Today I Learned

[strangerep]

[bear safety...]

... and if approached by a koala bear, quickly don a plastic apron, or other plastic smock, as its attack by urination is both unpleasant and guaranteed. The koala reserves its most pungent liquid for tourists with cameras...

Then there's a larger, far more dangerous, subspecies: the dreaded Drop Bear. If camping, don't place your sleeping bag under a gum tree, especially if you're a female Sandinavian tourist!

 

[Keith_McClary]

Drop Bear

 

[fresh_42]

TIL that I suffer from autosomal dominant compelling helio-ophthalmic outburst (ACHOO) syndrome. O.k. it is a self diagnosis ... Why do doctors always sound as if you have only hours to live?

 

[Keith_McClary]

I suffer from

So, you've seen the light?

 

[fresh_42]

So, you've seen the light?

Seems to be a wide spread phenomenon:
"A study conducted by the School of Optometry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that females represent 67% of photic sneezers, and Caucasians represent 94%."

 

[mfb]

That quote makes no statement about how widespread it is.

 

[fresh_42]

That quote makes no statement about how widespread it is.

I know. The German version does (17%-35%) but I was too lazy to translate it, so I took what was closest to it.

 

[strangerep]

TIL,... well,... I'll describe as it actually happened...

I was ordering lunch from my favorite cafe. The waiter is a Frenchman named,... well,... I'll just call him "T", who often relapses back and forth in a mixture of French and English when talking.

Me: Could I have a smoked salmon bagel and a pure blonde, please? ("Pure Blonde" is a brand of beer in this part of the world.)

T: Oui, Une Blonde... (?)... hmmm...

Me: What's French for "pure"?

T: Also "pure", (but a slightly different pronunciation).

Me: OK,... je voudrais une Blonde Pure, sil vous plait.

T: Mmm, non, that doesn't really makes sense.

Me: Oh? So what's French for "virgin"?

T: (Laughs.) Pffft! That doesn't exist!

 

[Keith_McClary]

Avocados are toxic to almost all animals (including cats and dogs). Humans are a rare exception. It is the only fruit to contain persin, a fatty acid, which, when eaten by animals causes vomiting, diarrhea, and other nasty symptoms. Consumption of large quantities can cause death within twelve hours.
(I didn't learn it the hard way.)

 

[Keith_McClary]

While shopping with a mask:

And how on Earth are you supposed to open the produce bags?
The latter may not seem immediately concerning, but it’s a frustrating problem for those used to licking their fingers to help pry the thin, translucent plastic bags open.

I can't embed the video, but you can watch it here (1 min). (Applied physics!)

 

[Tom.G]

Yup! I started doing that a couple years ago. It works.
But you have to rub it in the direction shown in the video, if you rub it across the bag width it usually doesn't work.

 

[jtbell]

Today I learned that Oscar Mayer is hiring drivers for the Wienermobile.

Frankly, this could very well be someone's dream job.

Interested candidates should get their buns online and apply by January 31 to be considered.

 

[diogenesNY]

TIL...
...about a dump truck. It may not be capable of perpetual motion, but as dump trucks go, it looks to be about as close as you are likely to get.

https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1124478_world-s-largest-ev-never-has-to-be-recharged

This also happens to be the world's largest electric vehicle, and has a major cool factor, IMHO.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/16/...rcharged-spt-intl/index.html?no-st=1563995476

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a30873539/electric-mining-truck/

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/08/26/edumper-electric-mining-truck-self-charging/

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/elektro-dumper-is-worlds-largest-electric-vehicle/

---diogenesNY

 

[Keith_McClary]

dump truck

In the video they just drive it in circles (until they drop the camera). Is that how they get rid of the surplus battery charge?

 

[diogenesNY]

Keith_McClary, Interesting question. I _suspect_ that it just burns off, like on a Prius or a Volt (unless that _isn't_ how it works for them..._). FWIW, the motorbiscuit site has a whole bunch of long videos and photos.

 

[Keith_McClary]

Spencer Lisenby flew a remote control glider at 882 km/hr !

 

[jtbell]

Today I learned which wine goes with Cheetos: white Sancerre. (No, I haven't tried it yet.)

