Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you

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  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    Federal Reserve announces new effort to soothe money markets

    Could be nothing or it could be bigger.
    the fact that a ‘temporary’ cash squeeze created so much drama shows that neither the Fed nor investors completely understand how the cogs of the modern financial machine mesh.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Why is this website so unstable?
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Pinno wrote:
    My Dad has a metal watering can with a swastika on the bottom, he got it from his father in law who spent the war in Blackpool working as a civil servant.

    If you can..,find out if it faces to the left or the right,i'm guessing it will be to the left but you never know.

    Could it have been made in India? The Swastika is very similar to the Diwali symbol.

    Bit older and more complicated than that...... (basically, everyone seems to have used it!)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

    There's one dating to a few hundred years BC not far from me on Ilkley Moor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika_Stone
    Faster than a tent.......
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,196
    I doubt the watering bucket was made in Ikley (BC) was it?! :roll:

    Oh, and keep your hat on - it gets cold up there.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Pinno wrote:
    I doubt the watering bucket was made in Ikley (BC) was it?! :roll:

    Oh, and keep your hat on - it gets cold up there.

    It's never sensible to visit the Swastika Stone without a hat on. I read that somewhere.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    I think it is a myth that hatzis tried to put out there in the 40s - I could be wrong
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 51,196
    Rolf F wrote:
    Pinno wrote:
    I doubt the watering bucket was made in Ikley (BC) was it?! :roll:

    Oh, and keep your hat on - it gets cold up there.

    It's never sensible to visit the Swastika Stone without a hat on. I read that somewhere.

    Watch out for those Ducks too.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.
  • Rolf F wrote:
    Pinno wrote:
    My Dad has a metal watering can with a swastika on the bottom, he got it from his father in law who spent the war in Blackpool working as a civil servant.

    If you can..,find out if it faces to the left or the right,i'm guessing it will be to the left but you never know.

    Could it have been made in India? The Swastika is very similar to the Diwali symbol.

    Bit older and more complicated than that...... (basically, everyone seems to have used it!)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika

    There's one dating to a few hundred years BC not far from me on Ilkley Moor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika_Stone

    I think his swastika is the nazi way round, will confirm when he is back. These replies intrigued me enough to Google and it could be South African. It does have 1.5 gallon stamped on it so from a country not on the metric system.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,487
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Pross wrote:
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.

    Stapling your eyelids to your eyeballs? I think there are many worse options. A few days of snoozing would go down well right now. Occasionally waking up to hear what catastrophic decision has just been made and then going back to sleep in a hopeless attempt to turn it into a mere nightmare.......
    Faster than a tent.......
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,511
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    Pross wrote:
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.
    This is the paradox of politics: for democracy to work, the people who need to get involved are, pretty much by definition, the ones who would rather be doing something else.

    To put it another way: no-one in their right mind would want to be involved. So the ones who get involved must, by definition, not be in their right minds.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    bompington wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.
    This is the paradox of politics: for democracy to work, the people who need to get involved are, pretty much by definition, the ones who would rather be doing something else.

    To put it another way: no-one in their right mind would want to be involved. So the ones who get involved must, by definition, not be in their right minds.

    Joseph Heller should have written a novel about it!
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    *Wrong thread
  • TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...
  • Rolf F wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.

    Stapling your eyelids to your eyeballs? I think there are many worse options. A few days of snoozing would go down well right now. Occasionally waking up to hear what catastrophic decision has just been made and then going back to sleep in a hopeless attempt to turn it into a mere nightmare.......

    bear in mind as well its not all electing new leaders/Brexit/invading countries its all the endless debates and votes about minor town coincil regulations and histprical in party regulations.

    really frickin' boring stuff.

    but its all about the networking and getting one over other people. and shagging other delegates in cheap Bournemouth/Brighton/Skeggy b&bs........
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Rolf F wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.

    Stapling your eyelids to your eyeballs? I think there are many worse options. A few days of snoozing would go down well right now. Occasionally waking up to hear what catastrophic decision has just been made and then going back to sleep in a hopeless attempt to turn it into a mere nightmare.......

    bear in mind as well its not all electing new leaders/Brexit/invading countries its all the endless debates and votes about minor town coincil regulations and histprical in party regulations.

    really frickin' boring stuff.

    but its all about the networking and getting one over other people. and shagging other delegates in cheap Bournemouth/Brighton/Skeggy b&bs........

