Today I Learned

[StringJunky]

On 1/6/2021 at 3:45 PM, zapatos said:

Today I learned the US Civil War was not as far back in history as I thought.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/civil-war-veteran-widow-helen-jackson-030518406.html

I remember reading that and thinking the civil war wasn't that long ago.

[Janus]

2 hours ago, StringJunky said:

I remember reading that and thinking the civil war wasn't that long ago.

My paternal Grandfather was 6 when the Civil war started (Born in Dec of 1854), though he didn't come to the US until 1883.

[StringJunky]

2 hours ago, Janus said:

My paternal Grandfather was 6 when the Civil war started (Born in Dec of 1854), though he didn't come to the US until 1883.

The last slave ship from Africa to the US was around the time he was born as well... about 1859

[MigL]

Today I learned that shortly after WW1, the Cona family emigrated to the US from my home town in Italy, San Angelo dei Lombardi, which currently has about 4000 inhabitants.
They gave birth to a daughter, Maria, in the New York city area, who later went on to marry a Polish radio/TV repairman, also of immigrant parents, and together they had a son, in 1951, that they named Frank.
Frank Wilkzec would go on to win the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on asymptotic freedom of the color force.

[zapatos]

Today I learned that the term "naked apes" referring to humans is a misnomer. 

Quote

We humans are often known as “naked apes”. It might seem like a deserved nickname; after all, we lack the lush coats of body hair that chimps, bonobos and gorillas have in abundance. But we are not naked. We actually have the same density of body hair as other apes of our size, but ours is largely fine and colourless rather than thick and dark. We are coated with a layer of short, fine hair, known technically as vellus hair and colloquially as peach fuzz.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-semi-naked-ape-or-why-peach-fuzz-makes-it-harder-for-parasites

[Ghideon]

Today I learned the English term antipode. In geography, the antipode of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points antipodal to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Earth's center.*
For example Sevilla in Spain and Auckland in New Zeeland are (approximate) antipodes.**

(I got curious about diametrically opposite when reading another thread, thanks @joigus!  )

*) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipodes 

**) according to antipodesmap.com

Edited May 2, 2021 by Ghideon
source

[zapatos]

Today I learned that this year's version of the Brood X cicadas are giving it all they've got!

Quote

After 17 years underground, the Brood X periodical cicadas are slowly emerging in 15 states across the East Coast and Midwest.

They'll shed their skins and spend four to six weeks mating before the females lay eggs and they all die.

...

A fungus called Massospora, which can produce compounds of cathinone — an amphetamine — infects a small number of them and makes them lose control.

The fungus takes over their bodies, causing them to lose their lower abdomen and genitals. And it pushes their mating into hyperdrive.

...

"Everybody's having a good time while they're infected," he says. "So, I don't imagine there's much pain, maybe a desire to listen to the Grateful Dead or something like that, but no pain."

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/18/997998920/the-fungus-thats-making-cicadas-sex-crazy

[Peterkin]

Today I learned about Eleanor Roosevelt's part in the civil rights movement and the UN Declaration of Human Rights. She was really an admirable (? awesome) individual. 

https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/eleanor-roosevelt

Edited July 27, 2021 by Peterkin
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[Der_Neugierige]

i learned today that

1. Saying that I would a hate and repell my parents if they told me I was adopted makes no sense.

2. Saying I would hate my twin brother If I had one is not realistic

3. Writing youtube comments is a waste of time

4. Masturbating to hetero porn makes no sense as a gay man

5. Realising making sports or fitness makes you NOT more handsome!

6. Realising that I do have a inborn biological trouble(genetic or epigenetic) what caused my homosexuality a d why I am so ugly

On 5/15/2017 at 2:28 PM, koti said:

 

Edited September 30, 2021 by Der_Neugierige

[iNow]

Hopefully today you can also learn acceptance

[beecee]

Today  one of my old school mates passed away, and another is going downhill fast. Ten years ago we all [eleven of us] stuck in a $100 each with the last man standing to collect. At present there are seven of us left. Out of that seven, two have had quadruple bypasses, one has ALS, another is diabetic, another has cancer of the liver, leaving two of us in reasonable health, me being one of those. So I learnt I'm a 50/50 chance of collecting $1100!!😉

[zapatos]

Today (well, recently) I learned how to hard boil an egg.

