I've Been Wondering: The 2020 General Questions thread

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  • I see what you did there.
  • My father’s pet name for me was “Macnabs”, but I can’t find where he had it from. Can anyone help? (We’re probably talking about characters from the 40s and 50s)
  • @Priscilla This is a Very Long Shot, but was your father a devotee of the Saturday Evening Post? In the 1920s, there was a cartoonist who did a number of popular strips featuring a husband-and-wife pair of Scottish Terriers know as the "McNabs": Example 1. Example 2.

    Obviously the spelling is different.
  • "Wee McNab" rang a bell with me, but all I can find is reports of greyhound races in the 1920s / 30s in which one of the dogs was named "Wee McNab."
  • I am wondering if it may be related to JJ Bell's "Wee Macgreegor"? https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/850220.Wee_Macgreegor. That's taking me back a a while!
  • Goodness, takes me back as well. My father used to read to us from Wee Macgreegor!
  • Qoheleth wrote: »
    A question for any HR professionals, please:

    Scenario: a middle management interview panel is split over two closely balanced but very different candidates. Does good practice indicate that the hiring manager has the casting vote, since they will have the day-to-day responsibility for ensuring the successful candidate delivers the goods? Alternatively, does the most senior manager carry the vote, as having some wider/ 'helicopter' perspective. (UK-land context applies if relevant).

    [Q. is the hiring manager, raising a bullying/undermining grievance over the imposition of the un-preferred candidate, so references would be helpful.]

    Bit slow, and from a civil service perspective, but it's usually a matter of which candidate gets a majority of votes, no matter who voted for them. Otherwise there is usually one person chairing the panel - often HR, but not always - and if the other members of the panel cannot decide then the Chair gets to decide between the candidates. So the 'hiring' manager does not necessarily have the final say unless they chair the recruiting panel and the others don't outvote them.
  • Similar territory to the above, perhaps. Five church staff have worked over and above job requirements to keep the place flourishing through the pandemic. The session decides that all are due monetary recognition of their efforts. One faction says the reward should be in proportion to the perceived value of each individual's effort; the other faction (including me) says that the staff are a team and it is unfair to tell one that we don't think he worked as hard as the others. The decision will probably have been taken by the time anyone responds to this, so I'm not asking for advice - just opinions.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Similar territory to the above, perhaps. Five church staff have worked over and above job requirements to keep the place flourishing through the pandemic. The session decides that all are due monetary recognition of their efforts. One faction says the reward should be in proportion to the perceived value of each individual's effort; the other faction (including me) says that the staff are a team and it is unfair to tell one that we don't think he worked as hard as the others. The decision will probably have been taken by the time anyone responds to this, so I'm not asking for advice - just opinions.

    Good Lord, how to sow division and resentment in one fell swoop 😨! Or maybe the team would be above such reactions, they sound a pretty Godly bunch.
  • Were I to be within that team, and find out that one of us had been stiffed, I would suggest we pool our gains and re-divide equitably. Faction 1 sound like a cunch of bunts.
  • Update: It vanished off the agenda last night!
  • I believe there is rather a lot of evidence to suggest Jesus would have supported faction 2 there.
  • Further update: All the people concerned were given five extra days of paid vacation time. I have put my knife away.
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Further update: All the people concerned were given five extra days of paid vacation time. I have put my knife away.

    Good news, on both fronts 😂!
  • The cheaper way of recognising hard work!
  • HuiaHuia Shipmate
    I don't want to start another Trump thread, but I read somewhere that Ivanka may think about running for President in 4 years time. Given that T himself had backing from evangelicals would she attract their votes too having converted to Judaism?
  • Huia wrote: »
    I don't want to start another Trump thread, but I read somewhere that Ivanka may think about running for President in 4 years time. Given that T himself had backing from evangelicals would she attract their votes too having converted to Judaism?

    Cue: "she's just like Esther" in 5, 4, 3...
  • This is rather a sweeping question: would it matter much to many Jewish persons that she's a convert?

    I'm honestly asking. Speaking generally and not just about Judaism, converts/newcomers to a belief or group aren't necessarily accepted as equals--especially if race/ethnicity is also involved.
  • Latin scholars: I want to create an ornament for my anarcho-communist daughter that says "capitalism must be destroyed." I was thinking on the lines of "Carthago delenda est" but "delenda" is feminine and "capitalismus" is masculine. What would the proper conjugation for gender of "delenda" be?
  • Delendus est (future passive masculine).
  • That said, I'm not entirely happy with "capitalismus" which to my eye looks more German than Latin. I'm thinking something more pecuni- rooted.

    Which reminds me of the philosophy of taxation as expressed by Vespasian. He outraged the Senate by putting a tax on public urinals. (Urine was valuable as an ingredient in wool and leather processing.) How dare he? they raged. He replied calmly, "Pecunia non olet." "They money does not smell." Hence the name in French for the open air urinals, vespasiennes.
  • MrsBeaky wrote: »
    Jengie Jon wrote: »
    A simple question

    Does anyone know anything about black butterflies? I mean solid black butterflies not those with black on their wings.

