You Learn Something New Every Day

The New New

2009-09-26T16:17:00.002Z

On Tumblr

Doubt it will be any more consistent there, but it's an excuse to play with a new toy.

Manhunter's Will Graham is CSI's Gil Grissom

2009-03-05T23:12:00.000Z

Or William Peterson as I like to call him.

Never noticed before.

Manhunter is a great film. They should re-score it though, because the eighties synth/sax combo is tremendously distracting.

It's on the TV now.

There are still Wimpys

2009-03-02T07:52:00.001Z

Who knew?

People in the know pronounce WSDL "wizdle"

2009-02-11T17:40:00.002Z

WSDL, which is sometimes pronounced "wizdle," allows a company to sum up the services it's offering and outlines the information needed to invoke that service.

The owner of the web service that my client software connects to wizdle'd me today. I'd not heard it before.

Personally I say W-S-D-L or W-D-S-L pretty much interchangeably.

You don't need to be able to act if you have good hair.

2009-02-10T05:16:00.001Z

See first comment.

Dennis Walters

2009-02-09T05:02:00.000Z

Dennis is the only person paralyzed below the waist who earns a living as a professional golfer.

Seen on the side of my Jersey Mike's cup. Confirmed on their website.

Credit card verification systems will NOT accept a sketch of a cock & balls as your signature.

2009-02-07T05:51:00.002Z

Drunk Republic, via Groovy Mother.

See also.

Hinduism is the oldest living major religion.

2009-02-06T19:15:00.002Z

So say Jesus and Mo.

Yo Gabba Gabba makes me want to kill myself

2009-02-05T21:47:00.001Z

Not much more to add to the title really.

Clint Eastwood's son is in Gran Torino

2009-02-03T21:42:00.002Z

Scott Eastwood plays the female lead's date on when she's getting attacked.

The film is the second total snoozer in two days. This one is a bigger disappointment because I had some hopes for it.

Kristen Stewart is the lead actress in Twilight

2009-02-02T21:39:00.003Z

But can't actually act.

If you put 60 4oz bags of mashed veg in the freezer at once ...

2009-02-01T17:54:00.001Z

Then after a couple of days the ones at the bottom still won't have frozen and you'll be forced to rejig the whole pile.

La Brea means 'The Tar'

2009-01-30T01:40:00.003Z

I drive practically the full length of La Brea on my way down to my company's offices.

I really like it. It beats sitting on the 405 for an hour and a half. I'd much rather be passing the Simpsons sat on the sidewalk outside the props shop and the shop that just sells tigers or the oil rigs.

A U-Haul Truck has a 30 Gallon Tank

2009-01-29T01:27:00.000Z

Engrossed in the High(ish) Speed Pursuit
Originally uploaded by Xurble

Thanks to the KTLA pundit, who was trying to figure out how far the woman who stole this one might get, for the nugget of information.

Women and Children First

2009-01-28T22:05:00.005Z

The protocol for evacuation was established during the sinking of HMS Birkenhead, and is also known as The Birkenhead Drill.

The Birkenhead's example is perhaps the most extreme example of the practice. Even after the women and children had been put on the lifeboats, the men were ordered to stand fast while the ship sank for fear that they would overwhelm the boats. They did so almost to a man.

Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem about it. I pretty much despise poetry, but this is quite moving:

To take your chance in the thick of a rush, with firing all about,
Is nothing so bad when you've cover to 'and, an' leave an' likin' to shout;
But to stand an' be still to the Birken'ead drill is a damn tough bullet to chew,
An' they done it, the Jollies -- 'Er Majesty's Jollies -- soldier an' sailor too!
Their work was done when it 'adn't begun; they was younger nor me an' you;
Their choice it was plain between drownin' in 'eaps an' bein' mopped by the screw,
So they stood an' was still to the Birken'ead drill, soldier an' sailor too

Religious Education

2009-01-26T01:08:00.000Z

God is famous. He lives in the sky and if you're naughty, he'll electricity you.

