+The Blorenges Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 I know the answer too, because I stumbled across a topic about it on a nearby forum yesterday I'll let someone else find it, I haven't got a question to ask anyway... MrsB Quote
+MartyBartfast Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 Is it the US GPS satellite system, as reported in todays Metro (who probably read it in yesterdays Grauniad and just recycled it). Quote
Chudley Cannons Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 Is it the US GPS satellite system, as reported in todays Metro (who probably read it in yesterdays Grauniad and just recycled it). Jeremy needs to get his hand in his pocket and buy some new satellites. Quote
+MartyBartfast Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 John, Scott, Virgil, Gordon & Alan might ring a bell with some of you (of a certain age) but where did the names come from? Quote
+talkytoaster Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) John, Scott, Virgil, Gordon & Alan might ring a bell with some of you (of a certain age) but where did the names come from? If I remember correctly they are the first names of astronauts from the Mercury missions. I can give you their full names if you insist......yes, we are back on rockets again ;-) Edited May 20, 2009 by talkytoaster Quote
+MartyBartfast Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 John, Scott, Virgil, Gordon & Alan might ring a bell with some of you (of a certain age) but where did the names come from? If I remember correctly they are the first names of astronauts from the Mercury missions. I can give you their full names if you insist......yes, we are back on rockets again ;-) No that's good enough for me, the Thunderbirds characters were indeed named after the Mercury mission Astronauts. DING Quote
+talkytoaster Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 (edited) Here's a fairly easy one for you all, no rocket science this time ;-) Cobalt Blue, Costa-Rican Zebra, Trinidad Chevron and Green Bottle Blue are the common names of different species of what? Edited May 20, 2009 by talkytoaster Quote
+The Blorenges Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 As an amateur entomologist or perhaps I should say arachnologist they are of course arachnids. OK - spiders then! Chris (MrB) Quote
+The Blorenges Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 As an amateur entomologist or perhaps I should say arachnologist they are of course arachnids. OK - spiders then! Chris (MrB) Quote
+talkytoaster Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 As an amateur entomologist or perhaps I should say arachnologist they are of course arachnids. OK - spiders then! Correct Chris, but can you be a little more specific as to the type or class of spider they all belong to? Quote
+The Blorenges Posted May 20, 2009 Posted May 20, 2009 The cobalt blue is the only one I'm familiar with and it'a big hairy one with 8 legs..... sorry....tarantula. It is a lovely coloured spider. Chris (MrB) Quote
+talkytoaster Posted May 21, 2009 Posted May 21, 2009 The cobalt blue is the only one I'm familiar with and it'a big hairy one with 8 legs..... sorry....tarantula. It is a lovely coloured spider. Chris (MrB) I'll let you have that; yes they are all so-called Tarantulas, which are a group of hairy and often very large spiders belonging to the family Theraphosidae. Approximately 900 species have been so-far identified. I keep several as pets at home along with other exotics. DING Quote
+The Blorenges Posted May 22, 2009 Posted May 22, 2009 Nice and easy to keep this thread ticking along! Maundy Thursday before Easter is when the Queen gives out maundy money to a group of pensioners. How is it decided how many people will receive the maundy coin sets? Chris (MrB) Quote
+The Forester Posted May 22, 2009 Posted May 22, 2009 Isn't it given to really needy people: such as those who need a new duckhouse for their duckisland; or for other needy people who need to clean out their moat? Quote
+keehotee Posted May 22, 2009 Posted May 22, 2009 The amount used to be based on the Queens age (or the kings age). No idea how they work out how many get it though - - is it anything to do with MPs expense claims?? Quote
+kennamatic Posted May 22, 2009 Posted May 22, 2009 Is it based on the number of years of the monarchs reign? Quote
+The Blorenges Posted May 22, 2009 Posted May 22, 2009 (edited) I'll give the ding to Keehotee, he's pretty much right (and gives me a laugh sometimes ) It is based on the age of the monarch. Ding! Chris (MrB) Edited May 22, 2009 by The Blorenges Quote
+keehotee Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 woohoo OK - racking my brain.... (shouldn't take long) What is porphyrous? Quote
+Pharisee Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 woohoo OK - racking my brain.... (shouldn't take long) What is porphyrous? Extremely painful and not the sort of thing one talks about in polite company Quote
+The Blorenges Posted May 23, 2009 Posted May 23, 2009 woohoo OK - racking my brain.... (shouldn't take long) What is porphyrous? Relating to porpoises? (I'm pretty sure it isn't, but nothing else springs to mind ) MrsB Quote
adrianjohn Posted May 24, 2009 Posted May 24, 2009 woohoo OK - racking my brain.... (shouldn't take long) What is porphyrous? The Royal disease comes to mind, the madness of King George and purple pee! Quote
+keehotee Posted May 26, 2009 Posted May 26, 2009 DING - That's close enough -porphyrous is "of, or pertaining to, purple." And if you want to know why I picked that question, you'll have to wait until August Quote
