Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 3]
Discussion
Alex@POD said:
dudleybloke said:
Anyone know WTF these are?
Depends where they are, but I would guess at advert projectors. They look like standard halogen lamps with some lens in front of them, they could be used to display a message or image on the pavement, outside a bar for example.I think I might start a rumour that they are scanning people to see if they are carrying drugs then have fun watching people trying to avoid them.
PH loves a Solder / Royal Marine so I know someone can answer this for me.
When they're stationed in a War Zone, like until recently, Afghanistan and Iraq - do they keep their 'own' rifles or do they get given ones at random whenever they have to leave camp?
Secondly are they allowed to 'modify' them? Add extra bits like they do on those American reality programmes.
Thirdly are they allowed to buy their own - I know this is a very silly question, but I thought that unless they were doing something very specific they were all given those SA80 rifles, but a few weeks ago I was at a Fair Ground and (I think) the Royal Engineers where recruiting, they were letting Kids and Teenagers hold different weapons, one had a 'M16' style rifle (based on my experience of watching 'Platoon') with all manner of stuff added to it of which he was very proud - I'd guess he wouldn't be allowed to take it home with him. This is backed up by some YouTube footage I saw a while ago when some Brits were fighting in Iraq and had all sorts of different rifles, I've read that 'private security consultants' AKA mercenaries liked to buy AK47 style rifles from American Catalogues and have them shipped directly to Iraq which was legal (of course you couldn't have them shipped to the UK) could Solders / Marines do the same?
When they're stationed in a War Zone, like until recently, Afghanistan and Iraq - do they keep their 'own' rifles or do they get given ones at random whenever they have to leave camp?
Secondly are they allowed to 'modify' them? Add extra bits like they do on those American reality programmes.
Thirdly are they allowed to buy their own - I know this is a very silly question, but I thought that unless they were doing something very specific they were all given those SA80 rifles, but a few weeks ago I was at a Fair Ground and (I think) the Royal Engineers where recruiting, they were letting Kids and Teenagers hold different weapons, one had a 'M16' style rifle (based on my experience of watching 'Platoon') with all manner of stuff added to it of which he was very proud - I'd guess he wouldn't be allowed to take it home with him. This is backed up by some YouTube footage I saw a while ago when some Brits were fighting in Iraq and had all sorts of different rifles, I've read that 'private security consultants' AKA mercenaries liked to buy AK47 style rifles from American Catalogues and have them shipped directly to Iraq which was legal (of course you couldn't have them shipped to the UK) could Solders / Marines do the same?
P-Jay said:
PH loves a Solder / Royal Marine so I know someone can answer this for me.
When they're stationed in a War Zone, like until recently, Afghanistan and Iraq - do they keep their 'own' rifles or do they get given ones at random whenever they have to leave camp?
Secondly are they allowed to 'modify' them? Add extra bits like they do on those American reality programmes.
Thirdly are they allowed to buy their own - I know this is a very silly question, but I thought that unless they were doing something very specific they were all given those SA80 rifles, but a few weeks ago I was at a Fair Ground and (I think) the Royal Engineers where recruiting, they were letting Kids and Teenagers hold different weapons, one had a 'M16' style rifle (based on my experience of watching 'Platoon') with all manner of stuff added to it of which he was very proud - I'd guess he wouldn't be allowed to take it home with him. This is backed up by some YouTube footage I saw a while ago when some Brits were fighting in Iraq and had all sorts of different rifles, I've read that 'private security consultants' AKA mercenaries liked to buy AK47 style rifles from American Catalogues and have them shipped directly to Iraq which was legal (of course you couldn't have them shipped to the UK) could Solders / Marines do the same?
Even when you go through Basic Training you are assigned your own rifle. You then zeroed it specifically to you the first time you go to the ranges. If not operational it's normally stashed in the Armoury and taken out for exercises, training, guard duty etc...When they're stationed in a War Zone, like until recently, Afghanistan and Iraq - do they keep their 'own' rifles or do they get given ones at random whenever they have to leave camp?
Secondly are they allowed to 'modify' them? Add extra bits like they do on those American reality programmes.
Thirdly are they allowed to buy their own - I know this is a very silly question, but I thought that unless they were doing something very specific they were all given those SA80 rifles, but a few weeks ago I was at a Fair Ground and (I think) the Royal Engineers where recruiting, they were letting Kids and Teenagers hold different weapons, one had a 'M16' style rifle (based on my experience of watching 'Platoon') with all manner of stuff added to it of which he was very proud - I'd guess he wouldn't be allowed to take it home with him. This is backed up by some YouTube footage I saw a while ago when some Brits were fighting in Iraq and had all sorts of different rifles, I've read that 'private security consultants' AKA mercenaries liked to buy AK47 style rifles from American Catalogues and have them shipped directly to Iraq which was legal (of course you couldn't have them shipped to the UK) could Solders / Marines do the same?
