Boris is one of the few leaders to be known simply by his first name. Can you think of any others? Winston comes to mind, as do Napoleon and Che, although the latter wasn't the leader. Naturally, kings and queens are known by their first names, so they don't count, not that they're politicians anyway. Clowns are also known by their first names, but usually followed by 'The Clown'. Clowns also have a predilection for choosing names ending with the letter o, such as Coco, Bozo and BoJo...
Yesterday Boris maintained that we're 'turning the tide'. All I can say to is Cnut. Sorry, I should have qualified that in case you jumped to the unwarranted conclusion I'm being derogatory about the Dear Leader - what I meant was King Cnut, who attempted to command the tide to turn as a demonstration to his fawning followers that he wasn't all-powerful.
Anyone remember the name Michael Collins? No, I don't mean Michael Collins the Irish revolutionary - I mean the Michael Collins who was the 3rd member of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, but stayed in the command module. Everyone remembers Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, because they got to walk in the moon, but Collins was rather forgotten by history.
Yesterday Boris maintained that we're 'turning the tide'. All I can say to is Cnut. Sorry, I should have qualified that in case you jumped to the unwarranted conclusion I'm being derogatory about the Dear Leader - what I meant was King Cnut, who attempted to command the tide to turn as a demonstration to his fawning followers that he wasn't all-powerful.
Anyone remember the name Michael Collins? No, I don't mean Michael Collins the Irish revolutionary - I mean the Michael Collins who was the 3rd member of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, but stayed in the command module. Everyone remembers Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, because they got to walk in the moon, but Collins was rather forgotten by history.
As a kid I was fascinated by the Greek myths and read them all. Many of the Greek heroes names have made their way down history and are still used to this day, like Achilles, Adonis, Jason, etc., but there was never, to my knowledge, an ancient Greek hero called Stavros. Many Greek names that are used today only came about with the advent of Christianity, such as the aforementioned Stavros, being based on the Greek word for cross.
Did you know that the study of personal names is called anthroponomastics? No, neither did I.
Names can be important when buying things - if you're buying disk brakes for a bike, you have to distinguish between cable operated disk brakes and hydraulic disk brakes. I was hoping to replace the faulty hydraulic brake on Colin's bike with a similar system but, the ones I got delivered are cable operated - I should have checked. However, I think the cable ones are far superior - no messing about with hydraulic fluid and bleeding them, just a simple cable system.
Experts recommend hydro brakes, believing them to be maintenance-free and more efficient but, as I have seen, they're a damned sight more complex when things do go wrong. Add to that the fact that mechanical disk brakes are cheap, I'd go for mechanical every time.
Ordinary rim brakes have a long braking lever, it being easier to stop a turning wheel the further away from the hub that the braking action is applied. Disk brakes, being much closer to the hub, require more force for the equivalent braking effect. This is compensated for by increasing the swept area of the disk with a large pad. Hydraulic disk brakes have the advantage over cable disk brakes of a lower loss of energy between the lever and the brake due to the hydraulic fluid's incompressibility - cables lose energy by the fact they stretch slightly, and the stretch increases over time, leading to a further loss of efficiency.
As it transpired, I had to cannibalise the rear hydro brake in order to get the cable brake slave cylinder to fit the bike, but it all came good in the end. I may end up replacing the front hydro brake too, for aesthetics and because I have one spare.
Did you know that the study of personal names is called anthroponomastics? No, neither did I.
Names can be important when buying things - if you're buying disk brakes for a bike, you have to distinguish between cable operated disk brakes and hydraulic disk brakes. I was hoping to replace the faulty hydraulic brake on Colin's bike with a similar system but, the ones I got delivered are cable operated - I should have checked. However, I think the cable ones are far superior - no messing about with hydraulic fluid and bleeding them, just a simple cable system.
Experts recommend hydro brakes, believing them to be maintenance-free and more efficient but, as I have seen, they're a damned sight more complex when things do go wrong. Add to that the fact that mechanical disk brakes are cheap, I'd go for mechanical every time.
Ordinary rim brakes have a long braking lever, it being easier to stop a turning wheel the further away from the hub that the braking action is applied. Disk brakes, being much closer to the hub, require more force for the equivalent braking effect. This is compensated for by increasing the swept area of the disk with a large pad. Hydraulic disk brakes have the advantage over cable disk brakes of a lower loss of energy between the lever and the brake due to the hydraulic fluid's incompressibility - cables lose energy by the fact they stretch slightly, and the stretch increases over time, leading to a further loss of efficiency.
As it transpired, I had to cannibalise the rear hydro brake in order to get the cable brake slave cylinder to fit the bike, but it all came good in the end. I may end up replacing the front hydro brake too, for aesthetics and because I have one spare.
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