Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
You learn something new every day. And you don't even have to attend a class to do so. You might learn something by accident, through a friend, in a book or on the internet. It could be a recipe, a new route to work, a word you never knew before, a fun fact, or a complex skill. We can keep learning throughout our lives. And as we do, our brain grows. It's a process called brain plasticity. But in order for that growth to occur, we have to exercise and train our brain. As if it were a muscle.
The Today I Learned community has 38 million members. It's a mind gym for anyone obsessed with gaining more knowledge about the world around them. Every day, people post the most interesting and intriguing facts they happened to stumble across. Bored Panda has gathered our personal favorites. From a student who got full marks for handing in a blank essay, to some lesser known truths about famous people, there's bound to be something here that you might want to share at the dinner table tonight. Don't forget to upvote your favorites, and let us know what you learned today.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
In 1972 Canada had a contest to complete the saying "As Canadian as..." The winner was Heather Scott who answered "As Canadian as possible under the circumstances."
Ray Carrillo 1 year ago
As Canadian as maple syrup dripping on to a butter tart with a Tim Horton's coffee.
Microwaved Robot 1 year ago
As Canadian as the number of times a person can say 'Sorry'. We do that A LOT!
RELATED:
#2
In Japan, only 100% fruit juice can display a realistic cut fruit on the label, 95% may display a whole but unsliced fruit. 5% or less, it is forbidden to display a realistic fruit on the label.
leendadll 1 year ago
They also have strict requirements about fast food looking like the adverts.. none of the US-style thick fancy burgers that are actually smaller and sloppy.
ABC no seven FCK CENSORING 1 year ago
Been to Japan a couple months ago, it's absolutely true, the food looks EXACTLY like the displays. And just about everything tastes absolutely delicious.
Load More Replies...
Donna Peluda 1 year ago
When are they going to start doing this with music, live concerts. If it´s Lip syncing or overdubbed, then it´s not a live show and should not be allowed to advertise it as live.
Riley Quinn 1 year ago
Whereas in the US, labels and adverts can contain absolute blatant lies and it's all swell. Those dyes that cause cancer? No problem. High fat levels but with a tiny amount of nutritional something touting health claims? No problem. The US government, killing us slowly.
TribbleThinking 1 year ago
It's a very efficient solution. If we don't live too long, the pension funds are not strained! And I don't know about the US, but in the UK, they tax your estate when you die. Another kerching for the Treasury!
Load More Replies...
#3
L Ron Hubbards Grandson is a renowned Slam Poet and activist against Scientology.
Riley Quinn 1 year ago
What's the difference between organized religion, a cult, and Scientology? That's right! Nothing.
Tiny Dancer 1 year ago
Hubbard's great-grandson, his name's Jamie DeWolf and he's been slamming Scientology for years. You go, buddy! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_DeWolf
In 2019, Eimi Haga handed a blank piece of paper to her professor and hoped for the best. The first year student had been asked to write an essay about a visit to the Ninja Museum of Igaryu. She was studying ninja history. Something she became hooked on after watching an animated TV show as a child.
The night before her essay was due, the 19-year-old spent hours soaking soy beans, crushing them and squeezing them in a cloth. Haga then took another two hours to mix the soybean extract with the right amount of water. Only after she had finished all of this, did she quickly jot down her essay, without giving much thought to the content.
#4
In 2019 a Japanese University student studying ninja history turned in an essay written in invisible ink. The words only became visible when the paper was heated over a gas stove. Her professor without even revealing the whole essay gave her an A.
ABC no seven FCK CENSORING 1 year ago
The easiest "invisible ink" I know from my childhood would be vinegar. After it's dried, you reveal it by applying heat. As the vinegar is liquid while you write, you'll see where the paper becomes wet - or doesn't, if your pen's run out.
Load More Replies...
#5
After a boy in the 1930s found what looked like a "great lump of coal", his family used it as a doorstop for a decade until his dad had "a little look at it." This led to the realization it was the world's largest black sapphire. After being faceted, the Black Star of Queensland is 733 carats.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
Still not as startling as a $45,000 gold sphere being used as a doorstop at White Sands during the Manhattan Project. (Adjusted for inflation it would be worth about $800k today.)
Kangaroo 1 year ago
I find the sapphire to be equally as startling as that
Load More Replies...
Sand Ers 1 year ago
Probably would have been fine. Sapphires are pretty resistant to heat.
Load More Replies... Tiny Dancer 1 year ago
Not as much as you'd think! The father sold it for $18,000 in 1947 and used it to literally build a home for his family. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Star_of_Queensland
Load More Replies...
Bill 1 year ago
I have a rock that I have carried with me for 30 years. I dont know why, but its my rock. It looks like and is about the size of a loaf of bread and a lot heavier than it looks. Originally I thought it may be a mammoth tooth but now Im fairly certain it's just an odd looking piece of granite thats been weathered smooth
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 1 year ago
Do you literally carry it with you? Because granite the size of a loaf of bread is BIG and heavy and I can't really imagine you slogging it in your backpack all day.
Load More Replies... Nicole Weymann 1 year ago
I may be wrong, but I don't think the stone was "faceted"(like a "sparkly" jewel, typical diamond style). It looks to be cut to an oval cabochon shape (with a rounded surface, not lots of symmetrical flat polygons)
Stephanie Barr 1 year ago
Yep, it's a star sapphire and it's a cabochon shape, not faceted as described.
Load More Replies... 
