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

[V8mate]

glenrobbo said:

StevieBee said:

I'd imagine having four legs helps as well.

It certainly makes them more stable.

Oi, rein in the puns!

[SpeckledJim]

Flibble said:

HTP99 said:

Watching a couple of horses at the weekend out for a ride on the road got me thinking; horses have metal shoes, if I had metal soles on my shoes I'd easily slip and fall over due to lack of grip, why don't horses fall over and how come they have grip?

They mostly walk on soft stuff that their shoes can sink into a little.

Also I don't think metal soles are as slick as you think. Imagine a metal sole scored like a file, that would grip rather well I'd imagine.

Edited by Flibble on Monday 11th February 08:14

There's a lot of weight on them too, which helps. Neigh problem.

Trains run on metal wheels on metal rails, but the immense weight means it works.

[popeyewhite]

HTP99 said:

Watching a couple of horses at the weekend out for a ride on the road got me thinking; horses have metal shoes, if I had metal soles on my shoes I'd easily slip and fall over due to lack of grip, why don't horses fall over and how come they have grip?

Horses do fall over.

[Brother D]

Organ transplants.

If a heart comes from someone with same blood type as the recipient (and cleaned) - how does the recipients body know that it's not the same heart that was there a few hours ago? I would have thought a heart muscle cell is the same as everyone else's? Same for fat cells etc - so does that mean everyone has unique cells? And what gets attacked when the recipient's body rejects the organ - is it across the board or only particular parts/cells?

[HTP99]

popeyewhite said:

HTP99 said:

Watching a couple of horses at the weekend out for a ride on the road got me thinking; horses have metal shoes, if I had metal soles on my shoes I'd easily slip and fall over due to lack of grip, why don't horses fall over and how come they have grip?

Horses do fall over.

Of course they do, I've fallen over whilst wearing rubber soled shoes, however if I wore metal soled shoes I would be all over the place unless I tip toe'd about.

[48k]

HTP99 said:

Watching a couple of horses at the weekend out for a ride on the road got me thinking; horses have metal shoes, if I had metal soles on my shoes I'd easily slip and fall over due to lack of grip, why don't horses fall over and how come they have grip?

Horses can and do slip on occasion. But dont forget if the horse is walking then it has 2 or 3 feet on the ground at any one time so is quite stable.

They're more likely to slip on soft ground and when going a bit quicker / turning (think eventing). You can have stud holes (threaded holes) put in to the shoes by the farrier and screw in studs (generally one or two per shoe) if you need to give them a bit more grip.

[popeyewhite]

HTP99 said:

Of course they do, I've fallen over whilst wearing rubber soled shoes

Then it's glasses you need.

HTP99 said:

however if I wore metal soled shoes I would be all over the place unless I tip toe'd about.

Not on grass/mud etc, and not if you weighed as much as a grown horse.

The point is that horses are heavy and they're mostly ridden aggressively on a soft off road surface, so their hooves dig in a bit.

[RizzoTheRat]

You can get horse shoes with rubber or plastic blocks on the like track tracks. Pretty sure the police use them.

[Fastchas]

I've rode horses and exercised them on the road, believe me they don't feel secure on metal shoes. Trotting is the fastest you would want to go and a horseman cringes in horror when they see a horse cantering or worse, galloping (having bolted) on a road. They wouldn't be able to pull up fast and would most likely go down in a heap!
Horses that 'work' on the roads are shod with soft shoes but generally they have metal as it last longer around the stable yard etc. Also, it helps to keep them in good condition. Horses that are allowed to grow their hooves without shoes on tend to get cracks in them.

[98elise]

thismonkeyhere said:

98elise said:

StevieBee said:

Dr Jekyll said:

Am I the only middle aged bloke, indeed person, who has never taken illegal drugs? Or even come across them, been offered them or seen anyone taking them?

My one and only dalliance was a single joint when I was 20; which I found distinctly underwhelming.

Had a mate who got in to the whole coke thing for about a year during which he turned from a great bloke into the biggest knob imaginable. Not that I was tempted before but this reaffirmed my ambivalence towards trying anything.

Same here. One joint and never bothered since. Drugs don't figure in my life at all.

I know plenty of colleagues that regularly do drugs wilth little if any affect on them personally or at work. All are in well paid highly technical roles.

Much the same. Two joints when I was about 17, nothing since. (45 now)

TBH I don't remember much of an effect at all, so it's debatable whether I have actually smoked any weed!

So maybe nothing at all.

And to clarify my one joint, I didn't smoke so I ended up coughing and choking in it! I doubt much actually made it to my lungs.

