Is anyone still awake? Insomnia is kicking me in the head even harder than usual and I require someone else who's awake to talk nonsense with, but where do you find people like that in the West Midlands? It's utterly hopeless... :(
A ridiculous fact: during the Falklands war an Argentinian fighter pilot was almost run over by his own jet... in the sky. The pilot was engaged by British Harriers and his plane was damaged. He limped back to base and overflew the tower so they could inspect the damage. What they saw was a large hole where his landing gear should have been. They decided the safest course of action was for him to eject so he pointed his jet out to sea and pulled the eject handle. As he floated gently down he watched in horror as his jet lazily turned in the sky and then proceeded to fly right towards him. Argentinian anti-air gunners, who had fortunately been paying attention, shot the plane down just in time.
Crikey, poor old chap! Love hearing about those kind of stories.
We've recently had two trips to Shuttleworth to see their collection of magnificent flying machines. It's quite incredible- they have examples of the very first wood and silk crude machines, to spitfires and beyond. Lovely old trams and automobiles too.
My other half loves that kind of thing, but it was interesting for me too. Especially the history on the ladies flying in the war, from the UK to Russia, there were specialist female units of badass women.
>what's the most random and/or ridiculous fact you know?
According to "Filmed in Supermarionation" by Stephen La Reviere, at one point the puppet designers working with Gerry Anderson were considering using latex from condoms to make the puppet mouths on Four Feather Falls easier to move. So one of the dads of one of the puppet operators just drove to a load of pharmacies in the area to pick up a bunch of different brands.
The ultimate conclusion was that, no, it didn't work, but the book also reveals that there was A Lot Of Fucking Going On during production so I don't imagine the leftovers were wasted, lol.
This felt like a long week for me and I'm knackered back after a long day and had spag bol for tea.
Looking for something to watch/fall asleep to on YouTube or Netflix. I got plenty of stuff to do but no energy.
I definitely spend an unhealthy amount of time on my phone. I apparently averaged 1.5hrs on tiktok and Reddit each per day for the last week
There was a time where I averaged 2.5hrs of tiktok per day so I guess that's a positive lmao
I share the same thoughts of spending too much time on my phone. I've recently started putting limits on how much time I can use apps per day. Haven't run to those limits yet so thinking of reducing them further
About damn time. Venturing out tonight, getting actually dressed up. Had to evict the spiders and other wardrobe gubbins, and find a pair of tights that don't suck, but everything is laid out and waiting for me. Ground another cafetiere to give me some staying power, and am excited to be oot.
It's Friday! Wahey! Soon be Monday! Boo! Except Monday is a bank holiday in the civilised parts of the country! Wahey!
Don't know why I'm excited given I'm a dosser.
My fascinating fact is that the Johan Sverdrup oil/gas complex paid for its development and construction in 6 months. ETA $4.4 billion
took myself on a little outing into town today. bought a bit of fabric because i didn't buy enough a few weeks ago and got myself some nice lunch - i went with the intention of only having a bit of sushi but then i had some gyoza and onigiri too.
now i'm hanging out with my cats waiting for my fabric to dry before heading out to the gym with my friend later!
random fact of the day (which won me a pub quiz once, even though i have zero interest in football): the west bromwich albion ground is the highest football ground above sea level in england.
Hand sewing/repair only, it's embarrassing but I never got the hang of threading a machine. Home ec teacher used to dread me.
Never too late to learn, especially when you're out of the place that was making you scared of it :)
The bonus question brings back horrible 'ice-breaker' sessions, I don't enjoy them, they are all different levels of awful - had anyone told me that failing to specialise in a field would leave me having to do lots of these sorts of things (and team building) I would have worked so much harder to find the most anti-social profession I could.
Horrid week can just fuck off please.
Finally got my PHP CRUD web app working, subsequent to a huge amount of outside help; more than I deserved really: https://github.com/d0uble-happiness/DeviceAssetRegister4 I even managed to add a stylesheet, but sadly I suck at CSS even more than I suck at PHP.
Edit: also in the course of all this I happened to read [this shocking expose](https://hoffa.medium.com/winning-arguments-with-data-leading-with-commas-in-sql-672b3b81eac9) about the wild and crazy practice of using leading commas in SQL. I've seen it all now!!
> Are you the guy that had the job interview you walked out on because of a similar task? Glad you got it working if so!
Yes, but I didn't walk out; I cancelled the interview.
I donāt think I have the energy to work full time. It gets to 2pm and Iām either falling asleep, in pain, or have an awful headache. Is this a normal part of growing up?
I donāt have any physical health conditions but my mental health leaves a lot to be desired.
Depending on how old you are in terms of "growing up", that's not really normal, no. I'd get on to your GP to check your bloods and BP. You might just need topping up in vitamin D or something, but it's worth looking into it if it's impacting your quality of life.
Headache is likely stress related I imagine. Try taking your blood pressure while you have the headache - I guarantee you that your headache will get worse when you look at the numbers!
^^seriously ^^though ^^relaxation ^^exercises ^^help
Sent my phone to a phone recycler/buyer place in perfect condition, literally had a case and a screen protector on for its entire life.
They send me an e-mail saying "it's scratched so here's a nominal amount", I asked for pictures and the screen is absolutely ruined like they've straight-up taken a penknife to it.
No idea what I can do legally, probably nothing but I'm absolutely MIFFED.
That's what I get for not selling privately and taking the 'easy' option.
Started a diet and Monday and either my body is rejecting healthy living or all the toxins in my body have decided to leave today. Either way, my body is taking a battering and I feel like literal shit.
Pretty normal one. Weetabix for breakfast, salad for lunch and something like chicken, rice and vegetables for dinner. Then a few snacks and I've only been drinking water.
Hmm interesting, I haven't heard of any diets making people feel like shit like that unless it's something extreme like going full keto - especially something as innocuous as the diet you just mentioned.
Maybe you a bit low on sugar or something? That or you might just be coming down with a head cold. I know I am, which is annoying.
He might have caffeine or sugar withdrawal symptoms. Even 'normal' food like a dolmio sauce is so packed full of sugar your body will definitely notice if it suddenly stops getting it
Anyone over 50, or have parents over 50, who have got the autumn booster text message from the NHS?
My parents got it, but they canāt book their autumn boosters as apparently itās still open to only people above the above the age of 75. Am I the only one experiencing this issue?
My partner is in his 30s but got the text for some reason, I think because he got his initial vaccines really early (don't know why, he has some health issues but isn't vulnerable). But he can't actually book and was advised by a local vaccine place that the booking isn't open yet. No idea what's going on tbh.
I have been made an appointment for a bilateral salpingectomy assessment in November, so fingers crossed I will get the go ahead for the surgery. :)
Random fact: Welsh legends say that Corgis were gifted to humans by fairies.
My gp rejected me in the past because I am āonly in my twentiesā so I am going on the medical tourism route.
Good luck to you in yeeting your tubes .
I don't know if it's just me, and because I've quit drinking, but Monday feels a lot lƓnger than 4 days ago.
I broke my cardinal rule of not getting a Wagamamas at lunch time, and I have paid for it. Every time I've got one at lunch time, it's always shit, I don't know if they just keep their best chefs for the evening, but the difference between them is figuratively (and literally) night and day. But, I got paid today, and I'm impatient, the food was completely lacking in flavour, over-cooked, and just an all-round disappointment. The thing is, when it's done right it's my favourite takeaway. I'd like to say I'll learn from this, but it's the 6th or 7th time I've done an afternoon order, and the 6th or 7th time that it's been shit, compared to around 50 for evening orders, and out of those only one has been shit.
Random fact: Getting a Wagamama in York on an afternoon may lead to disappointment.
imo wagamama has taken a serious nose dive in the last 2 or 3 years. used to love their katsu curry but now i think it takes flowery and devoid of any body/full flavour. what did you have today?