So says my 5 year old who got it from her friend at school.

Oscar voting procedure

2009-01-24T19:39:00.003Z

The nominations for the Oscars are solicited from the members of the Academy. You nominate within your field - acting, directing, whatever - and also for best picture.

They then send out the shortlisted nominations for voting by the whole academy. You vote on everything including fields like make up which you know nothing about, and sometimes for films you haven't even seen.

The process was explained to my by a posh old ex-pat composer while we waited for our respective wives to get their hair cut.

Alma Mater

2009-01-23T05:53:00.000Z

Alma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother". (Pron. 'ælmə 'meɪtə(r) in British English; usu. 'ɔlmə 'maːɾər in American English.) It was used in ancient Rome as a title for the mother goddess, and in Mediæval Christianity for the Virgin Mary. In modern times it is used to refer to the university or college a person attended. It also can refer to a song about a college or university similar to a fight song.

I knew what it meant, but not why, so I looked it up.

He's just not that into you

2009-01-22T05:55:00.000Z

Is a film based on a self help book based on one fucking line from Sex and the City.

A little light Esperanto

2009-01-20T18:54:00.002Z

Montris is a game concept from Ironic Sans.

(I call it “Montris” because it combines “mono” and “tetris.” Also, the word “montris” in Esperanto means “to show” in the past tense. That’s not really relevant, but now you know a word in Esperanto.)

Yes I do.

Also the game is quite good too.

Dead Man's Hand

2009-01-19T17:49:00.004Z

Just time for one more Deadwood inspired one I think.

The dead man's hand is a two-pair poker hand, namely "aces and eights". The hand gets its name from the legend of it having been the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickock at the time of his murder (August 2, 1876).

Deadwood is a real place

2009-01-16T17:37:00.001Z

While we're talking Deadwood...

Although I'd heard of Wild Bill Hickok, it never occurred to me that anyone else in Deadwood would be based on a real person, or even that the town itself might be real. Turns out they are, and while I'm sure they're wildly fictionalized , Lovejoy, the Sherif and the Mayor are all based on real people and events along with a ton others.

Deadwood started illegally, as its location was at the time in Native American territory. The Treaty of Laramie of 1868 had guaranteed ownership of the Black Hills to the Lakota people. However, in 1874, Colonel George Armstrong Custer led an expedition into the Hills and announced the discovery of gold on French Creek near present-day Custer, South Dakota. Custer's announcement triggered the Black Hills Gold Rush and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood, which quickly reached a population of around 5,000.

Lovejoy is badass!

2009-01-15T20:33:00.001Z

We've just started watching Deadwood (we like to let shows build up a while and take a run at them).

Ever since seeing Sky 1's "Run for your fucking life" trailer all those years ago, I've suspected that he might be fucking awesome. Nice to have it confirmed.

Compare and contrast:

Cornflakes and Graham crackers were conceived as aids in preventing masturbation

2009-01-13T22:20:00.001Z

It seems kind of lazy to just repost a front page story from Reddit, but this is astonishing.

[The Graham Cracker] was originally conceived of as a health food as part of the Graham Diet, a regimen to suppress what he considered unhealthy carnal urges, the source of many maladies according to Graham. Reverend Graham would often lecture about the adverse effects of masturbation or "self-abuse" as he called it. One of his many theories was that one could curb their sexual appetite by eating bland foods. Another man who held this belief was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the inventor of the corn flakes cereal.

HAL would be 12 today

2009-01-12T20:05:00.001Z

I am a HAL 9000 computer, Production Number 3. I became operational at the HAL Plant in Urbana, Illinois, on January 12, 1997

The Hyperion Bungalow

2009-01-09T20:01:00.001Z

Hyperion Bungalow
Originally uploaded by andy castro

The Hyperion Bungalow on the Disney lot in Burbank is an original building from, and named after the location of the original Disney Studios in Hollywood - 2719 Hyperion Ave.

