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

[Gladers01]

Cotty said:

Clockwork Cupcake said:

If they are reserved seats, then booking info.

Otherwise, yeah, pressure sensors.

I wonder if some fat people with heavy cases could mess with it ??

That raises another question, why don't we have to wear seat belts on trains and buses when it's compulsory to buckle up when in a car?

[Error_404_Username_not_found]

Our local and Citylink buses all have seatbelts. My mate is a school bus driver and makes all the kids buckle up before he will move.
Trains - don't know. Nearest trains are 90 miles away.

[blueg33]

Pit Pony said:

My son was looking at some affordable homes in a village near Macclesfield near where I grew up in the 70s and wondering why so cheap.
Can't rent it out, can't sell it to anyone without an agricultural job or in an industry related to agriculture, with 5 miles, can't extend, can't can't can't.
My son was working in Pharma. About 9 miles away.

Worse is shared ownership though.

Council allows planning, thus making a worthless plot worth something. House builder (os social housing charity) builds a £120k house on it, and prices it at £300k, but you can buy a 50% share for £150k so making £30k profit.
You have to pay rent on the other 50% and pay 100% of the maintenance costs, so the rent to the housing association is pure greed) when you finally want to buy that 50%, they will tell you the value has gone up and you need to pay £200k

There will be admin fees too.

If we want a reset.
Councils have the right to buy up any land with outline planning that isn't finished for peanuts, and build the estate, selling at cost plus 20%, offering 25 year fixed rate mortgages, with no deposit.
Any spare council land is also developed. There's land in front of our local school, not used. This is not the playing fields. You could get 20 houses on it.

The back of the playing field has a bit of road access, if you chopped off the corner, no child would be impacted by that, and you'd get another 20 houses in.

There's a field, used by dog walkers. At the end are 2 houses. Sell off the last 50 metres and build 5 houses. No impact to anyone really. I won't mention the allotments. Perhaps we need more.

You can’t build a house in the uk for £120k

[hidetheelephants]

blueg33 said:

You can’t build a house in the uk for £120k

Without knowing what the baseline is it's just an arbitrary number. Make it smaller until it fits the budget, cheapen finishes, build more of it in factories, find cheaper materials.

[Roofless Toothless]

This question is prompted by a report of an early hurricane on BBC news.

When I had a shop in Ilford we had a lovely customer who hailed from St Lucia. When discussing hurricanes in the Caribbean she recited a poem about when they are to be expected. I remember it started ‘June, too soon’ so it can’t be entirely accurate!

Can anyone remember hearing this?

[Cotty]

Roofless Toothless said:

This question is prompted by a report of an early hurricane on BBC news.

When I had a shop in Ilford we had a lovely customer who hailed from St Lucia. When discussing hurricanes in the Caribbean she recited a poem about when they are to be expected. I remember it started ‘June, too soon’ so it can’t be entirely accurate!

Can anyone remember hearing this?

“June, too soon; July, stand by; August, come they must; September, remember; October, all over”

[blueg33]

hidetheelephants said:

blueg33 said:

You can’t build a house in the uk for £120k

Without knowing what the baseline is it's just an arbitrary number. Make it smaller until it fits the budget, cheapen finishes, build more of it in factories, find cheaper materials.

I run a factory that builds houses mainly for social housing. You can’t do it to current regs for £120k excluding the land.

Edited by blueg33 on Sunday 30th June 08:37

[Roofless Toothless]

Cotty said:

Roofless Toothless said:

This question is prompted by a report of an early hurricane on BBC news.

When I had a shop in Ilford we had a lovely customer who hailed from St Lucia. When discussing hurricanes in the Caribbean she recited a poem about when they are to be expected. I remember it started ‘June, too soon’ so it can’t be entirely accurate!

Can anyone remember hearing this?

“June, too soon; July, stand by; August, come they must; September, remember; October, all over”

Thank you! Who said poetry didn’t have its practical uses?

[48k]

Pit Pony said:

Doofus said:

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Cool story bro. I will print that out and wave it at my apple tree and tell it to do better.

Our apples last for months, too.

My apples last months, but cut one up to make apple sauce, and within seconds before I get it into the pan it's all turned brown.
My apple sauce is always brown.

Make sure you use fresh apples. Before cutting them, have a bowl of ice cold water with a big squeeze of lemon juice in it on standby. As you cut the apples put the slices in the iced water. The coldness and the acidity will slow the oxidisation so the apples shouldn't turn brown by the time you are ready to put them in the pan to make the sauce.

[Sway]

48k said:

Pit Pony said:

Doofus said:

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Cool story bro. I will print that out and wave it at my apple tree and tell it to do better.

Our apples last for months, too.

My apples last months, but cut one up to make apple sauce, and within seconds before I get it into the pan it's all turned brown.
My apple sauce is always brown.

Make sure you use fresh apples. Before cutting them, have a bowl of ice cold water with a big squeeze of lemon juice in it on standby. As you cut the apples put the slices in the iced water. The coldness and the acidity will slow the oxidisation so the apples shouldn't turn brown by the time you are ready to put them in the pan to make the sauce.

Couple of teaspoons of citric acid in a bowl of cold water. Slice apples, drop straight into the water.