    Another person and I have seen one in England. This make no sense.

    When Peacock butterflies fold their wings they can look almost completely black.

    Yes but does not work for seeing a butterfly from above during flight.
  • OK getting somewhere close on a purple hairstreak in the city centre as the most plausible explanation. I think there may be oak trees locally but that is a dim and distant memory of what was planted maybe twenty years ago and goodness knows how the butterflies got from the next nearest oak trees (half a mile away* and with no oaks particularly near that one).

    *planted in a garden where it really should not have been planted the garden being 4 square metres big.
  • Golden Key wrote: »
    This is rather a sweeping question: would it matter much to many Jewish persons that she's a convert?

    I'm honestly asking. Speaking generally and not just about Judaism, converts/newcomers to a belief or group aren't necessarily accepted as equals--especially if race/ethnicity is also involved.

    I have a vague recollection that conversion to Judaism is a bit like nesting dolls - a Reform conversion will satisfy Reform and Liberal Jews, a Conservative conversion will satisfy all three, while an Orthodox conversion will satisfy all four. Basically if you want as many Jews as possible to accept your conversion you have to follow the most conservative requirements possible.
  • Jengie Jon wrote: »
    MrsBeaky wrote: »
    Jengie Jon wrote: »
    A simple question

    Does anyone know anything about black butterflies? I mean solid black butterflies not those with black on their wings.

    Another person and I have seen one in England. This make no sense.

    When Peacock butterflies fold their wings they can look almost completely black.

    Yes but does not work for seeing a butterfly from above during flight.

    No it certainly doesn't- how intriguing!
  • Jengie John--

    You probably already know this, but in case you don't:

    --As to the butterfly making it from half a mile away, some butterflies annually migrate a long way. (E.g. monarchs.) So half a mile might not be a big deal to it.

    --It might also have hitched a ride on something.

    FWIW, YMMV.
  • That said, I'm not entirely happy with "capitalismus" which to my eye looks more German than Latin. I'm thinking something more pecuni- rooted.

    I was also suspicious, but Latin Wikipedia (link) gives 'capitalismus, sive chrematistica'.
  • Pangolin GuerrePangolin Guerre Shipmate
    edited December 2020
    Curious. Capita can mean a head, so chattel. I guess. It still looks uncomfortable to me.
  • I’m hoping this is the right place to ask about what other online bookshops there are in the UK other than the one named after a river. Thanks WitG
  • I ordered two books from Waterstones on 22 Oct. The second came with a warning that delivery might take 2-3 weeks. The first book arrived within 3 days, but the second took six weeks. I don't know what the problem was as other people were getting the book without problem.
    I'll order from Waterstones again, but not if there's a "delayed delivery" warning.

    "I'm sorry I can't take part in the Zoom discussion, because I'm boycotting A****n and my copy hasn't arrived from Waterstones yet" is pretty unassailable as an excuse. If I'd wanted to duck out of the discussion I'd have had the warm glow of moral superiority and an extra couple of hours slobbing about in my PJs. But I actually wanted to read and discuss it. :(
  • The Guardian has a bookshop section, and Waterstones also sells on line, and I have used both. The Guardian has an article about a website offering books from independent bookshops https://uk.bookshop.org/ which I have not used, but seems better for the bookshop than something called Hive, which bypasses them. Try reading the BTL comments under the Guardian article. If you search "online bookshops UK" you may find other links.
  • NenyaNenya Shipmate
    Penny S wrote: »
    The Guardian has an article about a website offering books from independent bookshops https://uk.bookshop.org/ which I have not used, but seems better for the bookshop than something called Hive, which bypasses them.
    I'm planning to make an order from that very site for some books for Christmas; I've had it recommended to me but am sorry I can't at present share any personal experiences.

    We were having a family discussion on this very topic only yesterday. Both our children, keen not to offer any more support than necessary to the river-named supplier, use other suppliers when they can but have been frustrated by delivery delays. Both of them would use said supplier if it was something they had to have urgently because of the reliable delivery.
  • Another UK bookshop which sells online is Blackwells. Delivery times in October were warning that it could be 2-3 weeks, IIRC most of the order arrived inside a week and the remaining book took around 10 days.
  • I’m hoping this is the right place to ask about what other online bookshops there are in the UK other than the one named after a river. Thanks WitG

    There is now https://uk.bookshop.org/ , which has spread from its original home in USA. I have not tried it yet, but I have seen favourable reports.

  • EigonEigon Shipmate
    For secondhand books, abebooks is owned by the website named after a river, but the books listed are all from independent second hand booksellers.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    I've received two orders from bookshop.org and have just made a third.

    All were dispatched promptly and nicely packaged.

    Besides browsing the selections each shop puts up, it's worth entering search terms. I found a couple of titles by an author I like I didn't know existed - supplied, oddly, by a bookshop I ken, in St Boswells. The item currently on order is something I expect to find in Canada, but not the UK. That indicates the supplying shop may have a line of interest to me. That kind of specialism or local product seems to me a USP. I'm eyeing a fish cookbook peculiar to Ullapool as next possible purchase.

