Questions you've always wanted the answers for

[Asset]

I mean a real basket

[muffintop]

Asset Wrote:

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> > To get back to the questions:

>

> Why is it that whenever you do a load of washing

> that includes a downie cover, everything ends up

> inside it?

I've noticed that too, and where do all the socks go? I know I put nothing but pairs into the washing machine, but there are always unmatched single socks left over after the wash has finished!

Wasps! yes what is with them? they serve no purpose other than to irritate and annoy humans and by making them launch into techno ravedance overdrive in the middle of the street filled with other commuters as you try to swat them away! and explain that you are in fact allergic to them (even if you are not!) What is the point?

[Brendan]

muffintop Wrote:

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> Wasps! yes what is with them? they serve no

> purpose other than to irritate and annoy humans

> and by making them launch into techno ravedance

> overdrive in the middle of the street filled with

> other commuters as you try to swat them away! and

> explain that you are in fact allergic to them

> (even if you are not!) What is the point?

If by Wasps you mean, White Anglo Saxon Protestants then I completely agree.

[Guest]

They prey on other insects apparently (the flying buzzing ones I mean, not the ones with initial capitals).

[Moos]

The socks thing is a necessary sacrifice to the household gods; should they ever reject your sacrificial sock and send you back full pairs, that is a very, very bad sign and you should prostrate yourself at the hearth and pray for forgiveness.

That's that one cleared up. Surprised no-one knew.

Can I play the Alliteration (thanks Brendan) card on Mockney's question and suggest borage?

Mr. Moos and I are unable to think of questions to which we do not know the answer, does this mean that we are omniscient or forgetful?

[bon3yard]

Is Trevor clever?

[spadetownboy]

the french come from france, germans from germany etc, why are people from holland/nederlands called the dutch?

[mockney piers]

Although of course the Franks actually came from North East Europe, the Allemani from Eastern Europe (very very very pre slav), so none of it makes a lot of sense.

Dutch just comes from Deutsch, or German as their language "Dutch" or low german was the common factor of the peoples of the Netherlands (or low lands (think nether regions..ish)).

[Brendan]

The Proto-Germanic route of the words Dutch and Deutsch just means People or The People.

So the Dutch and Germans are just referring to themselves as The People.

Although the Dutch do tend to call themselves Nederlanders. Which would be Lowlanders I suppose.

[mockney piers]

And having read a very very interesting book about the spread of language, culture and genes in post second ice age Europe, it would seem likely that thought the French derive their name from the Frankish tribes who settled there between the 4th and 6th centuries, those tribes wouldn't have had a significant genetic impact on the area, they merely supplanted the roman ruling classes with their own as Roman rule effectively collapsed in northern France during the 5th century.

Hmm, am I even boring myself?

[citizenED]

Why is a 99 a 99?

[david_carnell]

Wikipedia offer some sensible and some stupid answers....much like every entry on wikipedia, then:

The origins of the name are uncertain. One claim is that the '99' was coined in Portobello, Scotland, in 1922, by the Arcari family, who owned a well known ice cream shop there. They sold ice-creams with half a large 'Flake' inserted in the top, and reputedly gave it the name simply because the shop was sited at 99 High Street. The idea spread locally, then further afield.

Another possibility is that it was named by Italian ice-cream sellers (many of whom hailed from mountainous areas in the Veneto, Trentino, Bellunese and Friuli) in honour of the final wave of conscripts from the First World War, born in 1899 and referred to as "i Ragazzi del 99" - the Boys of '99. They were held in such high esteem that some streets in Italy were named in honour of them. The chocolate flake may have reminded them of the Alpine Regiment's hat, with a long dark feather cocked at an angle.

Another suggestion is that the initials of "Ice Cream", IC, form the Roman numerals for 99 (being 100 - 1). In practice, the number 99 is not written like this but as XCIX. It could be that the name was coined by someone who either did not know this or ignored it.

One more explanation suggests that the original length of the flake chocolate bar was 99mm, but this is an unlikely explanation as the chocolate bar preceded the introduction of the metric system to the UK.

And, finally, a company known as "Askey's" first established a cone called "99". As people ordered this, "99 with a flake" would have been shortened over the years to "99 flake".

There is also a theory to suggest that the term was coined by a Miss Anna Ohrling, who was the first to sell Ice Cream in Helsinki for 99 pennies (pre euro), however this theory has been criticised by historians like Alex Ibrahimov who claims that the 99 Flake was created in Azerbaijan by Hosan Mak Duk

It has also been suggested that a Chinese ice-cream seller in the 1920s was approached by a group of British Deaf, who asked for extra chocolate with a doubled sign of a hooked finger. The Chinese seller, not certain what to call the chocolate flake, interpreted this sign as the number 99.

The Cadbury's website says that the reason behind the Flake being called a 99 has been "lost in the mists of time".

Cadbury started manufacturing chocolate and cocoa from its first factory in 1831. The invention of the 99 Flake was 99 years later in 1930, hence the name.

[Brendan]

Is that book about the theory that prior to the last ice age a relatively common form of indo-european language was spoken across Europe but then populations got isolated by the ice and the various sub groups (Germanic, Italic, Celtic etc) developed?