+The Blorenges Posted May 26, 2009 Posted May 26, 2009 DING - That's close enough -porphyrous is "of, or pertaining to, purple." And if you want to know why I picked that question, you'll have to wait until August I googled the word porphyrous (because I am curious purple ) and discovered that the use of the word porphyrous is in serious decline. It's hardly ever used! I hope everyone will rally to the rescue of poor porphyrous: Try and slip it into at least one sentence every day! MrsB Quote
adrianjohn Posted May 26, 2009 Posted May 26, 2009 By what name is the elder daughter of Ravi Shankar known? Quote
+ZoomLens Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 By what name is the elder daughter of Ravi Shankar known? Isn't it singer Norah Jones? Quote
adrianjohn Posted May 27, 2009 Posted May 27, 2009 By what name is the elder daughter of Ravi Shankar known? Isn't it singer Norah Jones? It is indeed the lovely Nora Jones Ding ! Quote
+ZoomLens Posted May 28, 2009 Posted May 28, 2009 Right. Well it won't surprise you to know that I'm a photographer by trade, so here's a photography quiz question for you: What is the name of the principle that says that an image will be in focus if the subject plane, lens plane and film plane all intersect at the same point? A bonus point for knowing who invented the principle and what he devised it for. Quote
+rutson Posted May 28, 2009 Posted May 28, 2009 Hmm... in a normal camera the "film"(/CCD) plane is parallel to the lens plane and therefore never intercept. The only counter-example I've heard of was some sort of tiltable lens used in pre-digital aerial (maybe satellite???) imaging. Quote
+talkytoaster Posted May 28, 2009 Posted May 28, 2009 Right. Well it won't surprise you to know that I'm a photographer by trade, so here's a photography quiz question for you: What is the name of the principle that says that an image will be in focus if the subject plane, lens plane and film plane all intersect at the same point? A bonus point for knowing who invented the principle and what he devised it for. Not sure of the name of the principle but many medium format cameras still offer a lens tilt function to enable the ability to keep an adjustable Depth of Field by using the tilt feature. This is not the same as aperture settings which also effect DoF and plane of focus. Seem to recall that this technique was used as a way to deal with perspective issues on ariel photos, out of the camera at first, as a specific tool used by the military (and later added to cameras). So, I suspect that a military person either developed it or re-discovered it. If it is the former, then it is probably named after him, otherwise it will almost certainly have the name of the original discoverer(s). A lot of the early work on cameras and optics were carried out by both British scientists and also German, Austrian and French ones too. Yes, I'm a keen photographer too ;-) Quote
+ZoomLens Posted May 29, 2009 Posted May 29, 2009 Right. Well it won't surprise you to know that I'm a photographer by trade, so here's a photography quiz question for you: What is the name of the principle that says that an image will be in focus if the subject plane, lens plane and film plane all intersect at the same point? A bonus point for knowing who invented the principle and what he devised it for. Not sure of the name of the principle but many medium format cameras still offer a lens tilt function to enable the ability to keep an adjustable Depth of Field by using the tilt feature. This is not the same as aperture settings which also effect DoF and plane of focus. Seem to recall that this technique was used as a way to deal with perspective issues on ariel photos, out of the camera at first, as a specific tool used by the military (and later added to cameras). So, I suspect that a military person either developed it or re-discovered it. If it is the former, then it is probably named after him, otherwise it will almost certainly have the name of the original discoverer(s). A lot of the early work on cameras and optics were carried out by both British scientists and also German, Austrian and French ones too. Yes, I'm a keen photographer too ;-) Right, several things here - this principle doesn't apply for fixed bodied cameras unless a tiltable lens is used at which point it does. A mini ding has to go to talkytoaster and rutson combined because it was used originally to work out perspective problems for aerial photographs used to calculate artillery trajectories. Still waiting for the name of the principle though.... Quote
Chudley Cannons Posted May 29, 2009 Posted May 29, 2009 Still waiting for the name of the principle though.... You might have a long wait. In the past multi-part questions have slowed this thread down a lot. Shufflebeurd, Schottenhiem, Schumaker? It's some German bloke whose name begins with S. Quote
+ZoomLens Posted May 30, 2009 Posted May 30, 2009 Well it doesn't seem like anyone is as sad as me - I'll give the ding to Talkytoaster and offer up the principle name - Scheimpflug... Quote
Chudley Cannons Posted May 31, 2009 Posted May 31, 2009 Well it doesn't seem like anyone is as sad as me - I'll give the ding to Talkytoaster and offer up the principle name - Scheimpflug... I wasn't for off though. Quote
+talkytoaster Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Well it doesn't seem like anyone is as sad as me - I'll give the ding to Talkytoaster and offer up the principle name - Scheimpflug... Oops, didn't see the ding, sorry...... OK, a real quick one off the top of my head: Who wrote the book "Good Omens"? Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Well it doesn't seem like anyone is as sad as me - I'll give the ding to Talkytoaster and offer up the principle name - Scheimpflug... Oops, didn't see the ding, sorry...... OK, a real quick one off the top of my head: Who wrote the book "Good Omens"? oooh, i know this! Neil Gaiman (pardon the spelling!) Dave Quote
