Post something you've learnt today

[Hugh]

That there is a Jake Thackray tribute act called Fake Thackray.

https://www.fakethackray.com/?fbclid=Iw ... W6qMAchM2y

[Charlie O.]

That Germany and USA have the most IKEA stores (55 each) - the latter includes the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rica - 52 without.

The UK has 22.

Which averages out to:

UK: 1 per 4,260 square miles

Germany: 1 per 2,511 square miles

US: 1 per 64,216 square miles

[souphound]

That Germany and USA have the most IKEA stores (55 each) - the latter includes the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rica - 52 without.

The UK has 22.

Which averages out to:

UK: 1 per 4,260 square miles

Germany: 1 per 2,511 square miles

US: 1 per 64,216 square miles

Interesting. And by population:

UK: 1 per 3,078,946 individuals

Germany: 1 per 1,514,448 individuals

US: 1 per 6,181,756 individuals


In my neck of the woods:

Canada (16 stores!): 1 per 624,042 square miles, 1 per 2,423,831 individuals

[Santa C]

That the band leader Billy Cotton was a racing driver, who raced at Brooklands between the wars. He finished fourth in the 1949 British Grand Prix




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[Santa C]

Just 85 women in England and Wales became nuns or religious sisters between 2018 and 2022, according to the most recent statistics.



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[Santa C]

That black squirrels, in the UK, are only located in three counties: Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire

Zap saw one last week when he visited a friend at Cambridge University




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[Santa C]

That Samuel L Jackson is the highest grossing actor of all time

The films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide

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[Santa C]

That Steve Cram's mother Marie was born in Germany and that he considered representing Germany because of the dominance of Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett




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[Santa C]

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That the universe, according to NASA, is undoubtedly flat

https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni ... of%20paper.



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[Samoan]

That tortoises grieve.

RIP Speedy the Tortoise

" We buried Speedy yesterday. We think he died of old age but don't know how old he really was. I remember the tortoises arriving when I was about 7, so assuming they were adults when we got them, he must have been at least 70. I see expectancy for Hermann tortoises is 50-100 years.
The other two (both Spur Thighed tortoises) seemed a bit mopey yesterday but are otherwise well. Can you remember how they arrived? I am thinking Dad bought the pair from the pet shop for us and maybe we acquired Speedy from someone else so he may be older.
He did annoy the other tortoises a lot but had calmed down this year. Well that's the sad news. "

[souphound]

Apparently the legendary cover picture for Abbey Road was taken on this date in 1969, some 55 years ago!

[NMB]

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That the universe, according to NASA, is undoubtedly flat

https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni ... of%20paper.



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If the universe is flat, and we’re in the universe, shouldn’t we also be flat? Or is my head sticking up out of the universe?

(I didn’t read the linked article.)

[Santa C]

(I didn’t read the linked article.)

Well, you should!




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[The Modernist]

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That the universe, according to NASA, is undoubtedly flat

https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni ... of%20paper.



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Nothing a good bicycle pump wouldn't fix.

[Rayge]

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That the universe, according to NASA, is undoubtedly flat

https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/universe/uni ... of%20paper.



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If the universe is flat, and we’re in the universe, shouldn’t we also be flat? Or is my head sticking up out of the universe?

(I didn’t read the linked article.)

Flat, in this sense, does not mean 'two-dimensional', it means uncurved.

[Samoan]

You don't need an MOT on Barra as there is no garage registered to do so.

[Santa C]

Barra

An island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland for our foreign friends





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[Santa C]

That a noun could be more than one word like school bus and time and a half

I know, I’m thick

As you were



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[Rorschach]

That a noun could be more than one word like school bus and time and a half

I know, I’m thick

As you were.

They're technically known as compound nouns. The two word ones, like 'school bus', 'toothbrush' and 'English-speaker', can, as in these examples, be either two separate nouns, two nouns stuck together or hyphenated. it's sometimes ambiguous as to which of these forms a specific compound noun takes and it can depend on whether it's being used as an adjective (an English-language book), or a noun (a book on the English language).
You also get nouns consisting of two non-nouns stuck together such as 'shortfall' or 'uptake'.

Personally I would call 'time and a half' a noun phrase as it has several different grammatical elements. Newspaper headlines often follow that format (basically by leaving out verbs) and some film titles like, The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain.

[Santa C]

Thanks Tym

Something that I learnt that arose from today’s PSL:

The longest place name in the world is Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu, located on a hill in New Zealand's Hawke's Bay. The name is 85 characters long and translates to "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as 'landeater', played his flute to his loved one"

It beat the famous Welsh place name into second place



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