what I have learned today.

[andytheflyer]

 

[Mr Larrington]

That there is in Australia a brand of starting fluid spray named Start Ya Bastard!

[fimm]

The song "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head" was written for the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".
It seems an unlikely combination....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raindrops_Keep_Fallin%27_on_My_Head

[Cudzoziemiec]

The scene involves a bicycle IIRC.

[robgul]

The scene involves a bicycle IIRC.

Indeed it does - I think Paul Newman rode round the yard while Robert Redford had his wicked way with Katherine Ross (lucky chap!)

[fimm]

I am fairly sure that I've seen the film on TV but the only bits I remember are them jumping into the river to get away and the last scene, which is why I was a bit surprised about the song.

[T42]

Heaving around a 15-kilo bag of dog food is much easier when your hands are still tacky with the hydroalcoholic gel provided at the pet-shop door.

[Nuncio]

That the German for 'Great tit' is Kohlmeise, which translates literally to English as 'Coal tit'. The German for 'Coal tit' is Tannenmeise which literally translates to English as 'Fir tit'.

The coal tit used to be called the Kohlmeiß or Kleine Kohl-Maise and the great tit either Spiegelmeiß ('multicolored tit'), Brandtmeiß ('burnt tit') or Grosse Meiß ('great tit').

Completely unrelated, the Booby (the gannet-like bird) is, in German, Tölpel, which can also mean 'idiot', 'foolish person' or 'booby'. I'm not sure if the English 'Booby', meaning idiot, came after the bird since,

the English name "booby" was possibly based on the Spanish slang term bobo, meaning "stupid" as these tame birds had a habit of landing on board sailing ships, where they were easily captured and eaten.

[Mrs Pingu]

Now we need to know about blue and long tailed tits in German.

[Nuncio]

Boringly equivalent.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That the last person in the world to die of smallpox caught it in Birmingham.

Janet Parker was the last person to die of smallpox. It was 1978, and Parker was a medical photographer at the Birmingham University Medical School in England and worked one floor above the Medical Microbiology Department where smallpox research was being conducted. She became ill on August 11 and developed a rash on August 15 but was not diagnosed with smallpox until 9 days later. She died on September 11, 1978. Her mother, who was providing care for her, developed smallpox on September 7, despite having been vaccinated on August 24. An investigation performed afterward suggested that Janet Parker had been infected either via an airborne route through the medical school building’s duct system or by direct contact while visiting the microbiology corridor one floor above.

https://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/history/history.html#:

[geraldc]

Learnt how to do the Rubik's cube today. Something that had been on my to do list for almost 40 years. When I was a kid, my older brother read a book and learnt how to do it, and I always assumed I would do it one day. All it took was 40 years, a global pandemic with lockdown, and more importantly a search on YouTube and 40 minutes spent watching a video. Luckily it's a skill that can impress my toddler

[Salvatore]

That the German for 'Great tit' is Kohlmeise, which translates literally to English as 'Coal tit'. The German for 'Coal tit' is Tannenmeise which literally translates to English as 'Fir tit'.

The coal tit used to be called the Kohlmeiß or Kleine Kohl-Maise and the great tit either Spiegelmeiß ('multicolored tit'), Brandtmeiß ('burnt tit') or Grosse Meiß ('great tit').

Completely unrelated, the Booby (the gannet-like bird) is, in German, Tölpel, which can also mean 'idiot', 'foolish person' or 'booby'. I'm not sure if the English 'Booby', meaning idiot, came after the bird since,

the English name "booby" was possibly based on the Spanish slang term bobo, meaning "stupid" as these tame birds had a habit of landing on board sailing ships, where they were easily captured and eaten.

I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the German for spoonbill is Löffler which is also a brand of cycle clothing.

[Nuncio]

Didn't know the first part.

[rafletcher]

That the (water cooled) motor on my pressure washer has a thermal cutout if you leave it on too long without the water flowing.

[andyoxon]

Still no good at DIY haircuts.  OK with the wahl clippers on the sides, but made a right pig's ear of the top.  I now have a good region of about 1cm, with the rest 2-3cm.   

[ElyDave]

just bung on the number 2 comb and get on with it

[andyoxon]

I did suggest that, but mrsao - she say no...     

[ian]

Oh, hippy stylings.

Tidy Hair™ is a virtue of a number 1 all over, and a number 3 on the Beard of Authority℠. There's a bit of finesse required to blend the sideburns and transition from beard to hair, but I have well-practised wrist movements. Then number zero around the back of the neck and trim of the moustache to prevent filter feeding. Then the magic twirly trimmer on the nose and eyebrows, and a sweep of the double razor around the throat to tidy the bottom edges.

[ElyDave]

Oh, hippy stylings.

Tidy Hair™ is a virtue of a number 1 all over, and a number 3 on the Beard of Authority℠. There's a bit of finesse required to blend the sideburns and transition from beard to hair, but I have well-practised wrist movements. Then number zero around the back of the neck and trim of the moustache to prevent filter feeding. Then the magic twirly trimmer on the nose and eyebrows, and a sweep of the double razor around the throat to tidy the bottom edges.

No2 all over the bonce, 5mm setting on beard and moustache, trim the excess moustache and beard edges with no comb on the trimmer, quick snip with the scissors for errant eyebrows for me. Ears and nose thankfully not requiring any attention yet.

[ian]

I used to a number 1/2, but because my head was once gnawed by a shark, that made me look a bit like I'd escaped from a Victorian psychosurgery unit, built a time-machine, and come to terrorize the people of the future.

I could be lying about the shark, though, and it would explain the large steam-powered whirly machine in the garage.

[Gattopardo]

Learnt how to do the Rubik's cube today. Something that had been on my to do list for almost 40 years. When I was a kid, my older brother read a book and learnt how to do it, and I always assumed I would do it one day. All it took was 40 years, a global pandemic with lockdown, and more importantly a search on YouTube and 40 minutes spent watching a video. Luckily it's a skill that can impress my toddler

Is it that easy?

[Kim]

Learnt how to do the Rubik's cube today. Something that had been on my to do list for almost 40 years. When I was a kid, my older brother read a book and learnt how to do it, and I always assumed I would do it one day. All it took was 40 years, a global pandemic with lockdown, and more importantly a search on YouTube and 40 minutes spent watching a video. Luckily it's a skill that can impress my toddler

Is it that easy?

It's just applying an algorithm.

As with so many things in life, there's more than one way to solve a Rubik's cube.  Some algorithms are simple to learn, but inefficient.  Some are efficient, but more complex.

I've long since forgotten how to do it.  Unless you count the peel-all-the-stickers-off-and-put-them-back-in-the-right-place algorithm my brother once used.  That cube was never the same again...

[ian]

Lever off a corner piece (with a care and a screwdriver), disassemble and reassemble in completed form. That's what I did.

In the same way, realise that really smart people are smart enough not to waste their time taking IQ tests.

[Mr Larrington]

In Alberta, possession of an unlicensed rat can earn you a fine of $5000 or sixty days in gaol.