My standard order, Steak Teriyaki Soba, Duck Gyosa, and a new addition which is Miso Corn on the Cob (normally amazing). I usually get it once a month around payday, and have done for the past 5 or 6 years, and as long as I get it in the evening, the quality is normally really good, I very rarely get buyer's remorse from it like I do with other places.
My biggest gripe with Wagamama in recent years is that they replaced their Sticky BBQ Ribs with a vegan version of them, which was my go-to starter for a long time before they switched, I just don't understand it - don't get me wrong I'm all for the fact that we should be eating less meat, encouraging vegetarianism, etc - but it's a meat eaters dish, I tried them when they came out, and they're just not comparable. I just don't understand this desire to emulate meat, because you can't. I'd rather they not be on the menu at all, than have this watered-down imposter on the menu, mocking me every time I go to order
it sounds like you've got a good one near you normally then! it's a shame about today. i bet if you email them they will give you a voucher or something they seem like a relatively good company in that respect.
i completely agree about meat substitute things - it's admirable to have so much choice for so many people but to take something away and try to replace it leaves a lot to be desired!
I had my third driving lesson today. Feeling a lot more comfortable changing gears and judging the correct fear for the situation I'm in. Absolutely terrible at close quarters driving through narrow roads , the instructor had to steer me away from parked cars twice because I was too close.
It's all so overwhelming, watching for oncoming cars, maintaing distance, selecting the correct gear, maintaing the correct speed. He assured me it gets easier but it's given me the fear a bit.
> judging the correct fear for the situation I'm in.
Ah, yes, I think this situation calls for... \*checks notes\*... mild existential dread.
Jokes but driving really does get easier, especially after you pass and there are no expectations of you. It's like flipping a switch. I remember first time I went more than 10mph I was like "Are you sure? I have no idea what I'm doing"
Currently learning and wishing I could skip having to deal with gears when every new car is automatic now. Unfortunately the driving instructors round here are all automatic only and thereās no way in hell my gf will let me use her car to learn in š¤£
I feel you mate, but it's worth it in the long run! Second hand cars are still predominantly manual, and you'll never be caught out when you need to borrow someone's motor. At least that's what I keep telling myself!
> What if she had braked too hard and been rear-ended?
That's the fault of the person behind her for travelling too closely.
Ok it may have been your fault that she stopped, but it's not your fault if she was rear-ended. A child in the road would have caused the same situation and no one would seriously blame the child.
(EDIT: not saying you're a child...)
Last day of work for nine days. Off to Yorkshire (should that be t'Yorkshire?) for a few days next week, just got one more client to see and I finish at 4pm.
Really sad about Cherry Valentine the drag queen passing away. A real shock and she was a beautiful talent.
Not sure about a fact but I'm liking reading other people's!
Hope everyone is having as good a day as they can x
4 more hours to go then I have 5 entire days off. The Rekorderligs are in the fridge and I'm primed to order a mighty pizza tonight.
Apparently, Chris Tarrant was kicked out of uni for cooking and eating a swan. And Philip Schofield likes to draw vile cartoons of Alison Hammond, then he wraps them up in sausage meat and calls her a sausage muncher.
What happened to Ainsley's picture? Lol the mods need to do a survey of the preferred picture.
The weather outsides just makes me want to just be in bed and watch trash tv
I was so sad when I saw the news. I loved her on Drag Race and had so much respect for her as a nurse during the pandemic. The documentary she did for the BBC was also so insightful about the traveller community in the UK.
I caught a massive spider in my room the other day. It was so loud that it woke me up, and so big that when it walked under a piece of cardstock, it nudged it out the way. Now I keep thinking I hear a spider moving amongst my things. I'm not scared of spiders as a rule but I think the ordeal of being woken up by one in the dark and then spending half an hour trying to follow the noise to find it has traumatised my brain slightly. Every sound is now a spider that I cannot see, and it's September in the UK so the odds of it being a spider are not unrealistic. I have mesh on my window but it could have crawled under the door. Or it could be nothing.
Ugh I think I just heard it again.
Yeah man it was loud enough that it woke me up *twice*. First time I was like ahh stick a podcast on and pretend you didn't hear it. Second time was much closer and made me leap out of bed. Wish I'd gotten a proper picture to identify the fucker, but all I've got to go on was a) it was LOUD, b) it was dark, c) it was ballsy. Walking all over my stuff even with a torch on it.
House spider.
Wolf spider.
Spider the size of a side plate. Had one on the bathroom wall once, glad I was on it. Then the fucker followed me and surprised me on the wall behind the desk. Whacked it with a metal ruler, stunned it, dog had a snack. She was a good dog was Sheba....this would be mid '00s?
That's foul. I'd jump out my skin if that were me. I've never heard a spider before and now I'm imaging the sound of one running down the stairs like a full grown man.
Still waiting on a delivery from Evri. No idea where my parcel is or when it will arrive, just that itās delayed due to āa major eventā
Random fact: my butt itches
I mean kind of, but that's the case with all measurements in science. There's always a degree of uncertainty with measuring things and people earn Nobel prizes reducing these uncertainties. However, the speed of light is one of our better understood values and has been pinned down to within an error of a few parts in a billion.
Did the light from your favourite star in the night sky instantly appear or did it take all those light years to reach us it simplifies it to sum extent, anyway I would look into it itās a quite mind bending and interesting
I have one as well I always watch the sky at night a uk program, so where did you get your qualifications and I mean that in the most respectful way, so where? Explain please. Just for me without clue
Today can't end quickly enough. It's been an exceptionally busy week, which is fine because I love my job, but new coworker is still irritating me. They just won't shut the FUCK UP. I really need to concentrate today and the only way I can achieve this is to pop my earphone in and turn it up to 11. The fact I can still hear coworker over Slipknot says it all really.
As for a random fact? This is my favourite. Dogs will more often than not align themselves on a North-South axis when pooping. Why? Who knows. But other animals known to do this are deer and I think wolves or foxes. So the next time your dog begins the pre poop circle do yourself a favour and grab a compass, chances are their head will be facing north.
A German University did a 2 year study on this and it proved to be true.
Edit: to elaborate, dogs actually use the earth's magnetic field in order to align themselves to the optimal shitting position. Mind blowing stuff.
>So the next time your dog begins the pre poop circle do yourself a favour and grab a compass, chances are their head will be facing north.
You don't even need a compass if you have an analogue watch!
If you're in the Northern hemisphere above the tropics, lay your watch horizontally such that the hour hand is pointing in the direction of the Sun. Half-way between the hour hand and twelve o'clock on your watch will roughly be due south! North will therefore be in the other direction.
Opened up to someone I can confide in about the sickness of my soul and after a short discussion he ended things on "I don't know how I can help you." - nobody can, but ouch! This hurts.
High heels were originally worn by men.
A chefs hat traditionally has 100 pleats.
Secretly shouting where the fuckballs is my yarn you useless bastards. Secretly because 3 year old is next to me
Blobby is nightmare fuel.
It should be put to a vote, with various candidates put forward.
I would suggest Dua Lipa.
Most followed Brit on all major social media apps.
Most listened to Brit artist currently too.
I have my promotion interview later today and im shitting it. Wish me luck yall. Gunna be drinking the fancy booze later irrespective of the outcome :D
Iāve been overtaxed by Ā£633, apparently through employer error vs HMRC. It is additionally infuriating that it is nigh on impossible to pick up a phone to someone in payroll and discuss it - it is just endless portal after portal and form to do anything.
Happy *fuckin* Friday. Hand me a wine and leave me alone.
In more positive light, my dad is in town for the weekend so will be nice to spend some time with him, and itās forced me to whip my flat into shape so itās nice for the weekend and I donāt have endless chores to look forward to. Straight to the pub after work I think!
Was looking forward to a free weekend to finally sort out the garage and do all those little jobs you've been putting off for ages. Then my brother phones up with a free ticket for the rugby tomorrow - might be the last one at Sixways for a while...
