Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 13:04:26 -0500, Dean Hoffman
wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:

So my bride can bring me one. Not harm her "nails", even after
changing the flat tire on my truck.
--
"There's nothing like the scent of Cordite in a woman's hair."

On 04/18/2015 01:04 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.



Also:

The cost of the can is considerably more than the beer itself.

philo wrote:
On 04/18/2015 01:04 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.



Also:

The cost of the can is considerably more than the beer itself.

I bookmarked his series on YouTube called Engineerguy. That's
some interesting stuff. The show How It's Made on the Science Channel
is good to watch.

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 21:03:25 -0500, Dean Hoffman
wrote:

philo wrote:
On 04/18/2015 01:04 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9

Very good!

From Popular Mechanics.

The cost of the can is considerably more than the beer itself.

I bookmarked his series on YouTube called Engineerguy. That's

I'll chec it out.

some interesting stuff. The show How It's Made on the Science Channel
is good to watch.

I'm still trying to use the youtube software!

Why after all these years can't I play it backwards? Or at least, is
there a good way to go back 30 seconds and replay something? When I
press pause, it always has a hard time restarting

And this time I started to watch the animated version mentioned during
Engineer Guy's good version. I got bored and wanted to go to one of the
other many selections, but how to do I make the one I'm watching finish
right away?

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 11:04:26 -0700, wrote:


Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.


not sure I understand the question. However, I always thought the subtle
difference between soda and beer can shape was to enable highway patrolman
an easy visual differentiation at a distance between drinking while
driving and having a soda.

On Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 8:13:04 AM UTC-4, Robert Macy wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 11:04:26 -0700, wrote:


Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.


not sure I understand the question. However, I always thought the subtle
difference between soda and beer can shape was to enable highway patrolman
an easy visual differentiation at a distance between drinking while
driving and having a soda.

Seems to me typical soda and beer can shapes are and look very much
the same, even when you're up close. Except for the exceptional ones,
like Michelob Ultra slim cans.

As to the video, it's a interesting one, but it would be better called how
beverage cans are made. The beginning is pretty lame, implying that
the sole driving factor was fitting them into the smallest space
possible. Spheres? Cubes? Good grief. Clearly one of the biggest
drivers was a shape you could hold and drink from. And we already had
the water glass. I would think the choice of a cylinder was fairly
obvious.

On 04/19/2015 07:15 AM, RobertMacy wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 11:04:26 -0700, wrote:


Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.


not sure I understand the question. However, I always thought the subtle
difference between soda and beer can shape was to enable highway
patrolman an easy visual differentiation at a distance between drinking
while driving and having a soda.



It was a rhetorical question.

The OP was not asking a question.

That said, what makes you think a soda can and a beer can look different?


The difference is the label and the contents.

micky wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 21:03:25 -0500, Dean Hoffman
wrote:

I'm still trying to use the youtube software!

Why after all these years can't I play it backwards? Or at least, is
there a good way to go back 30 seconds and replay something? When I
press pause, it always has a hard time restarting

And this time I started to watch the animated version mentioned during
Engineer Guy's good version. I got bored and wanted to go to one of the
other many selections, but how to do I make the one I'm watching finish
right away?

No idea, though there must be a ton and a half of computer whiz
kids who would know.

micky writes:

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 21:03:25 -0500, Dean Hoffman
wrote:

philo wrote:
On 04/18/2015 01:04 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9

Very good!

From Popular Mechanics.

The cost of the can is considerably more than the beer itself.

I bookmarked his series on YouTube called Engineerguy. That's

I'll chec it out.

some interesting stuff. The show How It's Made on the Science Channel
is good to watch.

I'm still trying to use the youtube software!

No you aren't.

Youtube is a web site that sends audio files to your computer.

The software you use to play those files is on _your_ computer.

Why after all these years can't I play it backwards?

Not something most people would want to do.

Or at least, is
there a good way to go back 30 seconds and replay something?

That makes more sense than playing backwards.

Most browser video players have a progress bar at the bottom
of the screen. Drag the dot with the mouse.