#6
A Coca-Cola secretary offered to sell Coca-Cola trade secrets to Pepsi. Pepsi responded by notifying Coca-Cola, and the secretary was sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Thomas Grant 1 year ago
Says something when someone gets a longer sentance for trying to sell a recipe than some people get for some s*xual offences...
keyboardtek 1 year ago
And maybe just a slap on the wrist for attempting to overthrow the government and incitement of an attack on the Capital.
Load More Replies...
Riley Quinn 1 year ago
Written this way, it sounds as if Pepsi did the upstanding thing, but in reality, Pepsi would've been screwed had they used the secrets and were later found out. More of a CYA situation.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I read that Coca Cola has never been patented because that would require submitting the formula
Dragons Exist 1 year ago
It's also not fully written down anywhere, the full recipe is memorized by 2 people who can't go on the same plane
Load More Replies...
meeeeeeeeeeee 1 year ago
8 years of prison? For not selling a recipe! What a joke, half the peados and rapists don't even get jailed and the war criminals get free f*****g coke and Pepsi for life
“I wasn't really worried about getting a bad score for my essay,” Haga later told the BBC. It might seem like the student was cooking instead of paying attention to her homework. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. She’d managed to pull off the ultimate student ninja move, using a technique known as "aburidashi".
The essay was written in invisible ink, and the words only appeared when the paper was heated. Before handing it to her professor, she left a note in normal ink telling him to heat the paper. "When the professor said in class that he would give a high mark for creativity, I decided that I would make my essay stand out from others," she said.
#7
Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys wrote their first single "Surfin'" for a high school music class and received an F for it. In 2018 the high school retroactively changed his grade to an A.
Steve Hall 1 year ago
The Beach Boys did more fror California than all their politicians combined!
Tabitha 1 year ago
Surfin’’ was written in 1961, so think back to the close-mindedness of schools back I; the day, and you can pretty much understand how a teacher could have an extreme prejudice against a rock and roll song written by a student, no matter how good it actually is. Of course, we now have music academics applauding and teaching the classical concepts that are incorporated into the best of rock and roll music, since most rockers were schooled in classical music, and many also in jazz, before turning to rock. Unless you’re a savant—-and there are many musicians who are/were, simply because their families couldn’t afford music lessons—-you don’t just pick up a guitar and start playing it like a professional, and you definitely do not write music, without at least rudimentary instruction.
Der Kommissar 1 year ago
Most rockers were schooled in classical music and many also in jazz? Examples, please. If this were really the case, they would be better players.
Load More Replies... Riley Quinn 1 year ago
How white of them. Considering Brian Wilson was plagued with health issue since the 60's (several nervous breakdowns, d**g addiction, manic depression, schizoaffective disorder, auditory hallucinations, and eventually dementia) chances are he wasn't even aware of this school's meaningless honor as they sought to cleanse their own reputation.
Kari Panda 1 year ago
Reminds me of a game I played with a quest that left me in an emotional turmoil because it was so disturbing and sad. Checked the fandom’s general opinion on the quest and found that a) the quest was considered heartbreaking and amazing and b) that its creator had originally written it as a student and submitted it for his storytelling classes, but his professor found it 'ridiculous'. Which is to say: Art of any form is subjective. What some school/university teachers think of your work doesn’t determine the value of your work. Edit: Because I guess people will be curious: The game was Enderal: Forgotten Stories.
#8
Sir Ben Kingsley was born Krishna Bhanji but changed his name and noticed an immediate uptick in job offers, from "We don't quite know how to place you" to "When can you start?"
D. Pitbull 1 year ago
Still happens today... any name sounding "non-white" seems to get automatically chucked in the 'we'll look at that later' bin unless the role is specifically for that population (East Asian character: "Okay, we will look at East Asian names) Even worse with Voice Acting... I have quite literally zero Non-North American accent (I can't speak any Asian languages, at all) - yet... I've heard more than one casting director/assistant say "Yeah, we just heard a bit of... something..." Or... how my demos got a 500% increase in 'listened to' count within days of me changing my profile name to a 'stage name'. Or how I get shortlisted for LOTS of stuff... but they see my picture and... oh, gosh darnit, wouldn't you know, you're not quite right for this (Yes, I know lots of people experience this, it's just a little 'convenient' feeling).
Auntriarch 1 year ago
They hear what they are expecting. The actress Lynne Redgrave submitted voice tapes for audition, they were returned with the explanation that she sounded too British. She resubmitted them without her name, and strangely enough she no longer sounded British.
Load More Replies...
ABC no seven FCK CENSORING 1 year ago (edited)
Nobility hates this one simple trick!
Load More Replies...
Riley Quinn 1 year ago
Many people have been forced to change their ethnic, racial, or gendered names in order to gain employment, not just actors.
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago (edited)
I once applied for a job when I was 18 via three different names with exactly the same resume. The company had a reputation for being racist. Due to my adoption? I've three different names that I can actually legally use. Birth, Foster and Adoption. Two sound "ethnic" and one "white". Guess which one got a job interview... I went and the guy said, "You don't look like your name!". I left right then and there... But not before taking with me all the complementary donuts they had out on the table 🙂
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
I applied because I needed a job but not for a company that's racist. I kinda also wanted to see what would happen. At least I got donuts out of it! 😁
Load More Replies...
30ninjazinmybag 1 year ago
Happens to my sister. Her name is Icelandic and sounds Russian and she's British. Found it hard to get jobs in the 90s
ZestyBison 1 year ago
...I never understood the difficulty with names in a job application. Then again, most of my entire working life I've been the one with an odd name and haven't experienced any problems with getting the job, and only one instance very later in life with racism and sexism.
#9
Japanese war criminal Hitoshi Imamura, believing that his sentence of 10 years imprisonment was too light, built a replica prison in his garden where he stayed until his death in 1968.
