Yet Another Cycling Forum

Off Topic => The Pub => Topic started by: rogerzilla on 25 September, 2010, 07:25:49 pm

Title: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 25 September, 2010, 07:25:49 pm
D. B. Cooper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)

I was slightly too young to remember this.  What a story, and what a mystery.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Greenbank on 25 September, 2010, 07:56:11 pm
My saints day is my birthday. My parents (being atheist) claim no idea of the coincidence.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Steve Kish on 25 September, 2010, 09:01:28 pm
Quote
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings

It's the prequel of what the English army had to do before Hastings at Stamford Bridge against Vikings, the post SB re-forming and hurried march down south with troop-gathering via London and also the fact that the actual B of H against the Normans was a relatively close-call that's the fascination for me.  
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Regulator on 26 September, 2010, 08:20:02 am
My saints day is my birthday. My parents (being atheist) claim no idea of the coincidence.

My mother always wanted a boy (she'd already had my two older sisters) called Gregory.

I was born about 6 weeks prematurely...


...on the feast of St Gregory the Great.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: robbo6 on 27 September, 2010, 12:02:34 am
I have a photo of my father in front of one of these  (http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/241_P)with his bike.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 22 November, 2010, 07:23:38 pm
Florence Foster Jenkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins)

 ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Adam on 22 November, 2010, 09:13:40 pm
So, just like a few of the X Factor people then.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Zipperhead on 22 November, 2010, 10:22:32 pm
So, just like all of a few of the X Factor people then.

FTFY
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 22 November, 2010, 11:22:15 pm
Georgia Guidestones - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 27 November, 2010, 02:52:10 pm
Henry Shrapnel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Shrapnel)

And you thought it was a German word.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jules on 27 November, 2010, 04:52:14 pm
Florence Foster Jenkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins)

 ;D

I own the album depicted ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jurek on 27 November, 2010, 04:56:52 pm
Florence Foster Jenkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins)

 ;D

I own the album depicted ;D

It's up there with Portsmouth Sinfonia (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpJ6anurfuw)  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 27 November, 2010, 10:29:54 pm
The excerpt from "The Magic Flute" on the Wikipedia page is classic.  She's about half an octave off the notorious F6 in that aria.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jules on 27 November, 2010, 11:36:05 pm
When I sing along (in my finest falsetto) I get closer to the notesthat she does.

The B side (Gounod's Faust)  - with a guy who really can't sing - is just as good.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 03 December, 2010, 08:02:24 pm
Fan death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Adrian on 03 December, 2010, 08:06:51 pm
Fan death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death)

And we are encouraged to believe that it is the North Koreans who are dangerous.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: andygates on 03 December, 2010, 09:56:42 pm
The language code for Aleut (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Aleut_language) (ale), which meas I can put Aleut names onto the Aleutians in case any of the 150 native speakers, all of whom are ancient and local, want to print off a wikimap to grumble - incomprehensibly - about how wrong it is.  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 03 December, 2010, 11:13:23 pm
Fan death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death)

Fantastic  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jules on 03 December, 2010, 11:20:08 pm
It was a breath of fresh air

I was chiled to the marrow
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 28 December, 2010, 06:00:47 pm
Low-end fortified wine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbird_%28wine%29)

Thunderbird, that sweet muck once beloved of students, is produced by the same people as those supposedly respectable E&J Gallo wines.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: noisycrank on 28 December, 2010, 06:12:04 pm
I attribute my decline to thunderbird wine

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM_q3k4TwpM]
    YouTube
        - Ian Dury & The Blockheads Sweet Gene Vincent
   (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM_q3k4TwpM)[/url]
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: noisycrank on 28 December, 2010, 06:20:26 pm
My saints day is my birthday. My parents (being atheist) claim no idea of the coincidence.

My mother always wanted a boy (she'd already had my two older sisters) called Gregory.

I was born about 6 weeks prematurely...


...on the feast of St Gregory the Great.
you have two sisters called Gregory?






 IGMC
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 23 January, 2011, 06:34:15 pm
Nixon's resignation letter.

File:Letter of Resignation of Richard M. Nixon, 1974.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Letter_of_Resignation_of_Richard_M._Nixon,_1974.jpg)

Not especially verbose  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ian H on 23 January, 2011, 06:46:20 pm
Florence Foster Jenkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Foster_Jenkins)

 ;D

What's amazing is that the audiences were complicit in the joke. It's said she never realised.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 28 January, 2011, 11:55:31 pm
List of animals with fraudulent diplomas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_with_fraudulent_diplomas)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 29 January, 2011, 12:04:44 am
D. B. Cooper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)

I was slightly too young to remember this.  What a story, and what a mystery.
I learnt about this when I started working in the wonderful world of DVD subtitling. It was given as an example of a reference which may be known to its original target audience but needs explaining or replacing for localisation purposes.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 10 April, 2011, 10:01:17 pm
Tobacco smoke enema - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_smoke_enema)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 10 April, 2011, 10:18:25 pm
I have learned something new.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: robbo6 on 10 April, 2011, 10:46:01 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tama_(cat)
Sod electrification, lower fares, etc. Pussy increases rail use.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 10 April, 2011, 10:56:28 pm
Korfball - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korfball)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 10 April, 2011, 11:42:52 pm
They played that at a school I taught in in Poland. That is, I taught in the school premises, but my 'pupils' were actually teachers on INSETT rather kids, so I never got to actually see a korfball match. I think the hook for teens was "the only mixed sex team sport".
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jules on 27 April, 2011, 08:20:31 am
They played that at my son's primary in Twickenham. If I recall there's a UK league but as it doesn't have many members so the team used to have to travel a long way to away fixtures
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: a lower gear on 27 April, 2011, 10:27:22 pm
A friend from university days played in the UK korfball team in the early or  mid 1990s (maybe this belongs in the 'your tenuous claims to fame' thread?)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 23 July, 2011, 10:33:00 am
According to the page for "scone", the bakery product:

Quote
The dispute in pronuncation is said to have lain at the heart of the enmity between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, with Brown adopting the traditional Scottish pronunciation and Blair pronouncing it as if it was the Stone of Scone. Memoranda from Tony Blair's office published in the Daily Telegraph in June 2011 were annotated by Gordon Brown and Ed Balls with scone related comments.

I wonder how much of this is true.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 28 July, 2011, 08:51:06 pm
In the 1920s some people proposed draining the Mediterranean Sea.  :o

Atlantropa (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Atlantropa)
 
 
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Adrian on 29 July, 2011, 11:50:15 am
In the 1920s some people proposed draining the Mediterranean Sea.  :o

Atlantropa (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Atlantropa)

How on Earth does someone with such a grandiose and barking scheme manage to stay out of the loony bin?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 29 July, 2011, 12:47:24 pm
In the 1920s some people proposed draining the Mediterranean Sea.  :o

Atlantropa (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Atlantropa)

How on Earth does someone with such a grandiose and barking scheme manage to stay out of the loony bin?

Arthur C Clarke used the idea in one of his novels...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: LindaG on 29 July, 2011, 12:48:30 pm
In the 1920s some people proposed draining the Mediterranean Sea.  :o

Atlantropa (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Atlantropa)

How on Earth does someone with such a grandiose and barking scheme manage to stay out of the loony bin?

Arthur C Clarke used the idea in one of his novels...

Ooh, which one?  I haven't read that one!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 29 July, 2011, 12:52:09 pm
Rendevous with Rama - it's mentioned as an aside.

The bit I don't get is the hydro power station in the dam - won't that just let the med fill back up again? Or are they relying on evaporation?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: LindaG on 29 July, 2011, 12:56:15 pm
Rendevous with Rama - it's mentioned as an aside.


Thank you.  Now ordered from the library  :D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: hubner on 29 July, 2011, 03:27:31 pm
Apparently someone tried to build an aircraft carrier out of sawdust and ice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pycrete (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pycrete)

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 29 July, 2011, 03:58:37 pm
The bit I don't get is the hydro power station in the dam - won't that just let the med fill back up again? Or are they relying on evaporation?

Presumably it's tidal, and reverses direction accordingly.  And only a fraction of the med's volume would pass through the turbines, hence the drop in sea level?


Seems like a really good way to generate vast amounts of renewable power reliably.  See also: Severn barrage.

I suspect these ideas will start being taken a lot more seriously when the price of fossil fuel rises sufficiently.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 19 August, 2011, 12:26:16 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottery_St_Mary

I was checking that the town wasn't actually named after the patron saint of Devon being nibbled to death by otters (it wasn't), and discovered the above.  Not only is there an endearingly high otter content, but their dubious health and safety record (especially the bit about the town being saved by a stubbed toe) gets a thumbs up from me.

Running through town with barrels of flaming tar on their heads - that's just one-upping the cheese-rollers, isn't it?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 19 August, 2011, 11:24:32 am
I have learned that the Musk Ox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muskox) is not, as I had previously surmised, an Hairy Northern Bison, but is in fact more closely related to sheep and/or goats(e).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 22 November, 2011, 05:21:02 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartitis

As if it's a serious medical condition.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Adrian on 22 November, 2011, 10:58:14 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dartitis

As if it's a serious medical condition.
Needs rewriting
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 22 November, 2011, 11:40:42 pm
I have discovered that if you add the population of somewhere else to that of a city then the total number of people is more than the population of the city alone.

http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangor,_Gwynedd

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Illegal Combat Ant on 23 November, 2011, 03:44:34 pm
I quite like the history pages.

Here's a good one (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Teardrop_(song)&oldid=461397756) from the song 'Teardrop'.

Scroll down to the Gary Barlow bit,
 ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jules on 23 November, 2011, 07:10:27 pm
That is brilliant!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: andygates on 23 November, 2011, 07:12:10 pm
SO FLUFFY!  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fuzzy_Freddy.jpg (from the article on the Red Fox, which I was using to check the Latin name (vulpes vulpes) for tagging purposes).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 06 January, 2012, 12:24:21 am
A Random article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_glove
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 17 January, 2012, 04:13:20 pm
An album I had thought was an elaborate hoax, though one which I bought, enjoyed and treasured until it was stolen, was actually a real compilation of Finnish rock music! :o

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shape_of_Finns_to_Come

It was the name of Roland Butter appearing as a writer or producer (I forget) which raised my suspicion.  That and the utterly bizarre and eclectic nature of the music.  I would not have been surprised had a big name with a sense of humour been behind it - perhaps Neil Innes or Peter Gabriel.  But no.  Even Loose Prick was, it seems, a real band.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 17 January, 2012, 06:00:30 pm
That's all in Finnish, how do you know it doesn't say "The Shape of Finns to Come was a hoax released on Cherry Red Records blah blah... "
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 17 January, 2012, 07:49:05 pm
I followed the hyperlinks to the band pages.  Perhaps it says there that 'Eppu Normaali were a band invented by Nick Lowe in a bored moment in the dressing rooms at Sheffield Octagon...' ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 26 January, 2012, 04:48:50 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 26 January, 2012, 06:11:42 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test

Do I dare asked how you stumbled upon that?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: nicknack on 26 January, 2012, 06:28:56 pm
That's funny. Whenever I heard Mull of Kintire I was reminded of a massive prick.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Fab Foodie on 26 January, 2012, 08:55:06 pm
I regularly drive past a brown motorway sign that says 'Hause Esters, Hause lange' with a cubiform diagram on it.  It was only the other day I bothered to look them up ....

http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php?title=Lange_%26_Esters_House

One day I must find the time to visit.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 26 January, 2012, 10:03:22 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test

Do I dare asked how you stumbled upon that?


http://boingboing.net/2012/01/26/experts-concerned-at-big-ben.html
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: scott on 27 January, 2012, 10:37:19 pm
Apparently someone tried to build an aircraft carrier out of sawdust and ice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pycrete (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pycrete)

That was my favorite nautical find on Wikipedia until I recently found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narco-submarine


...which just blew my mind.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 27 January, 2012, 11:00:30 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mull_of_Kintyre_test

Do I dare asked how you stumbled upon that?


http://boingboing.net/2012/01/26/experts-concerned-at-big-ben.html

I may now be stumbling into murky depths.

Between 1994 and 1999 I was running my own IT company, for most time based in WC1. One of my clients, who found me in the local telephone directory (remember those?) was a "film" company in Wardour Street. Their computer had been trashed by some kind of virus, and they wanted me to recover what I could.

The revelations: (1) Their "films" had scripts. (2) they made two versions of each, one for official publication, and the other. (3) the shooting directions for the publication one included the imperative "No worse than Cornwall", no mention of Kintyre.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Illegal Combat Ant on 15 February, 2012, 09:50:13 pm
Remarkably informative wiki entry about  Nasal sebum. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_sebum)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 19 February, 2012, 10:29:21 pm
(click to show/hide)

 :hand:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 07 March, 2012, 09:46:52 pm
Parrot astrology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot_astrology)  ::-)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 08 March, 2012, 06:26:17 pm
(click to show/hide)

 :hand:
Ye gods!  I almost lost my tea!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 19 March, 2012, 10:23:50 pm
Quote
When creating the surface of the road some 2.5 million Mills & Boon novels were pulped and mixed into the tarmac to help the surface absorbency.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M6_Toll

See also: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/3330245.stm
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 22 March, 2012, 11:09:40 pm
I always knew that motoring crushed romance.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 23 March, 2012, 02:49:51 pm
Quote
End of the war

Dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war was growing with the public in Britain and in other countries. On Sunday, January 21, 1855, a "snowball riot" occurred in Trafalgar Square near St. Martin-in-the-Field in which 1,500 people gathered to protest the war by pelting busses, cabs and pedestrians with snow balls.[60] When the police intervened, the snowballs were directed at them. The riot was finally put down by troops and police acting with truncheons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimean_War#End_of_the_war
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 09 April, 2012, 04:36:03 pm
You can have a pentagram on your gravestone if you die in the US Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Veterans_Affairs_emblems_for_headstones_and_markers
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 09 April, 2012, 06:35:10 pm
Why is Muslim no 98, and what happened to nos 48-97?

And while I'm as much of a Bohr fan as anyone, surely the atheist symbol should be: "[This space intentionally left blank]"
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 15 May, 2012, 01:04:40 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 15 May, 2012, 09:30:31 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph
That's great, thanks.

Very Meaning of Liff - a concept we knew existed, but I never knew there was a word for it.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 17 May, 2012, 07:58:05 pm
This might be of interest to Audaxers (and others) staying in Aust:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aust
...
Aust Ferry
Main article: Aust Ferry

Bob Dylan was photographed in 1966 standing outside the Aust Ferry ticket office. In the murky background is the Severn Bridge. The photo was used to publicise Martin Scorsese's film about Dylan, "No Direction Home".
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ian H on 18 May, 2012, 05:45:01 pm
http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 20 May, 2012, 12:35:32 am
This might be of interest to Audaxers (and others) staying in Aust:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aust
...
Aust Ferry
Main article: Aust Ferry

Bob Dylan was photographed in 1966 standing outside the Aust Ferry ticket office. In the murky background is the Severn Bridge. The photo was used to publicise Martin Scorsese's film about Dylan, "No Direction Home".
There's a bloke who does summatorother in Bristol CTC who has a photo (as opposed to the album cover) of that.
Other Aust trivia: the field behind the pub was the site of my very first cycle-camping adventure! We paid £1.50 to put a tent up and I think that included a cup of tea in the morning! And it is claimed that the Romans used to wade across the river at that point, at least at low spring tides - I can't quite believe it myself.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 20 May, 2012, 06:52:15 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph
A term most familiar to readers of J E Gordon's simple engineering book "Structures", although he spelt it differehtly.  The best modern example is probably film grain added in post-production to digitally-shot Hollywood movies.  Also, the obsession with making any large areas of plastic either wood- or leather-grained, although the latter has died off over rceent years.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 20 May, 2012, 10:11:39 pm
This might be of interest to Audaxers (and others) staying in Aust:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aust
...
Aust Ferry
Main article: Aust Ferry

Bob Dylan was photographed in 1966 standing outside the Aust Ferry ticket office. In the murky background is the Severn Bridge. The photo was used to publicise Martin Scorsese's film about Dylan, "No Direction Home".
I went there today. Just because. You can see the ruins of the ferry ticket office, with a turnstile and small building, half-brick, half-wooden, and a concrete path down to the remains of the wooden jetty. It's a surprisingly popular spot with people looking for fossils or flotsam and jetsam or something, and families with dads yacking on about the old ferry when they were a lad. Triassic cliffs, red, yellow and black, rather pretty.

And it wasn't there that the Romans allegedly forded the Severn - it was further up at Purton (there's a Purton both sides of the river, opposite each other). I can't quite believe it - even if the water was low enough, you'd sink in the sand and mud.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 21 May, 2012, 07:29:59 pm
http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
The presence of a scottish wikipedia, with articles about Finnish rock bands, must prove that disk-space and bandwidth are now much too cheap.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 22 May, 2012, 01:14:41 am
It's worth it for http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose alone.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: RJ on 02 June, 2012, 11:31:07 pm
Quote from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckernf%C3%B6rde
The people of Eckernförde are particulary known for their fondness for ice-cream, which they often enjoy by the seaside on warm Summer's days.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: RJ on 02 June, 2012, 11:35:14 pm
It's worth it for http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose alone.

Not to mention http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airn

Quote
Iron is a chemical element in the periodic chart that haes the seembol Fe (L.: Ferrum) an atomic nummer 26. Airn is a group 8 an period 4 Metal. Airn is kent for being the last element made bi stellar nucleosynthesis, an thus the maist wechtie element that disna require a supernova or seemilar catacleesmic event for tae be furmed. It is, tharefore, the maist rowthie wechtie metal in the universe.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 08 June, 2012, 06:57:49 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsinkable_Sam
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: graculus on 08 June, 2012, 07:16:19 pm
Made good use of his nine lives I see.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 11 June, 2012, 04:15:48 pm
Four facts about two bands, of varying interest:

Frankie Goes To Hollywood's drummer had the same name as Saxon's.

The video for Relax was filmed at Wilton's Music Hall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_goes_to_hollywood

Toto Coelo's I Eat Cannibal was written & produced by Barry Blue.  Yes, that Barry Blue.

Bob Holness' daughter was in Toto Coelo.  No, really? :-\
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toto_Coelo
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 June, 2012, 04:19:44 pm
Urrggh. I do hope you weren't prompted to look up Toto Coelo by my recent "Is cannibalism legal?" thread. Earworming "I eat cannibal" is a fate worse than being eaten alive. Almost.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 11 June, 2012, 05:01:39 pm
It was Steve Lamacq's fault.  He played it.

I have no excuse for FGTW.  I was listening to Radcliffe & Maconie, when they played Double Dutch, by Malcolm Maclaren, who managed Jimmy The Hoover, who had a Rutherford (Mark), and I wondered if it was the same one as in Frankie (Paul).  Errr, no.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 11 June, 2012, 07:19:24 pm
I liked FGTH.  Like The Stone Roses, they held the world in the palm of their hand, then spent too long getting the difficult second album out and vanished.  The irony is that it's the *third* album that's supposed to be the difficult one, because if you get the second one out reasonably quickly, people buy it anyway, hoping it's as good as the first one.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 12 June, 2012, 12:17:56 pm
There are some complicated parts of the world -

http://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%8C%D5%A5%D5%B5_%D4%B2%D6%80%D5%A5%D5%A4%D5%A2%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%AB (http://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%8C%D5%A5%D5%B5_%D4%B2%D6%80%D5%A5%D5%A4%D5%A2%D5%A5%D6%80%D5%AB)

Quote
Ռեյ Բրեդբերի (անգլերեն՝ Raymond Douglas "Ray" Bradbury 1920թ․ օգոստոսի 22, Ուոկիգան, Իլինոյս, ԱՄՆ — 2012թ․ հունիսի 5, Լոս Անջելես, ԱՄՆ) ամերիկյան նշանավոր ֆանտաստ գրող, ֆանտաստիկ ժանրի ստեղծագործությունների համար տրվող «Նեբյուլա» և «Հյուգո» գրական մրցանակների դափնեկիր։ Բրեդբերիի բազմաթիվ ստեղծագործություններից առավել հայտնի են «Մարսի տարեգրությունները» (1950, անգլերեն՝ The Martian Chronicles) պատմվածքների ժողովածուն, «451 ըստ Ֆարենհայթի» (1953, անգլերեն՝ Fahrenheit 451), «Գինի խլածաղկից» (1957, անգլերեն՝ Dandelion Wine) վիպակները, ինչպես նաև «Ամպրոպի ձայնը» (1952, անգլերեն՝ A Sound of Thunder), «Աշխարհի վերջին գիշերը» (1951, անգլերեն՝ The Last Night of the World), «Ողջ ամառը մեկ օրում» (1954, անգլերեն՝ All Summer in a Day) պատվածքները և այլն:

http://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A0%E1%83%94%E1%83%98_%E1%83%91%E1%83%A0%E1%83%94%E1%83%93%E1%83%91%E1%83%94%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98 (http://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%83%A0%E1%83%94%E1%83%98_%E1%83%91%E1%83%A0%E1%83%94%E1%83%93%E1%83%91%E1%83%94%E1%83%A0%E1%83%98)

Quote
რეიმონდ დაგლას ბრედბერი (ინგლ. Ray Douglas Bradbury; დ. 22 აგვისტო, 1920 - გ. 6 ივნისი, 2012) — ამერიკელი მწერალი, რომელიც მოღვაწეობდა ფანტასტიკის, საშინელებათა, სამეცნიერო ფანტასტიკისა და დეტექტივების ჟანრში.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 12 June, 2012, 12:44:38 pm
The first one is rather pretty!

