A thread for asking useless questions

wots a potato peeler ?

Sorry, can't help about the orange string around potato peeleers, but...

What does the 'MI' in MI5 / MI6 stand for ?

/dl

M for muppets
I for I don't know

But seriously ?

/dl

Military Intelligence. An oxymoron if ever I saw one!

Any legal types out there that can explain the origins of the phrase "Being read the riot act."

/dl

"The 1715 Riot Act was an attempt to strengthen the power of the civil authorities when threatened with riotous behaviour. The act made it a serious crime for members of a crowd of twelve or more people to refuse to disperse within an hour of being ordered to do so by a magistrate. One of the problems for magistrates was actually reading the Riot Act during a serious disturbance. For example, after the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester, most of the demonstrators that were convicted claimed that they had not heard the Riot Act being read. The Riot Act was unsuccessful in controlling a series of disturbances including the 1743 Gin Riots, the 1768 St George's Massacre and the 1780 Gordon Riots."

A blatant Google.

Sorry, blatent Googles are not allowed in this thread ;

quote:

Only rule is no use of Google, search engines, encyclopedia etc. Only what you have stored in the grey stuff.

Since it is a first offence, I guess its OK to turn a blid eye. But just this once.

BTW, is the Riot Act still in force ?

/dl

Ah, now I see it. Doh.

Well, according to Schott's Miscellany, the Riot Act is read as follows:

"Our Sovereign Lord the King has chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the Act made in the first year of Kind George the First for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the Kind."


So there you go! It goes on to explain that:

Under the 1714 Riot act, once a magistrate had read this passage with the hearing of a crowd greater than twelve, the 'rioters' had one hour to disperse before their presence ceased to be a misdemeanour and became a felony, ultimately punishable by death. The wording had to be read exactly as written, since at least one conviction was overturned because 'God Save the King' was left out. The riot act was repealed in 1973.


So now you know!



regards,

Tam

This one has always puzzled me.

Why do the waiters in Indian restaurants ALWAYS wipe the plate before putting it down on the table ? Never, ever seen this done in any other sit-down eatery.

/dl

I suspect this may be due to the fact that you serve yourself in Indian restaurants ,and hence a cleaned plate means that it is ready for use.

I can't think of any other sit-down eatery where you start with an empty plate.

What are characters like æ called?

Howard

Diphthong

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by cunningplan:
A question I've always wanted to know the answer to... How long is a piece of string???

I'm a bit late on this one but my answer is:

The same length from the middle to both ends

Lefty

American radio stations.

Why do american radio stations always seem to be called DSXXQ-FM or some varient of 3-8 letters (+ FM). Do these collections of letters mean anything, or are they simply issued randomly by some licensing authority.

Not that it really matters, but I'm curious anyway...

/dl

Hi folks,

No idea about American radio stations, I'm afraid.

I've heard that the daddy-long-legs (crane fly) is actually pretty much the most poisonous creature on the planet - just that its 'fangs' aren't strong enough to pierce human flesh.

Anyone else heard this, know if it is true, or is it just a wind-up?

Cheers!

Rich.

quote:

A vacuum flask keeps hot things hot, and cold things cold. How does it know?

John.

and how would it cope if your lunch was tomato soup followed by a choc Ice?

American Call signs

Google is your friend

"Google is your friend"

Answers from the forum could be displayed like Google search results:

Results 1 - 5 of ...5 (4.5 days)

Google is not allowed in this thread. See my original post.

quote:

Hi, Time we had a thread for asking useless questions and, hopefully, getting an answer; or two.

Only rule is no use of Google, search engines, encyclopedia etc. Only what you have stored in the grey stuff.

I'll let you off this once

/dl

Why are g-string underpants so called?

A bit different but what does the 60, 90 and 120 stickers mean on the back of European trucks.

Justyn.

Justyn,
I would guess that these are maximum speeds in km/hr either for the vehicle, or on different classes of road. Like I say, just a guess.

/dl