I bet you didnt know that

Pronto63

Wibbs wrote: »

They're not going to take a hit to their bottom line N. The dental trucks must cost less, likely far less than the profits they make on selling the sugar drinks. Like that time in the US car industry, Ford I think it was. Where they found a potentially fatal flaw in one of their cars. Did they fix the flaw? Nope, their lawyers told them the cost of any potential cases would be a much smaller cost than the costs of rectifying the mistake in the cars. People died and lawsuits were filed and fines paid out, but still cheaper than fixing the faults. Corporate "morals" at work. Always follow the money.

I think it was the Ford Pinto. Flaw in design/location of the fuel tank caused it to burst into flames when the car was rear-ended!

Froshtbit

New Home wrote: »

"More malnourished" doesn't seem possible to me, if a large part of their diet is based on huge amounts of sugared water with artificial additives of various kind. As for being able to afford the milk, if you don't spend your money on cigarettes you can probably afford more bread (not you-you, this is just a "for instance").

I get you and don't worry, I understand what you mean. My concern is indadvertently pushing them deeper into poverty.

New Home

I heard recently that in the US schools are funded by property tax (maybe someone who lives in the US can confirm this), so in areas where housing is inadequate, the schools are just as inadequate - low quality schooling produces a low quality workforce who can't get decent jobs and can't afford decent housing, so the vicious circle continues.

Capt'n Midnight

Pronto63 wrote: »

I think it was the Ford Pinto. Flaw in design/location of the fuel tank caused it to burst into flames when the car was rear-ended!

Unsafe at any speed - was the name of a book about guess what ?


Thanks to the information superhighway stuff like this becomes public faster these days so hopefully will become a thing of the past.



Back in the day Russia bought technology from FIAT (Fix It Again Tomorrow) and LADA's were (re)born.

Back then if your windscreen got hit by a stone it would create a myriad of cracks like Prince Rupert's drops. You wouldn't be able to see through it and so the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) was to punch a hole through so you could see where you were going.

In the early days of the LADA , legend says that they used ordinary plate glass instead of safety glass. People punching a shattered windscreen could loose hands, guillotined by large shards :eek:




Speaking of which , safety glass comprising of a layer of plastic between two sheets of glass is possibly the #1 reason to wear your seatbelt. Otherwise what can happen is that your head can punch through making a neat hole, but your shoulders get stopped and the raw edges of the hole decapitate you as neatly as a guillotine

NIMAN

el_gaucho wrote: »

It’s called HP because the creator named it after the Houses of Parliament.

Hence the picture of the houses on the label

RiderOnTheStorm

Maybe y'all know this, maybe not....

If your car indicator bulb is broken, the indicator ticking sound will speed up to let you know the bulb is gone.

In some German cars, if you park, turn off the engine while leaving your indicator on, the lights on one side of the car will stay on. Its a safety feature, so the parked car is visible at night even when parked on the street.

Capt'n Midnight

In some countries the requirement for rear fog lights is for one side only, so you know they are fog lights.

stimpson

mzungu wrote: »

If drivers stick to the 45 mph speed limit on a stretch of Route 66 in New Mexico, the road's rumble strips will play a rendition of "America the Beautiful."

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

They built one in California that was supposed to play the William Tell overture, except they got the spacing wrong and it was a mess. They had to move it after residents complained and rebuilt it in a less populated area, but to the exact same spec.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef93WmlEho0

loyatemu

the Ford Pinto story was referenced in "Fight Club"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiB8GVMNJkE

eisenberg1

New Home wrote: »

I heard recently that in the US schools are funded by property tax (maybe someone who lives in the US can confirm this), so in areas where housing is inadequate, the schools are just as inadequate - low quality schooling produces a low quality workforce who can't get decent jobs and can't afford decent housing, so the vicious circle continues.

To the best of my knowledge, in the US, you pay state and federal taxes. State taxes vary, the better schools, street lighting , local police, fire service etc will tend to be in the areas with higher where higher taxes are paid. I think it is why some people opt to work in one state and live in another...possibly paying a lower tax and reaping the benefit of living just across the border in a more affluent state. I stand to be corrected on this...as I have never lived there.

Capt'n Midnight

BTW
The UK's vehicle safety agency said BMW failed to tell it about an electrical fault in one of its cars that was involved in a fatal collision.

evolving_doors

Don't put out a magnesium fire with water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgPZL4hFNA0

Ipso

According to Alan Partridge, you should never put out a fat fire with water. Take your face off!

Ipso

I'm reading the book "Prisoners of Geography" at the minute (thanks to whoever posted it in the what are you reading thread), so I found out that the Russian word for bear is Medved which means honey eater.
Another words which shares the same root is Mead, the drink made from honey.
The name Maeve/Medb also derives from this and means intoxicating (supposedly in Irish antiquity there was a goddess called Maeve Leath Dearg who kings symbolically married and drinking mead was part of the ritual).
http://www.pitt.edu/~votruba/qsonhist/bearetymologyslovakenglishwelsh.html

And the word that the Slavic people find taboo for bear is the word that the name Arthur shares a root with.

