what I have learned today.

[rogerzilla]

M323 SPD pedals (the original combo pedals) hurt my feet on long rides, specifically the outside of my foot.  The cage must contact the shoe.

[ian]

Strawberries don't make the chemical that gives them a strawberry taste, that's made by bacteria on their leaves. But to get the bacteria to make the chemical, strawberry plants have to emit methane. Basically, they're farting for flavour.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That Alice B. Toeclips refers to Jacquie Phelan.

[T42]

That restaurants don't have an inside track that gets them tender faux filet. Half an hour of sawing and aerobic mastication last night.

[Ham]

Inspired by ^^^ and a desire to confirm that I knew vaguely where cuts like Faux Filet, Hampe, Onglet and Bavette came from, I discovered the sheer volume of different French cuts of beef https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_of_beef

[Basil]

That a small poo bag full of blackberries is exactly the correct amount for a blackberry and apple crumble.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That in the 1960s, Fordson tractors ran on paraffin, because it was much cheaper than petrol or diesel, but they still needed petrol to prime. I don't know if this was make-specific or a general feature of tractors at the time. Further, that around 1966 petrol rationing was very briefly introduced as a result of collision in the Suez Canal.

[robgul]

That in the 1960s, Fordson tractors ran on paraffin, because it was much cheaper than petrol or diesel, but they still needed petrol to prime. I don't know if this was make-specific or a general feature of tractors at the time. Further, that around 1966 petrol rationing was very briefly introduced as a result of collision in the Suez Canal.

Not strictly accurate that it was paraffin - it was TVO (Tractor Vaporising Oil) which was a mix of paraffin and, I think, about 10% petrol.  The TVO tractors went right back to the early "little Grey Fergies" of the early 1950s [a bit of trivia - the Ferguson had the same engine as a 1949 Standard Vanguard car]

The tractor had a two-compartment fuel tank, roughly 80/20, with a tap that switched from one to the other - you started the engine on petrol, once it was warm (i.e. able to vaporise the TVO) you switched to the other tank and used that for the work - when you stopped you had to switch back to the petrol tank for a few minutes to make sure the carb had petrol in it for next time's cold start.

About 35 years ago I had a house with some paddocks and had a grey Ferguson - great fun - with a 6' wide mower and a couple of other implements driven from the rear PTO.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That looks exactly like the tractor my father-in-law built for himself! That was from the 90s and had a diesel engine (no, he didn't make the engine himself).

[robgul]

That looks exactly like the tractor my father-in-law built for himself! That was from the 90s and had a diesel engine (no, he didn't make the engine himself).

I can't remember the precise age of my TVO Ferguson in the picture - I think it was late 1940s/early 1950s.   Later models when Ferguson morphed into Massey Ferguson did have diesel engines and were painted red instead of grey.    The real innovation with the Fergie was the lifting/PTO mechanism at the back that allowed all sorts of implements to be used - mowers, transport boxes, ploughs, harrows . . . and the PTO to drive things like saw benches and log-splitters.  That same system is the basis for the rear end of today's tractors.

Two of my daughters did their first driving on the tractor, at the ages of about 6 and 8.  The throttle was a lever on the steering column and you sat pretty much on top of the gearbox with the lever between your legs - pedals (and footrests) for clutch and brake were either side and just forward of the gearbox.

[T42]

I used to pass Harry Ferguson's showroom every day on my way to school.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

That my British Eagle Touristique has only 16 gears. Also that 8-speed chains are much cheaper than 9-speed.

[hatler]

That looks exactly like the tractor my father-in-law built for himself! That was from the 90s and had a diesel engine (no, he didn't make the engine himself).

I can't remember the precise age of my TVO Ferguson in the picture - I think it was late 1940s/early 1950s.   Later models when Ferguson morphed into Massey Ferguson did have diesel engines and were painted red instead of grey.    The real innovation with the Fergie was the lifting/PTO mechanism at the back that allowed all sorts of implements to be used - mowers, transport boxes, ploughs, harrows . . . and the PTO to drive things like saw benches and log-splitters.  That same system is the basis for the rear end of today's tractors.

Two of my daughters did their first driving on the tractor, at the ages of about 6 and 8.  The throttle was a lever on the steering column and you sat pretty much on top of the gearbox with the lever between your legs - pedals (and footrests) for clutch and brake were either side and just forward of the gearbox.

