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

[Nimby]

Slashmb said:

The M25.

How much longer is the clockwise LH lane than the anticlockwise LH lane?

Junction 5 is about 200 metres longer clockwise (measured via Google Earth, anyway)

Edited by Nimby on Saturday 14th February 17:41

Edited by Nimby on Saturday 14th February 17:50

[El Guapo]

All that jazz said:

What's the origins of the saying "can't hit a barn door with a banjo"? The internets are not turning up anything and I don't get what a musical instrument has got to do with not being able to hit something quite flat and sizeable.

You are mixing your idioms.

Either "Couldn't hit a barn door", "Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn"
Or "Couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo"

The meanings are pretty much the same.

Edited by El Guapo on Wednesday 18th February 15:58

[All that jazz]

That still doesn't explain the banjo, even with a cow.

[Hugo a Gogo]

i heard it as 'couldn't hit a bull on the bum with a banjo'

so just alliteration

[grumbledoak]

The banjo is not a great throwing weapon. It implies close range.

[singlecoil]

In trying to strike the cow, the implication is that one is swinging the banjo by the neck, just as one would with a tennis racquet.

[DSLiverpool]

singlecoil said:

Is the chocolate that Cadbury's make their Easter Egg shells from different to the ordinary version? I think it tastes nicer, but that could be just because for any given weight of chocolate there is a larger surface area than the block version.

It's to do with thickness and I know exactly what you mean, you can get the same experience with a Freddo bar or this - try it I'm sure you will agree

[Blib]

Nimby said:

Slashmb said:

The M25.

How much longer is the clockwise LH lane than the anticlockwise LH lane?

Junction 5 is about 200 metres longer clockwise (measured via Google Earth, anyway)

Edited by Nimby on Saturday 14th February 17:41

Edited by Nimby on Saturday 14th February 17:50

Many year ago, my father and I measured the difference driving clockwise from Potters Bar to Gatwick and back.

I can't remember the difference in distance. I hope that helps.

[FiF]

Do women really scream when they see a dead body? How did it become such a common dramatic moment.

Let's face it, example Lady what's her face in Father Brown, she's still a screamer after seeing at least one body every week.

Waits for PH innuendos about screamers.

[LordGrover]

It's made up by the telly and film people, a bit like getting knocked over by a gunshot.

[gwm]

Why is the flag the opposite way round to the way it should be? On the other side, the USA flag was displayed as normal and I can't think of a reason to flip it. It's not like someone might be looking at the side of the plane in their rear view mirror.

[marshalla]

gwm said:

Why is the flag the opposite way round to the way it should be? On the other side, the USA flag was displayed as normal and I can't think of a reason to flip it. It's not like someone might be looking at the side of the plane in their rear view mirror.

So that the flag is flying in the right direction when the plane is in motion. (i.e. a real flag would look like that if there was a flagpole to hold it).

[Dr Jekyll]

Would Aston Martin still be making cars if it wasn't for Goldfinger or would it have gone the way of Alvis and Jensen?

[furtive]

FiF said:

Do women really scream when they see a dead body? How did it become such a common dramatic moment.

Let's face it, example Lady what's her face in Father Brown, she's still a screamer after seeing at least one body every week.

Waits for PH innuendos about screamers.

Because of this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_scream

[shakotan]

singlecoil said:

Is the chocolate that Cadbury's make their Easter Egg shells from different to the ordinary version? I think it tastes nicer, but that could be just because for any given weight of chocolate there is a larger surface area than the block version.

The chocolate used to make easter eggs is the same chocolate used to make Creme Eggs now, neither of which is the Daiy Milk forumla, it's a lower spec version.

[P-Jay]

Dr Jekyll said:

Would Aston Martin still be making cars if it wasn't for Goldfinger or would it have gone the way of Alvis and Jensen?

Interesting question - I doubt anyone could give a factual answer, but IMO Yes - Goldfinger was released in 1964 near the end of the 'David Brown' era, it no doubt helped Aston sell a few more DBs and also no doubt is part of the reason why they're so valuable now - but even though it was in Thunderball the following year, by 1967 Bond had given up his DB5, there was a tiny cameo of a DBS in OHMSS in '69 but no on really liked that one at the time he didn't get another Aston until the late 80's

I'm not sure Aston has such a close association with Bond until they started getting all nostalgic about it in the 90s. Certainly when I was growing up the car we all remembered was the Esprit Submarine.

Meanwhile Aston nearly died out twice in the 70s' but managed to sell themselves off, and didn't really have any sort of stability until the 90's when Ford bought them and made them more of a mass production maker (relative to their past) I personally think without that they wouldn't be around now - to know for certain you'd have to know what value Ford put in the 'Bond Connection' when they bought it.

[singlecoil]

P-Jay said:

there was a tiny cameo of a DBS in OHMSS in '69 but no on really liked that one at the time he didn't get another Aston until the late 80's

I wouldn't call it a tiny cameo, it was in the opening scenes, on the beach, outside the College of Arms, visiting M's house in Marlow, shopping for the wedding ring, and in the closing scenes.

And I for one think it's the best looking Aston ever made.

[gwm]

marshalla said:

So that the flag is flying in the right direction when the plane is in motion. (i.e. a real flag would look like that if there was a flagpole to hold it).

Not sure if serious...?

[thismonkeyhere]

gwm said:

marshalla said:

So that the flag is flying in the right direction when the plane is in motion. (i.e. a real flag would look like that if there was a flagpole to hold it).

Not sure if serious...?

Marshalla's explanation was my first thought also. Why not sure if serious?

[The Don of Croy]

Crutches.

Sometime in the seventies the NHS introduced the crutch that has 'armbands' which transfer the load onto the forearms. Whilst in the USA it seems they continue with the 'under the armpits' design that goes back to the invention of illness.

Not sure of the european/asian angle on this.

Anyhow - why the differing design - transfer of load onto the (presumably weaker) forearms or allow easier weight transfer via the armpit? Anyone know?

I suspect it's to stop users looking lazy just 'hanging' on their crutches. Nothing more than that.