They wheel themselves on in place of the black chair which has mysteriously been removed by some invisible stagehand.  I saw it happen a few months ago.

[gazzyk1ns]

I thought they might do that. I can't work out if it was pure assumption or whether I actually saw it happen aaaaaages ago.

[mook]

Why does it take so long for a PC to delete temporary internet files?

Whenever I empty my recycle bin, no matter if it's full of 500+mb old torrents it still  only take a second or two, but getting rid of the temp files takes 20 seconds or more!

The only thing I can think of is that my puter is desperatly trying to hang onto the porn, or at least it's have one last furtive peek at it.  That can't be the reason surely?

[LordSnooty]

Because Windows keeps records of what each temporary file pertains to - which page it's from, when you visited, etc etc. I suppose that this mini-database must be processed properly - not just a case of wipe 'n' start again.

Don't get bogged down with worrying about porn, there's nothing you can do. You could zero a disk ten times, and a forensic IT specialist would still be able to get at your old files (after a lot of hard work, for sure). Anyway, a few pics of tits `n` ass isn't going to bother the police force, unless...?

[Neil]

That would be the sheer number of files.  And they're probably quite fragmented too.

[The Duck Man]

My grandfather on my mother's side went bald at 21. How fucked am I, exactly?

[mook]

Ahh, thanks all.

I wasn't doing a porn clear out, honest I weren't. Anyway, I print most of my porn out and sellotape it to my windows, I find it stops my neighbours talking at me.

I would ask how a wiped disk can still hold information, but I won't for fear of you all thinking I've a 200gig drive full of filth I want to be shot of, and I wouldn't really understand the explanation anyhow..Thanks again.

[trotsky assortment]

My grandfather on my mother's side went bald at 21. How fucked am I, exactly?

Pretty fucked, I'd say.

Some people think it's just some sort of old wives' tale...but on the other hand, all the blokes on my mum's side of the family went bald, mostly before 30.

I've been lacking since I was about 26.

[butnut]

My grandad on my mother's side was bald by the time he was 30.  So in theory I've got 2 and a half years to go to make the most of  my locks.

[SetToStun]

I would ask how a wiped disk can still hold information, but I won't for fear of you all thinking I've a 200gig drive full of filth I want to be shot of, and I wouldn't really understand the explanation anyhow..Thanks again.

You may not want to know, but I'm going to tell you anyway. Ha. Basically, writing a disk track with all binary zeros or ones is theoretically enough to wipe a disk, but when you write complex data, the pattern "leaks" to the edge of the track which is left behind when a fast pattern is written. Reading the edges (very, very slow and extremely laborious) is often enough to infer the complex pattern of the original data.

[LordSnooty]

The best way to wipe a hard disk is to introduce it to Mr. Sledgehammer. Even then, you're not absolutely certain. Go over it with a steamroller to be sure. Then bury it deep underground.