Ops I've been on we've always kept our weapons with us as you never know when it's going to kick off or when you're going to need to move/deploy.
The standard forces tend to only stick with standard issue stuff unless there is a specific operational requirement - Special Forces get to play with lots of kit.
We were trained to be proficient with weapons/tech the enemy and other NATO partners would generally use.
When people (usually in the Arab world) celebrate by letting off a burst of machine gun fire into the air, how come no one in the crowd gets hit on the head by the falling bullets? What would be the time delay for you average Kalashnikov, for the bullets to go up, come to a halt, and fall back down to Earth?
TwigtheWonderkid said:
When people (usually in the Arab world) celebrate by letting off a burst of machine gun fire into the air, how come no one in the crowd gets hit on the head by the falling bullets?
I'm no expert, but I expect they probably do. The bullets won't be moving quickly enough to do any serious damage at that point though.Not quite the same, but when out clay shooting I/we regularly get hit by shot on its way back down from a high bird, if the wind conditions etc are right.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
When people (usually in the Arab world) celebrate by letting off a burst of machine gun fire into the air, how come no one in the crowd gets hit on the head by the falling bullets? What would be the time delay for you average Kalashnikov, for the bullets to go up, come to a halt, and fall back down to Earth?
They do kill but not usually in the immediate crowd.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebratory_gunfire#...
TwigtheWonderkid said:
When people (usually in the Arab world) celebrate by letting off a burst of machine gun fire into the air, how come no one in the crowd gets hit on the head by the falling bullets? What would be the time delay for you average Kalashnikov, for the bullets to go up, come to a halt, and fall back down to Earth?
A lot safer to fire them in the air than it is to fire them at Israeli soldiers.TwigtheWonderkid said:
When people (usually in the Arab world) celebrate by letting off a burst of machine gun fire into the air, how come no one in the crowd gets hit on the head by the falling bullets? What would be the time delay for you average Kalashnikov, for the bullets to go up, come to a halt, and fall back down to Earth?
Why do you think they all have tea towels wrapped round their heads? 
thismonkeyhere said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
When people (usually in the Arab world) celebrate by letting off a burst of machine gun fire into the air, how come no one in the crowd gets hit on the head by the falling bullets?
I'm no expert, but I expect they probably do. The bullets won't be moving quickly enough to do any serious damage at that point though.Not quite the same, but when out clay shooting I/we regularly get hit by shot on its way back down from a high bird, if the wind conditions etc are right.
This isn't an attempt to be cool by deliberately not being down with modern stuff, it's something that's baffled me for a while now.
What on earth is all this Twitter malarkey about? Yes, you can share your thoughts and yes, if you want to follow a particular person or company's blog (feed?) you can. You can do the same on Facebook. Or a plain old webpage.
The bit that really bothers me is this # hashtag business. I can't make it make sense and I feel like I'm being stalked by a perpetual whoosh-parrot every time I happen upon it. For example, I've just watched the England match and on the giant hordings, a Vauxhall was being advertised with the line
Mokka #LifeReady
Eh? If I wanted to search for the Mokka I'd type 'Mokka' surely? If they're looking to capture folk of a certain type using a sort of keyword approach, how many of these dynamic, outdoorsy lot would really type 'LifeReady' as a search?
You'd only know the phrase once you'd seen it but if you'd seen it, you'd know it was a reference to the Mokka so therefore #Mokka would make far more sense.
I feel old.
What on earth is all this Twitter malarkey about? Yes, you can share your thoughts and yes, if you want to follow a particular person or company's blog (feed?) you can. You can do the same on Facebook. Or a plain old webpage.
The bit that really bothers me is this # hashtag business. I can't make it make sense and I feel like I'm being stalked by a perpetual whoosh-parrot every time I happen upon it. For example, I've just watched the England match and on the giant hordings, a Vauxhall was being advertised with the line
Mokka #LifeReady
Eh? If I wanted to search for the Mokka I'd type 'Mokka' surely? If they're looking to capture folk of a certain type using a sort of keyword approach, how many of these dynamic, outdoorsy lot would really type 'LifeReady' as a search?
You'd only know the phrase once you'd seen it but if you'd seen it, you'd know it was a reference to the Mokka so therefore #Mokka would make far more sense.
I feel old.
I treat it almost as an rrs (is that the right acronym?) feed, but one that others can contribute to. Easy to link things to/from, and it's a lot less attention seeking than Facebook.
