Things that make you go oooh thread....

[kiloran]

Have you heard French radio?

Holy crap.

Sadly, I have to confess that I have..... 4 years in the 80's. Several glasses of the local wine generally eased the pain.

--kiloran

[bungeejumper]

Biltong. One of those words where you think you know roughly what it means, but you never quite felt the call to really find out.

So I am indebted to Mr Wikipedia for informing me that biltong is the Dutch for "buttock tongue". Don't think it's going on my Tesco order this week.

BJ

[bungeejumper]

And another one. The leader of the free world is campaigning to get the water flow limits on shower heads abolished, because the current limit of 2.5 US gallons per minute isn't enough to clean the presidential hairdo. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53761744

"So showerheads - you take a shower, the water doesn't come out. You want to wash your hands, the water doesn't come out. So what do you do? You just stand there longer or you take a shower longer? Because my hair - I don't know about you, but it has to be perfect. Perfect,"

Much hilarity from all sides, apparently. And not just because it seems to suggest that the President stands under a shower when he wants to wash his hands. There's also the probability that raising the flow to ten or fifteen gallons a minute "would wash you out of the bathroom".

Actually, I think they might be onto something there. D'you think fifty gallons a minute would be enough to wash out the presidential brain?

BJ

[madhatter]

On seeing pictures of him prior to his election I leaned towards the opinion that he was bewigged.

The rigidly unvarying but slightly odd appearance led to this conclusion, though I couldn’t reconcile this with why a bloke with lots of money would have a wig that looked like a wig.

[swill453]

On seeing pictures of him prior to his election I leaned towards the opinion that he was bewigged.

The rigidly unvarying but slightly odd appearance led to this conclusion, though I couldn’t reconcile this with why a bloke with lots of money would have a wig that looked like a wig.

Definitely not a wig. Nobody could make a wig look this bad.



Scott.

[UncleEbenezer]

(now I know someone is going to say that the elevation is not the same as the prominence but I don't care)

Ya need to start from sea level!

'twas late Autumn when I moved to central Italy, so my first ventures into the mountains were in winter. When I joined the @work mountain club, the next jaunt was the annual January ascent of Monte Circeo, starting from sea level. And ending on the beach, where some of us[1] went for a bracing dip.

[1] OK, I was the only adult to go for a swim. But some of the children in the group also went in.

[swill453]

You intrigued me with the "height of Everest" thing. We're just back from a walking holiday in the Maritime Alps, and I've just added up the ascent as reported by Viewranger for the 8 days walking we did - an average of 1121m of ascent per day for a total of 8968m, or just over 100m higher than the summit of Everest.

(Past experience says that Viewranger exaggerates the reported ascent by 10-20%, so we probably didn't quite make it, but still...)

Scott.

[AleisterCrowley]

I lived in a second floor flat for 17 years. I reckon I did Everest and K2 in total... mostly without oxygen, and occasionally drunk.

[UncleEbenezer]

I lived in a second floor flat for 17 years. I reckon I did Everest and K2 in total... mostly without oxygen, and occasionally drunk.

Hmmm. Second floor could be 5-6 metres. 17 years is 6205 days. So just once a day gives you that twice over. And you must've carried provisions to stock a fridge, and occasionally even much heavier stuff!

Wasn't it you who said you suffered vertigo?

[AleisterCrowley]

Acrophopbia!
Sturdy banisters though - Victorian pile

[Itsallaguess]

D'you think fifty gallons a minute would be enough to wash out the presidential brain?

Steve Bell suggests that the flow needs restricting, not increasing....

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2020/aug/13/steve-bell-on-donald-trumps-water-pressure-issue-cartoon

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[kiloran]

Scotland looks set to become a space faring nation as well as a nuclear power with the the Sutherland satellite launch site having been given planning permission.

Yes, a nuclear power for the next 313 years: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland- ... s-53848766


--kiloran

[UncleEbenezer]

There's a very good reason space pads tend to be situated near the equator. Putting one in Scotland would seem to suggest politics trumps science yet again!

[servodude]

There's a very good reason space pads tend to be situated near the equator. Putting one in Scotland would seem to suggest politics trumps science yet again!

The only reason I can think of is the amount of fuel to get it into orbit.

... .but that doesn't matter because our satellites will go around the up and down way, not the across way.

Those ones are sh*te!

I had to use the Orbcomm LEO cluster for a telemetry project once getting data from the rear end of NZ.
- if you got the info on to satellite heading the wrong direction you wouldn't know until it had reached Alaska a few hours later (the other way took a few minutes to see a station in Australia)
- data plan was only $2.50 a month and $22 per KByte of data (which was about 10p per character at the time)

- sd

[bungeejumper]

Yeah, all right, this one made me laugh:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-h ... e-53990549

Okay, these days you've got to find your laughs where you can. Nurse, is it time for my medication yet?

BJ

[kiloran]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53993937

In the far reaches of the universe, two black holes merged and sent shockwaves in all directions. getting weaker and weaker. 7 billion years later, yes 7 BILLION (7,000,000,000), we are able to detect this event. Just try to imagine how long 7 Billion years is. Even longer than the time it might take for simsqu to appreciate courgettes.

My mind is truly boggled. In fact I went "oooooooh". Isn't science wonderful?

--kiloran

[UncleEbenezer]

He ran up each mountain before running, walking, cycling or kayaking to the next one.

Interesting logistics there: a bike and a kayak to deal with? How does he transport one (not to mention the camping/survival gear implied by several weeks out) when using the other?

Assuming it's not a massive cheat, with sherpas doing all the work?

[servodude]

He ran up each mountain before running, walking, cycling or kayaking to the next one.

Interesting logistics there: a bike and a kayak to deal with? How does he transport one (not to mention the camping/survival gear implied by several weeks out) when using the other?

Assuming it's not a massive cheat, with sherpas doing all the work?

Even if "someone" has left the necessary self propelled vehicle in a convenient location.. it's a lot less massive cheat than my three peaks challenge as a student

-sd

[kiloran]

He ran up each mountain before running, walking, cycling or kayaking to the next one.

Interesting logistics there: a bike and a kayak to deal with? How does he transport one (not to mention the camping/survival gear implied by several weeks out) when using the other?

Assuming it's not a massive cheat, with sherpas doing all the work?

His wife supported him with a campervan

--kiloran

[scotia]

He ran up each mountain before running, walking, cycling or kayaking to the next one.

Interesting logistics there: a bike and a kayak to deal with? How does he transport one (not to mention the camping/survival gear implied by several weeks out) when using the other?

Assuming it's not a massive cheat, with sherpas doing all the work?

His wife supported him with a campervan

--kiloran

So a wife is clearly more important than a team of sherpas
Mind you - even if I could persuade my wife to play the part, I doubt whether I'd make it up one Munro - especially if there was a trout loch on the way.