  • I'm fortunate enough to have a very good local bookshop, who can get most things very quickly, and there is at least one specialist online bookseller that I sometimes use, but my next choice would normally be to see if I could order the book directly from the publisher.
  • A lot of local UK bookshops will now do mailorder.
  • Thank you everyone for your help. My son is currently living in York, and it seems much more sensible to order Christmas books to be delivered to him from within the UK. @Firenze that is a good idea to search as well.
  • Fox Lane Books is an indie based in York. I've had a couple of recent orders from them, one of which came in under 24 hours.

    Hive is also pretty good, pays its taxes and supports local bookshops.
  • It’s often worth googling the title of the book and ordering straight from the stockist - Eden is very good for Christian books, Waterstones, Abebooks or the Book Depository are all good.
  • During the Second World War, was there any sort of protocol for the Luftwaffe to avoid bombing civilians in air raids?

    I ask because my father (born in 1937) was reminiscing about the war and nights spent in the air raid shelter, listening to the German planes going overhead. And then he said that they knew the Germans wouldn't bomb them deliberately, but there was always the fear of a bomb going off-target. He said that the Germans had a protocol to avoid purely civilian deaths, although civilians who lived adjacent to a military target were not protected.

    Is this a story my grandmother spun to calm her children as the planes went over? Or was there such a protocol?
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    The Hague Conventions and a 1938 unanimous declaration by the League of Nations should have made deliberate targeting of civilians unlawful. Links to relevant texts on this page. It maybe this is what your grandmother had in mind.
  • I have heard of a Luftwaffe plane strafing children in a street (on their way home from school?) Don't know who from or where, but not too many people involved in the chain it came down. It would have been Sussex or Kent.
  • Thank you! My father lived in Inverlochy, which was a planned village built for employees of the nearby British Aluminium plant. The Germans made several attempts to bomb the plant, but it was a tricky target as it was built close to the hill which provided the hydro electricity which powered it. Dad remarked that "of course" the Germans could have brought aluminium processing to a halt for a couple of months by bombing the workforce, an easy target as the village was by the lochside and identifiable by that even in black-out "but they wouldn't do that, as the workers were civilians."





  • During the Second World War, was there any sort of protocol for the Luftwaffe to avoid bombing civilians in air raids?

    I ask because my father (born in 1937) was reminiscing about the war and nights spent in the air raid shelter, listening to the German planes going overhead. And then he said that they knew the Germans wouldn't bomb them deliberately, but there was always the fear of a bomb going off-target. He said that the Germans had a protocol to avoid purely civilian deaths, although civilians who lived adjacent to a military target were not protected.

    Is this a story my grandmother spun to calm her children as the planes went over? Or was there such a protocol?

    A story your grandmother spun to reassure her children. From the first outings of the Condor Squadron in the Spanish civil war it was deliberate policy to bomb civilians, both to kill potential combatants and to hamper war industry.

    Promoting civilian terror was also a major aim, hence the so-called Jericho Trumpets on Stuka aircraft and the later fitting of fins on projectiles with the sole aim of them producing a scream.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    It's difficult, looking at the profile of the Belfast Blitz (April/May 1941), particularly the use of incendiaries, not to believe the intention was not only to attack the shipyards, but the terraced streets housing the workers.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    Penny S wrote: »
    I have heard of a Luftwaffe plane strafing children in a street (on their way home from school?) Don't know who from or where, but not too many people involved in the chain it came down. It would have been Sussex or Kent.

    My grandfather, doing his (GP) rounds on a bicycle on a broad straight road in a South Coast town, realised the aircraft he could hear was lining up to strafe the road. He jumped off his bicycle, and, pulling in another passer-by, hid by a garden wall. When the aircraft had passed, machine-gunning the road as it went, he went over onto the other side of the wall taking the passer-by with him, ready for when the plane did the same coming the other way down the road.

    Being on the coast, and with an AA battery, the town did tend to collect from enemy aircraft taking a last chance to jettison their bombs somewhere vaguely ‘useful’, or to empty their magazines.
  • Firenze wrote: »
    It's difficult, looking at the profile of the Belfast Blitz (April/May 1941), particularly the use of incendiaries, not to believe the intention was not only to attack the shipyards, but the terraced streets housing the workers.

    Not to mention Plymouth, Coventry, Exeter (Hamburg, Dresden...)
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host, 8th Day Host
    It’s easy to forget how remarkably inaccurate bombing was, especially if a raid was disrupted by anti aircraft fire or night fighters. In the dark bomb aimers were largely guessing unless the target was lit by fire. One incendiary in the wrong place would lead to many bombs following it. The urgency of dealing with incendiaries was not just to save the buildings they fell on.

    Plymouth was a significant naval base, and Coventry a centre of aircraft and aero engine production. I’m not at all an apologist for bombing, nor of the policy of terror bombing, but judged by the criteria of the time all those places were, or contained legitimate targets.

    The so-called Baedeker raids, and whatever allied equivalents there were (Lübeck and Exeter (for example)) were much harder to justify.
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