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Sander Rossel wrote: that very few would use in their day-to-day lives
Maybe not in the barbarian lands where you live but I'll warrant that many an Englishmen could claim such eloquence to be but the very beginning of his stock of mots juste. Retract this vile slander this instant or I shall be forced to demand satisfaction upon the cockcrow!
Sander Rossel wrote: "sic transit gloria mundi"
There is a glorious proof of the familiarity of this phrase in the film Foul Play (1978, Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Burgess Meredith, Dudley Moore, Rachel Roberts - funniest film ever, no exceptions!). The central character you learn is named Gloria Mundy upon which information one sits waiting for the inevitable pun for the entire length of the film and it .... never comes! The ultimate meta-joke. Magnficent!
Sander Rossel wrote: of course you're aware that Xmas should never be used in formal writing
Says who? I quote from the Guardian's ponderings upon its own style guide in this regard ...
Quote: we need not be oversensitive about abbreviating Christmas: the longer word is itself a contraction of "Christ's mass", listed in the OED as first appearing in the 12th century. Wikipedia suggests that the subsequent contraction to "Xmas" arose because the ancient Greek letter X, chi, is the initial letter of Christ, although the first example listed in the OED (as "X'temmas") does not appear until 1551. Two centuries later, Coleridge writes to Southey on Christmas Eve 1799 to tell him: "My Xstmas [sic] Carol is a quaint performance." In 1884, we even find "Xmassing" employed as a verb in the magazine Punch
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Good job ! How much do I owe you ? 
Merry Xmas, Bill
«Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.» Benjamin Franklin
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Member 9082365 wrote: Maybe not in the barbarian lands where you live
In my "barbarian" lands we don't use English (or Latin) in our everyday lives at all.
I'm sure many Englishmen could conjure up some expensive words, but do they do it daily (well, many Englishmen use pretty exotic words when drunk in the pub, which does happen daily)?
Certainly not on CP, where I've only ever seen such words used by Bill. But then again, CP can be pretty barbaric!
Member 9082365 wrote: There is a glorious proof of the familiarity of this phrase
I know, I've seen it before, but not in day to day language...
Member 9082365 wrote: Says who? I quote from the Guardian's ponderings upon its own style guide in this regard ...
But NOT writing Xmas is still the rule for The Guardian, as well as The Times and BBC.
Quote: Style guides at the Times, the Guardian and this website are among those which rule out its use, where possible.[^]
So unless Bill used "Xmas" like in ye olden times, which none of us can prove or deny, I still find it funny that he uses expensive English and Latin non-daily words and still writes Xmas
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Dear Torquemada,
I can only reply to your most Holy Inquisition with the words of Giordano Bruno, spoken in 1600CE, in response to his being sentenced to death for refusing to explain and recant from his "heresies:"
"Maybe you who condemn me are in greater fear than I who am condemned."
«Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.» Benjamin Franklin
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Paraphrasing a post of mine from several years ago, replying to a similar rant:
Bill uses his vocabulary as a scythe, harvesting the local crop of ignorance.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Gary R. Wheeler wrote: harvesting the local crop of ignorance.
And non-native English speakers! 
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Her name is Ella!
Yeah I'm that bored
New version: WinHeist Version You didn't fall from the stupid tree you got dragged through the whole dumbass forest.
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I suppose that she goes up, as well. 
Will Rogers never met me.
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Well, she's married now, so she won't go down... :InnocentWhistle:
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Well that's given you a bit of a lift, surely?
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That is pretty cool. I especially like number 4, the "spherical gears". If they were properly engineered I could see them replacing the double U-joint wide angle shafts or even replace what we have done in the past of using two 90 degree gearboxes to achieve the same effect of transferring rotational torque at wide angles without the "chatter" one would get from a simple U-joint.
Within you lies the power for good - Use it!
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That got my Christmas gears going!
Merry Christmas! 
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Cool gears
New version: WinHeist Version You didn't fall from the stupid tree you got dragged through the whole dumbass forest.
