Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

surrey_commuter

I have always been surprised that lighting braziers in vineyards can prevent a frost damaging the vines but it obviously works

Presumably other gardeners park their pets in the greenhouse or pile up woodchips

TheBigBean

surrey_commuter said:

TheBigBean said:

I'm also puzzled by this for a different reason. If there is no hole in the pot presumably all the oxygen gets used up and the candle goes out. If there is a hole doesn't all the heat escape through that especially if it is at the top?

if you cupped your hands over a candle but left a small hole would it protect you from burning?

Point taken.

pblakeney

TheBigBean said:

I'm also puzzled by this for a different reason. If there is no hole in the pot presumably all the oxygen gets used up and the candle goes out. If there is a hole doesn't all the heat escape through that especially if it is at the top?

Plant pots should have a hole to prevent over watering.

monkimark

If the hole in the pot is the right size, it would presumably reduce oxygen enough to make it burn slower/longer but not enough to extinguish it.

capt_slog

monkimark said:

If the hole in the pot is the right size, it would presumably reduce oxygen enough to make it burn slower/longer but not enough to extinguish it.

It's nothing as complex as that. They stand the pot on bricks so that it can get air underneath.

Stevo_666

Good work, this is definitely both trivial and intriguing.

First.Aspect

It is simpler than you think. Without a cover the heat will dissipate and the wax around the rim will never get used. The candle will burn in the middle only and go out sooner.

This will lead to premature tomato death and food shortages.

You are now technologically up to the dark ages. If anything similar intrigues you, such as how a windmill works, I may be able to help.

capt_slog

First.Aspect said:

It is simpler than you think. Without a cover the heat will dissipate and the wax around the rim will never get used. The candle will burn in the middle only and go out sooner.

This will lead to premature tomato death and food shortages.

You are now technologically up to the dark ages. If anything similar intrigues you, such as how a windmill works, I may be able to help.

THAT is what happens when the wick is the wrong size for the diameter of the candle. The wick is matched such that the amount of heat it produces will melt a pool of wax just the right size without overspill or leaving a rim.

The wick is actually a clever bit of technology. It's also designed to bend as it burns so that the tip will protrude outside the envelope of the flame. This means that it can find oxygen, burn away and always be just the right length. Before they did that you used to have to keep trimming the wick, they even had a special scissors for it.

I also know all about windmills, wind turbines especially, I built one and it's in my garden.

pinno

Permission to fall asleep ?

surrey_commuter

First.Aspect said:

It is simpler than you think. Without a cover the heat will dissipate and the wax around the rim will never get used. The candle will burn in the middle only and go out sooner.

This will lead to premature tomato death and food shortages.

You are now technologically up to the dark ages. If anything similar intrigues you, such as how a windmill works, I may be able to help.

I would be surprised if they were burning Jo Malone's finest

webboo

Performance suits.
What’s the point.

rjsterry

This bit of medieval orthopaedic surgery.

http://crowradioandplasmascience.blogspot.com/2018/02/humerus-varnhemiensis.html?m=1

pinno

That ^ is amazing and worth the read.

rjsterry

Thanks. A bit boggling innit.

pinno

Yep. The middle ages are not as dark as we have hitherto believed.

rjsterry

The arm must have been in a mess to attempt such a thing. 😬

pinno

...and no anaesthetic. Unless those clever monks had some potent alcohol.

rjsterry

pinno said:

...and no anaesthetic. Unless those clever monks had some potent alcohol.

Was thinking more rudimentary opiates.

pinno

rjsterry said:

pinno said:

...and no anaesthetic. Unless those clever monks had some potent alcohol.

Was thinking more rudimentary opiates.

That lead down an interesting path:

1300's
Opium disappears for two hundred years from European historical record. Opium had become a taboo subject for those in circles of learning during the Holy Inquisition. In the eyes of the Inquisition, anything from the East was linked to the Devil.

1500
The Portugese, while trading along the East China Sea, initiate the smoking ofopium. The effects were instantaneous as they discovered but it was a practice the Chinese considered barbaric and subversive.