Virgil Blue 1 year ago
He knew what he did and judged himself unworthy of freedom. He may have done horrible things, but he at least was honorable in the end and I will respect him for that.
JoNo 1 year ago
I googled to find out he was released from prison in 1954, which meant he lived in his replica prison in his garden for 14 years.
Julia Mckinney 1 year ago
This is a textbook example of repentance. He did something horrible, realized how horrible his actions were and didn't think he'd been punished enough for it.
Leoninus Fate 1 year ago
everyone doesn't understand, he only got 10 years but thought it should be life, HE himself thought he deserved life for it, so he made a prison that he lived in for life, THATS WHAT HONOR, if he went around talking like Americans do "oh it was only 10 years, man I wish I killed more J@ps" Then that is NO HONOR The amount of Americans {mostly the younger ones} I heard bragging about how many they killed in "wars", and yet when someone like this realized he did badly in a war and even tried to make up for it by telling others "I'm a bad man, please I needed to be locked up" That is seen as honor..... something I see lil and lil more Americans do, Im not going after everything good or bad done by us, but I'm talking about this and honor and how it is
lenxia buda 1 year ago
It's sad wen he was probably acting under direction, but his prison was his state of mind and not his physical surroundings
pineapple87 1 year ago
I think his mind was his prison, the surroundings probably didn't matter
Her creativity paid off, earning her 100% without the professor even reading all of the essay. "I didn't hesitate to give the report full marks - even though I didn't read it to the very end because I thought I should leave some part of the paper unheated, in case the media would somehow find this and take a picture," said her professor, Yuji Yamada.
The student made world headlines with her magical essay, and put handwriting in the spotlight again. Her ninja move was so intriguing that she was featured on the "Today I Learned" subreddit.
#10
Mark Ruffalo woke from a dream that told him he had a brain tumor. He got a CT scan the following day confirming he had a benign tumor behind his left ear. The tumor was removed, and he is deaf in that ear as a result of the surgery.
Whitey Black 1 year ago
I just had a dream that I was a tall healthy gorgeous well hung 19 year old multi-billionaire genius. Who is hopefully deaf in my left ear tomorrow.
Silly-Rabbit 1 year ago (edited)
Wish diagnostic tests happened this fast in the US, for those individuals who weren't well known! An ultrasound can take weeks to schedule for a routine health concern. If I went to my doctor or ER, saying I had a dream I might have a tumor, and wanted to get diagnostic imaging-it would take longer to see my regular doctor who might schedule a psychological evaluation months down the road- and by then it might be too late.... Hate the US healthcare system for obvious reasons... Glad he was treated!
Julia Mckinney 1 year ago
It sounds like the same tumor my husband had except his was discovered by our new ear, nose, throat person. He asked the question that no one else had asked in 10 years which was "why is he going deaf only in one ear" and sent him for an MRI. The surgery took 13 hours but they were able to get it all out with no lasting problems except a deaf ear and no balance nerve on that side. He was lucky considering how big it was. It had already engulfed the acoustic and balance nerve, was covering part of the optic nerve and was even encroaching on the brain stem. The neurosurgeon was shocked to hear that he wasn't having any symptoms.
Teresa Spanics 1 year ago
Good to hear that your dear husband is now cancer free. A female cousin's husband went to a doctor where they found a 20 pound tumor that had grown around his pancreas which had to be turned inside out in order for the doctors to safely remove it. The surgery was down in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Load More Replies... 
#11
A man missing nearly 30 years was found alive and living just 80 miles away from where he disappeared after he helped solve his own disappearance by telling a social worker he had a flashback and remembered his name. He had reportedly suffered major memory loss due to a head injury.
Neon 1 year ago
Hahaahah.... You just triggered a picture in my bran of a man getting hit with a stick ;)
Load More Replies... Jessie 8 months ago (edited)
He could be telling the truth, I got a fair blow to the head when I fell off my bike and lost 4 years of memories. I only remember tiny snippets of random times but most are vague or insignificant. I also suffered from small hallucinations for about a year afterwards.
Load More Replies...
Patricia Herb 1 year ago
https://www.local3news.com/man-missing-30-years-helps-solve-his-own-disappearance/article_2daa64da-d65c-5eea-8651-94daa26de263.html
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
Head injuries can seriously mess you up! I'm glad he was able to be able to solve his own disappearance! Hope he was reunited with family, friends!
#12
Early TV remotes worked with a spring-loaded hammer striking a solid aluminum rod in the device, which then rings out at an ultrasonic frequency, requiring no batteries.
Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
The earliest remotes required the married couple who owned the TV to reproduce and wait until their child was old enough to read numbers and turn the channel, as well as act as an indoor antenna when reception was funky. This was a variation, or update, of the remotes who were born to turn radio dials before TV was a thing.
Data1001 1 year ago
Yeah I seem to recall reading articles about how these things would rile up the dogs in the house.
Load More Replies...
Mike F 1 year ago
I had a cassette deck once that had a remote that would only pause/resume when you pressed the button, and the stars were aligned, and Mercury was retrograde... I thought I was hot 💩 until one of my friends showed me you could shake your keys and accomplish the same thing. I was plucked.
Kerry Palmer 1 year ago
Years ago when I was in college, my roommate and I had a bulky console TV that had one of those "clickers." I had the habit of throwing my car keys on the counter next to the TV. Often, by doing that, the resulting sound would turn on the TV.
Janine Randall 1 year ago
Our family had one of those. The TV kept mysteriously changing channels. We finally figured out that one of our dog's squeaky toys was the same frequency. We could change channels by squeezing the toy just right.