When I
press pause, it always has a hard time restarting

Press the triangular forward button.

And this time I started to watch the animated version mentioned during
Engineer Guy's good version. I got bored and wanted to go to one of the
other many selections, but how to do I make the one I'm watching finish
right away?

Same deal with the progress bar.

--
Dan Espen

Shows a cola can over time, but probably applies to
beer also: http://leibold.com/boldpost_images/coke.jpg

On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 05:44:43 -0700, philo wrote:

On 04/19/2015 07:15 AM, RobertMacy wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 11:04:26 -0700, wrote:


Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.


not sure I understand the question. However, I always thought the subtle
difference between soda and beer can shape was to enable highway
patrolman an easy visual differentiation at a distance between drinking
while driving and having a soda.



It was a rhetorical question.

The OP was not asking a question.

That said, what makes you think a soda can and a beer can look different?


The difference is the label and the contents.

My reply was 'tongue in cheek'

Maybe just me, but 12 oz beer cans look TOTALLY different than 12 oz soda
cans. Haven't bought any in loooonnnnng time, so maybe the two are now the
same.

I buy Beck's non-alcoholic brew out of Bremen - comes in bottles. Get all
the vitamins and stomach settling 'goodness', but none of the
titillation(sp?) and resulting loss of brain cells. Plus, one of the few
brews that actually is ok with fish and stands up to ice in the glass
without seeming all watery.

I once had a highway patrolman tell me that consuming non-alcoholic brew
while driving is not a 'chargeable' offense. And he could actually tell
from a goodly distance whether a driver was consuming non-alcholic brew by
viewing the container so would not stop him. Now THAT's pattern
recognition!

On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 19:16:23 -0400, Dan Espen
wrote:

micky writes:

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 21:03:25 -0500, Dean Hoffman
wrote:

philo wrote:
On 04/18/2015 01:04 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9

Very good!

From Popular Mechanics.

The cost of the can is considerably more than the beer itself.

I bookmarked his series on YouTube called Engineerguy. That's

I'll chec it out.

some interesting stuff. The show How It's Made on the Science Channel
is good to watch.

I'm still trying to use the youtube software!

No you aren't.

Youtube is a web site that sends audio files to your computer.

The software you use to play those files is on _your_ computer.

It's driven by the html code in the youtube webpage.

Why after all these years can't I play it backwards?

Not something most people would want to do.

Or at least, is
there a good way to go back 30 seconds and replay something?

That makes more sense than playing backwards.

Most browser video players have a progress bar at the bottom
of the screen. Drag the dot with the mouse.

Have you actually tried that?. It works very badly when it works at
all.

When I
press pause, it always has a hard time restarting

Press the triangular forward button.

It usually doen't work.

And this time I started to watch the animated version mentioned during
Engineer Guy's good version. I got bored and wanted to go to one of the
other many selections, but how to do I make the one I'm watching finish
right away?

Same deal with the progress bar.

Moving the dot to the end has worked for me once, but it didn't work
this time. Instead the video would not go forward any farther.

Are you claiming this stuff works for you, or only that you've never
wanted to do these things,

What browser do you use? What OS?

On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 01:44:54 -0700, RobertMacy
wrote:



I once had a highway patrolman tell me that consuming non-alcoholic brew
while driving is not a 'chargeable' offense. And he could actually tell
from a goodly distance whether a driver was consuming non-alcholic brew by
viewing the container so would not stop him. Now THAT's pattern
recognition!

Totally off topic, but I was stopped by a cop once on a small road from
the Rockville Pike to I-70 west of DC and Balt.

He talked to me for a while and asked me if I had been drinking. I
hadn't, and after a little while he went back to his car and I left.

It was only 5 seconds after I started driving again that I realized why
he stopped me. I had been eating from a bag of M&M's and I had to
wiggle the wheel to get an M out of the bag. So I was wiggling and
wiggling the steering wheel and he thought I was drunk.

Had I figured this out when he was there, and had I told him, would that
have been good or bad for me? Would he call that reckless driving to
eat M&M's while driving?

