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

[Clockwork Cupcake]

If a theory is proven to have a flaw or defect, then the theory is changed to accommodate it, rather than being thrown out altogether. A theory is not set in stone and does not resist proof - that's a belief.

[C2Red]

glazbagun said:

SpeckledJim said:

BrundanBianchi said:

Roofless Toothless said:

Is this what is behind the extraordinary skill of some sportsmen?

When you have an accident, time does indeed seem to slow down, whilst you’re having the accident. A lot of top sports people will tell you that they essentially do what they do, to a point where this happens, but they do it deliberately. A particularly good example of this, was when Ayrton Senna put 1.5 seconds into Alain Prost in qualifying at Monaco in 1988. Prost couldn’t understand what happened, Senna basically said he pushed so hard that he went into a sort of trance like state, and time slowed down for him. As recently as yesterday, during the T.V. coverage of Goodwood’s ‘speed week’ one of the commentators asked a couple of drivers ( Brundle and some woman driver who’s name I didn’t catch ) and they pretty much said that in order to get the perceived silly speeds, the drivers get themselves into that same mental state / enhanced reality type feeling.

Edited by BrundanBianchi on Monday 19th October 11:28

Its an absolute concentration. Normally whatever we're doing, we're also doing other things as well, be it listening to something, jiggling a leg, thinking about the one that got away, whatever.

Then suddenly something dramatic happens and everything else disappears and you totally focus on one single thing. I think the best sportspeople (and surgeons, fighter pilots, etc) are able to do that with a high level of intensity. Tuning back into the world briefly on the main straight, and then refocussing again into the first corner. Do that 60 times and win the race.

Didn't mythbusters do this once? I think it involved dropping someone from height into a safety net and checking either their reflexes or wether they could see a strobe, but I can't recall the outcome.

They did, and other studies I read about years ago all showed that only new experiences get reflected in this manner; it’s generally thought of as why a child sees time to do something as infinite, yet adults are aware of time boundaries. Adults have more life experiences, and as we age less is new to us, thus it just blends into background time, and seems to fly by

[48k]

Dr Jekyll said:

I was reading about someone involved in fraud case who fled to Australia before the fraud come to light. A few years later she came back to the UK and was arrested at the airport.

Are there police officers at every terminal waiting for an immigration officer or passport reading machine to flag someone up? Or would she have been flagged as soon as she booked the flight so they could wait for her specifically?
How long does an immigration officer have to keep someone talking until the police turn up?

In that particular case it's likely she would have been flagged on departure and the destination airport alerted.

But there are police officers at airport immigration areas too. Next time you're in an immigration hall at an airport have a look on the walls for a large mirror. It's one-way glass.

[Roofless Toothless]

BrundanBianchi said:

When you have an accident, time does indeed seem to slow down, whilst you’re having the accident. A lot of top sports people will tell you that they essentially do what they do, to a point where this happens, but they do it deliberately. A particularly good example of this, was when Ayrton Senna put 1.5 seconds into Alain Prost in qualifying at Monaco in 1988. Prost couldn’t understand what happened, Senna basically said he pushed so hard that he went into a sort of trance like state, and time slowed down for him. As recently as yesterday, during the T.V. coverage of Goodwood’s ‘speed week’ one of the commentators asked a couple of drivers ( Brundle and some woman driver who’s name I didn’t catch ) and they pretty much said that in order to get the perceived silly speeds, the drivers get themselves into that same mental state / enhanced reality type feeling. I’ve actually experienced it a couple of times. God knows how many years ago when I used to do Karting, the first time I had a big off ( one of my front wheels flew off when I touched a kerb a bit too heavily ) I remember thinking it felt like it took a long time to hit the tyre wall ( longer than it should have ). Having spoken to the marshalls, their interpretation of how quickly I reached the tyres, and mine were quite different. I learned to harness that effect to my advantage in subsequent events. And a couple of years ago I was given the opportunity to drive some Lexus RC500s around Goodwood motor circuit. I had a few reasonably fun laps, but on my last lap, in a lightened ‘Carbon special’ version, with everything set to its ‘race settings’ I made a bit of a pig’s ear of my entry to St.Mary’s. Fortunately I managed to invoke that ‘time slowy downy’ thing, and recovered it before the car became an expensive lawn mower, the passenger did laugh ( eventually).

