# Factual Questions **URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/c/factual-questions/9.md?page=741 [Latest](https://boards.straightdope.com/latest.md) · [Categories](https://boards.straightdope.com/categories.md) · [Tags](https://boards.straightdope.com/tags.md) **Page:** 742 --- ## [Windows--how to run new instance in a new window](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-how-to-run-new-instance-in-a-new-window/785351)
**Author:** [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [April 28, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-how-to-run-new-instance-in-a-new-window/785351 "2017-04-28T00:38:45Z")
Until the latest upgrade of Win 10, whenever I opened a new pdf file it opened in a new window. Now it simply replaces the previous one. I had often had three or four different pdf files and would go back and forth amo… --- ## [Why is there no true smartphone faxing app?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-true-smartphone-faxing-app/785370)
**Author:** [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Replies:** 28\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-there-no-true-smartphone-faxing-app/785370 "2017-04-27T22:23:01Z")
This is really puzzling me. There are a huge number of folks with smartphones today, obviously. And there are faxing apps for those smartphones. As far as I can tell, though, none of them are actually using the phone … --- ## [Was our Big Bang only capable of producing a universe with our fundamental properties?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-our-big-bang-only-capable-of-producing-a-universe-with-our-fundamental-properties/785366)
**Author:** [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-our-big-bang-only-capable-of-producing-a-universe-with-our-fundamental-properties/785366 "2017-04-27T21:40:30Z")
It’s often heard that different universes could have different physical properties than our own, but could our own universe have been wildly different as well? Scientists have discovered much about the conditions very s… --- ## [Help with a (double) sigmoid curve.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-double-sigmoid-curve/785287)
**Author:** [@Incensed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incensed)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-with-a-double-sigmoid-curve/785287 "2017-04-27T17:35:47Z")
So, I’m trying to generate a double sigmoid curve using X values between 0 and 1, with the zero crossing/flat spot at 0.5. Scouring the internet, the closest formula I could find was this double logistic curve (last fo… --- ## [Rules Amazon Echo uses to recognize its name](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-amazon-echo-uses-to-recognize-its-name/785323)
**Author:** [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rules-amazon-echo-uses-to-recognize-its-name/785323 "2017-04-27T17:07:21Z")
We got an Echo Dot for Christmas and have enjoyed using it. A few weeks after we hooked it up, I watched a crappy made-for-TV movie I’d recorded. A minor character’s name was Alexis. Several times the Echo took a char… --- ## [Why is dangerous to use a trimmer outside or where spray products are used?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dangerous-to-use-a-trimmer-outside-or-where-spray-products-are-used/785245)
**Author:** [@greenpurple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greenpurple)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dangerous-to-use-a-trimmer-outside-or-where-spray-products-are-used/785245 "2017-04-27T13:21:33Z")
My Norelco trimmer instructions say: “Do not operate, charge or plug in Trimmer outdoors or where aerosol (spray) products are being used or where oxygen is being administered.” --- ## [Let's say I find an old stock certificate.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-i-find-an-old-stock-certificate/785319)
**Author:** [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-say-i-find-an-old-stock-certificate/785319 "2017-04-27T10:23:16Z")
And it is an existing company like IBM, JP Morgan, RJR Reynolds, etc. What is the likelihood the shares has not been cancelled or transferred if there is no indication of it? Is it like a bearer bond? If it is mad… --- ## [What happens to corporate governance once index funds reach 50.1% of the stock market?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-corporate-governance-once-index-funds-reach-50-1-of-the-stock-market/785198)
**Author:** [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Replies:** 8\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-to-corporate-governance-once-index-funds-reach-50-1-of-the-stock-market/785198 "2017-04-27T12:38:36Z")
Index funds are becoming more and more popular these days and their rise doesn’t show any signs of slowing down anytime soon. Assuming they continue on their current path towards taking over more and more of the stock ma… --- ## ["Our Germans are better than their Germans"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-germans-are-better-than-their-germans/785267)
**Author:** [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Replies:** 11\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/our-germans-are-better-than-their-germans/785267 "2017-04-27T10:37:48Z")
I recently remembered that line from the movie “The Right Stuff”. And it got me thinking… Through “Operation Paperclip”, towards the end of WWII the US got their hands on a bunch of German rocket scientists, which were … --- ## [Where exactly is the body farm at the U of Tennessee](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-exactly-is-the-body-farm-at-the-u-of-tennessee/322191)
