Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 5]

Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 5]

Author
Discussion

nonsequitur

20,083 posts

115 months

Monday 26th October 2020
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coppernorks said:
nonsequitur said:
t's a conundrum, Frank. There have been many theories in the last 50 years, and Bobbie Gentry wasn't spilling the beans over what happened. Billie-Joe did jump off the bridge and was an apparent suicide, but for what reason - there have been many put forward - is not clear.
Also many suggestions offered for what was thrown from the bridge.

So I guess it remains a mystery .musicconfused
The miscarried baby of the incestuous coupling of Bobbie and Billy-Joe.

It's all in the lyrics, no mystery.
I think the answers above show that the song remains a mystery. I believe it is better left at that.

Rostfritt

3,098 posts

150 months

Monday 26th October 2020
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Fastchas said:
When was the 24hr day accepted worldwide? As in, everyone adopted the same method of timekeeping?
It seems to have come out of the middle east in ancient times, but it does seem strange we managed to settle on that but can't seem to settle on any other standard.

V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Monday 26th October 2020
quotequote all
Rostfritt said:
Fastchas said:
When was the 24hr day accepted worldwide? As in, everyone adopted the same method of timekeeping?
It seems to have come out of the middle east in ancient times, but it does seem strange we managed to settle on that but can't seem to settle on any other standard.
This discussion prompted me to look up when we adopted Indo-Arab numerals. Interestingly, it seems it took 1,500 years from inception to 'global' use.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu%E2%80%93Arab...

Ayahuasca

27,427 posts

278 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
Has anyone had sex in space?

Male and female astronauts cooped up in close proximity and zero gravity on the ISS .... things gonna go down, right?


glazbagun

14,259 posts

196 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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Theres a rumour it happened on Mir, but tirned out to be a hoax. Or conspiriacy theory.

nonsequitur

20,083 posts

115 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
Ayahuasca said:
Has anyone had sex in space?

Male and female astronauts cooped up in close proximity and zero gravity on the ISS .... things gonna go down, right?
And up, and round and round, and upside down, in and out, (hopefully), The money shot should be interesting. Wasn't there a film about that? Intastella, IIRC.
spermyikesgrumpy

MartG

20,626 posts

203 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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How much do councils make from charging to dispose of rubbish at a recycling centre compared to how much they spend clearing up after fly tippers ?

Would it be more cost effective not to charge for disposal so people currently fly tipping could legally dispose of rubbish without being charged ? ( with the proviso of course that anyone caught still fly tipping would face very severe penalties including prison )

V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
MartG said:
How much do councils make from charging to dispose of rubbish at a recycling centre compared to how much they spend clearing up after fly tippers ?

Would it be more cost effective not to charge for disposal so people currently fly tipping could legally dispose of rubbish without being charged ? ( with the proviso of course that anyone caught still fly tipping would face very severe penalties including prison )
Household waste recycling centres are paid for by local taxes and are for the disposal of household waste. Councils are not allowed to charge for waste to be deposited at them, unless that waste isn't classed as household waste, e.g. rubble. If anyone was allowed to tip anything at local centres, the cost to the taxpayer would be huge, as every small business would automatically tip there for free, paid for by taxpayers, rather than make commercial arrangements for their business waste. Disposing of waste is cost of running a business.

There are a few recycling centres which also accept - and charge for - business waste, but the vast majority are too small to manage a separate waste stream and the cost of managing the associated administration would be onerous. It's a cost-covering exercise not a money-spinner.

All that^ notwithstanding, your query is founded on a misplaced rationale. People who fly-tip are criminals; rarely are they decent but disgruntled people. They are seeking to avoid paying their way in life, believing that the world owes them a living. Most fly-tips are of business waste - often an unsuspecting business owner passing waste to someone they believe to be a genuine waste management company, who takes their money and then dumps the waste.
Much of the household waste fly-tipped is through people offering disposal to the poorest in society, through Facebook selling groups etc, again, taking the money and then dumping the real cost onto the taxpayer. In the latter case, I dubbed this 'waste poverty' some years ago and campaigned for steps to be taken to eradicate it, as it is something I believe councils can take steps to avoid.


P-Jay

10,551 posts

190 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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anonymous said:
[redacted]
I think the longest anyone has spent in Space was 15 months, there's no way they sent him up there without a subtle, but comprehensive guide on catching bodily fluids in zero gravity... because there's not enough bromide, or indeed tea in the world that could stop you loving yourself a bit in a year and a quarter.

I assume it wouldn't be hard to build on that knowledge to allow them to make the beast with two backs without covering ISS in man fat and fanny batter.

