what I have learned today.

[T42]

That in Denmark they have special bins for recycling flamingos.

In Danish, flamingo can also mean polystyrene.

(yeah, I know they were polywhateverelse.)

[Mr Larrington]

Chipshop vinegar isn't vinegar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-brewed_condiment

How much vinegar would you have to be getting through for it to make a dent in your profits? Isn't malt vinegar about a pound a litre?

(In the brewed-but-not-distilled column, aren't most alcopops brewed to strength rather than spirits+mixer? I was always surprised trading standards allowed Smirnoff Ice to get away with that.)

Dunno, but most cheap super-strength "cider" has never been within shouting distance of an apple.

[ian]

As far as I know 'white' cider is made from fermented apple mush and then the resultant apple 'wine' is part-distilled, filtered and concentrated and then watered back down to the correct strength for street drinkers. It's basically the same method as making neutral spirit from apples but there's no actual apple taste in the result, that's just a post-dilution flavouring. You could make it with any other neutral spirit but I suspect you can't call the result 'cider.'

I think non-brewed condiment (acetic acid and caramel colouring) is a tradition, it was when I was a lad. They probably invented it in the war to get around vinegar shortages and Hitler was a known hoarder. He loved pickles, did the Führer.

What does make me angry is cheap brown sauce, especially when cafes have obviously refilled HP bottles with it. Seriously, how much money do they save on not buying HP and everyone knows that the only brown sauce that matters.

[hellymedic]

Is vinegar legitimate food for certain faiths if it is brewed?

Strictly orthodox Jews will not consume grape-based products that have not been produced under religious auspices. This includes grape juice, wine and wine vinegar.

There is no problem with other fruit.

Passover brings another bunch of grain-based issues but that's only a week.

We had chemical acetic acid supplied by our Kosher grocer to use as vinegar.

Fermentation per se is not prohibited by Jews but there are caveats about what is fermented.

[PeteB99]

Didn't wine play quite a big part in the old and new testaments?

I Knew that a lot of the temperance movements shunned vinager on the grounds it might have been made from wine.

[Mr Larrington]

There are more than a few bonkers christian fundies who insist that when the bibble refers to "wine" it really means "grape juice".  How Lot's daughters got him rat-arsed enough to commit incest is, curiously, something about which they are uncharacteristically silent.

[ElyDave]

There are more than a few bonkers christian fundies who insist that when the bibble refers to "wine" it really means "grape juice".  How Lot's daughters got him rat-arsed enough to commit incest is, curiously, something about which they are uncharacteristically silent.

whereas rationally, fermentation, pickling, smoking, salting, cheesing etc were all methods of preserving calories from harvest for later consumption or famine.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That Zoopla is part owned by the Daily Mail. House hunting can cause/cure cancer!

[citoyen]

That this design for a home-made nipple driver what I found on the internet is vastly superior to the tool I paid £18 for...

[Bledlow]

Chipshop vinegar isn't vinegar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-brewed_condiment

Kim, you have had a sheltered life if you've just found that out.

[pcolbeck]

That my Dad's Dad was a commandant in the Irish Army and was in the guard of honour at the funeral of Michael Collins.

Blimey.

[T42]

Just how much work can be involved in flattening the sole of a cheap plane.  And just how soft (badly-tempered or just plain un-) the blades can be. Shall have a go at that with the blow-torch and a bowl of water.

[Torslanda]

That if you fail to put the cat out and it suffers a gastric emergency at 2am you're gonna need a new duvet - and sleep with the windows open* . . . 


* No amount of febreze, V I Poo or anything else will mitigate the stink. Think the bin men got a surprise this morning but no reports of anyone in HazMat suits!

[Mrs Pingu]

That if you fail to put the cat out and it suffers a gastric emergency at 2am you're gonna need a new duvet - and sleep with the windows open* . . . 


* No amount of febreze, V I Poo or anything else will mitigate the stink. Think the bin men got a surprise this morning but no reports of anyone in HazMat suits!

More importantly,  is the cat ok?

[pcolbeck]

Just how much work can be involved in flattening the sole of a cheap plane.  And just how soft (badly-tempered or just plain un-) the blades can be. Shall have a go at that with the blow-torch and a bowl of water.

Get thee to a car boot sale and buy old planes form the 60s and before. Flat as a flat thing and super hard blades.

[TheLurker]

If you bank with RBS* it is possible, at the moment, to opt to receive only chip and pin cards instead of contactless cards.


*Likewise National-Westminster

[Vince]

Lloyds too.

[T42]

Just how much work can be involved in flattening the sole of a cheap plane.  And just how soft (badly-tempered or just plain un-) the blades can be. Shall have a go at that with the blow-torch and a bowl of water.

Get thee to a car boot sale and buy old planes form the 60s and before. Flat as a flat thing and super hard blades.

Such is my intent, although car boot sales are unknown animals in France. We do have fleamarkets, though. Annoyingly they're almost always on Sundays, the best day of the week for cycling.

I did give my old 1970-ish Stanley N° 4 a going-over, and it's taking better and easier shavings now than it did new. Have also inherited the Inlaw Paw's N° 4 from the same period, and after grinding out the nicks it's cutting beautifully; so I now have a couple of N°4s when I would really like a 4 & a 5 or 5½.

Currently letching at an Axminster 5½...

[fuzzy]

Just how much work can be involved in flattening the sole of a cheap plane.  And just how soft (badly-tempered or just plain un-) the blades can be. Shall have a go at that with the blow-torch and a bowl of water.

Get thee to a car boot sale and buy old planes form the 60s and before. Flat as a flat thing and super hard blades.

A Glocester Meteor or Vickers Viscount?

[T42]

Just how much work can be involved in flattening the sole of a cheap plane.  And just how soft (badly-tempered or just plain un-) the blades can be. Shall have a go at that with the blow-torch and a bowl of water.

Get thee to a car boot sale and buy old planes form the 60s and before. Flat as a flat thing and super hard blades.

A Glocester Meteor or Vickers Viscount?

I saw somewhere that the light-sabre handles in the first Star Wars were Gloucester Meteor fuel injectors. How are the mighty fallen and all that.

[clarion]

*Gloster

[TheLurker]

That the 15th of March is Hungary's (sort of) national day marking the revolution of 1848/9 and its, short lived, independance from the Habsburg Empire.

[T42]

*Gloster

Right enough.  Goes against the grain, though.

ETA originally Gloucestershire Aircraft Company, renamed because furriners couldn't pronounce it (Wiki dixit).

I wonder when that bunch Fotheringay are going to realize they're really fungi.

[Vince]

Hucclecote Aircraft company

My first full time job was in one of the old GAC hangers in Hucclecote.

[Ham]

Why A4 is 21 x 29.7 cm.

It all starts with a 1m² sheet that can be folded and retain the same proportions, which means you solve for

2^-2 x L x H = 1m², which has one answer, H = 0.8409 cm, L =1.1892 - That's A0. Fold 4 times and you get A4

(in French, here)