Is the second one (wild guess) Georgian?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 12 June, 2012, 01:15:34 pm
The first one is rather pretty!

Is the second one (wild guess) Georgian?

Yes, first one I believe is Armenian.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 12 June, 2012, 01:34:07 pm
The first one is rather pretty!

Is the second one (wild guess) Georgian?

Yes, first one I believe is Armenian.

Wow. Can you read the Georgian at all?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 12 June, 2012, 01:49:32 pm
The first one is rather pretty!

Is the second one (wild guess) Georgian?

Yes, first one I believe is Armenian.

Wow. Can you read the Georgian at all?

Sadly not, but I recognise both scripts.  Last year I started teaching myself the Georgian alphabet but didn't get very far (other calls on my time).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 12 June, 2012, 02:04:03 pm
The first one is rather pretty!

Is the second one (wild guess) Georgian?

Yes, first one I believe is Armenian.

Wow. Can you read the Georgian at all?

<gulp> yes.

But I can't understand much. One thing about Georgian is that it is spoke as it is writ.

(Andrij - let me know if you would like any books)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: PeteB99 on 12 June, 2012, 02:06:17 pm
Something I came across researching a ships history for a weather project.

The shortest recorded war in history lasted 38 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 12 June, 2012, 02:11:23 pm
Gunboat diplomacy by other means.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: PeteB99 on 12 June, 2012, 02:15:25 pm
Two gunboats and three light cruisers diplomacy against a country armed with 2 cannons and a few machine guns.

Not Britain's finest hour by any means.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 13 June, 2012, 03:29:32 pm
I passed by the Passmore Edwards Library (http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2646122) in Borough Road, Southwark, and realised I had seen his name elsewhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Passmore_Edwards

There are more Passmore Edwards related buildings in Dulwich, Bethnal Green and verious parts of Cornwall, among others.

Streetview (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=sail+street+southwark&ll=51.500475,-0.103598&spn=0.000027,0.016501&oe=utf8&hnear=Sail+St,+London+Borough+of+Lambeth,+London+SE11,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.49879,-0.103591&panoid=fe_HF-x9_dZu5h5JDs6cKw&cbp=12,0,,0,0)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 13 June, 2012, 03:37:01 pm
Two gunboats and three light cruisers diplomacy against a country armed with 2 cannons and a few machine guns.

Not Britain's finest hour by any means.
More to do with keeping Zanzibar out of the hands of the Germans than anything else.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 07 July, 2012, 09:59:17 pm
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl Liverpool, and Prime Minister at the time of the Peterloo Massacre, was actually Monty Python's Graham Chapman.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 08 July, 2012, 08:42:37 am
Two gunboats and three light cruisers diplomacy against a country armed with 2 cannons and a few machine guns.

Not Britain's finest hour by any means.
Watch out Jersey  ;)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 08 July, 2012, 08:53:50 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_badger

Fantastic urban myth.  Still Kim, can you afford to take that chance?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jules on 08 July, 2012, 09:38:05 am
Hopefully you are both already aware of ... (NSFW!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 20 July, 2012, 07:35:32 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_Iceland_national_handball_team.jpg
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 20 July, 2012, 07:41:58 pm
Isn't that one for the circumcision thread?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: a lower gear on 20 July, 2012, 08:02:43 pm
Something I came across researching a ships history for a weather project.

The shortest recorded war in history lasted 38 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Zanzibar_War)

The war with quite possibly the most bizzare name was the War of Jenkins's Ear:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Jenkins%27_Ear

Also odd was the Toledo War between the US states of Michigan and Ohio in which one man was stabbed with a penkife:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toledo_War
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 20 July, 2012, 08:44:23 pm
The Football War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War) is a contender for the weirdest title, and was a very short one, too.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 25 July, 2012, 10:41:54 pm
Snot Otter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snot_otter)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jaded on 25 July, 2012, 10:49:44 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18892510
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 09 August, 2012, 02:31:00 pm
Stuff about flying ants, prompted by yesterday's invasion of the little critturs. Here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuptial_flight) for more details, which includes this snippet:

Quote
quickly converted into single-purpose sexual missiles

I'm just a love machine.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 09 August, 2012, 02:42:26 pm
The Football War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_War) is a contender for the weirdest title, and was a very short one, too.
I remember that!

Football was just the trigger though. It was no more about football than WW1 was about Franz Ferdinand & Sophie.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 August, 2012, 08:29:43 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_brown

Does exactly what it says on the tin.  Literally.

 ;D :sick:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 12 August, 2012, 08:53:51 pm
Roger, how on earth did you find that out?  What was the chain of thoughts/events?!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 August, 2012, 11:36:25 pm
I cheated; I read it in the book "Periodic Tales" today and looked it up so see if it was true.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 13 August, 2012, 12:08:21 am
Amazing!  Thanks.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 13 August, 2012, 11:14:05 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy_brown

Does exactly what it says on the tin.  Literally.

 ;D :sick:

Look up Indian Yellow. That's horrible, too.

Periodic Tales is a cracking read.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 16 August, 2012, 07:43:48 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_Class_40#D326_.2840_126.29

TYhe most cursed diesel locomotive ever.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 17 August, 2012, 05:43:43 pm
Last Saturday while I slept off the effects of the FNRTTC, Mrs Hall went to Sainsbury's. And backed into another motor.  It's a Vauxhall VX2300 GLS, something I'm not familiar with, so I looked it up on t'web. Wikipedia has an article about shite old Vauxhalls and scrolling down has a picture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vauxhall_VX_490.jpg) of a shiny VX2300 GLS.  The very one that Mrs. Hall clouted.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 17 August, 2012, 06:33:06 pm
Last Saturday while I slept off the effects of the FNRTTC, Mrs Hall went to Sainsbury's. And backed into another motor.  It's a Vauxhall VX2300 GLS, something I'm not familiar with, so I looked it up on t'web. Wikipedia has an article about shite old Vauxhalls and scrolling down has a picture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vauxhall_VX_490.jpg) of a shiny VX2300 GLS.  The very one that Mrs. Hall clouted.
Gosh!  I hope it's going to be all right.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 17 August, 2012, 06:37:30 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=shite+old+vauxhalls&title=Special%3ASearch

Disappointing :(
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 17 August, 2012, 07:47:13 pm
I'm not sure whether this is in the Paralympics or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwarf_tossing
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 27 August, 2012, 10:41:55 am
I was looking into recycling tyres and found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tire_fire

1989 – In Heyope (near Knighton, Powys, Wales) a fire involved approximately 10 million tires burnt for at least 15 years.[5]

 :o
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 07 September, 2012, 01:16:23 pm
I was looking at the entry for Shakin' Stevens (I don't know why*), and found out that he had played gigs for the YCL. :o


ETA: * Actually, I do.  I was looking up Stuart Colman, who was a member of Pinkerton's Assorted Colours, one hit wonders mentioned in PopMaster, and also Flying Machine, another one hit wonder, before unexpectedly becoming a Radio 1 DJ playing rock & roll, then championing (and later producing) a rockabilly cult icon called Michael Barratt
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 07 September, 2012, 01:35:41 pm
I was looking at the entry for Shakin' Stevens (I don't know why*), and found out that he had played gigs for the YCL. :o


ETA: * Actually, I do.  I was looking up Stuart Colman, who was a member of Pinkerton's Assorted Colours, one hit wonders mentioned in PopMaster, and also Flying Machine, another one hit wonder, before unexpectedly becoming a Radio 1 DJ playing rock & roll, then championing (and later producing) a rockabilly cult icon called Michael Barratt
Yorkshire Clarion Library?
Young Conservative League?
Yuppie Cotswold Life?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 07 September, 2012, 01:43:21 pm
Young Communist League, as any fule kno ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 08 September, 2012, 05:30:30 pm
Conflict Kitchen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_Kitchen)

Only around a 3 hour drive from my parents.  May visit if they're still running next time I'm back in the US.

Before someone calls me mad, the trip would be combined with one or two minor detours along the way, such as visiting extended family.

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 10 September, 2012, 10:22:58 am
Young Communist League, as any fule kno ;D
Nah, that other thread has the real answer - it's the Yellowbelly Cyclists Legion.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 10 September, 2012, 12:26:07 pm
Conflict Kitchen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_Kitchen)

Only around a 3 hour drive from my parents.  May visit if they're still running next time I'm back in the US.

Before someone calls me mad, the trip would be combined with one or two minor detours along the way, such as visiting extended family.

Closed at the mo apparently .....http://www.conflictkitchen.org/
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 05 October, 2012, 12:12:36 pm
Prompted by this:

Just found the 7" of this forgotten masterpiece, in the "Hooked on Classics" mould
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgKDKyl-EKE

I discovered that Brian Eno joined the Portsmouth Sinfonia! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_Sinfonia) :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Rhys W on 10 October, 2012, 10:33:09 am
This is gross and scary: Rat King (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king_(folklore)).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 10 October, 2012, 12:26:43 pm
That Fagging is no longer practiced in Our Great Schools.

Perhaps someone should tell Clegg Minor that he doesn't have to do it.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 11 October, 2012, 04:38:28 pm
That Naga chillies are used as elephant repellent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/naga_bhut_jolokia/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/naga_bhut_jolokia/)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 11 October, 2012, 04:44:59 pm
Not actually Wikipedia but a phrase from a song lyric which I intend to start using: Hotter than a $2 pistol. Seems to work for all meanings of hot.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 11 October, 2012, 05:47:43 pm
That Fagging is no longer practiced in Our Great Schools.

Perhaps someone should tell Clegg Minor that he doesn't have to do it.
I weas trying to explain the warming toilet seats duty to one of the younger girls at work.  She didn't believe it.  I can imagine Clegg warming Cameron's seat every time he needs to drop a copper bolt.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Adrian on 11 October, 2012, 10:47:24 pm
That Fagging is no longer practiced in Our Great Schools.

Perhaps someone should tell Clegg Minor that he doesn't have to do it.
I weas trying to explain the warming toilet seats duty to one of the younger girls at work.  She didn't believe it.  I can imagine Clegg warming Cameron's seat every time he needs to drop a copper bolt.
That would be one of Osbourne's duties
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 24 October, 2012, 07:47:00 pm
Today's featured article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadji_Ali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadji_Ali)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 06 November, 2012, 04:01:32 pm
According to Wikipedia, my Mum's home village, where I went to primary school, had/has a completely different dialect from the rest of Yorkshire. This is allegedly a result of nineteenth century immigration from the Black Country. I was aware of dialect variations, but never heard this one. I wonder if someone is putting inaccurate stuff on Wikipedia...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 06 November, 2012, 04:05:16 pm
There are villages in Kent with Yorkshire or NE dialect following migration of miners, so it's possible.

I don't know where in Yorkshire had focussed inward migration from the Black Country, but both my parents are from Dudley*, and they moved to Skipton. ;)




* Actually, my mum was born in Bootle, but, as she moved to Dudley as a baby, it'd be quibbling to even mention it.  In fact, forget I said anything ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Basil on 06 November, 2012, 07:00:01 pm
Sort of like Corby, where the local accent is broad Scots.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: billplumtree on 06 November, 2012, 07:29:54 pm
* Actually, my mum was born in Bootle, but, as she moved to Dudley as a baby, it'd be quibbling to even mention it.  In fact, forget I said anything ;D

Oh, too late, way too late.  Bootle, Cumbria, or Bootle, Merseyside?  Enquiring minds, and all that
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 06 November, 2012, 09:09:13 pm
Merseyside.  Well, she insists Crosby, until she's had a couple of glasses of wine.  Then it's Waterloo.  Then it's Bootle.  Near Five Lamps, I think.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 07 November, 2012, 09:17:23 am
Fear not Clarion! My Dad's sisters and brother were born in Liverpool: he too was a Darksider. However, he was born about as far east as possible without achieving civilisation (Colne).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 13 November, 2012, 10:11:01 am
Not really in a good way -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmedo,_Spain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmedo,_Spain)
Area
 • Total   129.38 km2 (49.95 sq mi)
Elevation   740 m (2,430 ft)
Population (2011)
 • Total   3.897
 • Density   0.03/km2 (0.078/sq mi)

 :facepalm:

Someone has taken a population figure from a Spanish source, & not changed the full stop thousands separator to a comma.

Spanish Wikipedia -
Superficie   129,38 km²
Núcleos de
población   Olmedo; Calabazas
Población   3.897 hab. (2011)
• Densidad   30,12 hab./km²
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wombat on 13 November, 2012, 12:48:26 pm
I've been there.  Definitely more than 4 whole people there....
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 20 November, 2012, 08:00:59 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Wellington

The Duke of Wellington fought a duel*.  While Prime Minister.  They don't make them like that any more.




*OK, it was a bit "handbags at dawn" and neither of them was seriously trying to hit the other, but it's more interesting than PMQs.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 18 December, 2012, 01:41:29 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_analogy
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 18 December, 2012, 02:40:02 pm
I had to explain basic hydraulics to someone the other day :(
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Butterfly on 18 December, 2012, 02:43:47 pm
I had to explain basic hydraulics to someone the other day :(

Well, no-one ever taught me hydraulics. Science teachers were too busy trying to interest the class with stuff that goes bang to teach anything interesting to those of us who don't want things to go bang. >:(

*hides under school bag with fingers in ears*
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 18 December, 2012, 02:45:05 pm
Shh!  I never mentioned your name.  I think we can still keep it secret :-*
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Butterfly on 18 December, 2012, 02:49:29 pm
To be fair, there has never been a need for me to know how hydraulics (or electrics, or engines, or computers for that matter) work, so I have never needed to dig further. I wish I hadn't been totally put off science by the things that go bang faction though :(
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 18 December, 2012, 02:50:58 pm
Fair point.  Science is fun, though.  I think we need to arrange for you to shadow Kim for a while ;)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 18 December, 2012, 02:59:42 pm
I had to explain basic hydraulics to someone the other day :(

To be fair, I do tend to think of hydraulics (and on a bad day, calculus) using electrical analogies.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 18 December, 2012, 03:07:55 pm
To be fair, there has never been a need for me to know how hydraulics (or electrics, or engines, or computers for that matter) work, so I have never needed to dig further.

See, I subscribe to the Arthur C Clarke principle: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.  And I don't want to go around having to believe in magic, so...


Quote
I wish I hadn't been totally put off science by the things that go bang faction though :(

Aw.

I'd never really considered that as something that actively put people off.  I'm all for a bit of pyromania, but never really needed it to kindle (detonate?) an interest in science, so could happily get on with it.  I suppose growing up surrounded by science (albeit a field I wasn't really interested in) helped, even if I didn't appreciate it at the time.

I'm a hopeless generalist, though.  I rapidly lose interest once I have a working knowledge of what's going on.  If I didn't have more sense, I'd make a far better teacher than engineer or scientist.

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 18 December, 2012, 03:13:10 pm
I had to explain basic hydraulics to someone the other day :(

To be fair, I do tend to think of hydraulics (and on a bad day, calculus) using electrical analogies.

;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: sas on 18 December, 2012, 10:30:09 pm
You've probably heard of the Welsh hill Twmpa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twmpa), AKA Lord Hereford's Knob. You might not have heard of this German mountain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wank_%28mountain%29).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 21 December, 2012, 06:07:30 pm
You know the "I've always loved you" bit with the Illinois Nazis in "The Blues Brothers".

The falling car is not CGI, or even faked.  They took it a mile up on a helicopter and dropped it, with special aerodynamic testing and FAA approval in case it flew a bit instead of dropping vertically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blues_Brothers_%28film%29
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 21 December, 2012, 06:22:48 pm
The etymology of the Taser. Of special interest to those of a Sheddi persuasion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser#History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taser#History)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 06 January, 2013, 08:49:24 pm
Erna Low is not on Wikipedia.

Someone tried to submit an article & it was refused. The grounds for refusal apply ten times over to some other Wikipedia articles I've seen.

http://wpedia.goo.ne.jp/enwiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Erna_Low (http://wpedia.goo.ne.jp/enwiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Erna_Low)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 06 January, 2013, 08:55:30 pm
Very odd.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 06 February, 2013, 08:50:39 pm
Bumhpa Bum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumhpa_Bum)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 07 February, 2013, 10:06:56 am
Erna Low is not on Wikipedia.

Someone tried to submit an article & it was refused. The grounds for refusal apply ten times over to some other Wikipedia articles I've seen.

http://wpedia.goo.ne.jp/enwiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Erna_Low (http://wpedia.goo.ne.jp/enwiki/Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_creation/Erna_Low)
erm I can understand why it was refused.

The way that was written doesn't make it sound like she was notable enough (yeah, I know). They need to write more about her inspiration of the package holiday, impact etc, imitators.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 07 February, 2013, 11:15:51 am
Yeah, good reason, but that wasn't one of the reasons given for refusal.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 07 February, 2013, 11:31:30 am
Yeah, good reason, but that wasn't one of the reasons given for refusal.

Quote
This submission appears to read more like an advertisement than an entry in an encyclopedia.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Basil on 07 February, 2013, 08:47:38 pm
Ive eaten a wormburger to see what would happen.
I await the outcome with baited breath.
 ;)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Basil on 08 February, 2013, 10:15:03 am
Ive eaten a wormburger to see what would happen.
I await the outcome with baited breath.
 ;)

What's that doing here?  I'm sure I posted it in the "Would you? Could you?" thread.  ???
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 09 February, 2013, 01:24:08 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horten_Ho_XVIII

Nothing new under the sun.

They should have had a few in "Iron Sky", which is basically Nazi steampunk.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 19 February, 2013, 05:50:44 pm
That the French Army had Vespa scooters, modified to carry anti-tank guns.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 22 February, 2013, 01:21:37 pm
Edward Gorey (illustrator and subject of today's Google Doodle) had a stepmother with a bit part in Casablanca. She plays the guitar during the singing of  "La Marseillaise".
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 22 February, 2013, 02:06:00 pm
Jeff Beck grew up on a street I regularly ride along.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 24 February, 2013, 12:38:16 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanamara_Matsuri  (NSFW)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 01 March, 2013, 02:43:31 pm
I was in Eastleigh on Wednesday for work. While trying to find where I was meant to be going, I drove past Benny Hill Close, which I googled when I got back.

