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Things you didn't know until very recently...

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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.

    Original post 
Hey guys...and gals...I was just browsing through an XKCD strip and ended up learning that Jimmy Carter was attacked by a swimming rabbit.

Courtesy link...

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

InverurieJones '80s TV Action Hero from North of the Wall. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
'80s TV Action Hero
#3801: Mar 26th 2011 at 1:55:16 AM

There are some people who think that Star Trek: Voyager was the best Trek series. Heresy.

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'
Medicus Sierra 117 from Australia Since: Sep, 2009
Sierra 117
#3802: Mar 26th 2011 at 2:09:35 AM

My Dad is one of those people, believe it or not.

Rather than buy the first season of TNG or TOS or DS9, he bought the first season of Voyager. Man is fucking insane.

It's not over. Not yet.
Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#3803: Mar 26th 2011 at 3:16:33 AM

Lemuria was not purely a creation of Golden Sun, but comes from an actual (discredited) lost land hypothesised during the 19th century.

I'm honestly surprised I didn't know this before.

Where did you think lemurs came from?

HellmanSabian Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
#3804: Mar 26th 2011 at 3:24:53 AM

Kino thinks that I look like a hipster in real life. Bastard. tongue

edited 26th Mar '11 3:25:12 AM by HellmanSabian

InverurieJones '80s TV Action Hero from North of the Wall. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
'80s TV Action Hero
#3806: Mar 26th 2011 at 11:58:44 PM

I finally managed to track down the origins of the aboriginal snging in Enigma's 'Return to Innocence'; it's by Difang and Igay Duana, an Ami couple from Taiwan.

Awesomeness.

Incidentally, 'Lemuria' was given that name precisely because it was the hypothetical land route that allowed lemurs to reach Madagascar. So...yeah, lemurs are from Lemuria. Allegedly.

edited 27th Mar '11 12:02:36 AM by InverurieJones

'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'
elemcee Since: Dec, 2009
#3807: Mar 27th 2011 at 3:00:39 AM

That the entire internet almost fills a yottabyte. A yottabyte would take 86 trillion years to download with a high-power computer. Not that you could.

And a yottabyte is one thousandth of the size of a brontobyte, which is one thousandth of the size of a geopbyte.

Funnyguts Since: Sep, 2010
#3808: Mar 27th 2011 at 6:43:46 AM

Today I learned that there is a word called brontobyte, and that it is an awesome word.

annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#3810: Mar 27th 2011 at 8:00:27 PM

[up] Those silly greeks man

  • There is in fact an extant non-Indo-European language in Western Europe and that is Basque.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
ArgeusthePaladin from Byzantine. Since: May, 2010
#3811: Mar 27th 2011 at 8:12:11 PM

Vikings did wear a form of fur coats similar to the caftan.

Support Taleworlds!
Zyxzy Embrace the mindscrew from Salem, OR Since: Jan, 2001
Embrace the mindscrew
#3812: Mar 27th 2011 at 8:14:30 PM

Which sadly tells us about nothing about any other Paleo-European languages.

edited 27th Mar '11 8:14:40 PM by Zyxzy

What's the frequency Kenneth?|In case of war.
annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#3813: Mar 27th 2011 at 8:35:44 PM

This is true.

Though I do believe that the Indo-European languages that developed in Europe may have adopted some orthography and vocabulary from the paleo-European languages that were spoken at the time the Indo-Europeans' descendants migrated in.

[up][up] More information? Every bit helps.

edited 27th Mar '11 9:28:11 PM by annebeeche

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Tzetze DUMB from a converted church in Venice, Italy Since: Jan, 2001
DUMB
#3814: Mar 27th 2011 at 8:43:25 PM

Um... other non-Indo-European languages in Europe include Finnish and Maltese? There's a gypsy dialect of Basque called Erromintxela? What kind of information do you want?

[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.
annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#3815: Mar 27th 2011 at 9:28:50 PM

I actually meant to point to Argeus regarding the fur coats, sorry about that.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
JHM Apparition in the Woods from Niemandswasser Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: Hounds of love are hunting
Apparition in the Woods
#3816: Mar 27th 2011 at 9:38:20 PM

On listing non-Indo-European languages in Europe: Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian are from the same language family (Finno-Ugric); Maltese is a Semitic language distantly related to Arabic; and Basque is a complete isolate, though it may be related to Iberian and Aquitainian, both of which are quite extinct...

I feel so horribly didactic right now.

Putting this aside, I love Basque.

edited 27th Mar '11 9:38:46 PM by JHM

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.
annebeeche watching down on us from by the long tidal river Since: Nov, 2010
watching down on us
#3817: Mar 27th 2011 at 9:55:00 PM

And then there are some Kartvelian languages, and Caucasic, and Altaic.

But those are more eastern europe. I was hoping for some more western europe languages, but it appears that Basque is the only one.

Banned entirely for telling FE that he was being rude and not contributing to the discussion. I shall watch down from the goon heavens.
Funnyguts Since: Sep, 2010
#3818: Mar 28th 2011 at 10:08:41 PM

So I decided to read up on Cosplay Cafes. Apparently they've gotten so popular that there are now cosplay and maid shops are branching out into massages, dates, and... cleaning ears. I am now imagining a fifteen year old girl sticking a q-tip in a guy's ear while pretending to be Haruhi.

Kinkajou I'm Only Sleeping Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Hiding
I'm Only Sleeping
#3819: Mar 29th 2011 at 4:26:33 AM

The fact that a cosplay cafe exists in my country surprised me, but then again, I think we're second to the US in terms of absorbing Japanese pop culture. [lol]

INT is knowing a tomato is a fruit. WIS is knowing it doesn't belong in a fruit salad. CHA is convincing people that it does.
Enzeru icon by implodingoracle from Orlando, FL ¬ôχಠ♥¯ Since: Mar, 2011
icon by implodingoracle
#3820: Mar 29th 2011 at 7:57:21 AM

I just learned after returning to this thread that a lot of tropers know who Fran Drescher is.

edited 29th Mar '11 7:57:40 AM by Enzeru

nekoalexa from the same place I've always been Since: Oct, 2010
#3821: Mar 29th 2011 at 10:31:38 AM

Ummm...I'm pretty sure everyone knows who Fran Drescher is. Kinda hard to forget a voice like hers.tongue

AC:NL Dream Address: 5200-2582-5967
Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#3822: Mar 29th 2011 at 11:19:14 AM

I learned that nervousness over being watched trumps any and all preparation you can do before acting. That was fun.

https://www.facebook.com/emileunmedicatedanduncut
Idler20 Rabbit Season Since: Oct, 2010
Moogi A Mediocre Khan from everywhy Since: Jan, 2001
A Mediocre Khan
#3825: Mar 29th 2011 at 1:09:26 PM

[up][up] First time acting before an audience since the fifth grade. Oddly, public speaking seems to be fine with me- I've given a couple decent monologues at minor award ceremonies- but once you add the acting... yeah. The annoying thing is that I've got my character's, well, character down pat for the most part but the lines are giving me trouble. In other words, exactly the opposite problem from the rest of my class. Thankfully, I have two weeks to practice before I get graded on my performance.

Then I have a solo act of some sort (I'm not sure of the details) for my final in late April. I'm hoping I can pick my own material for that, since I'd love to try a PG Wodehouse monologue.

https://www.facebook.com/emileunmedicatedanduncut

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