DRFC1879

3,437 posts

156 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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I guess the arrangements for cracking one off won't be all that different to dropping a log. And I would assume that although urine is recycled, turds are jettisoned into space.

coppernorks

1,919 posts

45 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
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This is the reason they send intelligent, dedicated, single-minded scientists into space
rather than the dregs of society, people who can curb their baser instincts for the benefit
of mankind rather than drooling PH oanists who can barely get through Homes Under The Hammer
without recourse to the soothing caresses of pamela and her five sisters.

I can see you, sitting there with tissues at the ready.

V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
coppernorks said:
This is the reason they send intelligent, dedicated, single-minded scientists into space
rather than the dregs of society, people who can curb their baser instincts for the benefit
of mankind rather than drooling PH oanists who can barely get through Homes Under The Hammer
without recourse to the soothing caresses of pamela and her five sisters.

I can see you, sitting there with tissues at the ready.
Yeah, but... that Martel Maxwell is such a bouncy little thing...

Rostfritt

3,098 posts

150 months

Wednesday 28th October 2020
quotequote all
DRFC1879 said:
I guess the arrangements for cracking one off won't be all that different to dropping a log. And I would assume that although urine is recycled, turds are jettisoned into space.
Nothing is jettisoned into space from orbit. Your orbital velocity is so fast a fleck of paint hitting a stationary object would have the energy of a bullet. There is enough junk in low earth orbit without nearly 60 years of dumps to try and avoid. That and it would just slowly float away from the exit hatch and probably bump into all the other turds and create some sort of monster turd that eventually would hit the side of the ship again.

On the subject of sex in space, there was a report a few years ago that on longer missions they would have all astronauts of the same sex to avoid this. I'm not sure if they really thought that through.

Lazadude

1,732 posts

160 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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Rostfritt said:
Nothing is jettisoned into space from orbit. Your orbital velocity is so fast a fleck of paint hitting a stationary object would have the energy of a bullet. There is enough junk in low earth orbit without nearly 60 years of dumps to try and avoid. That and it would just slowly float away from the exit hatch and probably bump into all the other turds and create some sort of monster turd that eventually would hit the side of the ship again.
That's wrong, The ISS fill up various containers with the same type of waste, and then jettison it into decaying orbit to burn up.

Yes they can and do shuttle some stuff back, but they do jettison.

ISS non recyclable cargo plan said:
7.17 TRASH/WASTE JETTISON
Any trash/waste to be jettisoned from ISS must preclude inadvertent collision
with ISS or other vehicles and requires analysis of orientation, change in velocity,
ballistic number, size (in order to permit tracking), containment approved for the
applicable environmental conditions and schedule/assembly sequence
considerations. Each trash jettison incident must be pre-planned individually and
requires the approval of the JSC/OE-Safety Review Panel and the ISS Program
Manager.

captain_cynic

11,876 posts

94 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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Nimby said:
Surely any two objects in the same (roughly) circular orbit are travelling at exactly the same speed, so a high energy impact is not possible.
The problem is that they are not travelling in the same direction, at the same speed or the same altitude with the same inclination or declination.

DRFC1879

3,437 posts

156 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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Lazadude said:
The ISS fill up various containers with the same type of waste, and then jettison it into decaying orbit to burn up.
Marvellous. So it's plausible that someone wishing on a shooting star is actually making a wish on a burning can of astronaut st.

Nimby

4,573 posts

149 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
quotequote all
captain_cynic said:
Nimby said:
Surely any two objects in the same (roughly) circular orbit are travelling at exactly the same speed, so a high energy impact is not possible.
The problem is that they are not travelling in the same direction, at the same speed or the same altitude with the same inclination or declination.
Yes I realised that as soon as I posted, so I deleted the original (but not quick enough!).

Lily the Pink

5,783 posts

169 months

Thursday 29th October 2020
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V8mate said:
Much of the household waste fly-tipped is through people offering disposal to the poorest in society, through Facebook selling groups etc, again, taking the money and then dumping the real cost onto the taxpayer.
Or if it's tipped on private land the cost falls on the landowner - who will have to pay if he decides to take it to the tip.

kowalski655

14,600 posts

142 months

Friday 30th October 2020
quotequote all
DRFC1879 said:
Marvellous. So it's plausible that someone wishing on a shooting star is actually making a wish on a burning can of astronaut st.
Well, that explains all of 2020!

kowalski655

14,600 posts

142 months

Friday 30th October 2020
quotequote all
Rostfritt said:
Nothing is jettisoned into space from orbit. Your orbital velocity is so fast a fleck of paint hitting a stationary object would have the energy of a bullet. There is enough junk in low earth orbit without nearly 60 years of dumps to try and avoid. That and it would just slowly float away from the exit hatch and probably bump into all the other turds and create some sort of monster turd that eventually would hit the side of the ship again.
.. ....
That was a plot point in Avenue 5... a pipe broke and all the st orbited the ship like the rings of Saturn