Things you have recently learnt

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  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 20,337
    Pross said:

    Going back to the train driver issue, I'm intrigued to know what learning the route involves as I'd always assumed that the train ends up going where the points send it and that the points are outside the driver's control so other than knowing which stations they need to stop at what does that part of the training involve?

    Remembering one of the post-disaster enquiries, there was stuff about being aware of complex signalling observation and knowing the quirks of particular spots.
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 21,910
    chris_bass said:

    Man United are averaging 1.25 points per game (past 20 league games), over 38 games that equals 48 points (i rounded up - feeling generous!).

    that would have achieved 8th, 9th and 13th in the past 3 seasons!

    Similar for Spurs puts them on 51 points (51.3 if you want to be precise) - Arsenal 2 points ahead of that.

    The standard of the league this year is awful

    I have been calling them the mediocre three for a while. At the other end of the table are the big three recent league winners and Liverpool

    If you are a fan of one of the mediocre three then it is hard times at the moment.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,541
    briantrumpet said:

    Pross said:

    Going back to the train driver issue, I'm intrigued to know what learning the route involves as I'd always assumed that the train ends up going where the points send it and that the points are outside the driver's control so other than knowing which stations they need to stop at what does that part of the training involve?

    Remembering one of the post-disaster enquiries, there was stuff about being aware of complex signalling observation and knowing the quirks of particular spots.
    Boils down to knowing when you must stop. If you wait until you can see something, it's too late.

    And yet metro systems can run without drivers entirely. I guess at that point it becomes more like air traffic control with rails.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 52,312
    I mean, be honest - would anyone here have the balls to actually drive the bullet, Maglev or TGV at full tilt?
    I couldn't. Imagine the stopping distances.
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,320
    pinno said:

    I mean, be honest - would anyone here have the balls to actually drive the bullet, Maglev or TGV at full tilt?
    I couldn't. Imagine the stopping distances.

    Can you imagine using them?
    The consequences are the same for passengers as well as drivers.
    As for flying... 😉
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    orraloon said:

    Could be he's a pikey scavenger picking over the debris looking for copper wire and the like? 😉

    Oi! :D
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    ben6899 said:

    longshot said:

    Obviously I'm not being serious about the ease of driving trains. I've been inside the cockpit (or what was left of it) of the Virgin Pendolino that derailed in Cumbria and it still looked pretty complicated then.

    I'm not sure what the acronym was for the training I received. I used to take people round a site that still had live 3rd rail on it and needed the certificate to be able to turn the power off and what to do/not do with anyone unfortunate enough to step on it

    You were on site at Grayrigg, following the derailment? I'm intrigued to know what you do for a living. :smile:
    No. I had a walk round it when it got sent back to Washwood Heath (where the Pendolinos were built) for the insurance investigation. I had nothing to tdo with that investigation but was on site regularly and someone kindly(?) showed me the aftermath.
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • Longshot
    Longshot Posts: 940
    ben6899 said:

    Slight tangent, but the game has changed beyond recognition for me. I support United (not a plastic, before anyone starts)... heard a rumour that Saudis are interested in a buy-out.

    I'm out, if that happens. Completely out. Not interested.

    As a plastic Liverpool fan, BOOO!
    You can fool some of the people all of the time. Concentrate on those people.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,541
    pblakeney said:

    pinno said:

    I mean, be honest - would anyone here have the balls to actually drive the bullet, Maglev or TGV at full tilt?
    I couldn't. Imagine the stopping distances.

    Can you imagine using them?
    The consequences are the same for passengers as well as drivers.
    As for flying... 😉
    I seem to remember one of our Intercity 125s takes well over a mile to stop from full speed. Some Googling reveals a TGV takes 3389 metres to stop from 320 kmh!
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • Ben6899
    Ben6899 Posts: 9,686
    rjsterry said:

    briantrumpet said:

    Pross said:

    Going back to the train driver issue, I'm intrigued to know what learning the route involves as I'd always assumed that the train ends up going where the points send it and that the points are outside the driver's control so other than knowing which stations they need to stop at what does that part of the training involve?

    Remembering one of the post-disaster enquiries, there was stuff about being aware of complex signalling observation and knowing the quirks of particular spots.
    Boils down to knowing when you must stop. If you wait until you can see something, it's too late.

    And yet metro systems can run without drivers entirely. I guess at that point it becomes more like air traffic control with rails.
    And what to do in an emergency or in a fault which sends you up the wrong line (happens).

    They're much smaller, mostly self-contained networks. Some extra thought is required at interfaces (Tube/Network Rail). Imagine automating the whole of the National Rail network and then managing interfaces between routes (and freight routes).
    Ben

    Bikes: Donhou DSS4 Custom | Condor Italia RC | Gios Megalite | Dolan Preffisio | Giant Bowery '76
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ben_h_ppcc/
    Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143173475@N05/
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    pinno said:

    awavey said:

    ...whilst blokes just seem to want someone to share the cost of buying a beer with

    Err...

