Everything you always wanted to ask...

[Rory]

What an entertaining thread.

(standard squaddy question) Why is orange jam called marmalaid?

[Mossie]

Didn't know myself, Rory, so I looked it up on Wikipedia:

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "marmalade" appeared in English in 1480, borrowed from French marmelade which, in turn, came from the Portuguese marmelada. Originally, according to the root of the word, which is marmelo or quince, a preserve made from quinces was intended. There is no truth whatsoever to the folk etymology which states that the word derives from "Marie malade" (French for "ill Mary"), referring to Mary, Queen of Scots, because she used it as a medicine for a headache or upset stomach.

The Romans learned from the Greeks that quinces slowly cooked with honey would "set" when cool (though they did not know about fruit pectin). Greek melimelon or "honey fruit"—for most quinces are too astringent to be used without honey, and in Greek "melos" or "apple" stands for all globular fruits—was transformed into "marmelo." The Roman cookbook attributed to Apicius gives a recipe for preserving whole quinces with their stems and leaves attached in a bath of honey diluted with defrutum: Roman marmalade.

The extension of "marmalade" in the English language to refer to citrus fruits was made in the 17th century, when citrus first began to be plentiful enough in England for the usage to become common. In some languages of continental Europe a word sharing a root with "marmalade" refers to all gelled fruit conserves, and those derived from citrus fruits merit no special word of their own. This linguistic difference has occasionally been claimed as emblematic of the irreconcilability of anglophone and continental world views.

Hope that makes sense!  

I guess the articles trying to say that us Brits borrowed the term from other languages & has no real meaning in the English Language.  Maybe! :dum:

[rallymodeller]

How does the mobile phone aka cellphone setup work across the USA and Canada?

Do you sign up with a service provider who then guarantee you coverage in all the majorly populated parts of the continent or do you just sign up locally and then have to extend your coverage if you go out of state etc?

Or do the phone firms have roaming agreements which let you travel anywhere but charge more for calls in some areas?

Are the bills calculated by the minute or what?

Satellite cover or lots of towers?

Nick B)

It's all cellular. Lots of towers in a rough honeycomb pattern. Go out of your area and you automatically switch to the local provider who uses the same format as your home system (we have three separate networks). Go out of your home area and you get charged roaming fees.

Most of the more populous areas of North America are now covered by digital networks but there are still some parts that use the old fashioned analog system, and many (if not most) phones have the option of switching between them for the better signal. My phone (a Bell Mobility Samsung) can go to two types of digital signal or analog and it's all automatic. Once your phone switches to a different provider roaming fees apply, as well as long distance where applicable and a big message saying "ROAMING or "DIGITAL ROAM" pops up on your screen. We actually have a bit of a problem with that here in this border town as the US network is much more powerful than the Canadian one and when returning from the US the phone will often refuse to release from the US network and you might inadvertantly find yourself getting long-distance fees for calling across the street.

I'll probably be switching phones soon as the company I now work for contracts to T-Mobile (a US provider) that interchanges with Telus in Canada.

Bills are indeed calculated to the minute.

[Rory]

Here is another question.

How is it that I can navigate the smallest piece of vital, forgotten resin to the furthest point, through the smallest gap to have it drop into the exact place, that remaines there even after you have dropped the entire model to have it fall out as soon as you get superglue within 100 yards of it?

[Archibald]

Seriously, was a Concorde bomber studied at one time ? or is it just another myth (like the Arrow that got away, or the Interceptor TSR-2 ?)

Why Mr Bean fall from the sky in a ray of light at the beginning of each episode ?

In the Simpsons, each time the action is located at Mr Burns nuclear plant, there's always the same pic -an helicopter view of the place- and you can heard a raven shouting "Aaaaaaark!!!! ". why ?

[B777LR]

Why was this thread started?

Why do many poloticians lie?

Why is it so hard to fix a few wiring problems on the A380?

Why does metal expand in the heat?

Does bare metal expand more than painted metal in the heat?

[Shasper]

Paint wont fix expanding metals, as ANYTHING exposed to the proper amount of heat will expand in one way or another.

This thread was started to stimulate discussions about various topics that are "kooth" (ie staying away from the bad 2 {Religion, Politics}, something I dont totally agree with BTW   ).

As for the A380, I think Airbus management got ansty about doing the 'impossible' in order to whoopass Boeing, only to hit more snags than expected (the rencent management issues & contienuing slip in delievery date's support this).

So, Will we ever see the A400M? If M is for Military, then is a civi bird planned?

Has anyone seen my notes on the local Examiner?


Shas B)

[nev]

Why is it so hard to fix a few wiring problems on the A380?

Because the wires are too short (if you saw the documentary on its construction you will know what I mean   )

[John Howling Mouse]

Here is another question.

How is it that I can navigate the smallest piece of vital, forgotten resin to the furthest point, through the smallest gap to have it drop into the exact place, that remaines there even after you have dropped the entire model to have it fall out as soon as you get superglue within 100 yards of it?

I blame static electricity for that problem.

I really do.

 

[nev]

Actually, I think contrails are to blame.  I certainly blame them for every time I think of a question, that I can get an answer to in this thread.  Then I come here, and I've forgotten the question.  Definately the contrails.

[NARSES2]

Actually, I think contrails are to blame.  I certainly blame them for every time I think of a question, that I can get an answer to in this thread.  Then I come here, and I've forgotten the question.  Definately the contrails.

Any particular one Nev, or do you blame all their Vacforms ?  

[nev]

Thanks to Chris I now have a question.

How much damage does milk snorted all over a keyboard do?

[P1127]

What's the difference between combat radius and range?

Range is the figure the salesmen/sales brochures use

Combat radius is how far the thing will actually go!

[wagnersm]

Anybody know of any Douglas B-19/B-19A kits out there?

Thanks.

Steve

[Leigh]

Is R.A.F. WWII "Sky" the same as "Sky type S" the same as "Duck egg blue"?