|
Post by Kimby on Mar 12, 2020 4:45:42 GMT
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Mar 14, 2020 20:00:28 GMT
If I understand correctly, in the UK, I must purchase a senior pass for 30£ in order to be allowed to use senior rate train discounts. I’m surprised that I just can’t use the senior tickets without buying a pass the way I’ve done in France, Switzerland and Italy. Is this correct, you people who are in the know?
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Mar 14, 2020 20:05:08 GMT
Yes, you buy the pass and that allows you to buy senior rate tickets.
|
|
|
Post by htmb on Mar 14, 2020 20:08:44 GMT
Thanks, Mick. I appreciate the clarification.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Mar 14, 2020 21:54:17 GMT
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Mar 14, 2020 22:13:10 GMT
Frankly I am not surprised.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Apr 8, 2020 14:17:04 GMT
1. More adult nappies (diapers) are sold in Japan than for children. 2. 98% of Japanese adoptions concern adults adopting adults.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Apr 8, 2020 14:30:27 GMT
France is the country that has the most time zones in the world. That makes 12, followed by the United States with 10 and Russia with 8.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Apr 8, 2020 14:45:12 GMT
France is the country that has the most time zones in the world. That makes 12, followed by the United States with 10 and Russia with 8. What? Is there a new definition of time zone?
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Apr 8, 2020 15:25:58 GMT
It depends more on one's definition of France. With places like Réunion, Mayotte, the French Antilles, French Guiana, New Caledonia, Polynesia, Clipperton, St. Pierre & Miquelon, Kerguelen, Nouvelle Amsterdam, etc., the area is really quite vast. France also has the second largest maritime domain in the world, after the United States. imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/9918/cABz4M.png
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Apr 8, 2020 20:57:45 GMT
98% of Japanese adoptions concern adults adopting adults. ~?~ Any idea of the reason behind that? re: time zones -- quite a while ago I read that all of China has only one time zone, that no matter where you are in that country, you're on Beijing time.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Apr 9, 2020 12:48:14 GMT
The American Civil War ended this day in 1865 when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Apr 10, 2020 11:48:52 GMT
The American Civil War ended this day in 1865 when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. Should have been on the Highlighting Today thread. Sorry.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Apr 20, 2020 10:15:51 GMT
In one month of confinement, burglaries have dropped 95% in Paris, pickpocketing has dropped 93%. Domestic violence complaints have dropped 60% but everybody knows this is meaningless, since the victims are unable to seek help. Thefts from pharmacies have increased.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Apr 24, 2020 18:33:57 GMT
When syphilis first struck Europe at the end of the fifteenth century, the French named it the Spanish disease; the English, Italians and Germans called it the French disease; the Russians referred to it as the Polish disease; and the Poles and the Persians, the Turkish disease. The Turks meanwhile took finger-pointing a stage further, dubbing it the Christian disease.source
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on May 10, 2020 4:56:36 GMT
Anchorage has become the world's busiest airport due to cargo flights.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on May 17, 2020 16:36:12 GMT
At least half a million viruses can live on the head of a pin. Makes you wonder if masks are very effective.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 17, 2020 16:38:22 GMT
That's what I've read about many masks -- that people are fooling themselves if they think the mask filters out something as teeny as a virus. However, since it appears we are supposed to be so vigilant against droplets, that if your mask keeps the droplets out (or in), you're sort of okay.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on May 17, 2020 17:46:21 GMT
My mask protects you, your mask protects me.
If one of us sneezes or coughs or even talks forcefully, our droplets will land on our own masks instead of hanging in the air between us.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 17, 2020 17:50:05 GMT
Yeah, except that everyone doesn't use a mask, so your own mask has to be some protection against those people.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on May 17, 2020 17:55:52 GMT
My mask telegraphs that I CARE about not spreading germs, and I would hope that decent people, wearing masks or not, would take my mask as a sign to keep their distance, on those occasions when I venture out. As we all have to from time to time.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on May 17, 2020 18:54:31 GMT
I keep my distance mask or no mask and find others do the same here.
