Things you have recently learnt

chris_bass
chris_bass Posts: 4,913
edited October 2019 in The cake stop
Didn't want to call this seemingly trivial things you have recently learnt but that is kind of what i am pitching this as!

I recently learnt when to use less or fewer when talking about percentages - it depends on the thing you are taking a percentage of, if that is countable then it is fewer otherwise it is less!

for example:
there were 10% fewer children according to Mr Johnson
There was 10% less water in the bucket
www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
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Comments

  • What a cashew nut plant looks like.
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    That excess profits duty could be reduced by investing the profits in the business. Also corporation tax was invented by Austen Chamberlain in 1921.
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 12,608
    Robert88 wrote:
    That excess profits duty could be reduced by investing the profits in the business.
    My dear chap, the taxable profit number is what you want it to be. Don't even need taxdodger666 to tell you that. Cash however is a real number.
  • What a cashew nut plant looks like.

    I know, mad isn't it?
    I will no longer internally object to the price now, as it must be fairly labor intensive.
    You're the light wiping out my batteries; You're the cream in my airport coffee's.
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    What a cashew nut plant looks like.

    I know, mad isn't it?

    nuts you could say
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,151
    orraloon wrote:
    Robert88 wrote:
    That excess profits duty could be reduced by investing the profits in the business.
    My dear chap, the taxable profit number is what you want it to be. Don't even need taxdodger666 to tell you that. Cash however is a real number.
    Maybe it's not so recent, but how little most people know about tax :wink:

    At least Robert88 is trying to educate himself about what tax was like in the last century.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    orraloon wrote:
    Robert88 wrote:
    That excess profits duty could be reduced by investing the profits in the business.
    My dear chap, the taxable profit number is what you want it to be. Don't even need taxdodger666 to tell you that. Cash however is a real number.
    Maybe it's not so recent, but how little most people know about tax :wink:

    At least Robert88 is trying to educate himself about what tax was like in the last century.

    I would agree with this - the amount of people I have spoken to who seem to be relatively well educated otherwise who are adamant that if they get a small pay rise that puts them into the next tax bracket their net pay will actually be lower is quite amazing!
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    orraloon wrote:
    Robert88 wrote:
    That excess profits duty could be reduced by investing the profits in the business.
    My dear chap, the taxable profit number is what you want it to be. Don't even need taxdodger666 to tell you that. Cash however is a real number.
    Maybe it's not so recent, but how little most people know about tax :wink:

    At least Robert88 is trying to educate himself about what tax was like in the last century.

    I am researching a well-known company that rose and fell last century and how it met its end. It's interesting because the main character was a chartered accountant and also a vocal right wing politician very much like we have today. Its history is almost non-existent on t'internet as if it had been wiped. In its last days shareholders rose in revolt because of the way in which its assets had been grossly undervalued by its accountants and only revealed by chance. By that time the main character was long dead and its youngest director had met his end in mysterious circumstances. None of this can be found with a search engine.

    On its collapse lots of manufacturing jobs were lost in two towns and you'd think the internet history of those towns would record something but there is nothing at all almost as if they had been hosting the Mafia. Indeed in the company's heyday it practically ran the town where its HQ was. When it was wound up (it was sold to a foreign buyer) there was a lot money from asset sales but it is very hard to discover what happened to it but it was certainly not reinvested in the places the company had once operated. Capital knows no borders since exchange controls were abolished.
  • I very recently, just now in fact, learnt some fascinating new stuff about %'s, cashew nut plants and tax. Carry on.
  • thistle_
    thistle_ Posts: 7,121
    That Google recognises facial expressions in pictures.

    I was playing around with their cloud based OCR thing and came across the face detection part. I guess that cameras that take the picture when you smile use a similar principle.
  • I discovered recently that I am not related to Bobby Crush.
  • robert88
    robert88 Posts: 2,696
    I need to get the cars filled up.
  • The sun is 150 million kilometres from Earth
  • That time is measured by the distance light travels not the other way around.
  • mouth
    mouth Posts: 1,195
    That the average North Sea cod is 53kg when caught.
    The only disability in life is a poor attitude.
  • That I've been mispronouncing the musical term 'adagio' all my musical life: an Italian speaker told me that the 'i' merely softens the 'g', so that the pronunciation is "adajjo", not "adajjeo".
  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    That me ‘Living the Dream’ isn’t always Living the Dream
    (Spanish Floods)
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    That I've been mispronouncing the musical term 'adagio' all my musical life: an Italian speaker told me that the 'i' merely softens the 'g', so that the pronunciation is "adajjo", not "adajjeo".

