What interesting things have you only recently learned about?
To be clear, this is about things which have been true for some time and you only recently learned about, not things that only happened recently. In particular, recent deaths of celebrities and other high-profile individuals should go in the General RIP Thread
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So, what interesting things have you guys...and gals...only recently learned about?
Edited by Twiddler on Apr 8th 2023 at 1:07:55 AM
Moisturizers can help alleviate rashes, just use the mild and unscented ones. Do the patch test first though! Preferably around your neck so if you do get a reaction, it won't be on your face.
Or bathe in oatmeal. Whatever floats your boat.
edited 20th Oct '16 7:17:17 AM by Jamiester
ACCOUNT NO LONGER USED. *straps on jetpack*
500 km may be a negligible distance away from the center of the sun when compared to the size of the Sun itself, but part of the fun of math and physics is noticing small discrepancies like that. The fact that the Earth-Sun system's center of gravity isn't quite at the center of the Sun is important because it translates to the fact that a binary star system's center of gravity isn't inside either star, it's just a point in empty space between them.
And like BestOf suggested, that tiny little discrepancy causes tiny little discrepancies in the orbits of planets and their effect on the stars they orbit, which is a big part of how we detect planets orbiting other stars. Not by just seeing them, but by observing what they do to the stars they orbit as a result of their center of gravity moving around and pulling on the star. If the center of gravity was precisely in the center of the star, that would mean the planet wasn't pulling on the star at all, which would make most extrasolar planets pretty much undetectable by most methods.
TIL that they finally fixed the avatar galleries.
Except the delete checkmark is now to the side of the avatar.
edited 20th Oct '16 8:32:47 AM by valozzy
But where is the center of mass for every center of mass between the sun and every object that orbits it?
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
The Nintendo NX is officially named the Switch.
I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
I was fascinated by the notion that it's been theorized that there could be black holes that exist without event horizons, so you could theoretically walk right up to one and not get compressed to a singularity unless you touched it.
On the language front, I didn't know that "Baxter" is the Old English feminine form of "Baker."
Re: black holes without event horizons
That would be awesome.
Mweheheh
"Don't Mind" by Kent Jones is on the new Kidz Bop album.
Peace is the only battle worth waging.
How would a black hole without an event horizon even work?
what do you mean I didn't win, I ate more wet t-shirts than anyone else
Haven't the foggiest, but it'd be cool as shit.
Attempting to have your supporters kill your opponent before the contest is something that's happening to the US now.
In more positive news, Genius have an extensive poem library for verses that are less sing-y. They also have a quick rhetorical device reference index, which will no doubt be helpful to high school English classes.
Mweheheh
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
You mean Trump? I thought that happened two months ago.
Richaad EB, a guitarist on Youtube who does metal covers of video game music, contributed to the Black Ops 3 soundtrack.
Marijuana. Though it's commonly believed to be impossible to die from overdose, it can induce severe panic attacks that may cause you to do stuff that you can also die from.
![[down]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_down.png "[down]"){kind=icon}
Good point. Better avoid overdosing in the first place. 
edited 22nd Oct '16 7:21:43 AM by Jamiester
ACCOUNT NO LONGER USED. *straps on jetpack*
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
That's not the same as dying from overdose, though.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Making Unicorns Cool Again Since 2010
Thanks to the rotation of the Earth, if the Tunguska explosion had taken place six hours later, it would have destroyed St. Petersburg. 
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
Wow. You know, these things just remind me of how nice it is that most of the human population is concentrated in extremely small and relatively isolated bits of land. That means most disasters coming from space will hit either water or uninhabited - or mostly uninhabited - land.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Making Unicorns Cool Again Since 2010
Try telling that to the folks behind Mega Disasters, a.k.a. The Paranoia Fuel Show. 
Marijuana effects humans in exactly the same way that catnip effects cats. Humans are immune to the effects of catnip, just as cats are immune to the effects of marijuana. The same percentage of humans and cats are immune to the effects of marijuana and catnip, respectively.
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
Catnip doesn't make cats mellow, though.
Well, not my cats, anyway.
Cool.
edited 22nd Oct '16 12:17:19 PM by BestOf
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Sorry, I should have said that catnip has the same spectrum of effects on cats as marijuana does humans. It does make SOME cats mellow (mine for instance). And marijuana doesn't make everybody mellow, either.
Oh. So there's a good chance that you'll be immune from marijuana's effects then?
ACCOUNT NO LONGER USED. *straps on jetpack*
Why is it acceptable for cats to get high??
The European population of Barbary macaques is restricted to the island of Gibraltar. I thought they lived in southern Spain in general.
Princess Aurora is underrated, pass it on.