Author Topic: what I have learned today. (Read 864070 times)

T42 · « **Reply #5800 on:** 09 January, 2022, 04:33:21 pm »

The film Soylent Green was set in 2022.

ElyDave · « **Reply #5801 on:** 10 January, 2022, 06:42:13 am »

Which also came up on R4 last week while I was picking my daughter up from the railway station

T42 · « **Reply #5802 on:** 10 January, 2022, 08:50:21 am »

Good old R4. We could pick it up in Paris, but it's too far over the horizon from Alsace. Funny thing is that I could pick it up on the car radio as far south as Périgueux, back in the 80's. Maybe the Beeb have pulled in their 1500-metre horns since.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #5803 on:** 12 January, 2022, 11:41:06 am »

Today I are learning that the roadrunner:

is a variety of cuckoo, and
does not go “meep meep”

spesh · « **Reply #5804 on:** 12 January, 2022, 12:19:01 pm »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 12 January, 2022, 11:41:06 am

Today I are learning that the roadrunner:
is a variety of cuckoo, and
does not go “meep meep”

O rly?

What's next - coyotes can't ride rocket-powered roller skates?

Kim · « **Reply #5805 on:** 12 January, 2022, 01:43:53 pm »

Sounds like a question for the mid-Essex audaxers...

spesh · « **Reply #5806 on:** 12 January, 2022, 02:01:45 pm »

Quote from: Kim on 12 January, 2022, 01:43:53 pm

Sounds like a question for the mid-Essex audaxers...

It's the trompe l'oeil tunnels and anvils dropping from a great height that you have to watch out for over there.

ElyDave · « **Reply #5807 on:** 13 January, 2022, 08:02:26 am »

Quote from: Mr Larrington on 12 January, 2022, 11:41:06 am

Today I are learning that the roadrunner:
is a variety of cuckoo, and
does not go “meep meep”

And is the state bird of Texas.

I lurned that whilst driving around the West Texas desert looking at oil wells for a week.

Ham · « **Reply #5808 on:** 13 January, 2022, 10:48:28 am »

Isn't the state flag of Texas actually a review?

rafletcher · « **Reply #5809 on:** 16 January, 2022, 12:40:28 pm »

Courtesy of the Observer crossword, Eisenhower is in fact Isenhour

JonBuoy · « **Reply #5810 on:** 16 January, 2022, 06:08:31 pm »

From https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/16/panic-as-kosovo-pulls-the-plug-on-its-energy-guzzling-bitcoin-miners

Quote

The latest calculation from Cambridge University’s bitcoin electricity consumption index suggests that global bitcoin mining consumes 125.96 terawatt hours a year of electricity, putting its consumption above Norway (122.2 TWh), Argentina (121 TWh), the Netherlands (108.8 TWh) and the United Arab Emirates (113.20 TWh).

T42 · « **Reply #5811 on:** 19 January, 2022, 11:16:51 am »

You can peel root ginger very efficiently with the end of a teaspoon - less waste than with a potato peeler since you can get into all the crooks & nannies.

And: ginger juice squirted in the eye does not sting. Just don't follow up with the teaspoon.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #5812 on:** 19 January, 2022, 02:28:34 pm »

I've used a teaspoon, but the back of the spoon end

T42 · « **Reply #5813 on:** 19 January, 2022, 05:07:29 pm »

The spoon end is what I meant, but with the concave side leading.

Efrogwr · « **Reply #5814 on:** 19 January, 2022, 05:30:10 pm »

Quote from: T42 on 19 January, 2022, 05:07:29 pm

The spoon end is what I meant, but with the concave side leading.

I used to do that todeseed squashes, but I realised that a hook knife, normally used for spoon carving is more effective,

fimm · « **Reply #5815 on:** 20 January, 2022, 01:29:20 pm »

I was given a special ginger-peeling tool, which does indeed look pretty much like a teaspoon...

rafletcher · « **Reply #5816 on:** 20 January, 2022, 04:02:01 pm »

I just scrape it with a knife, same as new potatoes.

Ham · « **Reply #5817 on:** 21 January, 2022, 09:53:38 am »

When oi were learning Indian cookery in India (from a woman who taught cupcake baking to the locals, and Indian cooking to foreigns) I picked up a knife to scrape ginger. She said "No" and showed me how it just rubs off with a fingernail. Their ginger is, apparently, fresher. Who would have thought?

ElyDave · « **Reply #5818 on:** 21 January, 2022, 02:52:12 pm »

that sea lions have external ears, and seals don't courtesy of a Pingu https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=122059.0

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #5819 on:** 21 January, 2022, 05:53:50 pm »

Though, if you want to get pedantic, some 'seals' do have ears. For example the 'fur seals' have ears.
Otariidae = eared pinnipeds (sea lions and fur seals)
Phocidae =no external ears ('true seals')
Odobenidae = lolruses. Not a seal but also a pinniped.

Yes, I have got a book

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #5820 on:** 21 January, 2022, 06:53:12 pm »

Quote from: Mrs Pingu on 21 January, 2022, 05:53:50 pm

Yes, I have got a book

“The Observers Book Of Pinniped Lug'oles” pp. 39, pub. grabber & grabber, rrp. £49.95. Free delivery* if ordered before 31st January 1968.

* Offer open only to residents of the Democratic Republic of The Congo

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #5821 on:** 21 January, 2022, 07:33:13 pm »

Almost

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=McNEUgU8Q58C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #5822 on:** 21 January, 2022, 08:19:17 pm »

(Read opening paragraph)

Since when have they mythological seal-people been “silkies”

(Decides not to bother looking for stuff about their ears)

ian · « **Reply #5823 on:** 21 January, 2022, 08:54:05 pm »

It's from the old English seolh, which derives selchs, silkies and seals.

I knew about the ears thing, everyone in California knows that sea lions are the ones with ears. Easy to tell in LA, as they also have earrings and tattoos.

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #5824 on:** 21 January, 2022, 10:47:17 pm »

Usually spelled selkies here

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selkie