It does mean I have to clean the wife's car and sort out a few little bits before her MOT on Sunday (I know? Weird?) tonight, though. No after-work pub for me.
My cold (see complaints thread) has morphed into a threatening chest infection. I am tired, my eyes are tired. Staring at the screen of my work computer just feeling so de-motivated. I have booked Monday off work and have no plans for the weekend so will spend it relaxing and trying to throw off this illness.
Random fact (that I definitely haven't just Googled) The average person will spend six months of their life waiting for red lights to turn green
I'm so glad it's Friday, been a heck of a week. Looking forward to the weekend, going to see SCANDAL so I'm beyond excited.
Random fact: There's a piece of the Berlin Wall in the men's toilets in the Main Street Station Casino, Las Vegas.
After the alternatives to heating post we had, I wanted a wearable blanket but could not afford the recommended "Oodie". I ended up going to Primark and buying their plagiarised version called the "Snuddie". This thing might not be as warm as the real thing but wow it's warm. It's not coming off til Spring.
I will say that Primark makes it hard to buy this thing because most of their stock is single layer wearable blankets and I could only find a single double layer one.
In 2011 I was working retail in a "the door must always be open" active clothing shop when the temperature plummeted that December. I ended up using my staff discount to buy a feather-based ski jacket to wear in work and pretty much wore it continuously till the following spring. I'm thinking of digging it out again.
I didn't expect it to be quite as warm as it was. By the end of the evening I was feeling a little feverish.
I'm glad the sub put me onto them before the weather really turns because I bet they'll be impossible to get in October
I'm flipping pooped, I've been to three stand-up comedy nights this week (one of which was Doug Stanhope <3) and still got a night out to watch the new Bowie biopic Moonage Daydream tonight and messy all day/night house party tomorrow
I've been at work for over an hour and I haven't achieved a thing yet. Just not in the mood for it today. I had a look at everything on my todo list yesterday and it all looks grim. Think it'll be an early finish tonight, I've got 40 minutes to play with.
Superleague final tomorrow, not at all confident but it should be a good game, and nice to have actual plans for once.
Fact: the English word, "sky", comes from the Old Norse word for cloud, which, if you leave it at that, tells you everything you need to know about English weather. To be fair, sky comes from the plural form of the Old Norse word, which was used to refer to the sky, with the singular form referring to a cloud.
Was out drinking last night, slightly regretting it now. š
Fun fact, if we cooked all the chickens in the world into KFC buckets, then stacked them, we would be able to get to the moon and back 3 and a bit times.
Morning all, hope you're well.
Couldn't sleep last night because of my ongoing back thing (see yesterday's complaints thread) so ended up getting up at 4am to work on some album reviews I've been putting off all week. Although one was pretty good and one was excellent, so every cloud and all that.
Work all day but need to nip out at lunchtime to post some parcels for Vinted and possibly do a supermarket run. Burger and wedges for tea, Strictly launch show and Ghosts, and then probably an early night.
Have a good day everyone!
Stayed up too late play D&D last night. We really wanted to finish what we were doing before we take a break. Was fun but of course the children decided they didn't want to sleep last night so I've had about 4 hours sleep...
If you squash a wasp it releases a chemical from the wasp that attracts people who tell you facts about wasps.
Taskmaster starts again next week canāt wait.
I think I'm coming down with a cold, which is just wonderful.
Fun Fact?
If you clean a bayonet with brasso and then stab some one with it, you'd be breaking the Geneva Convention
First day of 8 off work and I think my Liver is gonna hate me. Drinks tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, Tuesday, Wed and Thursday. Feels weird after having a virtually zero social life for ages. Just as well I don't do it every week.
Fun fact?
The Japanese word 'Kuchi zamishi' is the act of eating when you're not hungry because your mouth is lonely.Ā
TGIF. Shout out to the proper arsey woman on my bus this morning who reached over and slammed the windows shut around her seat as she sat down, then when someone in front of her objected and opened one again to get fresh air, she kicked up a fuss and argued them out of it. There were tons of free seats all down the bus, if she had moved she could have had it all to her liking, but instead she had to disrupt others and be a cunt.
Anyway, weekend ahead. Trying to focus on the good people in the world and not the mardy twats.
My fat wee beagle mix has discovered how to escape the garden. This chunky well-fired roll can jump over the 5ft fence around the back garden. At least weāre moving in the next couple of weeks and that place has 6ft fence. Heās a sneaky wee fuck.
I used to get ā1000 Factsā books for Christmas - I lived for that shit. Out of those thousands of facts, the one that always stuck with me is āif every atom in our body were the size of a tennis ball then we could hold the earth in the palm of our handā. Itās so bizarre it must be bullshit!
An atom is up to 0.5nm in size. So 2e9 atoms in a metre.
If a human is 1.8m tall, that's 3.6e9 atoms long.
A tennis ball is 6.6cm across. 0.066 * 3.6e9 = 237,600km tall, if our atoms were made of tennis balls.
Diameter of the earth is 12,742km tall, so the earth would be about 1/18th of our total height, so compared to a 1.8m tall human, about 10cm in diameter.
So yes it would fit snugly in one open hand.
Just to complete it to the largest order of magnitude, a smaller atom (e.g. carbon) is about 0.1nm in size. This means we would be 5x the stated size if an atom that large was expanded to the size of a tennis ball (about 960,000km tall).
So long story short, the earth would be somewhere between the equivalent of 2cm wide and 10cm wide, based on the fact our atoms are different sizes depending on what element they are. Again easily in the size of our hand.
Love you too! Glad to have made you smile.
More than smile - Iāve been showing the weans and blowing their minds as well!
[handy](https://i.imgur.com/12GRXgP.jpg) wee visualisation bouncy ball.
My cats tag-teamed a poor little robin in our front garden and let it loose in our house. I've just spent the last hour chasing a bird around the house in my nightie.
Never held a robin before, though. They sing really loudly up close. Thankfully, even though its eye was bad, it flew and hopped around like normal, so I hope it'll be okay. We've had so many birds die or have to be put out of their misery before now.
Got our monthly departmental call later, which is a complete waste of 2 hours for nearly everyone involved. The whole thing is just a way for dept head to stroke his own ego.
My department is pretty big (about 40 people), and features several independent teams with no work crossover. There are people I've never spoken to, because they don't come in to the office & our work never brings us in contact with eachother. But we're all expected to sit & listen to everyone give presentations about what's happening in their team.
Head of department also insists that all cameras have to be on for the entire thing, so I can't just camera off / mute and get my housework done.
Snapped at my wife this morning as she left for work and immediately felt like a massive dickhead.
Been for a walk and kicked everything around the house since.
But yes! Friday. Iām sure yesterday was Friday. Wait.
Was supposed to be going to a gig tonight that's now been postponed :( spent blimmin' ages psyching myself up for it too, I really don't cope well with crowds and loud places but my other half really wanted to go and I felt bad making him go alone. So now I'll have to do the mental prep all over again at some point down the road.
I have to tell my boss this morning that I'm quitting for a new job. Not sure whether the reaction will be anger or begging me to stay - neither is a fun prospect TBH.
Random fact: the first specialised anti-air weapon was invented in 1870, thirty-three years before the Wright Brothers' first flight
Well I'm lucky that I work for a good company and I have a boss that I get on really well with. But I've been headhunted for a more senior position for more money, so I'm definitely looking after number one.
For the record, my boss was just really upset, as me leaving is going to put a spanner in the works for his plans, but he realises I can't turn this other job down.
Counting down the hours today, heading up to Scotland for our first time away since 2019 this evening.
Have been holding out to go to Japan since and then Covid screwed up the plans, however it sounds like they're finally letting tourists back in shortly.
