Things you only found out today

[RonnieTodger]

I had no idea that Norman Cook was in The Housemartins

[leicsmac]

15 hours ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

I had no idea until today that world maps had Africa depicted smaller than it actually is.

 

9 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

And many other countries. Partly due to the difficulty of drawing a sphere on a flat surface and part due to wanting to make Europe look big and important.

 

Brazil is also a heck of a lot bigger than on maps.

The Mercator projection was considered both the best of a series of bad options and yes, the Northern Hemisphere nations wanting to appear more important than they are.

 

Thankfully, there are smart people coming up with better options now that are being endorsed.

Edited 5 September by leicsmac

[Parafox]

16 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

 

The Mercator projection was considered both the best of a series of bad options and yes, the Northern Hemisphere nations wanting to appear more important than they are.

 

Thankfully, there are smart people coming up with better options now that are being endorsed.

America being the only country to vote against the correction.

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Parafox said:

America being the only country to vote against the correction.

Right. 

 

As per the news thread, I can't think of any reason they would other than general diplomatic trolling and vaguely veiled bigotry. 

[shen]

8 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Right. 

 

As per the news thread, I can't think of any reason they would other than general diplomatic trolling and vaguely veiled bigotry. 

Equal Earth would immediately reduce Trump's arctic prize to less than a tenth of it's size. We cannot have that. Think of the Greenlanders, man!

 

But on the Mercator topic, I don't think I've seen it used in years and years. It was already being phased out during my school years 🤔

Edited 5 September by shen

[MonkeyTennis?]

16 hours ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

I had no idea until today that world maps had Africa depicted smaller than it actually is.

I have some disturbing news about the vast continent of Greenland...

[The Bear]

3 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

I had no idea that Norman Cook was in The Housemartins

Phil Jupitus is also in the video for Happy Hour as he was part of their management. 

[crsleicester]

That Russell Martin was so contemptible and inept as a football manager, despite having been around professional football clubs in recent years. 

[worthosoriginals]

11 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

I had no idea that Norman Cook was in The Housemartins

Prior to that he was a chef

[FoyleFox]

12 hours ago, RonnieTodger said:

I had no idea that Norman Cook was in The Housemartins

One of my friends mentioned this last week. I thought he must be the only person that didn't know this. Evidently not. 

[Parafox]

5 hours ago, crsleicester said:

That Russell Martin was so contemptible and inept as a football manager, despite having been around professional football clubs in recent years. 

I found that out after Southampton and then Glasgow sacked him, Get up to speed.

[TheLittleBigMan]

Very important.

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/different-fart-smells-sensations-tell-150239599.html

[bovril]

On 05/09/2026 at 21:21, worthosoriginals said:

Prior to that he was a chef

I initially thought this was a reply to:

 

On 05/09/2026 at 19:05, crsleicester said:

That Russell Martin was so contemptible and inept as a football manager, despite having been around professional football clubs in recent years. 

Which to be honest would make some sense. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

Sir Les is related to Anton and Rio Ferdinand.

 

It'd never officially come up before, I just knew their names (obvs).

 

 

[StanSP]

One of the guitarists in Linkin Park wears headphones because of extreme sensitivity to noise. 

 

Not only is that seriously ironic, but I've listened and watched these guys for years and always thought it was some kind of 'thing' with a humorous back story between the band members. Turns out he just can't listen to the music he plays or is alongside

 

[CornwallFox]

They did know what they were doing

[Parafox]

Ringrose butchers in Broughton Astley has won the "Britain's Best Butcher" award.

 

I'm not surprised really. The service, the knowledge, (ask them anything about how to cook their various meat products and you get the impression that all the staff have tried them, themselves)  the variety and quality of what they have is second to none including their own "ready to cook" items, the fresh fruit and veg. Everything about it is great. And it's a family run and staffed establishment. They all know their stuff. And they'll cut your meat/joints etc to your own spec.

 

We make a weekly trip from Hinckley because they really are that good.

[Trav Le Bleu]

Tom Conti is Nina Conti's father.

[Brizzle Fox]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Tom Conti is Nina Conti's father.

Not today but last week that Dominic Holland is Tom Holland's father

[Jon the Hat]

On 11/09/2026 at 20:19, CornwallFox said:

They did know what they were doing

At what cost though?  I don't think anyone thought closing the loophole wouldn't close the loophole.

Edited 16 hours ago by Jon the Hat

[FoxesDeb]

I'd never heard of this until yesterday 

 

Sealand Official | Principality Of Sealand – Principality of Sealand https://share.google/F8GY6uRA22qXw5huQ

[CornwallFox]

5 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

At what cost though?  I don't think anyone thought closing the loophole wouldn't close the loophole.

Well at the time, the right wing rags screamed about it as it was an effective tax haven they were losing.

It was only ever going to affect a tiny number of farmers, if any. It was written so that there was million pound coverage for farm equipment etc so it's a pretty huge value attached to an actual working farm before inheritance tax kicks in.

Unfortunately, the right wing rags are quite good at whipping farmers up by lying to them.

I guess we'll see in time but the move was targeted at those avoiding tax, is working so far apparently, and I'm try to see any headlines about actual cases of real farms being lost due to inheritance tax.

[Zear0]

23 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

Well at the time, the right wing rags screamed about it as it was an effective tax haven they were losing.

It was only ever going to affect a tiny number of farmers, if any. It was written so that there was million pound coverage for farm equipment etc so it's a pretty huge value attached to an actual working farm before inheritance tax kicks in.

Unfortunately, the right wing rags are quite good at whipping farmers up by lying to them.

I guess we'll see in time but the move was targeted at those avoiding tax, is working so far apparently, and I'm try to see any headlines about actual cases of real farms being lost due to inheritance tax.

It was watered down substantially don't forget.

[Muzzy_no7]

On 11/09/2026 at 21:05, Parafox said:

Ringrose butchers in Broughton Astley has won the "Britain's Best Butcher" award.

 

I'm not surprised really. The service, the knowledge, (ask them anything about how to cook their various meat products and you get the impression that all the staff have tried them, themselves)  the variety and quality of what they have is second to none including their own "ready to cook" items, the fresh fruit and veg. Everything about it is great. And it's a family run and staffed establishment. They all know their stuff. And they'll cut your meat/joints etc to your own spec.

 

We make a weekly trip from Hinckley because they really are that good.

Seconded, outstanding there.

[kenny]

2 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

It was watered down substantially don't forget.

I wonder if the farmers are the type that drive tractors and have a bushel of corn hanging out the corner of their mouths.

 

Or are they the suit wearing types that own tens of thousands of hectares and pay other people to farm them? As the first type aren't known for having a load of cash to spend, I would guess its the second type.