Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 4]

[Ayahuasca]

paua said:

boyse7en said:

Shakermaker said:

Is there a particular reason, linguistically, that draws writers to use strong male characters with the initials JB

James Bond
Jason Bourne
Jack Bauer

I mean it falls down if you try to use Jim Bowen as an example but he is a real person

and Juliet Bravo

Jenson Button.

On the other hand, there is

Jeremy Beadle

[V8mate]

Ayahuasca said:

paua said:

boyse7en said:

Shakermaker said:

Is there a particular reason, linguistically, that draws writers to use strong male characters with the initials JB

James Bond
Jason Bourne
Jack Bauer

I mean it falls down if you try to use Jim Bowen as an example but he is a real person

and Juliet Bravo

Jenson Button.

On the other hand, there is

Jeremy Beadle

The big one or the little one?

[glenrobbo]

Ayahuasca said:

paua said:

boyse7en said:

Shakermaker said:

Is there a particular reason, linguistically, that draws writers to use strong male characters with the initials JB

James Bond
Jason Bourne
Jack Bauer

I mean it falls down if you try to use Jim Bowen as an example but he is a real person

and Juliet Bravo

Jenson Button.

On the other hand, there is

Jeremy Beadle

And Justin Bieber

[p1stonhead]

Flibble said:

Ayahuasca said:

Why will airport security remove say a pair of tweezers from your hand luggage, yet airside restaurants allow diners to use metal cutlery including knives?

Not to mention metal cutlery being provided on aircraft.

I accidentally carried a Swiss army knife into airport security once. I was allowed to carry it on to the plane in Manchester, but lost it on the way back.

I got stopped at airport security in Belfast in the mid 90’s (when I was about 7 or 8) with a pocket full of (spent) shotgun shells I found in my granddads cupboard. I thought they were cool so took some. Security were not amused with me or my mum but she had no idea I had them with me. Oopps.

[glenrobbo]

popeyewhite said:

And Jim Bowen.

No. As Shakermaker says, it falls down.

Edited by glenrobbo on Tuesday 4th December 19:52

[njw1]

V8mate said:

Ayahuasca said:

paua said:

boyse7en said:

Shakermaker said:

Is there a particular reason, linguistically, that draws writers to use strong male characters with the initials JB

James Bond
Jason Bourne
Jack Bauer

I mean it falls down if you try to use Jim Bowen as an example but he is a real person

and Juliet Bravo

Jenson Button.

On the other hand, there is

Jeremy Beadle

The big one or the little one?

[glazbagun]

why are so many electronics made in the far east? I would have thought that the costs would be largely capital and not labour. is Assembly really such a large percentage of the cost of a PC or hifi?

[Clockwork Cupcake]

glazbagun said:

why are so many electronics made in the far east? I would have thought that the costs would be largely capital and not labour. is Assembly really such a large percentage of the cost of a PC or hifi?

Labour costs, lower taxes, cheaper electricity, less stringent Health & Safety and emissions laws, cheaper raw materials, lower transportation costs. These are just off the top of my head.

[Dr Jekyll]

glazbagun said:

why are so many electronics made in the far east? I would have thought that the costs would be largely capital and not labour. is Assembly really such a large percentage of the cost of a PC or hifi?

Not especially, but you have to assemble them somewhere so may as well be where it's cheapest. Even if your major markets are Europe or the US the transport cost is trivial.

[StevieBee]

glazbagun said:

why are so many electronics made in the far east? I would have thought that the costs would be largely capital and not labour. is Assembly really such a large percentage of the cost of a PC or hifi?

Low labour costs is only part of this. History plays a bigger part as are established supply chains.

Many years ago, Japan mastered the art of manufacturing small and complex components on a mass-produced scale at a cheap cost, a skill that emerged during the second world war as the then government recognised the need to adopt a more technical approach to defence. Thus, emerging from the second world war were an army of electronic technicians with nothing to do so the focus switched to transferring those skills to consumer electronics to help boost the economy.

Quality wasn't good but for many of the smaller components, quality wasn't as important as price. This led to a rapid growth in the export of electronic components which in turn spawned a vast, global supply chain. The income this generated enabled Japan to begin to develop end products, not just the components but because the supply chain for those products already existed, they were able to bring products to the market far quicker and far cheaper.

In the west, long-established distributors for Japanese electronic components began to sell Japanese end products so distribution and retail chains were thus able to be accessed more rapidly and without the level of investment that would have otherwise been required, again, keeping costs low and making it difficult for local companies to develop and introduce competing products who instead developed higher-end, premium products in lower volumes. HiFi for example; Japan provided mass-produced, low quality but functional equipment for the masses. British manufacturers produced (and still do) high-end, superior quality equipment for connoisseurs.

The revenue this generated through the 50s and 60s enabled the Japanese government to invest in training the next generation of electronic engineers and designers and invest in the development of sector innovation.

All this combined has kept them well ahead of other countries although in recent times, we see other neighbouring far eastern countries increasing their activities within electronics; mainly as a result of Japan investing in the sector beyond their immediate borders.

[paua]

Are plastic dinosaurs made out of real dinosaurs?

[Rostfritt]

paua said:

Are plastic dinosaurs made out of real dinosaurs?

No. Oil deposits were laid down a long time before dinosaurs evolved. They are almost entirely made of squashed bacteria. Coal is squashed ancient forests.

[Flibble]

Rostfritt said:

No. Oil deposits were laid down a long time before dinosaurs evolved. They are almost entirely made of squashed bacteria. Coal is squashed ancient forests.

Oil is algae and plankton also. Makes sense when you think about it, given how much of the Earth is covered by water.

[Antony Moxey]

Phrases and sayings. I see a few pop up on these boards from time to time that I don’t know what they mean. Happy for sensible explanations as well as ridicule at my dimness for: Occam’s razor, Schrodinger’s cat, straw man argument and jump the shark.

[StevieBee]

Antony Moxey said:

Occam’s razor

I believe Occam was a philosopher who reasoned that in complex situations where reason was sought that "with all things being equal, the simplest answer prevails".

[RizzoTheRat]

Schrodinger's Cat is a thought experiment as to why Quantum effects make no sense in the larger scale. Sub atomic events can have a "quantum superposition", where they're 2 different things or places at the same time, and don't fix on one or the other until observed. This is had to wrap your brain around as at the "real world" scale it means a cat in a box can be both dead and alive at the same time and doesn't actually become dead or alive until you open the box.

[Einion Yrth]

Antony Moxey said:

Phrases and sayings. I see a few pop up on these boards from time to time that I don’t know what they mean. Happy for sensible explanations as well as ridicule at my dimness for: Occam’s razor, Schrodinger’s cat, straw man argument and jump the shark.

Have you considered using Google, at all? I'm told it's quite good for this sort of thing.

[DocJock]

Einion Yrth said:

Antony Moxey said:

Phrases and sayings. I see a few pop up on these boards from time to time that I don’t know what they mean. Happy for sensible explanations as well as ridicule at my dimness for: Occam’s razor, Schrodinger’s cat, straw man argument and jump the shark.

Have you considered using Google, at all? I'm told it's quite good for this sort of thing.

I was going to say 'harsh but fair', but it's not really harsh...

[Rostfritt]

Antony Moxey said:

jump the shark.

A TV programme is said to have 'jumped the shark' when the plot has got far too outlandish and is nothing like what it used to be in the earlier series in a desperate attempt by the writers to keep interest in the show. This originates from Happy Days where it got more and more ridiculous and there was an episode where The Fonz literally water skied over a shark.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

Einion Yrth said:

Have you considered using Google, at all? I'm told it's quite good for this sort of thing.