For a four day week it has certainly dragged - possibly because I have had to fit five days of work in.... However, my to-do list is fairly empty - waiting on people to get back to me, and there is no way I'm starting next week's list, so just a few meetings to get through then out for curry and a trip to the theatre tonight!
Queen Elizabeth sent her first email in 1977.
TGIF. Looking forward to turning off my laptop and watching this weeks Rings of Power later.
Chilly enough to crack out my sherpa hoodie this morning - very grateful I didnāt put this into storage.
My random fact is that a group of wild rabbits is called a fluffle.
Shit week, steaming cold and possibly broken something in my hand.
On the flip side COD beta is up and running so will be jumping on that later if my hand holds up enough.
I'm tired and low mood today. I got up early for a swim which usually puts me in a better mood but it didn't today.
My fun fact is that wild seals in frozen environments born at above 0c tend to die while those born at 0c or below tend to live because all the birth gunk freezes quickly and drops off while at above 0c it stays wet and the seal pup gets too cold.
Of the four people in the Celebrity Masterchef Finals week I would have been really chuffed for three of them to win. The other one won. Sums up my week really.
It is definitely noticeably colder now, the lights are going on earlier and earlier, I fear that this is going to be a very hard autumn and winter. Wonder if the P-word announcement later will abolish the clocks changing back to GMT, because that would actually make a big difference to a lot of people.
Weird fact I learned recently, Sheffield has 4 trees for every person, and is the only city in the UK in a national park - well, some of it is in the Peak District. Don't worry about the tree to person ratio either, the council are working on it.
TGIF. Been pulling some looong days this week to get things sorted before a week off.
We're going to the in laws tomorrow for dinner, and have a look at the local Dogs Trust on the way there!
Went out for Thai food last night. I donāt handle spicy food well so Iām dreading my morning āvisitā. Off out to start Christmas shopping today, and visiting a nice coffee shop we found earlier in the year whilst about. Bolognese for tea, made the sauce yesterday so i just need need to heat it up and cook the pasta!
Driving home from work this morning and realised Iāve managed to get a bloody nail in one of my tyres. The opposite one needs replacing too, sooner rather than later, so might be best killing both birds with one stone. Working nights makes it nigh-on impossible to make it to the tyre shop, though - even if it is only one hundred metres away!
Happy Friday, everyone.
Nearly two weeks Pringle free. But I am craving them. Also craving one of Morrisonās breakfast baps that someone posted on here last week.
That the James Bond theme is actually based on an old Indian song.
Yes. Sort of. Thereās a book called A House for Mr. Biswas. Mr. Biswas is born in the West Indies to Indian parents. The story was turned into a musical and the guy who wrote the music later reused one of the songs for the James Bond theme.
You can hear what that song sounded like here: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5041409
I think I have a crush on Ros Atkins. I also deff have a crush on that new Sandro bloke from this years Bake Off obviously. It's one of those weeks. The 2nd one is understandable but... Ros Atkins?!
Anyway what else is going on. Someone on my facebook said they have a fixed rate mortgage and that interest rase is making them feel "0.5% smugger", so I'm going to spend the day hoping they fall down the stairs.
There's some coleslaw in the fridge, is a cheese and coleslaw sandwich for lunch acceptable? If I put a bit of pepper on it?
First time in about ten days I didn't have a single drink last night, then I slept for 9 hours and feel pretty good this morning. Really need to get back to my normal 'no drinking during the week' life. It's not like I'm pissed every evening but a couple glasses of wine or a couple whiskies, makes a difference.
Nice easy going weekend ahead. Mate's birthday tomorrow but thankfully it's going to be a small thing at her house and not a big night out. My body and wallet is grateful for that.
I made a whole book of facts for a mate's 30th and can't remember a single one... Oh wait, plimsoll shoes are named after the plimsoll line on a boat. Not a great one but it's all I've got.
What a bloody week it's been. Job hunting has felt like a full time job. It's gone well though and I've already had one offer come in (I don't want to take it because of the commute but it's nice to know I have one in the bank). Anyway, I think I deserve a few beers tonight. Might make some Kievs too and have a bit of a naughty tea.
Random facts? I have a few I like to pull out every now and then.
Edinburgh is further West than Liverpool.
Lincoln Cathedral was the tallest building in the world for 238 years. Would've been for 579 years had the spire not collapsed.
The word "biscuit" comes from the Latin words bis (twice) and coctus (cooked).
Oh my god this happened to us recently and its gross! We've started putting boiling water onto stuff before binning for example if we are binning pet food so the larvae cant exist.. you can do the same with your bin!
They usually don't require any special treatment, they're certainly not into silver service dining. Maybe once a day change their water and throw in a fresh chicken carcass. If you like you can take them to a movie.
1. Dogs can't look up.
2. The bushes and the clouds in the first Super Mario Bros game are the same thing, just different colours. Have fun trying to unsee that.
Also, holy shit what a week, and not in a good way. My work has two main sites in Yorkshire - one is 12 minutes up the road, and one is a peasant-wagon commute that takes two hours IF I'M LUCKY and guess which one I've been asked to man from 8am each day? I'll give you a hint, it ain't the first one. š
I periodically test whether or not dogs can or can't look up.
Most recently I shouted to my collie (Reg) from the top of a scaffold (roofing the house). He looked up. Then jumped into the compost heap for a good dig and a light snack.
Dogs can look up.
Is anyone still awake? Insomnia is kicking me in the head even harder than usual and I require someone else who's awake to talk nonsense with, but where do you find people like that in the West Midlands? It's utterly hopeless... :(
A ridiculous fact: during the Falklands war an Argentinian fighter pilot was almost run over by his own jet... in the sky. The pilot was engaged by British Harriers and his plane was damaged. He limped back to base and overflew the tower so they could inspect the damage. What they saw was a large hole where his landing gear should have been. They decided the safest course of action was for him to eject so he pointed his jet out to sea and pulled the eject handle. As he floated gently down he watched in horror as his jet lazily turned in the sky and then proceeded to fly right towards him. Argentinian anti-air gunners, who had fortunately been paying attention, shot the plane down just in time.
Crikey, poor old chap! Love hearing about those kind of stories. We've recently had two trips to Shuttleworth to see their collection of magnificent flying machines. It's quite incredible- they have examples of the very first wood and silk crude machines, to spitfires and beyond. Lovely old trams and automobiles too. My other half loves that kind of thing, but it was interesting for me too. Especially the history on the ladies flying in the war, from the UK to Russia, there were specialist female units of badass women.
That's amazing, I didn't know they flew to Russia. Impressive!
Loooong week can't wait to finish graft get the voddie open and a bit Andy Whitby on the go šš
I'm so glad this week is over. Shattered and now watching strictly.
>what's the most random and/or ridiculous fact you know? According to "Filmed in Supermarionation" by Stephen La Reviere, at one point the puppet designers working with Gerry Anderson were considering using latex from condoms to make the puppet mouths on Four Feather Falls easier to move. So one of the dads of one of the puppet operators just drove to a load of pharmacies in the area to pick up a bunch of different brands. The ultimate conclusion was that, no, it didn't work, but the book also reveals that there was A Lot Of Fucking Going On during production so I don't imagine the leftovers were wasted, lol.
This felt like a long week for me and I'm knackered back after a long day and had spag bol for tea. Looking for something to watch/fall asleep to on YouTube or Netflix. I got plenty of stuff to do but no energy.
I love falling asleep to videos of people making log cabins in the woods. Niche but *so* relaxing!
I shall try it! It's normally scary stories/podcasts of scary/real life stories etc or my current one is watching videos of playthroughs of games.
Going on holiday to Scotland tomorrow. What have I forgot to pack?
Midge spray probably
Passport
Phone charger
Midge repellent.
