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Lessons

A few last lessons from West of Greenwich

Wednesday

There used to be a football team called Blackburn Olympic, who have won an FA Cup

Thursday

Today I learnt that the place where some of my dad’s weirder Singapore photos were taken still exists under the name Haw Par Villa rather than Tiger Balm Gardens.

Friday

I learnt how to make chilli jam without pectin.

Saturday

Cats can let out a claw at a time, although I probably would have thought this I witnessed it.

Sunday

GIMP can be used to create GIF animations after downloading an addin.

Monday

I found an even more general proof of the inability of hexagons to create a ball like polyhedron without the help of 12 pentagons.

Tuesday

Trombone is french for paper clip.

Wednesday

Syphilis was known as the f4ench disease in Germany and Poland, the Italian disease in French. basically named after the nation whose travelloers spread it to a country.

Categories
Lessons

October 7th – October 12th (a fine week for lessons)

Wednesday

Kori Bustard and the Great Bustard both are about equal in weight and are the worlds heaviest flying birds.

Thursday

I learnt how to make and use custom brushes in GIMP, wish I had learnt earlier!

Friday

Camel spiders (solifugae) are not spiders but are 10 legged arachnids.

Saturday

The slowest speed of light recorded is 40mph through -272 C sodium.

Sunday

I learnt how to tell a hygenic hawker stall from a more dodgy one.

Monday

An open comedo is the technical name for a blackhead.

Tuesday

The proper name for The Gherkin in London is the RE Swiss building. Also Emile Heskey has the middle name Ivanhoe.

Categories
Lessons

Last Lessons of July

Monday

there is a debate about the number of species of albatross. Anything from 13 to 24. If the 21 figure (the most common) is accepted then 19 of these are threatened with extinction.

Tuesday

I learnt a card trick that works using the power of mathematics (hence it is a bit duller than other card tricks I have learnt).

Wednesday

Dr House (House) was named as a homage to Sherlock Holmes (as Holmes sounds like Homes). both live at apartments number 221B. Both are also drug addicts.

Thursday

I learnt a neat way of adding a textured fill using GIMP.

Friday

Scottish banknotes are technically not legal tender in Scotland. In fact in Scotland no banknotes are technically legal tender. The English banknotes are legal tender only in England and Wales. Also I learnt legal tender is a bit of a meaningless  term practically.

Saturday

I learnt that a decaffeinated coffee in a local bar is actually instant despite it costing more than the caffeinated coffee. In fact within 2 coffees the jar has paid for itself! So dcaffeinated drinkers are penalised twice, once for not havving the point of coffee and another in being sold inferior coffee at a higher price!