Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

Ben6899

Pross wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

That a University Professor was consulted to calculate the probability of opening a 0-60, three number combination safe lock...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-48477081

"He calculated the chance of correctly guessing the combination on one try as 1 in 216,000. (His calculation assumed the safe numbers actually ran from one to 60).

But he noted that some combination locks allow for wiggle-room and if this one had a three-digit leeway, Mr Rosenthal put the chances at 1 in 8,000, "which is still a small chance""

Actual GCSE maths.

Not only that, he actually changed the question as he was asked about a 0-60 safe and answered for 1-60!

Well spotted! Although "1 in 8,000" does read much easier than "1 in 8406.703'"!

Ben6899

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Why crumpets come out of the toaster a lot hotter than toasted bread.

Thermal capacity.

rjsterry

Ben6899 wrote:

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Why crumpets come out of the toaster a lot hotter than toasted bread.

Thermal capacity.

Or conductivity? I wonder what the lambda value of toast and crumpets are.

Ben6899

rjsterry wrote:

Ben6899 wrote:

Wayne Plunger wrote:

Why crumpets come out of the toaster a lot hotter than toasted bread.

Thermal capacity.

Or conductivity? I wonder what the lambda value of toast and crumpets are.

I think capacity. A crumpet certainly takes longer to "heat up" than a slice of bread, in our toaster. It's therefore true that the crumpet takes longer to "cool down".

Both are as hot when popped, but the bread/toast "loses heat" much quicker... to the point where you can grab it out of the toaster without losing fingerprints.

If I had the time, the lambda investigation would make for a wonderful Friday.

rjsterry

Hmm. Storage capacity versus rate of flow. Then there's surface emissivity to consider - toast has a rougher surface so there will effectively be a thin layer of insulating air between toast and fingers...

pinno

rjsterry wrote:

Hmm. Storage capacity versus rate of flow. Then there's surface emissivity to consider - toast has a rougher surface so there will effectively be a thin layer of insulating air between toast and fingers...

You wondered why people find this toaster conundrum intriguing and yet here you are getting stuck in.

Ben6899

Pinno wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Hmm. Storage capacity versus rate of flow. Then there's surface emissivity to consider - toast has a rougher surface so there will effectively be a thin layer of insulating air between toast and fingers...

You wondered why people find this toaster conundrum intriguing and yet here you are getting stuck in.

If that happens, use a chopstick and not a knife. And unplug the toaster first.

keef66

A knife's fine as long as you just skewer the toasted item and don't go waving it about in there.

I think the crumpet's secret weapon is all those holes emitting superheated steam to scald the unwary. But ultimately worth it for the sheer volume of melted butter they hold...

Ben6899

keef66 wrote:

A knife's fine as long as you just skewer the toasted item and don't go waving it about in there...

Eliminate the hazard, and hence the risk, keef.

rjsterry

Pinno wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

Hmm. Storage capacity versus rate of flow. Then there's surface emissivity to consider - toast has a rougher surface so there will effectively be a thin layer of insulating air between toast and fingers...

You wondered why people find this toaster conundrum intriguing and yet here you are getting stuck in.

I know! How wrong I was. I'm considering popping out to buy some crumpets so that I can experiment with the office toaster over lunch.

keef66

Ben6899 wrote:

keef66 wrote:

A knife's fine as long as you just skewer the toasted item and don't go waving it about in there...

Eliminate the hazard, and hence the risk, keef.

Nah, I like the frisson of excitement. Appeals to my inner caveman. Risking life and limb just to secure the next meal. No woolly mammoths or sabre-toothed tigers so I'll happily dice with a live toaster and a kitchen knife.

Puerile I know, but at nearly pension age you have to take your kicks wherever you find them.

chris_bass

isn't the above (about heat not knives!) basically what i said just in a fancier way?

Ben6899

Chris Bass wrote:

isn't the above (about heat not knives!) basically what i said just in a fancier way?

Yes, but you would have lost points in a GCSE Physics exam. ;-)

chris_bass

Ben6899 wrote:

Chris Bass wrote:

isn't the above (about heat not knives!) basically what i said just in a fancier way?

Yes, but you would have lost points in a GCSE Physics exam. ;-)

I got an A (i think, it was a long time ago!), maybe it was holding me off getting and A*

rjsterry

Well I'm stuck down the rabbit hole reading about ion vibrations and electrons and how these relate to choosing an aluminium or steel pan for cooking :shock:

Some good stuff on Stackexchange.

Pross

rjsterry wrote:

Well I'm stuck down the rabbit hole reading about ion vibrations and electrons and how these relate to choosing an aluminium or steel pan for cooking :shock:

Some good stuff on Stackexchange.

All a bit technical, most architects I've dealt with would still be asking what colour the toaster is.

robert88

rjsterry wrote:

It might be trivial but how (TF) is something getting hot in a toaster intriguing?

Microwaves are more interesting. They contain a device with which you can hunt submarines in order to depth charge them. It was invented in Birmingham (UK not Alabama). You can't do that with a toaster.

chris_bass

If you want to be really geeky, if you put chocolate in a microwave for 20 to 30 seconds (without the rotating plate, so it stays in one place) it will start to melt in a few places, you can measure the distance between the melted bits to work out the wavelength of the microwave. If you have a kid you want to get I to science a bit more then try this.

