what I have learned today.

[rafletcher]

About the phenomenon of the "Asian flush". (no, nothing to do with imaginatively designed Japanese toilets)

[ian]

About the phenomenon of the "Asian flush". (no, nothing to do with imaginatively designed Japanese toilets)

I usually rely on the Rogerzila to update me on these kinds of practices.

[rogerzilla]

A Calcutta* rinse is an improvised version of the Japanese techno-toilet, using an inverted shower head.

*a reference, I assume, to one's Black Hole

[geraldc]

About the phenomenon of the "Asian flush". (no, nothing to do with imaginatively designed Japanese toilets)

Also worth looking up shovel incisors, simian line, mongolian blue spot and dry ear wax for more fun Asian genetic traits

[Cudzoziemiec]

That Wilco's orange luggage straps will just, but only just, go round a 24-pack of poo paper on top of my rack. There, a practical bit of learning you can apply to your daily life! (your straps may be longer or shorter, different racks have different dimensions, the size of toilet rolls can go up as well as down, alternatives exist)

[Cudzoziemiec]

Less applicable to everyday life up here but perhaps more interesting, there is a mountain in Guinea, not far from Conakry, with the curious name of the Dog Who Smokes – le Chien qui Fume.

Despite the name, it doesn't seem to be a volcano. To me, it doesn't look much like a dog either. What do you reckon?

[ian]

That Rhode Island changed its name last year and didn't think to inform me, and not to the name I wanted, Little Rhody the Ornery State. (Sadly a more prosaic The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to The State of Rhode Island, thus depriving me of a bit of dull trivia.)

[Tim Hall]

That ISO isn't an acronym/initialisation for the International Standards Organization, on account of them being called the International Organization for Standardization.

International Organization* for Standardization' would have different acronyms in different languages (IOS in English, OIN in French for Organisation internationale de normalisation), our founders decided to give it the short form ISO**. ISO is derived from the Greek 'isos', meaning equal. Whatever the country, whatever the language, we are always ISO.

Linky: https://www.iso.org/about-us.html

*You would think they could work on a standard for the s vs z thing.

** What's the term for these anagrammed initials sets? Like UTC. In fact UTC is the only other example I can think of. 

 

[andytheflyer]

Less applicable to everyday life up here but perhaps more interesting, there is a mountain in Guinea, not far from Conakry, with the curious name of the Dog Who Smokes – le Chien qui Fume.

Despite the name, it doesn't seem to be a volcano. To me, it doesn't look much like a dog either. What do you reckon?

I can see the dog; head, ear and left shoulder/leg.  But, as a geologist, it does not look very volcanic from here.

[T42]

That Rhode Island changed its name last year and didn't think to inform me, and not to the name I wanted, Little Rhody the Ornery State. (Sadly a more prosaic The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to The State of Rhode Island, thus depriving me of a bit of dull trivia.)

Just had a gander at the Providence Plantations bit on Wiki.  These settlers were good at falling out and going off in a huff, weren't they?

[ian]

That Rhode Island changed its name last year and didn't think to inform me, and not to the name I wanted, Little Rhody the Ornery State. (Sadly a more prosaic The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to The State of Rhode Island, thus depriving me of a bit of dull trivia.)

Just had a gander at the Providence Plantations bit on Wiki.  These settlers were good at falling out and going off in a huff, weren't they?

Honestly, had the Brits not been so beastly, that was the only thing the thirteen colonies agreed on. All the various strands of puritanism viewed each other as being suspiciously tolerant (Rhode Island's willingness to accept the more dilutely religious earned it the sobriquet's 'Rogue's Island' and the 'Sewer of New England') and there was no border they could agree upon (originally, Massachusett and Connecticut charters gave them a state-height stripe all the way to the Pacific (eh? - a Native American). In reality, that meant Connecticut 'owned' the top bit of Pennsylvania and a chunk of modern-day Ohio (the Connecticut Western Reserve, it was marooned when Pennsylvania got greenlighted, a curious enclave of New England in Ohio, still remembered in the names, such as Case Western Reserve University). Mass was still bickering quite late with New York over a chunk of Erie shoreline. Et cetera.