On 04/20/2015 03:44 AM, RobertMacy wrote:


The OP was not asking a question.

That said, what makes you think a soda can and a beer can look different?


The difference is the label and the contents.

My reply was 'tongue in cheek'



LOL


So hard sometimes to interpret posts without seeing the smirk on one's face.

Maybe just me, but 12 oz beer cans look TOTALLY different than 12 oz
soda cans. Haven't bought any in loooonnnnng time, so maybe the two are
now the same.



I no longer drink alcohol but in Milwaukee one does not have to go too
far to see a can of beer and they loo9k the same as soda cans to me.



I buy Beck's non-alcoholic brew out of Bremen - comes in bottles. Get
all the vitamins and stomach settling 'goodness', but none of the
titillation(sp?) and resulting loss of brain cells. Plus, one of the few
brews that actually is ok with fish and stands up to ice in the glass
without seeming all watery.



Not too long ago I want to a bar to celebrate a friend's birthday.
Since I don't drink beer or soda I decided to try a non-alcoholic beer.
When I asked the bartender for one, after rummaging around for quite
some time she found a Clausthaler. Though it did not really taste like
beer, it was not too bad. When I ordered a 2nd one , when she served
it, she said it was their last one.

I guess non-alcoholic beer is not big here in Milwaukee



I once had a highway patrolman tell me that consuming non-alcoholic brew
while driving is not a 'chargeable' offense. And he could actually tell
from a goodly distance whether a driver was consuming non-alcholic brew
by viewing the container so would not stop him. Now THAT's pattern
recognition!



Possibly not the container, but the way the person was driving.



Way back a million years ago I was coming home from an office party and
had been drinking. I do not know if I was over the limit or not...but I
got stopped for speeding. When I realized that I was not stopped for
suspicion of drinking, I took the speeding ticket with no argument.

On 04/20/2015 06:42 AM, micky wrote:
On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 01:44:54 -0700, RobertMacy
wrote:



I once had a highway patrolman tell me that consuming non-alcoholic brew
while driving is not a 'chargeable' offense. And he could actually tell
from a goodly distance whether a driver was consuming non-alcholic brew by
viewing the container so would not stop him. Now THAT's pattern
recognition!

Totally off topic, but I was stopped by a cop once on a small road from
the Rockville Pike to I-70 west of DC and Balt.

He talked to me for a while and asked me if I had been drinking. I
hadn't, and after a little while he went back to his car and I left.

It was only 5 seconds after I started driving again that I realized why
he stopped me. I had been eating from a bag of M&M's and I had to
wiggle the wheel to get an M out of the bag. So I was wiggling and
wiggling the steering wheel and he thought I was drunk.

Had I figured this out when he was there, and had I told him, would that
have been good or bad for me? Would he call that reckless driving to
eat M&M's while driving?




He could have given you a ticket for inattentive driving I suppose.


Had he asked, it probably would have been better to tell him you sneezed.

On Mon, 20 Apr 2015 04:42:34 -0700, micky wrote:

...snip....
Had I figured this out when he was there, and had I told him, would that
have been good or bad for me? Would he call that reckless driving to
eat M&M's while driving?

Today? Sadly, NEVER explain. Even when asked. Say NOTHING. [I learned the
hard way(s).]

philo: The mind is amazing that way - the EXACT SAME SHAPE
container can look different dressed in the livery of an alcoholic
beverage as opposed to that of a soft drink.

The keg-shape can one brewer marketed not long ago is an
exception; it does look different.

On 04/20/2015 08:18 AM, wrote:
philo: The mind is amazing that way - the EXACT SAME SHAPE
container can look different dressed in the livery of an alcoholic
beverage as opposed to that of a soft drink.

The keg-shape can one brewer marketed not long ago is an
exception; it does look different.




OTOH: I've seen people say that two cars looked alike, when they did
not...they were simply painted the same color and were about the same size.

On 4/20/2015 9:07 AM, RobertMacy wrote:

Today? Sadly, NEVER explain. Even when asked. Say NOTHING. [I learned
the hard way(s).]

And, yes, that sounds like great wisdom.