Quote
He then moved on to be a milkman for Hanns Dairies, in Factory Road, now Wells Place. His time working in Eastleigh on a horse-drawn milk-float gave him his inspiration for his hit record, Ernie,the fastest milkman in the West.[17][18] In Benny's honour a plaque has been put up close to the site of the now demolished Hanns Dairies building[18] and a new road has been named Benny Hill Close, though many of the people who had bought the new homes were not happy with the decision.[19]

And it gets better. Next road along is Heinz Burt Close, named after Heinz of "Just Like Eddie" fame, who lived in Eastleigh . And then is Tommy Green Walk. Who? Olympic athlete, innit:

Quote
Thomas William Green (30 March 1894 – 29 March 1975) was a British racewalker who won a gold medal in the men's 50km walk at the 1932 Summer Olympics. The son of a police constable, Green could not walk until the age of five, owing to his affliction with rickets. He lied about his age and joined the British Army in 1906 and served during World War I, where he was wounded on three occasions and gassed while fighting in France. Returning to Britain, he eventually settled in Eastleigh where he worked at a railway works before being encouraged by a blind friend to take up racewalking.
Nice bit of nominative wossname going on there.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 01 March, 2013, 03:14:52 pm
And for today, St David's Day, it seems that his most famous miracle took place in Llanddewi Brefi.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 01 March, 2013, 11:25:33 pm
A major sport in Japan which seems to be pretty rare here -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekiden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekiden)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 03 March, 2013, 06:55:19 pm
A painful way to find out that a steam locomotive doesn't have a rev limiter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Peppercorn_Class_A2_60532_Blue_Peter
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 10 March, 2013, 08:34:32 pm
Not really a Wikipedia find, but Arch used the word so I went to look it up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snickelways_of_York
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 19 March, 2013, 09:47:17 pm
Since January this year it has been illegal in the USA to unlock a mobile phone which is locked to a particular network, & which was bought on or after some day in January which I can't be arsed to check, unless they have the permission of the network operator. It does not matter whether they paid full price for the phone, or whether the contract on the phone has expired - nada. You are utterly dependent on the whim of the network operator. This is due to a regulation promulgated by the Librarian of Congress, under US copyright law.

Fortunately for Leftpondians, the network operators appreciate that it would be bad business to try to take too much advantage of the power they have been granted.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 25 March, 2013, 06:36:56 pm
That Marc Twight ( an American mountaineer) attempted more routes than he completed... He would hardly have tackled fewer, would he?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 31 March, 2013, 09:38:12 pm
That Redditch has England's only cloverleaf road junction.

http://goo.gl/maps/R9gBX

I didn't realise we had any; I know there are only three 4-level stack interchanges (M4/M5, M4/M25 and M23/M25).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 31 March, 2013, 09:43:16 pm
That's more of a cbrd.co.uk find of the week, really...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 23 April, 2013, 11:55:45 pm
Prompted by my posting in the hats thread, I read up on Fedoras. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fedora)

Quote
The word fedora comes from the title of an 1882 play by dramatist Victorien Sardou, Fédora, written for Sarah Bernhardt
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 29 April, 2013, 08:54:40 pm
That there has been an entire sub-genre of music called Filk, associated with sci-fi & fantasy, apparently:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk_music
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ian H on 29 April, 2013, 09:09:28 pm
It's possible that I'm misremembering, but I could have sworn that, when I created the link at the beginning of this article (http://www.ukcyclist.co.uk/ksw600), it was in English (second word in).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 28 May, 2013, 08:19:14 pm
A very minor discovery, but the song I have thought for most of my life was called Paint It Black is, in fact, entitled Paint It, Black.

As if that weren't enough of a gem to amaze and astound, I discovered that Pilot was formed by two former Bay City Rollers with the son of the bandleader Ted Heath.  'Stonshin', huh?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wascally Weasel on 29 May, 2013, 03:46:41 am
That there has been an entire sub-genre of music called Filk, associated with sci-fi & fantasy, apparently:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk_music

Filk singing sessions are a regular feature at SF conventions like Eastercon.  Given that they often involve broad comedy, smut and geeky SF/Fantasy references, I'm surprised there isn't already at least one board thread dedicated to Filk here already.

I once saw Terry Pratchett at an Eastercon, listening to people singing Filk songs based on the Discworld stories* and characters - he looked so happy.

*Yes, the Hedgehog Song was one of them.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 29 May, 2013, 08:57:31 am
That there has been an entire sub-genre of music called Filk, associated with sci-fi & fantasy, apparently:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk_music

Not to be confused with Geek Rock and related genres.

I've been known to write the odd filk from time to time...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 29 May, 2013, 09:48:37 am
It's possible that I'm misremembering, but I could have sworn that, when I created the link at the beginning of this article (http://www.ukcyclist.co.uk/ksw600), it was in English (second word in).

Crazy, someone trying to make a point perhaps? A bit of a fail from Google Translate on that page too "We are not yet able to translate from Breton into French"  ;D
Your link isn't to the english version of wikipedia.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 04 June, 2013, 07:46:36 pm
Randonue.

Not on bikes.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 07 June, 2013, 02:38:39 pm
That was one of the alternative conflict resolution systems I studied (in passing) at college, along with palaver.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 07 June, 2013, 04:41:53 pm
I don't know why but I find this whole Xeer thing very fascinating. This is the kind of altruism western world lacks.

Quote
A guurti (court) is traditionally formed beneath an acacia tree, where judges arbitrate a dispute until both parties are satisfied. This process can sometimes lead to several days' worth of discussions.

We don't have time for altruism......
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 07 June, 2013, 07:14:12 pm
To be fair, there has never been a need for me to know how hydraulics (or electrics, or engines, or computers for that matter) work, so I have never needed to dig further. I wish I hadn't been totally put off science by the things that go bang faction though :(

Isn't the erection an exercise in hydraulics? And then the banging starts?  :D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 24 June, 2013, 10:15:53 am
Herbie Flowers, who played the knockout bass parts on "Walk on the Wild Side", composed "Grandad", the Clive Dunn schmaltzfest.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Nuncio on 10 July, 2013, 09:29:31 am
Not my find but via Twitter. Adrian Carton de Wiart

This is just the intro

Quote
Lieutenant-General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart[1] VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (5 May 1880 – 5 June 1963), was an English officer of Belgian and Irish descent. He fought in the Boer War, World War I, and World War II, was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip and ear, survived a plane crash, tunneled out of a POW camp, and bit off his own fingers when a doctor wouldn't amputate them. He later said "frankly I had enjoyed the war."

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 10 July, 2013, 09:42:43 am
Wow.  I'm amazed I've never heard of him before.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 10 July, 2013, 05:19:32 pm
Bloody Norah - what an extraordinary man.  Can you imagine the tales he could have told?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 10 July, 2013, 06:01:29 pm
Not in sign language!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Nuncio on 11 July, 2013, 11:22:00 am
Bloody Norah - what an extraordinary man.  Can you imagine the tales he could have told?

A little further research shows he wrote an autobiography in 1950 called 'Happy Odyssey'.  The one review I read suggests it's not very good.  He's too modest and too 'military'.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 11 July, 2013, 11:35:24 am
Eric Brown is still alive!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot))
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_flown_by_Eric_%22Winkle%22_Brown (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_flown_by_Eric_%22Winkle%22_Brown)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 23 July, 2013, 04:00:02 pm
On Plastic Bertrand (Roger Allen François Jouret):

Quote
...on 28 July 2010 the singer finally revealed that he is indeed not the singer of any of the songs in the first four albums released under the name Plastic Bertrand
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 24 July, 2013, 02:22:34 pm
Work took me to Stiffkey this week.  The (de-frocked) rector there was killed by a lion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Davidson)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Regulator on 24 July, 2013, 10:49:18 pm
Work took me to Stiffkey this week.  The (de-frocked) rector there was killed by a lion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Davidson)

One of my friends specialised in ecclesiastical law and she wrote a fabulous paper on the Harold Davidson case.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 01 August, 2013, 04:50:40 pm
Meet 'Ronnie', the bren-gun girl

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/VeronicaFoster-RonnieBrenGunGirl-smoke.jpg)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 01 August, 2013, 04:54:42 pm
Charlotte's grandmother?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 03 August, 2013, 09:59:39 pm
Splenogonadal fusion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splenogonadal_fusion)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mayham on 05 August, 2013, 08:20:58 am
bwehh...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 07 August, 2013, 09:36:12 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Dolce

For the bit under the heading 'Recent' which includes setting Sylvia Plath to music.

Why you looka so sad?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Littlesox on 11 August, 2013, 12:25:53 pm
In 1982, Rodney Bewes (he of the Likely Lads) worked as spokesman for the now defunct trade organisation the Brithish Onion Marketing Board.

I am not too sure which bit astounded me most. That an out of work TV actor could be deployed in such a way, or that there was actually an organisatiion whose sole task was the promotion of British Onions.


Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 11 August, 2013, 01:39:57 pm
Presumably it doesn't qualify on account of having 5 levels...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 17 August, 2013, 08:33:04 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Priapus_Church

They love the cock.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 18 August, 2013, 03:05:23 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Priapus_Church

They love the cock.

It should come as no surprise, if you follow the link to their website, that they have a member directory.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 18 August, 2013, 09:33:11 pm
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/10/search-shakespeares-dark-lady-florio (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/aug/10/search-shakespeares-dark-lady-florio)
Unprovable, but a nice bit of searching.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 17 September, 2013, 04:30:06 pm
On the WWII madness theme, this (which actuially came up on the Times letters page):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Picnic_on_Mount_Kenya

The follow-up letter was almost better:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/letters/article3869792.ece

Sir, Further to the letter “Good Sport” (Sept 12) my father, the Marquess of Ailesbury, tells a wonderful story of the Italian PoW camp set up in Savernake Forest during the 1940s, in the park in front of Tottenham House when he was a teenager living there. Fresh meat was in short supply, so my father thought it only sensible to go into the house, and bring out a large number of guns, which he distributed among the PoWs. Then they all went out into the forest together and bagged a large number of rabbits for the pot, after which
[they returned all the guns].
 
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 20 September, 2013, 04:49:18 pm
Non-Wiki but sticking with PoWs, my mother used to tell me there was a scheme where you could invite a PoW home for tea. She tried to persuade her parents to do so but they wouldn't. She was Extremely Small at the time so might have misunderstood though.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 23 September, 2013, 08:07:11 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_destruction (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument_destruction)

This is disappointing "Matthew Bellamy of Muse has the world record at breaking guitars, destroying 140 during the Absolution Tour"
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 26 September, 2013, 01:24:45 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Quote
In July 1943, as commanding officer, he led 2 Commando from their landing site at Catania in Sicily with his trademark Scottish broadsword slung around his waist, a longbow and arrows around his neck and his bagpipes under his arm, which he also did in the landings at Salerno.

Quote
In May 1940 Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near L'Epinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel (sergeant) with a barbed arrow, becoming the only British soldier known to have felled an enemy with a longbow in WWII.

(http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/5382/54497029715922036275982.jpg)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: tiermat on 26 September, 2013, 01:27:09 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Quote
In July 1943, as commanding officer, he led 2 Commando from their landing site at Catania in Sicily with his trademark Scottish broadsword slung around his waist, a longbow and arrows around his neck and his bagpipes under his arm, which he also did in the landings at Salerno.

Quote
In May 1940 Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near L'Epinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel (sergeant) with a barbed arrow, becoming the only British soldier known to have felled an enemy with a longbow in WWII.

(http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/5382/54497029715922036275982.jpg)

'Ard as nails, or what?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 26 September, 2013, 07:48:05 pm
Sword and longbow - nutter, feared by the enemy.
Bagpipes - nutter, feared by his own troops.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 02 October, 2013, 09:05:03 pm
The gun from an A-10 Thunderbolt - not the aircraft, just the gun - parked next to a VW Beetle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GAU-8_meets_VW_Type_1.jpg
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Gus on 02 October, 2013, 09:12:37 pm
Now it makes sence why the Iraqies ran, when it was spewing 300 gram depleted uranium projectiles in vast amounts.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 04 October, 2013, 01:01:23 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Brinkley#Goat_gland_transplantation
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 04 October, 2013, 09:34:27 am
Now it makes sence why the Iraqies ran, when it was spewing 300 gram depleted uranium projectiles in vast amounts.

Quote
One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown, it fires large depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. In the original design, the pilot could switch between two rates of fire: 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute; this was changed to a fixed rate of 3,900 rounds per minute. The cannon takes about half a second to come up to speed, so 50 rounds are fired during the first second, 65 or 70 rounds per second thereafter. The gun is accurate enough to place 80% of its shots within a 40-foot (12.4 m) diameter circle from 4,000 feet (1,220 m) while in flight. The GAU-8 is optimized for a slant range of 4,000 feet (1,220 m) with the A-10 in a 30 degree dive.

Holy fuckeroo  :o

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 04 October, 2013, 11:02:13 am
Now it makes sence why the Iraqies ran, when it was spewing 300 gram depleted uranium projectiles in vast amounts.

Quote
One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown, it fires large depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. In the original design, the pilot could switch between two rates of fire: 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute; this was changed to a fixed rate of 3,900 rounds per minute. The cannon takes about half a second to come up to speed, so 50 rounds are fired during the first second, 65 or 70 rounds per second thereafter. The gun is accurate enough to place 80% of its shots within a 40-foot (12.4 m) diameter circle from 4,000 feet (1,220 m) while in flight. The GAU-8 is optimized for a slant range of 4,000 feet (1,220 m) with the A-10 in a 30 degree dive.

Holy fuckeroo  :o


Indeed.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 04 October, 2013, 11:07:00 am
Gyotaku (literally "fish rubbing" (allegedly)). The Japanese art of coating things found in nature with ink and then transferring an impression to paper.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 08 October, 2013, 10:40:22 pm
Black hairy tongue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hairy_tongue)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: bumper on 08 October, 2013, 10:43:48 pm
Used to get that as a kid from eating too many black jacks :)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 14 October, 2013, 12:34:40 pm
That The Ladygrove Magazine is not what you might think.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 14 October, 2013, 08:57:22 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BlankPage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BlankPage)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 14 October, 2013, 09:25:30 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BlankPage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BlankPage)

Bloody typical! It's not true.




I'll get my coat.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 20 October, 2013, 08:24:06 pm
That between 1919 & 1974 at least 32 countries (current borders) with a total current population of 2.3 billion (i.e. almost a third of the population of the world), switched from driving on the left to driving on the right. If they hadn't switched, driving on the left would be the norm, not the exception. The majority of South Americans, Africans, & Asians, would drive on the left, as would fourteen European countries (counting Cyprus as European).

In addition, parts of at least eight countries (current borders) switched the same way, some due to border changes & some in the interest of standardisation within the country.

Only two (not counting a double switch) changed from right to left, both due to a change in colonial masters.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 24 October, 2013, 08:57:42 pm
Though some of them, in Europe at least, only switched because of border changes or because they came into being as states during that time. But I wonder if it would somehow make us feel different?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 25 October, 2013, 06:49:58 pm
No country switched immediately after coming into being as a state. Three in Europe switched because they went from one state to another at the end of WW1. All are now independent.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 October, 2013, 07:03:39 pm
I think "coming into being" and "going from one state to another" probably refer to the same thing here!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 25 October, 2013, 09:56:46 pm
Only if you think that inter-war Yugoslavia really was a new state, rather than an expanded Kingdom of Serbia.

With the demise of Austria-Hungary, it was probably inevitable that Central Europe would switch completely to driving on the right eventually, but some of the changeovers are baffling. Why, for example did Brazil change? All the countries with which it had all year round road links drove on the left at the time, which meant that most of the area & population of South America drove on the left.

And China - why? It was (& is) big enough not to care which side neighbours drove on, & had just gained a road connection to India (the second largest, in population, country driving on the same side) via Burma. It had no road connection to most of the USSR, & I doubt that travel across the French Indo-China border mattered. Strange that it changed.

The former British colonies in West Africa make sense, for the most part, having land borders only with countries driving on the right - except that Nigeria had more people & money than all its neighbours put together, & not much trade with them. It was arguable that it would have made more sense for the former French West Africa to change the other way,

Sudan & Ethiopia - well, once one changed, one can see some logic for the other. But neither had cross-border road connections worth worrying about, so why bother? Still pretty much the case.

And Myanmar was just weird.

Outside mainland Europe, & outliers such as Panama, the one-way traffic from left to right was rather odd.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 October, 2013, 11:43:59 pm
Only if you think that inter-war Yugoslavia really was a new state, rather than an expanded Kingdom of Serbia.
Possibly. But I don't think there had ever been one Czechoslovak state before and Poland had to reform itself from parts which had no political or administrative connection with each other, so they were coming into being by going from the state of an idea to the state of a state.

Brazil changed at the same time as Portugal, which is still odd as it had been independent for a century and it's hard to imagine trade and/or cultural links justifying it. Perhaps the Chinese changed as a reaction to Japanese occupation? Maybe both countries and many of the others changed because the USA was the largest source of vehicles? I think that was the reason given for Samoa to change the other way recently, so they could get cheaper used cars from Japan, and I read that Rwanda has similar plans.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 27 October, 2013, 12:55:01 pm
Only if you think that inter-war Yugoslavia really was a new state, rather than an expanded Kingdom of Serbia.
Possibly. But I don't think there had ever been one Czechoslovak state before and Poland had to reform itself from parts which had no political or administrative connection with each other, so they were coming into being by going from the state of an idea to the state of a state.
Yeah, but neither of those changed as a result of independence. Most of Poland (including the richest, most urbanised parts, with most vehicles) already drove on the right. Czechoslovakia kept driving on the left until the Nazis changed it for them, like Austria - though both were going to change anyway, due to the inconvenience of being in a relatively small block of left-drivers (them & Hungary) completely surrounded by right-drivers.

Quote
Brazil changed at the same time as Portugal, which is still odd as it had been independent for a century and it's hard to imagine trade and/or cultural links justifying it. Perhaps the Chinese changed as a reaction to Japanese occupation? Maybe both countries and many of the others changed because the USA was the largest source of vehicles? I think that was the reason given for Samoa to change the other way recently, so they could get cheaper used cars from Japan, and I read that Rwanda has similar plans.
Yes, Brazil is odd. I don't really buy the 'reaction to Japanese occupation' theory for China. It wasn't something imposed by Japan: it was what China already did. I could believe it for Korea, but the US & Soviet occupation forces changed it casually, by just importing their own rules for their own use & convenience, without asking the Koreans.

The Philippines changed at the end of WW2, having stayed on the left through 40 years of US rule.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JennyB on 29 October, 2013, 07:52:30 am
Orthodox Celts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_Celts)   :o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEt2XdN_TbQ
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 29 October, 2013, 09:23:46 am
That's quite a popular genre. example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N10p_FyOmc
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JennyB on 29 October, 2013, 10:11:53 am

For some reason YouTube links aren't showing now and I had to get yours from the reply. They're pretty good, but to a native the body language and interpretation is still strange.   :-\ 

BTW, I'm pretty sure the Round Tower in their first background image is Devenish, just three miles from here.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 29 October, 2013, 10:23:46 am
YouTube links never show for me either. I can't see mine at all but for some reason yours shows as a url.  ???

Yes, they are a bit odd but still popular. Especially when they start singing in #Slavonic language. There's an "Irish pub" I know in Poland which is run by Italians - and of course every bar of whatever sort puts green food dye in its beer on St Patrick's day.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 07 November, 2013, 09:11:51 pm
Back to the A-10 for a moment, these odds are not good if you are on the ground:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A-10_Thunderbolt_II_Kills.JPG

and this makes the point quite well:

http://freestylemtx.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=117377&stc=1&d=1241730600
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 09 November, 2013, 10:47:03 pm
In the summer of 1976, the swing bridge across Cumberland Basin - the entrance to Bristol docks - jammed shut cos it had expanded in the heat. They had to hose it down in order to let a ship in or out.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 10 November, 2013, 01:16:29 pm
While we were in Austria this year they had all-time record temperatures (in the 40s, it was like a furnace in Salzburg).  One of their bridges ran out of expansion gap and buckled.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 10 November, 2013, 02:23:29 pm
Things stickig im Toblerone Tunnel begotten mussen have.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 11 November, 2013, 04:17:31 pm
Warning: This may be of limited interest to all but metallists.

Rob Halford was not an original member of Judas Priest (joined ?late 1973).  Nor was Glenn Tipton (joined April 1974).  The longest lasting member was KK Downing (joined October 1970), who retired in April 2011.

In fact, the only original member of Judas Priest (who had played their first gig November 1969) still in the band even when KK joined was Al Atkins, who was the singer prior to Rob.

So none of what I thought were the three founder members were there at the start.

Told you it might be of limited interest, but it surprised me.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 13 November, 2013, 06:47:41 am
Rob Halford's best quote was the one from the "satanic hidden suicide messages" trial:

Quote
We said that to the judge. We said that if we were going to put subliminal messages on our records, it would be ones saying, "Buy more Priest albums."
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 17 November, 2013, 10:21:23 am
How to draw that ridiculously complicated Brazilian flag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Brazil_%28dimensions%29.svg
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 17 November, 2013, 11:24:33 am
(oo err, missus) That's a big one.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 18 November, 2013, 03:39:17 pm
That a float (as in milk float) is named after a type of cart with a loading bed between the wheels lower than the axles.  This was to facilitate the carriage of heavy or unstable items such as milk churns.

