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This is a thread for asking and answering unimportant questions about the real world that maybe someone else knows the answer to, but you do not know the answer to, and it is not an easy to find answer, and probably nobody really cares that much about the answer it is just idle curiosity. To get the thread started, here are two questions from me: 1. Today I saw a net underneath some electrical or telephone wires, over a highway. What's that about? Every other set of wires over the highway doesn't have a net under it. It was a dangling net that looked kind of like a big fishing net, tied up at points across the support wire so it also resembled butts. There seemed to be special frames alongside the highway that existed solely to support this net. 2. When quite-fast-food places like sandwich shops have tip jars or a tip-nag on their credit card payment processing device, what's the average tip people actually leave, and how is it distributed among the workers? (My wife works at regular US restaurants where tips are mostly kept by the server with maybe a small tip-out to the support staff, so she's really curious how it works in a sandwich shop.) |
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Feb 25, 2019 04:07
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I found a kind of answer to #1 that takes a guess at what the net is for, but it doesn't at all explain why it would happen in just one place and not in every other place. |
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Feb 25, 2019 04:09
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roomforthetuna posted:
This might make me sound like a tremendous jerk, but as far as I know, any restaurant that doesn't involve table service or individual attention, the tip is "whatever is convenient", like whatever silver is jangling around in your pocket. Tipping rules only come into effect when there is a formal ordering and delivery process, not for someone putting a croissant onto a table and handing it to you.
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Feb 25, 2019 04:28
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roomforthetuna posted:This is a thread for asking and answering unimportant questions about the real world that maybe someone else knows the answer to, but you do not know the answer to, and it is not an easy to find answer, and probably nobody really cares that much about the answer it is just idle curiosity. thousands of squirrels attempt squirrel-suicide daily OP. this area a likely ideal spot to "go nuts" 2. When quite-fast-food places like sandwich shops have tip jars or a tip-nag on their credit card payment processing device, what's the average tip people actually leave, and how is it distributed among the workers? (My wife works at regular US restaurants where tips are mostly kept by the server with maybe a small tip-out to the support staff, so she's really curious how it works in a sandwich shop.) americans love to tip. think about the part of the male genitalia most sensitive, the tip. think about cow tipping. the average tip at sandwich shops is well into the 6-figures. ---------------- |
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Feb 25, 2019 04:29
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roomforthetuna posted:This is a thread for asking and answering unimportant questions about the real world that maybe someone else knows the answer to, but you do not know the answer to, and it is not an easy to find answer, and probably nobody really cares that much about the answer it is just idle curiosity. 1) The wires in question belong to Foxconn, and they're not taking chances. 2) The tips are taken by the first worker who thinks they can get away with it.
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Feb 25, 2019 04:43
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#1 Well, now I need to start looking for these nets. Thanks. #2 It really depends but if I tip, I usually tip $1. |
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Feb 25, 2019 04:51
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Why do middle aged men get ponytails? Who told them to do that? Did we offend God and lead him to plague us with this?! |
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Feb 25, 2019 05:42
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ELO Musk posted:Why do middle aged men get ponytails? Who told them to do that? Did we offend God and lead him to plague us with this?! In a coming of age ceremony, men must hunt down the wild beast known as "The pony", and take its tail from it, and clip it on to his head, thus becoming "middle aged" Please show some cultural sensitivey. For this ceremony.
