what I have learned today.

[Tim Hall]

The father of the founder of Scouting Robert Baden-Powell was called Baden Powell.

[T42]

The father of the founder of Scouting Robert Baden-Powell was called Baden Powell.

Or Bathing-Towel by his contemporaries, according to that august 1957 authority the Eagle comic.

[Hot Flatus]

During the Great Statue Panic of June 2020, I saw with some considerable amusement, that a small platoon of thumbheads had taken it upon themselves to guard the statue of Baden-Powell in Poole Harbour lest it be toppled by those anarchists keen on "destroying are history"*.

One of the people interviewed was somebody I recognised and have met, who is worth idly googling if you want to see how weird some of these people are. Her name is Viv Endecott, and she ran a little gift shop in Corfe Castle called the Ginger Pop Shop




*statues aren't history, but never mind

[Mr Larrington]

Could’ve been aRe HeRiTiJ.  Gam-gams are very keen on heritages and keep putting the Tufton Street Irregulars up for election to the high offices of the National Trust to stop the tofu-munching Wokerati from deheritaging us.

[mattc]

Today I are mostly learning that while Iceland has many crime writers it has only one forensic pathologist.  Consequently said pathologist decided to hold a seminar to bring the crime writers up to speed instead of bothering him all the time.  It sold out, obliging him to hold another.  Which also sold out.

Well. This needs further investigation ...
Findings so far:

The island nation of Iceland, which has a population of just over 300,000, has more writers per head of population than any country on Earth. Astonishingly, over the course of their lifetime, one in 10 Icelanders will publish a book. The country has a high literacy rate and a small population, which may contribute to a relatively high number of authors per capita. Additionally, there is a strong culture of reading and writing in Iceland, and the country has produced many internationally acclaimed authors, further fostering a literary tradition.
/END

[Pingu]

There's only 300 000 of them 'cos they're all busy killing each other utterly to deth if you believe their crime literature.

[spesh]

There's only 300 000 of them 'cos they're all busy killing each other utterly to deth if you believe their crime literature.

Or rather, there's only 300,000 of them because they spend the long arctic winter writing crime fiction instead of making' whoopie.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That most calls from BT cashless phone boxes can currently be made free of charge. This is because the debit/credit card service which BT had outsourced collections to, BBG Global, went bust during lockdown as a result of no one making calls from airports etc. This only applies to BT not New World phones, it's current as of May 2023 and I haven't tested it, so "caveat dicentis". (Translation by google, of course)

[Salvatore]

That there's tiny writing near the edge of a pound coin. I can't see it other than using optical assistance (much more than my varifocals can offer). Like this. I reckon the letters are about 0.25 - 0.3 mm high

[Cudzoziemiec]

An anti-forgery device?

[Salvatore]

An anti-forgery device?

That's what I assumed.

PS and that's what the Royal Mint says
https://www.royalmint.com/new-pound-coin/#:~:text=Micro%2Dlettering%20%E2%80%93%20it%20has%20very,%E2%80%9D%20side%2C%20for%20example%202017.

[rafletcher]

Or anti-clipping perhaps.

[Regulator]

During the Great Statue Panic of June 2020, I saw with some considerable amusement, that a small platoon of thumbheads had taken it upon themselves to guard the statue of Baden-Powell in Poole Harbour lest it be toppled by those anarchists keen on "destroying are history"*.

One of the people interviewed was somebody I recognised and have met, who is worth idly googling if you want to see how weird some of these people are. Her name is Viv Endecott, and she ran a little gift shop in Corfe Castle called the Ginger Pop Shop




*statues aren't history, but never mind

Wasn't she the golliwog woman?  The one who wasn't from the pub in Grays...

[Regulator]

There's only 300 000 of them 'cos they're all busy killing each other utterly to deth if you believe their crime literature.

Or rather, there's only 300,000 of them because they spend the long arctic winter writing crime fiction instead of making' whoopie.

We're thinking about a trip to Iceland next month...

[Cudzoziemiec]

An anti-forgery device?

That's what I assumed.

PS and that's what the Royal Mint says
https://www.royalmint.com/new-pound-coin/#:~:text=Micro%2Dlettering%20%E2%80%93%20it%20has%20very,%E2%80%9D%20side%2C%20for%20example%202017.

On that page I noticed the artist's initials below the Queen's portrait. J.C. Queen's head by Jeremy Corbyn?

[Regulator]

An anti-forgery device?

That's what I assumed.

PS and that's what the Royal Mint says
https://www.royalmint.com/new-pound-coin/#:~:text=Micro%2Dlettering%20%E2%80%93%20it%20has%20very,%E2%80%9D%20side%2C%20for%20example%202017.

On that page I noticed the artist's initials below the Queen's portrait. J.C. Queen's head by Jeremy Corbyn?

Most of the coins circulating have one of two portraits of the Queen.  From 1998 to 2012 by Ian Rank-Broadley and from 2012 by Jody Clark.

Pre-1998 coins carry portraits by Raphael Maklouf*, Arnold Machin and Mary Gillick (Mary was the first to do the Queen's portrait for coins).

Mary and Ernest Gillick were friends of my paternal grandmother and encouraged my father to pursue art (which he ended up teaching).  We have several of Mary's pieces in the family.




*Maklouf did the Stations of the Cross in 'Thomas, by the Grace of God's carbuncle in Brentwood.

[sg37409]

Per R4 today, I learned a red kangaroo has 3 vaginas.

(didn’t even crack a joke…)

[ian]

I thought female marsupials have two vaginas (and two uteruses) to cater for the male's double penis (they only fire, erm, one barrel at a time, no sense blowing the bloody doors off).


However, let me present the echidna with a four-headed spectacular, a sort of coital Gatling gun. The platypus disappoints with two, but wait for it ladies, keratinous spines. Apparently, no one has ever seen a platypus erection, but really who have they been asking. I think a lady platypus might have.

[Legs]

I thought female marsupials have two vaginas (and two uteruses) to cater for the male's double penis (they only fire, erm, one barrel at a time, no sense blowing the bloody doors off).


However, let me present the echidna with a four-headed spectacular, a sort of coital Gatling gun. The platypus disappoints with two, but wait for it ladies, keratinous spines. Apparently, no one has ever seen a platypus erection, but really who have they been asking. I think a lady platypus might have.

My life is complete.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

An anti-forgery device?

That's what I assumed.

PS and that's what the Royal Mint says
https://www.royalmint.com/new-pound-coin/#:~:text=Micro%2Dlettering%20%E2%80%93%20it%20has%20very,%E2%80%9D%20side%2C%20for%20example%202017.

I always check the pound coins I get for tiny writing and stuff, doesn't everyone?

[Sergeant Pluck]

New to me:

“Depauperate”:

Of a flora, fauna, or ecosystem: lacking in numbers or variety of species.

Of a plant or animal: imperfectly developed.

Context: discussion of the environment in NI.

[Kim]

28 persistent myths about naked mole rat biology

[spesh]

28 persistent myths about naked mole rat biology

ObligLehrerQuote: "This may prove useful to some of you some day, perhaps, in a somewhat bizarre set of circumstances."

[Cudzoziemiec]

The differences between taro, cassava, yams and kumara. Maybe.

[Kim]

Yet another way that USAnians came up with to do rascism...  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town