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
.
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
If you scroll down the tropes page for The Alcoholic, to the music subsection, there's a little factoid embedded in Shane MacGowan's entry. Apparently he managed to survive falling of the shinkansen, but I've never heard that anywhere else, and how does one even manage to fall off?
It's called "pulling the ball" in baseball because the batter pulls his hand towards himself in the act of swinging the bat, making it more likely to get good contact on an inside pitch and more likely for the batted ball to go towards the same side of the field as the batter.
Took me like 20 years to realize this.
edited 25th Aug '17 9:55:25 AM by megarockman
The damned queen and the relentless knight.The keyboard player of X Ambassadors, Casey Harris, is blind
.
Another Shane MacGowan related one: he and his partner Victoria Clarke have been together for 31 years, which is a pretty long time for any celebrity couple, but given how much of a human disaster MacGowan is, that's truly incredible.
edited 26th Aug '17 5:16:25 AM by trashconverters
I could totally see that. Worth trying!
Anyway. This had never occurred to me: There are homeless people who have been traumatized indoors (like at a shelter, detox, or jail), and sometimes they stay on the streets because they feel safer there. Denver has built a trauma-aware
apartment building to house chronically homeless people who don't feel safe indoors.
And! It's "housing-first." That means homeless people are given homes before they're given treatment or work. This model has worked well in other places, including Salt Lake City (they were early adopters due to the LDS Church and its views on helping the poor).
I'm optimistic. The article says that private companies lent the city of Denver money to build this money, and the city will pay them back with the money they save on jail and detox. Private companies are not in the business of giving away money, they want it back, and will not lend money if something seems too risky.
wow, they finally discontinued Net Ware? I thought it was never going to go away, kind of like That One Machine Running DOS.
online since 1993 | huge retrocomputing and TV nerd | lee4hmz.info (under construction) | heapershangout.comStormfront is defunct.
edited 27th Aug '17 5:29:36 PM by Spinosegnosaurus77
Peace is the only battle worth waging.![]()
I like your Joking Mode idea! With extra points given for comedy! I know some hella funny stoners.
This one time, my mom discovered my little brother's secret stash. She showed it to me, said, "Huh. No wonder he's so funny," and put it back.
![]()
Just to be clear, cat HIV (called FIV
) is not the same virus as human HIV. Similar, but you don't have to worry about catching it from a cat.
Wikipedia has an article on Nintendo Hard. WTF.....
135 -> 180 -> 273 -> 191 -> 188 -> 230 -> 300 -> 311The Joycons for the Switch and the Dualshock 4 controller for PS 4 can both be used as a controller for smartphones thanks to the magic of Bluetooth.
Not too long ago, I discovered Golliwogg's Cakewalk
, which is now one of my favorite classical pieces.
When I read the title, I assumed Golliwog was someone's last name. I pictured a jolly old baker or candy shop owner.
As it turns out, the Golliwog is actually a ragdoll character who is considered a racist caricature nowadays
.
It's a shame, too. I wanted to use "Golliwog" as the name of a character I created, who leans more towards my original idea of who Golliwog is.
edited 28th Aug '17 4:48:44 PM by DrNoPuma
Very good kitty

Demetrios, that is freaking COOL. I love flowers. I went to a wildlife refuge yesterday, and while most of the wildlife was too smart to hang out in 85F weather, I found a bunch of cool flowers. I'm trying to identify them
now and see which ones I can plant in my garden next year.