So modern ones are not really floats at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_%28horse-drawn%29

Incidentally, the use of the word float for parade vehicles seems not to be related.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: hubner on 18 November, 2013, 04:06:45 pm
The Nobel Prize in Economics is not an actual Nobel Prize. It was started in 1968 and paid for by ...surprise surprise, a bank!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 21 November, 2013, 05:48:55 pm
That a float (as in milk float) is named after a type of cart with a loading bed between the wheels lower than the axles.  This was to facilitate the carriage of heavy or unstable items such as milk churns.

So modern ones are not really floats at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_%28horse-drawn%29

Incidentally, the use of the word float for parade vehicles seems not to be related.
I didn't know that cart originally referred only to a vehicle with two wheels. So a shopping cart is actually a shopping waggon.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Basil on 21 November, 2013, 06:07:23 pm
That a float (as in milk float) is named after a type of cart with a loading bed between the wheels lower than the axles.  This was to facilitate the carriage of heavy or unstable items such as milk churns.

So modern ones are not really floats at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_%28horse-drawn%29

Incidentally, the use of the word float for parade vehicles seems not to be related.
I didn't know that cart originally referred only to a vehicle with two wheels. So a shopping cart is actually a shopping waggon.


And my bikes are carts?   :)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Montmorency on 21 November, 2013, 06:19:53 pm
Round these parts, it's a shopping *trolley*.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 21 November, 2013, 06:37:32 pm
The essence of a trolley would seem to be that it has four wheels which are small and are underneath a flat load bed. Except when it has two wheels.

Have you noticed (or have I just dreamed this up?) that American shopping websites tend to have a "cart" whereas British ones have a basket? And how come none of the cycling webshops (that I've ever seen) has altered their skeuomorphic electronic purchase container to be a pannier, saddle bag or similar?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Montmorency on 21 November, 2013, 06:48:04 pm
I think a garden supplies website I buy from uses a virtual "wheelbarrow".
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 21 November, 2013, 09:03:45 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Basil on 21 November, 2013, 09:24:35 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation

This is one of my few OCD things. 
I just can't relax enough for a poo if the paper is "under".  I have to change it.
Even visiting chums' houses I will change it around if it is in the "incorrect" orientation, even though though I'm only in there for a wee.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 21 November, 2013, 11:15:59 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation

This is one of my few OCD things. 
I just can't relax enough for a poo if the paper is "under".  I have to change it.
Even visiting chums' houses I will change it around if it is in the "incorrect" orientation, even though though I'm only in there for a wee.


I'm glad I'm not alone.




A completely irrelevant aside; the toilets in the library at my Alma Mater had double barrelled toilet roll holders.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 22 November, 2013, 06:46:46 am
The ones at work have two large rolls side by side, with a sort of flap to change over when one runs out.  They were made by Da Vinci but there seems to have been a falling out in the corporate bumwad dispenser world, because the new ones are made by Leonardo.

Aha: http://www.leonardo-dispensing.co.uk/connecting-da-vinci-and-leonardo.html

This reminds me - one of those small examples of how life sometimes gets better - the work bog roll is definitely softer than it used to be.  A few years ago you held in all no.2s until you got home, for fear of abrasion.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 08:31:14 am
I didn't know about carts, either.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JennyB on 22 November, 2013, 09:24:15 am


And my bikes are carts?   :)

No, but Segways are.  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 22 November, 2013, 10:10:20 am
Round these parts, it's a shopping *trolley*.

Yes, but a shopping trolley isn't a trolley.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 22 November, 2013, 05:42:40 pm
Fascinating!

(Wiki* doesn't have an entry for Kart. But it does cover "Go Karts" and "Kart Racing". )


*If it's not on Wikipedia, it doesn't exist. Or it's a typo.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 03 December, 2013, 02:53:48 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handschar

Heinrich Himmler was a fan of Islam.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 03 December, 2013, 03:05:45 pm
... the work bog roll is definitely softer than it used to be.  A few years ago you held in all no.2s until you got home, for fear of abrasion.

http://fumaga.com/i/badgers-arse-toilet-paper.jpg  ;D :demon: ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JBB on 04 December, 2013, 10:53:27 am
Two gunboats and three light cruisers diplomacy against a country armed with 2 cannons and a few machine guns.

Not Britain's finest hour by any means.

Maybe not but I bet the slaves who were subsequently freed weren't too fussed about it.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 04 December, 2013, 04:56:45 pm
Albert Göring, younger brother of the more famous Herman - and fervent anti-Nazi, who rescued Jews from death, exploiting the protection his name & his brother (who remained fond of him despite their political differences) gave him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_G%C3%B6ring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_G%C3%B6ring)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: TimC on 06 December, 2013, 05:36:34 am
Now it makes sence why the Iraqies ran, when it was spewing 300 gram depleted uranium projectiles in vast amounts.

Quote
One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown, it fires large depleted uranium armor-piercing shells. In the original design, the pilot could switch between two rates of fire: 2,100 or 4,200 rounds per minute; this was changed to a fixed rate of 3,900 rounds per minute. The cannon takes about half a second to come up to speed, so 50 rounds are fired during the first second, 65 or 70 rounds per second thereafter. The gun is accurate enough to place 80% of its shots within a 40-foot (12.4 m) diameter circle from 4,000 feet (1,220 m) while in flight. The GAU-8 is optimized for a slant range of 4,000 feet (1,220 m) with the A-10 in a 30 degree dive.

Holy fuckeroo  :o


Years ago, when I trained on the Hunter, we were introduced to ground attack techniques using one at a time of the four installed 30mm Aden (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADEN_cannon) cannon. Only once did I get a chance to fire all four simultaneously, with a combined fire rate of 4800+ rpm. I've no idea what the round weight was, but four at once did an impressive amount of damage to the ground targets we used at Garvie Island. The aeroplane lost around 50kts of forward speed per half-second burst, and the cockpit filled with smoke. It was quite exciting, really.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 09 December, 2013, 03:32:20 pm
The possibility of Black Holes was suggested by John Mitchell, a clergyman in Yorkshire.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 09 December, 2013, 09:20:57 pm
He'd been to Dewsbury, then? ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 09 December, 2013, 10:00:27 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Slovak_citizens  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 09 December, 2013, 10:34:15 pm
He'd been to Dewsbury, then? ;D

He was the Vicar of Thornhill!


Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 10 December, 2013, 05:45:57 am
He'd been to Dewsbury, then? ;D

He was the Vicar of Thornhill!




That's hilarious! ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 10 December, 2013, 11:03:33 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requirements_for_Slovak_citizens  :thumbsup:
??? Are Pingus Slovaks?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 13 December, 2013, 01:17:11 pm
Or, rather, a non-find.

The entry for the Sedia Gestatoria, or papal chair, contains no references to Dave Allen at all! :o
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 20 December, 2013, 09:55:15 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fournier_gangrene

Do not click on this link if you've just eaten at all.

:sick:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 29 December, 2013, 01:20:18 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_that_most_frequently_use_the_word_%22fuck%22

Lovingly catalogued by someone with too much time on their hands.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 29 December, 2013, 04:11:01 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_that_most_frequently_use_the_word_%22fuck%22

Lovingly catalogued by someone with too much time on their hands.


Rogerzilla found this, and I clicked the link… what does that say about us?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 02 January, 2014, 02:10:28 pm
Whilst watching The Sound of Music yesterday (never seen it before) I went a-Wiki-ing.  Georg von Trapp's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Johannes_von_Trapp) first wife was the grand daughter of Robert Whitehead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Whitehead), torpedo inventor. He's buried a handful of miles from here in Worth churchyard, Crawley.

Follow up question: Whitehead is credited as inventing the torpedo in 1866, which was presented to the Austrian Navy.  In simple terms, which side were the Austrians (presumably Austro-Hungarian Empire) on at that time?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: PaulR on 02 January, 2014, 02:23:42 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilet_paper_orientation

This is one of my few OCD things. 
I just can't relax enough for a poo if the paper is "under".  I have to change it.
Even visiting chums' houses I will change it around if it is in the "incorrect" orientation, even though though I'm only in there for a wee.

The conflict in our household is managed by means of one of these chaps:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimbosussexmtb/7636025368/

Now we just argue about the correct tension for the QR skewer...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 02 January, 2014, 03:23:19 pm
Whilst watching The Sound of Music yesterday (never seen it before) I went a-Wiki-ing.  Georg von Trapp's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Johannes_von_Trapp) first wife was the grand daughter of Robert Whitehead (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Whitehead), torpedo inventor. He's buried a handful of miles from here in Worth churchyard, Crawley.

Follow up question: Whitehead is credited as inventing the torpedo in 1866, which was presented to the Austrian Navy.  In simple terms, which side were the Austrians (presumably Austro-Hungarian Empire) on at that time?
Dunno: have you tried Wiki?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 02 January, 2014, 06:42:27 pm
Actually from Wookieepedia:  the Millennium Falcon can be seen landing on Coruscant in "Revenge of the Sith".

That makes it so old by ANH, it's as if Han Solo was riding around in a souped-up Ford Anglia.

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 02 January, 2014, 09:24:00 pm
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trap%E2%80%93bath_split

People who live in Bristol are likely to pronounce the name of the neighbouring town as Bath (not "Barth"), like I do (because I have northern parentage).    There is also a "foot-strut" split between south and north, but I have adopted the southern form after too much piss taking ("say duck!") at school.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 03 January, 2014, 12:34:56 am
...
Follow up question: Whitehead is credited as inventing the torpedo in 1866, which was presented to the Austrian Navy.  In simple terms, which side were the Austrians (presumably Austro-Hungarian Empire) on at that time?
The Austrian side. The system of alliances which led to everyone joining in WW1 didn't exist. Austria & some other German states fought Prussia & some other German states, & Italy (which wanted Venice) fought a war that year. The outnumbered & outgunned Austrians defeated the Italians at sea, but lost the war on land.

Britain, France & Russia kept out of it. Not their business.

IIRC Austria became Austria-Hungary the next year, in the Ausgleich.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: tiermat on 05 January, 2014, 11:58:15 am
SFW.

There is a real illness known as Beaver Fever: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_fever
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 January, 2014, 02:00:42 pm
SFW.

There is a real illness known as Beaver Fever: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver_fever
I've had it, from eating the local food in Malta.  Good way to lose weight fast, although you get explosive yellow poo.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mark on 05 January, 2014, 11:43:35 pm
I had a very mild version quite a few years ago. Spent a few days on the sofa, within sprinting distance of the toilet. More than a very mild version can put you in hospital with severe dehydration, or so I'm told. Since then I've used a water filter on all my back country trips.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 09 January, 2014, 07:29:19 am
Railbikes. You can hire them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draisine
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 09 January, 2014, 01:40:23 pm
A working storm-prediction barometer was invented, mechanically operated by leeches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_Prognosticator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_Prognosticator)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Charlotte on 09 January, 2014, 01:50:11 pm
Good grief.  Following on from that, I think this establishment probably deserves a mention, too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barometer_World

(http://www.barometerworld.co.uk/jpg/phil_barometer.jpg)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 07 February, 2014, 11:09:43 pm
Some people had too much time on their hands: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copiale_cipher
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 08 February, 2014, 08:14:40 am
Railbikes. You can hire them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draisine
Did you ever read this?
(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-r_xwxTuGsFI/UJU_whgqO0I/AAAAAAAAABs/F6R89JgeW4w/s1600/images-1.jpg)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pancho on 08 February, 2014, 08:53:14 am
WWII era pigeon guided missile.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: CAMRAMan on 08 February, 2014, 09:14:04 am
Since then I've used a water filter on all my Black Country trips.
I never realised Dudley was so risky...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jaded on 08 February, 2014, 09:15:14 am
Good grief.  Following on from that, I think this establishment probably deserves a mention, too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barometer_World

(http://www.barometerworld.co.uk/jpg/phil_barometer.jpg)

That little vignette has led me to some Barograph spares sources. Oh joy!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: nikki on 08 February, 2014, 11:51:37 am
Good grief.  Following on from that, I think this establishment probably deserves a mention, too:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barometer_World

(http://www.barometerworld.co.uk/jpg/phil_barometer.jpg)

Sometime in my teens I got put on their mailing list courtesy of a friend with a sense of humour.

They were really very insistent that I bought a barometer from them: sending me incrementally larger discount enticements until I finally had to break it to them they probably weren't going to get a sale, regardless of price!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 08 February, 2014, 11:54:34 am
I had a lovely barometer given to me as a birthday present.  It kinda worked, but it got knocked off the wall, and the glass broke.  I took it to the clock & barometer folk in Tod to get a replacement, then Events happened, and I never got it back :(
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 13 February, 2014, 10:37:31 am
The Explorer Group are the UK's second largest manufacturers of caravans, and are based in Consett.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Explorer_Group
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pancho on 13 February, 2014, 08:16:30 pm
The Scots used to eat halal.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_pork_taboo
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 22 March, 2014, 05:45:16 pm
A weather instrument invented in the 1800s by a Scot is still used today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell%E2%80%93Stokes_recorder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell%E2%80%93Stokes_recorder)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pancho on 14 April, 2014, 08:39:39 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpology

An entry which includes the marvellous quotation,

Quote
I can't imagine anyone wasting their time and money on someone like this when there are so many legitimate psychics out there.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 16 April, 2014, 02:37:51 pm
The Scots used to eat halal.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_pork_taboo
Lot more to halal than not eating pork.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Dibdib on 16 April, 2014, 08:23:00 pm
I am especially fond of pseudolegal woo, especially fuckwits like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemen_on_the_land

It seems to be a pretty significant overlap with (a) recreational drug users, (b) people who feel that paying tax is optional, and (c) fuckwit conspiracy theorists.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pancho on 16 April, 2014, 08:45:11 pm
and (d) mental health problems.

NB. I'm not mocking mental health sufferers - some of those "Freemen on the land" types are genuinely not the full picnic.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Dibdib on 16 April, 2014, 09:00:11 pm
and (d) mental health problems.

NB. I'm not mocking mental health sufferers - some of those "Freemen on the land" types are genuinely not the full picnic.

True, I was just being careful not to describe them as fuckwits - although vulnerable and desperate people are probably quite often targeted by the fuckwits trying to sell them bullshit template letters and e-books on how to get out of debt.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 28 April, 2014, 11:35:55 am
There is a genetically-modified type of flax call 'Triffid'.

Quote
In September 2009 it was reported that Canadian flax exports had been contaminated by a de-registered genetically modified (GM) variety, known as Triffid.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 07 May, 2014, 06:31:37 pm
Rick Allen, the one-armed Def Leppard drummer, now uses samples of his pre-accident acoustic drums triggered by his electronic kit.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: davelodwig on 08 May, 2014, 12:00:09 am
I am especially fond of pseudolegal woo, especially fuckwits like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemen_on_the_land

It seems to be a pretty significant overlap with (a) recreational drug users, (b) people who feel that paying tax is optional, and (c) fuckwit conspiracy theorists.

I knew someone who was into the fmol stuff and used to go on for hours about how we don't have to pay tax or insure our cars and it's all a scam designed to keep us down, and we should all opt out of being governed.

I used to kill the conversation by pointing out that also meant he'd stop getting his benefits then.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: PeteB99 on 21 May, 2014, 11:55:35 am
The indicator switchgear of the Lamborghini Diablo originated in the Morris Marina

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Marina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Marina)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Vince on 22 May, 2014, 10:12:45 am
Earnest Martin Jehan, the first and only commander to sink a modern steel submarine with a sailing vessel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Martin_Jehan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Martin_Jehan)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 22 May, 2014, 08:09:06 pm
In the same vein, "Mad" Jack Churchill.  Great name, better story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: hairyhippy on 29 May, 2014, 01:01:48 pm
In the same vein, "Mad" Jack Churchill.  Great name, better story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Now there's a series of films waiting to be made.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 03 June, 2014, 01:44:42 pm
Probably a lot of people do know this already, but it was news to me that Geordi LaForge is Kunta Kinte.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 04 June, 2014, 07:09:32 am
On Barnum:

Quote
At one point, Barnum noticed that people were lingering too long at his exhibits. He posted signs indicating "This Way to the Egress". Not knowing that "Egress" was another word for "Exit", people followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit...and ended up outside.

 ;D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnum%27s_American_Museum
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 16 June, 2014, 02:59:27 pm
Everyone knows about Munros, I'm sure many must have known about Marilyns, but I didn't http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_(hill)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 25 June, 2014, 09:14:23 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_pulling

Suddenly it becomes clear why geese have such an attitude problem...   :sick:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 25 June, 2014, 10:06:13 pm
WTF? :o
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rafletcher on 26 June, 2014, 11:39:23 am
A female Ruff is a Reeve.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wombat on 26 June, 2014, 01:42:01 pm
Yeah, I knew that! 

How long have I waited to be able to say that?

Mrs W does Regency dancing, this is how I know.  Apart from anything else, there is a dance called "Ruffs and Reeves"
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Regulator on 27 June, 2014, 12:43:07 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Quote
In July 1943, as commanding officer, he led 2 Commando from their landing site at Catania in Sicily with his trademark Scottish broadsword slung around his waist, a longbow and arrows around his neck and his bagpipes under his arm, which he also did in the landings at Salerno.

Quote
In May 1940 Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near L'Epinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel (sergeant) with a barbed arrow, becoming the only British soldier known to have felled an enemy with a longbow in WWII.

(http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/5382/54497029715922036275982.jpg)

'Ard as nails, or what?

Jus to be pedantic, the photograph is actually of a training exercise...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pancho on 27 June, 2014, 04:45:53 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goose_pulling

Suddenly it becomes clear why geese have such an attitude problem...   :sick:

Excellent find. The village Summer Fete has been getting a bit staid recently. Just need some geese.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 07 September, 2014, 06:42:06 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_field_entoptic_phenomenon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_field_entoptic_phenomenon)

This one comes with a neat practical demonstration
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 28 October, 2014, 08:14:57 am
HAI
       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOLCODE
       http://lolcode.org/1.2_spec.html
KTHXBAI
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 28 October, 2014, 11:40:13 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill

Quote
In July 1943, as commanding officer, he led 2 Commando from their landing site at Catania in Sicily with his trademark Scottish broadsword slung around his waist, a longbow and arrows around his neck and his bagpipes under his arm, which he also did in the landings at Salerno.

Quote
In May 1940 Churchill and his unit, the Manchester Regiment, ambushed a German patrol near L'Epinette, France. Churchill gave the signal to attack by cutting down the enemy Feldwebel (sergeant) with a barbed arrow, becoming the only British soldier known to have felled an enemy with a longbow in WWII.

'Ard as nails, or what?
Ah yes, "Mad Jack". Lived to be about 90, which must have surprised a lot of people.


My find of the week - that the first female MPs were elected in Finland, in 1907, & that in that election 19 out of 200 MPs elected were women. The first election in the UK in which that percentage was exceeded was in 1997.  :facepalm:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage#Finland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage#Finland)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JennyB on 29 October, 2014, 12:12:53 am
HAI
       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOLCODE
       http://lolcode.org/1.2_spec.html
KTHXBAI

That takes me back!  A long time ago, when I had nothing better to do, I played a little part in speccing lolcode loops.  :facepalm:

But I had no hand in the LOLCAT BIBLE TRANSLATION (http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Main_Page)  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jaded on 29 October, 2014, 08:00:27 am
lolcat bible. Supreme.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Vince on 29 October, 2014, 01:23:53 pm
During the war Merlin engines were built in the Cadbury factory in Keynsham.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerdale_Factory
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 29 October, 2014, 01:39:52 pm
Keynsham.  Tell me more about Keynsham.

(Yes, I do know how to spell it,  thank you).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Vince on 29 October, 2014, 01:43:43 pm
The most interesting thing about Keynsham (and its spelling) is found on their Wiki page under culture.