    That's part of the problem though, have you seen the delegates? Yet another reason to stay at home!

    When I worked for the Council our Union reps used to love their all expenses paid trips to the TUC or Labour Party conferences though. Apart from one or two genuine ones it was the only reason they stood for the role.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,244
    Pross wrote:
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.

    It’s the same for any industry conference.
  • Pross wrote:
    How can anyone bring themselves to sit through a Party conference (of any colour)? I'm genuinely struggling to think of a worse way to voluntarily spend your time.

    It’s the same for any industry conference.

    not really. mine are really good fun with some interesting really experienced people.

    perhaps its just your industry Richard?
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,597
    TheBigBean wrote:
    How youtube picks ads to show e.g. advertisement for vaginal cream during Peppa Pig.

    YouTube is owned by Google the ads are not served based on the show...
    Correct. They are based on browser usage.
    Which raises more questions...
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    They're nearing completion of electrifying the South Wales to London train line and will be using hybrid trains. The electrification starts at Cardiff, how do the trains join and leave the overhead lines?
  • Pross wrote:
    They're nearing completion of electrifying the South Wales to London train line and will be using hybrid trains. The electrification starts at Cardiff, how do the trains join and leave the overhead lines?

    Normally the gubbins (technical term) that connects the train to the overhead lines can be raised/lowered. Presumably the train has it lowered when not on the overhead section and then raises them when it joins?
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,487
    Longshot wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    They're nearing completion of electrifying the South Wales to London train line and will be using hybrid trains. The electrification starts at Cardiff, how do the trains join and leave the overhead lines?

    Normally the gubbins (technical term) that connects the train to the overhead lines can be raised/lowered. Presumably the train has it lowered when not on the overhead section and then raises them when it joins?

    The Thameslink trains switch from overhead to third rail at Farringdon. There's some switching gear internally, but externally it's just a case of raising/lowering the pantograph (or gubbins). Lots of clunking and the odd really big spark.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    Lots intriguing me this morning. This one has puzzled me for a while. I work from home a few days a week and the office the rest of the time and use a laptop that I put on an identical docking station at either end. For some reason, over the last year, everyone I've docked it in the office the computer doesn't boot up and I have to take the battery out then reinsert it. The laptop then boots up fine. I put this down to the battery coming loose in transit but it never happens when I dock it back home after the return journey.

    Also, if I try reinserting the battery before the initial attempt at booting it up in the office it still doesn't load. I have to start it up first, leave it a few minutes while it doesn't get past the initial boot screen then undock it and take the battery out. Very odd!
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    rjsterry wrote:
    Longshot wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    They're nearing completion of electrifying the South Wales to London train line and will be using hybrid trains. The electrification starts at Cardiff, how do the trains join and leave the overhead lines?

    Normally the gubbins (technical term) that connects the train to the overhead lines can be raised/lowered. Presumably the train has it lowered when not on the overhead section and then raises them when it joins?

    The Thameslink trains switch from overhead to third rail at Farringdon. There's some switching gear internally, but externally it's just a case of raising/lowering the pantograph (or gubbins). Lots of clunking and the odd really big spark.

    So does the gubbins just have to touch the wire rather than physically hook over it?
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,487
    Pross wrote:
    rjsterry wrote:
    Longshot wrote:
    Pross wrote:
    They're nearing completion of electrifying the South Wales to London train line and will be using hybrid trains. The electrification starts at Cardiff, how do the trains join and leave the overhead lines?

    Normally the gubbins (technical term) that connects the train to the overhead lines can be raised/lowered. Presumably the train has it lowered when not on the overhead section and then raises them when it joins?

    The Thameslink trains switch from overhead to third rail at Farringdon. There's some switching gear internally, but externally it's just a case of raising/lowering the pantograph (or gubbins). Lots of clunking and the odd really big spark.

    So does the gubbins just have to touch the wire rather than physically hook over it?

    Yes, there's no hooking involved. The pantograph is just pressed against the cables.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • rjsterry wrote:
    pantograph

    Thank you. I couldn't remember the name.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,487
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 40,217
    I thought a pantograph was the symbol of Satanic worship? ;)