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

[schmunk]

StevieBee said:

I have a German colleague who we were introducing Cockney Rhyming Slang to recently. If you can imagine a Brit, talking cockney but in a German accent, you get the gist.

The comedian Henning Wehn sounds somewhat like a cockney, albeit he's lived in London for many years...

[227bhp]

glenrobbo said:

227bhp said:

Why was the farting thread taken down? Was pissing myself laughing

??? If they have removed it, it's quite a blow for us!

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Edited by glenrobbo on Tuesday 6th March 11:33

Ah, it was a repeat thread hence it being erased. I asked in the correct section why it had gone and promptly had my thread removed too!
It's a shame they don't remove all the other repetitive threads too....

[Last Visit]

Flashing lights on the top of diggers and road works vehicles that are both green and orange. The orange i get, but why green? Thought that was normally reserved for doctors. Seeing loads of green flashing lights recently in addition to orange on motorway road works vehicles for example.

[Shakermaker]

Last Visit said:

Flashing lights on the top of diggers and road works vehicles that are both green and orange. The orange i get, but why green? Thought that was normally reserved for doctors. Seeing loads of green flashing lights recently in addition to orange on motorway road works vehicles for example.

I noticed this too but only in the last couple of weeks. hadn't ever seen it before

[Tyre Smoke]

Just seen a truck with "Britain's No1 walking floor rental"

Wtf is a walking floor?

[Hugo a Gogo]

glazbagun said:

Do Germans and French have caricatured ways of speaking like Brits like we do with Allo Allo or John Cleese in Fawlty Towers?

If so what do they sound like?

I've only heard ze Germans do an 'American person speaking German' comedy accent

[anonymous-user]

Shakermaker said:

Last Visit said:

Flashing lights on the top of diggers and road works vehicles that are both green and orange. The orange i get, but why green? Thought that was normally reserved for doctors. Seeing loads of green flashing lights recently in addition to orange on motorway road works vehicles for example.

I noticed this too but only in the last couple of weeks. hadn't ever seen it before

Green indicated the driver has his seatbelt on AIUI

[cjs racing.]

Tyre Smoke said:

Just seen a truck with "Britain's No1 walking floor rental"

Wtf is a walking floor?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neqIVRKAuCs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5QetB95WnM

[FerdiZ28]

When you read about “notorious” American serial killers, they often - if they escape the chair - receive a collection of life sentences based on how many victims they chalked up. Over there life means life so why do they bother giving one person say 5 life sentences to run at the same time?

Is it in case they are exonerated of one?

[Rostfritt]

FerdiZ28 said:

When you read about “notorious” American serial killers, they often - if they escape the chair - receive a collection of life sentences based on how many victims they chalked up. Over there life means life so why do they bother giving one person say 5 life sentences to run at the same time?

Is it in case they are exonerated of one?

Possibly. Or maybe for the sake of the family of each victim feeling they got some justice from them being convicted. Does life there always mean life? I think here it is something like a minimum 20 year term, but technically you are still under the sentence for your whole life, you just end the custodial part of it.

[captain_cynic]

Rostfritt said:

Possibly. Or maybe for the sake of the family of each victim feeling they got some justice from them being convicted. Does life there always mean life? I think here it is something like a minimum 20 year term, but technically you are still under the sentence for your whole life, you just end the custodial part of it.

In the US, it differs from state to state but generally life does not always mean life. Life without the possibility of parole means just that.

IIRC they get multiple life sentences due to multiple charges. I.E. if they're up for killing 6 people, that's 6 charges of murder (1st degree for arguments sake) and a life sentence for each conviction. Happy to sit corrected if someone can link me to a source.

[mko9]

captain_cynic said:

Rostfritt said:

Possibly. Or maybe for the sake of the family of each victim feeling they got some justice from them being convicted. Does life there always mean life? I think here it is something like a minimum 20 year term, but technically you are still under the sentence for your whole life, you just end the custodial part of it.

In the US, it differs from state to state but generally life does not always mean life. Life without the possibility of parole means just that.

