Questions you've always wanted answered

[Gavin Chipper]

It's something you can only answer yourself.

[Mark James]

When did they start doing patterns on the grass of football pitches?

[Mark Deeks]

When lawnmowers started to have GPS fitted.

[Marc Meakin]

When did they start doing patterns on the grass of football pitches?

I know the killjoys at the premier league banned the fancy patterns practice around 2017
My earliest memory was Mexico 1970 , I'm sure I saw a spiral pattern then.
Though with my fuzzy memory it might have been Mexico 86

[Marc Meakin]

Are you morally bankrupt if you watch Castaway with Phillip Schofield ?

I will watch it but to counter my moral bankrupcy I will no longer do my weekly shop at Harrods

[Mark James]

When did they start doing patterns on the grass of football pitches?

So here's video of FA Cup Final 1925 with obvious lines on the grass.

https://youtu.be/Wg4iAcYGgr8?si=ZzK5NVPLxuGTHGcQ

And video footage of 1924 with no obvious lines.

https://youtu.be/K5v450UiYSs?si=oOaUoDbHZ0hCNn_R

I also looked at videos from 1920 - 24 and no obvious lines so I'm reckoning 1925 could be the answer.

[Mark Deeks]

Why are coffee machines so fucking loud?

[Marc Meakin]

Why are coffee machines so fucking loud?

To achieve 19 bars of pressure you need a high speed pump and they are noisy., especially a espresso machine.
I'm sure you could get quieter pumps but they are much more expensive
Large vending machines are not as noisy although thecoffee grinding element usually is

[Marc Meakin]

Is there an expression or word that describes things like shopaholic that derives from alcoholic but has no etymology of its own.
See also party gate derived from a hotel called Watergate.
On a similar theme.
Halloween "Advent" calendars you know what it means but advent is religious

[Ian Volante]

Is there an expression or word that describes things like shopaholic that derives from alcoholic but has no etymology of its own.
See also party gate derived from a hotel called Watergate.

Just portmanteaus I think.

[Thomas Carey]

Why are coffee machines so fucking loud?

Recently confirmed (as if there was any doubt) that I'm dating above my social class when my partner's mum was buying a coffee machine, despite already owning one, because she wanted a quieter one. They exist, but apparently not for prices under 4 digits.

[Marc Meakin]

Why are coffee machines so fucking loud?

Recently confirmed (as if there was any doubt) that I'm dating above my social class when my partner's mum was buying a coffee machine, despite already owning one, because she wanted a quieter one. They exist, but apparently not for prices under 4 digits.

Are we talking Bean to cup ?

[Marc Meakin]

Not included a currency no longer used like Italian Lira.
If you was a millionaire in a chosen countries currency.
What is the lowest in value compared to the pound you could get with a million whatevers ?

[Gavin Chipper]

Not included a currency no longer used like Italian Lira.
If you was a millionaire in a chosen countries currency.
What is the lowest in value compared to the pound you could get with a million whatevers ?

A few places say that the Iranian Rial is the least valuable, but this Forbes article has it in second place behind the Lebanese pound.

On a related note, when you look up strongest and weakest currencies, you often get a list of how much one of that currency is worth in e.g. US dollars. But I don't see that as a good measure of strength or weakness. There's more to it than that. After all the UK government could simply declare the tenner to be the main monetary unit, but it wouldn't make the UK currency stronger in any sense that matters.

Edit - In cryptocurrency lists they are normally ranked by market capitalisation, which is the total of all the coins of that crypto so it doesn't matter if there are lots or few coins available. E.g. this list here. It seems the Chinese Yuan is top there, but I don't think that's a great measure either because it's related to population size.

Edit 2 - Apparently the Swiss Franc is the most stable currency.

[Mark Deeks]

Who do you reckon has looked the most different people in the eyes, in person, however fleetingly?.I reckon it's either the Pope or Mick Jagger.

[Gavin Chipper]

Who do you reckon has looked the most different people in the eyes, in person, however fleetingly?.I reckon it's either the Pope or Mick Jagger.

Might be their security.

Edit - Or does it have to be reciprocated?

[Mark Deeks]

I'm thinking reciprocation, yes.

[Mark Deeks]

Trump also a good candidate.

[Marc Meakin]

The late queen would have been a good candidate.
Paul McCartney maybe

[Gavin Chipper]

Why they don't use automatic hawkeye at Wimbledon when they clearly have the technology for it, and wrong calls are potentially influencing the outcomes of matches. It seems so daft when a ball is called out, and then commentary says "actually, hawkeye says that was in. He should have challenged that". They don't have a "challenge" system in football for if the ball has gone over the goal-line - as soon as they got the technology at a level where they could eliminate the human error, they implemented it. Wimbledon has had the technology for a good while, but still insists on using a system whereby players are expected to use a limited number of challenges to counter subjective calls.

