Astonishing Facts....
Discussion
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Ah well, I can't always be right. I genuinely thought that. Is there any truth, EG maybe unlikely, highly likely, their dominant gene? Cant seem to find what I want on Google?
http://genetics.thetech.org/how-blue-eyed-parents-can-have-brown-eyed-children''The reason these two genes can explain darker eyed kids with lighter eyed parents is that the two genes need each other to work. And that the blue versions are broken genes. Here is what things look like:
there is a rare occasion when a recessive gene can become dominant as well.
Edited by The Spruce goose on Tuesday 23 January 23:00
Antony Moxey said:
I’m having trouble visualising the other locations.
OK, it is nowhere near the North Pole.Your starting point can be anywhere on a line that circles the South Pole exactly 1.159 miles north of the South Pole.
Walk a mile south, then a mile east, then a mile north, and you will be back where you started. There are an infinite number of starting points on the circle. Your course does not describe a triangle like the North Pole one, it describes a lollipop shape with a mile long stick, and a mile in perimeter circle.
underwhelmist said:
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?
Because effectively you have no wind (the wind moving a the same speed as the water) so you can't move forward through the water. If the air is still then effectively you have a headwind and can make progress through the water against the wind.Dr Jekyll said:
underwhelmist said:
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?
Because effectively you have no wind (the wind moving a the same speed as the water) so you can't move forward through the water. If the air is still then effectively you have a headwind and can make progress through the water against the wind.Dr Jekyll said:
underwhelmist said:
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?
Because effectively you have no wind (the wind moving a the same speed as the water) so you can't move forward through the water. If the air is still then effectively you have a headwind and can make progress through the water against the wind.Dr Jekyll said:
underwhelmist said:
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?
Because effectively you have no wind (the wind moving a the same speed as the water) so you can't move forward through the water. If the air is still then effectively you have a headwind and can make progress through the water against the wind.Again, there's something in what you say, in terms of ultimate speed but to say you wouldn't move through the water is incorrect.
Badda said:
Dr Jekyll said:
underwhelmist said:
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?
Because effectively you have no wind (the wind moving a the same speed as the water) so you can't move forward through the water. If the air is still then effectively you have a headwind and can make progress through the water against the wind.Again, there's something in what you say, in terms of ultimate speed but to say you wouldn't move through the water is incorrect.
Dr Jekyll said:
Badda said:
Dr Jekyll said:
underwhelmist said:
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?
Because effectively you have no wind (the wind moving a the same speed as the water) so you can't move forward through the water. If the air is still then effectively you have a headwind and can make progress through the water against the wind.Again, there's something in what you say, in terms of ultimate speed but to say you wouldn't move through the water is incorrect.
You're confusing the issue with the issue that people would expect a tail wind to make you faster, from a sailing pov.
yellowjack said:
Currently the 'standard' pathway is as an LE (Late Entry) Officer. This involves a full career 'in the ranks' up to WO1, then Commissioning as a Captain. It's not usual for these LE Officers to go beyond Major, but I've seen quite a few LE Lieutenant Colonels on the Quartermaster side of things.
There is an alternative route from lower ranks as a direct entrant to Sandhurst. Usually soldiers without degrees who show significant talent for leadership, advised to apply or picked out from the ranks. But these lads probably wouldn't get to SNCO, and almost certainly not to Warrant Officer before being recognised. There are a lot of rules/criteria on age/time served/time left on careers to meet as well.
Whilst I'm pretty sure we no longer have any Field Marshals, I'd be astonished if anyone could possibly hold every rank in the army these days. Too many hurdles, to many rules holding them back.
Most LE Officers don't end up directly commanding troops "in the field" either. Well not in the Royal Engineers, at least. They tend to be commissioned from the QMSI (Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor - or technical warrant officer) career stream, and usually go into support or instructional roles. Sometimes we'd have a Sandhurst officer as our Squadron OC, with an LE Officer as 2i/c, but that was unusual. But the LE officers often know their trades inside out, so they're given the responsibility of developing the new generation of soldiers (or overseeing the development of new equipment/tactics). That's why they get an LE Commission - to retain their knowledge beyond the point where they've served a full SNCO/WO career and would normally be shown the door with a pension.
