Today I Learned

[jtbell]

TIL that the orange dust covering my fingers after I eat Cheetos is called "cheetle."

 

[fresh_42]

TIL that the orange dust covering my fingers after I eat Cheetos is called "cheetle."

You must have been relieved. I bet you thought it was rust!

 

[gmax137]

I remember a comic strip from long ago (Shoe ?) where one character could tell whether the other got his news from newspapers, or from TV. The readers had black fingers, from the newsprint; while the TV viewers had orange fingers, from the cheetos.

 

[BillTre]

TIL that an un-named astronaut was treated for a blood clot in their jugular that was found by ultrasound done to study bodily fluid distributions of people in space.
A land based doctor got a unique opportunity to be a NASA consultant on the case:

Moll initially requested to visit the ISS and examine the patient personally; however, due to the time-sensitive nature of the situation, this was not possible.

“NASA told me they couldn’t get me up to space quickly enough, so I proceeded with the evaluation and treatment process from here in Chapel Hill,” Moll explained.

Nice work if you can get it. Too bad he didn't get up there.

His wife had a nice line:

“When the astronaut called my home phone, my wife answered and then passed the phone to me with the comment, ‘Stephan, a phone call for you from space.’ That was pretty amazing,”

Little story here.

 

[BillTre]

Late notice, but I just learned today is Dr. Strangelove Day.
The film (perhaps the best political satire film of all time) came out on this day, Jan. 29, in 1964.

Remember:
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room.”
in case you're ever in the war room.

 

[Adesh]

Today I learned (actually it was yesterday) that it Oliver Heaviside who gave us the Four Maxwell's Equations . Maxwell developed something around 20 equations.

 

[nsaspook]

Today I learned Sunday's date is a rare, extra-special palindrome.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/sunday-s-date-is-a-rare-extra-special-palindrome-1.617181

 

[Ibix]

Today I learned Sunday's date is a rare, extra-special palindrome.
https://www.stripes.com/news/us/sunday-s-date-is-a-rare-extra-special-palindrome-1.617181

I was discussing palindromic dates with a colleague yesterday, but we didn't notice the double palindrome. I'll mention it to him on Monday...

 

[Borg]

TIL that today is the first palindromic day in 909 years - 02/02/2020. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[Ibix]

TIL that today is the first palindromic day in 909 years - 02/02/2020. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Only if you're American. Us Brits have one today too, but our last one was on 21/02/2012.

Edit: If I calculated correctly, we get 60 spread over the 2000s and 2100s. You only get 34, but spread over the 2000s, 2100s, and 2200s.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

TIL that today is the first palindromic day in 909 years - 02/02/2020. Enjoy it while it lasts.

11/02/2011

 

[OmCheeto]

TIL that today is the first palindromic day in 909 years - 02/02/2020. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Let me correct that for you:
... today is the first cross cultural palindromic day in 909 years ...

In other words, it works for MO/DY/YEAR(USA), DY/MO/YEAR(other countries), and YEAR/MO/DY(still other countries*) formats.

Perhaps you misunderstood the headline?

For the first time in over 900 years,
Sunday is an extra rare palindrome
day

I think it can be interpreted two different ways:

1. Palindrome days are extra rare. (not really)​

2. This palindrome day is extra rare. (yes)​

Of course, I wouldn't have known any of this, unless I'd seen the story yesterday.------------------
*You can peruse the list of who uses what, for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country

 

[Adesh]

Today I learned that people with first name John are not called Johnny, Jonathans are called Johnny.

 

[Jonathan Scott]

Today I learned that people with first name John are not called Johnny, Jonathans are called Johnny.

No, I don't think that's right. Johnny is normally a nickname for John. Jonathans (like myself) do not usually have an H before the N, and may be known as Jon, Jonny or even Jony (as in Jony Ive), although I don't normally use any of those.
Whoever wrote the relevant Wikipedia articles seems to support my position:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny

 

[Adesh]

No, I don't think that's right. Johnny is normally a nickname for John. Jonathans (like myself) do not usually have an H before the N, and may be known as Jon, Jonny or even Jony (as in Jony Ive), although I don't normally use any of those.
Whoever wrote the relevant Wikipedia articles seems to support my position:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonny

Actually, I asked someone if they were ever called Johnny, but he replied like this

And for me he is a very respectable man, therefore I believed him.

 

[Mark44]

No, I don't think that's right. Johnny is normally a nickname for John.