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Feb 25, 2019 05:46
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Why do some SUVs get that cool back window wiper but others and also my sedan not get one, instead? |
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Feb 25, 2019 05:51
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glowing-fish posted:In a coming of age ceremony, men must hunt down the wild beast known as "The pony", and take its tail from it, and clip it on to his head, thus becoming "middle aged" Elders are wise. We should respect their traditions. Except this one, that is. A vote for me in 2020 is a vote for bringing Pony tails back to where they belong - a horse’s rear end! |
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Feb 25, 2019 05:53
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glowing-fish posted:Tipping rules only come into effect when there is a formal ordering and delivery process, not for someone putting a croissant onto a table and handing it to you. Competent restaurant servers in mediocre restaurants actually make pretty good money from tips - my wife is curious how the sum of small/infrequent tips for many ~1 minute transactions compares to the sum of moderate/customary tips for fewer ~10 minute transactions. |
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Feb 25, 2019 07:34
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ELO Musk posted:Except this one, that is. A vote for me in 2020 is a vote for bringing Pony tails back to where they belong - a horse’s rear end! |
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Feb 25, 2019 07:35
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Oh hey, a real answer about the highway net - it's a large-scale re-poling of 12 miles of lines, for some reason being done by setting up lovely temporary poles, and then nets underneath them for safety in case the lovely poles fail, while they put up not-lovely poles. I guess maybe they can't put up good poles while the old poles are still there. I've said poles too many times in this post. Also posts are like poles. Also I didn't put a poll on this post. A picture of one such net is here, though the one in this picture doesn't even look like it would catch the wire. |
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Feb 25, 2019 07:43
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Thanks for the update re: poles, op! After a shower, I can open the window or turn on the fan to remove the humidity. I usually choose one of these, depending on the weather outside. My husband usually does both, or neither, because he's a big dumb boy. I want to know, is using both better or worse than just one?! Does the fan suck the shower air or the window air? Does the window bring in fresh air or is it just shower air from the vent flowing directly back into the shower? Please advise! |
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Feb 25, 2019 08:53
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double post lol The net sounds like it's for catching wires or tools, not people and poles. |
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Feb 25, 2019 08:55
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peanut posted:Thanks for the update re: poles, op! Using both is technically better but not on a level that really matters. The fan is removing air from the room, creating a slight vacuum pressure and forcing fresh air to come in to replace it. Window closed, that air comes in from the crack under the bathroom door - feel that crack and you might even perceive this though it's subtle. Building engineers have a whole mess of numbers like "how many times per hour is 100% of the air in this room changed out" that they like to think about, it becomes v important when you're in like a lab or a factory. A ventilation fan of a certain size is designed to meet a certain value for this, assuming an opening of a sufficient size to let new air in. Anyway so i think it's like this Good fan, bad opening: bad changeover (fan not working to full capacity) Bad fan, good opening: changeover is fan limited Good fan, good opening: fan works to capacity No fan, huge opening: good changeover Yes fan, huge opening: good changeover like above but plus a small bonus from the fan. The bigger the disparity between the fan and the opening though the less of a bonus the fan will give you. Relative to a bathroom, a window is what I'd consider "huge" so opening a window increases the air changeover rate a LOT in a small room. The fan will bump it up a little but IME the window will have a more powerful effect. So technically both is better but it's overkill and the window alone will do you great. I hope this has been helpful, please don't hesitate to contact me with any further questions. Best, alnilam |
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Feb 25, 2019 15:00
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ELO Musk posted:Why do middle aged men get ponytails? Who told them to do that? Did we offend God and lead him to plague us with this?! Part of the rites of being a middle aged man is doing the things you couldn't afford/weren't allowed to do when you were younger and more virile, and for some middle aged men that means growing an embarrassing pony tail. |
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Feb 25, 2019 16:57
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ELO Musk posted:Why do some SUVs get that cool back window wiper but others and also my sedan not get one, instead? it's actually an evolutionary adaptation developed by species of cars that are endemic to rainy regions. it's a little known fact that the "sport" in Sport Utility Vehicle is a reference to the term used in evolutionary biology to refer to a mutant organism, and not organized competitive physical activities. Sedans originated from the typically drier plains regions and thus never developed an analogous mutation.
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Feb 25, 2019 17:09
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Finger Prince posted:Part of the rites of being a middle aged man is doing the things you couldn't afford/weren't allowed to do when you were younger and more virile, and for some middle aged men that means growing an embarrassing pony tail. let your hair flow like a majestic horse's mane you will still look like poo poo but at least you are not the pony tail guy |
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Feb 25, 2019 19:01
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| actually there is a certain kind of scrawny pencil van dyke garage attendant that can pull off the pony tail they do not look "good" necessarily but they look "correct" | |
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Feb 25, 2019 19:03
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Also I think it's like a uniform requirement if you teach bass guitar to kids at the local guitar store. Like I think they give you a clip on one if you can't get a real one going. |
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Feb 25, 2019 19:06
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Why are lines on the highway white so they blend in with snow making it impossible to see if you are in your lane? Yellow is already used to divide a 2 way and is easy to see, but red green and blue are all unused and would be easy to spot so why all the white on the highway
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Feb 25, 2019 19:34
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The lines are white because it contrasts well with the dark color of asphalt pavement, making the lines easier to see at night. This choice was probably made in some place where it doesn't snow very often. This would be similar to the raised reflectors and dots found on highways in places where it doesn't snow. Similarly, LED traffic lights last longer and use less energy than conventional traffic lights, but they don't produce enough heat to melt any snow or ice that covers the lens, so some northern cities have switched back to traffic lights that use incandescent bulbs. |
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Feb 25, 2019 20:13
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Barking Gecko posted:The lines are white because it contrasts well with the dark color of asphalt pavement, making the lines easier to see at night. This choice was probably made in some place where it doesn't snow very often. This would be similar to the raised reflectors and dots found on highways in places where it doesn't snow. Similarly, LED traffic lights last longer and use less energy than conventional traffic lights, but they don't produce enough heat to melt any snow or ice that covers the lens, so some northern cities have switched back to traffic lights that use incandescent bulbs. *philosophy raptor* they're so efficient that they're actually inefficient |
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Feb 25, 2019 20:48
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how did velocipedes fall out of favor? riding a bike and running real fast behind a shopping cart is real fun |
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Feb 25, 2019 20:59
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SciFiDownBeat posted:*philosophy raptor* they're so efficient that they're actually inefficient Shove a digital thermometer and small heater into the light. I'm sure that would use less power than running a bulb 24/7/365 when the heater would probably be needed for a few weeks of total run time for the year. *heater would be touching the glass and in the housing of the traffic light, not in the bulb.