Vis:
Culture

In 1969 the town was featured as the title of the fourth album Keynsham by the Bonzo Dog Band. The title was chosen in honour of Horace Batchelor, who had been referenced in previous Bonzo Dog Band recordings. In the early 1960s, Batchelor became known through his regular advertisements on Radio Luxembourg for his football pools prediction service. When giving his contact address, he would slowly spell out 'Keynsham' letter by letter, and this became an amusing feature for many young listeners.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 07 November, 2014, 11:14:11 pm
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=soundburger&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go

Quote
The page "Soundburger" does not exist.

 :(
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 10 November, 2014, 11:14:49 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threatening_the_President_of_the_United_States
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: nikki on 17 November, 2014, 10:33:52 pm
A new tool for feeding this thread:
http://listen.hatnote.com

Quote
Listen to the sound of Wikipedia's recent changes feed. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note. Green circles show edits from unregistered contributors, and purple circles mark edits performed by automated bots. You may see announcements for new users as they join the site, punctuated by a string swell.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 17 November, 2014, 10:45:28 pm
A new tool for feeding this thread:
http://listen.hatnote.com

Quote
Listen to the sound of Wikipedia's recent changes feed. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note. Green circles show edits from unregistered contributors, and purple circles mark edits performed by automated bots. You may see announcements for new users as they join the site, punctuated by a string swell.

 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 17 November, 2014, 11:03:41 pm
I'm finding that particularly pleasing, for some reason.   :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: nikki on 17 November, 2014, 11:06:38 pm
I've been listening to it for aaaaages.

May replace http://asoftmurmur.com for background-noise-to-drown-out-other-noises-noise!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: andrewc on 17 November, 2014, 11:49:55 pm
You could burn that to CD & sell it! 
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: jsabine on 17 November, 2014, 11:50:58 pm
It's really quite soothing. I may have to bookmark that.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: HTFB on 29 December, 2014, 09:29:55 pm
Category: things of which things are not made. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Misidentified_chemical_elements (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Misidentified_chemical_elements)

The best one is Gnomium.

(Scene: a chemical laboratory. Day.)
SCHMIDT: Herr Professor Krüss, we have a problem. Cobalt has these chemical properties, and this weight, and you will at once see that by our theory it is too heavy to have this chemistry. What can we about this do?
KRÜSS: That is quite all right, Herr Professor Schmidt. If cobalt has these properties, then by our theory it must be lighter. So, then, our sample of cobalt must be mixed with something heavier but chemically indistinguishable. Let us call it Gnomium. Is sehr funny German joke, ja?
SCHMIDT: Ach, I see. So, this Gnomium, it must have the same chemistry as cobalt, and is heavier than cobalt, and it is so because cobalt is already too heavy to have this chemistry. Do you not perhaps a teensy tiny contradiction in this see?
KRÜSS: Hush! Let us publish quick and hope nobody notices.
(Exeunt to nearest Bierkeller.)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JennyB on 30 December, 2014, 12:33:39 pm
Category: things of which things are not made.

Unobtanium, handwavium, and of course the mysterious enzyme Godnose.  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 30 December, 2014, 01:57:48 pm
To say nothing of the sub-atomic particles such as the bogon and the theakston.  I am disappointed that Jim Al-Khalili and Brian Cox have yet to touch on these.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: HTFB on 30 December, 2014, 05:27:33 pm
There's a particle theory of rowing crews, which are made of massive bowons and strokons in equal numbers, all held together by tiny excited coxswaons.

Here, if you want. (http://htfb.livejournal.com/5209.html)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 30 December, 2014, 07:42:35 pm
A new tool for feeding this thread:
http://listen.hatnote.com

Quote
Listen to the sound of Wikipedia's recent changes feed. Bells indicate additions and string plucks indicate subtractions. Pitch changes according to the size of the edit; the larger the edit, the deeper the note. Green circles show edits from unregistered contributors, and purple circles mark edits performed by automated bots. You may see announcements for new users as they join the site, punctuated by a string swell.

 :thumbsup:
+1 !

Gives a great insight to the daily life on planet wiki. Definitely a great source of serendipity - some things that scrolled past today, I would never have found by just following links.

(On the down side, it reminded me of what depresses me about the interweb and wikipedia in particular; so much time wasted on updating info like "Apprentice (TV) Series 3" or "Photoshop v4.2.1"  :facepalm:  There's a whole UNIVERSE of interesting stuff out there to read about guys!   )
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Vince on 22 January, 2015, 11:36:44 am
I had thought that Merkins were people who lived south of Canadians.
Apparently not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin

Random Wiki will get you into trouble
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 22 January, 2015, 01:34:02 pm
I had thought that Merkins were people who lived south of Canadians.
Apparently not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin

Random Wiki will get you into trouble

The local hostelry in the Radio4Extra comedy The Castle was the Merk Inn (assumed spelling).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 22 January, 2015, 02:17:50 pm
I had thought that Merkins were people who lived south of Canadians.
Apparently not.

That was a standard FAQ entry from the more British corners of 90s usenet...

Quote from: FAQ
Q. What's a merkin?
A. A pubic wig.

Thereby deliberately leaving the reader no more enlightened as to the meaning of the term as it was generally used (ie. to affectionately refer to USAnians).  Unless they asked the question out loud, anyway.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 26 January, 2015, 12:56:48 pm
The topic is a tad NSFW, but the page is ok http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pricasso
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Riggers on 26 January, 2015, 01:05:56 pm
Bit of a fag having to clean your brush for a different colour all the time, surely!?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 26 January, 2015, 01:13:33 pm
I just hope he uses water soluble.....
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 26 January, 2015, 01:20:43 pm
That's bollocks.  Arse.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Nuncio on 04 February, 2015, 03:33:50 pm
One-man attempt to rid Wikipedia of 'comprised of'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Giraffedata/comprised_of

https://medium.com/backchannel/meet-the-ultimate-wikignome-10508842caad

Canute, Sisyphus, hero, or fool?

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: nikki on 05 February, 2015, 06:03:03 pm
Oh my!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cakes
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 11 February, 2015, 09:51:37 am
Radio comedy producer Bill Dare's (Now Show, Dead Ringers, Spitting Image, Mary Whitehouse Experience, Secret World, I've never Seen Star Wars etc) full name is Bill Dare Jones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jones_%28actor%29
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Vince on 11 February, 2015, 09:54:17 am
Oh my!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cakes
How can a list of cakes not include Flapjack?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 11 February, 2015, 01:46:35 pm
Oh my!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cakes
How can a list of cakes not include Flapjack?

Bugger flapjacks, it hasn't got a Paris-Brest!

(http://www.roadtopastry.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Recipe-Paris-Brest-01.jpg)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 15 April, 2015, 10:59:27 pm
I rather like it that the list of notable residents of Gibsons, British Columbia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibsons#Notable_residents_.28past_and_present.29) lists Paul Rudolph firstly as a "cyclist" rather than the guitarist in the Pink Fairies and replacement for Lemmy in Hawkwind.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 17 April, 2015, 10:37:40 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_%28cat%29
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 17 April, 2015, 11:36:08 am
Eagle House School, Sandhurst.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_House_School (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_House_School) -
Wiki lists as 'notable former pupils' -

Stuart Burge, actor and director
James Chalmers, actor
Nick Drake, singer-songwriter
John Gardner, composer
Lewis Moody, rugby player
John Bruce-Lockhart, schoolmaster and cricketer


But not, for example, Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck GCB, GCIE, CSI, DSO, OBE (1884-1981 - Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army 1941, Commander-in-Chief of the Middle East theatre 1941-42, Commander-in-Chief India again 1943-47, then Supreme Commander of all British forces in India and Pakistan until late 1948). Something against soldiers (odd, considering the location of the school)? A couple of ex-pupils have been awarded the Victoria Cross, one was given the Croix de Guerre & the Czech Cross - & that's selecting only from those listed as died in wars. But that's not notable, while a minor actor is.  ???
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 17 April, 2015, 11:41:09 am
You could edit the article and put him in...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: jsabine on 17 April, 2015, 11:44:20 am
Well, quite.

I thought it was in the wiki spirit to share this sort of knowledge for the benefit of all who read the article, not just those who read a slightly obscure cycling forum.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 17 April, 2015, 05:59:24 pm
Weeellll . .. it was already on Wikipedia. That's how I know which school Auchinleck went to.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 23 April, 2015, 03:01:48 pm
Violette Morris. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violette_Morris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violette_Morris)

(http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--Kas9heYa--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/17yv5b83185owjpg.jpg)

Perhaps not the best female role model, despite her sporting achievements.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pancho on 23 April, 2015, 04:46:07 pm
Shandy was invented for, and named after, cyclists (in Germany, at least)


http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shandy
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 04 May, 2015, 12:51:17 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China

Cryptographically-generated offsets in the datum!  That's taken a few steps over the line between genius and insanity.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 06 May, 2015, 12:53:36 pm
I found this page -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Comparison_Program (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Comparison_Program)

Unfortunately, it seemed to have been written by someone incapable of understanding that there was anything before the web, & that there are these things called books, made out of paper. Is this a common problem with Wiki?

It said that the results had been published twice - the first time for 2005, & the second time for 2011.  When I read that, I turned my head to look at a bookshelf which holds the published results for 1970, 1973, 1975, 1980 & 1985, printed between 1978 & 1988. :facepalm: 

It also has a bizarre comment that it relies too much on primary sources. What?  ???

PS. It was crammed with grammatical errors, typos, etc. as well. I did a quick clean-up.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 18 May, 2015, 03:38:33 pm
Not much going on in Iceland in 1996 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_in_Iceland)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 10 June, 2015, 09:39:43 pm
Cycled through a village called Layer Breton in Essex recently, Googled it because I wondered where the name came from. Found this instead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1884_Colchester_earthquake
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 10 June, 2015, 10:35:53 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China

Cryptographically-generated offsets in the datum!  That's taken a few steps over the line between genius and insanity.
The Soviet Union used to put deliberate errors in all maps until some time in the '80s. The aim was supposedly to hinder any invasion and they ended it once they realised the Running Dog Capitalist Pigs had satellite images making it all irrelevant. I'm not convinced that China's aim is necessarily the same though.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 11 June, 2015, 09:09:32 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China

Cryptographically-generated offsets in the datum!  That's taken a few steps over the line between genius and insanity.
The Soviet Union used to put deliberate errors in all maps until some time in the '80s. The aim was supposedly to hinder any invasion and they ended it once they realised the Running Dog Capitalist Pigs had satellite images making it all irrelevant. I'm not convinced that China's aim is necessarily the same though.


The Ordnance Survey omitted details of defence related sites (airfields and ordnance factories among others), presumably to confuse the Soviet Union.

The problem with this was that the lack of detail was noticeable on the One Inch Seventh Series; the most glaring example was a blank grid square near Selby.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pancho on 11 June, 2015, 10:54:12 am
The old os maps of Pompey and Gosport have conspicuous blank patches where anyone stumbling around the actual territory would stub their toe on not insignificantly sized naval bases and airfields
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wombat on 11 June, 2015, 01:10:45 pm
Not to mention Gosport's speciality, armaments depots, including the infamous Bedenham explosion.

(hey, I said NOT to mention... )

IGMC
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 11 June, 2015, 06:15:09 pm
There used to be three patches of land to the SW of Reading with nothing but geographical features shown on OS maps. Weell, one (just south of Bramley, en route to Basingstoke) had a railway running through it which was shown, but the spread-out sidings with widely & evenly spaced buildings weren't on the map. Neither was a big patch near Burghfield, & another one not far from Aldermaston.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 11 June, 2015, 07:58:41 pm
RAF Welford was blank on the map, with a dead end road leading from the M4 to, apparently, nowhere. However, it was signed from the motorway as a highway service depot... the sign had a red border.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 12 June, 2015, 06:32:36 am
Still is.  "Works unit only".  It's been like that for as long as i can remember.  There are"Works unit onlY" signs on other motorways, but they're not red and it's probably where they store cones and stuff.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 12 June, 2015, 11:18:31 am
The one at the bottom of the M11 would have been Chigwell Services if they'd ever been built, and was converted into a lorry marshalling yard for Olympic Park construction traffic for a while.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 06 July, 2015, 11:25:49 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephistofeles_(car)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: andrew_s on 09 July, 2015, 08:44:27 am
a new medical condition: Nomophobia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomophobia)
speaking as someone who's immune, I find it somewhat amusing
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: PeteB99 on 22 July, 2015, 12:44:05 pm
The Pub my Grandfather ran in the late 50's. My first home.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Lambeth_pub,_Kirkdale.jpg (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Lambeth_pub,_Kirkdale.jpg)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JennyB on 25 July, 2015, 08:57:36 am
Why Murricans drive pickup trucks. It's all to do with the chicken tax (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax). Apparently.  :-\
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 25 July, 2015, 06:51:21 pm
Chicken Tax explains why USAnian vans are so crap.  One Jamie Kitman, who combined motoring journalism with being road manager for Nirvana-endorsed Beat Combo the Meat Puppets, reported his astonishment when he first got his hands on one of the first rebadged M-B Sprinters to cross the Atlantic.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 17 September, 2015, 07:54:10 pm
That in Germany "welsch" (from the same root as "Welsh") is applied to the French, but In Switzerland it means Italian. Meanwhile, in Tyrol and South Tyrol they call Italians Italian.


Allegedly.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 18 September, 2015, 06:05:50 am
Doesn't the word derive from one meaning 'foreign'?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 18 September, 2015, 07:30:31 am
In Germany I had a colleague called Welsch who had a very deep voice.  When strangers phoned in the conversation usually began:

Welsch: Welsch.
Caller: Guten Tag, Herr Welsch.
Welsch: Frau.


In 30 years of working in Germany or with Germans I never heard anyone refer to the French as "welsch". It was usually die blöde Franzosen.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jakob W on 18 September, 2015, 08:38:20 am
ISTR Froschfresser as a chauvinist pejorative...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 18 September, 2015, 09:17:35 am
Same in Polish – żabojady
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 18 September, 2015, 11:13:28 am
Doesn't the word derive from one meaning 'foreign'?


Yes.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 18 September, 2015, 11:17:30 am

In 30 years of working in Germany or with Germans I never heard anyone refer to the French as "welsch". It was usually die blöde Franzosen.

That does seem more likely.

They might be archaic usages, or, as this is Wikipedia, I might be channelling complete bollocks.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jakob W on 18 September, 2015, 09:07:22 pm
Thinking about it, Kauderwelsch is the German equivalent of 'Double-Dutch'.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: benborp on 26 October, 2015, 03:25:54 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Kilda,_Scotland)

For some reason stoic pragmatism amuses me. Especially when the outcome can be as variable as the St Kilda mailboat.

Quote
Even in the late 19th century, the islanders could communicate with the rest of the world only by lighting a bonfire on the summit of Conachair and hoping a passing ship might see it, or by using the "St Kilda mailboat". This was the invention of John Sands, who visited in 1877. During his stay, a shipwreck left nine Austrian sailors marooned there, and by February supplies were running low. Sands attached a message to a lifebuoy salvaged from the Peti Dubrovacki and threw it into the sea. Nine days later it was picked up in Birsay, Orkney, and a rescue was arranged. The St Kildans, building on this idea, would fashion a piece of wood into the shape of a boat, attach it to a bladder made of sheepskin, and place in it a small bottle or tin containing a message. Launched when the wind came from the north-west, two-thirds of the messages were later found on the west coast of Scotland or, less conveniently, in Norway.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Salvatore on 26 October, 2015, 03:40:40 pm
That in Germany "welsch" (from the same root as "Welsh") is applied to the French, but In Switzerland it means Italian. Meanwhile, in Tyrol and South Tyrol they call Italians Italian.


Allegedly.

See also Walloon - another non-germanic people neighbouring germanics.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 05 January, 2016, 10:38:33 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banovići

Quote
Banovići (Cyrillic: There is no cyrillic in Banovići Fuck you) is a town and municipality in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 20 January, 2016, 03:34:14 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Kay_of_the_Milky_Way (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Kay_of_the_Milky_Way)
Quote
Since 1965, sculptures of the winning Princess Kay and other finalists have been carved, one per day, at the Minnesota State Fair. Recent butter sculptures have been carved out of a 90-pound block of Grade A butter, in a walk-in, glass-walled refrigerator. The butter is manufactured by Associated Milk Producers in New Ulm, Minnesota. The butter carving booth is one of the most popular exhibits at the Fair. The carving of the butter sculpture takes 6–8 hours per finalist. For nearly 40 years, Linda Christensen has sculpted the Princesses' butter sculptures. Princesses take their butter sculpture home with them at the end of the Fair.

What do they do with them? Even after sculpting, that's got to be 60lb of butter.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 20 January, 2016, 05:13:14 pm
Spread themselves thin?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 21 January, 2016, 09:32:36 am
Spread themselves thin?
Very good. That belongs in the bad jokes thread.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 24 January, 2016, 08:26:12 am
Harrison G. Dyar, who collected 500,000 different varieties of mosquito and was married to two women at the same time, maintaining two families and raising five children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Gray_Dyar,_Jr.

The 500,000 mozzies comes from an article about him in Nature.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 25 January, 2016, 12:31:12 pm
Salekhard–Igarka Railway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salekhard%E2%80%93Igarka_Railway), aka Трансполярная магистраль - Transpolar Mainline.
Some more pictures can be seen here (http://politolog.net/russia/doroga-v-nikuda-nastoyashhaya-rossiya-fotoreportazh-bloger/).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 25 January, 2016, 12:47:25 pm
Salekhard–Igarka Railway (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salekhard%E2%80%93Igarka_Railway), aka Трансполярная магистраль - Transpolar Mainline.
Some more pictures can be seen here (http://politolog.net/russia/doroga-v-nikuda-nastoyashhaya-rossiya-fotoreportazh-bloger/).

IIRC TV's Chris Tarrant was up there in his most recent series of Extreme Railway Journeys.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 16 March, 2016, 08:17:13 am
Arthur Ransome (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome), of Swallows and Amazons fame, was married to Trotsky's secretary.

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: ElyDave on 16 March, 2016, 08:41:41 am
following the 6-nations thread I looked up Phil De Glanville, absolutely no mention of the New Zealand face shredding incident, which I find surprising.

Wayne Shelford's on the other hand has the Battle of Nantes very prominent
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 16 March, 2016, 08:44:47 am
Arthur Ransome (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome), of Swallows and Amazons fame, was married to Trotsky's secretary.
There is a book about that, Blood Red, Snow White. A cracking read.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 16 March, 2016, 09:03:38 am
Ahah! Ta.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 21 March, 2016, 02:42:22 pm
That there is an International Union of Railways classification system for locomotive wheel arrangements.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 03 May, 2016, 04:11:20 pm
Arthur Ransome (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ransome), of Swallows and Amazons fame, was married to Trotsky's secretary.
There is a book about that, Blood Red, Snow White. A cracking read.
Ooh, I'll look that up. He was also one of the first front-line war correspondents, on the Eastern Front in WW1 for the Times, which is presumably how he ended up with Trotsky's secretary.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 03 May, 2016, 06:08:16 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English:_A%E2%80%93L

What it says on the tin.  What it lacks in accuracy it makes up for in scope.  Plenty of learn-something-new-every-day fodder there.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 03 May, 2016, 07:39:08 pm
Fanny has always been a favourite of mine.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 04 May, 2016, 01:34:38 pm
That Buffalo Springfield were named after a make of road roller.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 04 May, 2016, 08:14:37 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English:_A%E2%80%93L

What it says on the tin.  What it lacks in accuracy it makes up for in scope.  Plenty of learn-something-new-every-day fodder there.
Under "beaver" the article refers to "female vagina". Is that tautology or am I about to be educated?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 04 May, 2016, 08:18:59 pm
Careful, that's the sort of thing that causes TERF wars.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 08 May, 2016, 11:24:18 am
Today I learned that Wilkinson Sword - yes, the manufacturers of razors, garden tools and, er, swords - also made motorcycles.  One does not like to speculate as to the comfort of the saddle.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 23 May, 2016, 07:04:11 pm
Molecules with structures like little guys!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoputian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanoputian)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Bledlow on 24 May, 2016, 10:59:56 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English:_A%E2%80%93L

What it says on the tin.  What it lacks in accuracy it makes up for in scope.  Plenty of learn-something-new-every-day fodder there.
Under "beaver" the article refers to "female vagina". Is that tautology or am I about to be educated?
This person has a vagina, & self-identifies as a man. Hasn't had any surgery to change it, & I understand it's quite often on show in films.
(http://i.imgur.com/Hdj9smI.png)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: caerau on 24 May, 2016, 11:05:02 am
The penis does not exist in many many species - fish for example.  Though I don't know if male fish have a vagina instead...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: caerau on 24 May, 2016, 11:09:12 am
I really shouldn't have just tried to google that.  :jurek:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: ian on 24 May, 2016, 12:24:53 pm
Men and women have exactly the same parts just anatomically redistributed and re-proportioned. It's quite common for men to retain some vagina (a failure of the Müllerian duct to completely atrophy during pre-natal development).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 27 August, 2016, 01:39:50 am
Just found two:i

Firstly I am surprised to find I have never been a member of Chic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chic_%28band%29

Secondly, one of my favourite singers had a son with a name you just couldn't make up.  Maybe it's different in America?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mark on 27 August, 2016, 06:56:06 am
Secondly, one of my favourite singers had a son with a name you just couldn't make up.  Maybe it's different in America?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline

It's different in America, and was probably even more so back then.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 27 August, 2016, 08:05:27 am
Secondly, one of my favourite singers had a son with a name you just couldn't make up.  Maybe it's different in America?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline

I was hoping that he was going to be Ronald D Cline, but that's even better.

