Admit your ignorance - things you've only just realised/learned

[matticus]

Not me but my fiancée (who has been driving for 13 years) had always complained about being dazzled in her rearview when driving at night. As she wears glasses I assumed it was something to do with that, but it was particularly bad on a long trip yesterday so I asked if she'd flicked the little switch at the bottom of the mirror.

"The what now?"

"That thing, it changes the angle of the mirror somehow so you don't get blinded. I don't know how it works or what it's called, but it works."

"Oh. My. God. I thought it was just for adjusting it! This is amazing!"

Ha ha! It's a loooong time ago now, but I remember having exactly the same revelation.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Dorset has Scratchy Bottom bars.

I’ve been to Scratchy Bottom

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I remember proving such volume formulae in Calculus lessons. I thought it was pretty neat - which is probably why i didn't have a girlfriend at the time.

Other neat stuff like the circumference of a circle being the 1st derivative of the area.

 

[lazybloke]

Other neat stuff like the circumference of a circle being the 1st derivative of the area.

The equations of motion are derived from each other in the same manner. Very neat.

 

[Profpointy]

Caustic soda is really good for removing stains from carpets. I spilt some and it removed the stain when I cleaned it up. I wouldn't try it on carpets with natural fibres though, just synthetic ones.

A bit of a resurrection but hey ho... caustic soda is not so good on polyester if I remember rightly.

Polyester is acid resistant whilst nylon is alkali resistant - this used to matter in the caving world when our rechargeable miners' lamps were somewhat prone leaking. If you had a lead-acid lamp you'd want to buy a polyester harness and an alkali NiFe cell or NiCad cell would merit a nylon harness as they were more likely to survive a leaky battery. You really don't want a dissolving harness whilst dangling 50m up. We had a ruined nylon rope once which we'd just abseiled on but which had evidently got battery acid on it. I also discovered the carpet in my university bedroom must be polyester as it survived a burst lead acid battery. We'd stick the stoppers from the ends of Bic biros into the battery breather holes to stop water getting in during swims which would ruin the battery. The thing was you had to remove them whilst charging else the hydrogen released would burst the battery leaking acid on your carpet. I never suffered from it but alkali burns could be very nasty and I heard more than one story of people getting very nasty burns from their NiFe (alkali) batteries, even though NiFe cells were well regarded. The batteries were belt mounted and weighed maybe 6 pounds. My LED modern lamp weighs very little and mounts entirely on my helmet and runs brighter and for maybe 3 times what my old miner's lamp would do.

 

[Tenkaykev]

I’ve been to Scratchy Bottom

And I live near Happy Bottom

 

[ColinJ]

I’ve been to Scratchy Bottom

And I live near Happy Bottom

I'm afraid that I have had problems with Slack Bottom!!!

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

Today I discovered that Edinburgh is 3° west of Greenwich, so that puts us even further west than Bristol.

 

[Beebo]

Today I discovered that Edinburgh is 3° west of Greenwich, so that puts us even further west than Bristol.

I think it’s west of Liverpool too.
In my mind I think it’s level with London.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I think it’s west of Liverpool too.
In my mind I think it’s level with London.

Yes I had no idea how ‘diagonal’ the longitude lines are.

 

[Beebo]

Yes I had no idea how ‘diagonal’ the longitude lines are.
View attachment 756988

Looking at that map Edinburgh is probably west of 90% of England. Which seems completely bonkers.

 

[Alex321]

Looking at that map Edinburgh is probably west of 90% of England. Which seems completely bonkers.

Just about due North of Cardiff

 

[Profpointy]

Today I discovered that Edinburgh is 3° west of Greenwich, so that puts us even further west than Bristol.

A notable thing in Bristol is the Corn Exchange clock, which shows both Bristol time and Greenwich time. We always take visitors to see it. It was two minute hands

 

[Jameshow]

Perhaps we can collectively write you a Tinder profile.

Here's what i can recall of you:

Healthy mature specimen. Fondness for outdoor pursuits, especially hills, lunacy and integration. Has own OLED telly.

Rides a CAAD bike...

 

[DaveReading]

Today I discovered that Edinburgh is 3° west of Greenwich, so that puts us even further west than Bristol.

At school (in Edinburgh) we learned that it's roughly the same longitude as Exeter (easier to remember).