what I have learned today.

[redshift]

That kestrels and probably some other raptors can see infrared.

And some women have not just red, blue & green cones in their retinae but another set that can see further into the red end of the spectrum and possibly into the near-IR range.

In raptors it's a means of finding prey...

Boring technical note: The cones aren't for red, blue and green, but for Long, Medium and Short wavelengths.  There are significant overlaps such that colour matching cameras to human sensitivities cannot be done by simple additive RGB colour mixing, but has to include mathematical matrix functions to create negative values of light.  Complicated stuff, this vision malarkey. 

[hellymedic]

Our oven doesn't recommend pre-heating, weirdly, not that I care when it's just baked taters. We don't have a microwave or a slow cooker. It's a function I've only used 2 or 3 times in 4 years.

I only preheat my oven when baking CAEK as I don't think I'm very safe with hot ovens.

I don't think our food has suffered.

[Kim]

Our oven doesn't recommend pre-heating, weirdly, not that I care when it's just baked taters. We don't have a microwave or a slow cooker. It's a function I've only used 2 or 3 times in 4 years.

I only preheat my oven when baking CAEK as I don't think I'm very safe with hot ovens.

I don't think our food has suffered.

Indeed.  Pre-heating likely makes for more consistent cooking time between different ovens, so makes sense when writing recipes and instructions, but most oveny things can be cooked from cold if you apply an appropriate fudge factor to the cooking time.

[hellymedic]

Fudge factor is negligible for roast meats and can be conveniently ignored IME.

[Ham]

I'd beg to differ when it comes to rare roasts, but each to their own. There are a few foods that need pre-heating: pastry, souffle, cake for eg, some that benefit from pre-heating, eg roasts other than chicken where the heat seals it. But the weird thing on my oven is that it has a fast heat up option. "Well, I can get hot quickly but only if you tickle my ear and ask me nicely" Under what circumstances would you not want an oven to get to temperature as quickly as possible?

[T42]

That kestrels and probably some other raptors can see infrared.

And some women have not just red, blue & green cones in their retinae but another set that can see further into the red end of the spectrum and possibly into the near-IR range.

In raptors it's a means of finding prey...

Boring technical note: The cones aren't for red, blue and green, but for Long, Medium and Short wavelengths.  There are significant overlaps such that colour matching cameras to human sensitivities cannot be done by simple additive RGB colour mixing, but has to include mathematical matrix functions to create negative values of light.  Complicated stuff, this vision malarkey. 

So what we call, e.g., red is not just the output of the longwave cone but the result of an arcane form of proportional representation.  Figures. Also explains the colours of that dress.

[ian]

I'd beg to differ when it comes to rare roasts, but each to their own. There are a few foods that need pre-heating: pastry, souffle, cake for eg, some that benefit from pre-heating, eg roasts other than chicken where the heat seals it. But the weird thing on my oven is that it has a fast heat up option. "Well, I can get hot quickly but only if you tickle my ear and ask me nicely" Under what circumstances would you not want an oven to get to temperature as quickly as possible?

Yes, mine has a boost setting too, which has always puzzled me. I can't think of a reason I'd want it to warm more slowly. To be honest, it doesn't seem to make much difference compared to the main fan oven setting. There are loads of settings on the dial whose main function seems to be to either fail to cook my food by blowing fart-temperature air over it or burn it death by randomly invoking the grill.

Never understood the schedule setting, it seems to be the function only activated when you fudge-finger the timer and then have to send a further five minutes pressing random unmemorable combinations of buttons while muttering 'oh for fuck's sake' under your breath until the cursed icon disappears.

[redshift]

That kestrels and probably some other raptors can see infrared.

And some women have not just red, blue & green cones in their retinae but another set that can see further into the red end of the spectrum and possibly into the near-IR range.

In raptors it's a means of finding prey...

Boring technical note: The cones aren't for red, blue and green, but for Long, Medium and Short wavelengths.  There are significant overlaps such that colour matching cameras to human sensitivities cannot be done by simple additive RGB colour mixing, but has to include mathematical matrix functions to create negative values of light.  Complicated stuff, this vision malarkey. 

So what we call, e.g., red is not just the output of the longwave cone but the result of an arcane form of proportional representation.  Figures. Also explains the colours of that dress.

It's worse than you think though, because most of it's made up by your braIn, which lies to you all the time.  The CIE have some nice charts to codify it all, but TV camera colorimetry is adjusted all the time by the vision supervisor, (or colour graded after editing) otherwise we lose the illusion of it being 'real.'

[nicknack]

because most of it's made up by your braIn, which lies to you all the time. 

It's the same with hearing - but try telling a musician (or hi-fi buff) that. Most of them seem to think that what they're hearing is objective truth. Old, sorry, 'vintage' instruments always sound better, for instance.

[rafletcher]

That there's yet another variation to size/shape that I need to resolve when building my latest bicycle - this time saddle rail size and shape vs seatpost clamp. Bah, I though I had everything sorted after finding the "Shimano Hollow Flanged Bolt 9mm" that is used to connect hydraulic hose to 8070 shifters (as opposed to the straight 8mm connector that's used on 8050's and other shifters.)

