Author Topic: what I have learned today.  (Read 846972 times)

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4200 on: 28 March, 2020, 04:08:13 pm »
That there is a cut of beef called clod.  That lends an extra flavour to insults hurled by 1930s public-schoolboys called Osbert.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4201 on: 30 March, 2020, 04:25:27 pm »
Pac-Man was originally going to be Puck-Man (which makes far more sense given his shape) but Namco realised kids would deface arcade machines to "Fuck-Man".
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4202 on: 01 April, 2020, 04:42:26 pm »
In the early 20th century, Julius Wagner-Jauregg won a Nobel Prize for treating syphillis by giving patients malaria.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4203 on: 03 April, 2020, 09:20:44 am »
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4204 on: 03 April, 2020, 09:46:45 am »
Swarfega started life as a product to clean silk stockings.

Quote
Swarfega was invented in 1947 by Audley Bowdler Williamson (28 February 1916 - 21 November 2004), an industrial chemist from Heanor, Derbyshire.[1][2] In 1941 he had founded a detergent-sales company, Deb Silkware Protection Ltd., based in Belper, to produce a formulation for extending the life of silk stockings.[3] The name derived from "debutante",[1] to signify the newness of the company and its products. The introduction of nylon stockings threatened to render it superfluous; however, Williamson purportedly suggested that mechanics had already found it useful for cleaning their hands. This may have been a myth encouraged to attract interest, but the product was reformulated and marketed as Swarfega, becoming the company's main product.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarfega
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4205 on: 03 April, 2020, 01:43:04 pm »
I learned what recrudescence means from Ian in the Coronavirus thread. Great word!

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4206 on: 03 April, 2020, 04:34:36 pm »
Swarfega started life as a product to clean silk stockings.

Quote
Swarfega was invented in 1947 by Audley Bowdler Williamson (28 February 1916 - 21 November 2004), an industrial chemist from Heanor, Derbyshire.[1][2] In 1941 he had founded a detergent-sales company, Deb Silkware Protection Ltd., based in Belper, to produce a formulation for extending the life of silk stockings.[3] The name derived from "debutante",[1] to signify the newness of the company and its products. The introduction of nylon stockings threatened to render it superfluous; however, Williamson purportedly suggested that mechanics had already found it useful for cleaning their hands. This may have been a myth encouraged to attract interest, but the product was reformulated and marketed as Swarfega, becoming the company's main product.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarfega

I learnt several years ago that swarfega can go off.  A tub bought when I was a PSO and doing stuff on my own cars was required much, much later, taken out of the garage chemical box and found to have gone distinctly nasty
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4207 on: 03 April, 2020, 05:33:22 pm »
Swarfega started life as a product to clean silk stockings.

Quote
Swarfega was invented in 1947 by Audley Bowdler Williamson (28 February 1916 - 21 November 2004), an industrial chemist from Heanor, Derbyshire.[1][2] In 1941 he had founded a detergent-sales company, Deb Silkware Protection Ltd., based in Belper, to produce a formulation for extending the life of silk stockings.[3] The name derived from "debutante",[1] to signify the newness of the company and its products. The introduction of nylon stockings threatened to render it superfluous; however, Williamson purportedly suggested that mechanics had already found it useful for cleaning their hands. This may have been a myth encouraged to attract interest, but the product was reformulated and marketed as Swarfega, becoming the company's main product.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarfega

I learnt several years ago that swarfega can go off.  A tub bought when I was a PSO and doing stuff on my own cars was required much, much later, taken out of the garage chemical box and found to have gone distinctly nasty
Now that is odd as I have a 10litre container bought 40years ago which still has a small amount left which is fine. Slightly less viscous, probably from deliquescence but still works fine.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4208 on: 03 April, 2020, 05:42:34 pm »
Dave's stockings are presumably mankier than yours.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

ian

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4209 on: 03 April, 2020, 06:07:47 pm »
I learned what recrudescence means from Ian in the Coronavirus thread. Great word!

I learned of its biological sense relatively recently, I had previously used it to refer to those colleagues who leave the mothership to much cheer in ian's heart and then, several months later, reappear in a different role yet with precisely the same set of incompetencies.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4210 on: 03 April, 2020, 06:13:04 pm »

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4211 on: 03 April, 2020, 10:13:45 pm »
I learned what recrudescence means from Ian in the Coronavirus thread. Great word!