We were also drinking scumpy at the time so any effect was soon overtaken by alcohol

[theplayingmantis]

studded shoes are a hindrance on tarmac/roads, the studs (at the end of the shoes) make slipping easier as they have nothing to dig into on road and wont have a flat contact, however they are a benefit in frozen conditions (off road) and when carrying a load on and incline (up or down).

Most farriers will add borium strip around the edge of the shoe for a horse that has to walk a lot on roads. this increases grip a fair bit.

never had direct experience of borium, but assume police horses and household cavalry must have it on their shoes given how much urban plodding they do.

[glazbagun]

On an equine theme, do riot police and their horses have any link to the cavalry of old, or have police horses always been civil in nature?

[Wiccan of Darkness]

glazbagun said:

On an equine theme, do riot police and their horses have any link to the cavalry of old, or have police horses always been civil in nature?

I've never met a rude one....

[theplayingmantis]

glazbagun said:

On an equine theme, do riot police and their horses have any link to the cavalry of old, or have police horses always been civil in nature?

cavalry chargers of old were way stockier than police horses. proper units, think suffolk punch type, sort of. so i guess not, but may be wrong. but not my field of equine experience.

[StevieBee]

Brother D said:

Organ transplants.

If a heart comes from someone with same blood type as the recipient (and cleaned) - how does the recipients body know that it's not the same heart that was there a few hours ago? I would have thought a heart muscle cell is the same as everyone else's? Same for fat cells etc - so does that mean everyone has unique cells? And what gets attacked when the recipient's body rejects the organ - is it across the board or only particular parts/cells?

I think it's to do with DNA. The body attacks the cells containing DNA it doesn't recognise as its own.

How it works with blood transfusions I don't know!

[Flibble]

StevieBee said:

Brother D said:

Organ transplants.

If a heart comes from someone with same blood type as the recipient (and cleaned) - how does the recipients body know that it's not the same heart that was there a few hours ago? I would have thought a heart muscle cell is the same as everyone else's? Same for fat cells etc - so does that mean everyone has unique cells? And what gets attacked when the recipient's body rejects the organ - is it across the board or only particular parts/cells?

I think it's to do with DNA. The body attacks the cells containing DNA it doesn't recognise as its own.

How it works with blood transfusions I don't know!

It's antibodies. They are meant to detect foreign cells like bacteria and viruses and kill them. Unless the heart is from a very close relative it won't have the same antibodies so the body attacks it as a disease.

I suppose in a sense it's DNA as it's DNA that determines which antibodies are made.

[popeyewhite]

StevieBee said:

Brother D said:

Organ transplants.

If a heart comes from someone with same blood type as the recipient (and cleaned) - how does the recipients body know that it's not the same heart that was there a few hours ago? I would have thought a heart muscle cell is the same as everyone else's? Same for fat cells etc - so does that mean everyone has unique cells? And what gets attacked when the recipient's body rejects the organ - is it across the board or only particular parts/cells?

I think it's to do with DNA. The body attacks the cells containing DNA it doesn't recognise as its own.

How it works with blood transfusions I don't know!

I think the patient takes a cocktail of drugs to aid new organ acceptance.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

popeyewhite said:

I think the patient takes a cocktail of drugs to aid new organ acceptance.

And often stay on a regime of immunosuppressants indefinitely.

[anonymous-user]

Why do I feel queasy (and sometimes faint) at gore, blood, descriptions of surgery etc?

I grew up shooting. I have killed and gutted/plucked/skinned many things. I have cut my own leg down to the bone and wrapped it up with gaffer tape because I was busy working. I have been stabbed (not deliberately) in the eye and driven myself to hospital whilst barely able to see.

Yet the thought of organ donation, the sight of an autopsy on Silent Witness, my friend describing her broken leg and operation, all make me feel sick. Twice I've fainted, luckily whilst sitting down. What is it about other people's squidgy pulsating bits that completely disables me?

[paua]

OpulentBob said:

Why do I feel queasy (and sometimes faint) at gore, blood, descriptions of surgery etc?

I grew up shooting. I have killed and gutted/plucked/skinned many things. I have cut my own leg down to the bone and wrapped it up with gaffer tape because I was busy working. I have been stabbed (not deliberately) in the eye and driven myself to hospital whilst barely able to see.

Yet the thought of organ donation, the sight of an autopsy on Silent Witness, my friend describing her broken leg and operation, all make me feel sick. Twice I've fainted, luckily whilst sitting down. What is it about other people's squidgy pulsating bits that completely disables me?

Other people's pulsating squidgy bits are sexy. Harden the fk up.

Probably not what you had in mind...