Today I Learned

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Today I learned that cleaning a white hat can be done with bleach cleaner, but it’s important to rinse it before wearing it again. I also discovered that "oyster veneering," a woodworking technique from the late 1600s, is experiencing a minor revival despite its labor-intensive nature. Additionally, I learned that the factorial of 23 (23!) equals 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000, which interestingly has 23 digits, a unique coincidence among factorials. I found out that medical specialists often spend less than 10 minutes with patients, and that watching TV can contribute to weight gain. Other insights included the fact that a kiss can transfer around 80 million microbes, and that bureaucracy can sometimes hinder employment opportunities. The discussion also touched on various trivia, such as the emotional sensitivity of barn owls and the complexities of gravitational lensing around black holes.
  • #5,551
DaveC426913 said:
I did read somewhere a real cop saying it is a ridiculous cliche that no sane cop would ever do.
It's interesting that I could not find anything about the origin of this. Usually there is something to find, collected by really dedicated movie/TV enthusisasts.
But for this one the closest I could dig up is a statement that some drugs may cause a numbing feel.
 
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  • #5,553
Rive said:
It's interesting that I could not find anything about the origin of this. Usually there is something to find, collected by really dedicated movie/TV enthusisasts.
But for this one the closest I could dig up is a statement that some drugs may cause a numbing feel.
I guess it is simply due to the fact that the information "drugs" has to be placed without delay and a boring drug test. I mean: running to the trunk of the car, fetching a drug test, swabbing a probe, waiting for the colors to change, and all for the simple information "drug" that the viewer expects anyway? Doesn't make sense. Smelling it or looking at it is less convincing than tasting something most people don't how it tastes anyway makes some dramaturgic sense.
 
  • #5,554
berkeman said:
Yes, usually that's a good source, but this time it just could not deliver the expected 'oh, so that's it' feeling...
Maybe it's just me hoping to find something more ... spicy o0)

fresh_42 said:
makes some dramaturgic sense.
Well, that makes sense:doh:
 
  • #5,555
DaveC426913 said:
What? Hard-nosed cops won't rip the bag open, dunk their pinkie in an unknown powdery substance and taste it anymore??

What a world, what a world.
Hard nosed cops don't rip the bag open, they slit it with the switchblade knife that suddenly appears in their hand, out of nowhere.
 
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  • #5,556
berkeman said:
Theng kew for divining where I read it.

It certainly tracks with my recent habits as posted on Fecebook. :sorry:

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  • #5,557
A new Millennium Prize was announced

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  • #5,558
TIL a little about Oliver Heaviside.

 
  • #5,559
The Berlin Philharmonic was founded in Berlin in 1882 by 54 musicians under the name Frühere Bilsesche Kapelle (literally, "Former Bilse's Band"); the group broke away from their previous conductor Benjamin Bilse after he announced his intention of taking the band on a fourth-class train to Warsaw for a concert.
 
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  • #5,560
BWV said:
A new Millennium Prize was announced

View attachment 333355
I can beat that. Indonesian dictionaries. The title may include a number. Since there is no rule that the number has to have anything to do with the contents there is rampant inflation. Last I checked it was 400 billion.
 
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  • #5,561
TIL that Hugo Broch, a WW2 German fighter ace, fulfilled a lifetime ambition by flying a Spitfire -- at the age of 95.
 
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  • #5,562
TIL That Leonard Rossiter was in "2001 a space Odyssey."
 
  • #5,563
How an alleged scammer sold fake airplane parts to United, Delta, and more — and fooled a whole industry
https://news.yahoo.com/alleged-scammer-sold-fake-airplane-194406088.html

Counterfeit products are a huge problem, and a potential safety hazard when involving safety-related or safety-critical parts in systems like aircraft and their engines, nuclear reactors, vehicles, pipelines, . . . .
 
  • #5,564
LEZ in Scotland scuppered our gig plans, (Sabbath and Ozzy)our reconditioned van to carry the gear does not meet the requirements.
Fair enough, saving the planet is more important than tribute bands, just disappointed we found this out late (poor planning, our bad)lost money on the gig, hotel, a nice walk round the city and the fans, dozens of them.

The local news got hold of it. For the record I was not fuming, in a rage or outraged.

https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/outraged-musicians-slam-glasgow-lez-27894804#comments-wrapper
 
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  • #5,565
I think the author picked "fuming" as a pun on the low emissions zone idea.
 
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  • #5,566
gmax137 said:
I think the author picked "fuming" as a pun on the low emissions zone idea.
Probably get caught between the hippies and the rockers, this is going to affect dozens of people.
What a mess.
 
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  • #5,567
I read the linked article. That LEZ thing looks like a crock to me. I think your response "ok we're never playing in Glasgow" is right on point.
 
  • #5,568
gmax137 said:
I read the linked article. That LEZ thing looks like a crock to me. I think your response "ok we're never playing in Glasgow" is right on point.
The comments were from the Facebook page written by the organizer (Guitar). It's unfortunate, unlucky and being disappointed is fine. However young people care about the environment, including rockers.
Anyway the radio interview is posted tomorrow, with the organizer.
 
  • #5,569
T.I.L. New series about Jimmy Savile called " The Reckoning." I just watched the first episode. Pretty grim. Hard for a non UK person to identify with. EDIT Bill Cosby possibly if you are in the US?