Fourier

Ipso wrote: »

And the word that the Slavic people find taboo for bear is the word that the name Arthur shares a root with.

The word for Bear in Northern Indo-European languages originates from "the brown one", in an attempt not to say the original word. This includes the English "bear" as well.

VonLuck

loyatemu wrote: »

the Ford Pinto story was referenced in "Fight Club"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiB8GVMNJkE

And also in Top Secret!

VW 1

Ipso wrote: »

And the word that the Slavic people find taboo for bear is the word that the name Arthur shares a root with.

Fourier wrote: »

the word for Bear in Northern Indo-European languages originates from "the brown one", in an attempt not to say the original word. The includes the English "bear" as well.

What's the word!? Or why is it taboo?

Ipso

Artko, according to the link the bear would catch you or you would not be able to catch it.

Atlantic Dawn

A clamper working on behalf of a public authority will always look at the tax disc of a car to determine if it's illegally parked or just badly parked in whether they can be clamped or not.

RiderOnTheStorm

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Maybe y'all know this, maybe not....

If your car indicator bulb is broken, the indicator ticking sound will speed up to let you know the bulb is gone.

In some German cars, if you park, turn off the engine while leaving your indicator on, the lights on one side of the car will stay on. Its a safety feature, so the parked car is visible at night even when parked on the street.

Does it put on the opposite side? Because if you're pulling in then you'll generally have the indicator on the kerb side.

mzungu

Fredric Baur invented the Pringles can. When he died in 2008, some of his ashes were buried in one.

VW 1

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

A clamper working on behalf of a public authority will always look at the tax disc of a car to determine if it's illegally parked or just badly parked in whether they can be clamped or not.

Illegally parked meaning it's clamped presumably, or what's the distinction? No tax means towed I'm guessing?

Fourier

VW 1 wrote: »

What's the word!? Or why is it taboo?

Almost unpronounceable to modern speakers, as it is tonal with consonants we don't have in English today. Rkthoz would be as close as you could get in English. This original word would have been lost before English separated from the other Germanic languages.

Why it was taboo, probably a "speak of the devil" type belief.

Atlantic Dawn

VW 1 wrote: »

Illegally parked meaning it's clamped presumably, or what's the distinction? No tax means towed I'm guessing?

Tax disc designation decides whether it's illegally parked or not.

VW 1

In tenpin bowling, what makes the lane slippery to step on is the application of oil to the lane. This oil reduces friction between bowling balls and the surface of the lane, and as such, determines how much a bowling ball will react with the lane/hook. A typical lane will have approximately 20ml of oil applied, with the oil generally not being applied past 39 feet, at which point a bowling ball will react to the friction and begin to hook.

Esel

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Does it put on the opposite side? Because if you're pulling in then you'll generally have the indicator on the kerb side.

You leave the indicator on on the side nearest the road.

Greybottle

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

A clamper working on behalf of a public authority will always look at the tax disc of a car to determine if it's illegally parked or just badly parked in whether they can be clamped or not.

No they don't. They clamp a car if it's illegally parked, the disc doesn't matter to them. That's the rule in the Republic of Ireland anyway.

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

Maybe y'all know this, maybe not....

If your car indicator bulb is broken, the indicator ticking sound will speed up to let you know the bulb is gone.

The current to the relay that switches the light on and off is increased, in fact it's doubled as it only has one bulb to "feed", so it "breaks" a lot faster, thus making it blink faster. This also (should) makes the driver notice this, thus informing them that the bulb/headlight needs to be changed/repaired.

Mollyb60

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Tax disc designation decides whether it's illegally parked or not.

Greybottle wrote: »

No they don't. They clamp a car if it's illegally parked, the disc doesn't matter to them. That's the rule in the Republic of Ireland anyway.

Tax discs were abolished in the UK just over 3 years ago so this definitely wouldn't apply there. There's no longer any need to display any discs on your car window in the North. I don't think insurance details were ever displayed on cars.

In a not so shocking turn of events, the Guardian reported last year that the number of untaxed vehicles in the UK had surged since the abolition of the paper disc. Up from 0.6% untaxed in 2013 to 1.8% last year. Who knew that people are dishonest? :rolleyes:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/nov/16/untaxed-vehicles-uk-trebles-tax-disc-abolition-vehicle-excise-duty-dvla

Cordell

Greybottle wrote: »

The current to the relay that switches the light on and off is increased, in fact it's doubled as it only has one bulb to "feed", so it "breaks" a lot faster, thus making it blink faster. This also (should) makes the driver notice this, thus informing them that the bulb/headlight needs to be changed/repaired.

In the old days the faster blinking rate was a side effect of the relay design (or maybe intended), but nowadays everything is electronically controlled, even the clicking sound comes (on most cars) from the speakers.

Wibbs

Cordell wrote: »

even the clicking sound comes (on most cars) from the speakers.

Going by how many drivers I encounter with their indicators going for miles after they made a turn they should make them louder. Not applicable for BMW drivers as they don't have indicators fitted...