1527
During the height of the Reformation, opium is reintroduced into European medical literature by Paracelsus as laudanum. These black pills or "Stones of Immortality" were made of opium thebaicum, citrus juice and quintessence of gold and prescribed as painkillers.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/heroin/etc/history.html

pblakeney

People have known how to get off their tits since long before civilisation. A deviation but I do enjoy watching every generation thinking they've discovered getting high. Sex too.

rick_chasey

Is there an actual good reason why we don't just either physically or electronically limit all cars to 70mph?

Beyond that people like breaking the rules of the road and speeding.

briantrumpet

War on motorists, obvs.

monkimark

Generally someone will claim that they need to be able to 'accelerate out of trouble' in an emergency.
I can kind of see the point, I have certainly had situations on the motorbike where I've sped up to avoid someone changing lanes into me on the motorway for example but I probably could have used the brake to achieve the same.

In practical terms, i guess it would be reatively easy to achieve on new cars but very difficult on existing cars and someone would need to pay for it.

Pross

briantrumpet said:

War on motorists, obvs.

This, the ‘motoring lobby’ has a huge amount of support because so many people drive and anything to put restrictions on them gets portrayed as motorists being unfairly targeted.

That said everyone doing exactly the same speed can create difficulties. There’s a section of 50mph motorway near me and if you enter it in lane 3 when it’s busy it can be very difficult getting across two lanes of traffic doing the same speed to reach a slip road.

briantrumpet

monkimark said:

Generally someone will claim that they need to be able to 'accelerate out of trouble' in an emergency.
I can kind of see the point, I have certainly had situations on the motorbike where I've sped up to avoid someone changing lanes into me on the motorway for example but I probably could have used the brake to achieve the same.

In practical terms, i guess it would be reatively easy to achieve on new cars but very difficult on existing cars and someone would need to pay for it.

Black box in every car should be feasible.

orraloon

briantrumpet said:

monkimark said:

Generally someone will claim that they need to be able to 'accelerate out of trouble' in an emergency.
I can kind of see the point, I have certainly had situations on the motorbike where I've sped up to avoid someone changing lanes into me on the motorway for example but I probably could have used the brake to achieve the same.

In practical terms, i guess it would be reatively easy to achieve on new cars but very difficult on existing cars and someone would need to pay for it.

Black box in every car should be feasible.

Uh oh. Conspiracy theory alert!

briantrumpet

orraloon said:

briantrumpet said:

monkimark said:

Generally someone will claim that they need to be able to 'accelerate out of trouble' in an emergency.
I can kind of see the point, I have certainly had situations on the motorbike where I've sped up to avoid someone changing lanes into me on the motorway for example but I probably could have used the brake to achieve the same.

In practical terms, i guess it would be reatively easy to achieve on new cars but very difficult on existing cars and someone would need to pay for it.

Black box in every car should be feasible.

Uh oh. Conspiracy theory alert!

I reckon I'd save so much money on insurance, and even more if they started using it for per-mile road usage.

briantrumpet

Whether I will meet a grisly end having cooked and eaten dried spaghetti that was four years past its sell-by date. At least I'd die knowing that it's one less thing for the house clearance people to tut-tut over.

monkimark

I don't really have a concept of how bulky or expensive they are, how easy it would be to circumvent. Would it fit on a motorbike?
The logistics of getting 40 million of them fitted wouldn't be straightforward either.

briantrumpet said:

monkimark said:

Generally someone will claim that they need to be able to 'accelerate out of trouble' in an emergency.
I can kind of see the point, I have certainly had situations on the motorbike where I've sped up to avoid someone changing lanes into me on the motorway for example but I probably could have used the brake to achieve the same.

In practical terms, i guess it would be reatively easy to achieve on new cars but very difficult on existing cars and someone would need to pay for it.

Black box in every car should be feasible.

pangolin

The data is all there just from people having their phones in the car, no need for extra devices.

Google must have incriminating evidence on most of the country at this point.