what I have learned today.

[phantasmagoriana]

That violin bows are made from Pernambuco Wood which is the wood from Brazil which is dark red in colour.

Not all of them. Mine's a go-faster carbon fibre one.

[Jurek]

That violin bows are made from Pernambuco Wood which is the wood from Brazil which is dark red in colour.

Not all of them. Mine's a go-faster carbon fibre one.

That's  cool.

[chrisbainbridge]

That violin bows are made from Pernambuco Wood which is the wood from Brazil which is dark red in colour.

Not all of them. Mine's a go-faster carbon fibre one.

The use of other materials I understood was partly caused by the loss of pernambuco wood as part of deforestation and the export of the wood to Europe. We have been staying in the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest for the last few days which has been amazing.

[Kim]

That violet light actually appears slightly purple to people with normal cone cells, rather than just dark blue.  This is why rainbows have more distinct bands on an RGB display than they do in real life.

[spesh]

That the Finns have a measure of distance called the "poronkusema" which is roughly 5-6 miles, and it was based on how far a reindeer can travel before needing to stop to urinate (poronkusema translates as "a reindeer's piss").

It became obsolete when Finland adopted the metric system, but is still used to indicate a vaguely nearby distance - such as when children ask their parents how far they still have to walk when out hiking in the country.

[SteveC]

That our electric cool-box, which we are using a our main fridge until the new one arrives on Monday, has a 'heat' option as well as a 'cool' one.

 

[citoyen]

That violin bows are made from Pernambuco Wood which is the wood from Brazil which is dark red in colour.

Not all of them. Mine's a go-faster carbon fibre one.

Does it combine lateral stiffness with vertical compliance?

[Mr Larrington]

That violin bows are made from Pernambuco Wood which is the wood from Brazil which is dark red in colour.

Not all of them. Mine's a go-faster carbon fibre one.

Does it combine lateral stiffness with vertical compliance?

 

[delthebike]

If Sunak gets confirmed as PM @1400 o'clock PM today, assuming all Tory parliamentary MP's support, then his mandate will be;
7.7x10^-6% of the voting age of the UK population.
That's nice isn't it?

[Paul]

That the post office will only buy back their own euros.

Fascists.

[Kim]

That the post office will only buy back their own euros.

How do they tell?

[robgul]

That the post office will only buy back their own euros.

How do they tell?

. . .  you have to take the original transaction ticket.  (the "actual" Euros are of course not necessarily the ones the PO issued - it's the total value of the original purchase that can't be exceeded) - they don't want to provide their rates to other suppliers' Euros.

As an aside - why have actual notes - on our club trip (10 people, 12 days in France) we spent several thousand Euros but only about 20 in actual cash (a coffee round in a bar that "preferred not to take cards") - everything was on prepaid cashcards (Caxton & Post Office) - simple and easy to refund the leftovers.

[Kim]

As an aside - why have actual notes

Tyre boot for 650B tyres.   

And in case your bank randomly decides that card use in ABROAD is a sign of FOREIGNS conducting fraud, rather than you travelling.  Even though you warned them in advance.

[Mr Larrington]

Although the last time I tried to warn Horseybank plc that I was proposing to visit Abroad and use my cards to give money to FOREIGNS they shrugged and said “Oh, we don’t do holiday flags any more!”  Which IIRC was 2017.

[Kim]

I may be somewhat out of touch, having not been in ABROAD since, fittingly, 2016.

The Euros I still have in the drawer have presumably aged fairly well.  As long as I don't try to take them back to the post oriface.  Which would be tricky, as it was recently knocked down.

[Mr Larrington]

IIRC it was 2016 when I discovered that if you were going to Abroad you could only tell them one country at a time so your cards continuing to allow you to buy petril in Canuckistan when Horseybank thought you were still in USAnia was mostly down to luck.  Trying to use a mobile phone browser to change your holiday fleg in Dotonthemap, Saskatchewan seemed like an exercise in futility when said phone couldn't find a network to talk to in a city of more than 100,000 people.

Edit: Today I are learning that the reason that PC fan noise sounds like it's coming from directly in front of me when the PC is under the desk and off to the left is because the steering wheel attached  to said PC has a fan in it too

[robgul]

As an aside - why have actual notes

Tyre boot for 650B tyres.   

And in case your bank randomly decides that card use in ABROAD is a sign of FOREIGNS conducting fraud, rather than you travelling.  Even though you warned them in advance.

Ah - the reason for the prepaid cashcards (2 of*) loaded with Euros was to cover just that eventuality - and you don't get ripped with poor rates and transaction charges (cashcard rates are usually better than most as they have a load of dosh to use in a treasury function that's part of their business - earning on the balance held)

* we had 2 cards for the group kitty (a.k.a. the brown purse) and I had 2 more of my own for my personal bills.

[Paul]

That the post office will only buy back their own euros.

How do they tell?

. . .  you have to take the original transaction ticket.  (the "actual" Euros are of course not necessarily the ones the PO issued - it's the total value of the original purchase that can't be exceeded) - they don't want to provide their rates to other suppliers' Euros.

Aha! Yes, that makes sense.

As an aside - why have actual notes...

Because you just don't know (as your bar that preferred not to take cards exemplifies). Plus, the pool table didn't take cards.

[chrisbainbridge]

Having just been in Brazil my son offered me the use of his credit card with settlement to his U.K. bank at interbank rates when we get home. Should save about 3% he reckons which is not inconsiderable for 2 weeks here.

[Deano]

Today I learned the difference between a crossed and an uncrossed postal order, after someone entered an audax using a crossed postal order and I tried to cash it at the Post Office counter 

(I think it's too late to cancel his entry, I might settle for giving him a bollocking tomorrow)

[Kim]

That people still use postal orders.

[Tim Hall]

Listening to The Write Stuff this morning, I learnt that the term "the Wild West" was coined by that well known author of cowboy fiction, Charlotte Bronte.

[Deano]

That people still use postal orders.

Yeah, that too. I was amused at first, but now I'm thinking it would be easier to frame and let him have a free entry rather than schlep down the bank and queue to pay it in.

[Kim]

that well known author of cowboy fiction, Charlotte Bronte.

I'd totally read that.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Listening to The Write Stuff this morning, I learnt that the term "the Wild West" was coined by that well known author of cowboy fiction, Charlotte Bronte.

Referring to Lancashire?