The Publicity and Comic Strips Building, which was actually a small wood frame bungalow, was moved to Burbank where it was long the Studio Mail Room, and has since been moved again and renovated as two conference/meeting spaces, known as the Hyperion Bungalow and the Silver Lake Room (Silverlake is the neighborhood where the Hyperion Studio was located).

I am surrounded by Superbad

2009-01-08T17:54:00.002Z

The school scenes were shot near my company's office.

The liquor store is a few miles from my house.

Also I am McLovin.

CRV != CRV

2009-01-06T18:38:00.002Z

California has uses the same acronym for two extremely similar concepts:

California Redemption Value (CRV) is a deposit paid on purchases of certain recyclable beverage containers in California. The consumer pays CRV on the purchase of beverages with aluminum, plastic, glass, and bimetal containers and can be reimbursed if the containers are brought to a recycling center.
California Redemption Value is easily confused with California Refund Value, which is the amount recycling centers pay to consumers in exchange for empty bottles and cans. This discrepancy is usually unimportant because the redemption (or deposit) value is usually the same as the refund value, although they are different at times. The acronym "CRV" is often used to denote either.

It would be confusing if it wasn't so inconsequential.

John Travolta can park his plane like you'd park your car.

2009-01-05T09:10:00.002Z

The very layout of his new house is testament to Travolta's love of flying. It's located immediately off the main airstrip, and is designed so his jets can taxi right up to two outbuildings connected to the main structure, which is shaped like a squat air-control tower. Travolta literally can walk out his door, under a canopied walkway and into the cockpit, open the long mechanized gate and be airborne in a matter of minutes.

I knew he was a pilot, and of commercial jets to boot, but that's crazyness.

How hurricanes are made.

2009-01-04T07:42:00.002Z

My five year old asked me if I knew how you make hurricanes. When I told her that I didn't she kindly informed me that they happen when hot air and cold air chase each other round and round.

Then she asked "Do you know how I know?" I admitted that I didn't.

"Because I saw it in a movie" she said, "and I believe everything I see in movies".

So that's alright then.

The tallest building in the world is not the tallest structure in the world

2009-01-03T19:39:00.001Z

Because the tallest structure is not yet occupied.

While determining the world's tallest structure has generally been straightforward, the definition of the world's tallest building or the world's tallest tower is less clear. The disputes generally centre on what should be counted as a building or a tower, and what is being measured.
In terms of absolute height, the tallest structure is currently the Burj Dubai, although it does not currently hold the official title of "Tallest Building in the World" until its construction is completed and the building is officially opened. The current official holder of the "Tallest Building in the World" is held by Taipei 101.

Who knew it could be so complicated?

GI stands for "Government Issue"

2009-01-02T17:23:00.001Z

This information will not stay in my brain so I looked it up.

Again.

Manually inserting adsense into new Blogger templates

2009-01-01T08:44:00.002Z

New blogger templates won't take the code that adsense generates with a simple copy and paste. You need to delete the html comment that are suppoed to hide the script from non-script aware browsers.

In this day and age who even needs that? And in any case, if they can't see your ads, fuck em :)



<script type="text/javascript"><!--
google_ad_client = "[NUMBER]";
/* Top Banner */
google_ad_slot = "2629384811";
google_ad_width = 728;
google_ad_height = 90;
//-->
</script>

The Bohemian Crusher

2008-12-31T08:00:00.000Z

It's a Diplomacy opening for Italy. I'd never heard of it before. If you don't know what Diplomacy is, good for you.

The Crusher is a Fall 1901 anti-Austrian Italian Opening. It defers immediate gratification for positional advantage which reaps greater rewards in later years. It presumes the success of the aforementioned Spring moves. With armies in TYR and VEN, and a guaranteed build from F ION-TUN, most Italians would attack TRI or VIE depending on circumstances. You are probably not assured of a second build, but it's worth a try. Thus, everyone will be surprised when you exercise self restraint and instead move A TYR-BOH and A VEN-TYR.