It's different in America, and was probably even more so back then.

See also Nice Mr Obambi's Assistant Chief of Protocol: Randy Bumgardner.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 29 August, 2016, 12:31:43 am
 ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 29 August, 2016, 09:03:11 am
Secondly, one of my favourite singers had a son with a name you just couldn't make up.  Maybe it's different in America?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline

It's different in America, and was probably even more so back then.
Hang on. Are we saying that
"Allen Randolph Dick (called Randy)" gets all this attention, but
"Cline's daughter, Julie Dick Fudge" gets no mention in this thread?? Referee!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 29 August, 2016, 12:59:13 pm
The "Casual Sexism" thread is over there ==>
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: clarion on 30 August, 2016, 01:39:20 pm
Just found two:i

Firstly I am surprised to find I have never been a member of Chic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chic_%28band%29

You're more likely to have been in The Fall (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Fall_members)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 30 August, 2016, 03:30:37 pm
The village of Edith Weston (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Weston), wot we visited on the Rutland Expedition at the weekend, is named after Edith of Wessex, Queen of England a long long time ago. She had a brother, Harold Godwinson, who came to an untimely end at Battle.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 30 August, 2016, 06:07:10 pm
The "Casual Sexism" thread is over there ==>
Is there a "Childish jokes about suggestive names" thread?

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 30 August, 2016, 06:18:50 pm
The "Casual Sexism" thread is over there ==>
Is there a "Childish jokes about suggestive names" thread?

The nominative determinism thread?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Legs on 05 September, 2016, 01:53:16 pm
That nutmeg is a supposed abortifacient and is highly neurotoxic to dogs.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: TimC on 05 September, 2016, 04:42:06 pm
The village of Edith Weston (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Weston), wot we visited on the Rutland Expedition at the weekend, is named after Edith of Wessex, Queen of England a long long time ago. She had a brother, Harold Godwinson, who came to an untimely end at Battle.

I discovered Ruddles in the Wheatsheaf there, the day before my first decompression run in the RAF School of Aviation Medicine at RAF North Luffenham, in 1977. Both I and the assembled medics regretted my discovery.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Nuncio on 26 October, 2016, 01:47:11 pm
The 1904 St Louis Olympic Marathon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1904_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_marathon) was quite unlike any other.

14 finishers from 32 entrants.
First person to cross the line was taking a lift to the finish after stopping but re-entered after the car broke down.
The winner had to be stopped from having a lie-down during the race by his support team, and was given a couple of strychnine and egg whites, washed down by brandy, to encourage him
A Cuban postman finished in 4th, wearing street clothes with the long trousers cut down.
Despite fierce heat, there were only 2 water stations because the organizer wanted to test the effects of dehydration.
A competitor was forced off course a ile because he was chased by dogs.

More here http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1904-olympic-marathon-may-have-been-the-strangest-ever-14910747/?no-ist (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-1904-olympic-marathon-may-have-been-the-strangest-ever-14910747/?no-ist)

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Eccentrica Gallumbits on 24 November, 2016, 10:08:07 pm
"Mackerel are superb swimmers."

They're fish, ffs. If they weren't superb swimmers, they'd be complete failures at being fish.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Feanor on 24 November, 2016, 10:16:42 pm
"Mackerel are superb swimmers."

They're fish, ffs. If they weren't superb swimmers, they'd be complete failures at being fish.

Reminds me of early-year parenthood, where people were obsessed with trivia like what age the toots started walking.

"Ooh, he's walking already, at 10 months! Such a clever little toot!"
"<panic> Our little  toot is not walking at 11 months! Wail!"

What a load of tosh.
How many parents sit around look at their 18-yr olds oaves and nattering:

"Ohh, look how well he walks! I bet he was walking at 10 months!"

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 24 November, 2016, 10:33:41 pm
"Mackerel are superb swimmers."

They're fish, ffs. If they weren't superb swimmers, they'd be complete failures at being fish.

Reminds me of early-year parenthood, where people were obsessed with trivia like what age the toots started walking.

"Ooh, he's walking already, at 10 months! Such a clever little toot!"
"<panic> Our little  toot is not walking at 11 months! Wail!"

What a load of tosh.
How many parents sit around look at their 18-yr olds oaves and nattering:

"Ohh, look how well he walks! I bet he was walking at 10 months!"

I suppose they tend to lose interest in developmental milestones once the masturbation begins.

Parents, that is, not mackerel.



(A cursory google reveals a substantial body of research on the swimming performance of various fish species, often accompanied by amusing images of fish being installed in complicated test apparatus, and some nasty looking mathematics.  However I was unable to find an overall league table[1].)


[1] Penguins, while undeniably crap at being birds, are pretty good at swimming while being Not Fish, so I reckon any fish that's less good at swimming than a penguin is crap at being a fish.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Feanor on 24 November, 2016, 10:44:52 pm
We need fish races.

Do we need to normalise the data for the fish size?
Is that even a factor?

I CBA googling, but it's probably been done.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 25 November, 2016, 12:32:42 am
Either:

God designed fish to be good at swimming

Or:

Fish that are crap at swimming get et before they can breed.

Discuss1






























1: Actually, don't bother
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 25 November, 2016, 12:59:00 am
OK
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 25 November, 2016, 06:54:32 am
Norman Lloyd, who played Mr Nolan, the disciplinarian headmaster from Dead Poets Society, is now 102 and is Hollywood's oldest working actor.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 25 November, 2016, 08:02:15 am
"Mackerel are superb swimmers."

They're fish, ffs. If they weren't superb swimmers, they'd be complete failures at being fish.

Reminds me of early-year parenthood, where people were obsessed with trivia like what age the toots started walking.

"Ooh, he's walking already, at 10 months! Such a clever little toot!"
"<panic> Our little  toot is not walking at 11 months! Wail!"

What a load of tosh.
How many parents sit around look at their 18-yr olds oaves and nattering:

"Ohh, look how well he walks! I bet he was walking at 10 months!"
I think plenty of parents look at their 18-year-old oaves and mutter "pick your bloody feet up, you can't even walk properly".
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Legs on 25 November, 2016, 09:27:06 am
"Mackerel are superb swimmers."

They're fish, ffs. If they weren't superb swimmers, they'd be complete failures at being fish.

Reminds me of early-year parenthood, where people were obsessed with trivia like what age the toots started walking.

"Ooh, he's walking already, at 10 months! Such a clever little toot!"
"<panic> Our little  toot is not walking at 11 months! Wail!"

What a load of tosh.
How many parents sit around look at their 18-yr olds oaves and nattering:

"Ohh, look how well he walks! I bet he was walking at 10 months!"

I don't want to rain on your parade, but parents taking close interest in whether or not their children are hitting developmental milestones is important.  Our 3-y-o didn't walk until 18 months, but while many sniffily dismissed this with the "how many 18 year-olds do you see not walking?" line, we could tell that something was amiss and Andrew was subsequently diagnosed with hypermobility in his knees and ankles.  With orthotics, he now walks just as well as any his age.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 25 November, 2016, 09:50:52 am
I don't want to rain on your parade, but parents taking close interest in whether or not their children are hitting developmental milestones is important.  Our 3-y-o didn't walk until 18 months, but while many sniffily dismissed this with the "how many 18 year-olds do you see not walking?" line, we could tell that something was amiss and Andrew was subsequently diagnosed with hypermobility in his knees and ankles.  With orthotics, he now walks just as well as any his age.
Another anecdote: I limped. My mother was worried, doctor dismissed it as "He is attention seeking". She went to another doctor's surgery (30 miles away). I had Perthes disease, no head of femur left. It took 4 years of treatment to recover and  I'm lucky to be walking now and it is only due to that treatment that I'm able to walk today.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: ian on 25 November, 2016, 04:32:07 pm
[1] Penguins, while undeniably crap at being birds, are pretty good at swimming while being Not Fish, so I reckon any fish that's less good at swimming than a penguin is crap at being a fish.

And seahorses, for that matter, are crap at being horses. This is why there are no scuba cowboys despite their being sea cows.

In other news, bats can fly faster than birds (well the fastest bat can fly faster than the fastest bird).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: caerau on 25 November, 2016, 05:01:05 pm
I'm always suspicious of the 'how fast they can fly' argument.


When associated with how fast peregrine falcons are for example, they seem to actually be talking about their plummeting ability - which for me is falling, not flying.  But hey ho.


Sea cucumbers are crap at being salad too.


Does a mudskipper count as a crap fish or a crap amphibian? :-)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: SteveC on 25 November, 2016, 05:30:25 pm
When associated with how fast peregrine falcons are for example, they seem to actually be talking about their plummeting ability - which for me is falling, not flying.  But hey ho.
It is a powered plummet though, they don't just fall. And they can do about 70mph in level flight.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: ian on 25 November, 2016, 06:46:42 pm
In the level flight face-off, Tadarida brasiliensis kicks some serious feathered ass. Plus it's a bat, which is inherently cool.

I have always wondered if I could take a cage of bats on a boat and use their echolocation to really mess up some dolphin conversations. It'll be useful because we just don't know what dolphins are plotting, but I very much doubt it's good.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 25 November, 2016, 06:48:32 pm
Does a mudskipper count as a crap fish or a crap amphibian? :-)
Neither, a mudskipper is crap at being captain of a boat.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: caerau on 25 November, 2016, 06:55:14 pm
At that he's smokin'  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 25 November, 2016, 07:53:48 pm
When associated with how fast peregrine falcons are for example, they seem to actually be talking about their plummeting ability - which for me is falling, not flying.  But hey ho.
It is a powered plummet though, they don't just fall. And they can do about 70mph in level flight.
we need rules, validation, corroboration.

CTT states end-points are within half-mile of start (or something). There should be an altitude clause for flying records.

And it should be on Strava, or it didn't happen.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: caerau on 25 November, 2016, 08:00:01 pm
I prefer MapMyFlight personally
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 25 November, 2016, 08:25:59 pm
In the level flight face-off, Tadarida brasiliensis kicks some serious feathered ass. Plus it's a bat, which is inherently cool.

I think that's the one PJ O'Rourke described as "looking like a colonel in the Rat Air Force".
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: ian on 25 November, 2016, 09:23:26 pm
They remind me of Eddie Izzard.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jakob W on 26 November, 2016, 08:06:54 am
Never mind the speed, per wiki they're sneaky feckers too - they jam rival species' echolocation calls so they can dive in and steal the prey!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JonBuoy on 26 November, 2016, 08:43:40 am
Which led me to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb

Quote
Bat bombs were an experimental World War II weapon developed by the United States. The bomb consisted of a bomb-shaped casing with over a thousand compartments, each containing a hibernating Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics in a 20-40 mile radius. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: pcolbeck on 28 November, 2016, 09:49:22 am
Someone has been having a laugh with my friends Wikipedia entry:

Francis has a degree in Home economics which he earned at the University of Leeds. Since graduating, Tomas has specialized in cross stitch and croshay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_Francis

Since he is about 20 stone and current Wale's tight end prop I do feel quite sorry for whoever it was if he finds out :)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 28 November, 2016, 12:05:28 pm
I once listed a tight-arse Catholic cow-orker's hobbies on our intranet as binge drinking and witchcraft.  That's what you get for missing the deadline to submit your cv...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 28 November, 2016, 01:00:48 pm
Someone has been having a laugh with my friends Wikipedia entry:

Francis has a degree in Home economics which he earned at the University of Leeds. Since graduating, Tomas has specialized in cross stitch and croshay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_Francis

Since he is about 20 stone and current Wale's tight end prop I do feel quite sorry for whoever it was if he finds out :)

So you didn't feel up to correcting the spelling to "crochet", then?   :demon:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: pcolbeck on 28 November, 2016, 01:06:29 pm
Someone has been having a laugh with my friends Wikipedia entry:

Francis has a degree in Home economics which he earned at the University of Leeds. Since graduating, Tomas has specialized in cross stitch and croshay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_Francis

Since he is about 20 stone and current Wale's tight end prop I do feel quite sorry for whoever it was if he finds out :)

So you didn't feel up to correcting the spelling to "crochet", then?   :demon:

I'm keeping well away from this one. He's back at Christmas :)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 28 November, 2016, 01:08:02 pm
Someone has been having a laugh with my friends Wikipedia entry:

Francis has a degree in Home economics which he earned at the University of Leeds. Since graduating, Tomas has specialized in cross stitch and croshay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_Francis

Since he is about 20 stone and current Wale's tight end prop I do feel quite sorry for whoever it was if he finds out :)
It was done by some using a mobile whilst in Bridgewater.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 28 November, 2016, 01:17:04 pm
...and with a post-modern approach to spelling.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: pcolbeck on 28 November, 2016, 01:32:53 pm
Someone has been having a laugh with my friends Wikipedia entry:

Francis has a degree in Home economics which he earned at the University of Leeds. Since graduating, Tomas has specialized in cross stitch and croshay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomas_Francis

Since he is about 20 stone and current Wale's tight end prop I do feel quite sorry for whoever it was if he finds out :)
It was done by some using a mobile whilst in Bridgewater.

Probably Luke Charteris or Taulupe Faletau then as they both play for Bath.

On second thoughts Bridgewater is on the way back from Wales to Exeter so more likely Henry Slade.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 29 November, 2016, 10:43:00 am
Who can take care of himself, I would imagine.  Anyway, nowt wrong with cross-stich or crochet.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: woollypigs on 27 February, 2017, 08:41:09 am
I know is not a wiki find, but I did fall down the wiki-hole and emerged here:

http://www.amusingplanet.com/2017/02/project-habakkuk-britains-secret-ship.html

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 04 May, 2017, 12:37:28 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_cliff
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 04 May, 2017, 10:55:22 am
I first heard of that at the time May became PM. It probably goes some way (not all the way) to explaining her diffidence in doing much about this Brexit thing.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 May, 2017, 01:00:01 pm
I love this photo of Eddy Merckx and the rest of the crew of the starship Molteni.  They don't do team photos like this any more.  The crappy team Fiat lurking behind is funny, too.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Molteni_1970.jpg/1280px-Molteni_1970.jpg)

Full size:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/Molteni_1970.jpg/1280px-Molteni_1970.jpg


Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 05 May, 2017, 01:13:27 pm
Erm, which one's Merckx? A couple of them do look a bit as if they've done the old trick of pasting new heads on old bodies.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Si S on 05 May, 2017, 02:21:42 pm
Erm, which one's Merckx? A couple of them do look a bit as if they've done the old trick of pasting new heads on old bodies.

this one
(https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/170x/d6/89/e6/d689e6405562b6917936aa89f56abf12.jpg)

;)


Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 05 May, 2017, 02:45:38 pm
Erm, which one's Merckx? A couple of them do look a bit as if they've done the old trick of pasting new heads on old bodies.
2nd from right, front row. Those brows are unmistakeable. He's smiling, so it is a bit deceptive.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Si S on 05 May, 2017, 03:13:55 pm
Erm, which one's Merckx? A couple of them do look a bit as if they've done the old trick of pasting new heads on old bodies.
2nd from right, front row. Those brows are unmistakeable. He's smiling, so it is a bit deceptive.

Not Marino Basso then
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/28/Marino_Basso.jpg/220px-Marino_Basso.jpg)

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 May, 2017, 03:44:03 pm
I thought only Eddy was that barrel-chested.  The photo is 1970, which was the year he moved from Faema to Molteni (after the season finished) so I'm not sure.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Si S on 05 May, 2017, 03:50:31 pm
RZ's image is the 1970 Molteni team and the riders are named, Merckx rode for Faema until they folded at the end of the season. I think this might be the one Mr zilla wanted

Molteni 1971
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7579/16115986661_b8128b2bb8_b.jpg)

Merckx with the bike, Basso to the left

Amazing the physique differences with the modern peloton

EDIT: x post with RZ
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 05 May, 2017, 03:54:23 pm
That's definitely Basso in the first photo then. Their faces are pretty similar, but put them side by side and Basso has the shoulders of an ox.

A modern team all look like specialist climbers compared to that lot.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 May, 2017, 05:36:31 pm
It's not the same without the team car - that really dates it.

Molteni made salami, y'know.  It's like Mattesons sponsoring Wiggo and Froome.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Vince on 05 June, 2017, 10:59:08 pm
That the CAN bus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus) protocol for controlling car electrics is also used by DI2
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 06 June, 2017, 12:19:41 am
That the CAN bus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_bus) protocol for controlling car electrics is also used by DI2

Also various e-bike controllers (including those that can speak to Di2 to control the gears (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=103438.0)).  It's a reasonably simple[1], robust protocol that's ideal for that sort of application and there's no point in re-inventing the wheel when you can use proven off-the-shelf parts and libraries.


[1] Some of the higher layers that run on top of it for specific applications, not so much.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 06 June, 2017, 01:55:54 pm
RZ's image is the 1970 Molteni team and the riders are named, Merckx rode for Faema until they folded at the end of the season. I think this might be the one Mr zilla wanted

Molteni 1971
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7579/16115986661_b8128b2bb8_b.jpg)

Merckx with the bike, Basso to the left

Amazing the physique differences with the modern peloton

EDIT: x post with RZ
Was kinda my point. Interesting about the change in physique over the decades. I believe there have been similar changes in other sports, though in other directions; post-professionalisation rugby union being probably a noticeable example.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 06 June, 2017, 05:52:08 pm
According to Stephen Roche, it's unlikely anyone will ever manage the triple again because the top riders all have 4% body fat now, and that's not enough to cope with a freezing wet day in the Giro.  Not a problem for someone like Merckx, who probably liked crap weather because it made it more like home.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 24 June, 2017, 10:45:19 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priapulida
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 24 June, 2017, 11:06:15 am
Glad the name is based on appearance rather than habitat.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 02 August, 2017, 10:34:42 am

Lianne La Havas real name is Lianne Charlotte Barnes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lianne_La_Havas)

Is there something we haven't be told?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 03 August, 2017, 10:14:24 pm
The Raleigh Chopper is basically a ripoff of a Schwinn Stingray, although the frame design is simplified compared to the Stingray (which used curved tubes like a typical US clunker).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ben T on 27 October, 2017, 08:57:29 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catatonia_(band)
Quote
*BREAKING NEWS*

Catatonia declares independence from Spain 27th October 2017.

Not to be confused with Katatonia, a Swedish metal band. Or Catalonia, a country in the Mediterranean. .

wasn't me
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 29 October, 2017, 04:33:25 pm
Or Catatonia, a shit Welsh pop band with a frankly terrifying frontwoman.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Torslanda on 16 November, 2017, 10:28:19 am
Frank Sinatra played an assassin in the 1954 film 'Suddenly' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suddenly_(1954_film)).

The character's name was John Baron...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 03 December, 2017, 11:12:52 am
This needs a longer Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 23 January, 2018, 04:27:16 pm
Ganja International Airport (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganja_International_Airport)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: pcolbeck on 23 January, 2018, 04:37:55 pm
Or Catatonia, a shit Welsh pop band with a frankly terrifying frontwoman.