The other thing to do is to cut a grape in half, put the two halves on a microwaveable plate so the edges touch and then turn it on and watch - I won't spoil the surprise!!

robert88

A school crossing man on a very quier roundabout. He was shepherding an adult across the entry lane in front of no one when he spotted me approaching the exit lane. He literally ran over so he could stop me and escort the same adult over in front of me. He only just made it and had he simply waited for the adult to finish crossing the first lane I would have been long gone and the roundabout once more deserted. I guess I made his day.

earth

Chris Bass wrote:

If you want to be really geeky, if you put chocolate in a microwave for 20 to 30 seconds (without the rotating plate, so it stays in one place) it will start to melt in a few places, you can measure the distance between the melted bits to work out the wavelength of the microwave. If you have a kid you want to get I to science a bit more then try this.

The other thing to do is to cut a grape in half, put the two halves on a microwaveable plate so the edges touch and then turn it on and watch - I won't spoil the surprise!!

https://www.wired.com/story/why-a-grape ... microwave/

chris_bass

That headline is a little misleading!!

surfercyclist

How is it that sometimes just don't feel hungry yet as soon as you start eating you realise that you're starving and wolf down loads of food?

chris_bass

This:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GT85-Lubrica ... Swv9ldAk7i

4 bids, currently £3 plus £2.99 postage! £5.99 for some GT85!!

why do some people bid on ebay?!

bompington

Chris Bass wrote:

This:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GT85-Lubrica ... Swv9ldAk7i

4 bids, currently £3 plus £2.99 postage! £5.99 for some GT85!!

why do some people bid on ebay?!

Is it new or used?

Pross

When does a restoration project become a rebuild? I've seen articles on car restorations where there is basically no original bodywork and the person doing the work is fabricating replacement parts or buying in non-genuine bits. All very nicely done but surely at some point it just becomes a replica with some original parts. Likewise building restoration where large parts of the brickwork / stonework and timber has to be replaced.

bompington

Every now and then when I have enough time and energy, I'm lucky enough to be able to commute home with a detour up the UK's highest public road, the Cairnwell Pass at Glenshee.

Whenever I recall riding up there, the bike I see in my mind's eye, propped against the snow gate at the top while I take a wee break, is an old, heavy, 70s (or possibly 60s) vintage road bike, hand painted in British Racing Green: my first proper road bike, bought second hand for £40 over 40 years :shock: ago.

Why is it this bike that I picture? (I've done it once on my black crosser, several times each on the old Rusty Raleigh and my current red PX Pro Carbon)

I can only assume that there is something about the ride that reminds me of those far-off days, but I can't consciously think what that connection might be - I lived a long way from the Highlands then and never rode anywhere more mountainous than the Forest of Dean and the Welsh border. I scarcely ever recall that bike at any other time.

So why?

pblakeney

Halcyon carefree days that no amount of purchases can replace.

webboo

Why McDonald’s advertise before each cycling programme. Are cyclists there target audience.
Also they advertise the South Carolina stack which apparently is not available in the USA. It’s also not available here either as it’s only on offer till the 11th of June.

pinno

Pross wrote:

When does a restoration project become a rebuild? I've seen articles on car restorations where there is basically no original bodywork and the person doing the work is fabricating replacement parts or buying in non-genuine bits. All very nicely done but surely at some point it just becomes a replica with some original parts. Likewise building restoration where large parts of the brickwork / stonework and timber has to be replaced.

It boils down the the cost and/or scarcity of parts.
Sometimes, complete, usable chassis (chassees?) are hard to find. Particularly monocoque.

Just Google replica cars like...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBnSmzTRsqE

...for the next step in the fakery stakes.

Original, unmodified MK1 and 2 escorts are hens teeth, for example.
You can buy a shell from China (which is a little ropey) for £7k. The same importers will take that shell, straighten it out and make it good and charge you £20k for it.
https://www.motorsport-tools.com/ford-e ... shell.html
A friend of mine bought a 'Heritage' shell for a mini Clubman saloon. Heritage shells are shells which are Class 1 - nearly perfect and sometimes better than original. It cost £7100.

DVLA will accept cars (for a logbook) which have been totally re-shelled as long as the engine and transmission are original. At a later point, you can swap the engine and box. Theoretically, all you need is a VIN plate.

I have an oldish porker and I cannot get certain new parts for it anymore.

capt_slog

bompington wrote:

Every now and then when I have enough time and energy, I'm lucky enough to be able to commute home with a detour up the UK's highest public road, the Cairnwell Pass at Glenshee.

Whenever I recall riding up there, the bike I see in my mind's eye, propped against the snow gate at the top while I take a wee break, is an old, heavy, 70s (or possibly 60s) vintage road bike, hand painted in British Racing Green: my first proper road bike, bought second hand for £40 over 40 years :shock: ago.

Why is it this bike that I picture? (I've done it once on my black crosser, several times each on the old Rusty Raleigh and my current red PX Pro Carbon)

I can only assume that there is something about the ride that reminds me of those far-off days, but I can't consciously think what that connection might be - I lived a long way from the Highlands then and never rode anywhere more mountainous than the Forest of Dean and the Welsh border. I scarcely ever recall that bike at any other time.

So why?

Yup, it's weird.

I can't say why you associate that bike with events it hasn't taken part in, but I have a similar ones, and they concern driving abroad in hire cars and motorcycle trips abroad.

For example, I distinctly 'remember' sitting on the right when picking up a car in a multistory at Malaga airport even though I know I wasn't and nor was it possible. But although logic tells me that the man couldn't have come to the window on my right (as in the UK) to explain where the lights were, my memory insists otherwise.

It seems the mind transposes things to match what you see as normal. Doesn't explain your experience of course, as you say, there must be something about the trip that triggers another memory.