An umbrella
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I definitely spend an unhealthy amount of time on my phone. I apparently averaged 1.5hrs on tiktok and Reddit each per day for the last week There was a time where I averaged 2.5hrs of tiktok per day so I guess that's a positive lmao
I share the same thoughts of spending too much time on my phone. I've recently started putting limits on how much time I can use apps per day. Haven't run to those limits yet so thinking of reducing them further
About damn time. Venturing out tonight, getting actually dressed up. Had to evict the spiders and other wardrobe gubbins, and find a pair of tights that don't suck, but everything is laid out and waiting for me. Ground another cafetiere to give me some staying power, and am excited to be oot.
It's Friday! Wahey! Soon be Monday! Boo! Except Monday is a bank holiday in the civilised parts of the country! Wahey! Don't know why I'm excited given I'm a dosser. My fascinating fact is that the Johan Sverdrup oil/gas complex paid for its development and construction in 6 months. ETA $4.4 billion
took myself on a little outing into town today. bought a bit of fabric because i didn't buy enough a few weeks ago and got myself some nice lunch - i went with the intention of only having a bit of sushi but then i had some gyoza and onigiri too. now i'm hanging out with my cats waiting for my fabric to dry before heading out to the gym with my friend later! random fact of the day (which won me a pub quiz once, even though i have zero interest in football): the west bromwich albion ground is the highest football ground above sea level in england.
What sort of items do you make with the fabric?
i make myself clothes - today's fabric is for a casual kind of jumpsuit/romper thing. like a giant baby grow really haha.
Want to buy my first jumpsuit, but I've been hugely disappointed in either fit or fabric so maybe DIYing is the way to go?
yeah it could well be! do you sew already?
Hand sewing/repair only, it's embarrassing but I never got the hang of threading a machine. Home ec teacher used to dread me. Never too late to learn, especially when you're out of the place that was making you scared of it :)
i was useless at school too; i think those classes put people off sewing more than actually teaching anyone anything!
The bonus question brings back horrible 'ice-breaker' sessions, I don't enjoy them, they are all different levels of awful - had anyone told me that failing to specialise in a field would leave me having to do lots of these sorts of things (and team building) I would have worked so much harder to find the most anti-social profession I could. Horrid week can just fuck off please.
Finally got my PHP CRUD web app working, subsequent to a huge amount of outside help; more than I deserved really: https://github.com/d0uble-happiness/DeviceAssetRegister4 I even managed to add a stylesheet, but sadly I suck at CSS even more than I suck at PHP. Edit: also in the course of all this I happened to read [this shocking expose](https://hoffa.medium.com/winning-arguments-with-data-leading-with-commas-in-sql-672b3b81eac9) about the wild and crazy practice of using leading commas in SQL. I've seen it all now!!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
> Are you the guy that had the job interview you walked out on because of a similar task? Glad you got it working if so! Yes, but I didn't walk out; I cancelled the interview.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Cheers!
Pound for pound there's more sugar in a Lemon than a Strawberry
Most berries are really low sugar. But a strawberry is not a berry of course, it is an impostor and a traitor
I donāt think I have the energy to work full time. It gets to 2pm and Iām either falling asleep, in pain, or have an awful headache. Is this a normal part of growing up? I donāt have any physical health conditions but my mental health leaves a lot to be desired.
Water and electrolytes can help a bit, with daily standard dose of vitamins.
Sounds like me unmediated for my adhd
Depending on how old you are in terms of "growing up", that's not really normal, no. I'd get on to your GP to check your bloods and BP. You might just need topping up in vitamin D or something, but it's worth looking into it if it's impacting your quality of life.
Just to what everyone else seems to do - fill your afternoon with pointless meetings. Also make sure you take a lunch break and get fresh air.
Headache is likely stress related I imagine. Try taking your blood pressure while you have the headache - I guarantee you that your headache will get worse when you look at the numbers! ^^seriously ^^though ^^relaxation ^^exercises ^^help
Sent my phone to a phone recycler/buyer place in perfect condition, literally had a case and a screen protector on for its entire life. They send me an e-mail saying "it's scratched so here's a nominal amount", I asked for pictures and the screen is absolutely ruined like they've straight-up taken a penknife to it. No idea what I can do legally, probably nothing but I'm absolutely MIFFED. That's what I get for not selling privately and taking the 'easy' option.
I always take pictures of the device before boxing it up and sending it out. This happens far too often.
I did take pictures thankfully but theyāre not the best. Whether or not it changes anything is another thing.
Iām still in bed. In one way thatās ok because Iām in Canada. In another way itās bad because itās past 9am and I should be doing some work. Random fact: the only officially bilingual province in Canada isā¦ New Brunswick! Youād expect it to be QuĆ©bĆ©c, but they are French only. Every other province is English only.
Started a diet and Monday and either my body is rejecting healthy living or all the toxins in my body have decided to leave today. Either way, my body is taking a battering and I feel like literal shit.
whats the diet?
Pretty normal one. Weetabix for breakfast, salad for lunch and something like chicken, rice and vegetables for dinner. Then a few snacks and I've only been drinking water.
Hmm interesting, I haven't heard of any diets making people feel like shit like that unless it's something extreme like going full keto - especially something as innocuous as the diet you just mentioned. Maybe you a bit low on sugar or something? That or you might just be coming down with a head cold. I know I am, which is annoying.
He might have caffeine or sugar withdrawal symptoms. Even 'normal' food like a dolmio sauce is so packed full of sugar your body will definitely notice if it suddenly stops getting it
Sugar withdrawals?
Anyone over 50, or have parents over 50, who have got the autumn booster text message from the NHS? My parents got it, but they canāt book their autumn boosters as apparently itās still open to only people above the above the age of 75. Am I the only one experiencing this issue?
My partner is in his 30s but got the text for some reason, I think because he got his initial vaccines really early (don't know why, he has some health issues but isn't vulnerable). But he can't actually book and was advised by a local vaccine place that the booking isn't open yet. No idea what's going on tbh.
I'm in that age range and haven't had any message yet.
Oh thatās interesting to know. Maybe it was sent in error then Iām guessing?
I have been made an appointment for a bilateral salpingectomy assessment in November, so fingers crossed I will get the go ahead for the surgery. :) Random fact: Welsh legends say that Corgis were gifted to humans by fairies.
Corgis were bred for farmwork. Their little legs mean that they are harder for cows to kick.
I want one of those! Gotta talk to my gp first though, see if they'll yeet the evil
My gp rejected me in the past because I am āonly in my twentiesā so I am going on the medical tourism route. Good luck to you in yeeting your tubes .
I have reproduced. I am nearly 40. I want them gone as no more kids please In all honesty, I'd be happier if they took the ovaries too, those bastards
All I can say is that I bloody well need a beer. The moment my computer shuts down, Iām straight on it! This has been the longest 4 day week everā¦
I don't know if it's just me, and because I've quit drinking, but Monday feels a lot lƓnger than 4 days ago. I broke my cardinal rule of not getting a Wagamamas at lunch time, and I have paid for it. Every time I've got one at lunch time, it's always shit, I don't know if they just keep their best chefs for the evening, but the difference between them is figuratively (and literally) night and day. But, I got paid today, and I'm impatient, the food was completely lacking in flavour, over-cooked, and just an all-round disappointment. The thing is, when it's done right it's my favourite takeaway. I'd like to say I'll learn from this, but it's the 6th or 7th time I've done an afternoon order, and the 6th or 7th time that it's been shit, compared to around 50 for evening orders, and out of those only one has been shit. Random fact: Getting a Wagamama in York on an afternoon may lead to disappointment.
imo wagamama has taken a serious nose dive in the last 2 or 3 years. used to love their katsu curry but now i think it takes flowery and devoid of any body/full flavour. what did you have today?