-
..
Christopher A. Young
learn more about Jesus
.. www.lds.org
..
..

On Monday, April 20, 2015 at 7:30:53 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 19:16:23 -0400, Dan Espen
wrote:

micky writes:

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 21:03:25 -0500, Dean Hoffman
wrote:

philo wrote:
On 04/18/2015 01:04 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9

Very good!

From Popular Mechanics.

The cost of the can is considerably more than the beer itself.

I bookmarked his series on YouTube called Engineerguy. That's

I'll chec it out.

some interesting stuff. The show How It's Made on the Science Channel
is good to watch.

I'm still trying to use the youtube software!

No you aren't.

Youtube is a web site that sends audio files to your computer.

The software you use to play those files is on _your_ computer.

It's driven by the html code in the youtube webpage.

Why after all these years can't I play it backwards?

Not something most people would want to do.

Or at least, is
there a good way to go back 30 seconds and replay something?

That makes more sense than playing backwards.

Most browser video players have a progress bar at the bottom
of the screen. Drag the dot with the mouse.

Have you actually tried that?. It works very badly when it works at
all.

When I
press pause, it always has a hard time restarting

Press the triangular forward button.

It usually doen't work.

And this time I started to watch the animated version mentioned during
Engineer Guy's good version. I got bored and wanted to go to one of the
other many selections, but how to do I make the one I'm watching finish
right away?

Same deal with the progress bar.

Moving the dot to the end has worked for me once, but it didn't work
this time. Instead the video would not go forward any farther.

Are you claiming this stuff works for you, or only that you've never
wanted to do these things,

What browser do you use? What OS?

I'm using Win 7 and IE here and youtube works OK. Always
has on previous OS's and Microsoft browsers too. Occasionally
something will happen, it won't restart, you can't move forward
to a new spot. But then just reloading the page almost always
fixes it. The beer can video worked here.

On Monday, April 20, 2015 at 4:41:39 AM UTC-4, Robert Macy wrote:
On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 05:44:43 -0700, philo wrote:

On 04/19/2015 07:15 AM, RobertMacy wrote:
On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 11:04:26 -0700, wrote:


Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.


not sure I understand the question. However, I always thought the subtle
difference between soda and beer can shape was to enable highway
patrolman an easy visual differentiation at a distance between drinking
while driving and having a soda.



It was a rhetorical question.

The OP was not asking a question.

That said, what makes you think a soda can and a beer can look different?


The difference is the label and the contents.

My reply was 'tongue in cheek'

Maybe just me, but 12 oz beer cans look TOTALLY different than 12 oz soda
cans. Haven't bought any in loooonnnnng time, so maybe the two are now the
same.


Just to make sure I'm not crazy, I just compared a Miller Lite
beer can to a Coke can. They are virtually identical, except
for the labeling. And from recollection, they've been that way
for a long time. Even when they were slightly different, I don't
buy that a cop could see if you're drinking a beer or soda from
the shape of the can while you're driving in a car.
Not unless he's so close that he can easily figure out
which one it probably is from the color/labeling.

On 04/20/2015 08:41 AM, trader_4 wrote:

The OP was not asking a question.

That said, what makes you think a soda can and a beer can look different?


The difference is the label and the contents.

My reply was 'tongue in cheek'

Maybe just me, but 12 oz beer cans look TOTALLY different than 12 oz soda
cans. Haven't bought any in loooonnnnng time, so maybe the two are now the
same.


Just to make sure I'm not crazy, I just compared a Miller Lite
beer can to a Coke can. They are virtually identical, except
for the labeling. And from recollection, they've been that way
for a long time. Even when they were slightly different, I don't
buy that a cop could see if you're drinking a beer or soda from
the shape of the can while you're driving in a car.
Not unless he's so close that he can easily figure out
which one it probably is from the color/labeling.




Yep.


Even if the cans were a bit different no cop could tell from a distance
unless he saw the label.


