Today I Learned

  • Thread starter Thread starter Greg Bernhardt
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Today I learned that cleaning a white hat can be done with bleach cleaner, but it’s important to rinse it before wearing it again. I also discovered that "oyster veneering," a woodworking technique from the late 1600s, is experiencing a minor revival despite its labor-intensive nature. Additionally, I learned that the factorial of 23 (23!) equals 25,852,016,738,884,976,640,000, which interestingly has 23 digits, a unique coincidence among factorials. I found out that medical specialists often spend less than 10 minutes with patients, and that watching TV can contribute to weight gain. Other insights included the fact that a kiss can transfer around 80 million microbes, and that bureaucracy can sometimes hinder employment opportunities. The discussion also touched on various trivia, such as the emotional sensitivity of barn owls and the complexities of gravitational lensing around black holes.
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  • #6,033
symbolipoint said:
Interesting article and maybe scary. One thing bothering me about the article is, the direction to "sign-in" to find which dental flosses have that stuff.
The PFAS chemistry could be tightly bound to the fibre so when we put it in the bin, we are good to go.
I will check and feed back. There is a PFAS thread already so it will be brief.
 
  • #6,034
Ibix said:
500ML of shampoo
Normal people and units *sigh*
 
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  • #6,035
Another reason that a pint of beer is the perfect size.
 
  • #6,036
Orodruin said:
Normal people and units *sigh*
The other one I remember reading about was an energy company advert claiming to sell energy in kilowatts per hour, which is just poor.
Frabjous said:
Another reason that a pint of beer is the perfect size.
"Half a litre just don't satisfy."
 
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  • #6,037
Ibix said:
"Half a litre just don't satisfy."
I'd rather tried to find out whether they can be sued to deliver ##500\,ML## at that prize!
 
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  • #6,038
Today I learned that Gus Grissom may not have been responsible for the loss of his Mercury capsule, something strongly implied in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Grissom
 
  • #6,039
Ibix said:
The other one I remember reading about was an energy company advert claiming to sell energy in kilowatts per hour, which is just poor.

Hmm. That would be units of "rate of change of power." (Power, already being a rate unit, specifically "rate of change of energy.")

Also, torque shares the same fundamental units (i.e. dimensions) as energy, so it could also be used as units of rate of change of rate of change of torque (although calling such units "killowatts per hour" would be just weird).

I'm trying to wrap my head around that and think of some situation where those units might be useful.
 
  • #6,040
 
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  • #6,041
 
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  • #6,042
 
  • #6,043
Its one of the Time Bandit portals!

 
  • #6,044
BillTre said:

I've seen things like this before. They use it to get on and off of flatbed trucks.
 
  • #6,045
Post #6044 by @Hornbein
That is absolutely crazy but it has its own complicated logic.

That video reminds me of reading about the origin of the athletics Pole Vault, for which reaching a height was not the goal but reaching horizontal distance, like to get across a stream or a ditch, was the goal.
 
  • #6,046
symbolipoint said:
Post #6044 by @Hornbein
That is absolutely crazy but it has its own complicated logic.

That video reminds me of reading about the origin of the athletics Pole Vault, for which reaching a height was not the goal but reaching horizontal distance, like to get across a stream or a ditch, was the goal.
That is an amazing video to watch. It wouldn't have worked if the water channel was slightly wider or the axles of the excavator were slightly closer together.
 
  • #6,047
Hornbein said:
I've seen things like this before. They use it to get on and off of flatbed trucks.
Maybe the truck's ramps aren't strong enough.
 
  • #6,049
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  • #6,050
pinball1970 said:
T.I.L. LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) looking for Dark matter.

Results (280 days worth of data) presented in conferences this month.

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-dark.html
I bet the name came from the lead shielding.
 
  • #6,051
TIL about this fun little video Mark Knopfler made about the Coyote from the Road Runner cartoons:

 
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  • #6,052
BillTre said:
TIL about this fun little video Mark Knopfler made about the Coyote from the Road Runner cartoons:


4:48, the dawning realisation on his face and then his claw just feeling around... I always feel so sorry for the coyote, but I can't stop laughing.
 
  • #6,053
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  • #6,054
T.I.L. A little bit about BepiColumbo, https://www.esa.int/Science_Explora...est_images_yet_highlight_fourth_Mercury_flyby

One of the Mercury flyby images.

1725621316519.png
 
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  • #6,057
Screenshot 2024-09-17 at 9.20.08 AM.png
 
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  • #6,058
TIL that "havok" was in Old English a command to cease fighting and begin looting and pillaging.
 
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  • #6,059
Screenshot 2024-09-22 at 9.57.22 AM.png
 
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  • #6,060
BillTre said:
I can read that. I however failed to get past the first sentence of my niece's PhD in political geography.
 
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