what I have learned today.

[ian]

I can’t say I’ve ever seen a cream trimphone.

I was very small at the time we got a telephone, but I'm pretty sure my mother was swooning over the pre-BT phone catalogue which had a choice standard rotary phones and the trimphone variant. Or, if you were of significant means (which we were definitely not) the one with buttons. All in cream or grey. I think the reality was you either ordered (a) the grey rotary phone or (b) a long disappointing wait.

Of course, when we got the phone, no one was allowed to use it, on the grounds it was 'too expensive.' I don't think it actually rang for a decade and we had to consult the manual when it finally did happen.

[Tim Hall]

Point is, the phone number 3463 is said in English as separate digits "three four six three" whereas in German it's said as two pairs "thirty-four sixty-three".

With a notable exception: Four Eighty-Four Fifty-Two Five Five

What I have learned today: I still remember that jingle after 40 years or so.

Is that an English or German number? Presumably English as you remember it, but it would seem to be an exception to both.

It was the number for Capital Radio, voiced on thousands of jingles by Kenny Everett. Presumably they omitted the leading 01 as they were targetting a London audience.

[ElyDave]

Yesterday I learnt the term Aframax. This sounds to me like it should be a style of music, a genre of maxxed out Afrobeat, probably with reggae crossover. Actually it's "Average Freight Rate Assessment Maximum" crude oil carrier. Larger than Panamax* but not as large as Suezmax.** Chartering an Aframax seems to cost around $19,000 a day – I reckon that should get you Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, perhaps Elvis Presley too!

*Ultra-wide screen cinema?
**Large-bore water mains?

I did an audit earlier this year on a Handymax size tanker, the British Cumulus.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yesterday I learnt the term Aframax. This sounds to me like it should be a style of music, a genre of maxxed out Afrobeat, probably with reggae crossover. Actually it's "Average Freight Rate Assessment Maximum" crude oil carrier. Larger than Panamax* but not as large as Suezmax.** Chartering an Aframax seems to cost around $19,000 a day – I reckon that should get you Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, perhaps Elvis Presley too!

*Ultra-wide screen cinema?
**Large-bore water mains?

I did an audit earlier this year on a Handymax size tanker, the British Cumulus.

Which by rights should have been carrying German smartphones! Malaccamax is my favourite though, there's a nice resonance to it.

[ElyDave]

Wombats have square poo

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/18/scientists-unravel-secret-of-cube-shaped-wombat-faeces

[Butterfly]

Wombats have square poo

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/18/scientists-unravel-secret-of-cube-shaped-wombat-faeces

Crumbs.

[Tim Hall]

Wombats have square poo

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/18/scientists-unravel-secret-of-cube-shaped-wombat-faeces

Which reminds me:
Person walks past a pet shop and spies an advert in the window. "Parrot for sale, £2000"
Hmm she thinks, that's a lot for a parrot. Intrigued she ventures into the shop
"£2000 for a parrot" she says to the shop keeper "it must be very special"
"Why yes, yes it is" says the shopkeeper "for it lays cube shaped eggs"
"Ooh, that is special. Can it talk as well?" she asks.
"Yes, but it can only say one word"
"Pray tell, what is the one word it speaks?"
"Kerrrrrist"

[T42]

Wombats have square poo

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/18/scientists-unravel-secret-of-cube-shaped-wombat-faeces

Trump has recruited a dozen and is taking lessons:

https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10502.msg2341080#msg2341080

[spesh]

Wombats have square poo

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/18/scientists-unravel-secret-of-cube-shaped-wombat-faeces

So they're always shitting bricks?

