Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 6]

Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 6]

Author
Discussion

Roofless Toothless

6,315 posts

143 months

Saturday 2nd November 2024
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A post on another thread has made me think about this, which is a thing I have wondered about for years.

A lorry has a brick stuck between its twin rear wheels, and is travelling at a good speed down the motorway. What are the forces acting on the brick? If you trace out the path of the brick it is a series of curved hops as the wheel takes it from the lowest point at the road surface, to the highest point as it goes over the top. Does this mean the brick is accelerated from a speed of zero mph where it is in contact with the ground, to twice the speed of the truck where it is at its highest point? And back to zero again. In addition there would be an up and down element as it is raised and lowered a distance equal to the diameter of the wheel.

Or - is the brick just subject to a constant centrifugal force flinging it away from the centre of the wheel? Or both?

WrekinCrew

5,016 posts

161 months

Saturday 2nd November 2024
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Roofless Toothless said:
... If you trace out the path of the brick it is a series of curved hops ...
The curve is called a cycloid.

Doofus

29,527 posts

184 months

Saturday 2nd November 2024
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How do people explain hearing to somebody who is born deaf, or sight to somebody born blind?


Mercury00

4,172 posts

167 months

Sunday 3rd November 2024
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This isn't exactly a question, rather an observation. Fire's favourite food is wood, it's like they go together. A whole element based around one item.

Doofus

29,527 posts

184 months

Sunday 3rd November 2024
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Mercury00 said:
This isn't exactly a question, rather an observation. Fire's favourite food is wood, it's like they go together. A whole element based around one item.
Coal burns better, doesn't it?

Speed addicted

5,822 posts

238 months

Sunday 3rd November 2024
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Doofus said:
Mercury00 said:
This isn't exactly a question, rather an observation. Fire's favourite food is wood, it's like they go together. A whole element based around one item.
Coal burns better, doesn't it?
Not as well as petrol. Or magnesium. Or phosphorous.

Also if you’ve ever tried to put out a fire containing things like old carpets or tyres you’ll see how much fire likes them!
We had a fire that burned continuously for about three months through an Aberdeenshire winter because we’d accidentally set fire to an old dump point in the garden of our house and it was burning underground.


Edited by Speed addicted on Sunday 3rd November 16:15

Doofus

29,527 posts

184 months

Tuesday 5th November 2024
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Is there a reason why perfume adverts are purposefully nonsensical, or are they just taking the piss out of each others' insanity?

hidetheelephants

28,959 posts

204 months

Tuesday 5th November 2024
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Doofus said:
Is there a reason why perfume adverts are purposefully nonsensical, or are they just taking the piss out of each others' insanity?
They're selling you bottles of ethanol mixed with traces of oils extracted from the sexual organs of plants and in some instances quantities of congealed whale vomit and stuff squeezed from a beaver's arse glands; the whole thing is a con job so why shouldn't advertising execs get a piece of the action?

Chauffard

775 posts

8 months

Tuesday 5th November 2024
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Nonsense, flannel and surreal imagery is what TV advertising has become, I think it's fair to blame the agency that persuaded Guinness that Rutger Hauer being wittily paradoxical and white horses galloping in the sea would sell more units than stating it tastes nice, makes you drunk and turns your poo alarmingly black.

Strangely Brown

11,569 posts

242 months

Tuesday 5th November 2024
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nismocat

870 posts

19 months

Friday 8th November 2024
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Strangely Brown said:
Isn't that from a movie, Crazy People?

nismocat

870 posts

19 months

Friday 8th November 2024
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Clarkson's accent.
In the 90s he sounded like a clipped Oxbridge ponce, now he sounds all northern.

My question is: was that because he was BBC or was it his own doing?

hidetheelephants

28,959 posts

204 months

Friday 8th November 2024
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nismocat said:
Clarkson's accent.
In the 90s he sounded like a clipped Oxbridge ponce, now he sounds all northern.

My question is: was that because he was BBC or was it his own doing?
He's from Rotherham, so he's northern, but he went to private school so was probably bullied until he poshed himself up.

StevieBee

13,964 posts

266 months

Friday 8th November 2024
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Doofus said:
Is there a reason why perfume adverts are purposefully nonsensical, or are they just taking the piss out of each others' insanity?
People do not buy a perfume or cologne, they buy a pleasing aroma. Smellovision has yet to be invented so the advertising has to be inventive and create a proposition to potential customers that conveys the 'essence' of the aroma. Certain aromas evoke a sense of excitement and fun, others a sense of calmness and suaveness, and so on. It's this that the advertising tends to latch onto.

So, for example, we might see Johnny Depp looking all cool and grungy (and we know the ladies like Johnny Depp) on an advert and there he is extolling the virtues of Sauvage (a subtle mix of suave and savage - just like Johnny - and we all want to be like Johnny!). Then at some point in the future, you're wandering through John Lewis or at the airport we might see a display for Sauvage. The photo of Johnny Depp is there, looking like a still from the advert. Your brain makes the connection to the advert, so you head over for a little squirt and think - mmm, that's quite nice! (ignoring the hundreds of other colognes there which have not been advertised in the same way or at all). This has the propensity to translate into a sale, either then and there or at some point in the future.

The advert alerts you that the cologne exists

It positions the cologne against a certain style and characteristics that are aspirational to you.

This prompts you to test the product when the opportunity arrises.

That then leads to a sale.

That may all sound completely abstract, and in many ways it is, but is mighty powerful and effective.

And if you've never been motivated to try any cologne that's been advertised in this way, the chances are you are not the intended market.

Can also lead to some amazing adverts from a creative perspective where directors are given large budgets and free-reign. This is one of my favourites, directed by Spike Jones and featuring Margaret Qualley who improvised the dance entirely on set. Literally had nothing planned until the cameras rolled. Take note of the staircase scene (at 1:49) and consider where the camera is! :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoMqvniiEkk







Doofus

29,527 posts

184 months

Friday 8th November 2024
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StevieBee said:
Sauvage (a subtle mix of suave and savage - just like Johnny - and we all want to be like Johnny!).
It's actually just French for 'savage' or 'wild'. smile

StevieBee

13,964 posts

266 months

Friday 8th November 2024
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Doofus said:
StevieBee said:
Sauvage (a subtle mix of suave and savage - just like Johnny - and we all want to be like Johnny!).
It's actually just French for 'savage' or 'wild'. smile
I just see this!



StevieBee

13,964 posts

266 months

Friday 8th November 2024
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nismocat said:
Strangely Brown said:
Isn't that from a movie, Crazy People?
Brilliant film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzyNPoI17rE


Chauffard

775 posts

8 months

Saturday 9th November 2024
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StevieBee said:
Can also lead to some amazing adverts from a creative perspective where directors are given large budgets and free-reign. This is one of my favourites, directed by Spike Jones and featuring Margaret Qualley who improvised the dance entirely on set. Literally had nothing planned until the cameras rolled. Take note of the staircase scene (at 1:49) and consider where the camera is
Do you mean Spike Lee ?

An ad directed by Spike Jones would be much funnier.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be7O9g2sphw&ab...

nicanary

10,419 posts

157 months

Saturday 9th November 2024
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Sea levels are rising. Many people in hot countries don't have access to drinking water. Desalination plants exist.

Why don't we drain the oceans and make drinking water ?

hidetheelephants

28,959 posts

204 months

Saturday 9th November 2024
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nicanary said:
Sea levels are rising. Many people in hot countries don't have access to drinking water. Desalination plants exist.

Why don't we drain the oceans and make drinking water ?
Lack of cheap energy mostly.