[Mr Larrington]

because most of it's made up by your braIn, which lies to you all the time. 

It's the same with hearing - but try telling a musician (or hi-fi buff) that. Most of them seem to think that what they're hearing is objective truth. Old, sorry, 'vintage' instruments always sound better, for instance.

I believe a Mr K Richards of Dartford noted that if you give him a guitar he'll have it sounding just like all his other guitars inside half an hour.

[rafletcher]

because most of it's made up by your braIn, which lies to you all the time. 

It's the same with hearing - but try telling a musician (or hi-fi buff) that. Most of them seem to think that what they're hearing is objective truth. Old, sorry, 'vintage' instruments always sound better, for instance.

Oh yes, and those who insist that a "high quality" mains plug makes all the difference.

http://www.evoaudio.uk/index.htm#MSHDPUK13ARh

[nicknack]

because most of it's made up by your braIn, which lies to you all the time. 

It's the same with hearing - but try telling a musician (or hi-fi buff) that. Most of them seem to think that what they're hearing is objective truth. Old, sorry, 'vintage' instruments always sound better, for instance.

I believe a Mr K Richards of Dartford noted that if you give him a guitar he'll have it sounding just like all his other guitars inside half an hour.

Aye. Sax players who want to sound like Charlie Parker (why?) obsess about his gear, forgetting that he often played on whatever he could scrounge, having hocked his last sax for drugs. He always sounded like himself.

[Tim Hall]

because most of it's made up by your braIn, which lies to you all the time. 

It's the same with hearing - but try telling a musician (or hi-fi buff) that. Most of them seem to think that what they're hearing is objective truth. Old, sorry, 'vintage' instruments always sound better, for instance.

Oh yes, and those who insist that a "high quality" mains plug makes all the difference.

http://www.evoaudio.uk/index.htm#MSHDPUK13ARh

I see that the £66 plugs are compliant with "all relevant safety standards, including BS". I think BS has two possible meanings here. 

[ian]

That kestrels and probably some other raptors can see infrared.

And some women have not just red, blue & green cones in their retinae but another set that can see further into the red end of the spectrum and possibly into the near-IR range.

In raptors it's a means of finding prey...

Boring technical note: The cones aren't for red, blue and green, but for Long, Medium and Short wavelengths.  There are significant overlaps such that colour matching cameras to human sensitivities cannot be done by simple additive RGB colour mixing, but has to include mathematical matrix functions to create negative values of light.  Complicated stuff, this vision malarkey. 

So what we call, e.g., red is not just the output of the longwave cone but the result of an arcane form of proportional representation.  Figures. Also explains the colours of that dress.

It's worse than you think though, because most of it's made up by your braIn, which lies to you all the time.  The CIE have some nice charts to codify it all, but TV camera colorimetry is adjusted all the time by the vision supervisor, (or colour graded after editing) otherwise we lose the illusion of it being 'real.'

It's even worserer, everything you see is just a model in your brain. There's no way we can process the amount of visual information, so our eyes sample it and our brains make up the rest. That and, of course, by the time we've assimilated and modelled the data, several microseconds or more have passed, so you're seeing a world that has already gone by.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Which means we're all living in the past. The present does not exist. But I think we knew that already.

[caerau]

[Kim]

I believe a Mr K Richards of Dartford noted that if you give him a guitar he'll have it sounding just like all his other guitars inside half an hour.

I seem to go through a broadly similar process with bicycles.

[Beardy]

I believe a Mr K Richards of Dartford noted that if you give him a guitar he'll have it sounding just like all his other guitars inside half an hour.

I seem to go through a broadly similar process with bicycles.

You tune your bicycles so they all sound the same?? 😁

[ElyDave]

I believe a Mr K Richards of Dartford noted that if you give him a guitar he'll have it sounding just like all his other guitars inside half an hour.

I seem to go through a broadly similar process with bicycles.

You tune your bicycles so they all sound the same?? 😁

Nobut I do know when they are each going out of tune.  Got my M5 sounding just right now.

My eyes seem to be telling me it's still black as well, so bonus there.

[Kim]

I believe a Mr K Richards of Dartford noted that if you give him a guitar he'll have it sounding just like all his other guitars inside half an hour.

I seem to go through a broadly similar process with bicycles.

You tune your bicycles so they all sound the same?? 😁

It's more that if you don't exercise deliberate self-control, all bicycles eventually get customised into a touring bike.

[rower40]

Presumably there's a break-even point for physical media that's easily achieved when your smalls watch Frozen^[2] for the eleventy-zillionth time.



_{[2] Other annoying Disney films are available.}

I don't know where the balance is, but all copies of Frozen should be destroyed.

_{Writing as parent of smalls...}
Let it go.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I have learned that there is a song from Frozen called Let it Go. 

[ElyDave]

I have learned that there is a song from Frozen called Let it Go. 

Can you sing it for me?  I don't think I've heard it 

[ElyDave]

the BBC can't count.  On the 7 question quiz of the week I got 5 right and ended up with a score of 4/6