[ElyDave]

Wombats have square poo

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/nov/18/scientists-unravel-secret-of-cube-shaped-wombat-faeces

Which reminds me:
Person walks past a pet shop and spies an advert in the window. "Parrot for sale, £2000"
Hmm she thinks, that's a lot for a parrot. Intrigued she ventures into the shop
"£2000 for a parrot" she says to the shop keeper "it must be very special"
"Why yes, yes it is" says the shopkeeper "for it lays cube shaped eggs"
"Ooh, that is special. Can it talk as well?" she asks.
"Yes, but it can only say one word"
"Pray tell, what is the one word it speaks?"
"Kerrrrrist"

Very similar joke in an episode of the Good Life, along the lines of the rare Oooh-Aaah bird, that lays square eggs.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That in 2012 the European Parliament wanted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of InterRail by providing a free InterRail pass to every 18-year-old in the EU "to promote European unity." The idea was rejected by the Commission (too expensive).

(Camel case? Seems to be the current spelling, originally it was either hyphenated or two separate words.)

[Kim]

That there was a Don't Copy That Floppy 2.  With Klingons!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hUCyvw4w_yk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/hUCyvw4w_yk&rel=1</a>
https://youtu.be/hUCyvw4w_yk

[T42]

When I was at Univac in 1975 a colleague was done for pirating music cassettes.

[rogerzilla]

A cow-orker is seven months pregnant.  She found this out LAST WEEK.

[rogerzilla]

That there was a Don't Copy That Floppy 2.  With Klingons!

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/hUCyvw4w_yk&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/hUCyvw4w_yk&rel=1</a>
https://youtu.be/hUCyvw4w_yk

ISTR that copying software wasn't illegal until the late 1980s as the existing law didn't anticipate such things, a bit like lesbianism never being illegal because Queen Victoria didn't believe women would really do that.

[Mrs Pingu]

A cow-orker is seven months pregnant.  She found this out LAST WEEK.

Cripes. Head in the sand or truly a huge shock?

[rogerzilla]

Huge shock.  She's not even fat so has probably been dieting to offset the weight gain 

The doctors must be going nuts - past 28 weeks, she's in her 40s, and no scans or anything!

[Cudzoziemiec]

When I was at Univac in 1975 a colleague was done for pirating music cassettes.

So who else spent a second wondering whether Univac referred to a specific university or was an abbreviation for university vacations?

[rogerzilla]

When I was at Univac in 1975 a colleague was done for pirating music cassettes.

So who else spent a second wondering whether Univac referred to a specific university or was an abbreviation for university vacations?

I'll have you know our savings accounts still sit on a Unisys 2200 platform, which isn't a million miles removed from a Univac.  Apparently Lloyds run their current accounts from one.

[Cudzoziemiec]

When I was at Univac in 1975 a colleague was done for pirating music cassettes.

So who else spent a second wondering whether Univac referred to a specific university or was an abbreviation for university vacations?

I'll have you know our savings accounts still sit on a Unisys 2200 platform, which isn't a million miles removed from a Univac.  Apparently Lloyds run their current accounts from one.

I'm also thinking "Do the shake and vac and put the freshness back". 

[Canardly]

That leaving the EU will damage the UK economy. Well I never .........

[Ham]

When I was at Univac in 1975 a colleague was done for pirating music cassettes.

So who else spent a second wondering whether Univac referred to a specific university or was an abbreviation for university vacations?

I'll have you know our savings accounts still sit on a Unisys 2200 platform, which isn't a million miles removed from a Univac.  Apparently Lloyds run their current accounts from one.

That's a "no" actually. Mind you, guessing where you work from your approximate location, I'd have sixpence that says that part of your employer's physical document archive retrieval system still depends on a PC running NT and token ring.

[Torslanda]

That leaving the EU will damage the UK economy. Well I never .........

No shit!

[Butterfly]

A cow-orker is seven months pregnant.  She found this out LAST WEEK.

I feel for her. Finding out at 4 months was bad enough, and with a premature baby, felt like a horrendous shock. If her baby was as prem as mine, she could have a couple of weeks of pregnancy to get used to the idea. 18 weeks weren't enough. I spent 6 months feeling mentally as though I had been run over. Best wishes and sympathy to her.

[Gattopardo]

That leaving the EU will damage the UK economy. Well I never .........

What do experts know. 

And lets not forget the 350 million we will be getting.