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Off Topic The "That's interesting"/geek thread

Discussion in 'Queens Park Rangers' started by UTRs, May 25, 2018.

  1. QPRski

    QPRski Well-Known Member

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    Amazing! Human have not yet landed on Mars and they already have plans to "nuke it!"

    I though this was a spoof topic, but it is actually scientific, although I do not personally recommend it as it is rather radical. However, I envisage that Trump may like the idea! :)

     
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  2. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    #382
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  3. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    This Amazing Bridge Turns Into a Tunnel and Connects Denmark and Sweden
    Traveling between countries separated by water used to require flight or boat, then the man started to build massive bridges. The problem with bridges is that they don’t easily allow for ships to pass. Now cars can travel from Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmo Sweden without interfering with ship traffic. They do this by taking a bridge which leads to a tunnel that takes drivers on a journey below the water.
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    Not only does the bridge/tunnel combination make it easier for drivers to cross between countries it allows the local flora and fauna to flourish. Where the bridge becomes a tunnel there is a manmade island that has allowed local plants and animals a place to live, undisturbed.
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    Since being constructed 3.7 million people have been given the option to live in one country while commuting to another to work. Not only can you drive through the tunnel but a second level below the road plays host to a train system that makes commuting easy, even without a car. Whether by train or car, traveling over the Øresund Bridge and through the tunnel will offer a unique experience or a simple commute.
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    A perfect place for the biologist to study. Who knew that a hub for transportation could also be the home to live.
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  4. UTRs

    UTRs Senile Member

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    <ok>:emoticon-0165-muscl
     
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  5. UTRs

    UTRs Senile Member

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  6. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    BBC's secret World War Two activities revealed
    • 3 hours ago
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    BBC newsreader John Snagge reported on the D-Day landings
    A new archive has revealed the BBC's role in secret activities during World War Two, including sending coded messages to European resistance groups.

    Documents and interviews, released by BBC History, include plans to replace Big Ben's chimes with a recorded version in the event of an air attack.

    This would ensure the Germans did not know their planes were over Westminster.

    BBC programmers would also play music to contact Polish freedom fighters.

    Using the codename "Peter Peterkin", a government representative would provide staff with a particular piece that would be broadcast following the Polish news service.

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    Germany's Luftwaffe air-raids in the City of London were devastating
    Historian David Hendy said: "The bulletins broadcast to Poland would be deliberately short by a minute or so and then a secret messenger from the exiled Polish government would deliver a record to be played.

    "The choice of music would send the message to fighters."

    Alec Sutherland, the man who oversaw the use of music at the end of news bulletins, said it was his job to make sure producers played the right record, even if it was scratched.

    "They would see one which they thought would make a better broadcast and the wrong bridge would get blown up in Poland."

    The coded messages to the French resistance in news bulletins was less opaque and consisted of a few phrases dropped into a programme script or foreign language news bulletin.

    On the night of 5 June 1944, the eve of D-Day, the phrase "Berce mon coeur d'une langueur monotone" or "cradle my heart with a monotonous languor" signalled the invasion was about to begin.

    BBC transmitters at Alexandra Palace in north London were also used as part of an RAF operation to distort the navigating system of Luftwaffe bombers, so that they were misled about direction and range.

    Other items in the archive include several contemporaneous eye witness accounts of bombing raids of Broadcasting House in 1940 and BBC newsreader John Snagge's account of the hours leading up to his first broadcast about the D-Day landings when he was kept under armed guard to stop the news leaking out
     
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  7. QPRski

    QPRski Well-Known Member

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    #387
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  8. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    Compasses to point true north for first time in 360 years

    Over the past few hundred years in the UK all compass needles have pointed west of true north

    At some point over the next two weeks, compasses at Greenwich will point true north for the first time in about 360 years.

    And for some parts of the UK, this may not happen for another 20 years. Either way, it is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

    The angle a compass needle makes between true north and magnetic north is called declination. As the magnetic field changes all the time, so does declination at any given location.

    Over the past few hundred years in the UK, declination has been negative, meaning that all compass needles have pointed west of true north.

    The line of zero declination, called the agonic, is moving westward at a rate of around 12 miles (20km) a year, experts say.

    By next month, the compass needle will point directly to true north at Greenwich in London, before slowly turning eastwards.