IIRC they get multiple life sentences due to multiple charges. I.E. if they're up for killing 6 people, that's 6 charges of murder (1st degree for arguments sake) and a life sentence for each conviction. Happy to sit corrected if someone can link me to a source.

If it is NOT life without possibility of parole, the ridiculously huge 245 year sentence means they never come up for parole. You have to serve a certain portion of the sentence before you are eligible for parole. But again, varies state to state. The other odd one will be a a life sentence for each life they took, but "served concurrently".

[StevieBee]

Rostfritt said:

I think here it is something like a minimum 20 year term, but technically you are still under the sentence for your whole life, you just end the custodial part of it.

I may be wrong but I believe that life for murder is 'natural life' but a release under license is granted (but by no means a given) by the courts after 20 or 25 years.

[Rostfritt]

captain_cynic said:

In the US, it differs from state to state but generally life does not always mean life. Life without the possibility of parole means just that.

IIRC they get multiple life sentences due to multiple charges. I.E. if they're up for killing 6 people, that's 6 charges of murder (1st degree for arguments sake) and a life sentence for each conviction. Happy to sit corrected if someone can link me to a source.

I think that is right. Also you can get a life sentence in the US without actually killing anyone. Under the 3 strikes rule you can get a life sentence for 3 violent crimes. Which sounds fair until you hear that drug possession can be considered a violent crime.

[FerdiZ28]

Cheers chaps, makes sense.

Another if I may.

How does Shazam work? (And other similar “name that tune” apps If they exist)

[Lazadude]

FerdiZ28 said:

How does Shazam work? (And other similar “name that tune” apps If they exist)

To save the really scientific answer, I'll just say audio fingerprinting. Basically it breaks the song down into specific spectrum notes over a small period and searches that fingerprint on the servers.

Have a read here for the how and a nice in depth answer.

Edited by Lazadude on Thursday 8th March 07:00

[FerdiZ28]

Lazadude said:

To save the really scientific answer, I'll just say audio fingerprinting. Basically it breaks the song down into specific spectrum notes over a small period and searches that fingerprint on the servers.

Have a read here for the how and a nice in depth answer.

Edited by Lazadude on Thursday 8th March 07:00

Fascinating technology that, cheers. Bookmarked for a later read. Also astounding is how, with few exceptions, it’s database of tracks is vast - it is rarely caught out even with obscure remixes. Is there someone employed with the most eclectic music taste ever uploading these songs into the cloud? Mind boggling.

[Lazadude]

As a simple level, the main issue I'd think would be database key'ing and processing power to search/return.

Say they are sampling at 60Hz (1/60th of a second), for the 10 seconds it takes, that's 600 datapoints!

Times that by the amount of songs on there, according to Wikipedia, 15 billion as it includes TV and Radio advert links as well as remixes... that's 9 trillion data points if you just sample the 10 seconds..

Mind boggling.

[wiggy001]

Lazadude said:

As a simple level, the main issue I'd think would be database key'ing and processing power to search/return.

Say they are sampling at 60Hz (1/60th of a second), for the 10 seconds it takes, that's 600 datapoints!

Times that by the amount of songs on there, according to Wikipedia, 15 billion as it includes TV and Radio advert links as well as remixes... that's 9 trillion data points if you just sample the 10 seconds..

Mind boggling.

A slightly less mind boggling Shazam fact is that, before smart phones and apps, you could use it by calling 2580 on a mobile. The company I worked for at the time had company mobiles that could use our short dial codes. My extension was 2580...

Every Friday and Saturday night without fail I would get calls to my mobile and just hear music from some club or bar in the background, often from the same few partners. If I recognised the song I'd usually text them back with the details

[lazy_b]

glazbagun said:

Do Germans and French have caricatured ways of speaking like Brits like we do with Allo Allo or John Cleese in Fawlty Towers?

If so what do they sound like?

In the original French version of the Magic Roundabout, Pollux (Dougal the dog in the British version) spoke with an English accent. Apparently, it sounded a bit like the late Edward Heath trying to speak French.