I recall at one time there were (probably still are) fake labels for
soda you could wrap around a beer can so allow you to drink beer in
public places where drinking beer was not allowed.

micky writes:

On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 19:16:23 -0400, Dan Espen
wrote:

micky writes:

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 21:03:25 -0500, Dean Hoffman
wrote:

philo wrote:
On 04/18/2015 01:04 PM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9

Very good!

From Popular Mechanics.

The cost of the can is considerably more than the beer itself.

I bookmarked his series on YouTube called Engineerguy. That's

I'll chec it out.

some interesting stuff. The show How It's Made on the Science Channel
is good to watch.

I'm still trying to use the youtube software!

No you aren't.

Youtube is a web site that sends audio files to your computer.

The software you use to play those files is on _your_ computer.

It's driven by the html code in the youtube webpage.

What?

The html contains the name of the video file.
The verb "driven" is not correct.
Try "named".

Why after all these years can't I play it backwards?

Not something most people would want to do.

Or at least, is
there a good way to go back 30 seconds and replay something?

That makes more sense than playing backwards.

Most browser video players have a progress bar at the bottom
of the screen. Drag the dot with the mouse.

Have you actually tried that?. It works very badly when it works at
all.

Yes, I tried it.
It's far from exact and worse the longer the video is.
But it's all most browser/video players provide.

To get more control, you'd need to download the video and use
a different player. Youtube doesn't want you to download the videos
but if you are persistent, you might find a way.


When I
press pause, it always has a hard time restarting

Press the triangular forward button.

It usually doen't work.

Can't remark on your experience, just my own.
Works every time for me.
Be aware that any click on the video is usually a pause.
Also there may be some keyboard keys that affect playing.
It would be nice if the cursor keys worked, but they didn't
for the browser I tried.

And this time I started to watch the animated version mentioned during
Engineer Guy's good version. I got bored and wanted to go to one of the
other many selections, but how to do I make the one I'm watching finish
right away?

Same deal with the progress bar.

Moving the dot to the end has worked for me once, but it didn't work
this time. Instead the video would not go forward any farther.

Are you claiming this stuff works for you, or only that you've never
wanted to do these things,

What browser do you use? What OS?

Works for me.

Firefox/Linux.

--
Dan Espen

On 04/20/2015 07:18 AM, wrote:
philo: The mind is amazing that way - the EXACT SAME SHAPE
container can look different dressed in the livery of an alcoholic
beverage as opposed to that of a soft drink.

Years ago I drove a school bus. I'd been into town on my bicycle and had
gotten a can of Safeway cola out of the machine in front of the store.
While hanging around with the other drivers waiting for the afternoon
run, I took the can out of my pack and popped the top. I got some
strange looks since the color scheme was similar to a can of PBR.

On 2015-04-20, trader_4 wrote:

Not unless he's so close that he can easily figure out
which one it probably is from the color/labeling.

As for the cops, you'd be surprised what they can see. I had a CHP
blow past me on his motorcycle --on my right-- doing about 10-15 mph
faster than me. When he was jes off my starbard bow, he slowed,
looked back, and made a jesture which unmistakenly meant, "put on your
seatbelt", then took off again.

nb

On 04/20/2015 07:41 AM, trader_4 wrote:
Just to make sure I'm not crazy, I just compared a Miller Lite
beer can to a Coke can. They are virtually identical, except
for the labeling. And from recollection, they've been that way
for a long time. Even when they were slightly different, I don't
buy that a cop could see if you're drinking a beer or soda from
the shape of the can while you're driving in a car.
Not unless he's so close that he can easily figure out
which one it probably is from the color/labeling.

Like I said in another post, I've had people standing 6' away mistake a
can of cola for a can of beer just because of the color scheme.

philo wrote: "- show quoted text -
OTOH: I've seen people say that two cars looked alike, when they did
not...they were simply painted the same color and were about the same size. "


Not surprised, especially now when you can have any shape car you
want - aerodynamic! Useta be I could tell cars apart at night just by
the shapes/numbers of headlamps. During daylight, these new Fords
and Hyundais are practically indistinguishable from any angle(Focus
vs Elantra, Fusion vs 2015 Sonata). And Lexus lately has a hard-on
for Mercedes tail-lamps!