Citizen. The Cadbury?s website says this about it:

FLAKE 99

The real reason for "99" Flake being so called has been lost in the mists of time, but this is an extract from an article which appeared in a Cadbury works paper many years ago.

At a recent Sales conference Mr Berry, a sales manager, told a story of how Flake became associated with ice cream and how "99" Flake came by its name.

"When I first came north in 1928 I found that some of the Italian soft ice cream makers in County Durham were trying ways of introducing other lines to increase their sales, which in those days were largely in the form of sandwich wafers. The possibilities were obvious if we could get a suitable line, both in shape and size and texture - and the most promising was Flake, which at that time only sold as a 2d line, and therefore had to be cut with a knife to reduce its size."

It proved very successful and its popularity quickly spread. After successive introductions of half penny and 1d Flake, both of which were sold with ice cream, the Sales Committee finally agreed to produce a special size to fit the sandwich and Mr Berry visited a number of Italian customers in the area. After this of course the cornet with the Flake placed temptingly in the top of the ice cream became very popular.

In the days of the monarchy in Italy the King has a specially chosen guard consisting of 99 men, and subsequently anything really special or first class was known as "99" - and that his how "99" Flake came by its name.

[Brendan]

Oh sorry David. Beat me too it.

[mockney piers]

Oppenheimer tries to use Linguistic research as an extra yardstick to help him with some of his theories, but steers well clear of using it for ANY dating at all, and generally only seeking larger patterns which may support his theories. He did write a book regarding human migration prior to the last ice-age, but this book deals with post ice-age movements and almost exclusively within Europe.

Even those are heavily caveat laden, so in short he's a bit timid when it comes to even referring to language.

However he did stretch his neck out a bit to say that he reckons that germanic influences were pretty noticeable in England hundreds of years prior to the Saxon 'invasions', due to a great deal of trading and cross cultural pollination across the north sea, our traditional focus and hub prior to the norman invasion.

aaanyway, you're more than welcome to borrowage if you like.

[Brendan]

Yeah could I please! It's a subject that really facinates me.

[Brendan]

If a thermos flask works on the principle that heat does not exchange through a vacuum, why do we feel the sun?s heat?

[mockney piers]

Seeing as my tea is always cold in the damn things, I'm guessing it helps reduce heat transfer rather than stop it altogether.

[annaj]

Mockney, I'm shocked!

Surely you know you should never keep tea in a thermos. It gets all stewed and horrible.

What you should do is fill the flask with boiling water and keep the teabags seperately. If you take milk, of course, you'll need one of thoses flasks with a little compartment in the lid for fresh milk.

[Jaws]

I didn't think this was true....

Each woman has a cycle of either 21, 25 ,28 days (I think I have the numbers right, but I could be a little off)...anyway, so if you have say two women living in a house together - at one time or another, they will coincide with each others cycle...

My questions is: how come pigeons do not get frazzled, when they perch their tootsies on the electric cables??

[david_carnell]

For the same reason you wouldn't either - nor would you if you had both feet on the electric third rail - there has to be a path to earth. Electricity can jump small distances however so the 3rd rail trick is not to be advised. Should you find yourself light enough to be able to do so please feel free to dangle from the electric cables between pylons. Just don't touch anything else at the same time!

The reason not to fly a kite near a power line is because this gives the electricity a route to earth - through you! Zzap!

[Jaws]

MR CARNELLLL!!!!!:))B)

Cheers big ears!!! It has often bothered me why they could do it...now I know..

I obvously didn't listen in my Science classes at school!!!!:-$

[david_carnell]

No worries Jaws...happy to oblige

It's slightly more complicated than I made out with stuff like voltages, amps and resistance all needing to be taken into account but the basic idea is sound.

[Huguenot]

On the thermos question, there's three methods for heat transfer: convection, conduction and radiation.

Convection moves heat because the 'warm' particles themselves move. This is like warm water rising to the top when you're heating a saucepan (warmer water is less dense than cool water). This is why kettles have the element at the bottom - it ensures that the coolest water is getting the most attention from the heat. If you heated the water at the top it would take ages to get warm at the bottom.

Conduction is when the 'warmth' is transmitted from particle to particle, and it depends on how good a conductor the material is. For example a long metal spoon put in hot water will rapidly get hot at the end that's outside the water, because metal's a good conductor. This doesn't happen with ceramic spoons, because they don't conduct heat well.

Radiation is where heat energy is transmitted in electromagnetic waves, this is how the sun's heat reaches the earth.

A thermos limits heat loss through convection, because the stopper prevents the liquid running outside the container. It limits loss through conduction, because the central (usually glass) container doesn't touch the outside walls and a vacuum separates them. It limits loss through radiation by putting a reflective coating on inside the container, usually coated onto the glass.

However, none of these are stopped 100%: convection still moves the warmest liquid to the top of the container, where it's lost through conduction where the stopper touchers the outside air, and the reflective coating isn't a 100% block against radiation.

Radiation is a pretty inefficient way of transmitting heat energy, but it works for the sun because it's so bloody hot in the first place. You can soon see the impact of fairly primitive radiation blockers just by standing in the shade of an umbrella!

[Michael Palaeologus]

Ah, a classic Huguenot post. Of course, in the good old days it would have been accompanied by photographs and verified through home-experimentation, probably on the lovely Bumbalina.

They were happy days ...