Mark McCawley 1 year ago
OMG we had one when I was young. Two buttons (channel) and (volume) one direction only. You had to go all the way around the channel to get to one lower, and the volume had to go to 100% before starting back at 0%
Boris Mohar 1 year ago
And then the dog would change channels by jingling his tag collar by scratching.
Dee Rutherford 1 year ago
I remember my dad sayin to me, “pass the clicker box” when I was a kid. This came after the “ go change the channel” stage.
If we were to ask you to grab a (normal) pen and notebook right now, would you be able to? Possibly not. In a world where technology reigns supreme, it might have been a while since you wrote anything by hand. But did you know that it’s actually one of the best ways to learn? Researchers say there are several benefits to closing your laptop or ipad and putting pen to paper.
#13
The oral history of the Klamath indigenous people describes the eruption of a volcano and subsequent creation of Crater Lake in Oregon, events that geologists date to almost 8,000 years ago.
The Queen Of France 1 year ago
The oral history of the Heiltsuk people of coastal British Columbia says that portions of their territory were never under ice during the last ice age. A couple of years ago, archaeologists proved that the history was accurate, with evidence of occupation going back more than 14,000 years.
Dumb teenager 1 year ago
It’s believed that aboriginal and Māori oral tradition records a tsunami over 100 meters high from an asteroid impact in the 1600’s https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1035&context=scipapers
Teresa Spanics 1 year ago
It is simply amazing that oral history of an event can be traced back that far.
BrunoVI 1 year ago
Not 8,000 years old, but when I first read the Knickerbocker Rules, I was amazed. It's hard to say when baseball was invented because it sort of evolved from stoolball over many centuries, but the Knickerbocker rules are about 200 years old and they're far more similar to modern baseball than anything up to their time... but they still differ from modern baseball in many ways. What was so amazing is that they were far more similar to what we played as kids than modern baseball. I always thought our variations were solely to make pick-up games with varying number of players easier, and that *is* probably why they persisted instead of using major-league baseball rules... but they're unmistakably some echo of 200-year-old rules passed down from generation to generation.
BrunoVI 1 year ago
(In case you're wondering, "stoolball" involved pitching the ball between the legs of a stool to determine when a batter is forced to swing, which itself is amazing to me because for many decades in the evolution of baseball, balls and strikes weren't counted; they were actually a reversion to older rules.)
Load More Replies...
Bookworm 1 year ago
Yes, but oral tradition can be easily lost or distorted over generations. It takes serious dedication to preserve it in a recognizable form for that long.
Load More Replies... #14
Microsoft Solitaire was developed by a bored summer intern named Wes Cherry. He received no royalties for his work despite it being among the most used Windows applications of all time.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
And he has stated that he knew that he wouldn't be paid for it, though he was given an IBM XT to fix bugs in it throughout the school year, and he was and is fine with it - from his reply to an almost identical TIL post 8 years ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3zfadv/til_that_microsoft_solitaire_was_developed_by_a/cylwpua/
Midwest Mike 1 year ago
Don't forget that "Microsoft Solitaire" was created to help early mouse users figure out how to do "Drag and Drop" and other what now we consider "Basic" Mouse usage. As the mouse was "New" to "Operating System Usage"......TOTALLY SUCKS that Wes Cherry got totally F'ed on his hard work. But this game was actually important to how people learned about how to use the NEW "Mouse" option.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
No, it was created because he was decided to mess around with programming on Windows 2.1 to create a clone of the solitaire program on the Mac. He hosted it on an internal server for people messing with Windows API, where it was discovered and used by a program manager in Windows 3.1. He was given his own computer to debug it, knew he wasn't going to be paid money for it, ad is fine with that. Frm Wes replying directly to a different reddit TIL: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/3zfadv/til_that_microsoft_solitaire_was_developed_by_a/cylwpua/
Load More Replies...
#15
That P.T. Barnum noticed people were lingering too long at his exhibits so he posted signs indicating "This Way to the Egress". Not knowing that "Egress" was another word for "Exit", people followed the signs to what they assumed was a fascinating exhibit and ended up outside.
Tucker Cahooter 1 year ago
Lucky they didn't sue him for emotional distress due to failure to see the Egress
michael Chock 1 year ago
They didn't need to see it, they got to experience it.
Load More Replies... Virgil Blue 1 year ago
I love how a circus in Pratchetts Tiffany series mirrored this with the addition of the strong man standing at the egress with a dictionary pointing out the meaning to any complaining customers.
Dekker451 1 year ago
You're probably thinking of the egret, a type of bird in the heron family.
Load More Replies...
Evagating Beewolf (she/they) 1 year ago
oh so that's why those windows you can't get installed in the pittsburgh area without spending a fortune and a half (allegedly; my parents tried) are called egress windows.
Bookworm 1 year ago
Yep. In most places in the U.S the building code requires bedrooms to have windows that you can egress through in case of a fire.
Load More Replies...
Whether we write or type, we have to use our hands to get words to appear on a page. But because handwriting is more complex, it supports learning more. A study published earlier this year found that “the precisely controlled hand movements when using a pen contribute extensively to the brain’s connectivity patterns that promote learning.”
Psychologist and co-author of the study Audrey van der Meer explained that handwriting is worlds apart from typing. "We don't see that [synchronized activity] in typewriting at all." She added that writing by hand is a "neurobiologically richer process" and that this in itself has cognitive benefits.
#16
Switzerland has accidentally invaded neighboring Liechtenstein several times. On one such occasion, the Liechtensteiners reportedly offered drinks to the Swiss soldiers, who declined and quickly departed.