    is this always the case in Italian? so would the footballer Roberto Baggio be pronounced Roberto Bajjo - If so I have been saying his name wrong my whole life - not that I have said it that often in fairness!
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,249
    Chris Bass wrote:
    That I've been mispronouncing the musical term 'adagio' all my musical life: an Italian speaker told me that the 'i' merely softens the 'g', so that the pronunciation is "adajjo", not "adajjeo".

    is this always the case in Italian? so would the footballer Roberto Baggio be pronounced Roberto Bajjo - If so I have been saying his name wrong my whole life - not that I have said it that often in fairness!
    Yes, also in Italian an h after a c hardens the c sound so it is like a ck in English.
  • chris_bass
    chris_bass Posts: 4,913
    Veronese68 wrote:
    Chris Bass wrote:
    That I've been mispronouncing the musical term 'adagio' all my musical life: an Italian speaker told me that the 'i' merely softens the 'g', so that the pronunciation is "adajjo", not "adajjeo".

    is this always the case in Italian? so would the footballer Roberto Baggio be pronounced Roberto Bajjo - If so I have been saying his name wrong my whole life - not that I have said it that often in fairness!
    Yes, also in Italian an h after a c hardens the c sound so it is like a ck in English.

    Does that mean i'd be Ckris? It looks pretty similar i suppose
    www.conjunctivitis.com - a site for sore eyes
  • Mouth wrote:
    That the average North Sea cod is 53kg when caught.


    No it isn't.
  • That percentage calculations can be flipped and give the same answer

    30% of 50 is the same as 50% of 30


    I have GCSE maths, A level maths and a professional accounting qualification and had never been taught this.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • rjsterry
    rjsterry Posts: 27,483
    That percentage calculations can be flipped and give the same answer

    30% of 50 is the same as 50% of 30


    I have GCSE maths, A level maths and a professional accounting qualification and had never been taught this.

    It's just simple multiplication, which is commutative - 30 x 0.01 x 50 = 50 x 0.01 x 30.
    1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
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    Part of the anti-growth coalition
  • rjsterry wrote:
    That percentage calculations can be flipped and give the same answer

    30% of 50 is the same as 50% of 30


    I have GCSE maths, A level maths and a professional accounting qualification and had never been taught this.

    It's just simple multiplication, which is commutative - 30 x 0.01 x 50 = 50 x 0.01 x 30.

    I get how it works.

    Just one of those things that come up when your own children are being taught maths and in particular strategies in tackling 11 plus questions.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • david7m
    david7m Posts: 636
    Also CIMA and didn't know that.
  • Mouth wrote:
    That the average North Sea cod is 53kg when caught.
    Would of thought 5.3kg would of been more average,as 53kg would be the max they grow to, a 15kg one on rod and line boat angling is considered a big fish
  • ballysmate
    ballysmate Posts: 15,921
    That percentage calculations can be flipped and give the same answer

    30% of 50 is the same as 50% of 30


    I have GCSE maths, A level maths and a professional accounting qualification and had never been taught this.

    And they say exams have not been dumbed down. :?
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    Mouth wrote:
    That the average North Sea cod is 53kg when caught.
    would have thought 5.3kg would have been more average,as 53kg would be the max they grow to, a 15kg one on rod and line boat angling is considered a big fish

    nope according to the internet, 53kg is the average https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_cod , the largest ever found was 96kg and 6ft, thats bigger than me :shock:
  • Ballysmate wrote:
    That percentage calculations can be flipped and give the same answer

    30% of 50 is the same as 50% of 30


    I have GCSE maths, A level maths and a professional accounting qualification and had never been taught this.

    And they say exams have not been dumbed down. :?

    Every day's a school day my friend.
    “New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!
  • awavey wrote:
    Mouth wrote:
    That the average North Sea cod is 53kg when caught.
    would have thought 5.3kg would have been more average,as 53kg would be the max they grow to, a 15kg one on rod and line boat angling is considered a big fish

    nope according to the internet, 53kg is the average https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_cod , the largest ever found was 96kg and 6ft, thats bigger than me :shock:
    You source doesn't say 53kg. It also doesn't state if average adult or average weight of caught fish.