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on May 18, 2020 7:14:46 GMT
There was quite a long piece in the Guardian, which I can't find online, about suitable materials and methods for making your own. Apparently you can get up to stopping about 95% of virus particles if you use a closely-woven fabric (at least 180 thread count). If you can see light through the weave when you hold it up to the light, you need an extra thickness, and one option is to put in a disposable paper tissue or kitchen paper as well. Wool is apparently not good enough. A double thickness of a T-shirt should be worthwhile. But it's all about risk reduction rather than total elimination. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 18, 2020 16:45:43 GMT
The more I read, the more I feel secure with my homemade quadruple thickness mask. Thanks for that detail about seeing light through the fabric, Patrick.
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on May 18, 2020 17:54:43 GMT
As we are in the fabric business we see all manner of fabric choices that people buy to make masks - either for themselves or for re-sale. A design criteria for saleable masks is that they must have a wearable comfortable shape. They must have a "second skin" inside the outer fabric no matter what it is, and the inside "skin" must have a gap-fold which allows the wearer to insert the 95% filter. This filter is what does the job and obviously should be changed and washed often - how often I can't say but my son will know as he is selling Filtration packs of 10 filters on Shopify. The demand has gone through the roof as the disposable blue hospital masks are not foolproof and should only be worn for 4hrs before discarding them. . Better than nothing but one really has to use the proper stuff. Patrick I noted what the Guardian said but I wonder where their advice came from. I don't think kitchen towel paper or some kind of tissue will suffice. People touching their masks constantly to adjust he uncomfortable feeling. Big No-No. Hands off, don't touch. I actually spray the outer fabric with sanitiser just in case I do touch it.
Details: Filtration Pack of 10 This is a filter and has to be inserted into the mask pocket.
A local company producing Nonwoven cooperated with Stellenbosch University to develop an interim minimum requirement that would be suitable for masks to be worn by anyone other than medical personnel.
The filter is designed by trapping any particle that is 5 microns and above. The real holdout is 95% effective above droplets of 5 microns.
ISO 14644-8 approved filter is reusable up to 5 times.
How to reuse: Remove the filter from the mask, place in a bowl and pour boiling water over it and leave for at least 5 minutes. Leave filter to air-dry, once dry ready to reuse again. Once the filter has been sterilised 5 times, discard it after sterilising and insert a new filter which should be sterilised before use.
Do not squeeze or hand-wash the filter. The delicate structure may be damaged.
|
|
|
Post by patricklondon on May 21, 2020 5:29:16 GMT
|
|
|
Post by bjd on May 21, 2020 5:59:03 GMT
|
|
|
Post by tod2 on May 21, 2020 12:18:18 GMT
Thanks for finding that information from The Guardian, PATRICK. I see it is the words of Trish Greenhalgh, a professor of primary care health sciences at Oxford University who recently completed a review on face masks, also advocated the use of masks in public and suggested an old T-shirt combined with kitchen paper would suffice. Yes, we are talking about the same thing - just for the general public, not medical staff.
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on May 22, 2020 13:58:47 GMT
I learned that english is more complicated than french when it comes to turtles. We only have one word for both species.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on May 23, 2020 21:26:07 GMT
I learned today that squirrels can jump really far!
I walked outside and a squirrel was on our balcony railing about 10 feet off the ground chattering agitatedly at me. (I have put away the birdfeeders because the bears like birdseed and try to climb the house to get at them.)
I walked away hoping he would settle down and scramble back down the way he got up there, but instead he flung himself out into space, hitting the lawn 12 feet away with an audible plop, but ran unscathed to the nearest big pine tree and climbed high up into the branches, still chattering at me.
Did some research and found that squirrels can survive falling from 100 feet by using their tails as a sort of parachute to slow down a bit, and as a cushion to land on. Though regular tree squirrels like mine can take big flying leaps, the champion squirrel aviator is the flying squirrel, who can glide up to 300’ (100 meter) if he starts high enough. His furry little flight-suit with its patagial membranes stretched between his front and back legs, and his flattened rudder-like tail allow him to maneuver to a precise landing on a tree trunk far from the one he took off from. He runs up that tree to get a new launching pad for his next prodigious leap.
I think I want to be a flying squirrel in my next life....
|
|