Lupus

2008-12-30T02:51:00.004Z

If you've ever watched House, you'll know that practically every week someone suggests Lupus as the cause of the current week's victim's illness. Eventually I had to look up what it was.

When the term 'lupus' is used on House, it is almost always referring to systemic lupus erythematosus, or SLE. This disease with acute episodes that is characterised as a chronic autoimmune disease that involves multiple organ systems.

I am up to the start of season 3 in a huge House marathon. So far, it has never actually been Lupus. I am hoping that it will be in at least one episode (don't spoil it for me).

It seems like it might be possible to get a passing grade at medical school by simply answering Lupus to all the questions.

Broiling == Grilling

2008-12-29T02:46:00.002Z

Kind of.

I didn't actually learn this today. It's just the most significant thing I've learned since I last posted. I lived in the US for over 18 months before realizing I had a grill because the control to turn it on was labelled "Broil"

My new cooker has a button that is labelled "Clear Off" which, while superficially rude, is at least possible to fathom the meaning of.

Floyd on Food cooks for Suzy Sweet

2006-02-13T23:36:00.000Z

It's a Balamory thing.

Facetious

2006-02-11T21:48:00.000Z

It's the only word in the dictionary with all the vowels in ascending order.

Curiously this factoid is currently the program summary for the music channel I am watching.

Diff! In Word!

2006-02-10T10:58:00.001Z

I let this blog slide a long time since when I moved house and couldn't spare the time for it.

But sometimes you learn something that's just so astounding, you have to share it with the world.

Word can diff the current document against another one. It's an option under Track Changes. I'm on Word 2000 so it's clearly been there for ever even though I've constantly moaned about the lack of such a feature.

Gosh.

The beer can "widget" was invented in 1990

2005-07-12T07:21:00.000Z

It was the subject of debate at the poker table the other day and today's Metro has been kind enough to draw a line under the matter.

Other beer receptical related dates include:

The Ring Pull (1963)
Aluminium replacing Tin (1950s)
First canned beer in britain (1936)

Omertà

2005-07-05T14:56:00.000Z

The omertà (Sicilian for manliness) is the vow of silence taken by members of the Italian Mafia.

Particularly, it means that mafiosi will not involve the police or the government in the affairs of the mafia. Joe Valachi was the first person to betray the omertà when he publicly spoke out about the existence of the mafia, when he testified before the United States Congress. Within mafia culture, breaking the oath of omertà is punishable by death.

I was reading this blog post about trains when I came across the term. Although the bad spelling initially led me off the scent, a voyage of discovery through Google later, I am equipped with a new word that I fully intend to overuse in conversation from now on.

The humber bridge is over a mile across

2005-07-03T23:37:00.000Z

At least according to my car.

Wikipedia says it's the fourth-largest single-span suspension bridge in the world.

It was quite a shock to come round the corner and see it. Very impressive, my shit camera phone doesn't come close to doing it justice.

Royal protocol

2005-06-22T08:44:00.000Z

Some royal or other is coming to open our company's offices officially (despite the fact we've been in them a year).

Apparently this is the correct procedure for meeting said bigwigs:

If [the royal in question] approaches you, bow/curtsey, shake hands if offered, let him speak first, and the first time you speak address him as "Your Royal Highness" and after that as "Sir"

This is from our official instructions. Other gems include an exhortation not to use the toilets (presumably we don't want to offend the royal nose).

Fortunately, I have the day off.

Sic is latin for thus

2005-06-18T06:50:00.000Z

Not much more to say really, except maybe a link.

Concorde would stretch up to 10 inches in flight

2005-06-16T13:30:00.000Z

Thanks to John at work for providing the first fact I failed to verify at Wikipedia.

The plane actually stretches when it is in flight, Brody says. "We’re heating the air ahead of the aircraft and going through the air ahead of us so fast," he explains, "we compress the air and it results in connecting heating and we expand 10 inches to one foot during the flight.

