what I have learned today.

[T42]

Actually, 'teeny wing, big engine' is a decent solution to the low-level strike design problem, albeit one that makes for long takeoff and landing runs. I don't know what the avionics were like - the 'missile with a man in it' wasn't exactly endowed with loads of spare room.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-104_Starfighter#German_service

One contributing factor to [the high rate of controlled flight into terrain] was the operational assignment of the F-104 in German service: it was mainly used as a fighter-bomber, as opposed to the original design of a high-speed, high-altitude fighter/interceptor. In addition to the much lower-level mission profiles, the installation of additional avionic equipment in the F-104G version, such as the inertial navigation system, added far more distraction to the pilot and additional weight that further hampered the flying abilities of the plane. In contemporary German magazine articles highlighting the Starfighter safety problems, the aircraft was portrayed as "overburdened" with technology, which was considered a latent overstrain on the aircrews.

The rest of that piece is well worth reading too. 

[Basil]

That there is a Michelin Plate award.  Which our local decent restaurant has just been awarded.
AFAIUI the Plate is awarded to those establishments which are listed in the Michelin guide, but have not earned a star.

[Basil]

That Richmal Crompton was a woman.   
I've obviously not been paying attention for most of my life.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That a 2-litre ice cream tub, when filled with ratatouille and transported in a pannier, is not watertight. Nor even vegetable juice-tight. Fortunately I had put it in a mk one plastic bag.

[Basil]

That a 2-litre ice cream tub, when filled with ratatouille and transported in a pannier, is not watertight. Nor even vegetable juice-tight. Fortunately I had put it in a mk one plastic bag.

Shouldn't that be in the Good News thread?

ETA.  Thinking about it, no.  It was only the liquid that escaped.  There would still be the same amount of bloody courgettes.

[woollypigs]

That a 2-litre ice cream tub, when filled with ratatouille and transported in a pannier, is not watertight. Nor even vegetable juice-tight. Fortunately I had put it in a mk one plastic bag.

Does not compute - transported !??!? Do you not like ratatouille? If made in this house there will not be any left to transport elsewhere.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Okay, it's a deviation in the thread but specially for Basil:
GN: I made some ratatouille.
GN: I took it to lunch with some friends.
GN: They liked it.
BN: Some of it leaked in my pannier.
GN: But only into a plastic bag.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Another thing I've learnt today, in fact just this minute, is that Surly named one of their bikes after an Austrian folklore devil figure.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/08/austria-struggles-with-marauding-krampus-day-demons-gone-rogue

[T42]

That a mush-faker was a 19th-century tradesman who mended umbrellas, mush being short for mushroom and a faker being any kind of artisan.

[ElyDave]

that seagull can also be used as a verb 

[spesh]

that seagull can also be used as a verb 

Presumably in reference to a particular style of management where "seagull" is shorthand for: "fly in, make lots of noise, crap on everything and then fly off, leaving you with a sticky and corrosive mess to clean up"? 

ETA - or is this something covered under Rule 34?

[ElyDave]

Management-speak I was aware of, others NO, No, No

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Unicorns do actually exist.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That the last December election was in 1923, which was also the first for which the results were transmitted over the radio – and that the past tense of 'broadcast' used to be 'broadcasted'.
https://youtu.be/JS_h8l_RfEA

[ElyDave]

I thought the past tense of broadcast was still broadcasted? I.e. the news report was broadcasted

[T42]

I don't think it ever was.

[ian]

Presumably from broad + cast and no one ever casted their cares on the wind.

[T42]

The French franc used to carry the image of a broadcaster:

[Cudzoziemiec]

Looks a bit blé to me.

[Mr Larrington]

One FB froup to which I belong is currently being plagued by a troll going by the name of "Uno Uno".  This has led me to learn that the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession has a name.  It is called epizeuxis.

[spesh]

One FB froup to which I belong is currently being plagued by a troll going by the name of "Uno Uno".  This has led me to learn that the repetition of a word or phrase in immediate succession has a name.  It is called epizeuxis.

Guy Martin: "That's got "Asterix character"* written all over it. Written all over it, I say..."



* Call him Epizeusix, draw him to look like the truck mechanic-cum-nutter, with his verbal tic. I'll waive the royalties.

[The Family Cyclist]

That when you blow a candle out if your pour the wax away that is melted around the wick it makes relighting it a lot easier

[Kim]

That dishwashers have float switch interlocks at the bottom of the enclosure which are often the cause of mysterious error messages and sulking.  Furthermore, transient flooding problems (due to eg. too much soap) can be resolved simply by tipping them backwards to allow the water to drain out, and then cycling power.

What's even better is that I've learned this by proxy via IRC and Youtube, rather than having to get electric shocks while elbows-deep in sudsy schmoo on anyone's kitchen floor or anything, which is the usual format of my white goods learning experiences.

[Cudzoziemiec]

That tigernuts are not only not tiger's nuts, they are not even nuts. They're actually tubers.

[ian]

That I shouldn't go to the mothership as the humans have flooded the lower deck with poo swill.

(Apparently, the landlords were 'deep cleaning the toilet stack' at the weekend, whatever that entailed, I guess that worked out well.)