Steve Coogan is brilliant in the series.
 
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  • #5,570
Paul Ehrenfest murdered his disabled son and then shot himself

also learned margittai Neumann János, perhaps the greatest mathematician of the 20th century, was a converted Jew, but the nobility was real, conferred to his father by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1913 so he kept it when he later Germanized his name

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  • #5,571
TIL that John von Neumann in 1955 published a book stating concern about CO2 in the atmosphere causing warming. According to Wikipedia.
 
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  • #5,572
Hornbein said:
TIL that John von Neumann in 1955 published a book stating concern about CO2 in the atmosphere causing warming. According to Wikipedia.
It's mentioned in passing in Indiscreet, a 1958 film, as part of a rather awkward "nice weather we're having" first date conversation between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman.
 
  • #5,573
gmax137 said:
I read the linked article. That LEZ thing looks like a crock to me. I think your response "ok we're never playing in Glasgow" is right on point.
Update (should be last one I promise)

I was mainly worried about the language used in the interview by our spokesperson (for Ozzy too - they are not mentioned) I did not want us to come across as whiney, spoilt brat wannabe bunch of nobodies from Manchester, who expect a major city council in Scotland to bend the rules on emissions just for us.

Unfortunately the newspapers think stories about the environment sell and the national press have ran with it.

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1823408/glasgow-musicians-low-emission-zone

Not surprisingly the comments from readers seem to suggest we are a whiney bunch of Mancunian eco terrorists who expect Scotland to bend the rules for us.

Just to re-iterate, I was "disappointed" that's it.

If this is fame and rock and rock roll they can keep it ; ) I did not even get to stay in the pre booked hotel in Glasgow and get some nice images of the city for pf...
 
  • #5,574
pinball1970 said:
Just to re-iterate, I was "disappointed" that's it.
Bill Potts: Why are you Scottish?
The Doctor: I'm not Scottish, I'm just cross.
Bill Potts: Is there a Scotland in space?
The Doctor: They're all over the place, demanding independence from every planet they land on.

Sidenote: This doctor has been played by real-life Scotsman Peter Capaldi who was born in Glasgow!
 
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  • #5,575
"Originally, the team was going to be renamed simply to the Yokohama Whales, but new restrictions on whaling in Japan convinced the company to drop the original name. Some superstitious fans had believed that dead whales put a curse onto the team (the Maruha Corporation was famous for its whale meat products), preventing the Whales from winning championships."
 
  • #5,577
Being a neighbor is interesting.

. . .Saw my neighbor have about 3 termite/pest control trucks (all different companies) outside his house past few days. I suppose he's getting estimates.

It makes you wonder if YOU'VE got termites. :nb):nb):nb)

I swear, if I see a neighbor have a Mold Remediation van park at his house with guys coming out in hazmat suits, it'd probably poop my pants. :nb):nb):nb):nb):nb):nb)
 
  • #5,578
The general rule-of-thumb here in Southern California is:
If it is built of wood, you have termites.

It seems that EVERY house for sale has a fumigation tent over it.
(I expect that every purchaser writes that into the purchase contract.)
 
  • #5,579
Tom.G said:
The general rule-of-thumb here in Southern California is:
If it is built of wood, you have termites.

It seems that EVERY house for sale has a fumigation tent over it.
(I expect that every purchaser writes that into the purchase contract.)
Why is that? Do you all not do preventative termite treatments and try to deter them in other ways? Btw, I think of stucco every time I imagine a CA home. I also think of non-humid, 70-degrees year round weather.

Here in the South, mold is more common than in the northern states. We've got higher humidity and lots of rainy/hurricane-y summer months too.

I don't know which frightens me more - mold or termites. These are wealth-destroyers that invade your private physical space. Some people cannot escape them. There was a couple in the news locally, who were told to leave their home due to black mold. They stayed. They asked where else could they go? They had few resources and all their money tied into their home. It's not an easy situation. Your property value goes down $50,000 easily if you disclose it and it costs 10's of thousands possibly to remediate the mold.

On the other hand, termites could destroy your home's structure to the point that is crumbles.
 
  • #5,580
kyphysics said:
Do you all not do preventative termite treatments and try to deter them in other ways?
Yes, there is a lot of stucco, also a lot of 'conventional' wood siding.

I suspect many of the termites initially enter thru a leaky roof. Another entry route is poor seals around the window and door frames, it doesn't take much settling or aging of a building to open those cracks. I've also seen them enter thru a nail hole in the stucco.

Once there is moisture inside the walls, you soon have a colony.

From a heavily invested building I have seen them swarm after some decent rain followed by a few days of warm, sunny weather. The moisture and warmth triggers the eggs to hatch and they go off looking for a less crowded home.

Of course they leave behind the egg shells, which often fall out of the indoor cracks around windows and doors. (white, roughly the size of the head of a pin)

Since infestations are within the walls, floors, ceilings, and roof, any preventative treatment would be 'tent and fumigate.'

There is 'pressure treated' lumber available... would you be comfortable living in a poison-saturated box for the rest of you life?

So, we put up with the local wildlife and fumigate when we are overrun, or selling.

Cheers,
Tom

p.s. The roofers get a fair amount of business ripping of complete roofs and replacing rafters that have been eaten by the critters.
 

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