Author Topic: what I have learned today.  (Read 847046 times)

Adam

  • It'll soon be summer
    • Charity ride Durness to Dover 18-25th June 2011
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7350 on: 04 March, 2024, 09:23:29 am »
Use an 8 speed chain.
Not on a 3 speed with a 1/8" sprocket!

True!

I'm used to more gears.
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7351 on: 08 March, 2024, 05:37:50 pm »
"Needles have functional sharp points."

On a sewing kit.  I despair, I really, really do.  They'd be fuck all use without and what's the point (ha ha) of "functional", eh!?
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7352 on: 08 March, 2024, 06:49:04 pm »
"Needles have functional sharp points."

On a sewing kit.  I despair, I really, really do.  They'd be fuck all use without and what's the point (ha ha) of "functional", eh!?
I'd like to think it was a little act of rebellion. The scenario would be something like this:
Marketroid: Here's an attractive an informative label for the new sewing kit.
Legaloid: That's no good. It needs a warning about sharp points.
Marketroid: ?#@!
Legalod: Paragraph 19, Section 24, Marking Dangerous Goods Acts 2012.
Marketroid: Okay. We'll add a line here. "Needles have fucking sharp points."

I realize this casts the Marketroid as having some common sense and therefore can't have happened.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Regulator

  • That's Councillor Regulator to you...
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7353 on: 09 March, 2024, 06:56:43 am »
You do get blunt needles though.   Used for darning, and sewing in (when knitting and crocheting). 
Quote from: clarion
I completely agree with Reg.

Green Party Councillor

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7354 on: 10 March, 2024, 12:25:32 pm »
Bought some blunt syringes a while back to inject ivy with a chemical agent.
Get a bicycle. You will never regret it, if you live- Mark Twain

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7355 on: 10 March, 2024, 06:33:25 pm »
Bought some blunt syringes a while back to inject ivy with a chemical agent.
Blunt syringes needles are often used for dispensing small quantities of liquids.  eg. https://www.intertronics.co.uk/product-category/dispensing/dispensing-consumables/dispensing-needles-and-tips/
Quote from: Kim
Paging Diver300.  Diver300 to the GSM Trimphone, please...

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7356 on: 11 March, 2024, 08:12:41 pm »
Quote from: Regulator
You do get blunt needles though.   Used for darning, and sewing in (when knitting and crocheting).
Indeed you do, but it doesn't alter the fact that anyone using needles for sewing would expect the bloody things to be sharp* (or even crewel - ha ha) and that they'd be precious little use if they weren't.



*In case you don't know.  Sharps are (more or less) general purpose** needles and crewel needles have a longer eye to take embroidery thread.
**A sewing expert will be along shortly to explain in more detail and correct my wild generalisation.
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7357 on: 18 March, 2024, 10:11:10 am »
Inspectors for the Guide Michelin eat around 250 meals in restaurants per annum, all with wine, ranging in price from around 50€ for lunch in a 1-star to 500€ for dinner in a 3-star.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7358 on: 18 March, 2024, 10:40:57 am »
Quote from: Regulator
You do get blunt needles though.   Used for darning, and sewing in (when knitting and crocheting).
Indeed you do, but it doesn't alter the fact that anyone using needles for sewing would expect the bloody things to be sharp* (or even crewel - ha ha) and that they'd be precious little use if they weren't.



*In case you don't know.  Sharps are (more or less) general purpose** needles and crewel needles have a longer eye to take embroidery thread.
**A sewing expert will be along shortly to explain in more detail and correct my wild generalisation.
Ball headed needles are also used for knitted jersey (ie anything stretchy) fabric.
Sharp needles have quite limited use. I definitely have more blunt than sharp.

Anyone with a burning interest should head here: https://www.forgemill.org.uk/web/forge-mill/


citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7359 on: 18 March, 2024, 11:09:25 am »
Inspectors for the Guide Michelin eat around 250 meals in restaurants per annum, all with wine, ranging in price from around 50€ for lunch in a 1-star to 500€ for dinner in a 3-star.

If you're ever in danger of thinking this sounds like a glamorous lifestyle, bear in mind that they don't get to choose where to eat and not every restaurant they visit is good enough to get in the red book... in fact, the hit rate is quite low. They also tend to travel and dine alone - although the guide pays for the inspector's meal, they don't pay for companions to eat as well.

Never worked for Michelin but I have worked for other restaurant guides and did quite a few inspections in my time. It sucks all the fun out of eating out. At least Michelin inspectors are professionals. The ones I worked for employed inspectors on an amateur basis - ie they didn't pay for your time, only for your dinner (although one of them did at least stretch the budget to cover a companion's meal as well).

Never got to visit any three-star places* but did a few that were two-star level. Also got to visit some places that were truly terrible.

(*I did once have dinner at Sketch in London, but that was long before it got its third star and frankly I didn't think the food came anywhere close to justifying the £450 bill for dinner for two - which sounds a lot even now, but bear in mind this was ~20 years ago.)
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7360 on: 18 March, 2024, 04:09:58 pm »
It sounds about as glamorous as the life of a foie gras goose.

AFAIK I've only eaten in one starred restaurant, a two-star in a village up the road from here.  It was OK.  What I appreciated most was the waiter steering me away from the wine I'd asked for towards a cheaper Cahors that would go better with what we'd ordered - which I suppose must have been duck.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7361 on: 18 March, 2024, 10:38:50 pm »
As a counterpoint, close to 50 years ago, I had a mate who got a job as an inspector for Camden environmental health, so we used to get to eat on his expenses at all the dodgy restaurants that had been reported.

Mr Larrington

  • A bit ov a lyv wyr by slof standirds
  • Custard Wallah
    • Mr Larrington's Automatic Diary
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7362 on: 22 March, 2024, 08:32:57 pm »
Today I are mostly learning that Turkmenistan has a Ministry Of Carpets.
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7363 on: 23 March, 2024, 08:46:13 am »
To ensure airworthiness, no doubt.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7364 on: 23 March, 2024, 12:53:24 pm »
Oxford has the fabulously-named Squitchey Lane.

Also, the Westgate has sucked the life out of the rest of the city centre - Broad Street and Cornmarket Street are full of empty units, shops selling Harry Potter tat (don't remember Oxford being in the books), and beggars.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7365 on: 23 March, 2024, 06:29:14 pm »
About the New River in London.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7366 on: 23 March, 2024, 07:48:32 pm »
About the New River in London.
"Neither new nor a river" apparently.
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7367 on: 23 March, 2024, 09:10:59 pm »
About the New River in London.
"Neither new nor a river" apparently.

Which is why it’s never featured in the “Rivers of London” series from Ben Aaronovitch presumably.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7368 on: 24 March, 2024, 09:18:05 am »
About the New River in London.
"Neither new nor a river" apparently.

Which is why it’s never featured in the “Rivers of London” series from Ben Aaronovitch presumably.
Brilliant series.  My only problem is the comic books don't render on my kindle

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7369 on: 24 March, 2024, 02:32:16 pm »
A day or two ago.  The first railway, to successfully, use steam locomotives was at Middleton near Leeds, some 13 or 14 years before the Stockton & Darlington.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middleton_Railway
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #7370 on: Yesterday at 11:13:59 pm »
Cleopatra was born closer in time to the building of the Eiffel Tower than the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

At least that's what Natalie Haynes told me.

There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)