Grabbr

2005-06-10T08:47:00.000Z

It's a contraction of Granular Bed Baffled Reactor.

The dreaded diamond!

2005-06-08T08:04:00.000Z

Apparently this is not something out of a pirate movie, but instead refers to some arcane bit of C++ that I had to deal with today.

The "dreaded diamond" refers to a class structure in which a particular class appears more than once in a class's inheritance hierarchy.

Fortunately it's not dreaded any more, which is something of a relief.

Monsters, Inc. continuity

2005-06-07T10:46:00.000Z

When Mike first tries to put Boo back through the wrong door the clock on the Scare Floor shows 8.50 AM. Boo runs off and Randall intercepts Mike and Sulley. Sulley goes after Boo, but Mike is chased by Randal. The chase is very short but when Randall catches Mike it is 11.55.

Some poindexter at moviemistakes.com has tried to rationalize this, but you don't watch as much Monsters, Inc as I have over the last few days without spotting a genuine mistake.

Strawberries

2005-06-05T10:21:00.000Z

Strawberries are often grown on beds of straw to stop them getting eaten by slugs or covered in mud.

They are probably called strawberries for this very reason.

This factoid came courtesy of Gordon the Gnome but I've checked it in a more reliable source.

It is 5238 miles from Sheffield to San Francisco

2005-06-03T06:00:00.000Z

According to this calculator

Why should you care? Well the question's posed by the Arctic Monkeys' song Fake Tales of San Francisco. Possibly the only song in the world to namecheck Hunter's Bar.

He talks of San Francisco, he's from Hunter's Bar
I don't quite know the distance
But I'm sure that's far
Yeah I'm sure that's pretty far

It is indeed pretty far, it's 5238 miles.

MacGuffin

2005-06-02T21:16:00.000Z

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advance the story, particularly one whose importance is accepted completely by the story's characters, yet from the audience's perspective it might be minimally explained or may test their suspension of disbelief if it is scrutinized. The device, usually an object, is common in films, especially thrillers.

Swinging the lead

2005-06-02T21:10:00.000Z

[As] old sailing ships neared land, it was important to know the depth of water beneath the keel. Most sailors had no formal education, therefore a very simple foolproof system was invented. A lead weighted rope was set to have a knot tied every fathom length. A fathom being 6 foot

A sailor had the job of throwing the weight forward and feeding out the rope until he felt the weight hit bottom. By now the rope should be vertical in the water. The sailor retrieves the rope counting the knots that were submerged and calls out very loudly 30 fathoms.. (or whatever the count was)

...

It was very hard work throwing and retrieving this heavy lead weighted rope. So the lazy sailor would pretend to do it when he thought that no one was supervising him. He would stand there "swinging the lead" so that as soon as an officer appeared he could let it go forward and appear that he had been correctly doing his job all along

Gangs of Four

2005-06-02T06:05:00.000Z

The sheer number of Gangs of Four out there meant that there must be an original, but I never knew which one it was.

I knew about the SDP,Software Geeks and the Rock Stars.

I didn't know about the Australian Politicians, the WAN protocol or the Comics.

But most significantly I didn't know about the purged Chinese politicians that started the whole thing off.

Michael Madsen narrates "Animal Precinct"

2005-05-29T18:56:00.000Z

Animal Precinct, narrated by Michael Madsen, chronicles the drama, emotion, triumph and tragedy of the work of the agents of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal's (ASPCA) Humane Law Enforcement Department (HLE), the only law enforcement group in New York City solely devoted to investigating crimes against New York's animal population.

Mr Fucking Blonde does a pet show, how cool is that?

WH Smiths created the ISBN system

2005-05-28T20:37:00.000Z

The ISBN system was created in the United Kingdom in 1966 by the booksellers and stationers W H Smith and originally called Standard Book Numbering or SBN. It was adopted as international standard ISO 2108 in 1970.

The length of a marathon was set to give it a convenient finishing line in London.