Way ahead of you.

Edit - They also used to have a thing that beeped when a serve went out (maybe just if it went long?) and that must have been going decades ago. Weird they haven't got a proper all-encompassing system by now.

Well it seems that this is happening now.

"The decision to introduce Live Electronic Line Calling at The Championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation," the All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said.

"Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at The Championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating.

Surely Hawk-Eye was robust enough anyway since they used it for challenges, so I'm not sure why they needed tis new system that needed extra testing.

[Thomas Cappleman]

"The decision to introduce Live Electronic Line Calling at The Championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation," the All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said.

"Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at The Championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating.

Surely Hawk-Eye was robust enough anyway since they used it for challenges, so I'm not sure why they needed tis new system that needed extra testing.

The regular version of Hawkeye takes a few seconds to get the result through, so not good enough for live use. You want to be confident that a new system that can work almost instantly is actually working properly (though two of the Majors have already been using it for a few years)

[Adam S Latchford]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

[Gavin Chipper]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

Is this in stadiums you're talking about? On television the clock carries on for all matches I've seen.

[Callum Todd]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

The TV overlay on boxing often does the same when the 10 second clapper goes, the round clock disappears from the screen.

[Gavin Chipper]

"The decision to introduce Live Electronic Line Calling at The Championships was made following a significant period of consideration and consultation," the All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton said.

"Having reviewed the results of the testing undertaken at The Championships this year, we consider the technology to be sufficiently robust and the time is right to take this important step in seeking maximum accuracy in our officiating.

Surely Hawk-Eye was robust enough anyway since they used it for challenges, so I'm not sure why they needed tis new system that needed extra testing.

The regular version of Hawkeye takes a few seconds to get the result through, so not good enough for live use. You want to be confident that a new system that can work almost instantly is actually working properly (though two of the Majors have already been using it for a few years)

Do you know that? I know they show the simulation thing in slow motion on television but it doesn't need to go through that graphic process for us to watch.

[Thomas Cappleman]

Surely Hawk-Eye was robust enough anyway since they used it for challenges, so I'm not sure why they needed tis new system that needed extra testing.

The regular version of Hawkeye takes a few seconds to get the result through, so not good enough for live use. You want to be confident that a new system that can work almost instantly is actually working properly (though two of the Majors have already been using it for a few years)

Do you know that? I know they show the simulation thing in slow motion on television but it doesn't need to go through that graphic process for us to watch.

Various references online to it taking seconds, the clearest one (from Hawkeye director of operations) in the transcript here: https://www.science.org.au/curious/vide ... all%20long.

"Any ball that's closed we'ree already analysing before the players challenge or the chair umpire has announced the challenge. When the umpire has actually announced the ball will be contended, then we look at all the information, and within about 5 to 10 seconds, just as the crowd look up to the video boards, the challenge will be displayed."

The general technology may well have sped up a lot since then, but there also seem to be a lot of references to quite a bit of human involvement to run it. So probably it's only just reached the point of being quick and accurate enough to be deemed safe to make the calls on its own

[Adam S Latchford]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

Is this in stadiums you're talking about? On television the clock carries on for all matches I've seen.

Yes specifically in the stadiums.

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

The TV overlay on boxing often does the same when the 10 second clapper goes, the round clock disappears from the screen.

Yes this is also annoying but its easier to at least calculate 10 seconds than it is 5 minutes. Proper annoying

[Gavin Chipper]

Why is it that when there is a supermoon, articles always say that it will look 14% larger and 30% brighter than other full moons? Why the difference? When they say 14% larger, do they just mean linearly? 1.14^2 is pretty much exactly 1.3. So if this is the case, it will look 30% larger, not 14%, because we are seeing an area.

Edit - Although maybe that's wrong. If it's 14% larger, and each unit of area is also 14% brighter (being closer), then the overall brightness will be 30% greater.

But I dunno. What does brightness really mean?

Another edit - I've looked in a few places and it seems to be that the diameter is 14% greater, so to call that "size" is misleading (wrong).

[Logan Skelton]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

The TV overlay on boxing often does the same when the 10 second clapper goes, the round clock disappears from the screen.

I believe this is done to avoid the TV clock and official's clock being out of sync. The TV clock is unofficial.

[David Roe]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

Since the start of the season in 2023, the stadium clocks have kept running after the 90 minutes. Until 2023 it was felt that showing the running clock in injury time would add to the pressure on the referee. When they rejigged the calculation of injury time to make it last a lot longer, they decided to let the clock run on, probably because if there are 10 minutes extra, then the ref would be under even more pressure if the crowd doesn't know where they're up to.