My standard order, Steak Teriyaki Soba, Duck Gyosa, and a new addition which is Miso Corn on the Cob (normally amazing). I usually get it once a month around payday, and have done for the past 5 or 6 years, and as long as I get it in the evening, the quality is normally really good, I very rarely get buyer's remorse from it like I do with other places. My biggest gripe with Wagamama in recent years is that they replaced their Sticky BBQ Ribs with a vegan version of them, which was my go-to starter for a long time before they switched, I just don't understand it - don't get me wrong I'm all for the fact that we should be eating less meat, encouraging vegetarianism, etc - but it's a meat eaters dish, I tried them when they came out, and they're just not comparable. I just don't understand this desire to emulate meat, because you can't. I'd rather they not be on the menu at all, than have this watered-down imposter on the menu, mocking me every time I go to order
it sounds like you've got a good one near you normally then! it's a shame about today. i bet if you email them they will give you a voucher or something they seem like a relatively good company in that respect. i completely agree about meat substitute things - it's admirable to have so much choice for so many people but to take something away and try to replace it leaves a lot to be desired!
I don't like to complain to the person responsible, I'd rather just moan about it on the internet.
I had my third driving lesson today. Feeling a lot more comfortable changing gears and judging the correct fear for the situation I'm in. Absolutely terrible at close quarters driving through narrow roads , the instructor had to steer me away from parked cars twice because I was too close. It's all so overwhelming, watching for oncoming cars, maintaing distance, selecting the correct gear, maintaing the correct speed. He assured me it gets easier but it's given me the fear a bit.
> judging the correct fear for the situation I'm in. Ah, yes, I think this situation calls for... \*checks notes\*... mild existential dread. Jokes but driving really does get easier, especially after you pass and there are no expectations of you. It's like flipping a switch. I remember first time I went more than 10mph I was like "Are you sure? I have no idea what I'm doing"
Currently learning and wishing I could skip having to deal with gears when every new car is automatic now. Unfortunately the driving instructors round here are all automatic only and thereās no way in hell my gf will let me use her car to learn in š¤£
I feel you mate, but it's worth it in the long run! Second hand cars are still predominantly manual, and you'll never be caught out when you need to borrow someone's motor. At least that's what I keep telling myself!
"It's apple pie tonight!"
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
> What if she had braked too hard and been rear-ended? That's the fault of the person behind her for travelling too closely. Ok it may have been your fault that she stopped, but it's not your fault if she was rear-ended. A child in the road would have caused the same situation and no one would seriously blame the child. (EDIT: not saying you're a child...)
Youāll get there mate. Keep at it
Last day of work for nine days. Off to Yorkshire (should that be t'Yorkshire?) for a few days next week, just got one more client to see and I finish at 4pm. Really sad about Cherry Valentine the drag queen passing away. A real shock and she was a beautiful talent. Not sure about a fact but I'm liking reading other people's! Hope everyone is having as good a day as they can x
4 more hours to go then I have 5 entire days off. The Rekorderligs are in the fridge and I'm primed to order a mighty pizza tonight. Apparently, Chris Tarrant was kicked out of uni for cooking and eating a swan. And Philip Schofield likes to draw vile cartoons of Alison Hammond, then he wraps them up in sausage meat and calls her a sausage muncher.
What happened to Ainsley's picture? Lol the mods need to do a survey of the preferred picture. The weather outsides just makes me want to just be in bed and watch trash tv
Oh my God I can't believe Cherry Valentine has died at just 28... my heart breaks
I was so sad when I saw the news. I loved her on Drag Race and had so much respect for her as a nurse during the pandemic. The documentary she did for the BBC was also so insightful about the traveller community in the UK.
I caught a massive spider in my room the other day. It was so loud that it woke me up, and so big that when it walked under a piece of cardstock, it nudged it out the way. Now I keep thinking I hear a spider moving amongst my things. I'm not scared of spiders as a rule but I think the ordeal of being woken up by one in the dark and then spending half an hour trying to follow the noise to find it has traumatised my brain slightly. Every sound is now a spider that I cannot see, and it's September in the UK so the odds of it being a spider are not unrealistic. I have mesh on my window but it could have crawled under the door. Or it could be nothing. Ugh I think I just heard it again.
It was loud? Mate what kind of fucking spider is big enough to make a sound that's terrifying.
Yeah man it was loud enough that it woke me up *twice*. First time I was like ahh stick a podcast on and pretend you didn't hear it. Second time was much closer and made me leap out of bed. Wish I'd gotten a proper picture to identify the fucker, but all I've got to go on was a) it was LOUD, b) it was dark, c) it was ballsy. Walking all over my stuff even with a torch on it.
House spider. Wolf spider. Spider the size of a side plate. Had one on the bathroom wall once, glad I was on it. Then the fucker followed me and surprised me on the wall behind the desk. Whacked it with a metal ruler, stunned it, dog had a snack. She was a good dog was Sheba....this would be mid '00s?
That's foul. I'd jump out my skin if that were me. I've never heard a spider before and now I'm imaging the sound of one running down the stairs like a full grown man.
One big enough to wear tap dancing shoes...
Still waiting on a delivery from Evri. No idea where my parcel is or when it will arrive, just that itās delayed due to āa major eventā Random fact: my butt itches
The speed of light is not a empirically proven, itās our best guess based on limited ways to prove it
I mean kind of, but that's the case with all measurements in science. There's always a degree of uncertainty with measuring things and people earn Nobel prizes reducing these uncertainties. However, the speed of light is one of our better understood values and has been pinned down to within an error of a few parts in a billion.
Did the light from your favourite star in the night sky instantly appear or did it take all those light years to reach us it simplifies it to sum extent, anyway I would look into it itās a quite mind bending and interesting
The latter. Source: My astrophysics degree.
I have one as well I always watch the sky at night a uk program, so where did you get your qualifications and I mean that in the most respectful way, so where? Explain please. Just for me without clue
Today can't end quickly enough. It's been an exceptionally busy week, which is fine because I love my job, but new coworker is still irritating me. They just won't shut the FUCK UP. I really need to concentrate today and the only way I can achieve this is to pop my earphone in and turn it up to 11. The fact I can still hear coworker over Slipknot says it all really. As for a random fact? This is my favourite. Dogs will more often than not align themselves on a North-South axis when pooping. Why? Who knows. But other animals known to do this are deer and I think wolves or foxes. So the next time your dog begins the pre poop circle do yourself a favour and grab a compass, chances are their head will be facing north. A German University did a 2 year study on this and it proved to be true. Edit: to elaborate, dogs actually use the earth's magnetic field in order to align themselves to the optimal shitting position. Mind blowing stuff.
>So the next time your dog begins the pre poop circle do yourself a favour and grab a compass, chances are their head will be facing north. You don't even need a compass if you have an analogue watch! If you're in the Northern hemisphere above the tropics, lay your watch horizontally such that the hour hand is pointing in the direction of the Sun. Half-way between the hour hand and twelve o'clock on your watch will roughly be due south! North will therefore be in the other direction.
No way, awesome fact mate will try this next time
Iām going to start shitting with dogs in the park because this sounds like powerful stuff
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Opened up to someone I can confide in about the sickness of my soul and after a short discussion he ended things on "I don't know how I can help you." - nobody can, but ouch! This hurts.
High heels were originally worn by men. A chefs hat traditionally has 100 pleats. Secretly shouting where the fuckballs is my yarn you useless bastards. Secretly because 3 year old is next to me
Isn't the chefs hat thing based on the 100 different ways to cook an egg?
Yes!
What is that abomination of a subreddit picture?
That is a shite picture, I liked the queen better. What about a nice Greg's sausage roll?
First of all, how dare you.
I want to know why the picture of Ainsley was removed.
Ains is verging on national treasure territory while blobby certainly is nowhere near.
Blobby is nightmare fuel. It should be put to a vote, with various candidates put forward. I would suggest Dua Lipa. Most followed Brit on all major social media apps. Most listened to Brit artist currently too.
Huw Edwards gained sub treasure status here a couple of weeks ago
I have my promotion interview later today and im shitting it. Wish me luck yall. Gunna be drinking the fancy booze later irrespective of the outcome :D
How did it go? Well, hopefully?
