Seemingly trivial things that intrigue you
Comments
-
People who comment to the adverts for the Omaze houses on social media. I can never resist reading them to see the comments along the lines of a) it will cost too much to run or b) it’s too big. Do they not realise that if you win a multi-million pound house you’re able to sell it and pocket the money? It also usually comes with several hundred grand in cash. I can understand people being against it on the basis of it being gambling but being against it in case you win is weird.
There’s also always a load of comments along the lines of whether the woman showing the house comes with it. Do they think they’re being original? It reminds me of the Simpsons episode with the model at a car show.
0 -
Maybe it's just accustoming themselves to the reality of the odds, they haven't got a hope in hell of winning it.
0 -
I'm not sure that many people really grasp the odds of winning lotteries like Omaze and the National Lottery and that you could probably get similar odds on a 3 legged horse in the Grand National. It's not for nothing that the latter was described as a tax on stupidity (a tax I can approve of, not least because it's voluntary☺️)
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I suspect most appreciate the odds but £2 to potentially win £100 million feels like a worthwhile punt. Sure, there’s some who seem to think they will win if they throw enough money at it but ultimately people do win which reinforces the dream. As far as I know a three-legged horse has never won the National though.
0 -
They'd be some bloody good odds mind.
Ummm...
0 -
That's true, but I do get why people have a go.
0 -
I get that and TBH I've had the odd flutter knowing full well the odds. The stupidity kicks in as you say when people who can't afford it splash (relatively) loads on stuff like that.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Me too and there's no harm if you can clearly afford to lose your stake.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
That’s the approach I take when I’ve been for a day at the races. It’s some spending money like buying a few beers on a night out. If I take some of it back home that’s great, if I come home with more than I took it’s happy days.
0 -
Sorry, a bit niche, this one.
Hadn't previously really grasped the scale of Henry VIII's requisition of Church property. This is a map of all the dissolved monasteries.
Also, look how busy East Anglia is.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition1 -
Looks like they were due a cull to be fair.
Not much in the North West. Did we have tougher monks or just fewer monasteries?
0 -
With your name it feels like you should know!
0 -
I guess that most people know, either through education or experiment, that you can't have a cream & red wine sauce, as the red wine curdles the cream. But it appears you can have a cream and rosé sauce, as that's how I cooked some pork escalopes the other evening, as I didn't have any white wine to hand (being an idiot, as normal).
So, chemists out there, what is it in red wine that causes cream to curdle, and what's the tipping point at which the redness curdles the cream? Must admit that the rosé worked quite nicely in the sauce.
0 -
Was trying to think of a modern equivalent and I guess something like nationalising Tesco (without any compensation to shareholders).
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Partly the legacy of the post-Viking medieval wool boom, where they were servicing around 40-50% of North Sea and Baltic wool, if you're interested... Especially around Norfolk.
In general, density wise, there seems to be a fairly obvious "Danelaw" divide in that map...
0 -
The more I think about this, the more I remember from my medival course at uni.
I think there's something about Benedictine monastic reform in Danelaw England - something around the Vikings encouraging Benedictine reform and then relying on Benedictine monks more because they were more dependent on the king for their power and wealth, so they were a good conduit of power and encouraged.
This had the benefit of making those monasteries much more successful (and so able to last all those centuries) as Benedictine practices are a particularly productive and effective way to run a monastery.
Interestingly most of the monasteries that survive all the way to the Tudors are in the East and the midlands; largely where the reforms occurred.
Or something, It's all rather hazy.
(you all probably know Monte Casino from the WW2 battle, but that monastery was the birth of the most influential set of ideas in all of European culture (western and eastern) society and economics for the entire medieval period; Benedictine Monasticism)
0 -
Yes, I know (from all the massive churches) that Big Wool was big in East Anglia. That was my first thought, but it was also big over the Cotswolds with similarly grand parish churches but far fewer monastic institutions. Not convinced there's a correlation with Danelaw, which included the North West. Also interesting just how much EA has depopulated (if monastic houses can be taken as a proxy for population - which may be wrong as some orders deliberately move away from population centres).
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Are not a significant percentage of those Monasteries Cistercian. Several of the Yorkshire ones are.
0 -
-
-
Most of the Cistercian ones were founded in the 1100’s long after Danelaw had gone. So I’m not sure how that fits in with your theory.
0 -
Were they not just benedictine monastaries beforehandf? Cistercian is sort of hardcore benedictineism i thought.
0 -
I don’t think so as the ones listed on Wikipedia as Cistercian are described as being founded in 1123 or similar. I looked it up because I don’t think any I’ve visited up here in Yorkshire or know of are Benedictine. One my childhood playgrounds was Kirkstall abbey which again is Cistercian, my first job was at Kirkstall forge founded by said monks.
0 -
And to think some people got annoyed with me for banging on about rowing tactics. That was like watching an action movie compared to this.
0 -
Sure. What I meant is, although they will be founded post-danelaw, Cistercianism (aka Bernardinism) is basically a more literal intepretation of benedictineism, which by the time Bernardinism came around had evolved quite substantially.
So it stands to reason you will get a lot of Bernardines in areas where there already was a culture of benedictinism.
0 -
-
Scroll to about 4.59
0 -
-
Definitely a slow news day 🙂
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Thank you.
0