Clocks on TV have always kept running. Full time isn't called to the exact second, so it doesn't matter if the TV clock is a second or two out.

[Adam S Latchford]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

Since the start of the season in 2023, the stadium clocks have kept running after the 90 minutes. Until 2023 it was felt that showing the running clock in injury time would add to the pressure on the referee. When they rejigged the calculation of injury time to make it last a lot longer, they decided to let the clock run on, probably because if there are 10 minutes extra, then the ref would be under even more pressure if the crowd doesn't know where they're up to.

Clocks on TV have always kept running. Full time isn't called to the exact second, so it doesn't matter if the TV clock is a second or two out.

The seven games i've been to this season (5 at kenilworth road, 1 at wembley, 1 at the amex) the clock in the stadium has stopped at 90 minutes and refuses to tip past that point. always provides confusion in the ground

[David Roe]

Why at football matches when there is added time does the clock stick at 45/90 and just have +5 on the side, but it doesn't show the updated time.
Everybody would want to see oh its the 93rd minute now 2 minutes left, but they just simply don't show it.
Do the clocks not work? Is this a deliberate ploy to ensure fans can't have nice times?

Since the start of the season in 2023, the stadium clocks have kept running after the 90 minutes. Until 2023 it was felt that showing the running clock in injury time would add to the pressure on the referee. When they rejigged the calculation of injury time to make it last a lot longer, they decided to let the clock run on, probably because if there are 10 minutes extra, then the ref would be under even more pressure if the crowd doesn't know where they're up to.

Clocks on TV have always kept running. Full time isn't called to the exact second, so it doesn't matter if the TV clock is a second or two out.

The seven games i've been to this season (5 at kenilworth road, 1 at wembley, 1 at the amex) the clock in the stadium has stopped at 90 minutes and refuses to tip past that point. always provides confusion in the ground

Interesting. It certainly used to be forbidden to run the clock past 45/90, and it certainly isn't now - Turf Moor today being a case in point. I didn't realise some grounds hadn't changed.

[Marc Meakin]

Excluding islands what is the biggest difference between 2 points in miles in as the crow flies versus actual driving miles in the UK
I live in Kent and to get to Southend by car is 70 miles but as the crow flies it's 26 miles.
I'm sure there is better

.only just realised geodesic means as the crow flies

[Fiona T]

Excluding islands what is the biggest difference between 2 points in miles in as the crow flies versus actual driving miles in the UK
I live in Kent and to get to Southend by car is 70 miles but as the crow flies it's 26 miles.
I'm sure there is better

.only just realised geodesic means as the crow flies

When we did our Lejog (back in 2010) we cycled from Muir of Ord to Cromatry to get the Cromatry/Nigg ferry which is less than a mile across, only to find it cancelled (we'd checked the website which had failed to give this important information). The cycle round would have added 40 miles to our day, which was already 70 miles - much of it on a horrible busy A-road. Luckily we found some kind fisherman who took pity on us and ferried us and our bikes across (and refused to take any money from us as thanks!)

[Marc Meakin]

If you are driving with a cold or flu , how dangerous is a sneezing fit on the motorway ?

[Gavin Chipper]

If you are driving with a cold or flu , how dangerous is a sneezing fit on the motorway ?

Not as dangerous as simultaneously typing that question on c4c.

[Marc Meakin]

If you are driving with a cold or flu , how dangerous is a sneezing fit on the motorway ?

Not as dangerous as simultaneously typing that question on c4c.

Luckily I was co-pilot

[Mark Deeks]

How come you can sometimes see the moon in the daytime, but not always?

[Marc Meakin]

How come you can sometimes see the moon in the daytime, but not always?

I remember asking this in mu schooldays and I vaguely remember being told that sometimes the Parkside is facing us in daylight
I wasn't convinced then

[Jon O'Neill]

How come you can sometimes see the moon in the daytime, but not always?

We can only see the moon half the time. Right?

[Callum Todd]

How come you can sometimes see the moon in the daytime, but not always?

It depends on the relative position of the moon to the Earth and Sun. Very rough guide is that if the moon is between the Earth and the Sun, we can see it during the day (because we're facing the sun, and the moon is in between) but not so much during the night (because we're facing away from the sun, and therefore also away from the moon). And vice versa if the moon is the opposite side of the earth to the sun.

Obviously it's more complex than that because it's not like this is all happening on a straight line and rotation is a thing. And also it's more appropriate to think of the moon as a mirror than a visible object in its own right, hence the phases thing depending on the angles of reflection of the sun's light. But that's the gist of it.

[Gavin Chipper]

Are sleigh bells an actual thing like bells on sleighs, or are they just a sound to put on music to turn something into a Christmas song?