2005-05-26T19:44:00.000Z

White City [is a] famous stadium in Shepherd's Bush, northwest London, completed in 1908 as part of a complex for the Franco-British Exhibition. That same summer it staged the fourth Olympic Games, and it was here that the modern length of the marathon was fixed at 26 miles 385 yards (42.195km). The length was originally planned at 26 miles (41.84km), but the extra yards were added to bring the finishing line before the royal box.

To delete, press 3 now

2005-05-19T18:50:00.000Z

If you only have a rotary phone (say for example your girlfriend broke the touch tone one) and you have a service like BT's 1571 answering service, then you can never delete old messages.

Except you can, by holding another touch tone phone's speaker (say your mobile) next to the mouthpiece and pressing the keys on that instead.

Sure anti-persperant smells like piss

2005-05-17T16:15:00.000Z

And consequently, today, so do I.

The USA has only ever formally declared war 5 times.

2005-05-16T07:49:00.000Z

The first time being in 1812 against Britain.

Word bitmaps

2005-05-12T15:32:00.000Z

Visual Studio 2003's dialog editor and XP themes

2005-05-03T09:47:00.000Z

UPDATE!

Read this instead.

If you put a manifest file into the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\IDE directory, then most (but not quite all) of the VS.NET IDE will become XP theme enabled.

What crucially will get theme support though is the Dialog Editor which means you spot unthemed controls a whole lot earlier.

The CS in Photoshop CS stands for Creative Suite

2005-04-27T15:07:00.000Z

I just got some spam from Adobe announcing CS 2.

The new tag line is "Now Shipping from Adobe: Everything But The Idea".

Given the bloat and slow startup times of all my Adobe applications, I think their slogan should be: "Now Shipping from Adobe: Everything But The Kitchen Sink"*

^{* Product may include Kitchen Sink.}

Carl from Shameless is not Daz from Emmerdale

2005-04-26T18:17:00.000Z

They are twins.

Elliot plays Carl, Luke plays Daz.

Curiously Luke is also credited as Carl. Maybe they used them both.

TV/Film crossover

2005-04-17T23:39:00.000Z

Scrubs' Dr Perry Cox is Keanu's boss in Point Break.

Sex and the City's Stanford Blatch is young Ben Stiller's friend in There's Something About Mary.

All four of which were on TV tonight which explains why I've never noticed before.

Leisure: the inevitable by-product of our civilization

2005-04-15T09:19:00.000Z

It's a quote from the Monkee's film Head.

It's sampled in the Kleptones track "Question". But it's been bugging me for years 'cause it was also sampled way back by Carter USM in their cover of the Pet Shop Boys' "Rent"

It continues "the tragedy of your times, my young friends, is that you may get exactly what you want."

Seems kinda deep for the Monkees.

My IM loves Firefox but shuns IE

2005-04-15T05:49:00.000Z

Look at this entry from the smiley pack

I love its expression when it dismisses IE.

8-point Agenda is a dirge

2005-04-11T20:45:00.000Z

Herbalizer's "8-point Agenda" features in the Kleptones mashup track "Plan" over the top of Queen's "I'm Going Slightly Mad".

It sounds great, and I guess I knew it had been sped up, because it has the hint of the Smurfs about it here and there.

I didn't realize how much though, but on downloading it I have to say I'm ever so dissapointed. It sound like they're rapping through treacle.

Connect to two MSN accounts at once in Miranda

2005-04-08T06:11:00.000Z

You can log into 2 MSN accounts at once in Miranda.

In the plug-ins directory find MSN.dll and copy it to MSN2.dll

Next time you start it will ask for the login details for the new account.

Now go to Options and select Network/MSN2 Network.

In the Connection settings box change "Login server" to something else like "messenger.hotmail.co.uk"

OK that and set your status to available. You should be able to log in OK.

Not exactly user friendly but the standard MSN client can't do this at all.