As an aside, I cannot find a claim for Field Marshal Sir William Robert Robertson having held every rank in the army. Not even Wikipedia claims this for him. It does, however, state that he was the only man to have risen from the rank of Private to the rank of Filed Marshal. The highest non-commissioned rank I can see claimed for him was Troop Sergeant Major. Roughly equivalent to Colour Sergeant in today's terms, and certainly well short of the upper limits of the Warrant Officer Class 1 rank. It would be interesting to see the dates of promotion and a list of all the ranks he did hold, and how they fitted into the way the army was organised in the late 1800s, because I'm pretty sure there have been a lot of changes since then. Troop Sergeant Major, for instance, is a defunct rank now. It was briefly revived in 1938 (as Warrant Officer Class 3) to give command of a Troop to a non-commissioned rank. No-one was promoted to the rank beyond 1940, and most holders of the rank were commissioned as Lieutenants.
Dullest post of the year and it's only January. There is an alternative route from lower ranks as a direct entrant to Sandhurst. Usually soldiers without degrees who show significant talent for leadership, advised to apply or picked out from the ranks. But these lads probably wouldn't get to SNCO, and almost certainly not to Warrant Officer before being recognised. There are a lot of rules/criteria on age/time served/time left on careers to meet as well.
Whilst I'm pretty sure we no longer have any Field Marshals, I'd be astonished if anyone could possibly hold every rank in the army these days. Too many hurdles, to many rules holding them back.
Most LE Officers don't end up directly commanding troops "in the field" either. Well not in the Royal Engineers, at least. They tend to be commissioned from the QMSI (Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor - or technical warrant officer) career stream, and usually go into support or instructional roles. Sometimes we'd have a Sandhurst officer as our Squadron OC, with an LE Officer as 2i/c, but that was unusual. But the LE officers often know their trades inside out, so they're given the responsibility of developing the new generation of soldiers (or overseeing the development of new equipment/tactics). That's why they get an LE Commission - to retain their knowledge beyond the point where they've served a full SNCO/WO career and would normally be shown the door with a pension.
As an aside, I cannot find a claim for Field Marshal Sir William Robert Robertson having held every rank in the army. Not even Wikipedia claims this for him. It does, however, state that he was the only man to have risen from the rank of Private to the rank of Filed Marshal. The highest non-commissioned rank I can see claimed for him was Troop Sergeant Major. Roughly equivalent to Colour Sergeant in today's terms, and certainly well short of the upper limits of the Warrant Officer Class 1 rank. It would be interesting to see the dates of promotion and a list of all the ranks he did hold, and how they fitted into the way the army was organised in the late 1800s, because I'm pretty sure there have been a lot of changes since then. Troop Sergeant Major, for instance, is a defunct rank now. It was briefly revived in 1938 (as Warrant Officer Class 3) to give command of a Troop to a non-commissioned rank. No-one was promoted to the rank beyond 1940, and most holders of the rank were commissioned as Lieutenants.
Edited by yellowjack on Tuesday 23 January 17:17
underwhelmist said:
Ayahuasca said:
Sailing downstream along a river that is moving at say 10 knots, you will go faster if there is no wind, than if there is a 10 knot tailwind pushing you along.
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?Badda said:
Who said anything about 'sailing'. You would move through the water in the same way a stick would float down a river with a tailwind.
You would float down the river at the speed of the current, while with no wind there would be a relative headwind allowing the boat to sail through the water, therefore travel faster than the current.yellowjack said:
As an aside, I cannot find a claim for Field Marshal Sir William Robert Robertson having held every rank in the army. Not even Wikipedia claims this for him. It does, however, state that he was the only man to have risen from the rank of Private to the rank of Filed Marshal. The highest non-commissioned rank I can see claimed for him was Troop Sergeant Major. Roughly equivalent to Colour Sergeant in today's terms, and certainly well short of the upper limits of the Warrant Officer Class 1 rank. It would be interesting to see the dates of promotion and a list of all the ranks he did hold, and how they fitted into the way the army was organised in the late 1800s, because I'm pretty sure there have been a lot of changes since then. Troop Sergeant Major, for instance, is a defunct rank now. It was briefly revived in 1938 (as Warrant Officer Class 3) to give command of a Troop to a non-commissioned rank. No-one was promoted to the rank beyond 1940, and most holders of the rank were commissioned as Lieutenants.
Yeah, I can't see any confirmation of that either, so may have been a slight exaggeration from whoever it was that told me, which I think I was on HCSC the other year so I'm blaming a senior officer 
4Q said:
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Two blue eyed people can only have a blue eyed child. They only carry the blue eye gene, every other eye coloured person carries all eye colour genes.