Cerys?  What could be terrifying about her, she seems lovely?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: pcolbeck on 30 January, 2018, 11:39:48 am
It was Dusty Springfield during the sessions for "Dusty in Memphis" that suggested to the heads of Atlantic Records that they sign a new band called Led Zepplin (she new John Paul Jones).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_in_Memphis
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 15 February, 2018, 11:09:39 am
When Prince Louis of Battenberg acknowledged being the father of Lillie Langtry's as-yet unborn child, his parents had him assigned to HMS Inconstant.

Quite the lass, that one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillie_Langtry
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 01 June, 2018, 01:34:27 pm
Irony in software engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_matter_of_programming
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: ElyDave on 01 June, 2018, 06:39:53 pm
Ganja International Airport (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganja_International_Airport)

I've been there, it was just about as stimulating.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 04 June, 2018, 09:02:40 am
When Prince Louis of Battenberg acknowledged being the father of Lillie Langtry's as-yet unborn child, his parents had him assigned to HMS Inconstant.

Quite the lass, that one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillie_Langtry
I'm more surprised by the choice of ship name. It seems to run against all the traditional military virtues.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jakob W on 04 June, 2018, 09:26:10 am
The RN does have form for slightly incongruous names, mind; I suppose back in the day when you had hundreds of ships you started to run out of inspiration after a while. According to Wikipedia there have been six ships of the name; the first was captured from the French, so presumably that was why the name was originally chosen? Later renamed HMS Convert, which seems less laden a term.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 04 June, 2018, 09:27:58 am
Beat me to it.

Judging from the chequered histories of most of the Inconstant avatars, Their Lordships were exercising their talent for irony:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Inconstant
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 04 June, 2018, 01:04:43 pm
When Prince Louis of Battenberg acknowledged being the father of Lillie Langtry's as-yet unborn child, his parents had him assigned to HMS Inconstant.

Quite the lass, that one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillie_Langtry
I'm more surprised by the choice of ship name. It seems to run against all the traditional military virtues.

I'd better not mention the Flower-class corvettes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower-class_corvette) used as convoy escorts in WW2, then.  :demon:

One of them was originally intended to named HMS Pansy, but was renamed HMS Heartsease when the sailors due to be assigned to her nearly mutinied at the thought of having to wear caps with "Pansy" on them.

Beat me to it.

Judging from the chequered histories of most of the Inconstant avatars, Their Lordships were exercising their talent for irony:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Inconstant

See also HMS Invincible - only 2 of the 6 ships so named survived in service for long enough to be paid off and scrapped.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Legs on 04 June, 2018, 02:19:20 pm
Also USS Saucy, USS Pert and USS Temptress  :o
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 04 June, 2018, 02:45:22 pm
USS Ponce. :demon:

Stop sniggering at the back, it's pronounced "PONsay" and she's named after the municipality in Puerto Rico that's the namesake of the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, the first governor of Puerto Rico and the European discoverer of Florida.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ponce_(LPD-15)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jakob W on 04 June, 2018, 03:43:58 pm
Also USS Saucy, USS Pert and USS Temptress  :o

In the same vein, HMS Dainty. Wonder what would have happened had they been in port at the same time as HMS Spanker? Or indeed HMS Cockchafer...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 21 June, 2018, 10:14:01 am
Dorodango, the Japanese craft of rolling spheres of mud.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Beardy on 21 June, 2018, 11:21:39 am
Dorodango, the Japanese craft of rolling spheres of mud.
I so want to go outside and start trying this.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: woollypigs on 21 June, 2018, 11:35:58 am
More a tweet find of the week but I think it can go here for sure :


'Phantom Islands – A Sonic Atlas' (by @andrewpekler) http://andrewpekler.com/phantom-islands/

Phantom Islands are artifacts of the age of maritime discovery and colonial expansion. During centuries of ocean exploration these islands were sighted, charted, described and even explored – but their existence has never been ultimately verified. Poised somewhere between cartographical fact and maritime fiction, they haunted seafarers’ maps for hundreds of years, inspiring legends, fantasies, and counterfactual histories. Phantom Islands – A Sonic Atlas interprets and presents these imaginations in the form of an interactive map which charts the sounds of a number of historical phantom islands.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 03 August, 2018, 08:56:32 am
Churchill College, Cambridge:

Quote
Crick had agreed to become a fellow on the basis that no chapel be placed at Churchill. A donation was later made by Lord Beaumont of Whitley to Churchill College for the establishment of one, and the majority of fellows voted in favour of it. Sir Winston Churchill wrote to him saying that no-one need enter the chapel unless they wished to do so, and therefore it did not need to be a problem. Crick, in short order, replied with a letter dated 12 October 1961 accompanied by a cheque for 10 guineas saying that, if that were the case, the enclosed money should be used for the establishment of a brothel.

Otherwise ho-hum. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchill_College,_Cambridge
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 09 September, 2018, 10:31:38 pm
Of Michel Blavet, 18th century French composer:

Quote
Born in Besançon as the son of wood turner Jean-Baptiste Blavet,[1] a profession which he followed for some time, he accidentally became the possessor of a flute and soon became the finest player in France.

Well, these things happen. I deliberately bought a piano and I think I’m about the best pianist in my house...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 10 September, 2018, 08:53:03 am
Of Michel Blavet, 18th century French composer:

Quote
Born in Besançon as the son of wood turner Jean-Baptiste Blavet,[1] a profession which he followed for some time, he accidentally became the possessor of a flute and soon became the finest player in France.

Fell off the back of a tumbril, dinnit.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 21 October, 2018, 10:36:36 am
Could post it here, could post it in the CDC thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Museum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Museum)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 23 December, 2018, 05:59:23 pm
In all the chaos we've forgotten about the 2016 clown sightings:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_clown_sightings

That page is exactly the sort of comprehensive resource that makes Wikipedia great.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: FifeingEejit on 23 December, 2018, 09:49:46 pm
Irony in software engineering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_matter_of_programming

Some of my former bosses clearly missed that this was Irony and thought we could be miracle workers in 2 days...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 13 January, 2019, 06:34:32 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6ng%C3%B6l_H%C3%B6rde

Notable for metal umlaut overload and this beguiling quote:

Quote
The first song we wrote is about Natalie Portman's tapeworm using her as a glove puppet to lead an uprising in Hollywood.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 11 February, 2019, 05:52:56 pm
Piss Christ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Palinurus on 17 March, 2019, 05:16:43 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Regulate_(song)&oldid=386691435#Synopsis
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 30 July, 2019, 05:05:09 pm
A crowning moment of diplomacy. :demon:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 30 July, 2019, 10:18:27 pm
A crowning moment of diplomacy. :demon:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks

Puts Arkell v Pressdram in the shade a bit.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 31 July, 2019, 12:04:52 am
The motherlode of wiksand: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 31 July, 2019, 08:12:36 am
Misconceptions like that are interesting when you find out that a commonly held misconception is commonly held in a way you never suspected. For instance:
Quote
There is no First Amendment exception that applies to yelling "fire" in a crowded theater.[32] The idea comes from a court decision regarding distribution of pamphlets in opposition to the draft during World War I. But, even absent such an exception, the First Amendment will not necessarily apply if by yelling "fire" a person infringes upon the constitutional right to "life" that laws against raising a false public alarm are founded upon.[33] There is also not a hate speech exception to the First Amendment, as the law only prohibits direct, targeted threats toward specific persons.[34]
I've often heard this "yelling fire in a crowded theatre" thing but never that it was "an exception to the First Amendment," just a stupid thing to do (unless there really is a fire). I guess that's mainly cos I'm not Usanian, but it's just an example of a misconception about misconceptions.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 09 August, 2019, 05:03:01 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Garzon_Bridge
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mattc on 13 November, 2019, 07:55:25 pm
The Wikipedia article for "List of Whales" has "Cetacean Needed" if it was missing an image or scale diagram of the creature in question.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Torslanda on 14 November, 2019, 08:42:05 pm
After WWII, Japanese aircraft companies were forbidden to build aircraft for obvious reasons.

Fuji Sangyo (Nakajima) started to build motor scooters and repurposed military surplus parts. The front wheel of the Fuji Rabbit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_(motorcycle)#Early_postwar_Japan) was originally the tail wheel of a Nakajima bomber.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 15 November, 2019, 11:36:52 am
There was a rumour that the Messerschmitt Tiger was composed partly of the cockpit and landing gear of the Me-110.  This, however, was Not True.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: hatler on 15 November, 2019, 02:48:35 pm
This chap should surely be a national hero - Henry Maudslay (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Maudslay).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 November, 2019, 03:36:04 pm
The Wikipedia article for "List of Whales" has "Cetacean Needed" if it was missing an image or scale diagram of the creature in question.
;D You ought to have made that up but it's true!  :D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: bludger on 15 November, 2019, 04:12:21 pm
After the Russians entered Poland and WW2 in Europe ended, many Polish resistance fighters resumed fighting their new occupiers. The last wasn't killed until 1963.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursed_soldiers
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Steph on 15 November, 2019, 06:05:58 pm
ITYM "Re-entered" Poland, as they invaded it in September 1939, in conjunction with some other country.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 15 November, 2019, 07:05:45 pm
Radosław Sikorski, a centre-right (may have been considered right-right at one time) politician who has held various ministerial positions including Defence (twice, I think), wrote a book about his parent's house, using it as a vehicle for post-war Polish history. One of its themes was defining when a war ends (his answer is along the lines of, when the last person who thinks they are fighting it dies or gives up).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jakob W on 16 November, 2019, 07:52:10 am
After the Russians entered Poland and WW2 in Europe ended, many Polish resistance fighters resumed fighting their new occupiers. The last wasn't killed until 1963.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursed_soldiers

I knew that there had been similar remnants in Ukraine, but hadn't realised that this was a widespread phenomenon - following the links from that page it looks like most of Eastern Europe and the Baltics had armed resistance movements of some kind up until the mid-fifties.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 03 December, 2019, 03:19:24 pm
Finally, the answer to a question that I've been asking since childhood!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_bee#Etymology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelling_bee#Etymology)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 10 December, 2019, 09:01:07 pm
Stone frigates (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_frigate) are a thing.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 10 December, 2019, 09:48:40 pm
This chap should surely be a national hero - Henry Maudslay (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Maudslay).
John Ramsbottom must run him pretty close.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 11 December, 2019, 11:08:26 am
Stone frigates (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_frigate) are a thing.

I have even fought a 'battle' aboard one - a fencing match against HMS Claverhouse in the 60s.  The buggers even had an electric piste, something our university fencing-club couldn't afford. "Oh, we just put in for 40 feet of copper mesh six feet wide." Jammy sods.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 02 January, 2020, 12:43:14 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomalously_numbered_roads_in_Great_Britain

Do not click, it's very, very dull.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 17 February, 2020, 09:30:31 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 17 February, 2020, 09:58:16 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomalously_numbered_roads_in_Great_Britain

Do not click, it's very, very dull.

I have cycled along the A122, which that page claims no longer exists. It was the Writtle Road, out of Chelmsford. Quite a few years ago they buggered about with the road system to the west of Chelmsford and (IIRC) what was the A122 became the A414 (Maldon to Hertford or thereabouts) and the old A414 became the A1060.

Aha! A bit of hystery. https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/index.php?title=A122
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 18 February, 2020, 08:25:41 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama
That is awesome.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: chrisbainbridge on 18 February, 2020, 09:38:43 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama
That is awesome.
😀👍
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 18 February, 2020, 10:10:14 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_llama
That is awesome.
😀👍

Their Linnean classification is Lama glama, which is rather sweet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llama#Classification
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 18 February, 2020, 10:24:11 am
Mal Volio,, formerly OTP, has alpacas, and a good deal of confidence that his hens are protected from foxes.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 18 February, 2020, 01:10:31 pm
There is a road sign somewhere near Monmouth warning of Welsh and English alpacas. Alpacoed. I don't know if those would be his.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 18 February, 2020, 01:33:36 pm
There is a road sign somewhere near Monmouth warning of Welsh and English alpacas. Alpacoed. I don't know if those would be his.

That's one of those warning signs where you're never sure what to do.  Beware of livestock in the road I suppose.  But it's Wales, so you're already on the lookout for sheep, slow arafs, Tregaron mountain toads and so on, a specific warning for aplacas seems redundant.

See also: "Danger: Golfers" and those ones warning of aircraft.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: FifeingEejit on 18 February, 2020, 01:48:05 pm
The aircraft one maybe doesn't make sense unless you've had a Tornado F3 take off directly over you, ideally fully loaded and in response to a Russian incursion.
It basically means "beware of very sudden loud noise"

This is directly under the flight path on takeoff/landing at what was RAF Leuchars and less than 100m from the end of the east/west runway.
https://goo.gl/maps/YuHL8xRpdt71hHz4A

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 18 February, 2020, 02:04:35 pm
Where the A38 used to go past the eastern end of the runway for Bristol airport (the road has now been diverted), there were level-crossing style lights to halt traffic for take offs and landings.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 18 February, 2020, 02:09:06 pm
Where the A38 used to go past the eastern end of the runway for Bristol airport (the road has now been diverted), there were level-crossing style lights to halt traffic for take offs and landings.

Brize Norton's got some of those.  I once spent a quality 5 minutes stopped at them, hoping for some impressive aero action.  What we actually got was a lot of jet engine noise from the other side of the hedge, which disappeared unseen in the opposite direction.  Presumably concern that the jet blast might pose a hazard to traffic...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 18 February, 2020, 03:29:01 pm
Where the A38 used to go past the eastern end of the runway for Bristol airport (the road has now been diverted), there were level-crossing style lights to halt traffic for take offs and landings.

They still have them at Sumburgh airport.  The big wet salty thing at either end of the runway prevent road diversions pretty effectively  ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 18 February, 2020, 03:38:17 pm
And at RAF Northolt in the badlands of west London. I can only recall being stopped there twice and not recently.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 18 February, 2020, 04:16:18 pm
Mal Volio,, formerly OTP, has alpacas.....

Antibiotics any good?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: geraldc on 18 February, 2020, 04:20:59 pm
Not from Wiki, but I was so impressed by the info, I may actually add it to wiki.

Tank tops are called tank tops, because swimming pools used to be called swimming tanks, and you'd wear an all in one swimming suit called a tank suit. A tank top, looks like the top of a tank suit.

As there's a tank top, I assume there's also a tank bottom, but no one talks about them these days.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Efrogwr on 18 February, 2020, 11:25:39 pm
There is a road sign somewhere near Monmouth warning of Welsh and English alpacas. Alpacoed. I don't know if those would be his.

That's one of those warning signs where you're never sure what to do.  Beware of livestock in the road I suppose.  But it's Wales, so you're already on the lookout for sheep, slow arafs, Tregaron mountain toads and so on, a specific warning for aplacas seems redundant.

See also: "Danger: Golfers" and those ones warning of aircraft.


There's a beware of the duck sign on a road near Bangor.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 18 February, 2020, 11:36:23 pm
There's a beware of the duck sign on a road near Bangor.

See, if that was a goose it would make sense.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jaded on 28 April, 2020, 03:20:32 pm
War Emergency Power (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_emergency_power)

Never heard of it! Systems where (piston) aeroplane engines can have a massive boost of power in a short time.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 28 April, 2020, 05:52:27 pm
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleshort
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: TimC on 28 April, 2020, 06:20:29 pm
War Emergency Power (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_emergency_power)

Never heard of it! Systems where (piston) aeroplane engines can have a massive boost of power in a short time.

Also known (in UK at least) as Operational (Max) Power. In the C130K, where maximum power was measured in terms of Exhaust Gas Temperature. For the RAF, that was given a maximum figure of 953C, which was a figure intended to get maximum life from the T56 engines. For operational use, however, the max was 1083C. It didn't represent 10% more power, but it was significantly more - and it had quite an effect on engine life!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rafletcher on 28 April, 2020, 08:03:40 pm
War Emergency Power (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_emergency_power)

Never heard of it! Systems where (piston) aeroplane engines can have a massive boost of power in a short time.

On WW1 planes there was a piece or wire across the throttle quadrant. Up to the wire was normal power. Through the the wire was emergency power.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: hatler on 06 May, 2020, 09:10:52 am
Goodhart's Law (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law)
I've always intuitively known this, but it's gratifying to see that someone has formally recognised the effect.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mllePB on 28 June, 2020, 01:22:45 pm
The United States is the only country known to have had anti-literacy laws.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-literacy_laws_in_the_United_States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-literacy_laws_in_the_United_States)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 28 June, 2020, 02:14:18 pm
War Emergency Power (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_emergency_power)

Never heard of it! Systems where (piston) aeroplane engines can have a massive boost of power in a short time.
[/quote
Roald Dahl mentions it in his autobiography. It was known to pilots, in his unit at least, as "going through the gate". He describes using it to escape some dastardly Huns by flying at about six feet.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: spesh on 02 July, 2020, 06:43:09 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_prognosticator
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Legs on 03 July, 2020, 08:40:42 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempest_prognosticator

Quote
Merryweather lobbied for the government to make use of his design around the British coastline but they instead opted for Robert FitzRoy's storm glass.

Hah!  We've got a FitzRoy storm glass as an ornamental objet d'art and it doesn't really do anything useful - it certainly doesn't change significantly in different weather conditions...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Torslanda on 04 July, 2020, 09:25:45 am
Volkswagen sausages (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_currywurst)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 04 July, 2020, 01:45:01 pm
Hungry now, you utter GIT ;D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 04 July, 2020, 03:30:23 pm
I wonder if they have an effect on exhaust gases...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Torslanda on 04 July, 2020, 05:34:33 pm
Hungry now, you utter GIT ;D

My work here is done... :smug:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 04 July, 2020, 05:41:41 pm
On the same line as T42:-

"The pork cuts are trimmed to remove excess fat, which provides a fat content to the sausage of approximately 20%, significantly lower than the 35% usual for a bratwurst sausage."

Bratwurst manufacturers are demanding independent tests.......
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Moleman76 on 06 July, 2020, 03:27:45 am
full (well, at least partial) disclosure:  I'm the owner / driver of a TDI Jetta Sportwagen which had its pollution control system emasculated 'corrected'

Do they only trim the fat off when they know someone is watching?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: quixoticgeek on 06 July, 2020, 01:32:21 pm

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EcLLuWrXsAEX-hj?format=jpg&name=medium)

The edit didn't last long...

J
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 06 July, 2020, 02:11:38 pm
It's difficult to imagine Kimi uttering a sentence long enough to contain views that might be construed as racist.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 14 July, 2020, 01:09:39 pm
Swastika, Ontario (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika,_Ontario)

Edit: bah!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: hatler on 14 July, 2020, 01:19:35 pm
Swastika, Ontario (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika,_Ontario)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Nuncio on 15 July, 2020, 12:23:56 pm
Also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika,_New_York (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika,_New_York).

It's in the north of the state, and to the far right.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 17 July, 2020, 08:08:45 pm
Pirate Metal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_metal) is actually a legitimate musical genre  :o
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JennyB on 18 July, 2020, 08:09:20 am
Pirate Metal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_metal) is actually a legitimate musical genre  :jurek:


So, apparently is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardcore (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardcore)   

Verily.   :-D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 18 July, 2020, 01:30:35 pm
The second CD of Alestorm's ("True Scottish Pirate Metal") recent offering "Curse Of The Crystal Coconut" contains "16th Century" versions of the tracks on the first disc.  I am intrigued :D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: MikeFromLFE on 26 July, 2020, 09:34:51 pm
The Hairy Hands of Dartmoor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairy_Hands
 ::-)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Canardly on 26 July, 2020, 10:09:48 pm
Curry wurst and Zigeuner snitzel are my all time favs.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 27 July, 2020, 12:25:42 am
This came up on IRC earlier... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: FifeingEejit on 27 July, 2020, 03:04:40 am
Water way to go.

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 27 July, 2020, 08:54:19 am
Must have been one hell of a cludge to drown 60 people.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ham on 27 July, 2020, 09:01:37 am
Well, most would have crawled out but the locals took one niff and pushed 'em back in.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 27 July, 2020, 10:39:49 am
At least they were interred side by side.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 27 July, 2020, 01:40:04 pm
This came up on IRC earlier... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster

It can't just be me that smells something here:

Quote
King Heinrich VI was forced to intervene

A feud that had been going on for some time between recalcitrant parties.


Quote
King Heinrich was said to have survived only because he sat in an alcove with a stone floor.

I bet he did.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Jaded on 29 July, 2020, 01:06:15 pm
"Erfurt?"

