Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 3]

[walm]

SpeckledJim said:

wildone63 said:

Iam not sure if this is the case with classic car dealers (I would probably guess yes to an extent)but many classic motorcycle dealers state in their advertising 'viewing by appointment only'
any ideas why?

Because they have 50 bikes in an area the size of 4 normal garages and digging the one you want out is a pain and takes an hour.

Or because the bikes are all with their current owners, so the seller needs to arrange to fetch it, if for sale on consignment.

Or because they are always out fishing, so just popping in unannounced wont work.

Also - far cheaper to keep a bunch of inventory offsite and just bring the relevant metal into the showroom when necessary.
Everyone checks online what's available locally first anyway so you no longer need everything out to see by the roadside.

[MissChief]

walm said:

SpeckledJim said:

wildone63 said:

Iam not sure if this is the case with classic car dealers (I would probably guess yes to an extent)but many classic motorcycle dealers state in their advertising 'viewing by appointment only'
any ideas why?

Because they have 50 bikes in an area the size of 4 normal garages and digging the one you want out is a pain and takes an hour.

Or because the bikes are all with their current owners, so the seller needs to arrange to fetch it, if for sale on consignment.

Or because they are always out fishing, so just popping in unannounced wont work.

Also - far cheaper to keep a bunch of inventory offsite and just bring the relevant metal into the showroom when necessary.
Everyone checks online what's available locally first anyway so you no longer need everything out to see by the roadside.

Or if viewing is by appointment only he can only be there when he knows someone is coming as opposed to sitting there for potentially hours if trade is pretty slow.

[StevieBee]

Is there any practical reason why Police helicopters are painted black and yellow?

[FiF]

Ours is dark blue and yellow. The blue is darker than the battenburg blue but I always assumed it was some sort of corporate identity bollards.

[Hooli]

StevieBee said:

Is there any practical reason why Police helicopters are painted black and yellow?

To hide the bruises?

[BristolRich]

During the Second World War many women were trained up and brought in to the manufacturing industries as part of the war effort - turning, milling, heavy assembly and industrial processes.

At the end of the war and the return of men from the front, what happened to the women in these roles and why were their skills not capitalised to support post war Britain? I get the impression that by the mid 50s women were back doing 'women's work'...

Was it a simple case of 'Righto, Burts back from the front your not needed anymore chop chop..."?

[Jonboy_t]

BristolRich said:

During the Second World War many women were trained up and brought in to the manufacturing industries as part of the war effort - turning, milling, heavy assembly and industrial processes.

At the end of the war and the return of men from the front, what happened to the women in these roles and why were their skills not capitalised to support post war Britain? I get the impression that by the mid 50s women were back doing 'women's work'...

Was it a simple case of 'Righto, Burts back from the front your not needed anymore chop chop..."?

I guess it could be down to the fact that lots of them were spitting out sprogs not long after hubby got back from the war. The done thing was, whilst the chaps went back to work, the wimmins stayed at home with the stlings.

[Exige77]

What would happen if all the locks on the Panama Canal were opened and The Pacific and Atlantic were joined ?

I appreciate they are both already connected elsewhere.

[Laurel Green]

Not a lot as the canal reaches 26 metres (85 ft) above sea level before plunging back to sea level on 'tother side(according to Google).

[Ayahuasca]

Exige77 said:

What would happen if all the locks on the Panama Canal were opened and The Pacific and Atlantic were joined ?

I appreciate they are both already connected elsewhere.

The canal (I can see it from where I live) is filled by freshwater from a couple of lakes, which in turn are filled by a river called the Chagres. If all the locks were opened, the lakes would quickly drain dry, and the only water in the canal would be directly from the river, which would not be enough to keep the canal working. In the dry season there would be very little flow. Most of the canal is well above sea level, so no seawater would join the Atlantic and Pacific (it doesn't now).

[Exige77]

Thanks.

Why don't they have the canal at sea level and fill it with seawater ?

Huge expense has gone into building the locks so there must be a very good reason for it.

[Ayahuasca]

Exige77 said:

Thanks.

Why don't they have the canal at sea level and fill it with seawater ?

Huge expense has gone into building the locks so there must be a very good reason for it.

The French, fresh from building the sea level Suez canal, tried that. Found it was impossible, went bankrupt.

Panama is mountainous, would have meant blasting entire mountains to sea level. The locks was by far the simplest and cheapest way to go as it meant they didn't have to blast as deep or as wide. It was the biggest civil engineering project of all time, but a sea level canal would have been hundreds of times more difficult.

[john2443]

Exige77 said:

Thanks.

Why don't they have the canal at sea level and fill it with seawater ?

Huge expense has gone into building the locks so there must be a very good reason for it.

Because they would have had to dig an absolutely f'ing huge cutting to be able to do that and quite a lot of it isn't canal, it's a lake that is above sea level, look at the profile at the bottom of this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal#/media/...

[john2443]

Dr Jekyll said:

Roughly how many ancestors would I have had around 1066? Assuming generations lasting 30 years and no cousin marriages implies in excess of 8 billion which obviously can't be right.

You would have 8 billion but they wouldn't be 8 billion different people.

You can't exclude cousin marriages because after a while everyone is your distant cousin. (Well, not quite due to immigration) and every time distant cousins marry that's one less pair of gt gt gt...grandparents to add in.

[P-Jay]

StevieBee said:

Is there any practical reason why Police helicopters are painted black and yellow?

It's a CAA regulation, military training Helicopters are painted in the same scheme too to make them a conspicuous as possible - from the ground up, black is in contrast to the sometimes pale blue, but usually white/grey sky, from above or along side the yellow is in contrast to the green or grey ground.

I guess because they don't stick to flights paths or what-have-you they need to stick out to other small aircraft as much as possible and they're meant to be seen by the public / criminals - they ain't Bluethunder it's meant to be a deterrent, anyway if they don't want to be seen by whoever from the ground they can be a good distance away from their 'prey' and still observe them.

[Asterix]

What's the profession term for the people that design production line machines and stuff?

An engineer of sorts I assume but I wonder if there's a specific title.

[StevieBee]

Asterix said:

What's the profession term for the people that design production line machines and stuff?

An engineer of sorts I assume but I wonder if there's a specific title.

Tool Maker?

[P-Jay]

I think they're called Design Engineers now, does it qualify as 'engineering' though? I'd guess they'd just bs called 'Designers' they they would if they were designing anything else?

[mattdaniels]

In tv programmes and films, why are they edited such that the sound from the next scene starts before the current scene has finished (if that makes sense?)

[Fittster]

Are hod carriers still widely employed?