Author Topic: what I have learned today.  (Read 847047 times)

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3350 on: 04 April, 2019, 08:34:52 am »
From Latin liber and libra. Damned foreigners, confusing the issue.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3351 on: 04 April, 2019, 08:42:40 am »
In addition, la tour is often a little phallic in overall outline. ISTR that the very obviously male bovine is la in Froggish. Really, there's no point in having gender - some nouns have four forms for one word (with plurals) - a waste of three words.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3352 on: 04 April, 2019, 10:08:46 am »
YSTR wrongly.  Re grammatical gender I agree, largely.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_in_English#Decline_of_grammatical_gender

English also has one other nice feature, i.e. possessive pronouns whose gender agrees with that of the possessor.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3353 on: 04 April, 2019, 10:55:27 am »
Which reminds me of something I learned a couple of years ago, there is a North American language in which verbs agree with the subject's possessor rather than the subject. "Our horse are fast but Bob's horses is faster." Apparently the only language known where verbs do not agree with their subjects. The only universal rule is that all rules are broken.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3354 on: 04 April, 2019, 11:15:26 am »
I think it's called US English. ;D

Nah, sorry to be so irreverent (tugs foreskinlock).  I once heard the opinion that grammar is an error-correction mechanism, like parity bits in computers, and it supplements syntax. English being largely positional makes other languages that also use inflection look top-heavy. All the same, when it's mucked about as in your "horses" example, position as an indicator of meaning gets a bit shaky.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3355 on: 04 April, 2019, 01:51:13 pm »
From Latin liber and libra. Damned foreigners, confusing the issue.

 ;D ;D

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3356 on: 04 April, 2019, 04:17:59 pm »
I learned quite a few things over the last three weeks. In no particular order:

- What earth tremors feel like (ans:weird but scary)
- That scorpions can go to sleep in your clothes (plain scary)
- (today, on researching) That while most scorpions, which are arachnids, aren't too poisonous the light coloured ones with thin pincers are. I know what those look like (see above)
- That, at least in the southern part of Mexico nobody talks with a comic book Mexican accent, who knew?
- That Mexico Mayan/Aztecs got seriously screwed over by the Spanish colonialists, as they did not use steel, or the wheel.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3357 on: 04 April, 2019, 04:21:16 pm »
I was advised that scorpions tend to travel in pairs.
We found one in the shower when I lived on Corfu.
Sure enough, a day later there was another one in the bathroom.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3358 on: 04 April, 2019, 07:28:08 pm »
I learned quite a few things over the last three weeks. In no particular order:

- What earth tremors feel like (ans:weird but scary)
- That scorpions can go to sleep in your clothes (plain scary)
- (today, on researching) That while most scorpions, which are arachnids, aren't too poisonous the light coloured ones with thin pincers are. I know what those look like (see above)
- That, at least in the southern part of Mexico nobody talks with a comic book Mexican accent, who knew?
- That Mexico Mayan/Aztecs got seriously screwed over by the Spanish colonialists, as they did not use steel, or the wheel.
If you haven't already (and based on the above I'm guessing you haven't) you should read 'Guns, Germs and Steel' by Jared Diamond.
Rust never sleeps

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3359 on: 07 April, 2019, 08:30:17 am »
At one point in Ancient Greece only the 6000 richest people in Athens were liable for tax. Once the sum due was calculated the three richest had to pay all of it then get it back from the 5997 others.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

lou boutin

  • Les chaussures sont ma vie.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3360 on: 07 April, 2019, 07:14:08 pm »
I went to see Helen Pankhurst speak about 'Deeds not words'.  During the lecture, she told us that when the Suffragettes attempted to access a cricket match, a certain official said that the only place that women had in a cricket pavilion was in the tea room, serving the tea.  The Suffragettes' response - they came back and burned down the cricket pavilion.  :D

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3361 on: 07 April, 2019, 07:23:38 pm »
I've  learned to look up the tide tables in future so that I won't repeat today's drive the dog to the beach, only to find no effing beach.  :facepalm:
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3362 on: 08 April, 2019, 09:32:49 am »
BTDT, only it I'd first chivvied three or four mates to ride there with me. Oops.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Gattopardo

  • Lord of the sith
  • Overseaing the building of the death star
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3363 on: 09 April, 2019, 03:30:42 pm »
Asking someone are they using the car tomorrow and getting the reply no.  Doesn't mean that you won't be using the car.


Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3364 on: 16 April, 2019, 02:34:36 pm »
Realised as much as learnt ... that the Strava heatmap gives a pretty good indication of whether a route is bike friendly, for planning.
I was, in particular, looking at a track in Scotland - I'm used to tracks on the OS map often meaning "private farm road", and while I'm aware that rights of way are different there it is reassuring to check that it's been used a bit on a bike.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3365 on: 16 April, 2019, 02:41:10 pm »
Realised as much as learnt ... that the Strava heatmap gives a pretty good indication of whether a route is bike friendly, for planning.
I was, in particular, looking at a track in Scotland - I'm used to tracks on the OS map often meaning "private farm road", and while I'm aware that rights of way are different there it is reassuring to check that it's been used a bit on a bike.
Yes, the Strava route planner is really handy for this reason.  Obviously you've got to apply a who-logs-rides-on-Strava filter when using it for urban commuter routes, as it'll bias towards the fast people on road bikes preferences.  But that's in itself useful compared to the likes of Cyclestreets which tend to give very traffic-averse Sustransy routing.

It's turned up a couple of useful follow-a-bridleway-across-a-field shortcuts that have been perfectly rideable, but I wouldn't normally consider.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3366 on: 16 April, 2019, 03:17:20 pm »
Quote
fast people on road bikes

that's not really me, probably hence my only just joining the dots to this

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3367 on: 18 April, 2019, 10:17:12 am »
That one of my colleagues is the magnificently titled Emelius McHuthcherson.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3368 on: 18 April, 2019, 09:35:58 pm »
Lorry wheel nuts are left hand thread on the left side, for the same reasons as bike pedals.
How I have reached my old age without knowing this is hard to understand, except that I have never driven heavy vehicles. 

But as ever, cars are aberrant.

Basil

  • Um....err......oh bugger!
  • Help me!
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3369 on: 18 April, 2019, 10:54:30 pm »
Lorry wheel nuts are left hand thread on the left side, for the same reasons as bike pedals.
How I have reached my old age without knowing this is hard to understand, except that I have never driven heavy vehicles. 

But as ever, cars are aberrant.

Thanks.  New to me too.
Admission.  I'm actually not that fussed about cake.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3370 on: 19 April, 2019, 08:47:03 am »
Geese patrol Sobral prison in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to alert guards to prisoner disturbances.

Someone stayed awake in Latin class.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3371 on: 19 April, 2019, 01:31:06 pm »
Lorry wheel nuts are left hand thread on the left side, for the same reasons as bike pedals.
How I have reached my old age without knowing this is hard to understand, except that I have never driven heavy vehicles. 

But as ever, cars are aberrant.

Chrysler built their cars that way through the late '60s. Of course, the cars in question were about the size of a truck/lorry.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3372 on: 19 April, 2019, 03:21:38 pm »
Found out something else today: see under Fecking Div.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3373 on: 19 April, 2019, 04:51:13 pm »
That MucOff is also very good at cleaning barbecue grills.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3374 on: 19 April, 2019, 05:12:21 pm »
Lorry wheel nuts are left hand thread on the left side, for the same reasons as bike pedals.
How I have reached my old age without knowing this is hard to understand, except that I have never driven heavy vehicles. 

But as ever, cars are aberrant.

Chrysler built their cars that way through the late '60s. Of course, the cars in question were about the size of a truck/lorry.

So did Rolls-Royce.

Wire wheels for cars were also secured by handed threads.