Hmmm, apparently, just copying the DLL is enough

I am old and my village is full of chavs

2005-04-06T21:12:00.000Z

I can't tell which of these seemingly random words describes acts and which if any describes types of music.

I am officially old.

To be fair, i already knew about the chavs.

How to call a General Election

2005-04-05T12:54:00.000Z

The timing of a General Election is at the discretion of the Prime Minister.

The PM asks the Queen to dissolve Parliament by Royal Proclamation. The election is then usually held 17 working days after the date of the Proclamation.

Since 1935 every General Election has been held on a Thursday. Of the 16 elections between 1945 and 2001, four have been in October, four in June, three in May and two in February.

If IE is in ofline mode, MSN won't work.

2005-03-31T12:05:00.000Z

I don't even use IE so I don't know how it got offline. I don't use the normal MSN client either, I use Miranda but that doesn't seem to make any difference.

I actually learn something new every 2.06 days

2005-03-27T07:25:00.000Z

I did the math. Turns out I don't learn something new every day after all.

I'm not sure if I can be arsed to change the title of this blog though.

The electric motor in my toothbrush is powerful enough to screw my monitor

2005-03-26T19:20:00.000Z

Trying to catch up on the news while brushing my teeth makes me feel seasick.

Clint Mansell was actually in Pi

2005-03-21T06:32:00.000Z

My personal favourite greebo turned film composer actually appeared in Pi as a photographer.

I am so going to have to watch that again to spot him.

Electric Forecast

2005-03-20T07:18:00.000Z

Electric Forecast are a comedy duo. One of them is outrageously ginger. They are also "Big Cook, Little Cook" of CBeebies fame.

I didn't know this until last night and seeing them on "X-Rated: The Sex Films they tried to Ban" pontificating about hardcore pornography was quite a contextual switch to have to make.

Ocelots

2005-03-18T07:08:00.000Z

The ocelot (Leopardus pardalis, or Felis pardalis) is a wild cat distributed over South and Central America.

How do I know? 'Cause I checked when I found out my girlfriend wanted one of these.

The real meaning of 80/20

2005-03-17T18:50:00.000Z

The 80/20 law is better known as the Pareto principle.

Source.

If Parliament doesn't stop debating, then the day doesn't end.

2005-03-11T12:25:00.000Z

So says a local MP

At the time of writing, it is well past 33 o'clock on Thursday and no end in sight.

Giant squid taste like floor cleaner

2005-03-05T20:22:00.000Z

I can't tell you how I know this. It's a secret.

There are 22 non-McNugget numbers

2005-03-04T16:26:00.000Z

Source.

Using the word "referendum" in a post will generate anti-EU adverts

2005-03-01T10:06:00.000Z

This post generated a lot of "Vote No" ads on the site.

Probably time for the pro-Europe lobby such as it is to start investing in a little adsense.

FWIW, I'm blocking them as I see them.

Japanese Windows uses the Yen symbol as a path seperator

2005-02-28T23:00:00.000Z

I had this lurking in somewhere deep in my racial memory for ages. Then we started an Internationalization effort at work, and I was roundly dismissed for suggesting it.

Today I got my first actual glimpse of Japanese windows and what do I see?

C:¥Windows, that's what.

Steven Fry will voice The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

2005-02-28T13:26:00.000Z

Which I think is a fine piece of casting

Why Photoshop barfs

2005-02-26T21:27:00.000Z

I figured out the answer to this problem. It's too tedious to relate!

Not all timezones are are round hours different from GMT

2005-02-25T19:13:00.000Z

Tehran for example is GMT + 3:30, Darwin is GMT + 9:30.

Filling a standard MP3 player is a pain in the arse.

2005-02-22T22:32:00.000Z

If your starting point is a practically unused PC, a bunch of CDs a new MP3 player and a non-nerd the process is painful.

I had to explain it to my girlfriend's sister today and at the end I was embarrassed.

It's all , "change these settings in WMP", "rename these tracks", "press that button", "open this folder", "open that folder", "copy these files", blah blah blah blah.