I learned of its biological sense relatively recently, I had previously used it to refer to those colleagues who leave the mothership to much cheer in ian's heart and then, several months later, reappear in a different role yet with precisely the same set of incompetencies.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4212 on: 04 April, 2020, 08:11:36 am »
I learned what recrudescence means from Ian in the Coronavirus thread. Great word!

I learned of its biological sense relatively recently, I had previously used it to refer to those colleagues who leave the mothership to much cheer in ian's heart and then, several months later, reappear in a different role yet with precisely the same set of incompetencies.

I think its just appalling that your company can't train people in new incompetencies to fit their new role, are you not interested in personal development?
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4213 on: 04 April, 2020, 08:31:43 am »
I learned what recrudescence means from Ian in the Coronavirus thread. Great word!

I learned of its biological sense relatively recently, I had previously used it to refer to those colleagues who leave the mothership to much cheer in ian's heart and then, several months later, reappear in a different role yet with precisely the same set of incompetencies.

Funny: I always thought that crude and its relatives derived from a Latin word for growth, but they just come from crudus, meaning raw. Hence those miserable plates of dead veg you often see on French menus as an assiette de crudités.  Or as an old chum used to put it, assiette de cruauté - and cruauté - cruelty - has the same roots, as does your shatter-bottled grand cru.

Wake up at the back.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Auntie Helen

  • 6 Wheels in Germany
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4214 on: 04 April, 2020, 09:24:52 am »
The German for chaperone is Anstandsdame (Decency Lady) but colloquially Anstandswauwau, wauwau being the German for a dog bark.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4215 on: 04 April, 2020, 11:29:59 am »
That WIPO insists on American date format. Oh dear.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4216 on: 10 April, 2020, 02:11:51 pm »
That petrichor is produced by geosmin, a compound released by some bacteria to attract certain invertebrates.
https://theconversation.com/heres-why-soil-smells-so-good-after-it-rains-135978
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4217 on: 11 April, 2020, 12:17:38 pm »
Deer can't see orange (they only really see blues and greens) so US deer hunters often wear hi-viz orange to avoid shooting each other.

I don't know if turkeys can see it, or whether Greg LeMond was wearing hi-viz when he got a load of shotgun pellets in him.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Blodwyn Pig

  • what a nice chap
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4218 on: 11 April, 2020, 02:26:05 pm »
....that cycling is a bit like gunslinging, in the Wild West. No matter how fast you think you are, there is always someone faster.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4219 on: 11 April, 2020, 03:23:11 pm »
....that cycling is a bit like gunslinging, in the Wild West. No matter how fast you think you are, there is always someone faster.

...and they're probably on a sodding Brompton.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4220 on: 28 April, 2020, 09:49:39 am »
Ned Boulting is the grandson of a chap called John Boulting. John and his twin brother Roy were well-known British film-makers of the 1940s to 60s. (Not that I'd ever heard of them.)

https://twitter.com/nedboulting/status/1254879604030033920
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulting_brothers

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4221 on: 28 April, 2020, 10:03:38 am »
I know of them, but wouldn't have put the two (three?) together
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4222 on: 28 April, 2020, 10:07:56 am »
Ned Boulting is the grandson of a chap called John Boulting. John and his twin brother Roy were well-known British film-makers of the 1940s to 60s. (Not that I'd ever heard of them.)

https://twitter.com/nedboulting/status/1254879604030033920
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulting_brothers

Interesting. I know of the Boulting Brothers films - their Brighton Rock is a classic - but had no idea Ned was a relation.

Apparently, according to that wiki link, Jordan from Rizzle Kicks is also a direct descendant. I shall have to tell my colleague this - both the Rizzle Kicks are good friends of hers.

"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

nicknack

  • Hornblower
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4223 on: 28 April, 2020, 11:01:20 am »
That the stuff growing in quite a lot of places in our garden this year is three-cornered leek and all parts of it are edible. It's quite nice - a bit chivey a bit garlicy - should be useful.
There's no vibrations, but wait.

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #4224 on: 28 April, 2020, 02:08:02 pm »
You can buy a funky little tool to remove the kickstands from Raleigh bikes (the ones with a Toblerone-shaped integral frame bracket).
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.