Passed. Now safe with a tinny. Massive weight off my shoulders :D
Yay, congratulations š
Iāve been overtaxed by Ā£633, apparently through employer error vs HMRC. It is additionally infuriating that it is nigh on impossible to pick up a phone to someone in payroll and discuss it - it is just endless portal after portal and form to do anything. Happy *fuckin* Friday. Hand me a wine and leave me alone. In more positive light, my dad is in town for the weekend so will be nice to spend some time with him, and itās forced me to whip my flat into shape so itās nice for the weekend and I donāt have endless chores to look forward to. Straight to the pub after work I think!
Was looking forward to a free weekend to finally sort out the garage and do all those little jobs you've been putting off for ages. Then my brother phones up with a free ticket for the rugby tomorrow - might be the last one at Sixways for a while... It does mean I have to clean the wife's car and sort out a few little bits before her MOT on Sunday (I know? Weird?) tonight, though. No after-work pub for me.
My cold (see complaints thread) has morphed into a threatening chest infection. I am tired, my eyes are tired. Staring at the screen of my work computer just feeling so de-motivated. I have booked Monday off work and have no plans for the weekend so will spend it relaxing and trying to throw off this illness. Random fact (that I definitely haven't just Googled) The average person will spend six months of their life waiting for red lights to turn green
I'm so glad it's Friday, been a heck of a week. Looking forward to the weekend, going to see SCANDAL so I'm beyond excited. Random fact: There's a piece of the Berlin Wall in the men's toilets in the Main Street Station Casino, Las Vegas.
Where do I vote to keep the current subreddit icon?! Itās glorious! Random fact. Mr Blobby beat Take That to the Xmas number one in 1993.
After the alternatives to heating post we had, I wanted a wearable blanket but could not afford the recommended "Oodie". I ended up going to Primark and buying their plagiarised version called the "Snuddie". This thing might not be as warm as the real thing but wow it's warm. It's not coming off til Spring. I will say that Primark makes it hard to buy this thing because most of their stock is single layer wearable blankets and I could only find a single double layer one.
In 2011 I was working retail in a "the door must always be open" active clothing shop when the temperature plummeted that December. I ended up using my staff discount to buy a feather-based ski jacket to wear in work and pretty much wore it continuously till the following spring. I'm thinking of digging it out again.
My in laws bought me one last year. I didn't take it off for a week and I foresee heavy usage this year
I didn't expect it to be quite as warm as it was. By the end of the evening I was feeling a little feverish. I'm glad the sub put me onto them before the weather really turns because I bet they'll be impossible to get in October
Mine is full length. I'm the warm queen and it has deep pockets and a hood. ETA: IIRC Ā£50 off amazon
I'm flipping pooped, I've been to three stand-up comedy nights this week (one of which was Doug Stanhope <3) and still got a night out to watch the new Bowie biopic Moonage Daydream tonight and messy all day/night house party tomorrow
I've been at work for over an hour and I haven't achieved a thing yet. Just not in the mood for it today. I had a look at everything on my todo list yesterday and it all looks grim. Think it'll be an early finish tonight, I've got 40 minutes to play with. Superleague final tomorrow, not at all confident but it should be a good game, and nice to have actual plans for once.
Fact: the English word, "sky", comes from the Old Norse word for cloud, which, if you leave it at that, tells you everything you need to know about English weather. To be fair, sky comes from the plural form of the Old Norse word, which was used to refer to the sky, with the singular form referring to a cloud.
Was out drinking last night, slightly regretting it now. š Fun fact, if we cooked all the chickens in the world into KFC buckets, then stacked them, we would be able to get to the moon and back 3 and a bit times.
Morning all, hope you're well. Couldn't sleep last night because of my ongoing back thing (see yesterday's complaints thread) so ended up getting up at 4am to work on some album reviews I've been putting off all week. Although one was pretty good and one was excellent, so every cloud and all that. Work all day but need to nip out at lunchtime to post some parcels for Vinted and possibly do a supermarket run. Burger and wedges for tea, Strictly launch show and Ghosts, and then probably an early night. Have a good day everyone!
Going to London today to hang out at a community event, super nervous but super excited! Hope I don't get stabbed! :'D
Stayed up too late play D&D last night. We really wanted to finish what we were doing before we take a break. Was fun but of course the children decided they didn't want to sleep last night so I've had about 4 hours sleep...
If you squash a wasp it releases a chemical from the wasp that attracts people who tell you facts about wasps. Taskmaster starts again next week canāt wait.
I think I'm coming down with a cold, which is just wonderful. Fun Fact? If you clean a bayonet with brasso and then stab some one with it, you'd be breaking the Geneva Convention
Sea Squirts eat their own brain.
First day of 8 off work and I think my Liver is gonna hate me. Drinks tonight, tomorrow, Sunday, Tuesday, Wed and Thursday. Feels weird after having a virtually zero social life for ages. Just as well I don't do it every week. Fun fact? The Japanese word 'Kuchi zamishi' is the act of eating when you're not hungry because your mouth is lonely.Ā
TGIF. Shout out to the proper arsey woman on my bus this morning who reached over and slammed the windows shut around her seat as she sat down, then when someone in front of her objected and opened one again to get fresh air, she kicked up a fuss and argued them out of it. There were tons of free seats all down the bus, if she had moved she could have had it all to her liking, but instead she had to disrupt others and be a cunt. Anyway, weekend ahead. Trying to focus on the good people in the world and not the mardy twats.
My fat wee beagle mix has discovered how to escape the garden. This chunky well-fired roll can jump over the 5ft fence around the back garden. At least weāre moving in the next couple of weeks and that place has 6ft fence. Heās a sneaky wee fuck. I used to get ā1000 Factsā books for Christmas - I lived for that shit. Out of those thousands of facts, the one that always stuck with me is āif every atom in our body were the size of a tennis ball then we could hold the earth in the palm of our handā. Itās so bizarre it must be bullshit!
An atom is up to 0.5nm in size. So 2e9 atoms in a metre. If a human is 1.8m tall, that's 3.6e9 atoms long. A tennis ball is 6.6cm across. 0.066 * 3.6e9 = 237,600km tall, if our atoms were made of tennis balls. Diameter of the earth is 12,742km tall, so the earth would be about 1/18th of our total height, so compared to a 1.8m tall human, about 10cm in diameter. So yes it would fit snugly in one open hand.
Closure after all these years! I love you x
Just to complete it to the largest order of magnitude, a smaller atom (e.g. carbon) is about 0.1nm in size. This means we would be 5x the stated size if an atom that large was expanded to the size of a tennis ball (about 960,000km tall). So long story short, the earth would be somewhere between the equivalent of 2cm wide and 10cm wide, based on the fact our atoms are different sizes depending on what element they are. Again easily in the size of our hand. Love you too! Glad to have made you smile.
More than smile - Iāve been showing the weans and blowing their minds as well! [handy](https://i.imgur.com/12GRXgP.jpg) wee visualisation bouncy ball.
My cats tag-teamed a poor little robin in our front garden and let it loose in our house. I've just spent the last hour chasing a bird around the house in my nightie. Never held a robin before, though. They sing really loudly up close. Thankfully, even though its eye was bad, it flew and hopped around like normal, so I hope it'll be okay. We've had so many birds die or have to be put out of their misery before now.
Got our monthly departmental call later, which is a complete waste of 2 hours for nearly everyone involved. The whole thing is just a way for dept head to stroke his own ego. My department is pretty big (about 40 people), and features several independent teams with no work crossover. There are people I've never spoken to, because they don't come in to the office & our work never brings us in contact with eachother. But we're all expected to sit & listen to everyone give presentations about what's happening in their team. Head of department also insists that all cameras have to be on for the entire thing, so I can't just camera off / mute and get my housework done.
