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

[Shakermaker]

captain_cynic said:

MartG said:

steveo3002 said:

at what weight do fattys need to spec special bog seats and baths etc

Asking for a friend ?

They order them by phone... but first they need to get a special dialling wand which can be ordered by mashing the keypad with their palm.

Or they can press the "Any" key. Or just order a Tab.

[Tony Angelino]

Shakermaker said:

Or they can press the "Any" key. Or just order a Tab.

Pressing Y on it's own and trebling their productivity?

[alorotom]

captain_cynic said:

They order them by phone... but first they need to get a special dialling wand which can be ordered by mashing the keypad with their palm.

[RizzoTheRat]

glazbagun said:

Do the military still use shields? Watching the latest avengers (and the old Star wars prequels) where they use fancy "energy shields" to protect them from sci-fi weqpons, I wondered if it happens in the real world too.

Riot police clearly still use them when faced with thrown objects, and I think Swat teams may use them- are there battlefield ballistic versions too?

Not as far as I'm aware as separate shield, but the body armour is a bit like it. The front armour plate covers pretty much the whole torso. Look up Stephen Tschiderer on youtube, there's a video from the mate of the sniper that shot him in the chest from about 100 yards with a 7.62 sniper rifle, he got back up and directed his team to where the shot came from.


Riot police in some countries do use shields a lot more advanced than a simple bit of polycarbonate to stop a brick though, the Indians developed an armoured golf buggy with fold out shields after the Mumbai attack, so they can advance up a building corridor with relatively good protection.

[littleredrooster]

A rather mundane one, I'm afraid.

On a van with a tail-lift, what are the bits of flappy plastic for about two-thirds of the way up the underside of the lift platform? They've all got them...

[SpeckledJim]

littleredrooster said:

A rather mundane one, I'm afraid.

On a van with a tail-lift, what are the bits of flappy plastic for about two-thirds of the way up the underside of the lift platform? They've all got them...

Aren't they to hang down and provide a greater visual clue that the tail lift is folded down, so you're less likely to drive into it?

That's what did for Maria De Villota?

[littleredrooster]

Nanook said:

Got a picture. I can't picture something two thirds up the way of the underside of a platform. Doesn't compute.

Two thirds of the way up when platform is folded flat against rear of van.

[48k]

littleredrooster said:

A rather mundane one, I'm afraid.

On a van with a tail-lift, what are the bits of flappy plastic for about two-thirds of the way up the underside of the lift platform? They've all got them...

The marker flags?

[TommoAE86]

Is there a list of safety cars used in racing events? My powers of google are coming up with nothing.

I very briefly saw the 2002 Le Mans safety car on motorsport tv when I woke up on the couch last night

It was silver and looked like a long coupé type thing, the only thing I could think it would be was a Honda Legend but the shape that matches seems too old for a 2002 race.



Will probably have to hand in my PH car when what it actually is is revealed!

[droopsnoot]

Not a Corvette, was it? I can see some references for them being used around that time, though not specifically in 2002.

[TommoAE86]

Hmm could be but I thought the cockpit was too far forwards to be a Corvette, you briefly see the arse of it in the grainy distance of this highlight video

https://youtu.be/ZFK6VVPsSFw?t=28m3s

[Jonboy_t]

TommoAE86 said:

Hmm could be but I thought the cockpit was too far forwards to be a Corvette, you briefly see the arse of it in the grainy distance of this highlight video

https://youtu.be/ZFK6VVPsSFw?t=28m3s

Cadillac of some sort, I think?

[Moonhawk]

Tony Angelino said:

When driving, do you have a 'duty of care' or similar to try and avoid an accident? Often either on my way to or from work I see a car nosing out of a junction/driving over the white line/pulling out infront of somebody at a junction and have to slow down or stop to avoid driving into them, if I was so inclined and I just drove straight into them despite it being their fault for breaking the Highway Code would I be at fault for doing it on purpose?

You probably need to brush up on the highway code. The introduction to the general rules section states quite clearly:

“Always give way if it can help to avoid an incident.”

[TommoAE86]

Jonboy_t said:

Cadillac of some sort, I think?

haha I skipped the start to the crashes!! Thanks for doing what I should've done. Cadillac Seville STC apparently, so not a coupé either... I'll get an eye check if I can find the door... Thanks gents

[FiF]

RizzoTheRat said:

glazbagun said:

Do the military still use shields? Watching the latest avengers (and the old Star wars prequels) where they use fancy "energy shields" to protect them from sci-fi weqpons, I wondered if it happens in the real world too.

