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

[ambuletz]

I see well thanks, it'll be at one of their hotels in Bristol.

[Ken Figenus]

Willy Nilly said:

How come there are so many red, white and blue lights available for lighting up large, prominent buildings all of a sudden?

I can answer le blue one as a chap selling LED studio lamps took the cover off an LED at a demo. The native LED was absolutely bright blue. It has to be filtered down to create white light, significantly reducing its output. Maybe someone else can get back to you on le rouge!

[Willy Nilly]

When ever there is an earthquake or landslide somewere remote and third world, within what seems like an instant there will be a newish 30+ tonne 360 excavator on the scene digging people out. Where do they get them from, how do they get them there and who pays for them?

[rolex]

Is there anything inside the human body that we don't need?

[rohrl]

rolex said:

Is there anything inside the human body that we don't need?

Define "need". We could easily enough do without half of our paired organs. One eye, lung, kidney, testicle etc.

Do we really need our legs? Plenty of people live without legs. There are blind and deaf people so we could lose our eyes and ears. A large chunk of the bowel could go. And so on.

So yes, I suppose there is plenty of our bodies that we don't really need but it depends on the definition of need.

[MissChief]

Your Appendix. Does nothing these days other than become inflamed and need to be removed before it kills you.

[marshalla]

MissChief said:

Your Appendix. Does nothing these days other than become inflamed and need to be removed before it kills you.

There is a theory that it retains a function as a source/store of the bacteria needed in the gut so that the digestive system can be repopulated after a disease affects it.

[Condi]

Ken Figenus said:

I can answer le blue one as a chap selling LED studio lamps took the cover off an LED at a demo. The native LED was absolutely bright blue. It has to be filtered down to create white light, significantly reducing its output. Maybe someone else can get back to you on le rouge!

Le rouge ones have all been stolen from school DT workshops.

HTH.

[Ken Figenus]

Why are the biggest kitchen bins about half the capacity of the green bag?

[Jonboy_t]

Why is it 'so called' Islamic state? Why not just' Islamic state'?

[marshalla]

Jonboy_t said:

Why is it 'so called' Islamic state? Why not just' Islamic state'?

Because it's what they call themselves and is not officially recognised by any member of the UN.

[Animal]

Jonboy_t said:

Why is it 'so called' Islamic state? Why not just' Islamic state'?

Because they are not the Islamic state, they've just hijacked the name?

[P-Jay]

As the name suggests they're attempting to create a new state. They've taken large parts of northern Iraq and Syria as thier state.

The media and pretty much the rest of the world don't want them seen as a country, but an organisation - if they report them as a state it's another small step towards recognitions as a sovereign state.

I personally worry how it's all going to pan out, the air war isn't making them retreat, the ground war is being lost - how long before we (the west / NATO / Russia take your pick) have to concide it's a large scale ground war or we recognise them and try diplomacy - I'm not sure which option is least palatable - Turkey shooting down a Russian Jet really hasn't helped.

[FiF]

Just been trawling round an mod sales site looking at Land Rovers.

Some of the vehicles are for export only eg see http://www.mod-sales.com/direct/vehicle/,112,117,/...

What are the possible reasons some are export only?

Some of the export cars here and export outside EU Land Rovers here

[technodup]

If I buy a packaged pork chop and it says it's say 400 calories, does that include the fat? And if so, and I don't eat the fat how many calories am I eating?

[Dibble]

If I were to get stuck in snow in my car, how long could I run the engine on a full tank until I ran out of fuel? I know there will be variables such as using lights/heater/radio etc, but roughly how long would I get? It's a Saab 9-3 1.9 TiD diesel. Fuel tank is 61 litres.

Would I better off (survival wise) leaving it running constantly with the heating on15-16°, or firing it up, getting the engine warm, running the heat for a bit then switching it off?

I'm going to assume for simplicity that the engine would be OK idling for extended periods without overheating/blowing up somehow

[s p a c e m a n]

Think the normal is a litre an hour so I'd just keep it running if you have a full tank, main problem would be snow covering the exhaust and finishing you off from carbon monoxide poisoning whilst you're kipping

[jimmyjimjim]

FiF said:

Just been trawling round an mod sales site looking at Land Rovers.

Some of the vehicles are for export only eg see http://www.mod-sales.com/direct/vehicle/,112,117,/...

What are the possible reasons some are export only?

Some of the export cars here and export outside EU Land Rovers here

I'd guess at emissions for a lot of those?

[ralphrj]

FiF said:

Just been trawling round an mod sales site looking at Land Rovers.

Some of the vehicles are for export only eg see http://www.mod-sales.com/direct/vehicle/,112,117,/...

What are the possible reasons some are export only?

Some of the export cars here and export outside EU Land Rovers here

Last year I worked for a company that converted cars for the Police and MOD. I asked this question as it has come up before and was told that it was because the car has been modified to an extent that it no longer meets EU homologation.

[FiF]

ralphrj said:

Last year I worked for a company that converted cars for the Police and MOD. I asked this question as it has come up before and was told that it was because the car has been modified to an extent that it no longer meets EU homologation.

Thanks.