My late F-i-L had both a grey and a red Fergie. Our kids' first driving experiences were on the red one. Great bits of kit.

[chrisbainbridge]

That Field and Stream, a hunting shooting, fishing magazine reviewed a book by DH Lawrence in 1959

Although written many years ago, Lady Chatterley's Lover has just been reissued by the Grove Press, and this fictional account of the day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper is still of considerable interest to outdoor minded readers, as it contains many passages on pheasant raising, the apprehending of poachers, ways to control vermin, and other chores and duties of the professional gamekeeper.

"Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material in order to discover and savor these sidelights on the management of a Midlands shooting estate, and in this reviewer's opinion this book cannot take the place of J.R. Miller's Practical Gamekeeping" (Ed Zern, Field and Stream, November 1959, p. 142).

This was apparently the first legal unexpurgated publication of the book and the alternative book recommended does not actually exist.

I remember as a teenager reading my father's Penguin copy which was published in 1960 after I was born.

[Canardly]

Ah but did you allow your manservant to read it?

[Cudzoziemiec]

This would suggest that someone in Field & Stream had a sense of humour. 

[fimm]

..  and she said "Oh yes, someone who taught Darwin was black." (She mentioned the name but I do not remember it.)

John Edmonstone - a taxidermist who worked for, amongst other, the University of Edinburgh Medical School. A freed slave from British Guiana, taught by naturalist and explorer Charles Waterton (and plantation owner, it has to be said). Darwin describes Edmonstone in his autobiography as "a very pleasant and intelligent man" - the former witnessed many of the horrors of colonialism on his travels, though maybe Edmonstone also influenced Darwin's abolitionist beliefs.

Thank you, Tomsk, interesting.

[spesh]

Ah but did you allow your manservant to read it?

ISWYDT 

[Mrs Pingu]

Went round the garden this afternoon Google Lens-ing all the plants to find out what they are. Happily a good selection of flowering herbs which the bees are enjoying (except for the sage). Think the box hedge might get evicted though.

[T42]

That Field and Stream, a hunting shooting, fishing magazine reviewed a book by DH Lawrence in 1959

Although written many years ago, Lady Chatterley's Lover has just been reissued by the Grove Press, and this fictional account of the day-to-day life of an English gamekeeper is still of considerable interest to outdoor minded readers, as it contains many passages on pheasant raising, the apprehending of poachers, ways to control vermin, and other chores and duties of the professional gamekeeper.

"Unfortunately, one is obliged to wade through many pages of extraneous material in order to discover and savor these sidelights on the management of a Midlands shooting estate, and in this reviewer's opinion this book cannot take the place of J.R. Miller's Practical Gamekeeping" (Ed Zern, Field and Stream, November 1959, p. 142).

This was apparently the first legal unexpurgated publication of the book and the alternative book recommended does not actually exist.

I remember as a teenager reading my father's Penguin copy which was published in 1960 after I was born.

Reminds me of the letter Darwin got when he first sent On The Origin Of Species for publication.  The editor suggested throwing out everything but the lengthy appendix on pigeon breeding, saying that no-one would be able to follow the first bit, but there would be a moderate market among pigeon-fanciers for the rest.

[ian]

Suffragettes 'terrorizing' London on motorized scooters was a thing (as terrorizing as current electric scooters, of course, which we have established are far worse than giant vanity pickup trucks with bullbars and a certified cunt behind the wheel). Pure fucking A.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Front wheel drive. Presumably because there's more space for the engine up front and it avoids a chain, which might get oil on her fashionably shoe-length skirt. I guess the box by her feet is for tools?

[chrisbainbridge]

I guess the box by her feet is for tools?

I assumed that was a battery.  Looking more closely it does appear to have a small petrol tank on the opposite side to the camera.

[rafletcher]

That the US Open tennis has a final set tie break at 6 all. As does the Australian, but a first to 10 as opposed to 7. Wimbledon I knew was at 12 all. The French don’t bother thus far.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I guess the box by her feet is for tools?

I assumed that was a battery.  Looking more closely it does appear to have a small petrol tank on the opposite side to the camera.

It does look like a battery. Would a little two-stroke (I'm presuming it's two-stroke from its appearance and size) engine like that need a battery? I suppose it might be difficult to start with only a magneto.

But it could also be for her dynamite and revolver.