Edited by BrundanBianchi on Monday 19th October 11:48

I was flagging at Post 3 at Brands Hatch during a European Touring Car race, some time in the nineties. Right by the ambulance gate. A guy in a big old BMW decided to turn left at Paddock instead of right and went straight across the gravel at us. He barely skimmed the gravel and hit the Armco at pretty much unabated speed. Right at my feet.

I got an indication something was up when I saw the blue flag marshal opposite me open his eyes a lot wider than you'd think possible. I looked over my right shoulder and saw the car already half way between the track and the barrier. I started to sink down and turn away, and as I did so I clearly heard a voice in my head say slowly and deliberately, "this is going to be a big hit."

It must take three or four seconds to say that at least, but there simply could not have been enough time.

The next thing I knew I was on my hands and knees on the gravel at the back of the post, at the bottom of the spectator fence, wondering why people were asking me if I was alright. They had built the flagging platform, a considerably large structure, actually leaning on one of the barrier uprights. The car had hit this, shoved the platform a couple of feet and me even further.

I must have been knocked silly and flown through the air. It finally dawned on me that the reason people were asking me if was OK was because I wasn't answering. So I found my voice and they helped me up.

Who's voice it was that I heard I have no idea, but it was the strangest experience and the normal passage of time through the whole incident was completely disrupted. I have wondered ever since how time could have slowed down for me, but presumably rolled quite normally for everyone else.

[Nimby]

SpeckledJim said:

Are you really a Psychology PhD? I don't mean that aggressively, but I'm surprised you haven't come across this before.

I'm surprised someone with a PhD would spell it PHd.

[coppernorks]

P-Jay said:

Really?? in 20 years of driving I've never seen one lit, I've never hear of anyone having a problem that caused it to light and never heard a Mechanic mention one. I guess I've been lucky, because I've had some seriously st cars in my time.

The closest I've ever come was the Glowplug light on my old Passat used to flash if one of my brake bulbs had blown.

Generally it lights when the diagnostic system senses a malfunction in the engine emission control system, you should
drive carefully to a service centre and get it checked out. Way back in the noughties my Crown Vic would vehemently
dislike the low octane petrol bought from the local ICI petrol station and the EM light would stay on till I filled it with
decent petrol.

[Ayahuasca]

Prior to their conquest by Julius Caesar did the Gauls speak with what we now call a French accent?

[Speed 3]

When did a Shooting Brake become a Shooting Break ? I thought the former was what you took to the latter.

Another Chester Draws ?

[Robertj21a]

Why can't people use There/Their/They're and Your/You're correctly ?

[Halmyre]

Robertj21a said:

Why can't people use There/Their/They're and Your/You're correctly ?

Here here.

[paua]

The fate of all the Henrys ( 1-8) is known. Similarly the Georges & Edwards. My question is - what happened to the Franks 1-6? They can't all have been taxi drivers!

[droopsnoot]

Speed 3 said:

When did a Shooting Brake become a Shooting Break ? I thought the former was what you took to the latter.

Another Chester Draws ?

Yes. It's just people who don't know how to write properly. Proof-reading seems to be a thing of the past - I'm reading a book now, published by Simon and Schuster (who aren't a start-up) and it's littered with mistakes. And as for web sites and in-house produced stuff, they just pick on whoever seems to know what they're on about. I used to do that at my old job, and if you'd asked my English teacher he'd have not been impressed with that choice. But, I was less bad than others.

Edited by droopsnoot on Tuesday 20th October 09:17

[vonuber]

Ayahuasca said:

Prior to their conquest by Julius Caesar did the Gauls speak with what we now call a French accent?

Highly unlikely given they wouldn't have been speaking French.