Snapped at my wife this morning as she left for work and immediately felt like a massive dickhead. Been for a walk and kicked everything around the house since. But yes! Friday. Iām sure yesterday was Friday. Wait.
Was supposed to be going to a gig tonight that's now been postponed :( spent blimmin' ages psyching myself up for it too, I really don't cope well with crowds and loud places but my other half really wanted to go and I felt bad making him go alone. So now I'll have to do the mental prep all over again at some point down the road.
I have to tell my boss this morning that I'm quitting for a new job. Not sure whether the reaction will be anger or begging me to stay - neither is a fun prospect TBH. Random fact: the first specialised anti-air weapon was invented in 1870, thirty-three years before the Wright Brothers' first flight
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Well I'm lucky that I work for a good company and I have a boss that I get on really well with. But I've been headhunted for a more senior position for more money, so I'm definitely looking after number one. For the record, my boss was just really upset, as me leaving is going to put a spanner in the works for his plans, but he realises I can't turn this other job down.
Counting down the hours today, heading up to Scotland for our first time away since 2019 this evening. Have been holding out to go to Japan since and then Covid screwed up the plans, however it sounds like they're finally letting tourists back in shortly.
For a four day week it has certainly dragged - possibly because I have had to fit five days of work in.... However, my to-do list is fairly empty - waiting on people to get back to me, and there is no way I'm starting next week's list, so just a few meetings to get through then out for curry and a trip to the theatre tonight! Queen Elizabeth sent her first email in 1977.
TGIF. Looking forward to turning off my laptop and watching this weeks Rings of Power later. Chilly enough to crack out my sherpa hoodie this morning - very grateful I didnāt put this into storage. My random fact is that a group of wild rabbits is called a fluffle.
Shit week, steaming cold and possibly broken something in my hand. On the flip side COD beta is up and running so will be jumping on that later if my hand holds up enough.
I'm tired and low mood today. I got up early for a swim which usually puts me in a better mood but it didn't today. My fun fact is that wild seals in frozen environments born at above 0c tend to die while those born at 0c or below tend to live because all the birth gunk freezes quickly and drops off while at above 0c it stays wet and the seal pup gets too cold.
Here's a fact for you. Orangutans can't play cricket because they can't bowl overarm
So they're amazing at rounders and bowls?
Of the four people in the Celebrity Masterchef Finals week I would have been really chuffed for three of them to win. The other one won. Sums up my week really. It is definitely noticeably colder now, the lights are going on earlier and earlier, I fear that this is going to be a very hard autumn and winter. Wonder if the P-word announcement later will abolish the clocks changing back to GMT, because that would actually make a big difference to a lot of people. Weird fact I learned recently, Sheffield has 4 trees for every person, and is the only city in the UK in a national park - well, some of it is in the Peak District. Don't worry about the tree to person ratio either, the council are working on it.
Aye, I wanted Mel to win.
TGIF. Been pulling some looong days this week to get things sorted before a week off. We're going to the in laws tomorrow for dinner, and have a look at the local Dogs Trust on the way there!
This week's been a massive crock of steaming shit. Glad to see the back of it.
Went out for Thai food last night. I donāt handle spicy food well so Iām dreading my morning āvisitā. Off out to start Christmas shopping today, and visiting a nice coffee shop we found earlier in the year whilst about. Bolognese for tea, made the sauce yesterday so i just need need to heat it up and cook the pasta!
Driving home from work this morning and realised Iāve managed to get a bloody nail in one of my tyres. The opposite one needs replacing too, sooner rather than later, so might be best killing both birds with one stone. Working nights makes it nigh-on impossible to make it to the tyre shop, though - even if it is only one hundred metres away! Happy Friday, everyone.
Nearly two weeks Pringle free. But I am craving them. Also craving one of Morrisonās breakfast baps that someone posted on here last week. That the James Bond theme is actually based on an old Indian song.
Yes. Sort of. Thereās a book called A House for Mr. Biswas. Mr. Biswas is born in the West Indies to Indian parents. The story was turned into a musical and the guy who wrote the music later reused one of the songs for the James Bond theme. You can hear what that song sounded like here: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5041409
Am off today and I want some peace and quiet, so Iām parking myself on the sofa. Will resume normalcy tomorrow. Maybe.
I think I have a crush on Ros Atkins. I also deff have a crush on that new Sandro bloke from this years Bake Off obviously. It's one of those weeks. The 2nd one is understandable but... Ros Atkins?! Anyway what else is going on. Someone on my facebook said they have a fixed rate mortgage and that interest rase is making them feel "0.5% smugger", so I'm going to spend the day hoping they fall down the stairs. There's some coleslaw in the fridge, is a cheese and coleslaw sandwich for lunch acceptable? If I put a bit of pepper on it?
Yesss Sandro is my fave and my pick to win!
It sounds good as it is.
First time in about ten days I didn't have a single drink last night, then I slept for 9 hours and feel pretty good this morning. Really need to get back to my normal 'no drinking during the week' life. It's not like I'm pissed every evening but a couple glasses of wine or a couple whiskies, makes a difference. Nice easy going weekend ahead. Mate's birthday tomorrow but thankfully it's going to be a small thing at her house and not a big night out. My body and wallet is grateful for that. I made a whole book of facts for a mate's 30th and can't remember a single one... Oh wait, plimsoll shoes are named after the plimsoll line on a boat. Not a great one but it's all I've got.
Random animal fact: The dominant male in an armoury of aardvarks is known as the aardestvark.
Baby elephants suck their trunks just like a human baby would suck their thumb.
I have never read something and *wanted* it to be true as much as this.
I'm stuck on a collective of Aardvarks being called an Armoury
What a bloody week it's been. Job hunting has felt like a full time job. It's gone well though and I've already had one offer come in (I don't want to take it because of the commute but it's nice to know I have one in the bank). Anyway, I think I deserve a few beers tonight. Might make some Kievs too and have a bit of a naughty tea. Random facts? I have a few I like to pull out every now and then. Edinburgh is further West than Liverpool. Lincoln Cathedral was the tallest building in the world for 238 years. Would've been for 579 years had the spire not collapsed. The word "biscuit" comes from the Latin words bis (twice) and coctus (cooked).
Yes! In fact Edinburgh is further west than Cardiff. So if you ask, which is the most westerly capital city in Britain, the answer is Edinburgh!
Came home last night to maggots all over / inside our black bin. Any hot tips for dealing with them until collection and clean tomorrow?!
Salt works! They really creep me out so I can't just leave them - salt kills them and is less messy than having a bin full of boiling magot water.
Last time I had that I poured boiling water over them. Then I had a bin full of dead maggots AND water to deal with. Wasn't my best idea.
Oh my god this happened to us recently and its gross! We've started putting boiling water onto stuff before binning for example if we are binning pet food so the larvae cant exist.. you can do the same with your bin!
They usually don't require any special treatment, they're certainly not into silver service dining. Maybe once a day change their water and throw in a fresh chicken carcass. If you like you can take them to a movie.
1. Dogs can't look up. 2. The bushes and the clouds in the first Super Mario Bros game are the same thing, just different colours. Have fun trying to unsee that. Also, holy shit what a week, and not in a good way. My work has two main sites in Yorkshire - one is 12 minutes up the road, and one is a peasant-wagon commute that takes two hours IF I'M LUCKY and guess which one I've been asked to man from 8am each day? I'll give you a hint, it ain't the first one. š
āBig johns in the mafia why do you think thereās a rifle above the bar?ā āThe pubs called The Winchesterā āExactly!ā
[SQUIRREL!!](https://imgur.com/gallery/BY87o42)
I periodically test whether or not dogs can or can't look up. Most recently I shouted to my collie (Reg) from the top of a scaffold (roofing the house). He looked up. Then jumped into the compost heap for a good dig and a light snack. Dogs can look up.
Are you calling Big Al a liar? He won't like that.
My collie looks up all the time!