Facts that shocked you

[Pit Pony]

Doofus said:

LimmerickLad said:

littleredrooster said:

Doofus said:

It's not fair; it's thoughtless, needless and libellous.

Oh, and can you give me some examples to support your accusation (which , incidentally, is not a definition of a fascist)?

Edited by Doofus on Friday 2nd January 12:21

Where are you getting 'fascist' from? I thought the quip was just referring to you being on the right-hand side of that picture...

Not just me then?

He used the phrase "far right", and the only reason to have done so was to cause offence. There was no reason to apply any PHer's name to either of the puppets in the picture but he, inexplcably, chose to do so.

I do love a sentence with a potential double meaning. Well done.

Frank Turner has a song called "father's day" and theres a line in it that says.

A lifetime lying awake means you’ll never get to sleep.

Always makes me smile.

[AstonZagato]

Error_404_Username_not_found said:

vaud said:

Some of the sea charts in the Med date back a long way (not the port or coastal ones) with base data 100+ years old, IIRC

You're right. It's worth checking the geodetic datum used. Most are now WGS84. (Also noted on the chart). I have some old charts dating from 1936, but correlation with GPS positions is a bit patchy to say the least.
That said I successfully navigated the Hardangerfjord under sail with a 100 year old chart in 1975. Most rocks don't move much

Maybe I was just lucky.

An acquaintance has spent the last decade updating the charts for the West Coast of Scotland. He potters around in his boat whenever he has a few days to spare.

[98elise]

I heard today that women only got the right to open a bank account in 1975! Before that women's finances were tied to their husbands, and even for single women they were often needed a man to co-sign for any financial services.

Its bizarre that women were still treated like that during my lifetime. If I had to guess I would have said 1950's at the latest.

[Randy Winkman]

Cabbage Patch said:

Roofless Toothless said:

I m just watching the snooker. Mark Williams is playing.

The brown ball has gone on an unexpected trip right down to the other end of the table and was sitting amongst a group of reds. The referee pointed a white gloved finger at the ball and declared brown .

Why is he doing that? I wondered. Apparently, Williams is colour blind and can t tell the difference between the brown and red balls, so the referee helps him out.

I m colour blind and can t tell the difference between red and brown when watching the snooker. Watching the Williams / Allen match on tv I thought it was nice of the referee to point it out for me. That s usually my wife s job!

Perhaps someone else had said this to you but even as someone that regards himself as having no colour blindness at all the red and brown on TV snooker are almost the same. It's easier if they are at the black-spot end but of course that's not normally the case.

[98elise]

Randy Winkman said:

Cabbage Patch said:

Roofless Toothless said:

I m just watching the snooker. Mark Williams is playing.

The brown ball has gone on an unexpected trip right down to the other end of the table and was sitting amongst a group of reds. The referee pointed a white gloved finger at the ball and declared brown .

Why is he doing that? I wondered. Apparently, Williams is colour blind and can t tell the difference between the brown and red balls, so the referee helps him out.

I m colour blind and can t tell the difference between red and brown when watching the snooker. Watching the Williams / Allen match on tv I thought it was nice of the referee to point it out for me. That s usually my wife s job!

Perhaps someone else had said this to you but even as someone that regards himself as having no colour blindness at all the red and brown on TV snooker are almost the same. It's easier if they are at the black-spot end but of course that's not normally the case.

To me (not colour blind) they look very different.

[vaud]

98elise said:

I heard today that women only got the right to open a bank account in 1975! Before that women's finances were tied to their husbands, and even for single women they were often needed a man to co-sign for any financial services.

Its bizarre that women were still treated like that during my lifetime. If I had to guess I would have said 1950's at the latest.

https://g.co/gemini/share/2240ef3aeebf

The 70s were a good decade for starting to rebalance things….

[Doofus]

vaud said:

98elise said:

I heard today that women only got the right to open a bank account in 1975! Before that women's finances were tied to their husbands, and even for single women they were often needed a man to co-sign for any financial services.

Its bizarre that women were still treated like that during my lifetime. If I had to guess I would have said 1950's at the latest.

https://g.co/gemini/share/2240ef3aeebf

The 70s were a good decade for starting to rebalance things .

When my and my now wife opened a joint accout in 1998, we were told I could sign cheques in my own, and hers would need to be countersigned by me.

[Penny Whistle]

Doofus said:

When my and my now wife opened a joint accout in 1998, we were told I could sign cheques in my own, and hers would need to be countersigned by me.

My wife and I had separate accounts when we married in 74; certainly she had no restrictions then, or indeed when we opened our first joint account, which would have been in about 1984.

[vaud]

Penny Whistle said:

Doofus said:

When my and my now wife opened a joint accout in 1998, we were told I could sign cheques in my own, and hers would need to be countersigned by me.

My wife and I had separate accounts when we married in 74; certainly she had no restrictions then, or indeed when we opened our first joint account, which would have been in about 1984.

https://gemini.google.com/share/03ef6afb0ef3

As ever, there are nuances...
You can both be right.

