what I have learned today.

[citoyen]

The iconic photo of Billy the Kid has him in a large top hat. He does look like the sort of chap you'd cross the street to avoid though.

I have read that Mr The Kid had syphilis and shot most of his victims in the back.  Even by USAnian standards this makes him an unlikely choice for a hero.

Also surprising were his great friendship with Socrates and his ability to deal with the oddity of time travel with the greatest of ease.

[T42]

IIRC the bowler was invented by some lord or other for his gamekeepers & outdoor staff, the idea being that the hard dome afforded a measure of protection from falling objects such as poachers' bludgeons.  Crooks the world over adopted it - witness the City of London.

[TheLurker]

The iconic photo of Billy the Kid has him in a large top hat. He does look like the sort of chap you'd cross the street to avoid though.

I have read that Mr The Kid had syphilis and shot most of his victims in the back.  Even by USAnian standards this makes him an unlikely choice for a hero.

Also surprising ... his great friendship with Socrates...

Oh I don't know.  They were both quite anti-authority / anti-social in their view of society.  More to the point they were both hardened criminals.

[L CC]

That'd be this one?

If not Swindon, then Devizes.

Sunderland style.

[ian]

The iconic photo of Billy the Kid has him in a large top hat. He does look like the sort of chap you'd cross the street to avoid though.

I have read that Mr The Kid had syphilis and shot most of his victims in the back.  Even by USAnian standards this makes him an unlikely choice for a hero.

I think everyone had syphillis back then. So pretty much like Swindon today.

I've never been to Swindon, I may be doing the people a great disservice.

[ElyDave]

That'd be this one?

If not Swindon, then Devizes.

That's half the denizens of the Fens, brings to life NFN

[andytheflyer]

That'd be this one?

If not Swindon, then Devizes.

That's half the denizens of the Fens, brings to life NFN

Only half?  And I have the webbed feet and a Yellerbelly to prove it..........

[Mr Larrington]

Alec Guinness once played the role of Adolf Hitler.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

IIRC the bowler was invented by some lord or other for his gamekeepers & outdoor staff, the idea being that the hard dome afforded a measure of protection from falling objects such as poachers' bludgeons.  Crooks the world over adopted it - witness the City of London.

Supervisors in shipyards took to them because it was not unknown for rivetters to drop rivets when working at speed.  Rivets were heated up before use, too.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I don't think I've ever encountered yards in the wild,

That's quite a frightening thing to say when you've been cycling and driving in the UK for decades. Though I suppose it's normal.

I've never driven in the UK though, only the US. That may or may not be less frightening, I think they use yards, but I can't be sure. Road signs r fur shootin'

Okay, I don't know what they have in the US (although I have cycled in LA, but it was a long time ago) but yards are on all sorts of UK road signs. Admittedly being told that a hazard is 100m off isn't terribly urgent at cyclist speed. And yeah, even in Somerset road signs get shot at.

I did, when googling the matter, discover this source of prime gammon. Metric martyrs. I will happily adopt the term if there's genuine killing to be done.

It's all there. Compulsory... Illegal... Conspiracy... Disruptive... Disaster... Without consumers knowing... EC directive... Not a UK government decision...
There must be a loonjob conspiracy template with all these terms on and the loonjob conspiratists just fill in the guff of their choice, whether it's lizard people, 5G or metric martyrdom.

The patron of this lunacy? Kate Hoey

[T42]

That you're not supposed to use cling film in the microwave.  Upon learning the which, I used the ordinary cover and transformed my recipe* for swift and succulent spare ribs into one for jerky with bones.

* someone else's, purloined

[rafletcher]

That you're not supposed to use cling film in the microwave.

Why ever not? It shouldn’t be in contact with the food, but otherwise it’s ok.

[Mr Larrington]

Barry Cryer's cover of “The Purple People Eater” was a #1 hit in Finland.

[Kim]

That you're not supposed to use cling film in the microwave.

Why ever not? It shouldn’t be in contact with the food, but otherwise it’s ok.

Wait, what?

*googles*

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5mKq06jg32zpzwBTR1sYQp8/is-it-safe-to-use-cling-film-in-the-microwave

I assume unsafe cling film is another one of those brexit dividends that we can look forward to...

[Cudzoziemiec]

I knew about the transfer to fats, but I would have thought a potential problem with microwaving cling film, let alone using it in a conventional oven, was the risk of it melting.

[Kim]

IME the main problem with microwaving cling film (which I do all the time, somehow having missed this advice) is that you can end up with it stretching to contain a bubble of superheated steam, which will squirt directly at the fingers of whoever is stupid enough to try un-peeling it in that state.  A mistake that I make with tedious regularity.

[ian]

Clingfilm puts chemicals in food. Oh no, chemicals.

[hatler]

"I'm never going to eat anything with chemicals in." I'm sure someone in the US must have said that.

[T42]

It was marked on the box of the film I used.  "Unsuitable" (ne convient pas or some such) was the wording.

Any time I've cooked with it I've put a few holes in it to bleed off steam pressure. That avoids melt'n'sag while conserving the bulk of the juices. I suppose it acts as a condenser, so that extra dethly chemikazis can leach out and recycle into the sauce.  I'll have another go this lunchtime and bring ye word again if I change sex before tomorrow.

[ian]

If you ever cook in a pan then your food will be laced with metal ions, the fluorinated non-stick coating, and the burnt carcinogenic residues of previous cooking attempts.

[T42]

"Oh goody, let's have lots." - Connie Sachs

[Mr Larrington]

"I'm never going to eat anything with chemicals in." I'm sure someone in the US must have said that.

Gwyneth Paltrow, probably.

[andytheflyer]

"Oh goody, let's have lots." - Connie Sachs

I hope, when I go to my grave after a few years of dribbling and worse, I shall still remember this milestone in the evolution of the televisual experience in the English-speaking world.  I thought the original series was simply life-changing, and the remake almost as good. I thank you T42 for reminding me.  I thank you JLeC for changing my world.  I thank you George Smiley, Control and the rest.  Simply stunning.

Ranks up there with the attack ships on the shoulder of Orion.

[TheLurker]

"I'm never going to eat anything with chemicals in." I'm sure someone in the US must have said that.

Well given chlorinated chicken and Hershey's "chocolate"  that's probably the only safe attitude to have in the US. 

[Cudzoziemiec]

It's certainly been said in the UK