I'm American. Ask me anything.
- Thread starter anothersam
- Start date
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figbat
Slippery scientist
- Location
- South Oxfordshire, UK
For the record, I am not American. However, I can answer this one (to some extent).
The octane rating of a fuel is determined using a variable compression test engine run under very specific conditions to induce knock - the test fuel is compared to reference fuel mixtures to determine the "octane number". However the engine can be run in different ways. In the UK we use Research Octane Number (RON) on our fuels - to determine the RON of a fuel the test engine is run with a variable ignition timing, meaning it is more tolerant of knocking. The engine can be run with a fixed ignition timing, which is a harsher test and produces a result called the Motor Octane Number (MON). The MON of a given fuel is always lower than the RON.
In the USA the pump fuel number is actually an average of the RON and MON, called the Anti-Knock Index (AKI) or sometimes referred to as (RON+MON)/2. Hence US fuel has lower numbers than UK fuel, but isn't necessarily lower quality.
Further, the big, lazy engines common in the US historically were not high compression (hence low power/size ratio) and didn't need a high octane (hence more expensive) fuel.
mudsticks
Obviously an Aubergine
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Why are Indians now called native Americans, particularly when they're not native but migrated there via land bridge from Asia thousands of years ago?
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
@anothersam Are you really our uncle?
swee'pea99
Legendary Member
Well by that criterion, there are no natives anywhere, other than perhaps a few East Africans. However you look at it they're more native to America than they are to India.
mudsticks
Obviously an Aubergine
I understand many of them refer to themselves as 'First Nationers' or some variation thereof
Rocky
Hello decadence
Who was there before the First Nationers?I understand many of them refer to themselves as 'First Nationers' or some variation thereof
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
Why are your accents so similar, despite some areas being 1000s of miles apart? There might be a noticable difference in accent between Washington and Florida, but to the untrained ear it's not completely different. In contrast, Norwich and Liverpool are only 250 miles apart but the accent is chalk and cheese
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Why did John Lithgow never play more bad guys? He was deliciously nasty in Cliffhanger.
Julia9054
Guru
- Location
- Knaresborough
My mum tells a story about starting a new job aged 15 as a typist with an American company. This was Cumbria in the 1950s. She was shocked to be instructed to “Park your fanny over here“
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Why do all the celebrities choose to live in an earthquake zone?
Electric_Andy
Heavy Metal Fan
- Location
- Plymouth
True. Even the Maori people were technically immigrants to NZ 700+ years ago. But as they were the first recognised settlers, perhaps that should be the deciding factor? But according to Google, the Spanish were the first to settle in the USA. I don't know how true that is though.
Oldfentiger
Veteran
- Location
- Pendle, Lancs
Why did you need the British to show how to land a Corsair on a carrier deck ?
Rocky
Hello decadence
Is Drago related to St Drogo?
BTW it is St Drogo's day today - patron saint of coffee, gall stones, mutes, shepherds and the repulsive.
BTW it is St Drogo's day today - patron saint of coffee, gall stones, mutes, shepherds and the repulsive.