"Disembodied voice" 1 year ago
They also accidentally bombed Liechtenstein, but nobody was hurt and all was forgiven.
Barry 1 year ago
Wow the Swiss army kind of sucks. At least they make good knives.
Load More Replies...
TribbleThinking 1 year ago
The invasions - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liechtenstein%E2%80%93Switzerland_relations#Incidents_involving_the_Swiss_military. The people of Liechtenstein sound pretty chill and seem to treat it like "the neighbour kids got lost again".
Tabitha 1 year ago
Are they the ones whose Army invaded Lichtenstein and actually came back with one more soldier than they left with?
TribbleThinking 1 year ago
It was Lichtenstein's contingent of 80 that marched in defence against Austria, and returned with 81 men. They sound utterly delightful! 😄
Load More Replies... Teutonic Disaster 1 year ago
At least one time was during a maneuver, AFAIK. Meaning, while training to defend their own country they actually invaded another one. It was completely accidental, since it's all open & unfenced alpine territory and they just overlooked the border markers.
Nevid 1 year ago (edited)
Liechtenstein is part of the Schengen area so people are free to cross the border from Austria or Switzerland, there is no need for an authorization (although, with an army, it's better to communicate about it beforehand). That said, the Schengen agreement entered into effect in 1995, so most of the listed incidents were still technically illegal crossing of the border. Also in 1992, the Swiss army went into a Liechtenstein town because they forgot it wasn't part of Switzerland and that's on a whole other level.
Bookworm 1 year ago
Hey, that last one is in the grand historical tradition of 'this border region is so nebulous and changed ownership so many times that the locals mostly just act like it doesn't exist.'
Load More Replies... Isaac Harvey 1 year ago
How does one "accidentally" invade a country that they didn't intend to, much less more than once?
Kira Okah 1 year ago
Crossing the border of a country in military uniform and gear without permission unintentionally, or having practice shells drop across a land or sea border unintentionally.
Load More Replies...
G A 1 year ago
Was one of these the incident where the army gained a man, as the invader liked it more there than at home, and stayed, or was that another country?
Teutonic Disaster 1 year ago
No that was Lichtenstein sending like 80 men into some conflict with Italy and those 80 coming back with a friend, but barely any combat experience, let alone fatalities.
Load More Replies... Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago
"If you stand at end of Switzerland and look south, you cannot see Leichtenstein, because it is behind a tree. The population of Leichenstein is nine people, who are all very bush making stamps" - Alan Coren
#17
Tolkien and CS Lewis hated Disney, with Tolkien branding Walt's movies as “disgusting” and “hopelessly corrupted” and calling him a "cheat"
Kira Okah 1 year ago
They hated that it was slapstick, low brow, and cutesying fairy tales. They loved the use of shadow, the movement of the animals, the actual talent behind it all, and that the scary bits were aptly scary; but thought that the cutesying of mythological creatures and adapting fairy stories without telling the entirety of their complex narrative was abhorrent.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
Fairy tales aren’t supposed to be light and inoffensive. They’re cautionary tales to scare the cráp out of children in a dangerous and unpredictable world, hoping to keep them from doing something stupid like wandering off deep into a trackless forest.
Load More Replies...
Cammy Mack 1 year ago
Hey, excellent, those dudes were ahead of the curve! Disney is a contemptible, garbage heap company.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 1 year ago
Maybe, but they sure as heck make a lot of really good movies
Load More Replies... Toothless Feline 1 year ago
Amusing, then, that Disney released three films based on Lewis’s work.
Kenny Kulbiski 1 year ago
Some of the Brothers Grim stuff was pretty heavy before it got sanitized.
Evagating Beewolf (she/they) 1 year ago
and the Grimm versions were themselves sanitized I thought. I'm both very curious and a bit afraid of what the original tales were.
Load More Replies...
Marilyn Holt 1 year ago
I sort of felt that way when Disney decided to "take over" Winnie the Pooh.
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
Supposedly Tolkien wrote in his will that his works never ever ever would be used by Di$ney. (don't know if this is true, can anyone confirm?)
Auntriarch 1 year ago (edited)
I do know that when he made out a cheque for his tax bill, he wrote on the back of it "not a penny to go to Concorde". Probably all caps ...
Load More Replies... Virgil Blue 1 year ago
It seems they hated the old tales used to entertain but also caution children to be boiled down to such simple forns. I can get that.
#18
Just 2 months after 9/11, another commercial airliner, American Airlines Flight 587, crashed into a NYC neighborhood in Queens after a critical mechanical/piloting failure just minutes after take off. 265 people were killed and several homes were completely destroyed.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
I remember it because for a while nobody knew if it heralded another massive terrorist attack.
Load More Replies...
Teachzebra 1 year ago
At the time everybody was terrified believing that it must be terrorism. It was actually caused by a massive error by the first officer who was in charge of the plane at that time. Which in its own way is equally scary. The flight was going to the Dominican Republic and was used by virtually everybody at one time or another who lived in Washington Heights. It had a profound effect on the neighborhood.
David 1 year ago
Debate as to how much was error, the plane got engine wash damage from a 747 the tower radioed that they were too close to and might be within the engine wash. Turns out there was damage which caused the crash, however the plane was within FAA regulation distance from a 747, which led to changes in taxing distance behind larger jets after. The pilot was within regulations, but failed to use logic, especially after the warning
Load More Replies...
