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

[Smeeeeeg]

SCEtoAUX said:

I was in a hotel this evening, which had a wonderful range of whisky. The most expensive cost £40k per bottle, with a double costing £3,100.00.

I get that good whisky costs more than rubbish whisky, and I get that great whisky costs even more. But could someone pay £3,100 for a glass and honestly say it was worth, for example, £2,900 more per glass than something costing £200 per glass?

I asked a friend about this a while ago who is a Burgundy wine dealer. Basically above a certain price (he said about £100 per bottle) the wines aren't any better, you're primarily paying for the rarity.

[RATATTAK]

Does anyone Fax anyone these days ?

[poing]

RATATTAK said:

Does anyone Fax anyone these days ?

We still use them at work. The bank faxes us and various customers still send in orders by fax. We don't send out many but some companies still insist we use them for various security confirmation forms, mostly the American companies.

[Bullett]

I was with a major insurance Co. this week and they fax the doctors all the time.

[Hugo a Gogo]

lord trumpton said:

The poor souls that went down with the Titanic...

What would have happened to the bodies trapped inside the vessel over time? Would they just deteriorate into nothing?

Would there be skeletons left today?

James Cameron says he hasn't seen any, just boots and clothing where bodies were (he's been down there)

maybe deep inside the ship, where there are no currents or any tiny creatures able to get in

[AstonZagato]

Smeeeeeg said:

SCEtoAUX said:

I was in a hotel this evening, which had a wonderful range of whisky. The most expensive cost £40k per bottle, with a double costing £3,100.00.

I get that good whisky costs more than rubbish whisky, and I get that great whisky costs even more. But could someone pay £3,100 for a glass and honestly say it was worth, for example, £2,900 more per glass than something costing £200 per glass?

I asked a friend about this a while ago who is a Burgundy wine dealer. Basically above a certain price (he said about £100 per bottle) the wines aren't any better, you're primarily paying for the rarity.

I have an incredibly generous friend who is a wealthy wine connoisseur. I've therefore done vertical tastings (same chateau, different years) and horizontals (same year, different chateaux) on some of the finest clarets and vintages (very serious wine). My conclusion is that the market is actually pretty efficient - by and large, the wines I liked the most, turned out to be the most expensive. Are they materially better than a £8.99 wine? Hell, yes (as you'd hope). But compared to, say, a £100 bottle you don't get a huge incremental gain (imho). Still better but only marginally. And some of that will be down to personal taste.

[SCEtoAUX]

StevieBee said:

SCEtoAUX said:

I was in a hotel this evening, which had a wonderful range of whisky. The most expensive cost £40k per bottle, with a double costing £3,100.00.

I get that good whisky costs more than rubbish whisky, and I get that great whisky costs even more. But could someone pay £3,100 for a glass and honestly say it was worth, for example, £2,900 more per glass than something costing £200 per glass?

I'd suggest that this and similar examples with wine and brandy are purchased not because the buyer is particularly interested in it but to demonstrate to others their ability to buy it.

I've had the dubious pleasure (actually, it was not pleasurable at all) of being in city bars on bonus day. I'm as capitalist as the next PHer but the sight was one of the most vulgar examples of capitalism you're ever likely to witness.

There will be some wealthy enthusiasts and like anything, the worth is rooted in the value you put in something that you particularly like.

There are a vast number of people who'd never dream of spending more than £25k on a car....many less than that!

The thing about the expensive cars/paintings/whatever though is that you can sell them again later, but your glass of whisky is done and dusted.

I get that showing your wealth is a big part of the whisky thing, but the question was more about how much better than the absolute best money can buy is than something still eye-wateringly expensive but 1/10th of the price.

An interesting test would be whether anyone ever buys whisky at £3,000 a glass when drinking alone. A sterner test still would be if anyone would buy it from an automated barman/whisky vending machine, meaning that there was nobody at all to impress with the purchase.

[227bhp]

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

[Dr Jekyll]

When an American high school kid is described as a 'straight A student' how big a distinction is that?
Does it vary from school to school? Is it equivalent to winning prizes and sailing into Oxbridge or just to 3 decent A levels and a decent chance of a Russell group uni?