My ex wife and I have blue eyes but my daughter has one eye which is a quarter hazel Dr Jekyll said:
underwhelmist said:
Ayahuasca said:
Sailing downstream along a river that is moving at say 10 knots, you will go faster if there is no wind, than if there is a 10 knot tailwind pushing you along.
No problem with the walking south/east/north thing and ending up at the same place (draw a "north" point on a ping pong ball and trace it out), but I can't see how you'd sail slower with a tailwind, care to elucidate?Badda said:
Who said anything about 'sailing'. You would move through the water in the same way a stick would float down a river with a tailwind.
You would float down the river at the speed of the current, while with no wind there would be a relative headwind allowing the boat to sail through the water, therefore travel faster than the current.shakotan said:
4Q said:
Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:
Two blue eyed people can only have a blue eyed child. They only carry the blue eye gene, every other eye coloured person carries all eye colour genes.
My ex wife and I have blue eyes but my daughter has one eye which is a quarter hazel (beat me to it)...I was going to ask if they had ever been on holiday to Portugal with friends....
Crossflow Kid said:
Nimby said:
RizzoTheRat said:
...
Field Marshal William Robertson joined the army as a private and is the only person to have held every single rank in the army.
I was mildly surprised (OK, not astonished) to learn from my son that officers have to buy their own pip / crown / sword insignias when they are promoted. They aren't "presented" in a ceremony as I thought.Field Marshal William Robertson joined the army as a private and is the only person to have held every single rank in the army.
Traditionally, Commisioned Officers have always had purchase their own uniforms. Needless to say it's changed somewhat in recent times where uniform has almost become PPE, but a lot of officers still like to keep an NCO on-side for exchanging shoes etc ;-)
yellowjack said:
Moonhawk said:
RizzoTheRat said:
It's quite common to commission from the ranks, although I doubt many get to WO1 before commissioning, and I'm not sure if they're ever a 2nd lieutenant these days.
That was kinda my point. If you commission from an NCO rank - would you start from the bottom of the commissioned ranks - or would you jump in at whatever the equivalent level was (e.g. Sergeant to Captain)There is an alternative route from lower ranks as a direct entrant to Sandhurst. Usually soldiers without degrees who show significant talent for leadership, advised to apply or picked out from the ranks. But these lads probably wouldn't get to SNCO, and almost certainly not to Warrant Officer before being recognised. There are a lot of rules/criteria on age/time served/time left on careers to meet as well.
Whilst I'm pretty sure we no longer have any Field Marshals, I'd be astonished if anyone could possibly hold every rank in the army these days. Too many hurdles, to many rules holding them back.
Most LE Officers don't end up directly commanding troops "in the field" either. Well not in the Royal Engineers, at least. They tend to be commissioned from the QMSI (Quartermaster Sergeant Instructor - or technical warrant officer) career stream, and usually go into support or instructional roles. Sometimes we'd have a Sandhurst officer as our Squadron OC, with an LE Officer as 2i/c, but that was unusual. But the LE officers often know their trades inside out, so they're given the responsibility of developing the new generation of soldiers (or overseeing the development of new equipment/tactics). That's why they get an LE Commission - to retain their knowledge beyond the point where they've served a full SNCO/WO career and would normally be shown the door with a pension.
As an aside, I cannot find a claim for Field Marshal Sir William Robert Robertson having held every rank in the army. Not even Wikipedia claims this for him. It does, however, state that he was the only man to have risen from the rank of Private to the rank of Filed Marshal. The highest non-commissioned rank I can see claimed for him was Troop Sergeant Major. Roughly equivalent to Colour Sergeant in today's terms, and certainly well short of the upper limits of the Warrant Officer Class 1 rank. It would be interesting to see the dates of promotion and a list of all the ranks he did hold, and how they fitted into the way the army was organised in the late 1800s, because I'm pretty sure there have been a lot of changes since then. Troop Sergeant Major, for instance, is a defunct rank now. It was briefly revived in 1938 (as Warrant Officer Class 3) to give command of a Troop to a non-commissioned rank. No-one was promoted to the rank beyond 1940, and most holders of the rank were commissioned as Lieutenants.
As an example of a direct entry candidate from lower down in the ranks, there was a female corporal in my sister's intake at Sandhurst. She was, by all accounts, an outstanding cadet, and probably went on to be an excellent officer, but the fact that she and her former company commander announced their engagement the minute after she'd uncovered her pips and formally become an officer herself might well suggest where some of the support for her to go to Sandhurst in the first place came from!
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