**Author:** [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Replies:** 29\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-exactly-is-the-body-farm-at-the-u-of-tennessee/322191 "2017-04-27T08:25:50Z")
I wanted look at the University of Tennesse Anthropological Research Facility with the google maps satellite images but I could not find an exact address. (For those who don’t know, this this the “body farm” or “human d… --- ## [Economics of rail shipping truck trailers.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economics-of-rail-shipping-truck-trailers/785246)
**Author:** [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Replies:** 20\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/economics-of-rail-shipping-truck-trailers/785246 "2017-04-27T05:39:43Z")
I get stuck at train crossings a couple of times a month and I always see flatcars with truck trailers as their load and I’ve been wondering what factors make shipping those truckloads by rail cheaper? I often see UPS t… --- ## ["Bring the mountain to Mohammed"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-the-mountain-to-mohammed/368353)
**Author:** [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [May 11, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bring-the-mountain-to-mohammed/368353 "2015-05-11T19:56:15Z")
I know what the expression means, but am unaware of it’s origin or if it is at all related to the prophet Mohammed. Any clues? --- ## [Why do cars still have blind spots?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cars-still-have-blind-spots/783527)
**Author:** [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Replies:** 76\ **Last updated:** [April 27, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-cars-still-have-blind-spots/783527 "2017-04-27T00:42:11Z")
I keep seeing ads for cars with “Blind Spot warnings” as a feature. Could cars be engineered to not have a blind spot at all? --- ## [Question on early autos](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-early-autos/785072)
**Author:** [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Replies:** 38\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-on-early-autos/785072 "2017-04-26T23:37:45Z")
I’ve just been watching a 1927 movie by Roy del Ruth entitled The First Auto. (The title isn’t descriptive of the first actual automobile, simply the first one to appear in a rural community.) In one scene the new owner… --- ## [Why do these old carriages have such massive positive camber?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-these-old-carriages-have-such-massive-positive-camber/785257)
**Author:** [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Replies:** 15\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-these-old-carriages-have-such-massive-positive-camber/785257 "2017-04-26T20:41:19Z")
In this photo of a coach (hi-res, 5.7MB) in the Coach Museum in Belém, Portugal, the wheels are cambered out at an impressive angle. This was very consistent across dozens of coaches in the museum. Is there an engineeri… --- ## [Yelp Help](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelp-help/785227)
**Author:** [@ShutUp\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShutUp_1)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yelp-help/785227 "2017-04-26T19:58:35Z")
Has anyone successfully removed a business from YELP? The reviews they allow to stick are sometimes from people who say, Thank God I reead the reviews here and didn’t go… That’s like reviewing a hamburger that you didn’t… --- ## [New ISP browsing data sale rules](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-isp-browsing-data-sale-rules/785290)
**Author:** [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-isp-browsing-data-sale-rules/785290 "2017-04-26T19:08:32Z")
So ISPs will now be able to sell my Web browsing info. I suspect that Spectrum (the rebranded Bright House Networks post-merger with Charter) is not the sort of company that will look this gift horse in the mouth, so I’m… --- ## [Has anyone worked with Aluminum Composite Panels?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-worked-with-aluminum-composite-panels/785042)
**Author:** [@brossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brossa)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-worked-with-aluminum-composite-panels/785042 "2017-04-26T16:52:24Z")
I was at a student robotics competition and saw a team display that had some metallic panels that had been CNC routed to have a decorative pattern of holes in them. The team was using them as a sort of divider/lampshade.… --- ## [Explain how a company owns property after it has been sold?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-how-a-company-owns-property-after-it-has-been-sold/784962)
**Author:** [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)\ **Replies:** 36\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-how-a-company-owns-property-after-it-has-been-sold/784962 "2017-04-26T12:10:30Z")
Real world example: Chep pallets are sold to warehouses or distributors. That pallet is then shipped, exchanged, and traded all over the world. Possibly being used by a hundred different companies. But should Chep ever … --- ## [How Do I Start Thee? Let Me Count ONE way](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-start-thee-let-me-count-one-way/784963)
