what I have learned today.

[Canardly]

That the Cutthroat Bridge at Ladybower Reservoir really does relate to a 17th century baggage train robbery and cutthroat murder. More recently the bridge has also been involved a decapitation murder and the Def Leppard Drummer Rick Allen losing an arm in a car crash.

[JefO]

Chatting to a seal warden today... I learnt -
- That the marine animals called seals, carry natural anti-coagulant so if they bite a dog, the dog could bleed to death without attention by a vet.
- That Renault have a problem making wheels now, and new cars needing replacement wheels, face a wait of at least a few weeks.

[campagman]

I learnt about Ann Moores of Tutbury who didn't eat anything between 1807 and 1813, apparently.

[citoyen]

That the Cutthroat Bridge at Ladybower Reservoir really does relate to a 17th century baggage train robbery and cutthroat murder. More recently the bridge has also been involved a decapitation murder and the Def Leppard Drummer Rick Allen losing an arm in a car crash.

Have you been attending the BBC school of collision reporting? Saying the bridge was "involved" makes it sound like its role was not entirely passive. Which strikes me as unlikely.

[Peter]

I learnt about Ann Moores of Tutbury who didn't eat anything between 1807 and 1813, apparently.

Died in 1806?

[T42]

That the Cutthroat Bridge at Ladybower Reservoir really does relate to a 17th century baggage train robbery and cutthroat murder. More recently the bridge has also been involved a decapitation murder and the Def Leppard Drummer Rick Allen losing an arm in a car crash.

Have you been attending the BBC school of collision reporting? Saying the bridge was "involved" makes it sound like its role was not entirely passive. Which strikes me as unlikely.

<Visions of needlessly-AI-controlled swing bridge having a go.>

[Canardly]

It goes on. See the Hanging bridge of Mayfield. The bridge may or may not have been involved.

[Mr Larrington]

Today I are learning that Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Dayton still have trolley buses, as does Vancouver BC.

[Jurek]

That Victor Kiam, who liked the Remington shaver his wife bought for him so much that he bought the company, had the middle name of.......


Kermit.

[Tim Hall]

That Victor Kiam, who liked the Remington shaver his wife bought for him so much that he bought the company, had the middle name of.......


Kermit.

Delving into the Kermit rabbit hole, I found Kermit Love, who was a puppeteer and worked on Sesame Street and The Muppets. However, Wikipedia says

Despite the coincidence of names, Kermit Love first met Jim Henson after the 1955 creation and naming of Kermit the Frog.

[Pingu]

That Victor Kiam, who liked the Remington shaver his wife bought for him so much that he bought the company, had the middle name of.......


Kermit.

Delving into the Kermit rabbit hole, I found Kermit Love, who was a puppeteer and worked on Sesame Street and The Muppets. However, Wikipedia says

Despite the coincidence of names, Kermit Love first met Jim Henson after the 1955 creation and naming of Kermit the Frog.

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=4398.0

[Kim]

Half of USAnian street lights are in car parks.

[ElyDave]

Chatting to a seal warden today... I learnt -
- That the marine animals called seals, carry natural anti-coagulant so if they bite a dog, the dog could bleed to death without attention by a vet.
- That Renault have a problem making wheels now, and new cars needing replacement wheels, face a wait of at least a few weeks.

Seems not just Renault, looking at replacing our VW ID4, we can have one with alloys now, 2.5k extra. Steel wheels, wait until January

[T42]

The 19th-century gentlemen's code of duelling forbade the use of rifling in duelling pistols, so not-quite-gentlemen would use illegal instruments to inscribe spiral scratches in the barrel in hope of making wad and ball spin.  Other cads and rotters would order their pistols with partial rifling that stopped short of the last inch or so of the muzzle.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That some early adherents of Rastafarianism, in the 1930s, believed not only Ethiopia but Israel and, more puzzlingly, Saudi Arabia, to be the Promised Land. Saudi Arabia was at this time still legally (by Saudi law) importing slaves from, among other places, Ethiopia. (They outlawed this in 1961 and banned slavery the following year.)

[JefO]

Chatting to a seal warden today... I learnt -
- That the marine animals called seals, carry natural anti-coagulant so if they bite a dog, the dog could bleed to death without attention by a vet.
- That Renault have a problem making wheels now, and new cars needing replacement wheels, face a wait of at least a few weeks.

Seems not just Renault, looking at replacing our VW ID4, we can have one with alloys now, 2.5k extra. Steel wheels, wait until January

Blimey!

[Kim]

That LOGO style turtle graphics are a standard feature in Python: https://docs.python.org/3/library/turtle.html

Takes me back to the heady days of RM Nimbuses and Bloody Thatcher.

[Tim Hall]

I knew that the Dastardly French refer to an adjustable spanner as an English Key (in French thobut, obvs). My Thing I Learned Today was that Romanian for adjustable spanner is French Key (in Romanian thobut, obvs).

[Auntie Helen]

My GerMan says an adjustable spanner is called an Engländer in German too.

[Feanor]

Depends if its an metric or imperial adjuster...

[JefO]

Learned that the Tour passes by the campsite we are on, while we are staying on it. Nice one!

[Efrogwr]

 That the word "balti" is Bengali for bucket; specifically one kept in a toilet for arse washing.

[Tim Hall]

According to wiki (I have no recent experience), Swan Vesta* matches are safety matches these days.  It's health and safty gorn mad.


*following an answer in the Guardian Saturday quiz.

[Jurek]

According to wiki (I have no recent experience), Swan Vesta* matches are safety matches these days.  It's health and safty gorn mad.


*following an answer in the Guardian Saturday quiz.

That's criminal.
Whoever thought of that deserves a custodial sentence.

[T42]

My GerMan says an adjustable spanner is called an Engländer in German too.

A German colleague of mine once told me that Scots, Welsh, English and Norn Erse were all Engländer as far as Germany was concerned. He was a bit of a shithead though.