    The Royal Observatory Greenwich was established in 1676 and, from 1839, hosted the specialised magnetic observatory that made continuous measurements from 1840 onwards. In 1926, the instruments were moved to Abinger in Surrey, as electrified railway lines had made it impossible to measure the magnetic field.

    Dr Ciaran Beggan, a geomagnetism scientist at the British Geological Survey’s Lyell Centre in Edinburgh, said: “At some point in September, the agonic will meet zero longitude at Greenwich. This marks the first time since the observatory’s creation that the geographic and geomagnetic coordinate systems have coincided at this location.

    “The agonic will continue to pass across the UK over the next 15 to 20 years. By 2040, all compasses will probably point eastwards of true north.

    “It is, at present, impossible to predict how the magnetic field will change over decades to centuries, so the compass may well point east of true north for another 360 years in the UK.”

    However, the experts have stressed that zero declination will have no impact on daily life.

    Beggan added: “Compasses and GPS will work as usual – there’s no need for anyone to worry about any disturbance to daily life.”
     
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  9. QPRski

    QPRski Well-Known Member

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    #389
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2019
  10. QPRski

    QPRski Well-Known Member

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    #390
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  11. QPRski

    QPRski Well-Known Member

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    A great film technical film by NVIDIA which shows the software (AI) "thinking" during autonomous mode driving.

     
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  12. UTRs

    UTRs Senile Member

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  13. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    And the winner of this years IgNoble award goes to.....

    Research on postmen's testicle warmth wins Ig Nobel

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    The researchers used probes to measure the left and right testicles of 22 postmen and bus drivers

    Research measuring if there is a difference in temperature between the left and right testicles is one of the winners of this year's spoof Nobel prizes.

    Fertility experts Roger Mieusset and Bourras Bengoudifa measured the temperature of French postmen's testicles, both naked and clothed.

    They found the left one is warmer, but only when a man has his clothes on.

    The Ig Nobel prizes were announced at a ceremony at Harvard University.

    In their research "Thermal Asymmetry of the Human Scrotum" published in the journal Human Reproduction, the researchers explained their experiment involved measuring scrotal temperatures with probes every two minutes.

    They asked 11 postal workers to stand for 90 minutes while they measured the temperature of their scrotums.

    In another experiment, they measured the temperatures of 11 bus drivers while they were sitting down.

    The Ig Nobels are spoof prizes that are published in the Annals of Improbable Research but many of the topics recognised in the awards actually have a serious point to them.

    In this case, other research has suggested the temperature around testicles can affect men's fertility.

    The quality of men's sperm in the Western world is in decline, but little is known about how to improve it. Craig Franklin told the BBC that he was devastated to find out he had no sperm at all.
     
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  14. QPRski

    QPRski Well-Known Member

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    An absoluely amazing story. Thanks for posting! :)
     
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  15. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    When the last load of the corn harvest was carried home, a Corn Dolly was made from the last sheaf. It housed the homeless spirit of the corn. It was hung in a farm kitchen, where the spirit remained till spring when the dolly was ploughed into the first furrow. #FolkloreThursdaypic.twitter.com/taagdiE1gk
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  16. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    Life-saving' app used in Western Isles hillwalker rescue

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    The app divides the world into three-metre squares and gives each one a unique three-word address

    A Scottish ambulance crew used a new "life-saving" app to provide the location of an injured hillwalker.

    The alarm was raised earlier this week after the walker was hurt near Stornoway in the Isle of Lewis.

    The Scottish Ambulance Service confirmed the crew used the app What3words to help a coastguard team find them and the casualty.

    The app divides the world into three-metre squares and gives each one a unique three-word address.

    It was designed by a London-based start-up and has been used by emergency services in England.

    An ambulance service spokeswoman said: "We attended an incident involving a hillwalker in Stornoway where an ambulance crew was dispatched.

    "As part of working together with the Coastguard, the 3words app was used by our crews in assisting with the extraction of the patient by the coastguard."
     
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  17. Devonhoop

    Devonhoop Well-Known Member

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    Rescue, Me, NOW!!!! ?
     
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  18. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    Where, Are, You........<laugh>
     
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  19. Devonhoop

    Devonhoop Well-Known Member

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    The worst place to be...... At My Desk!
     
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  20. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    im over here
     
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