+talkytoaster Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 oooh, i know this! Neil Gaiman (pardon the spelling!) Not quite right, I'll give you half a ding for that, it was a trick question as there was more than one author... Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 oooh, i know this! Neil Gaiman (pardon the spelling!) Not quite right, I'll give you half a ding for that, it was a trick question as there was more than one author... hmmm - i'm racking my brains now... Did the excellent Mr Pratchett contribute as well? Quote
+talkytoaster Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 oooh, i know this! Neil Gaiman (pardon the spelling!) Not quite right, I'll give you half a ding for that, it was a trick question as there was more than one author... hmmm - i'm racking my brains now... Did the excellent Mr Pratchett contribute as well? You are correct, both Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman are listed as the authors, Terry wrote about 65 percent of it the rest was down to Neil. It was originally published in 1990. Unfortunately there will be no repeat of this partnership as Terry has made it clear that he won't do it again. DING! Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 good job I've been thinking up a question! OK, where was the UK's (in fact, i think the world's) first cash machine/ATM, and who was the first person to use it? Quote
+talkytoaster Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 (edited) good job I've been thinking up a question! OK, where was the UK's (in fact, i think the world's) first cash machine/ATM, and who was the first person to use it? Hmmmmm I remember something about this. The very first cash machine was installed in a London bank (Barclays springs to mind as I'm sure it was mentioned in one of their adverts at some point). As to who used it first, apart from the installer to test it ;-) Probably someone famous or a director of the bank itself? Edited June 4, 2009 by talkytoaster Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 good job I've been thinking up a question! OK, where was the UK's (in fact, i think the world's) first cash machine/ATM, and who was the first person to use it? Hmmmmm I remember something about this. The very first cash machine was installed in a London bank (Barclays springs to mind as I'm sure it was mentioned in one of their adverts at some point). As to who used it first, apart from the installer to test it ;-) Probably someone famous or a director of the bank itself? on the right track - I know I didn't specify, but I'd like a little more detail rather than London... town is sufficient, not lat/long! and yes, its someone famous, not the bank director, manager, or someone like that. PS - yes, it was Barclays, but I decided not to ask that bit! Quote
+Baddesley Bodgers Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 good job I've been thinking up a question! OK, where was the UK's (in fact, i think the world's) first cash machine/ATM, and who was the first person to use it? Hmmmmm I remember something about this. The very first cash machine was installed in a London bank (Barclays springs to mind as I'm sure it was mentioned in one of their adverts at some point). As to who used it first, apart from the installer to test it ;-) Probably someone famous or a director of the bank itself? on the right track - I know I didn't specify, but I'd like a little more detail rather than London... town is sufficient, not lat/long! and yes, its someone famous, not the bank director, manager, or someone like that. PS - yes, it was Barclays, but I decided not to ask that bit! Reg Varney was the famous person, but i don't know where in london Quote
+drdick&vick Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 As I was working at an engineering company in the area at the time I know it was Enfield. Quote
+purple_pineapple Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 As I was working at an engineering company in the area at the time I know it was Enfield. well that gets the ding, as Enfield was the place I was looking for. however, Highly honorable mention to mcaughtr for getting Reg varney, which is the more interesting fact! A short snippet from a website, if anyone is interested... "The world's first cash machine was introduced in the UK and installed in Enfield, north London on 27 June, 1967 by Barclays Bank and opened by Reg Varney of 'On the Buses' fame. The early machines had limited functions, dispensing fixed amounts of cash in exchange for tokens. In the early 1970s, magnetic stripe technology enabled plastic cards to be used to withdraw cash." Over to DD&V! Quote
+drdick&vick Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 (edited) OK following on from Reg Varney's mention in the previous question, Which actress played Reg Varney's character's Mum in the original series of On The Buses? Edited June 4, 2009 by DrDick&Vick Quote
+kennamatic Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 OK following on from Reg Varney's mention in the previous question, Which actress played Reg Varney's character's Mum in the original series of On The Buses? Rather like Alan Davies on QI, I'll go for the obvious answer which is bound to be wrong and say...... Doris Hare Quote
+tarmacjohn Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 I think it is more likely to be Cicely Courtneidge? tarmacjohn Quote
+drdick&vick Posted June 4, 2009 Posted June 4, 2009 Ding a Ling to Tarmac John, spot on. She was replaced by Doris Hare for series 2 onwards. Quote
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