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Check your user - it's possible that the Win 7 user is different from the Win 10 user, and they may not be able to see each other's stuff...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Thanks Griff, but the folder that refuses to show up is on a separate (NTFS) drive that I'm leaving plugged up whilst swapping the OS drive. I am creating this folder under the 7 OS. It should be the same thing as saving the data to an external drive with no permissions. I'll bet that when I switch back over to 7, the folder will be missing again. This very odd behavior is wasting way too much of my time! I have an old eSATA drive I'll try next.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
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Yes!
This is good news, as I'm trying something new: home curing my own Pork Loin to Back Bacon, and the curing mix I prepared should draw the moisture out of the meat - and it is! Only about a teaspoon full so far, but it's day one and it's only been in there for five hours or so.
Maybe I will be able to serve home cured bacon on Herself's birthday (Jan 1st)!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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I still have not had the time to pursue this endeavor (making my own bacon, etc.)
How are you ensuring that you don't introduce botulism into the mix? Wet brines need extra precautions, but it sounds like you are using a cure, so a lot of people say that should be enough.
What do you think?
I will be faarrrkkkking legless before I am carriedcto the car ftombhere. - Michael Martin - Christmas 2015
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Yeah it's a dry cure (2% sugar, 8% curing salt [which is itself 93.75% salt, and 6.25% Sodium Nitrite]) and the nitrite & salt both kill bacteria including Clostridium Botulinum so I'm not too worried. Remember, I'm going to good the bacon before I eat it anyway! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Sounds good. Enjoy!!!
Pics are optional, by highly recommended, and appreciated during these events. 
I will be faarrrkkkking legless before I am carriedcto the car ftombhere. - Michael Martin - Christmas 2015
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I was going to document it, but I forgot when I saw the industrial caution signs on the Sodium Nitrite pack and started reaching for my box of rubber gloves!
And the process at the moment wouldn't make good pictures: a lump of meat rubbed with stuff in a sealed bag, slowly leaking...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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The process is really simple, it's just the mix proportions.
You can buy "Prague Powder #1" ready made, but it includes a pink colourant I wanted to avoid, so I looked up what it's made of:
6.25% Sodium Nitrite (NOT Sodium Nitrate - NaNO3 is different and it degrades to Sodium Nitrite NaNO2 too slowly for us).
93.75% Salt (NaCl)
Sodium Nitrite you can buy on FleaBay (I did) but be damn careful with the raw material - it's environmentaly damaging, toxic to humans, and a strong oxidising agent (i.e. it'll burn happily without air).
That's a painful percentage - unless you are a drug dealer your scales won't work to 1/4 gram - so I multiplied by 16 to get 100g of Nitrite with 1500g of salt and made a Curing Salt. (Thats a handy number, since most the FleaBay suppliers I found sell in 100g or 200g quantities.) You don't need much of this, so the bulk of mine is vacuum sealed and in the cupboard for next time.
The cure mix itself is one I found on the internet:
By weight of meat, 2% soft brown sugar, 8% curing salt.
So in my case, a Pork Loin roasting joint from the supermarket de-stringed and opened up gave:
Meat: 2110g
Sugar: 42g
Curing salt: 169g
Mix the ingredients well, and take out 1/4 of the mix - set the rest aside.
Rub the meat all over with the mix (top, bottom, sides and ends) then either put in a dish and cover with cling film or (in my case) seal it in a bag with the vacuum sealer, but don't evacuate it.
this goes in the bottom of the fridge: Dropbox - BaconCuring.jpg[^]
Told you it was a dull picture!
Leave it there for a day, then pour away the liquid, and take 1/4 of the remaining curing rub. Rub this into the meat and return it to the dish, but upside down this time.
Repeat this for the next three days to use up the rub, and then just pour out and turn so it cures for a total of six days. (If you use Loin, you get Back, and it needs six days. Pork Belly gives Streaky, and takes five as it's thinner.)
At the end of the six days, remove the bacon from the dish, rinse it under the tap, dry carefully with kitchen towel, then wrap it loosely with greaseproof paper and put it back in the fridge. Ideally, wait a couple of days before you start eating it, but do let it rest at least overnight.
Done...is the plan!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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