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Feb 25, 2019 21:04
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pixaal posted:Shove a digital thermometer and small heater into the light. I'm sure that would use less power than running a bulb 24/7/365 when the heater would probably be needed for a few weeks of total run time for the year. this is true but the lil thermostat system would add expense and complication for the sake of electricity savings which would be relatively minor for how few traffic lights there are vs, say, streetlights, or building lights. That being said I'd still do it (actually a simpler compromise would be a little heating element that you just switch on all winter) but i can see why municipalities wouldn't even if they otherwise cared about saving energy. There are more fruitful places to focus your efforts. |
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Feb 25, 2019 21:14
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pixaal posted:Why are lines on the highway white so they blend in with snow making it impossible to see if you are in your lane? Yellow is already used to divide a 2 way and is easy to see, but red green and blue are all unused and would be easy to spot so why all the white on the highway  Though also red seems inappropriate because it's a "forbidding" color which isn't good for informational purposes, and eyes aren't very good at dark blue, and light blue resembles some car LED lights or is just quite similar to white really, and green matches tree detritus. Should probably just be dashed yellow for lanes, solid yellow for two way, and double solid yellow for two way and don't cross it to pass someone. Then the only thing it resembles is piss-snow. |
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Feb 26, 2019 01:41
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roomforthetuna posted:Should probably just be dashed yellow for lanes, solid yellow for two way, and double solid yellow for two way and don't cross it to pass someone. Then the only thing it resembles is piss-snow. really the only reason we don't do that around here is because we use a solid line and a dashed line to indicate that one lane can cross traffic to pass and the other can't, and it would be hard to distinguish between that and just a single solid line in bad weather
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Feb 26, 2019 01:51
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Thank you for great feedback about bathroom air circulation!! I am proud of my big window and powerful fan! Maybe frozen stoplights could be avoided by adding another roof over the main stoplight cover. |
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Mar 3, 2019 15:17
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why isn't there an saclopedia entry for the weed rear end?
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Mar 7, 2019 05:36
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We should change that asap |
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Mar 7, 2019 11:35
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ive added the topic 'weed rear end, the' now it just needs some more information
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Mar 7, 2019 16:03
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Ok i got one: how do we not suffocate in our enclosed rooms every night? I dont have any ventilation in my apartment, just two registers that eminate heat and dont involve airflow at all. With all the windows and doors closed, how do i not breath up all the air and die? |
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Mar 7, 2019 16:59
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Dead Hippie Ghost posted:Ok i got one: how do we not suffocate in our enclosed rooms every night? You aren't sealed in. There's breathing room to allow air to pass on all doors and windows.
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Mar 7, 2019 17:32
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pixaal posted:You aren't sealed in. There's breathing room to allow air to pass on all doors and windows. (According to Quora, probably somewhere between 1 and 5 days but actually much less because CO2 concentration problems kick in before oxygen shortage does.) Though that's an additional answer to the previous question, you don't suffocate every night even if your room is sealed, because you have more than enough oxygen for one night, so long as you open a door at some point each day. Also maybe your room is full of plants, did you consider that? |
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Mar 7, 2019 17:50
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roomforthetuna posted:Also maybe your room is full of plants, did you consider that? My room is also full of plants. I guess i jist overestimate the amount of oxegen i consume |
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Mar 7, 2019 17:54
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Dead Hippie Ghost posted:My room is also full of plants. I guess i jist overestimate the amount of oxegen i consume |
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Mar 7, 2019 18:01
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City of Glompton posted:why isn't there an saclopedia entry for the weed rear end? I still own that hat |
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Mar 7, 2019 18:05
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City of Glompton posted:ive added the topic 'weed rear end, the' thank u for filing under "w" 
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Mar 7, 2019 18:34
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