The notes ran to 3 pages.

If I had to start again, my advice would be "throw that piece of shit away and buy and iPod".

My 2 year old knows the days of the week.

2005-02-21T10:04:00.000Z

Monday - Friday she will wake up and shout "Mummy". Saturday and Sunday she will wake up and shout "Daddy".

Referendum

2005-02-20T07:51:00.000Z

Referendum has two plurals.

Following the BBC's Europe coverage I had always thought it was just "referenda" as demonstrated in this article from 2000.

However, the whole EU consitution thing has brought out a new batch of coverage all using "referendums".

A tale of two Kevs

2005-02-19T23:07:00.000Z

Dean Lennox Kelly who plays Kev in "Shameless" is Tonker in "Mike Basset England Manager".

Tonker's name is also Kevin.

Gosh.

Something new under the sun

2005-02-15T23:18:00.000Z

The phrase "Nothing new under the sun" comes from the bible.

Thanks to Phil for sharing his own "Learn something new" moment.

Volume discount

2005-02-14T23:27:00.000Z

A single long stem rose costs £2.50. A dozen inexplicably costs £40.

Green Day are on Frank Sinatra's record label

2005-02-12T08:29:00.000Z

He founded Reprise apparently.

Poems on Buildings

2005-02-07T09:57:00.000Z

The Student Residences on Division Street, Sheffield have grilles over the windows with words stamped into them.

Apparently they form the text of 3 poems by Benjamin Zephaniah.

The credit card prank is perfecty possible

2005-02-05T13:59:00.000Z

I've loved John Hargrave's Credit Card Prank for ages now.

When I noticed the lax credit card behaviour in the US, I decided to try it.

Having signed "Fish" for a pair of trainers, I can confirm that you can sign pretty much what you want.

Holiday catch up.

2005-02-04T14:15:00.000Z

Petrol is too cheap in the US, it's obscene.

While I knew that most American cars use their brake lights as indicators, I did not realise that many also keep their front orange indicators illuminated at all times for no readily apparent reason.

Snow White is the least attractive of the Disney Princesses

Manta Rays smell disgusting, Dolphins do not

A road system that allows you to run red lights when making right turns makes little or no sense.

US roads would require substantially less tarmac if they adopted the roundabout in favour of absurdly long link roads between major highways.

Tipping for everything is embarassing.

Donuts are not an acceptable breakfast in a civilised society.

Gentoos are a type of penguin which I suppose makes sense (via Seaworld).

The towers of the ex-NCPM building in Sheffield rotate in the wind.

2005-01-14T09:20:00.000Z

The various bits of the Sheffield Hallam Students Union building (the National Centre for Popular Music as was) are always facing a different direction .

They do spin, albeit gradually, gracefully as only huge things can, the ventilation nozzles tracking the wind in unison like the heads of migrating cranes.

Of course in the back of my mind I must have known this already, since Phil's photo is tagged with exactly this information.

Jive Bunny comes from Rotherham

2005-01-12T14:10:00.000Z

Which isn't terribly surprising I guess given what a depressing cultural void the place is.

It's boondoggle, not boondongle

2005-01-10T23:29:00.000Z

I can't recall ever seeing it written down, but every time I've heard it said I'm pretty sure that I've heard boondongle and at least I'm not alone.

Anyway, turns out it's boondoggle.

Rowetta from the X Factor used to see Bez

2005-01-08T08:36:00.000Z

When she was a backing singer for the Happy Mondays.

She's my girlfriend's hot tip to be added to the BB house.

The US is 0.002% safer thanks to border fingerprints

2005-01-06T21:34:00.000Z

According to ClickOnDetroit, the US-VISIT program which fingerprints and photographs people at the 50 busiest border crossings in the US, has registered 17,000,000 people and stopped 372 people entering illegally.

That makes these 50 crossings (forget for a second all the others) 0.002% safer than they were.

I can only hope that we get something similar in the UK.

(Thanks to Rory for the heads up).