    Mt two pence worth: True friends, you can count on the finger of one hand.

    I have friends I made at College years ago, and I am still in touch and even if a month or three passes by that I don't speak to them, we pick things up like it was the day before.

    No, i'm terrible at small talk so the friends I have made over the years all have the same trait and there's little we don;t talk about.

    sorry I agree i dropped into a sweeping statement there:) its just been my observation thats been the way it is.but I totally agree true friends are rare and unique,thats what makes them special :smiley:
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 52,312
    awavey said:

    pinno said:

    awavey said:

    ...whilst blokes just seem to want someone to share the cost of buying a beer with

    Err...

    Mt two pence worth: True friends, you can count on the finger of one hand.

    I have friends I made at College years ago, and I am still in touch and even if a month or three passes by that I don't speak to them, we pick things up like it was the day before.

    No, i'm terrible at small talk so the friends I have made over the years all have the same trait and there's little we don;t talk about.

    sorry I agree i dropped into a sweeping statement there:) its just been my observation thats been the way it is.but I totally agree true friends are rare and unique,thats what makes them special :smiley:
    I guess it would be the same for someone who was world famous or... Joe Bloggs in Scunthorpe. Only, if you were wealthy and famous, would you really know or would you be paranoid?
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,227
    That Grayson Perry is a keen MTBer, used to race them.

    Was on latest release of Richard Herring's RHLSTP podcast. Amusing and interesting.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,541
    William Playfair invented the bar chart and did some other stuff. Lots of other stuff.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • forehead
    forehead Posts: 180
    Recently learnt a new method for cooking a joint of beef with the oven switched off. Courtesey of Eddie Marsan, looking forward to trying it!

    Screaming hot oven for about 20 mins, then switch it off and leave it for 2 hours. don't open the door.
    Cube - Peloton
    Cannondale - CAAD10
  • bompington
    bompington Posts: 7,674
    rjsterry said:

    William Playfair invented the bar chart and did some other stuff. Lots of other stuff.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair

    Local lad here.
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 29,541
    And a bit of a scally by the sounds of it.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
    Pinnacle Monzonite

    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    rjsterry said:

    William Playfair invented the bar chart and did some other stuff. Lots of other stuff.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Playfair

    On a similar theme, in France a pie chart is called "Un diagramme camembert"

    apparently the wedges in trivial pursuit are also called camembert
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • tailwindhome
    tailwindhome Posts: 19,436
    US boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer trademarked his catchphrase "Let's get ready to rumble".

    It has generated 400 million USD in revenue since 1992.

    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • pinno
    pinno Posts: 52,312
    tailwindhome said:

    US boxing ring announcer Michael Buffer trademarked his catchphrase "Let's get ready to rumble".

    It has generated 400 million USD in revenue since 1992.

    How on earth do they calculate that?!
    seanoconn - gruagach craic!
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    someone must own the rights to it and it is how much they have been paid i guess
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,320
    edited December 2019
    Let's see.....

    Let's get ready to rumble!

    Anything?
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • mrb123
    mrb123 Posts: 4,815
    Watch us wreck the mic...
  • david7m
    david7m Posts: 636
    Psyche :smile:
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,143
    The blanket may have been named after its inventor, Thomas Blanket, in the 14th century.
  • mrfpb
    mrfpb Posts: 4,569
    Johnny Cash didnt have a first name until he chose the name "John" when signing up for the US Air Force.
    His parents couldn't agree on a name, so had "J.R." put on his birth certificate.

    Courtesy of "Country Music by Ken Burns" on BBC4.
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,227
    kingstongraham said:

    The blanket may have been named after its inventor, Thomas Blanket, in the 14th century.

    RHLSTP!
  • briantrumpet
    briantrumpet Posts: 20,337
    orraloon said:

    kingstongraham said:

    The blanket may have been named after its inventor, Thomas Blanket, in the 14th century.

    RHLSTP!
    I learnt quie a while ago to check the Oxford English Dictionary.

    Etymology: < Old French blankete, blanquette blanket, < blanc white + diminutive suffix -ette ; see blanchētus , -um in Ducange. Compare blunket adj. and n. (The Thomas Blanket to whom gossip attributes the origin of the name, if he really existed, doubtless took his name from the article.)
    https://www.facebook.com/unanglaisendiois
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,227
    Somehow I doubt that the blanket was 'invented' in the 14th century. Human beanz been around for a long long time.
  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 27,320
    orraloon said:

    Somehow I doubt that the blanket was 'invented' in the 14th century. Human beanz been around for a long long time.

    No doubt there would be a caveman wishing he had copyrighted the fur pelt if he were still around... ;)
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.

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