 

[Algr]

Today I learned which wine goes with Cheetos: white Sancerre. (No, I haven't tried it yet.)

Usually this sort of thing is intended as an insult to the wine. :/

 

[Drakkith]

Today I learned that online dating is the ability to get rejected over and over again and keep going back for more pain.

 

[PeroK]

TIL something about SR which is actually useful here on PF:

Travelling time to Andromeda with 1g acceleration and deceleration (Einstein): 28 years boardtime
Travelling time to Andromeda with 1g acceleration and deceleration without the c constraint (Newton): 2,800 years boardtime
Reason why it won't work either way: CMB will work as resistor and additional energy meant for acceleration will be turned into particle production instead and arbitrarily close to c will be physically impossible, regardless which engine we constructed.

These easy arguments could shortcut many fruitless discussions on space travel.

What, then, is the maximum possible speed of a spacecraft ?

 

[fresh_42]

What, then, is the maximum possible speed of a spacecraft ?

Interesting question: What is a lower boundary of the drag coefficient in space due to CMB resistance?
It hasn't been said in the documentary I saw (who wonders?).

 

[PeroK]

Interesting question: What is a lower boundary of the drag coefficient in space due to CMB resistance?
It hasn't been said in the documentary I saw (who wonders?).

The 28 years is not very important, unless you are talking about human crew - and, even then, we'd be talking about a cryogenic system of some sort.

 

[fresh_42]

The 28 years is not very important, unless you are talking about human crew - and, even then, we'd be talking about a cryogenic system of some sort.

No. The $c_w$ value is.

 

[jack action]

TIL (or more precisely I was reminded) that we all have to start somewhere:

This Giant Abandoned Soviet Spaceship Made of Wood Looks Like the Ultimate Children’s Playground Feature​

This decaying wooden spacecraft was used as a wind tunnel model in the 1980s for the VKK Space Orbiter, the largest and most expensive Soviet space exploration program conceived as a response to the United States’ Space Shuttle.

 

[DaveC426913]

So, the idea of making satellites out of wood is not so new after all...

 

[fresh_42]

So, the idea of making satellites out of wood is not so new after all...

And it would definitely resolve the re-entry problem!

 

[Klystron]

TIL (or more precisely I was reminded) that we all have to start somewhere:

This Giant Abandoned Soviet Spaceship Made of Wood Looks Like the Ultimate Children’s Playground Feature
View attachment 276931​

From an artistic point of view, this aging replica with railroad cars visible in the background represents numerous tropes of modern technology. The wooden structure slowly weathers into the surrounding trees.

 

[BillTre]

TIL that as someone who works for an eyebank, removing corneas from corpses,
I am part of the Death Care Industry (like undertakers etc.).

 

[mfb]

Interesting question: What is a lower boundary of the drag coefficient in space due to CMB resistance?
It hasn't been said in the documentary I saw (who wonders?).

It doesn't act like a drag coefficient.
It's in principle just an engineering challenge that can be overcome. There is no physical limit on the speed.

 

[Keith_McClary]

The worlds smallest vertebrate is a recently [2011] discovered frog measuring 0.3 inches long (7.7 millimeters).
(Image: © Christopher Austin, LSU)

Smaller than:

The newly discovered Nano-Chameleon (Brookesia nana) is the smallest known reptile in the world
Frank Glaw (SNSB/ZSM)

 

[nuuskur]

TIL he who went by @Math_QED isn't in the forum anymore. He still around or anyone know what happened?

 

[DaveC426913]

The worlds smallest vertebrate

Really? I would have thought some fish were smaller.
Ah.

"It ousts Paedocypris progenetica, an Indonesian fish averaging more than 8 millimeters, from the record. "

 

[jedishrfu]

TIL he who went by @Math_QED isn't in the forum anymore. He still around or anyone know what happened?

While we can’t comment on specific cases, we can say that sometimes folks priorities change and that they need to focus on more immediate needs.

The advent of the Right to be Forgotten law of the EU places an additional burden on website owners to respect requests for removal of any kind of content associated with an EU member.