Hash tags started out as little relevant words that you put in to highlight the main crux of your post, but the search function and hip kids have now usurped that and are using it in every day life. I use it to share funny videos and things with friends, none of us do Facebook and this is a fair bit more anonymous.
#informative
Hash tags started out as little relevant words that you put in to highlight the main crux of your post, but the search function and hip kids have now usurped that and are using it in every day life. I use it to share funny videos and things with friends, none of us do Facebook and this is a fair bit more anonymous.
#informative
57Ford said:
This isn't an attempt to be cool by deliberately not being down with modern stuff, it's something that's baffled me for a while now.
What on earth is all this Twitter malarkey about? Yes, you can share your thoughts and yes, if you want to follow a particular person or company's blog (feed?) you can. You can do the same on Facebook. Or a plain old webpage.
The bit that really bothers me is this # hashtag business. I can't make it make sense and I feel like I'm being stalked by a perpetual whoosh-parrot every time I happen upon it. For example, I've just watched the England match and on the giant hordings, a Vauxhall was being advertised with the line
Mokka #LifeReady
Eh? If I wanted to search for the Mokka I'd type 'Mokka' surely? If they're looking to capture folk of a certain type using a sort of keyword approach, how many of these dynamic, outdoorsy lot would really type 'LifeReady' as a search?
You'd only know the phrase once you'd seen it but if you'd seen it, you'd know it was a reference to the Mokka so therefore #Mokka would make far more sense.
I feel old.
Hashtags could be described as the 'subject line' I guess. So someone might write "A cracking goal there #EngVSan" or the like. There's something in the way that twitter allows users to search for other users that latches onto the # symbol. So if you want to heard the views of others on a particular subject you find the hashtag people are using for it (sometimes there's more than one) and search for it. What on earth is all this Twitter malarkey about? Yes, you can share your thoughts and yes, if you want to follow a particular person or company's blog (feed?) you can. You can do the same on Facebook. Or a plain old webpage.
The bit that really bothers me is this # hashtag business. I can't make it make sense and I feel like I'm being stalked by a perpetual whoosh-parrot every time I happen upon it. For example, I've just watched the England match and on the giant hordings, a Vauxhall was being advertised with the line
Mokka #LifeReady
Eh? If I wanted to search for the Mokka I'd type 'Mokka' surely? If they're looking to capture folk of a certain type using a sort of keyword approach, how many of these dynamic, outdoorsy lot would really type 'LifeReady' as a search?
You'd only know the phrase once you'd seen it but if you'd seen it, you'd know it was a reference to the Mokka so therefore #Mokka would make far more sense.
I feel old.
It also allows users, people and organisations looking to discover that 'everyone' is talking about at the moment to search for what's "trending" so at the moment the top 10 subjects trending on twitter are:
longestreign - The Queen becoming the longest reigning monarch
SkipWaiting - this is a 'promoted' tread - O2 have paid Twitter to push their current campaign.
RuinaBoardGame - seems to be an 'organic' hashtag with lots of people tweeting how they've ruined board games in the past.
LateShow
SOTEU Obama's state of the union address
UpFlight - no idea.
Elia Vivaini - Elia has won the secon stage of the tour of Britain - this is so popular it doesn't need the '#' to trend.
Venus - Venus Williams - again, no '#' on this one.
Vakoc - also relates to the tour of Britain, no '#'
Phase 1 - no idea.
Stage 2 - Tour of Britain again.
So if I was working in Social Media Marketing and I wanted to push my message out to Twitter users I might try to come up with something relating to The Queen, bash a #longestReign tag on it alone with a link to my product, or perhaps try to do the same with the Tour of Britain as whilst it's lower on the pecking order, it's got 3 entries.
The reason why Vauxhall probably chose #LifeReady is to create a more viral discussion topic, if you can get 100k people to tweet things like "Got my pencil case ready for school #LifeReady" even though it doesn't relate to their product or indeed come from someone who could actually buy it, it creates more tweets, which creates 'buzz' and the more people that get involved the more searches and the more people will see their tweet pushing the Mokka. If they used #Mokka most people won't tweet about a small SUV from Vauxhall.
RobinOakapple said:
DervVW said:
RobinOakapple said:
And why does the cashier get advance warning of safe removal time, so that she or he can say to take your card out just as the "take your card out now" message come up?
So they can make you look slowpopeyewhite said:
RobinOakapple said:
DervVW said:
RobinOakapple said:
And why does the cashier get advance warning of safe removal time, so that she or he can say to take your card out just as the "take your card out now" message come up?
So they can make you look slow
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