Golden Panda 1 year ago
I was in NYC on a bus bound for the Javits. It was crazy because a phone rang. Then another. Then another. We were all like, why are all the phones starting to ring. Before we knew it, everyone on the bus was on their phones. The news had shown the crash and all of our friends/families were calling to ensure we weren't on the plane that crashed. It was a bit nuts.
aubergine10003 1 year ago
The plane was headed to the DR and was full of people from my neighborhood going to visit their families back home :(
TruthoftheHeart 1 year ago
There are a lot of disasters and war issues that have happened since 9/11 that have been more violent and more deadly but people would rather keep poking the bear and staying butt hurt about that one thing when we forget how many people we have killed in other countries too.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
I know I’ve seen that one, but I’m not remembering it at all. Time for a rewatch. Do you remember the title?
Load More Replies...
Colin Matthews 1 year ago
Wasn't this the plane where the big (false)news story was it had been shot down by a missile from a navy frigate?
Sand Ers 1 year ago
That was TWA Flight 800. The center fuel tank exploded, probably caused by an electrical short circuit in the wiring that ran through it. What people thought was a missile was the flaming wreckage of the aircraft continuing to fly and climb for about 30 seconds after the explosion tore the nose off. They saw a streak, looked up, and then heard a boom. But the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound meant that they saw the flaming wreckage well before the sound of the explosion that wrecked it reached them.
Load More Replies... Teresa Spanics 1 year ago
I remember that day! November 12, 2001! When I heard about the plane crash, the first thing that I thought of was it was shot down by a ground to air missile. The TV show "Mayday" shows an reenactment of that horrible event. It turned out that the pilot was poorly trained in how to get out of a vortex left by another plane. The pilots from that airline had to be all retrained in a simulator that was properly set up that problem and how to over come it.
Cognitive neuroscientist Marieke Longcamp agrees, saying that handwriting is one of the most complex motor skills our brains are capable of. While van der Meer adds that when you type something, you're not actually processing all the information the way you would when you write it down by hand.
You might think taking notes by hand in a meeting or class is tedious, and time-consuming. But that's exactly why it works. Van der Meer explains that because it takes longer, you're forced to process the information. You might write key words or phrases and use drawings or arrows to work through ideas. "You make the information your own," she told NPR, and that helps it stick in the brain.
#19
"Tiffany Problem", where a historical or realistic fact is deemed anachronistic or unrealistic due to modern associations. Named after the name Tiffany, which is often considered a modern name but has medieval origins.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
Tiffany and Co. was founded in 1837, and Charles Tiffany didn't make his name up
Sand Ers 1 year ago
It’s a pretty long walk from “Medieval” to “19th century”..
Load More Replies...
Virgil Blue 1 year ago
Terry Pratchet loved to use things like that in his books so his Readers would often later realise what sounded like whimsy was actually referencing real history and facts.
Sheena Leversedge Wood 1 year ago
another thing that cropped up in Pratchett. this is why the Witch in the younger readers Discworld books is called Tiffany.
catastrophegirl 1 year ago
as Baby was an acceptable dog name at the same time and well-born/wealthy ladies could have had small lap dogs, it would not be unrealistic to write a character of a lady named tiffany with a small decorative dog named baby, accurate to the time period
Andrew Stachelek 1 year ago
Thanks for being verbose, or wordy. There are several, or more than a couple, words, or strings of letters that create meaning in the English language, that are unnecessary, or not needed. Perhaps you think readers are uneducated, or ignorant. But it is helpful, or of aid, to clarify, or explain, every word.
nottheactualphoto 1 year ago
It is, not, possible, to have, too, many, commas. Or, an excessive, quantity, thereof.
Load More Replies... #20
While great apes can learn hundreds of sign-language words, they never ask questions.
Alex Kennedy 1 year ago
“Great apes know hundreds of signs, but never talk to cops.”
Load More Replies...
Kira Okah 1 year ago (edited)
Koko's evidence is not conclusive, sign language experts have said that she was making signs that were prompted her trainer (operant conditioning) and said trainer was "translating" it to what she wanted Koko to say - this is known as the "Clever Hans effect". None of the other researchers knew ASL either. Videos of her signing have been heavily edited, and with no falsifiability in any of the conclusions. Washoe the Chimp actually demonstrates what Koko could not.
Data1001 1 year ago
The new thing now is these buttons on the floor for dogs to press with their paws, which have prerecorded words. (For example, a dog might press 3 different buttons, one saying "mom" another saying the word "food" and another "now".) It's not entirely clear if the dog is just repeating patterns that they know will bring about a certain result, or if they actually understand the words they're putting together. Very interesting, though.
meeeeeeeeeeee 1 year ago
What would be the difference between repeating a pattern and getting a result or understanding what a word means. If they know the sound of one thing will get the thing the want then they understand the meaning of the word.
Load More Replies... meeeeeeeeeeee 1 year ago
They probably do and humans are too egotistical to see it. Like the chimp is signing mama and the human ape is like omg it thinks I'm it's mother as I'm so great but the chimp wants its actual mother but why would the human care since they've trapped the chimp in a cage its whole life, as if they consider the chimp.
TruthoftheHeart 1 year ago
Wouldn't you have to raise it with the some kind of personality and ego development like we get for it to want to ask things? What if they raised one and treated it as if it was just a mute child? Then what?
Bryn 1 year ago
That's completely false. I've worked with chimpanzees who knew ASL and they asked plenty of questions. I was making dinner for them once and one of the females asked the chimp care person outside with them what was for dinner and that person had to radio to ask because they didn't know.
#21
In 1973 a British couple survived 117 days lost at sea on an inflatable raft after their boat sank when it was struck by a whale. They survived by "almost continually" bailing water out of their raft, while collecting rainwater & killing turtles, birds and fish with their bare hands for food.