Rhode Island was the first colony to declare independence (two months before the other laggards) and last to ratify the constitution, of course (they didn't bother to send anyone to the meeting to rehash the Articles of Confederation, where they inadvertently wrote the Constitution instead, a rather sneaky bit of sneak by the Federalists). Even then they only signed because the other twelve states threatened them with taxes and tariffs.

The plantations bit was never to do with slavery, it was a generic term for the agricultural colony, but the modern-day attribution seems to have pushed them over the edge for the name change (Rhode Island was the first state to formally abolish slavery, though it must be said they mostly ignored the fact they had for the following century).

[T42]

Modern-day attribution is a tinker's bitch.  Oh, sorry, a travelling person's gender-unspecified canine companion animal.  For the rest, it (New Eingland etc) seems like a good breeding-ground for smart-aleck authors à la Pynchon. Mechanical ducks indeed.

(Eingland? Ein Volk, Ein Boris.)  Freudian typo.

[T42]

Meanwhile, I haz lurnt that 1 human year = ~11 light-bulb years (varies with breed).  This from replacing a "15-year" bulb with its fellow from the cupboard under the stairs, the dud having been installed in January 2020.  Hope the new one lasts at least until this afternoon.

[Kim]

No doubt it would achieve 15 years^[1] pointing upwards, in well-ventilated free space and supplied with an extremely stable supply of voles at the bottom of the stated tolerance range.

It's like the tent manufacturers' definition of 'person'.


_{[1] Or, more likely, the number of hours that are equivalent to 15 years at some generous duty cycle.}

[T42]

More like 15 years pointing in whichever direction you didn't point it in. "And you switched it on? Good god, man, are you mad???".

Re definition of "person", I'm sure it is absolutely untrue that camera-bag manufacturers have cunningly-fashioned small-scale models of SLRs for the marketing photos.

Heigh ho.

[robgul]

Stepped drill bits are brilliant (I bought a cheapie set of three from Banggood) - used one to drill a hole in a piece of steel strip (repairing wheelbarrow - q.v.) - started with pilot hole and progressed a few more steps to get to an M8 size hole.  Excellent result and no drill bit changes.

[geraldc]

I stumbled upon the sub genre of YouTube video that just features Americans turning their Priuses into essentially one man air conditioned tents by ripping out the back seats and putting in a sleeping platform. Then they just drive around the country exploring and sleeping in their car. It's replaced my fantasy of joining the French foreign legion for what I would do if I ever needed to flee the country.

[campagman]

People over here do that with Renault Kangoo's or the Citroen equivalent.

[robgul]

Don't ever paint wooden parts of garden chairs with Hammerite and expect to be able to strip it off       I have some "French cafe chairs" - folding metal with wooden slat seats ... think pavement cafe.

I painted them about 30 years ago with Hammerite, wood and frame, and then overpainted with regular paint.   I'm now refurbishing them and can't get the paint off the wooden bits I want to salvage.   The steel frames are going to be blasted and powder-coated and seat slats replaced with new hardwood - but it's the backrest part (curved) that I want to re-use.

... and BTW Nitromors nowadays is but a poor shadow of its former self.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

That block chained non-fungible tokens are the future.

(... and BTW Nitromors nowadays is but a poor shadow of its former self. 

It’s still possible to get industrial strength paint stripper, I last bought some off eBay)

[geraldc]

People over here do that with Renault Kangoo's or the Citroen equivalent.

Just googled them, they actually look pretty good, another thing to add  to the list.

[pcolbeck]

That the horrible taste of US chocolate is all the fault of Hersheys and WWII. Prior to that all US chocolate tasted much the same as European chocolate.

[Cudzoziemiec]

About the Vito Russo test, described as a "gay Bechdel test".

[Kim]

About the Vito Russo test, described as a "gay Bechdel test".

Needs a "...and is still alive at the end of the film".

[spesh]

About the Vito Russo test, described as a "gay Bechdel test".

Needs a "...and is still alive at the end of the film".

Shouldn't that come with an XKCD 609 warning?