Friday 25 March 2011

Kinds of people

There are three kinds of people in the world; those who can count and those who can't.

There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary math, and those who don't.

There are two groups of people in the world; those who believe that the world can be divided into two groups of people, and those who don't.

from http://www.onlinemathlearning.com/math-quotations.html

Sunday 20 March 2011

How to tell you're buying an authentic Melton Mowbray Pork Pie

The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie is a distinct product that is recognisably different from other pork pies, both in physical characteristics and in reputation. It is rich in history and is recognised by consumers as a traditional, regional food product.

The sides of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie are bow-shaped as they are baked free standing, whereas most other pork pies are straight-sided being baked in hoops. The meat used is fresh pork which is naturally grey when cooked (like roast pork), not pink like most other pork pies, which use cured pork. The meat must be particulate, as we used chopped pork, not smooth on the palate as most other pork pies are because they used minced meat. The Melton Mowbray Pork Pie is also well jellied and the meat seasoned with salt and pepper.

The recipe for the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie is not complex. Indeed, its simplicity underlines its very authenticity and reminds us that the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie has remained true to its roots and is still baked without a hoop as it was the end of the 18th Century.

Other kinds of pork pies share some of the physical characteristics of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie (just as many blue cheeses share certain characteristics with Blue Stilton), but the combination of all these physical characteristics coupled with the product's reputation, is unique.

From http://www.mmppa.co.uk/howtotell.html

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Spiralen

Is a mountain tunnel in Bragernesåsen, opened in 1961 when Drammen celebrated its 150th anniversary.

With six spirals, the tunnel goes through a massive of eruptive rock (granite porphyry below, basalt above), ending at Nedre Skanse, formerly called Breidablikk.

The tunnel is 1650 metres long, 9 metres wide and originally had a height of 3.1 metres but it was extended later and today also large, modern touring coaches can pass.

The rise is from 20 to 213 metres above sea level with a gradient of one in ten, and each spiral has a 70 metre diameter.

Shortly after the turn of the century, the Spiralen started as an open quarry to provide road construction with materials. It was the city engineer Eivind Olsen's idea that the quarry could be developed into a spiral tunnel up through Bragernesåsenand this work commenced in 1953 after 70,000 cubic metres of rock had been blasted off. The road has been tolled from the beginning except for the period of 1987-1994.

From http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=36548

Saturday 12 March 2011

You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with

Does who you are and who you will become depend heavily on the company you keep?

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn suggests it does.

From http://lifehacker.com/5666322/youre-the-average-of-the-five-people-you-spend-the-most-time-with.htm

Wednesday 9 March 2011

Ship Naming in the Royal (British) Navy

Royal Navy ships were named according to one of several standard systems; class names varied according to the system:

Capital ships such as battleships, battle cruisers and aircraft carriers always bore traditional and for the most part, inspirational names. Here's a sampling

e.g. HMS Dreadnaught, HMS Agincourt, HMS Iron Duke, And so on and so on...

Classes were named after a "name ship" of the class. The British usually tried to give ships of a class similar names; for instance "Lion" and "Tiger" usually went together, as did "Couraegous", "Glorious" and "Furious" and the distinctly British combination of "Invincible", "Inflexible", "Indomitable", and "Indefatigable"

"Letter Classes" are usually used for Destroyers and Submarines (The class name is a letter of the alphabet; all ships in the class have names starting with this letter.

Examples:

"B"-class destroyers -- HMS Basilisk, Beagle, Blanche, Boadicea, Brazen, Bulldog.
"D"-class cruisers -- HMS Danae, Dauntless, Dragon, Durban, Diomede.
"U"-class submarines -- HMS Upholder, Undine, Unity, Ursula, Unbeaten, Undaunted, Upright.

"Generic Classes" were usually used for Cruisers and some Destroyers. The class has some generic name and each ship in the class is named after a specific example of the class name. Examples:

Weapon-class destroyers -- HMS Battleaxe, Broadsword, Carronade, Culverin, Crossbow, Halberd, Musket, Tomahawk.
Tribal-class destroyers -- HMS Ashanti, Gurkha, Huron, Iroquois, Maori, Mohawk, Sikh, Zulu.
Town-class destroyers -- HMS Leeds, Campbeltown, Lancaster, Lincoln, Bath, Brighton, Newport.
Hunt-class escort destroyers -- HMS Berkeley, Exmoor, Southdown, Tynedale.
Cathedral-class cruisers -- HMS Exeter and York.
County-class cruisers -- HMS Cornwall, Cumberland, Kent, Dorsetshire, Shropshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex.
Flower-class sloops -- HMS Foxglove, Lupin, Rosemary.

Once a ship had been named, the name was almost never changed. Remainder of a belief that the ship's name was its "soul", changing the name was thought to bring bad luck to the ship. The major exceptions were of captured (or otherwise acquired foreign-built) ships, which were re-named if their name duplicated that of an existing British ship or sounded very "un-British".

from http://everything2.com/title/ship+naming+conventions

Thursday 3 March 2011

Among the items you are prohibited from mailing to Australia …

-- Fruit cartons (used or new).
-- Goods bearing the name "Anzac."
-- Goods produced wholly or partly in prisons or by convict labor.
-- Registered philatelic articles with fictitious addresses.
-- Seditious literature.
-- Used bedding.

from http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ab_012.htm

listed in alt.usage.english