[MartG]

227bhp said:

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

None is fed by atmospheric pressure - it's either gravity fed ( i.e. when the reservoir is higher ) or pumped

[227bhp]

MartG said:

227bhp said:

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

None is fed by atmospheric pressure - it's either gravity fed ( i.e. when the reservoir is higher ) or pumped

That is atmospheric pressure.

[MartG]

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

None is fed by atmospheric pressure - it's either gravity fed ( i.e. when the reservoir is higher ) or pumped

That is atmospheric pressure.

Errr, no. It's gravitational potential energy, nothing to do with air pressure

[227bhp]

MartG said:

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

None is fed by atmospheric pressure - it's either gravity fed ( i.e. when the reservoir is higher ) or pumped

That is atmospheric pressure.

Errr, no. It's gravitational potential energy, nothing to do with air pressure

If you want to split hairs then it's correct that the force acting on the water is gravitational, but for the purposes of my question the answer is "Some is pumped and some isn't".
To say gravity is nothing to do with air pressure is incorrect, the two are inexorably linked and one influences the other directly.

[fizz47]

In movies and tv programmes when you see the actors smoking are they smoking actually cigarettes?

Have been watching peaky blinders and everyone’s constantly smoking ..

[MartG]

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

None is fed by atmospheric pressure - it's either gravity fed ( i.e. when the reservoir is higher ) or pumped

That is atmospheric pressure.

Errr, no. It's gravitational potential energy, nothing to do with air pressure

If you want to split hairs then it's correct that the force acting on the water is gravitational, but for the purposes of my question the answer is "Some is pumped and some isn't".
To say gravity is nothing to do with air pressure is incorrect, the two are inexorably linked and one influences the other directly.

Your original post specified 'atmospheric pressure' as one option, not 'pumped or not'

Gravity feed would work in a vacuum ( assuming the liquid didn't boil off )

[SCEtoAUX]

It is said that the Victorians believed that they'd pretty much cracked all of science, with little left to be discovered or explained. History shows they were quite wrong.

If we accept that the very first humans had absolutely no scientific knowledge whatsoever, (0/100) and that humanity at some point in the future will be able to explain everything that governs (to paraphrase Carl Sagan) all there has been and all there will ever be (100/100), what would be the best guess on where humanity is right now on that 0 to 100 scale?

[RATATTAK]

MartG said:

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

None is fed by atmospheric pressure - it's either gravity fed ( i.e. when the reservoir is higher ) or pumped

That is atmospheric pressure.

Errr, no. It's gravitational potential energy, nothing to do with air pressure

If you want to split hairs then it's correct that the force acting on the water is gravitational, but for the purposes of my question the answer is "Some is pumped and some isn't".
To say gravity is nothing to do with air pressure is incorrect, the two are inexorably linked and one influences the other directly.

Your original post specified 'atmospheric pressure' as one option, not 'pumped or not'

Gravity feed would work in a vacuum ( assuming the liquid didn't boil off )

@227bhp did you think that these were built just to stick antennae on ?

[98elise]

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

MartG said:

227bhp said:

Does all water which comes out of taps get fed by atmospheric pressure or is some pumped?

None is fed by atmospheric pressure - it's either gravity fed ( i.e. when the reservoir is higher ) or pumped

That is atmospheric pressure.

Errr, no. It's gravitational potential energy, nothing to do with air pressure

If you want to split hairs then it's correct that the force acting on the water is gravitational, but for the purposes of my question the answer is "Some is pumped and some isn't".
To say gravity is nothing to do with air pressure is incorrect, the two are inexorably linked and one influences the other directly.

Gravity affects both, but in no practical way does air pressure pump water unless you create a vaccum (or lower pressure)....with a pump.

[grumbledoak]

What would it take to stop PHers using 'Quote All'?

[227bhp]

RATATTAK said:

@227bhp did you think that these were built just to stick antennae on ?

I wanted to know if all of our water was supplied that way - it isn't.