The questions-not-worth-their-own-thread question thread VI

[thetrooper]

Should I quit coming to this forum altogether?

No, you have important work to do here

Certainly a question not worth it's own thread:

I have a leather necklace with a silver labrys attached to it. The way the labrys is attached to the necklace makes the leather's surface 'chipped'. Is there some everyday agent to treat the leather or do I have to buy a bottle of expensive 'leather treatment'?

And no, I can't just get myself another leather necklace, this one is complete with a silver lock. Transfering the lock to another necklace is not trivial.

Aloe vera turned out to be perfect...

 

[Loki130]

over the last few months, a lot of swans have been suddenly dying in the area. My friend says it was probably heavy rains stirring up old pollution, but I remain wary of a virus. any thoughts?

 

[Mowque]

over the last few months, a lot of swans have been suddenly dying in the area. My friend says it was probably heavy rains stirring up old pollution, but I remain wary of a virus. any thoughts?

Both are reasonable, but are they just falling over dead?

 

[Loki130]

Both are reasonable, but are they just falling over dead?

one of them seemed sick before it died, but it had a family and none of them are affected (theres a woman I know who watches these things)

 

[Cutlass]

one of them seemed sick before it died, but it had a family and none of them are affected (theres a woman I know who watches these things)

if there's been an extreme amount of rain it could be breeding bacteria or something that doesn't normally get into the ponds and lakes. runoff from sewage that wouldn't normally get there.

 

[Loki130]

we haven't had something like sewers overflowing
is it possible that something could have been trapped in the lake bottom for a few years, and somehow been released?
(this is in the copenhagen, denmark area)

 

[Cutlass]

extra rain isn't going to suddenly release deadly amounts of poison pollution from the bottoms of lakes. it might transfer it from someplace else into the lakes. like farm runoff. you'll have to talk the government or some university biologist into looking into it, I think.

 

[Loki130]

we called the national museum and they took the bodies, but they never got back to us. at any rate, I don't think there's any farms in the area

 

[Cutlass]

harrass them for answers

 

[GoodGame]

I'd think extra rains would dilute any poisons already present, and rather the poisons would be taken up in the ecosystem, probably not immediately after a rain. But it's not unreasonable that waters might be carrying it from a source that is not normally in contact with the pool. And possibly there's a leaking storage tank (underground even) that rain waters might help leech some toxins out into the ground water.

Like Cutlass says, you'd need an investigator to determine the cause of toxicity to even begin guessing at the source unless there's an obvious polluter in the area.

 

[Cutlass]

What headlight bulbs for a regular car are the best? I was looking over reviews of some of the "high performance" bulbs, and they're pretty mixed. People saying the Sylvania Silverstars don't put out that much extra light, and last an average of 6 months. There's a GE bulbs, but mixed opinions about it being brighter. Other types of bulbs don't fit in ordinary light installations.

What lasts a decent amount of time and gives better visibility?

edit: I put Silverstars on my last car, but it was totaled out before the lights burned out. They were better than the lights they replaces, but that wasn't saying a lot because they replaced old and tired lights. And I rarely drive in really dark places, so I didn't get the full effect of them.

 

[NKVD]

When did the US start celebrating Independence on July 4th instead of July 2nd?

''From the outset, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress''

 

[Flying Pig]

Can anyone answer my question?

 

[Dachs]

Can anyone answer my question?

What question?

 

[Flying Pig]

What's the average starting salary for a civillian job?.

Anyone?

 

[Dachs]

Anyone?

That's...pretty vague. Not even close to all starting salaries for the set of civilian jobs are remotely close to each other. You could be earning anything from minimum wage to a number that doesn't have any bearing on you because it's in US dollars.

 

[Flying Pig]

OK, assume you have decent O-Level/GCSE results, what can you expect to earn in your first year?

 

[really]

You have to be a bit more specific - there are very big variations across the UK in the same job and between jobs.

What transferrable skills do you have?

Edit: and are you really 68? shouldn't you be asking about pensions not pay.

If you are just out of school:

What are the current rates of the national minimum wage?
There are three levels of minimum wage, and the rates from 1 October 2008 are:

£5.73 per hour for workers aged 22 years and older
A development rate of £4.77 per hour for workers aged 18-21 inclusive
£3.53 per hour for all workers under the age of 18, who are no longer of compulsory school age
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nmw/#b

 

[Flying Pig]

It's for my work - I work in a cadet unit, and the exam results are coming in soon, so I'll get asked about joining the army and I want to be able to compare the pay in a military and civillian job.

 

[aronnax]

In regards to H1N1. Why do they usually post the number of confirmed cases so far without ever posting the number of people who have recovered from the virus? They make it seem like a lot of people are sick with it when some 75% are already cleared clean of the virus. This is not 28 days later.