[Fiona T]

Are sleigh bells an actual thing like bells on sleighs, or are they just a sound to put on music to turn something into a Christmas song?

I think they're there to indicate a warning of 'out of control vehicle hurtling through the snow'

[Fiona T]

Why does everything ovenable have to go on the middle shelf? It kinda renders the rest of the oven pointless. A fortune could be made by a company coming up with a range of top/bottom shelf oven things.

[Marc Meakin]

Why can't subtitles in sport be below the main screen rather than obscure what's going on the pitch

[Marc Meakin]

Why is it that when you injure yourself like falling off your bike for example the pain from bruising hurts worse 24 hours later ?

[Marc Meakin]

I watched MJ the musical last week ( very good btw)
During a performance of thriller I was reminded of Vincent Price's monologue including the words " The funk of 40,000 years."
I always though it meant funk as in music , but maybe it means smell ?
Did MJ do puns?

[sean d]

Excluding islands what is the biggest difference between 2 points in miles in as the crow flies versus actual driving miles in the UK
I live in Kent and to get to Southend by car is 70 miles but as the crow flies it's 26 miles.
I'm sure there is better

.only just realised geodesic means as the crow flies

If you're at the end of the Kintyre peninsula in Scotland you're about 15 miles from the west Scottish coast at say Ballantrae. It's an impressive 208 miles and near 5 hours to drive around.

[Gavin Chipper]

Why is purple not one of the "official" named colours of the rainbow? If you look this up, you get answers like "There's no such thing as purple light." etc. But they're missing the point. Look at the last colour of the rainbow. It's purple. That's the colour it is. Indigo and violet aren't really "standard" colours anyway. And that's the other thing. Why seven colours? Why not have purple as the sixth and be done with it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visible_spectrum#History

OK, thanks. So it is just arbitrary basically.

Richard Of York Gave Battle Pointlessly.

Edit - Beaten to it.

[Gavin Chipper]

Probably all countries spy on each other all the time, so isn't it hypocritical to convict and imprison the individual spies that you catch spying in your own country?

[Thomas Cappleman]

Probably all countries spy on each other all the time, so isn't it hypocritical to convict and imprison the individual spies that you catch spying in your own country?

You're meant to at least try and stop the others spying on you, right? And it gives you some leverage, for example if the other side catch your spies you can do an exchange if you've still got their ones

[Gavin Chipper]

Even with the recent drop, why does Tesla have the highest valuation of any car company, and by quite a margin? It's not backed up by anything that I can see. Look at this website. It's 8th by earnings and 11th by revenue (which sound like relevant terms) with Volkswagen and Toyota sharing the top two positions. Other companies are also well established in making electric cars now, so it's not like they're suddenly going to be the main company when everything goes electric. Having said that, I'd like to see the emissions coming from an electric VW...

Is it really just because of the Elon Musk factor?

[Callum Todd]

Tesla's not just a car company though right? They do batteries and charging technology stuff too, and some other tech like solar panels, which I think are widely used by other electric car companies. So while they may not be the biggest seller of vehicle units when everything goes electric, in many sense I think they probably will be "the main company".

[Gavin Chipper]

Yeah I hadn't considered the other stuff but that should all be priced into the earnings/revenue anyway. So it does just sound like a bet on the future of the company.

[Gavin Chipper]

Do they really say "What's your emergency?" in America if you ring 911? My emergency? It doesn't sound right at all.

[Fiona T]

Didn't someone write a book on stuff and consciousness? I don't think it was Harari.

Just a few books apart on my shelf.

Are our brains just meat based computers?

[Gavin Chipper]

It could be the case.

[Callum Todd]

Are our brains just meat based computers?

Yes! If that sounds a bit negative, I don't see it as so. I find the emulation of biology by technology fascinating. Nearly all our best fancy machine inventions were invented millions of years prior by evolution (is it a bird? is it a plane?)

We (lifeforms) are some truly special kit.

[Gavin Chipper]

It is said that we can only taste five basic tastes with our tongues - sweet, sour, bitter, salt, umami - but smell contributes most to flavour, with about one squillion flavours experienced through our sense of smell. So why not outsource it completely to our noses? One squillion flavours is fine, but one squillion and five is too much of a burden on this overworked sense organ?

[Marc Meakin]

It is said that we can only taste five basic tastes with our tongues - sweet, sour, bitter, salt, umami - but smell contributes most to flavour, with about one squillion flavours experienced through our sense of smell. So why not outsource it completely to our noses? One squillion flavours is fine, but one squillion and five is too much of a burden on this overworked sense organ?

As wonderful as our noses are they basically shut off when we are asleep, which is why we need smoke alarms.