The really random question, (and answers) thread.

For the queries you think of that you think are too daft to ask your partner or mates for fear of the piss taking. It’s a safe space here.

Please try to provide an answer as well as posting your own pondering.

Do guide dogs get a proper holiday? An annual period of not being a guide dog, not just going away with their owner.

I love the idea that they might and now am all tied up with wondering what budget vs all inclusive might look like. I can’t see buffets working very well with dogs, even well behaved guide dogs. Activities clubs are easy: sticks in the morning, balls in the afternoon, maybe a muddy puddle on Tuesday mornings and rolling in something dead on Friday nights.

My question: why does so much AI art look like the cover of a Yes album, and why is the airbrush the art medium of the future?

How long will it be before AI develops a translation device so we can understand and talk to animals?

I think I already know what our cat is calling us,just want it confirmed 😆 🤣

Do guide dogs get a proper holiday?

More to the point, who picks up their shit?

Does Conservative HQ have a duck pond and what’s security like around it?

They’re that backwards it’s probably a ducking pond. I bet it has a stool with Angela Rayner’s name on it.

I’m pretty sure guide dogs actually do get holidays. They have supply hounds to cover for them.

Not sure about the buffet though.

Guide Dogs get plenty of time when they’re just being dogs – basically when the harness comes off, they aren’t working. It takes time to build the partnership with the owner so you can’t just swap one out for a spare, but if the owner were say to go away without the dog then there are fosterers who would look after the dog and effectively give it a holiday.

As for the poo, they are trained to effectively poo on command and then there are “procedures” where the owner can find and pick up the poo. And in guide dog land it’s called “spending”

Guide dog buffets would be a terrible idea, they are Labradors after all and labs are well known for being the hungriest animals in the world! A friends lab managed to often a 18kg bag of dog food and ate until he was sick, he then ate the sick 🙂

My question, do you think pets get annoyed when we go out to work for the day or enjoy a day of relaxing on the sofa?

How long will it be before AI develops a translation device so we can understand and talk to animals?

There was something on radio 4 on Monday about teaching it to understand dogs barking.

No mention of whether they were demanding time off or just chatting.

I bet it has a stool with Angela Rayner’s name on it.

I’d shit in thier pond as well!

There was something on radio 4 on Monday about teaching it to understand dogs barking.

Who’s teaching it though?

Guide dog buffets would be a terrible idea, they are Labradors after all and labs are well known for being the hungriest animals in the world

They’re a mix of labs, golden retriever, German Shepherd or even cockerpoo, often cross bred. And they should(*) also be trained to only eat when they’re told – imagine being led down the pavement by something that was distracted by every dropped scrap of food, and the owner needs to be fairly confident (*) that they can leave some food out on the kitchen worktop and not have it scoffed by the hound.

(* but ATEOTD they’re still dogs)

Away from the subject of Guide Dogs…

Is Rick Deckard a Replicant?

My son has just watched Blade Runner and thinks that he isn’t. I think he is.

Are sugarsnap peas and baby leaf spinach just young versions of the big ones, or a separate variety?

Is Rick Deckard a Replicant?

My son has just watched Blade Runner and thinks that he isn’t. I think he is.

Of course he is, how else does Gant know he dreams of unicorns?

Is Rick Deckard a Replicant?

It doesn’t matter. The story works if he’s human or a replicant

Of course he is, how else does Gant know he dreams of unicorns?

That was my logic!

In an interview Ford said he wasn’t and Scott said he was, but didn’t know it.

Do guide dogs get a proper holiday?

<!–more–>

No. It’s a dog’s life.

Are sugarsnap peas

Mange tout Rodney, Mange tout (sort of)

Suger-snap peas are a varietal I think, not sure about baby leaf spinach though.

They’re that backwards it’s probably a ducking pond. I bet it has a stool with Angela Rayner’s name on it.

ISWYDT

and if you didn’t, it’s even funnier.

What actually is Kool Aid and why do people keep getting told to keep taking it?

Kool aid is an American cordial mix that Ken Kesey and co. dosed acid in.

Read Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool Aid Acid Test. Good read.

‘They really drank the Kool Aid’ comes from the Jonestown massacre, full explanation here;

(warning, it’s deeply horrifying and sad)

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-the-phrase-drinking-the-kool-aid-What-does-it-mean-when-someone-says-it-today#:~:text=The%20phrase%20“drinking%20the%20Kool,flavored%20drink%20laced%20with%20cyanide.

Why can I barely hear or see the programme on telly but the adverts or programme makers ident are at 78db and in electromegavision colour?

Of course he is, how else does Gant know he dreams of unicorns?

It’s an interesting one is this, because the unicorn dream was excised in the theatrical release but restored for the Director’s Cut.  In the original, Rear Admiral Adama’s origami is merely his calling card, “I was here.”  In the DC it’s much more loaded, it implies that he could have retired Deckard but chose not to.

It doesn’t matter. The story works if he’s human or a replicant

See also, Total Recall.  The story pans out perfectly both as presented and as if the rest of the film following the visit to Recall was the imprinted memory he bought.

Kool aid is an American cordial mix

It’s a powder, not a cordial.

The metaphor (somewhat darkly) comes from some cult mass suicide or other, where the followers all drank Kool-Aid laced with poison.

Ah, what he said. ☝

Having just toasted some for lunch, I was going to ask “why do bagels have holes?”  Then I thought, I have the Internets.  As it turns out, there’s a quite interesting history.

https://www.mashed.com/151894/the-real-reason-there-are-holes-in-the-middle-of-bagels/

Some doughnuts have holes, and some have jam. Why has no one thought to put jam in bagels?

Is Rick Deckard a Replicant?

Old red eyes is back…

Some doughnuts have holes, and some have jam. Why has no one thought to put jam in bagels?

Because the two are a completely separate entity and perfect in their own right. If I want something jammy I will buy a doughnut. If I want something really really tasty to put my cream cheese and smoked salmon in, I’ll buy a bagel.

If that comes across as slightly grouchy, just consider asking why no one thought to toast a doughnut and fill it with mustard, pastrami and dill pickle

I blame the sort of deviants who put sprinkles on the culinary perfection that is ice cream. Flogging’s too good for them etc.

Wibble.

Does a modern automatic (i drive a Skoda 1.5L DSG Auto) wear out the clutch quicker or slower than a manual car of the same model?  does driver/driving style make a difference either way?

if anyone wants to give their guide dog a day off, i’d be willing to walk them round the shops etc.  (the person, not the dog, dog should be down the pub on its day off)

I bet it has a stool with Angela Rayner’s name on it.

I’d shit in thier pond as well!

Politics aside, this deserves more attention 🤣

It’s a powder, not a cordial.

A powdered cordial, yes

‘Horse, with a round fundament, why does he emit a square excrement?’
At Swim Two Birds

A powdered cordial, yes

Are you sure about that?  Ten seconds with Google doesn’t bear it out.

Coincidentally, I do know the etymology of ‘cordial’ (it popped up on an episode of The Allusionist I listened to yesterday).  It relates to ‘of the heart,’ similar to cardiac, and stems from quack remedies in the days of medicine being based on the four humours.

Can my dog understand a French dog, or do they bark in a different language?

I would imagine that barks are global 😉

#animalswithoutborders 🙃

Whys orange jam called marmalade

Can my dog understand a French dog, or do they bark in a different language?

They bark in a different language.  A bark in French is “wuah wuah” rather than “woof woof.”

Whys orange jam called marmalade

It’s broadly a corruption of words for “quince jam.”

Quite how, when or why orange supplanted quince, I have no idea.  What even is a quince?