[Jader1973]

Why don’t PH put their news articles in the Motoring News section instead of GG?

[21st Century Man]

Why is it that on Amazon Prime, sometimes I have the option to skip the recap or the opening credits, and sometimes I don't?

[Cotty]

Jader1973 said:

Why don’t PH put their news articles in the Motoring News section instead of GG?

I suppose because they post them directly to what they consider the main page of their site i.e. https://www.pistonheads.com/
When someone comments the thread starts in General Gassing.

I don't suppose they would ever post a news article directly to the forums.

[RenesisEvo]

Gladers01 said:

Cotty said:

Clockwork Cupcake said:

If they are reserved seats, then booking info.

Otherwise, yeah, pressure sensors.

I wonder if some fat people with heavy cases could mess with it ??

That raises another question, why don't we have to wear seat belts on trains and buses when it's compulsory to buckle up when in a car?

Trains and buses permit standing passengers so how would you manage that? Further, they're generally driven by trained professionals (ahem...) so expectation is a lower incident rate. Urban buses average speed is pitiful so the risks are low. Coaches don't permit standing and have higher average speed (significant motorway usage) so seatbelt provision is sensible. Professional driver, also. Cars are driven by the public at large and thus the spread of risk is far wider.

Also as Google pointed out, trains rarely decelerate rapidly, which is when you'd need a belt most.

A car can decelerate far faster than the human body can tolerate, and in more than one direction too (not just straight ahead). E.g car hits tree, car stops. Train hits tree, the train will keep going. And it's rather hard to arrange for a train to come into contact with a tree that's still upright and rooted in place.

Aircraft have even more degrees of freedom and the potential to rapidly decelerate or accelerate (fall) in a number of directions so keeping passengers in place helps - see recent news for what happens when belts aren't used.

[Abbott]

WrekinCrew said:

audi321 said:

Bees - if honey bees produce honey in hives, what do normal bees do? Do they just not produce honey?

Also, Queen bees. What determines that they’re a queen? What does being a queen actually mean?

I find in all very intriguing

1) Depends on the species of bee. Other social bees like bumbles make honey too, but in very small amounts. Leaf-cutter. miner and and other solitary bees feed on vegetation and pollen.
Honey bees make lots of honey because, uniquely, they maintain a high core temperature (20c or more) throughout the winter so need fuel.

2) Any fertilised egg can become a queen. All newly-hatched bees are fed on royal jelly for the first day. If it gets royal jelly for longer, and if it's in a vertical rather than horizontal cell, it develops into a queen; the different diet and orientation turns on "queen genes". Otherwise it becomes a sterile female worker.
(Male drones grow from unfertilised eggs).

The Infinite Monkey Cage has an interesting podcast Wasps v Bees

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001np29

[Mr Penguin]

Why is it that after a hard walk, a beer is the only suitable drink? I can take or leave alcohol in most cases but after a big walk water, Coke or squash won't do anything. Nor will cider or wine, but a good beer does.

[borcy]

In Northern Ireland, at this time of year, is there a massive pallet shortage?

[Cotty]

Mr Penguin said:

Why is it that after a hard walk, a beer is the only suitable drink? I can take or leave alcohol in most cases but after a big walk water, Coke or squash won't do anything. Nor will cider or wine, but a good beer does.

Usually on a walk, like yesterdays nine miles, im drinking water on the walk. The last thing I want when im finished is more water. I actually took a couple of beers with me to have on the train comming home.

[Gladers01]

RenesisEvo said:

Trains and buses permit standing passengers so how would you manage that? Further, they're generally driven by trained professionals (ahem...) so expectation is a lower incident rate. Urban buses average speed is pitiful so the risks are low. Coaches don't permit standing and have higher average speed (significant motorway usage) so seatbelt provision is sensible. Professional driver, also. Cars are driven by the public at large and thus the spread of risk is far wider.

Also as Google pointed out, trains rarely decelerate rapidly, which is when you'd need a belt most.

A car can decelerate far faster than the human body can tolerate, and in more than one direction too (not just straight ahead). E.g car hits tree, car stops. Train hits tree, the train will keep going. And it's rather hard to arrange for a train to come into contact with a tree that's still upright and rooted in place.

Aircraft have even more degrees of freedom and the potential to rapidly decelerate or accelerate (fall) in a number of directions so keeping passengers in place helps - see recent news for what happens when belts aren't used.

Well explained, I had a trip on the bus Saturday and it was a jerky old ride with the thing accelerating and decelerating in an erratic way, reaching speeds of up to 40 mph, stopping every half a mile with vertical metal poles in front of the seats, a 6 point racing harness would have been more apt! A seat belt would have been welcome but I guess costs and enforcement also play a part

[StevieBee]

hidetheelephants said:

blueg33 said:

You can’t build a house in the uk for £120k

Without knowing what the baseline is it's just an arbitrary number. Make it smaller until it fits the budget, cheapen finishes, build more of it in factories, find cheaper materials.

According to Checkatrade, the average build cost of a new home is around £1,800 per m2. The range is between £1,400 and £3,000 depending on area, materials and design.

So 'theoretically' and discounting the cost of land, it's possible to build a modest house with, say 80 m2 of space, for between £112k and £240k.