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

[presta]

Well Cardiff Queen Street, which has been pedestrianised for at least 40 years was last updated August 2024

Yes, it hasn't gone unnoticed that there are pedestrian areas on Streetview, but ours isn't one of them, apparently. I could have sworn our shopping precinct was on Streetview too, but if so, it isn't any more. Perhaps it comes down to whether someone is willing to pay for it. The interior of a hotel I stayed at on Corfu used to be on Streetivew once, but it isn't now, so I assume the owners decided it wasn't worth the money.

 

[DaveReading]

The etymology of helicopter doesn't break it down into heli- and -copter. It breaks it down into helico- (spiral as in helix) and -pter (wing, as in pterodactyl)

The English word helicopter is adapted from the French word hélicoptère, coined by Gustave Ponton d'Amécourt in 1861, which originates from the Greek helix (ἕλιξ), genitive helikos (ἕλῐκος), "helix, spiral, whirl, convolution"[2] and pteron (πτερόν) "wing". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter

And in modern French, helice means propeller.

 

[albion]

The reason sodium ion batteries traditionally had low capacity seeminly WAS due to massive capacity loss in the first few cycles.
Catl has solved that issue by using a sodiated cathode. The new batteries thus match LFP for capacity.
Whilst NMC currently surpasses this by 50%+, long term, I think risk assessments will result in sodium batteries dominating for general home and vehicle use.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The reason sodium ion batteries traditionally had low capacity seeminly WAS due to massive capacity loss in the first few cycles.
Catl has solved that issue by using a sodiated cathode. The new batteries thus match LFP for capacity.
Whilst NMC currently surpasses this by 50%+, long term, I think risk assessments will result in sodium batteries dominating for general home and vehicle use.

Hmmm
When I was in my final year at University I did several things to help develop Sodium batteries
mostly in terms of isolating the crystal that develop inside so they could work out how they occur and how to stop it happening

It involved a lot of experiments using liquid Sodium - my partner (female) refused to get involved in that bit so I did it and she kept the notes and results
That was a long time ago!

 

[albion]

I wonder if it is much the same scenario that now gives the batteries an incredible 10,000 cycle capacity.
Amazing considering how immature the technology is.

 

[ColinJ]

I am just doing a cryptic crossword and one clue has a cycling theme. The answer was something that was new to me...

Garment for cyclists? (5-7)

Spoiler: Answer

 

[Dogtrousers]

I am just doing a cryptic crossword and one clue has a cycling theme. The answer was something that was new to me...

Garment for cyclists? (5-7)

Spoiler: Answer

View attachment 799534

Not exactly a new term. This excerpt from Tom Waits' Heartattack and Vine from 1980:
See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top
With the *****-******* sucking on a soda pop

 

[ColinJ]

Not exactly a new term. This excerpt from Tom Waits' Heartattack and Vine from 1980:
See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top
With the *****-******* sucking on a soda pop

It has probably been used in the sense of the answer for well over a century but I had never seen it used that way. I did a Google search just now and found them advertised for sale in lots of places.

 

[Chris S]

Not exactly a new term. This excerpt from Tom Waits' Heartattack and Vine from 1980:
See that little Jersey girl in the see-through top
With the *****-******* sucking on a soda pop

That makes it look really rude

 

[Chris S]

It has probably been used in the sense of the answer for well over a century but I had never seen it used that way. I did a Google search just now and found them advertised for sale in lots of places.

Princess Diana (or Lady as she was then) used to wear them. She looked like a new romantic.

 

[Drago]

and people moan like crazy about the Licence fee
and then go off and pay loads more for several subscription "services"
some of which are rubbish and they never watch but wonder what that DD was several years later

OK - there are problems with the licence fee for a variety of reasons
but the way people moan about it often makes little sense

I watch very little - I generally prefer the radio and Im a voracious reader. Im instead spending my time studying for another degree and teaching myself to play an ever expanding range of instruments rather than waste it in front of the hypno-box.

Having a northern isles upbringing in my formative years we didnt even have a tv until 1980ish, and soon after I was packed off to prep school anyway, so didn't have regular access to a telly until I was 15 or 16 and never formed the blindly obsessive viewing habit most folk seem to have ingrained within them.

What little I watch is a deliberate selection chosen in advance, no walking in the house and flicking on the box automatically. My viewing is mainly free on the various catch-up ads (not BBC player) or £60 for Paramount+ as I like a lot of their stuff.

No forgotten DD's - how many sheeple pay the BBC DD and forget about it?

No paying for a succession of perverts or ingrained employee antisemitism. No paying towards the BBCs £63,000,000 taxi contract for high-rankers (pronounced with a "w"), "talent", and guests.

Enjoy paying your extra £5.50 come April. I wont be paying for it, and every year another third of a million households join me.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

I watch very little - I generally prefer the radio and Im a voracious reader. Im instead spending my time studying for another degree and teaching myself to play an ever expanding range of instruments rather than waste it in front of the hypno-box.

Having a northern isles upbringing in my formative years we didnt even have a tv until 1980ish, and soon after I was packed off to prep school anyway, so didn't have regular access to a telly until I was 15 or 16 and never formed the blindly obsessive viewing habit most folk seem to have ingrained within them.

What little I watch is a deliberate selection chosen in advance, no walking in the house and flicking on the box automatically. My viewing is mainly free on the various catch-up ads (not BBC player) or £60 for Paramount+ as I like a lot of their stuff.

No forgotten DD's - how many sheeple pay the BBC DD and forget about it?

No paying for a succession of perverts or ingrained employee antisemitism. No paying towards the BBCs £63,000,000 taxi contract for high-rankers (pronounced with a "w"), "talent", and guests.

Enjoy paying your extra £5.50 come April. I wont be paying for it, and every year another third of a million households join me.

A girl I used to teach was dyslexic
It was no surprise as both of her parents were dyslexic - one was a Doctor and one was a lawyer
so clearly they were both intelligent AND bloomin' determined

anyway - this girl was the youngest of 3 kids - all girls - all dyslexic
and to encourage then to learn to read the family did not have any TV or computers in the house
excpe tfor ones the parents used purely for work

If they were moaning that they had nothing to do they were told to read a book
then any and all help they needed to read it was always available as well and any needed affection, encouragment and support
but not a telly or computer or video of any kind - not even an audio book!

It worked as her elder sisters were both at University doing degrees like their parents


which does trigger me wondering how exam results at school would improve it other families did that
(note - I didn;t - but our telly often "broke" during the summer holidays for some reason!)


BTW