Robin Roper 1 year ago
As a teen, I read "Staying Alive" By Maurice and Madalyn Bailey. This book fascinated me and to this day, one of my favorite genres is "true adventure" and survivor books.
Abdullah Abd Rahman 1 year ago
"Huh huh huh huh , staying alive, staying alive ".... Sorry about that.
Load More Replies...
FreeTheUnicorn 1 year ago
Surely once you'd killed a few turtles, you'd use fashion a sharp object out of the broken shell to fashion a knife or other tool instead of using bare hands.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
I vaguely remember reading something a long time ago with a guy drinking turtle blood and water squeezed out of fish to stay hydrated. I’ve never understood how anybody on a lifeboat or raft could catch birds and fish bare handed though.
John Mosley 1 year ago
Often the lifeboats have basic survival kits, some of them have a decent amount of fresh water and hard tack.
Load More Replies...
Noel Bovae 1 year ago
They got lucky that it rained enough to keep them both alive for that long.
no adhesiveness 2020 1 year ago
If I recall correctly the wife was a nurse and knew you could ingest the turtle blood and water rectally to remain hydrated, being absorbed through the colon.
Kangaroo 1 year ago
I could find exactly 0 references to that on Google. All sources say they ate and drank.
Load More Replies... #22
Japan received its first female fighter pilot in 2018. She was inspired as a child by Top Gun but could not become a combat aviator until the JSDF began accepting female candidates in 2015.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I've read that the first woman fighter pilot was one of Kemal Atatürk's adopted daughters, in the Turkish Air Force in the 1930s
two-sided llama 1 year ago
This is for specifically Japan. Turkey having the first woman fighter pilot probably true but not in Japan
Load More Replies...
JessieJ&LilyLovebug 1 year ago
Because of cockpit size, pilot height generally tops out at 6' and that's pushing it, so it would make sense to have more female pilots, as they tend to be shorter...though not always.
Cammy Mack 1 year ago
Women are better suited to be pilots because of their physiology, and tall men are the worst suited.
#23
The Double Rainbow guy was a prolific uploader and created thousands of videos. He also scheduled 15 years of uploads in advanced before he died, leaving his channel still active now 4 years after his death.
Isaac Harvey 1 year ago (edited)
For those who are curious, I think his YouTube channel is Yosemitebear62, but I'm not 100% certain. Edit: a link to his channel is in a reply to this comment.
Vanessa Steis 1 year ago
You're right. Here is the link for anyone interested=) https://www.youtube.com/@Hungrybear9562
Load More Replies...
WindySwede 1 year ago
I guess it's just the publishing, and the upload is done already? (But that was maybe what you meant? 🙃)
Load More Replies...
#24
Male peacocks make fake mating sounds to make him seem more popular so females will mate with him.
MaryHadaLittleLamb 1 year ago
"Listen, so many chicks dig me! Don't you want a piece of this, too?" 🤣
Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago
There's a joke in there about faking orgasms but it's late and I'm knackered
Richard Nichols 1 year ago (edited)
I don't understand what's meant by "fake" here. It's not very clear. If a real bird makes a sound really intended to attract mates, is that not logically a real mating sound?
#25
'Zombie fires' are fires that burned during the summer, stay underground all winter long and pop up above the surface again in the spring.
Fishpanda (fish/panda/it) 1 year ago
Groundhog fires, if they see their shadow, go underground again and then we have a prophecy.
The Darkest Timeline 1 year ago
That’s what caused the massive Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fire near Las Vegas, NM a few years ago. It’s the largest fire in the history of the state and did a lot of damage. Apparently, they did a prescribed burn in the fall that never completely went out, got covered by snow then started the fire in the Spring. It was very bad; lots of structures lost and, of course, the environmental impact will linger for a long time.
bElLa sTairZz 1 year ago
why were they leaving a burning off fire burning T.T
Load More Replies... Riley Quinn 1 year ago
Zombie fires, also known as holdover or overwintering fires, are more common in colder areas with dense vegetation and peat soils that heat up and smolder like in the Artic, sub-Artic, and the Pacific Northwest. And surprise, surprise, zombie fires are on an uptick.
Donna Crowe 1 year ago
What do we call the one in Centralia, PA that's been burning since 1962? It stays underground.
SkyBlueandBlack 1 year ago
A coal seam fire. And it's gonna keep burning for another 200+ years.
Load More Replies...
Teresa Spanics 1 year ago
That is a problem we have here in Canada when there has been a forest fire in the mountains. To put a stop to them, the ground has to be soaked all the way down to bedrock.
#26
Iceberg Lettuce has a water content of 96%. This results in it having essentially no nutritional value and only trace amounts of vitamins and minerals.
Robin Roper 1 year ago
Many vegetables and fruits have very high water content. For lettuces, the vitamins are in the dark leaves; iceberg has very little dark green thus, low in vitamins; still it has a decent amount of Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and folate. It's a place to start to get someone who doesn't want to eat vegetables to give something a try.
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
An actual picture of iceberg lettuce (which is round like a cabbage) would have helped.
JessieJ&LilyLovebug 1 year ago
I will still eat it like candy. Hey, at least I won't be dehydrated.
Justin Tyme 1 year ago
Iceberg lettuce was developed as a compact "head lettuce" for efficient storage and transportation. It was not developed for nutrition.
Say No to Downvoting 1 year ago (edited)
It IS a pretty good source of fibre, which is essential for a healthy bowel.