"No, worse than that, solids too."
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 30 July, 2020, 09:30:22 pm
This came up on IRC earlier... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster

That sounds worse than the diet of worms.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Andrij on 07 August, 2020, 09:34:54 am
Pirate Metal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_metal) is actually a legitimate musical genre  :o

https://youtu.be/1AaNj7W4AKo
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 07 August, 2020, 10:26:48 am
Pirate Metal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_metal) is actually a legitimate musical genre  :o

https://youtu.be/1AaNj7W4AKo

I think I've just fallen in love with the hurdy-gurdy player :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 07 August, 2020, 12:00:32 pm
Excellent use of Hull, too.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Tim Hall on 07 August, 2020, 12:57:48 pm
Pirate Metal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_metal) is actually a legitimate musical genre  :o

https://youtu.be/1AaNj7W4AKo

I think I've just fallen in love with the hurdy-gurdy player :thumbsup:
Nominative determinism: It seems her name is Patty Gurdy.

(of course that might just be a stage name)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Look Around You on 08 August, 2020, 05:39:45 pm
I watched some of Patty Gurdy’s videos a while ago as I was showing my many children that I wasn’t lying about there being an instrument called a hurdy-gurdy.. She’s a bit good.

I think I might be into Pirate metal now, arrr.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Beardy on 08 August, 2020, 11:02:57 pm
As a dedicated follower of the alternative (I’m a ‘bent rider after all) I’ve always wanted to liKe the Hurdy Gurdy, but I just can’t. I’ve tried a few time, and even watched some of the more recent players, but those drones are just too much like my tinnitus for me to actually enjoy the sound.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 09 August, 2020, 12:23:30 am
Our great friend Herr Lapp* once played the hurdy-gurdy on a chart-topping record.  Well, the Classical chart.  OK, the Canadian Classical chart.

* not to be confused with that bloke off of TV's The League Of Gentlemen
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Steph on 16 August, 2020, 09:17:19 pm
Cathays (/kəˈteɪz/ kə-TAYZ; Welsh: usually Cathays[2] but also Y Waun Ddyfal) is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is very densely populated and contains many older terraced houses giving it a Victorian era atmosphere. The area falls into the Cathays ward. It is the third most populous community in Cardiff, having a population of 18,002 in 2011, only a third born in hell.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 17 August, 2020, 10:48:43 am
Cathays (/kəˈteɪz/ kə-TAYZ; Welsh: usually Cathays[2] but also Y Waun Ddyfal) is a district and community in the centre of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It is an old suburb of Cardiff established in 1875. It is very densely populated and contains many older terraced houses giving it a Victorian era atmosphere. The area falls into the Cathays ward. It is the third most populous community in Cardiff, having a population of 18,002 in 2011, only a third born in hell.
That's a very Cathays-specific post.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 17 August, 2020, 10:49:54 am
not to be confused with that bloke off of TV's The League Of Gentlemen
Alles klar, Herr Larrington, alles klar.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 17 August, 2020, 11:14:53 am
As a dedicated follower of the alternative (I’m a ‘bent rider after all) I’ve always wanted to liKe the Hurdy Gurdy, but I just can’t. I’ve tried a few time, and even watched some of the more recent players, but those drones are just too much like my tinnitus for me to actually enjoy the sound.

Do you know this?:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l06ozEXOSaY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l06ozEXOSaY)  (skip ads!)

The hurdy gurdy is on the first and last verses only but I hope you can listen all the way through.  It's one of the greatest Irish tunes with the codified lyrics of political surpression in a beautiful love-song.  Andy Irvine is just a terrific performer.  Like so many Irishmen, he was born in London, as was the great Scot, Bert Jansch.  I hope your ears allow you to listen to this.

Peter
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 17 August, 2020, 12:44:26 pm
I watched some of Patty Gurdy’s videos a while ago as I was showing my many children that I wasn’t lying about there being an instrument called a hurdy-gurdy.. She’s a bit good.

I think I might be into Pirate metal now, arrr.

As a Mission Statement, “Get drunk, steal ships” beats “Leverage core competencies in a customer-facing role and enhance shareholder value” hands-down.  Or hands on deck at any rate.  Yarrr!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Nuncio on 17 August, 2020, 07:11:53 pm
I assume pirate metal is iron.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Peter on 17 August, 2020, 08:44:41 pm
You chemical brother, you!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: quixoticgeek on 26 August, 2020, 12:03:48 am

https://twitter.com/evegwood/status/1298390453172293635

Yikes...

J
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: woollypigs on 27 August, 2020, 08:25:11 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Irish_inventions_and_discoveries

Spot the 300 year gap LOL
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 29 August, 2020, 05:02:56 pm
Pirate Metal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_metal) is actually a legitimate musical genre  :o

https://youtu.be/1AaNj7W4AKo

I think I've just fallen in love with the hurdy-gurdy player :thumbsup:
Patty Gurdy?
(https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/resources/images/9671015.jpg?display=1&htype=0&type=responsive-gallery)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 29 August, 2020, 06:16:17 pm
Yes.  Yes, her :-*
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 02 September, 2020, 02:55:52 am
The talk page for the “Help Desk” article contains this gem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Help_desk#Produce_Key_Code_Number).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: FifeingEejit on 02 September, 2020, 11:19:36 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Irish_inventions_and_discoveries

Spot the 300 year gap LOL
I fail to spot a very important Irish invention  there...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudocrem

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: quixoticgeek on 12 September, 2020, 11:54:55 pm


(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ehvo4o9XgAQxzgZ?format=jpg&name=large)

J
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Guy on 14 September, 2020, 09:53:50 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Sheridan_(cyclist)

LEJoG in 2 days 11 hours and 7 minutes! :o
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: cygnet on 14 September, 2020, 02:44:46 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Sheridan_(cyclist)

LEJoG in 2 days 11 hours and 7 minutes! :o

Have a listen

...
My aim is to talk to them about their record breaking exploits, their motivations and their background. Most of all I am interested in listening to them describing their record breaking rides from their own point of view.

1) RRA in conversation with Eileen Sheridan

https://soundcloud.com/user-971271891-227782844/rra-in-conversation-with (https://soundcloud.com/user-971271891-227782844/rra-in-conversation-with)
...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Guy on 15 September, 2020, 07:50:20 am


Have a listen

...
My aim is to talk to them about their record breaking exploits, their motivations and their background. Most of all I am interested in listening to them describing their record breaking rides from their own point of view.

1) RRA in conversation with Eileen Sheridan

https://soundcloud.com/user-971271891-227782844/rra-in-conversation-with (https://soundcloud.com/user-971271891-227782844/rra-in-conversation-with)
...

It was listening to that* that prompted me to google Eileen Sheridan. How come I'd not heard of her before?


*That was linked in our Corps Colonel's blog on Friday. One of our Lt Cols, a lady of my acquaintance, is attempting to break that record. I don't know the full details, but she set off some time on Sunday and by 1000 yesterday was in Kendal and still going strong.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 15 September, 2020, 08:13:53 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eileen_Sheridan_(cyclist)

LEJoG in 2 days 11 hours and 7 minutes! :o

This gives a good idea of how stunningly good she was:
Quote
she completed the 1,000 miles in three days and one hour, smashing the women's record and finishing two hours and twenty minutes down on the record men's time
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: JonBuoy on 15 September, 2020, 08:20:18 am


Have a listen

...
My aim is to talk to them about their record breaking exploits, their motivations and their background. Most of all I am interested in listening to them describing their record breaking rides from their own point of view.

1) RRA in conversation with Eileen Sheridan

https://soundcloud.com/user-971271891-227782844/rra-in-conversation-with (https://soundcloud.com/user-971271891-227782844/rra-in-conversation-with)
...

It was listening to that* that prompted me to google Eileen Sheridan. How come I'd not heard of her before?


*That was linked in our Corps Colonel's blog on Friday. One of our Lt Cols, a lady of my acquaintance, is attempting to break that record. I don't know the full details, but she set off some time on Sunday and by 1000 yesterday was in Kendal and still going strong.

I assume that this was the attempt discussed here. (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=112893.msg2537826#msg2537826)  I am afraid that she retired injured shortly after 1000 yesterday.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Guy on 15 September, 2020, 09:31:58 am
That's the one.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 16 September, 2020, 09:23:47 am
That "pumpernickel" means "Devil's fart" or "farting devil". I have also shared this important find with the Bread Thread.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: hatler on 30 September, 2020, 01:16:54 pm
La Paz has 'traffic zebras'.  Glorious. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Paz_traffic_zebras)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: fuaran on 23 October, 2020, 09:33:22 pm
Betteridge's law of headlines. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
Quote
This story is a great demonstration of my maxim that any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word "no." The reason why journalists use that style of headline is that they know the story is probably bullshit, and don’t actually have the sources and facts to back it up, but still want to run it.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mllePB on 24 October, 2020, 06:01:29 pm
Found when researching questions for work zoom quiz: Félicette the first cat in space (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9licette (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9licette)), courtesy of the French space program
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Deano on 23 November, 2020, 09:02:29 pm
D. B. Cooper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)

I was slightly too young to remember this.  What a story, and what a mystery.

Back to the OP - the Storyville documentary about this is on BBC4 now.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 23 November, 2020, 09:18:58 pm
D.B. Cooper in Storyville?!!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyville,_New_Orleans He might fit but he's 40 years too late.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 24 November, 2020, 01:37:10 am
Great band, Storyville.  They were where Stevie Ray Vaughan's rhythm section ended up after SRV got on the wrong helichopter.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 01 December, 2020, 01:11:49 am
D. B. Cooper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)

I was slightly too young to remember this.  What a story, and what a mystery.

Back to the OP - the Storyville documentary about this is on BBC4 now.

Watched this earlier this evening.  Fascinating Stuffs, though I reckon they downplayed the notion that he died either during or immediately after the jump.  Though if he did it adds another level to the “how did some of the money fetch up at Tina Bar nine years later” question.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mllePB on 03 December, 2020, 09:56:30 am
D. B. Cooper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)

I was slightly too young to remember this.  What a story, and what a mystery.

Back to the OP - the Storyville documentary about this is on BBC4 now.

Watched this earlier this evening.  Fascinating Stuffs, though I reckon they downplayed the notion that he died either during or immediately after the jump.  Though if he did it adds another level to the “how did some of the money fetch up at Tina Bar nine years later” question.

Watched this last week - great documentary then read the wikipedia page.
I believe that he probably died from the parachute jump, but it's fascinating that so many believed otherwise and that he was their fiend/husband/father/uncle.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Basil on 04 December, 2020, 12:56:34 pm
As I was walking the dog1 in the park this morning we chanced upon a woman (Probably late 30s) and her dog coming the other way.  Both dogs decided to have a bark-fest. As we were each admonishing our respective mutts she unexpectedly let out a tremendous fart, at which point she scuttled away.  ;D
She wasn't quick thinking enough to blame her dog.
Childishly, I'm still sniggering about it.

1 We've had to admit that this is her actual name.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 06 December, 2020, 12:06:32 am
As I was walking the dog1 in the park this morning we chanced upon a woman (Probably late 30s) and her dog coming the other way.  Both dogs decided to have a bark-fest. As we were each admonishing our respective mutts she unexpectedly let out a tremendous fart, at which point she scuttled away.  ;D
She wasn't quick thinking enough to blame her dog.
Childishly, I'm still sniggering about it.

1 We've had to admit that this is her actual name.

Can you give us link to the Wikipedia entry?
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: nikki on 21 February, 2021, 10:08:21 am
Vol de sirop d'érable du siècle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Heist
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Wowbagger on 21 February, 2021, 10:16:46 am
The funniest one-line in film history, as voted in my someone or other.

Quote
In 2007, the pun "Infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me", spoken by Kenneth Williams, was voted the funniest one-line joke in film history.[10][11] The line was not written by Rothwell but borrowed with permission from a Take It from Here script written by Frank Muir and Denis Norden.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_On_Cleo refers.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 21 February, 2021, 01:31:02 pm
Vol de sirop d'érable du siècle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Heist

Of course Quebec has a strategic maple syrup reserve.

Presumably there's also a stockpile of hot-pink hockey tape, in case the shit really hits the fan.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 03 March, 2021, 07:21:29 pm
This deserves crossposting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chairs
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 20 March, 2021, 10:59:52 pm
The Chronovisor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronovisor).  Seems a Roman Catholic priest, one Father Ernetti, built a device that allowed him to view and hear the past.  So basically he invented Dave (https://dave.uktv.co.uk/).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Pingu on 20 March, 2021, 11:04:55 pm
Sounds like Devs (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devs).
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 21 March, 2021, 12:45:05 am
Devs, Dave… Devs was mentioned on the Wikinaccurate talk page, though similar devices have cropped up in sci-fi stories by Messrs Asimov and Clarke, and also some bloke whose name* I've already forgotten before WW2.

* though it wasn’t Dave
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 21 March, 2021, 07:49:41 pm
Dev is the nickname for Dave Null, everyone's imaginary colleague who deals with all that recruitment stuff, please hold and I'll put you through...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 21 March, 2021, 08:32:02 pm
This deserves crossposting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chairs
The ball chair is very cool in a 1960s futuristic space-age way, but their chosen bar stool is just weird.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 28 March, 2021, 01:55:22 pm
Cow magnets

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardware_disease
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 28 March, 2021, 02:06:02 pm
Made with

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9a/Cow_Tools_cartoon.png)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mllePB on 28 March, 2021, 04:03:11 pm
Europe please rescue us - petition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groans_of_the_Britons (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groans_of_the_Britons)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 28 March, 2021, 07:23:20 pm
Protection from the Scots is the last thing the rest of the UK needs right now :D
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: MattH on 29 March, 2021, 04:24:47 pm
Magnus Pyke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Pyke),  who, depending upon your age was either the 1970s equivalent of a somewhat more animated Brian Cox, the director of a rest home for deranged scientists, who thought that Miss Sakamoto was beautiful (https://youtu.be/V83JR2IoI8k), or for younger readers probably just "who?" worked as a nutrionalist at the Ministry of Food during the second world war (and beyond).

Whilst there he suggested using excess human blood supplies to make black pudding for the masses.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Pyke#Wartime_scientific_career)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 December, 2021, 10:05:13 am
How do you move a dragline excavator 13 miles to its new working location?

You walk it at 0.01mph.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundew_(dragline)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: TheLurker on 05 December, 2021, 10:21:04 am
Some of us are old enough to remember watching film* of that on Blue Peter with the one, the only, John Noakes.




*We were living not that far from Corby at the time and the local press was full of it as well.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 05 December, 2021, 11:11:59 am
How do you move a dragline excavator 13 miles to its new working location?

You walk it at 0.01mph.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundew_(dragline) (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundew_(dragline))

FTFY.  Forum linky SCIENCE strip off final “)” from bare Wikinaccurate url.  Bad SCIENCE
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 05 December, 2021, 11:17:21 am
Bad SMurFs.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 15 January, 2022, 12:43:12 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat-roofed_pub
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: andyoxon on 15 January, 2022, 10:50:10 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat-roofed_pub

The [MG] Midget pub in Abingdon (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.6611059,-1.2952736,3a,43.1y,317.64h,95.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1so7ciGO2etlMXMn95LXXHFA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en) springs to mind.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: FifeingEejit on 15 January, 2022, 10:55:09 pm
When I first started at the health board we occasionally went to the flat roof pub at the western gateway.
Although we usually managed to eat a burger and chips and shoot some pool without having to fight the locals there was one occasion before my time when the chips arrived only to be returned to the kitchen with the statement "I didn't ask that type of deep fried King Edwards".

Although it was probably actually regal kingsize.

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Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 22 July, 2022, 02:20:05 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_vapour_turbine

This sounds like one of those bonkers thought experiments, but they were actually used.  It's not recorded whether anything
 went wrong.  Decommissioning must have been interesting.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ian H on 27 August, 2022, 10:30:18 pm
To coin a phrase...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_postillion_has_been_struck_by_lightning
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 27 August, 2022, 10:34:18 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_vapour_turbine

This sounds like one of those bonkers thought experiments, but they were actually used.  It's not recorded whether anything
 went wrong.  Decommissioning must have been interesting.

Sounds like the sort of thing Rickover's team would have come up with when asked to find a safer alternative to Sodium...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: T42 on 28 August, 2022, 04:01:02 pm
"Three hundred thousand pounds of liquid mercury"
To coin a phrase...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_postillion_has_been_struck_by_lightning

In France, someone who splutters may be said to envoyer des postillons.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 29 August, 2022, 10:35:27 am
"My carburettor needs regulation" is one I remember seeing in a Polish phrasebook. Friends told me this was code for "I need another shot of vodka".
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: The French Tandem on 14 September, 2022, 08:03:42 am
Road signs in the UK can be traced back to the development of the bicycle. Really? Who would have believed that?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_signs_in_the_United_Kingdom#History

A
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 06 October, 2022, 11:40:34 am
The new Russian attack submarine has a name to inspire confidence.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lada-class_submarine
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Legs on 06 October, 2022, 04:27:11 pm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_widows_who_survived_into_the_21st_century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War_widows_who_survived_into_the_21st_century)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mllePB on 27 November, 2023, 05:17:37 pm
The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Cat_Massacre (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Cat_Massacre)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ian H on 13 February, 2024, 10:23:41 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Stubblebine

"[He] initiated a project within the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM), which he commanded from 1981 to 1984, to create "a breed of 'super soldier'" who would "have the ability to become invisible at will and to walk through walls". He attempted to walk through walls himself—but failed, as he himself described in a 2004 interview."

Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Captain Nemo on 13 February, 2024, 11:12:51 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Stubblebine
 He attempted to walk through walls himself—but failed...

I picked up the book "The Men Who Stare at Goats", which relates Stubblebine's antics, at an airport many years ago - these guys were seriously crazy! Not only was walking through walls one of their aims but also the ability to kill (the eponymous goats) by intense staring. If I remember rightly, large amounts of LSD and other psychotropic chemicals were involved which is hardly suprising...

Even the name Stubblebine reminds me of Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling and his attempt to teach ravens to fly underwater:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhS35f015SQ
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Mr Larrington on 13 February, 2024, 02:08:39 pm
He also gets a namecheck in Dawkins' “The God Delusion”.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: mrcharly-YHT on 20 February, 2024, 11:50:01 am
During the cold war, the MoD seriously considered building nuclear land mines containing live chickens.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Peacock)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Woofage on 04 March, 2024, 11:53:44 am
There was a real Saul Goodman (a musician), not just the dodgy lawyer from Breaking Bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Goodman_(percussionist)
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Regulator on 04 March, 2024, 02:10:36 pm
There was a real Saul Goodman (a musician), not just the dodgy lawyer from Breaking Bad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Goodman_(percussionist)


There is actually a US lawyer called Saul Goodman (he's a tax lawyer in Washington).

As you might expect, he is somewhat weary of the usual 'jokes'...
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: grams on 06 March, 2024, 09:59:39 am
Brampton is the last place in the UK with four-digit local numbers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_United_Kingdom
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Cudzoziemiec on 07 March, 2024, 10:58:28 am
It's so long since I used an immobile phone I'd forgotten it's possible to dial just the "number" without the "code"!
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Kim on 07 March, 2024, 12:55:10 pm
It's so long since I used an immobile phone I'd forgotten it's possible to dial just the "number" without the "code"!

When I first configured our Asterisk server, I was careful to arrange the internal numbers so that dialling local numbers would still work without a timeout[1].

AFAIK we've never used it, and it seems to have gone out the window when I de-crufted the dialplan last year.


[1] An analogue phone sends dialled numbers one at a time at human-pressing-buttons speeds, so the only way the exchange knows when the user has finished dialling is when they reach the limit for the number of digits that are expected based on the digits that have already been sent.  Otherwise it needs to use a timeout, which leaves the user listening to a 'dead' line for a few seconds before attempting to place the call, which isn't how people expect phones to work.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: Ian H on 07 March, 2024, 01:33:43 pm
Our five-figure (+code) landline number is rejected by some online forms.  Fortunately, adding a random final digit doesn't change the effective number.
Title: Re: Your Wikipedia find of the week
Post by: rogerzilla on 08 March, 2024, 12:37:56 pm
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avril_Lavigne_replacement_conspiracy_theory

It's a "Paul Is Dead" for the 21st century.