The combination of these two circumstances can make it appear that a site member has completely vanished with no explanation when in fact it’s due to these priorities and laws that are beyond our control.

 

[gmax137]

TIL about the Right to be Forgotten law. I don't remember hearing about it before.

 

[fresh_42]

TIL about the Right to be Forgotten law. I don't remember hearing about it before.

The name became as famous here as "the Bosman judgement".

 

[gmax137]

The name became as famous here as "the Bosman judgement".

Well I had to look that one up as well. But I'm confused by the wiki article, as I didn't think you all played football over there...

 

[jack action]

TIL a fun fact about back to the future:

(source: www.facebook.com/FTLOSF/videos/769589736988388)​

 

[Keith_McClary]

"Look at my new girlfriend! Isn't she pretty?"
"Yeah, you're right! She isn't - pretty."

TIL about Question tags.

 

[berkeman]

Watching the evening news on TV tonight (in Northern California, US), TIL about avalanche "parachutes" / "air bags" that can help skiers and snowmobilers survive getting caught in avalanches. I never knew about these things before tonight!

https://www.switchbacktravel.com/sites/default/files/images/articles/Alpride E1 avalanche airbag pack (Scott Patrol E1).jpg

https://www.evo.com/guides/how-to-choose-avalanche-airbag

 

[jack action]

TIL the wonderful story of Duct Tape. It was invented by a woman during WWII, Vesta Stoudt, to seal ammo boxes.

The most fascinating thing is that the original name was Duck Tape, because it was waterproof like a duck and was made with cotton duck fabric. And that, way before it was used to seal ducts.

The Woman Who Invented Duct Tape

 

[berkeman]

The most fascinating thing is that the original name was Duck Tape, because it was waterproof like a duck

Interesting! And I always thought "Duck Tape" was a malapropism. Now I know it's not!

 

[BillTre]

I have seen Duck Tape for sale, but I live in Eugene, Oregon, home of the Fighting Ducks!

 

[Drakkith]

Today I learned that the translunar injection burns for the Apollo missions accelerated the spacecraft up to the equivalent of about Mach 30. The burns were actually visible from the Earth's surface for those in the right locations at the right times.

Supposedly, Neil Armstrong yelled out, "Eat my exhaust, Blackbird!" during their TLI burn, referring to the SR-71 Blackbird.*

*Citation needed.

 

[DaveE]

TIL that the interwebs doesn't really know what "canonical form" really means. All* of my search results described a particular discipline and how they use canonical forms. Mathematics, Chemistry, Electronics, Physics, Computer Science, Linguistics... They all have their canonical forms that are well described in a google search. But nowhere did anyone actually describe why humans use canonical formulations to improve the efficiency of communication or understanding. There doesn't seem to be a generalized description of a common feature of diverse disciplines.

*OK, I'm lazy and not THAT interested, All = about 6 pages of google searches.

 

[fresh_42]

A canon (Greek: measure) is a law or a principle in the catholic church. It demands how something is done - always. Hence the canonical forms are the way things have to be done.

 

[mfb]

TIL: The worst natural disaster in the history of Finland was...

Spoiler

The 2004 earthquake in the Indian ocean. It killed 179 Finns.

 

[Keith_McClary]

worst natural disaster

Does that include pandemics and weather events (and shipwrecks blamed on weather).

 

[mfb]

I assume no pandemics. Weather events should be included.
That statement is older than the COVID-19 pandemic but the 1918 pandemic will have killed more, too.

 

[epenguin]

Today I learned that Sheikh Yamani who died on 23rd Feb and who for a quarter of a century made the weather in the world oil market and was the mastermind of the 1973 oil shock that quadrupled the oil price wasn't really a Sheikh - that was only a courtesy title given to this technocrat whom the Saudi king had picked out for his legal expertise and newspaper articles.

He wasn't really rich either, with a mere $500 million to his name, pretty humble for the circles he mixed in, or could have, for he was no socialite either.

 

[rsk]

Today I learned that Algeria has the highest % of female engineering graduates in the world. This isn't news, but it was news to me.
All the Maghrebi countries fare well, though I think Peru comes second after Algeria.