[SpeckledJim]

vonuber said:

Ayahuasca said:

Prior to their conquest by Julius Caesar did the Gauls speak with what we now call a French accent?

Highly unlikely given they wouldn't have been speaking French.

Does what we know as a French accent predate the French language?

Give a French word to people from different parts of the UK and they'll bring their intonation and pronunciation to it, and say the word differently.

Did the Geordies speak old English with a different accent to Londoners, and those accents carry though as the language changed? I expect so, but I don't know.

[Dr Jekyll]

SpeckledJim said:

Does what we know as a French accent predate the French language?

Give a French word to people from different parts of the UK and they'll bring their intonation and pronunciation to it, and say the word differently.

Did the Geordies speak old English with a different accent to Londoners, and those accents carry though as the language changed? I expect so, but I don't know.

Yes, with a Scandinavian accent which to some extent they still have.

[StevieBee]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Obviously two little education!

[mrtwisty]

mrtwisty said:

Dyson for their V11 vacuum claim that it generates 79,000 g.

I imagine this is based upon some rather 'niche' interpretation of the data - but I just can't fathom how they can claim such a figure - even a .01 gram particle would be imparting too much force on the gaudy plastic at that speed surely?

No takers? I thought the PH engineering nerd-squad would be all over this!

[SpeckledJim]

mrtwisty said:

mrtwisty said:

Dyson for their V11 vacuum claim that it generates 79,000 g.

I imagine this is based upon some rather 'niche' interpretation of the data - but I just can't fathom how they can claim such a figure - even a .01 gram particle would be imparting too much force on the gaudy plastic at that speed surely?

No takers? I thought the PH engineering nerd-squad would be all over this!

All I can guess is that the force is tangential to the outer rim of the collecting tub, so impact forces are relatively low? And that it's only the very lightest particles that can hit those sorts of levels, as any of the heavier ones have already been jettisoned?

Or that the 79000g is toward the centre of the vortex rather than at the perimeter?

[48k]

P-Jay said:

GroundEffect said:

P-Jay said:

Check Engine lights.

Are these just a US thing?

I didn't really know they existed until I started watching a lot of US Youtubers. What exactly do they report, do they just light up when the ECU reports a fault code?

Important feature we miss out on, or Dealership money maker?

How can you be a car person and not know the MIL light?!

I've only seen them used in relation to emissions homologation issues - if an issue is now causing the car to exceed emissions, they must throw one. Open loop fueling for example.

Really?? in 20 years of driving I've never seen one lit, I've never hear of anyone having a problem that caused it to light and never heard a Mechanic mention one. I guess I've been lucky, because I've had some seriously st cars in my time.

The closest I've ever come was the Glowplug light on my old Passat used to flash if one of my brake bulbs had blown.

Mine is on all the time (2008 X-Trail). It's being caused by a throttle position sensor error. Been like it for nearly a year, need to sort it before MoT.

[98elise]

48k said:

P-Jay said:

GroundEffect said:

P-Jay said:

Check Engine lights.

Are these just a US thing?

I didn't really know they existed until I started watching a lot of US Youtubers. What exactly do they report, do they just light up when the ECU reports a fault code?

Important feature we miss out on, or Dealership money maker?

How can you be a car person and not know the MIL light?!

I've only seen them used in relation to emissions homologation issues - if an issue is now causing the car to exceed emissions, they must throw one. Open loop fueling for example.

Really?? in 20 years of driving I've never seen one lit, I've never hear of anyone having a problem that caused it to light and never heard a Mechanic mention one. I guess I've been lucky, because I've had some seriously st cars in my time.

The closest I've ever come was the Glowplug light on my old Passat used to flash if one of my brake bulbs had blown.

Mine is on all the time (2008 X-Trail). It's being caused by a throttle position sensor error. Been like it for nearly a year, need to sort it before MoT.

I've had a few. Our Mondeo one would come on after a long run, then fix it's self doing local trips.

Our Merc had it on all the time due to a cam sensor.