On 04/20/2015 08:54 AM, wrote:
philo wrote: "- show quoted text -
OTOH: I've seen people say that two cars looked alike, when they did
not...they were simply painted the same color and were about the same size. "


Not surprised, especially now when you can have any shape car you
want - aerodynamic! Useta be I could tell cars apart at night just by
the shapes/numbers of headlamps. During daylight, these new Fords
and Hyundais are practically indistinguishable from any angle(Focus
vs Elantra, Fusion vs 2015 Sonata). And Lexus lately has a hard-on
for Mercedes tail-lamps!




Yep, back in the old days cars were quite distinctive.


Now days they all look pretty much the same.


OTOH: Back in the old days, not only were they typically unsafe gas
guzzlers, they did not usually go more than 75k miles unless you spent a
lot of money on maintenance.

Today a car can probably go 200k miles before it starts falling apart.

On 4/20/2015 7:42 AM, micky wrote:


Totally off topic, but I was stopped by a cop once on a small road from
the Rockville Pike to I-70 west of DC and Balt.

He talked to me for a while and asked me if I had been drinking. I
hadn't, and after a little while he went back to his car and I left.

It was only 5 seconds after I started driving again that I realized why
he stopped me. I had been eating from a bag of M&M's and I had to
wiggle the wheel to get an M out of the bag. So I was wiggling and
wiggling the steering wheel and he thought I was drunk.

Had I figured this out when he was there, and had I told him, would that
have been good or bad for me? Would he call that reckless driving to
eat M&M's while driving?


Similar situation about 1:30 AM when the drunks are leaving the bars. I
was trying to get a CD from the case and into the radio. I did a couple
of wiggles. I was back on my way in less than a minute.

No complaints from me though. He was trying to keep the drunks from
injuring the rest of ut.

On 04/20/2015 07:47 AM, philo wrote:
I recall at one time there were (probably still are) fake labels for
soda you could wrap around a beer can so allow you to drink beer in
public places where drinking beer was not allowed.

Isn't that what they make those foam sleeves for?

On 04/18/2015 11:04 AM, Dean Hoffman wrote:

Why is the beer/soda can shaped like it is:
http://tinyurl.com/ograss9
From Popular Mechanics.

Hi Dean,

Fascinating.

I once did work for a company that made the seam rollers
for these kind of cans. I forget how fast they said they
ran and how many cans they said they did in a second, but
it made my head spin. The seams rollers were some high
precision stuff.

-T

On 4/20/2015 7:30 AM, micky wrote:
On Sun, 19 Apr 2015 19:16:23 -0400, Dan Espen
wrote:

micky writes:



When I
press pause, it always has a hard time restarting

Press the triangular forward button.

It usually doen't work.

And this time I started to watch the animated version mentioned during
Engineer Guy's good version. I got bored and wanted to go to one of the
other many selections, but how to do I make the one I'm watching finish
right away?

Same deal with the progress bar.

Moving the dot to the end has worked for me once, but it didn't work
this time. Instead the video would not go forward any farther.

Are you claiming this stuff works for you, or only that you've never
wanted to do these things,

What browser do you use? What OS?


Youtube video progress bar:

If you click ahead of the progress bar into the black portion you need
to wait for the buffering (grey portion) to catch up. The red portion
is what has played. The grey bar in front of the red shows how much of
the video has been downloaded and buffered to your computer's memory.

I am on DSL which isn't as fast as cable so see this all the time with
youtube videos. Sometimes if I click ahead of the grey progress bar into
the black portion the video won't play and looses its connection so the
page needs manually reloaded. This is generally accompanied by an error
message.

Those on cable may never or only briefly view the grey portion of the
progress bar actually advancing and not notice the black unbuffered portion.

As far as running it backwards, as far as I know it won't do that, but
you can click on the red portion that has already played to replay all
or a portion of what has been viewed.

If you want to pause the video you are watching and watch something else
you will need to watch the second video in a new tab or new window. Just
clicking on it in the current window resets the connection of the
current window.

At least thats how it works in Firefox running on XP here.

John