I've often had issues peeling hard boiled eggs as sometimes the shell would strongly adhere and I ended up taking off the shell in about 100 tiny pieces.

Found an article that said the difficult peeling had to do with rapid cooling of eggs after cooking, or even with the boiling itself. I always used the 'cold water' method which involved boiling and rapid cooling afterwards.

Now I bring the water to a boil, put eggs in a steamer basket, insert basket, cover and steam for 13 minutes. (I'm using duck eggs so chicken eggs would probably be around 11 minutes.) Once the 13 minutes are up, remove basket of eggs from steam and let cool at room temperature; no rapid cooling in cold water.

I no longer have issues peeling hard cooked eggs! Only took me decades to learn!! 😃

[Der_Neugierige]

Today I learnt, I should not judge other peoples cognitive abilities. 

[MigL]

I would have put this in the thread about B J but that was prematurely closed.

You can think, judge, and have any opinion you want; don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
This is not G Orwell's 1984, and there is no thought police.

Society does, however, have rules, and you cannot act on those thoughts, judgements or opinions in manners which are deemed illegal.
This site has similar rules of posting behaviour, which you agreed to, when you joined; maybe you should read those rules.

Oh, and if you expect others to respect your right to your own opinions, even those concerning B Johnson, you should then respect their right to have a possibly unfavorable opinion of you.

[TheVat]

...that the world was slightly saner today for about four hours when FB,  instagram and whatsapp all went down.   (bet someone tried to reconfigure a DNS server and it crashed) 

[Der_Neugierige]

42 minutes ago, TheVat said:

...that the world was slightly saner today for about four hours when FB,  instagram and whatsapp all went down.   (bet someone tried to reconfigure a DNS server and it crashed) 

Facebook yes, whatsapp no.

[CharonY]

3 hours ago, TheVat said:

...that the world was slightly saner today for about four hours when FB,  instagram and whatsapp all went down.   (bet someone tried to reconfigure a DNS server and it crashed) 

I think the ironic bit that I have learned is that we (as humankind) do not have learned how to use and deal with social media.

[Der_Neugierige]

Today I learnt that dirty coal power plants produce a big part of our CO2 emissions, but currently 1300 new coal power plants are planed to be built. For me the prof that we are not going in the correct direction.

[Country Boy]

On 3/17/2017 at 10:31 AM, DrmDoc said:

What interesting fact or trivia did you learn today? For example, today I learned that a shamrock and four-leaf clover are not the same. It seems that shamrock describes a three-leaf clover and, as folklore has it, was used by St.Patrick as a religious totem. The four-leaf clover, which is not associated with St.Patrick, owes it's reputation for luck to its rarity. So, do you have something interesting to share?

They  are, however, biologically, the same plant!    Yes, a shamrock is a clover with three leaves.   Rarely the clover will have four leaves in which case it is called a "four leaf clover" rather than a "shamrock".

[nasvayta]

 I found out my IQ level. I was shocked. Do you know your IQ level?

[Peterkin]

21 minutes ago, nasvayta said:

 I found out my IQ level. I was shocked. Do you know your IQ level?

Yes. And it doesn't matter. What's being tested is unimportant; what's not being tested is important.

(But the tests are fun to take.)

[dimreepr]

Today is being tested, tomorrow doesn't matter. 

 

[nasvayta]

On 11/4/2021 at 5:18 PM, Peterkin said:

Yes. And it doesn't matter. What's being tested is unimportant; what's not being tested is important.

(But the tests are fun to take.)

You're probably right. Yes, and these tests are very different from each other. One has a maximum score of 133 and the other 110. It's kind of weird.

[Peterkin]

Yesterday, I noticed that a big full moon is directly across from my bedroom window at 4am. I expected to watch the eclipse from bed. Today I discovered that I cannot see through a thick layer of snow-cloud and don't care enough about eclipses to get up and watch it on the computer. 

[TheVat]

I learned today that an American teenager can illegally arm himself with an AR-15, then go out in the streets and act out his cowboy fantasies by taunting, goading, and then killing two people and wounding another, with zero legal consequences.