[Doofus]

vaud said:

Penny Whistle said:

Doofus said:

When my and my now wife opened a joint accout in 1998, we were told I could sign cheques in my own, and hers would need to be countersigned by me.

My wife and I had separate accounts when we married in 74; certainly she had no restrictions then, or indeed when we opened our first joint account, which would have been in about 1984.

https://gemini.google.com/share/03ef6afb0ef3

As ever, there are nuances...
You can both be right.

Why would I have made it up? Particularly in such an apposite thread.

[vaud]

Doofus said:

Why would I have made it up? Particularly in such an apposite thread.

I never said you did, I was also very curious. Sorry if it came across that way. My bad wording.

[Doofus]

vaud said:

Doofus said:

Why would I have made it up? Particularly in such an apposite thread.

I never said you did, I was also very curious. Sorry if it came across that way. My bad wording.

Not at all. I didn't take offence. If anything, it was Penny Whistle's reply that cast aspersions on mine. And I wasn't offended by that one either.

I probably posted unnecessarily, TBF

[Randy Winkman]

98elise said:

Randy Winkman said:

Cabbage Patch said:

Roofless Toothless said:

I m just watching the snooker. Mark Williams is playing.

The brown ball has gone on an unexpected trip right down to the other end of the table and was sitting amongst a group of reds. The referee pointed a white gloved finger at the ball and declared brown .

Why is he doing that? I wondered. Apparently, Williams is colour blind and can t tell the difference between the brown and red balls, so the referee helps him out.

I m colour blind and can t tell the difference between red and brown when watching the snooker. Watching the Williams / Allen match on tv I thought it was nice of the referee to point it out for me. That s usually my wife s job!

Perhaps someone else had said this to you but even as someone that regards himself as having no colour blindness at all the red and brown on TV snooker are almost the same. It's easier if they are at the black-spot end but of course that's not normally the case.

To me (not colour blind) they look very different.

Fair enough. I guess that possibly shows I do have some sort of minor colour blindness issue. Or a rubbish TV.

Actually, I'm trying to sell my house at the moment and it is a possibility that people that come into my living room think "does he really watch that tiny TV?"

[Warhavernet]

Watching The Great Escape, again, reminded me that the film doesn't mention that if not for many helpful, sympathetic, anti-nazi Germans, some of them guards, that sourcing everything needed for the escape would have been much more of a problem. The forgers especially were afforded assistance and materials that enabled them to make near exact copies of any pass or ID that was needed to travel in Germany.

[FiF]

Recently rewatched "Sink the Bismarck". The actor Esmond Knight who played Captain John Leach CO of HMS Prince of Wales and you see him injured and giving commands down a voice pipe after HMS PoW bridge is hit by a shell actually served on the ship during the battle of the Denmark Straight vs Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.

Furthermore he was injured when the shell hit destroying HMS PoW's bridge, knocked unconscious, lost sight in one eye, and woke up pinned down by the body of a dead seamate.

[Tommo87]

Emily. The little girl that owned Bagpuss was actually a money launderer.

In the opening credits she is described as owning an unusual shop - which did not sell anything?!

[Steve H]

Bagpuss only ran for one series and 13 episodes.

[tribbles]

Steve H said:

Bagpuss only ran for one series and 13 episodes.

Maybe it was phoenixed from Mr Benn's costume shop, and transformed again into something else...

[vaud]

Tommo87 said:

Emily. The little girl that owned Bagpuss was actually a money launderer.

In the opening credits she is described as owning an unusual shop - which did not sell anything?!

Possibilities

The shop is a front for the Mice’s international cheese-smuggling syndicate. All those songs they sing? Coded messages about shipping routes through the skirting boards.


High-End "Lost Property" Ransom: Emily doesn't just "find" things. She has a network of mice (The Mouse Organ) who are experts at pickpocketing. They steal your favorite silver thimble, Emily displays it in the window, and you "claim" it by paying a "voluntary restoration donation."


A "Ghost" Kitchen (but for Junk): The shop is actually a dark hub for a delivery app. You don't buy things in the shop; you order "Pre-loved Victorian Tat" on your phone, and a mouse on a tiny electric scooter with no lights delivers a broken pocket watch to your door within 30 minutes.

[Austin Prefect]

FiF said:

Recently rewatched "Sink the Bismarck". The actor Esmond Knight who played Captain John Leach CO of HMS Prince of Wales and you see him injured and giving commands down a voice pipe after HMS PoW bridge is hit by a shell actually served on the ship during the battle of the Denmark Straight vs Bismarck and Prinz Eugen.

Furthermore he was injured when the shell hit destroying HMS PoW's bridge, knocked unconscious, lost sight in one eye, and woke up pinned down by the body of a dead seamate.

Captain John Leach was later killed when HMS Prince of Wales was sunk by Japanese aircraft. The vulnerability of warships in the absence of air cover made a big impression on his son Henry, a junior officer at the time but first sea lord during the Falklands war.