what I have learned today.

[Andrij]

There are twice as many legal pot shops in the Denver Metropolitan Area than there are branches of Starmucks.

And I bet the pot shops serve better coffee.

[tiermat]

There are twice as many legal pot shops in the Denver Metropolitan Area than there are branches of Starmucks.

And I bet the pot shops serve better coffee.

From experience, I can say that is probably true. My favourite piece of shop positioning has to be the Voodoo Donuts shop 2 doors down from a pot shop! We partook of the former, but not the latter.

[Bledlow]

I think the old T34 was a bit more agricultural, apparently far more robust than the highly sophisticated, but prone to breaking down German offerings

I'm not sure about that. It may have been no more reliable (well, except for Tigers), but easier to fix with a sledgehammer.

[Jakob W]

The Panthers were mechanical nightmares as well (at least the early models); more importantly Soviet armour was designed to work in sub-zero temperatures, so would actually start in the morning.

[Cudzoziemiec]

From what I remember of a visit to the Imperial War Museum, the T34 was advanced for its time, including being one of the first tanks with a diesel engine. But Soviet stuff generally was designed to be reliable and easy to fix in the field, rather than accurate/fast/etc, so it would be unsurprising if the Red Army just banged them with a hammer every morning and kept going.

[Ham]

I've now leaned how to mig weld lap and t joints. Bit of TIG next week 

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

From what I remember of a visit to the Imperial War Museum, the T34 was advanced for its time, including being one of the first tanks with a diesel engine. But Soviet stuff generally was designed to be reliable and easy to fix in the field, rather than accurate/fast/etc, so it would be unsurprising if the Red Army just banged them with a hammer every morning and kept going.

IIRC diesel fuel was/is prone to jellifying when hugely cold.   We had lorries stuck on the mainland in winter cos they said the fuel had frozen.  Not so much of a problem in the warmer UK.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've learnt a non-cycling thing from Cycle magazine. Wilko Johnson is a character occasionally mentioned here, usually I think by ESL. I'd kind of assumed he was some semi-legendary figure of British time trialling, but I learn he was a guitarist with Ian Dury & the Blockheads and later a band called Dr Feelgood. Maybe I'll investigate Dr Feelgood on youtube and find out about them too.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I have now learned that Dr Feelgood should probably be listened to in the pub and only in the pub.

[ElyDave]

I've learnt a non-cycling thing from Cycle magazine. Wilko Johnson is a character occasionally mentioned here, usually I think by ESL. I'd kind of assumed he was some semi-legendary figure of British time trialling, but I learn he was a guitarist with Ian Dury & the Blockheads and later a band called Dr Feelgood. Maybe I'll investigate Dr Feelgood on youtube and find out about them too.

I've got a album of his with Roger Daltrey. A comeback after major illness

[Mr Larrington]

I've learnt a non-cycling thing from Cycle magazine. Wilko Johnson is a character occasionally mentioned here, usually I think by ESL. I'd kind of assumed he was some semi-legendary figure of British time trialling, but I learn he was a guitarist with Ian Dury & the Blockheads and later a band called Dr Feelgood. Maybe I'll investigate Dr Feelgood on youtube and find out about them too.

Up to a point, Lord Copper.  Wilko was in Dr Feelgood before becoming a Blockhead.

I've got a album of his with Roger Daltrey. A comeback after major illness

Got that one too.  Whatever Wilko's merits as a guitarist, Mr Daltrey is a rather better singer

[Cudzoziemiec]

So he went on to better things? Even without taking up time trialling. Cycle magazine:

Ian Dury was Essex but not Canvey. One of the ex-Blockheads, however, defined 'the Canvey sound'. Wilko Johnson was the driving guitar force behind '70s band Dr Feelgood.

"Ex-Blockhead" implied to me ex at the point he took up driving Feelgood. But, yeah, sources and all that.

[rogerzilla]

"Deore" as in "Deore XT" is a loan word from English into Japanese and is simply "deer".  The original mechs had an antler logo.

[T42]

It WAS my bloody socks!

[citoyen]

cats get quantum mechanics. It's easy for them. Just that no one usually asks them.

Quantum scientists are usually too busy putting cats in boxes to ask their opinion on anything.

I have now learned that Dr Feelgood should probably be listened to in the pub and only in the pub.

They are the archetypal pub rock band, this is true. Britain's answer to Creedence Clearwater Revival. You should watch Oil City Confidential.

Anyway, changing the subject...

What I have learned today is that Denis Norden is still alive. I was sure he died years ago. He's 95, you know.

[Cudzoziemiec]

What I learned yesterday was that birch trees are not hermaphrodite but monoecious. They have male and female flowers on one tree, hermaphrodite in tree terms means male and female parts in the same flower.

[Legs]

What I have learned today is that Denis Norden is still alive. I was sure he died years ago. He's 95, you know.

Quite a few 'surprisingly alive' people on the Deathlist.

[Ham]

What I have learned today is that Denis Norden is still alive. I was sure he died years ago. He's 95, you know.

Quite a few 'surprisingly alive' people on the Deathlist.

Wow, you are right. Can I vote for Billy Graham and Robert Mugabe? (and I did like Phil the Greek's job description)

[citoyen]

Fats Domino is the one who stands out on that list for me. Also that he is younger than Honor Blackman. 

[Torslanda]

Ian Brady ~ All round Mr. Nice guy <SNORFLE> 

[Legs]

There are some good ones:
Clive Dunn ~ Deathlist favourite
Ronald Reagan ~ (former) Idiot
Barbara Cartland ~ Literary Genius
Mary Whitehouse ~ Whinger
Boris Yeltsin ~ Tsar
Michael Foot ~ Tramp
Yassir Arafat ~ Terrorist
Ronnie Biggs ~ Ambassador
Margaret Thatcher ~ Milk Snatcher
Denis Healey ~ Eyebrowed Politician
&c

[rogerzilla]

What I learned yesterday was that birch trees are not hermaphrodite but monoecious. They have male and female flowers on one tree, hermaphrodite in tree terms means male and female parts in the same flower.

I think maize ("corn"* to leftpondians) is similar.

*whereas "corn" is a flexible word in British English used to describe any cereal crop, usually wheat.  A cornfield is generally full of wheat or barley, and cornflowers grow in wheatfields.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think cornflowers are similar to poppies in the places they like to grow, ie recently disturbed land.

[citoyen]

What I have learned today:

"corn" is a flexible word in British English used to describe any cereal crop, usually wheat. A cornfield is generally full of wheat or barley, and cornflowers grow in wheatfields.

Maybe it's the pernicious US influence, or my lack of a rural upbringing, but I tend to think of 'corn' as meaning maize rather than barley or wheat.

(wheat fields were not part of the landscape where I grew up in East Kent, so I wouldn't have seen cornflowers very often - it was all hops, orchards or brassicas round my way; these days it's all oilseed rape or new housing estates)

[David Martin]

I think cornflowers are similar to poppies in the places they like to grow, ie recently disturbed land.

But dont mix up cornflower, cornflour, corn starch or cornmeal.