**Author:** [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-start-thee-let-me-count-one-way/784963 "2017-04-26T09:15:56Z")
I recently saw a video of a restored WWII B-24 Liberator aircraft starting up. I’ve also been brainwashed by a 40 year old viewing of the original (James Stewart) Flight of the Phoenix. In the movie the cobbled-up plane… --- ## [Wild Caught Tuna?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-caught-tuna/785203)
**Author:** [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wild-caught-tuna/785203 "2017-04-26T08:36:30Z")
I thought all tuna was wild caught. So are there tuna farms now? Tuna prisons? --- ## [MS Outlook: Question about order of Reminders](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-outlook-question-about-order-of-reminders/785219)
**Author:** [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-outlook-question-about-order-of-reminders/785219 "2017-04-26T02:02:23Z")
Hi all, I use the Reminders function on MS Outlook 2010 to diarise files and tasks. If something is past due it shows up on the Reminders list. The Reminders have always been sorted in reverse chron order, based on the… --- ## [Question about "anonymous" fingerprints (or DNA)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-anonymous-fingerprints-or-dna/784984)
**Author:** [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-anonymous-fingerprints-or-dna/784984 "2017-04-26T01:50:36Z")
We’ve seen it a million times in cop shows: there’s a crime in some relatively public place (a movie theater, restaurant, whatever) and the perpetrators flee. Then the crime scene people come in and collect evidence, es… --- ## [Suicide by Cyanide Pill (Don't Need Answer Fast)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-by-cyanide-pill-dont-need-answer-fast/636468)
**Author:** [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Replies:** 41\ **Last updated:** [April 26, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suicide-by-cyanide-pill-dont-need-answer-fast/636468 "2017-04-26T00:45:07Z")
I’m aware that there have been (and may still be) cases where certain soldiers, spies, etc. carry in their mouths a cyanide pill that they are to swallow in the event of capture. The purpose being, so that they die insta… --- ## [Play by Play & Color Commentary](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-by-play-color-commentary/784959)
**Author:** [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Replies:** 13\ **Last updated:** [April 25, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/play-by-play-color-commentary/784959 "2017-04-25T22:31:43Z")
The standard for sports presentation these days seem to have a play by play and color commentator. I don’t watch a lot of sports but it seems ubiquitous for sports that have commentary. For example, tennis I noticed has … --- ## [What is the largest an animal can be?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-an-animal-can-be/785125)
**Author:** [@cjackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjackson)\ **Replies:** 48\ **Last updated:** [April 25, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-largest-an-animal-can-be/785125 "2017-04-25T22:12:28Z")
I know the blue whale is the largest known animal to have existed on Earth, but can animals conceivably grow larger, or is that pretty much the largest animal you can expect to find in the universe? --- ## [The Radioactive Boy Scout](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-radioactive-boy-scout/202767)
**Author:** [@Cardenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardenio)\ **Replies:** 55\ **Last updated:** [April 25, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-radioactive-boy-scout/202767 "2017-04-25T21:39:49Z")
The story about " David Hahn the Boy Scout who Bulit a Breeder Reactor " that appeared in Harper’s in 99’ - Kieth Silverman I think was the reporter. I think this story total hooey. Can anyone confirm or deny this ?:… --- ## [Q about Auto insurance - illinois](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-auto-insurance-illinois/785240)
**Author:** [@wellanuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wellanuff)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [April 25, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-auto-insurance-illinois/785240 "2017-04-25T20:45:58Z")
I am hoping people with direct knowledge of the auto insurance industry will reply. Short version: My daughter had a learner’s permit ten years ago, but never got a license and never attempted to drive after driver’s e… --- ## [Why do Pirates bite coins they are given?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pirates-bite-coins-they-are-given/116108)
**Author:** [@txvepr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txvepr)\ **Replies:** 39\ **Last updated:** [April 25, 2017, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-pirates-bite-coins-they-are-given/116108 "2017-04-25T18:52:22Z")
Why do Pirates bite coins? What are they checking for? Taste? Bending? Impression? --- ## [What is this gas ribbon in the sky (which people are calling Steve)?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-gas-ribbon-in-the-sky-which-people-are-calling-steve/785105)
**Author:** [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Replies:** 17\ **Last updated:** [April 25, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-gas-ribbon-in-the-sky-which-people-are-calling-steve/785105 "2017-04-25T16:55:42Z")
I read with interest this report of a superheated ribbon of gas photographed in the upper atmosphere. What is the SD on this phenomenon? What is the gas and what process creates this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/factual-questions/9.md?page=740) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/c/factual-questions/9.md?page=742)