Riot police clearly still use them when faced with thrown objects, and I think Swat teams may use them- are there battlefield ballistic versions too?

Not as far as I'm aware as separate shield, but the body armour is a bit like it. The front armour plate covers pretty much the whole torso. Look up Stephen Tschiderer on youtube, there's a video from the mate of the sniper that shot him in the chest from about 100 yards with a 7.62 sniper rifle, he got back up and directed his team to where the shot came from.


Riot police in some countries do use shields a lot more advanced than a simple bit of polycarbonate to stop a brick though, the Indians developed an armoured golf buggy with fold out shields after the Mumbai attack, so they can advance up a building corridor with relatively good protection.

On the issue of vital organ plates they can be heavy and very unpleasant to wear. We did some materials research a few years back to develop a lighter thinner but tough plate. Part of the testing was like a Mythbusters episode, we had the ballistic gel body torso moulds, we clad them with body armour into which were inserted standard vital organ plates as reference, and the experimental plates for their test. Various weapons of increasing power were fired, and the experimental stuff sometimes worked better, other times not so much dependant upon firearm and load.

Then we got to the sniper rifle, which was a PSG-90 a modification of the British design, using tungsten carbide sabot rounds. The sabot is said to reduce accuracy in one way but increases it in others due to reduced flight time so less need for wind and movement adjustments. Anyway all going swimmingly until we loosed this thing off, there was just a stunned silence. Essentially this armour piercing round just spalled a huge scab off the back of the plates and rammed it right through the ballistic gel. Carnage doesn't describe it.

[Frank7]

Moonhawk said:

Tony Angelino said:

When driving, do you have a 'duty of care' or similar to try and avoid an accident? Often either on my way to or from work I see a car nosing out of a junction/driving over the white line/pulling out infront of somebody at a junction and have to slow down or stop to avoid driving into them, if I was so inclined and I just drove straight into them despite it being their fault for breaking the Highway Code would I be at fault for doing it on purpose?

You probably need to brush up on the highway code. The introduction to the general rules section states quite clearly:

“Always give way if it can help to avoid an incident.”

Apropos of this, a long time back, I was in my Black Cab, waiting to turn right out of Cadogan Place, SW1, into Sloane Street, in order to turn left into Hans Crescent, to drop a fare at Harrods.
Looking to the right, traffic was approaching, but at least 150 metres from me, so I edged forward, looking to my left, for a gap in the traffic.
A police patrol car was coming toward me, indicating a right, into the street I was coming out of, he slowed, and flashed his lights, (this was daytime).
The first car coming from my right, read the situation, and slowed to a halt.
I raised my hand to him in thanks, and started to complete the right turn, when a Lotus Elan overtook the car that had stopped to my right, and collided with my f/o/s wheel, dislodging the hub cap, and leaving a little bit of his paint on my wheel arch.
The middle aged driver got out and began to remonstrate with me, using the usual, “You cab drivers think you own the road”, garbage, when one of the cops in the patrol car came up, and said to me, “Pull over to the left, I’ll give you my details, and act as your witness, after I’ve nicked this berk.”
My passenger, an elderly Austrian guy, gave me his details too.
The upshot was, my insurers sorted it out, I had the wing resprayed, and a new hub cap, plus two days loss of earnings reimbursed.
I don’t know what happened to the Lotus driver, presumably a charge of driving without due care.

[FiF]

Why am I getting almost constant sponsored ads / clickbait featuring Cote De Pablo, aka Ziva from NCIS. Has she done something? About to do something?

Not Googled or anything about her so it can't be down to internet history.

[PaulV]

Why do a pair of Apache helicopters often fly around between Newbury and Hungerford in the evening?
Usually get them around 21:30 - 22:00 over us.

[littleredrooster]

48k said:

littleredrooster said:

A rather mundane one, I'm afraid.

On a van with a tail-lift, what are the bits of flappy plastic for about two-thirds of the way up the underside of the lift platform? They've all got them...

The marker flags?

Aye - they're the ones.

So they're just to provide additional warning of the flat platform being down? Makes sense, s'pose!

[SpeckledJim]

littleredrooster said:

Aye - they're the ones.

So they're just to provide additional warning of the flat platform being down? Makes sense, s'pose!

Maria Di Villota didn't see a horizontal tail-lift platform that had been left half-way down and drove into it at head height. Horrible, horrible accident.