I agree, and the wiki article is pretty convincing.
Here are a few well-known people in the US whose first name is Johnny:
Johnny Carson, born John William Carson
Johnny Depp, born John Christopher Depp II
Johnny Mercer (songwriter, singer, and lyricist in the 30s to 50s), born John Herndon Mercer
Johnny Mathis (singer), born John Royce Mathis
Johnny Rivers (singer), born John Henry Ramistella

I could go on ...

 

[PeroK]

Today I learned that the "Lorenz gauge" in EM theory is correctly written without a "t" and is named after Ludvig Lorenz, and not his more famous namesake Hendrik Lorentz, as in the Lorentz Transformation.

 

[mfb]

If we can trust the name of the Lorentz–Lorenz equation they are the same person.

(It's named after these two.)

 

[Adesh]

Today I learned that AIDS (the disease) came to humans from Chimpanzees. Geez, Chimps are so smart they passed to us, wow!

 

[Klystron]

Today I learned mathematician John Nash died in an automobile accident in 2015 while returning with his wife from Norway where he received an award for developments in non-linear partial differential equations. I was recovering from major surgery at the time and missed the announcements. Today while reading this obit, I noticed this 2015 thread under "Related Threads". While I did not appreciate the fictions in the novel and movie based on his life, his work on game theory among others led me to study computer science as a second career after electronics.

 

[epenguin]

Today I learned from JT Bell here https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/mini-road-trip-dont-take-this-place-for-granite.983859/ that there really was a choo choo in Chattanooga.

Once I only knew the song. The existence of a real place became a bit more assured when I saw The Glenn Miller film with James Stewart and June Allyson. The song wouldn't have quite worked for most real places, which don't have the right name.

But from the internet you can learn such things! Without the internet I would never have learned, as I did today:
that it was called "Gateway to the South" and that at one time all train travel to the American South went through it - normally you have to be an American to know a thing like that, and then probably not every one of you;
that it is where the first bottled Coca-Cola was produced;
that it is home to the Hunter Museum - I only notice where artworks are located vaguely out of the corner of my eye but somehow the name seems not new to me, but then again it is quite likely I confused it with the Hunterian museum in Glasgow;
and going on from that, that there was an American school of painting known as the Ashcan School (examples hosted in the said museum) some of which I found almost breathtaking, even just to see on the small screen of an iPad;
and that there is a school called American Impressionism – there obviously had to be, but I had never come across it. Again striking. Shamelessly imitative, at least very reminiscent I found certain paintings, but still beautiful, excellent. Very little known in Europe.

About Coca-Cola again, yesterday I learned that the Coca-Cola Company does not make any.

 

[Stephenk53]

Today I learned that your car battery can die and be unable to be jumpstarted without any prior signs of trouble. I also learned that my boss and the director know how to jumpstart a car.

 

[strangerep]

Today I learned that AIDS (the disease) came to humans from Chimpanzees.

Yeah, but think about how it was probably passed between the species.

Geez, Chimps are so smart they passed to us, wow!

Actually, I'd guess that's not what the girl chimp was thinking when she "passed it on" to the male human...

 

[BillTre]

It was probably done by humans eating Chimp meat.
There's a market for that.

 

[mfb]

Actually, I'd guess that's not what the girl chimp was thinking when she "passed it on" to the male human...

Cooked chimps of any sex tend to not think any more.
Infection with the chimpanzee version (SIV) after eating chimpanzee meat is relatively common, but it's a mild disease that normally doesn't spread further. Three times it mutated enough to spread among humans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV#Origins

 

[Adesh]

It was probably done by humans eating Chimp meat.
There's a market for that.

Is it a joke or do humans really eat the flesh of Chimpanzees?

 

[Adesh]

Yeah, but think about how it was probably passed between the species.

Actually, I'd guess that's not what the girl chimp was thinking when she "passed it on" to the male human...

We must contact Moderators to know if double meaning things are allowed.

 

[fresh_42]

TIL about Victor Lustig. A man whose cause of death statement listed under profession: Vendor in training.

Victor Lustig successfully sold the Eiffel Tower and brought $ 2,000,000,000 counterfeit money (today's equivalent) in circulation. Not bad for a trainee.

 

[BillTre]

Jungle meat is sold in markets:

Bushmeat is meat from wildlife species including mammals, reptiles, amphibians and birds that are hunted for human consumption in tropical forests.[1] Bushmeat is an important food resource for poor people, in particular in rural areas.[2]

It can include chimps and gorillas.

 

[Adesh]

Today I learned that Sicilians don’t speak Italian , they speak some other dialects.