Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 2]

[singlecoil]

Are tigers cleverer than smaller cats such as domestic moggies etc? Their skulls are bigger so there's room for a bigger brain.

[Dr Jekyll]

Bigger animals need bigger brains to plug all the nerve endings into. It's the proportion of brain size to body size that matters.

[mattdaniels]

wiggy001 said:

Just watched a programme on the Bloodhound SSC on iPlayer and at one point Andy Green takes a kid up in his plane and does a "loop the loop" to demonstrate G forces. Are you allowed to just do tricks/stunts like this or would he have needed some kind of permission (and if so, who from)?

If you're outside controlled airspace, obey the rules of the air and the aircraft is certified for aeros then yes you can do what you want without asking permission.

[marshalla]

V41LEY said:

Are Lucky Dip picks on the Lottery unique combinations per draw ?

What do you mean by "unique combinations per draw"?

They're random numbers, set at time of purchase.

[goldblum]

singlecoil said:

Are tigers cleverer than smaller cats such as domestic moggies etc? Their skulls are bigger so there's room for a bigger brain.

If brain size was positively proportionate to intelligence then whales and elephants would be using the internet and not humans. However some research shows humans with bigger brains are more intelligent, and some researchers believe it's the way neurons and synapses are arranged that's important. So to answer your question - maybe, maybe not. Basically neuroscience is a fairly new field and there's a great many questions about the brain that remain unanswered.

[Dodsy]

R8VXF said:

The dynamic range needed to convey from the quietest whisper to the loudest explosion in a movie compared to the dynamic range needed for a conversation needed in an advert means that once the sound is normalised, the conversation in an advert is "louder".

My Sony Surround sound has a setting for adverts that normalises the range so they come out at the same volume as the TV Programme/Film. I can also adjust the volume of each of the surround speakers vs the centre voice speaker and sub so I have the voices up high and everything else a bit lower to remove the problem of overly loud music and effects.

[SpeckledJim]

marshalla said:

V41LEY said:

Are Lucky Dip picks on the Lottery unique combinations per draw ?

What do you mean by "unique combinations per draw"?

They're random numbers, set at time of purchase.

It's actually a better question than it sounds.

Persuading a computer to do something genuinely random is either very difficult, or impossible (I forget which!).

[Chris944_S2]

What do you call the plastic film that is fitted to some cars, to protect the bodywork section infront of the rear wheel?

I could do with a new one but I'm cluesless as to what to search for

[mattdaniels]

Armourfend?

[Warmfuzzies]

Does light ever diminish.

In the way that it could theoretically run of of energy as a particle.

K.

[Hugo a Gogo]

Warmfuzzies said:

Does light ever diminish.

In the way that it could theoretically run of of energy as a particle.

K.

no

energy cannot be destroyed, only changed into another form, heat etc

even if it was a particle, you've got Newton's 1st law, anything will keep moving until some other force stops it

[V41LEY]

SpeckledJim said:

marshalla said:

V41LEY said:

Are Lucky Dip picks on the Lottery unique combinations per draw ?

What do you mean by "unique combinations per draw"?

They're random numbers, set at time of purchase.

It's actually a better question than it sounds.

Persuading a computer to do something genuinely random is either very difficult, or impossible (I forget which!).

To put it another way - if I buy a LD ticket for Saturday's draw will I be the only person with that set of 6 numbers or could someone who also asks for a LD pick get the same sequence. I appreciate that someone who picks their own numbers might by co-incidence pick the same six numbers as my LD pick.

[onyx39]

Vieste said:

Yes Russian and USA hold them for submarines.

[DervVW]

onyx39 said:

Vieste said:

Yes Russian and USA hold them for submarines.

what, keys?

[SpeckledJim]

V41LEY said:

SpeckledJim said:

marshalla said:

V41LEY said:

Are Lucky Dip picks on the Lottery unique combinations per draw ?

What do you mean by "unique combinations per draw"?

They're random numbers, set at time of purchase.

It's actually a better question than it sounds.

Persuading a computer to do something genuinely random is either very difficult, or impossible (I forget which!).

To put it another way - if I buy a LD ticket for Saturday's draw will I be the only person with that set of 6 numbers or could someone who also asks for a LD pick get the same sequence. I appreciate that someone who picks their own numbers might by co-incidence pick the same six numbers as my LD pick.

Good question. I don't know.

But if the second LD selection is affected by what was chosen for the first, then by definition it's not random.

It would also give a statistical advantage to LD tickets over 'conventionally' chosen numbers, as a small element of exclusivity is granted to LD numbers that isn't available to others.

So I'd imagine not.

[Brother D]

SpeckledJim said:

V41LEY said:

SpeckledJim said:

marshalla said:

V41LEY said:

Are Lucky Dip picks on the Lottery unique combinations per draw ?

What do you mean by "unique combinations per draw"?

They're random numbers, set at time of purchase.

It's actually a better question than it sounds.

Persuading a computer to do something genuinely random is either very difficult, or impossible (I forget which!).

To put it another way - if I buy a LD ticket for Saturday's draw will I be the only person with that set of 6 numbers or could someone who also asks for a LD pick get the same sequence. I appreciate that someone who picks their own numbers might by co-incidence pick the same six numbers as my LD pick.

Good question. I don't know.

But if the second LD selection is affected by what was chosen for the first, then by definition it's not random.

It would also give a statistical advantage to LD tickets over 'conventionally' chosen numbers, as a small element of exclusivity is granted to LD numbers that isn't available to others.

So I'd imagine not.

I thought I read (deep in some terms and conditions) that the lucky dip generated numbers consisted of generating pseudo-random numbers not yet already chosen to reduce the odds of a roll-over?

[Brother D]

goldblum said:

dibbers006 said:

Is old person blood the same as young blood?

(If you could let me know before it gets dark pls)

Very nearly. With age comes weight gain and associated blood lipid increase. In both sexes hormone levels change. The basic constituents of blood (red + white cells) don't change much though as blood still serves the same function (gaseous exchange and nutrition) in the body whether young or old.

I think there has been a noted difference between yound and old blood (i.e. everything contained in a volume of transfused blood). There is a (albeit small) trend for unofficial blood transfusions in the US from young to older people because of the difference in hormones etc to provide 'rejuvination'.

Newscientist article here - http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329831.400...

[FiF]

psgcarey said:

Issi said:

Just listening to Eastenders in the other room, and wondered if there is any square or street in London (or any other big city), where everybody knows every single person in the street?

Downing Street?

But one lot regard the other lot as plebs.

[addz86]

Why is celery in everything? Doesn't seem to taste of anything or do anything useful

[anonymous-user]

addz86 said:

Why is celery in everything? Doesn't seem to taste of anything or do anything useful

Doesn't taste of anything? Have you ever tried earwax? They're identical. It's why people who actually like celery are to be avoided like the plague. They were also probably the kid at school who had one long greenie hanging from a nostril for the entire of breaktime.

[/repressedchildhoodissues]