#27
Medieval European cuisine used to be more complex and flavorful. However, once spice became cheap and readily available to the poor, the elites started taking spices out of European cooking as they didn't want to be associated with the poor. This trend had lasting effects on European cuisine.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
Europeans originally went looking for spices to make rotten food tolerable. It makes sense that serving bland food would show you can afford fresh ingredients
София Харитонова 1 year ago (edited)
No, that's a myth. People were not stupid then, they understood that rotten meat will make you ill no matter how much spices you use. And also no amount of spices can mask the awful smell of rotten meat. Read books by Ruth Goodman.
Load More Replies... Kira Okah 1 year ago (edited)
Mediaeval cooking for the poor was mostly flavoured with herbs, and many dishes even nowadays come from Victorian-Great Depression working class cooking. Spices up until after WW2 were never really affordable to the poor. That is why the explosion of odd food in the 1950s: poor people with more ready access to spices and gelatine that used to be out of their reach started experimenting with the newfound flavours.
Bookworm 1 year ago (edited)
I've heard there was some really weird stuff with, like, citrus fruits because they were suddenly more accessible to the working class than at any point in history, and people didn't really know what to do with them yet.
Load More Replies...
Ace 1 year ago
Pretty sure that's not an accurate cause-and-effect description. All else apart, spices did not become 'cheap and readily available to the poor' until the 19th/20th century, hundreds of years after the mediaeval period.
Kangaroo 1 year ago
17th century, actually, and it is accurate, at least according to this historian and several other articles I found online: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/26/394339284/how-snobbery-helped-take-the-spice-out-of-european-cooking
Load More Replies...
Erla Zwingle 1 year ago
I have the feeling that this explanation has more holes than cheese. The European spice market, commercial networks, entire system, went through a huge change after Vasco da Gama went around the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. So I'm not sure how you're defining "medieval." "Poor"? How poor? "Cheap"? How cheap? Not convinced.
Georgy 1 year ago
Congratulations on your use of a wholly inaccurate cliché.
Load More Replies... Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago
This sounds entirely like b******t, because how would elite food trickle down to the majority? What's far more common is the reverse, where poor people's food becomes elite due to overdemand causing scarcity - as with oysters
Abdullah Abd Rahman 1 year ago
How absolutely stuck up ! That's why British food was extremely bland, until immigrants started coming in.
Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago (edited)
No, that was probably due to rationing, which was partially still in place until the 1950s. Britain is a maritime nation, so immigration has been pretty much a constant throughout its history, though it's certainly the case that postwar immigration has helped broaden the nation's tastebuds. As a wise man once said, if you want to eat well, go to a port.
Load More Replies... #28
Polio is one of only two diseases currently the subject of a global eradication program, the other being Guinea worm disease. So far, the only diseases completely eradicated by humankind are smallpox, declared eradicated in 1980, and rinderpest, declared eradicated in 2011.
Riley Quinn 1 year ago
As long as there are idiots putting their children's health at risk by denying the efficacy of vaccinations, these so-called eradicated illnesses will be back. As the population continues to grow and land masses fit for habitation continue to dwindle, we're all in for a whole new level of diseases. And as long as we continue to live with bio-terrorist attacks, don't rule out smallpox.
Gadaffi Duck 1 year ago
It's not just anti Vax, different countries have different vaccination regimes. The UK had eradicated mumps iirc as it was part of the vaccination program but with the mass immigration of eastern Europeans it reappeared in the UK as it wasn't part of the program there.
Load More Replies...
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
Urgh at the polio sugar cubes I had as a child in the UK at primary school... But Yeays for not getting polio! That and for my smallpox vaccination. Yes, I had one as a Native American Indian child living on a reservation. I was asked about the smallpox vaccination scar when they were doing TB vaccinations at my secondary school. I remember too... I was a very young child but I had an vaccine injection in my upper thigh too as a 5yr old. I couldn't walk and we were crossing the frozen lake with my mum pulling the sled I was in... Sorry! Thats nothing to do with anything but it's remembering all the various vaccinations I've had!
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
Btw I had TB when I was a baby. The lung scarring from that showed up on the MRIs I had when I was in hospital with Covid. That and the lung scarring from where they inserted something to drain my lungs due to TB as a baby just below my ribcage. It's a small tiny white scar and you can only see it if you're looking for it. Omg... Okay, seriously, HOW am I still bloody well alive??? 😄
Load More Replies... Evagating Beewolf (she/they) 1 year ago (edited)
Reminder that a) *we still have smallpox in labs* and b) as permafrost thaws it releases its germs. Scientists have found viable germs from thousands of years ago in the permafrost. None seem to infect humans - except anthrax, which escaped naturally in Russia, killing one person and lots of reindeer, but anthrax often does that hibernation anyhow[1]. The trouble is we don't know if human diseases - smallpox, Spanish Flu, et cetera - will arise. There's a reason Longyearben won't let you be buried there[2]. What's truly terrifying is that the permafrost has history that wasn't written down - a very long one. It's entirely possible whole communities were wiped out by horrific diseases that ran out of people to kill, and their bodies and microbes lie in the permafrost. Of course climate change is also causing new diseases to spread to humans - hooray.[3] [1] npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/05/19/857992695/are-there-zombie-viruses-like-the-1918-flu-thawing-in-the-permafrost [2] stuff.co.nz/travel/experiences/adventure-holidays/103873808/svalbard-norway-the-island-where-no-one-is-allowed-to-die-or-give-birth [3] grist.org/climate-connections-diseases-pathogens
Mylo 1 year ago
We don't really die of old age, we die due to complications of old age, a ton of things (Dementia/Alzheimer's, cancer, etc) would need to be cured before we even start to consider "eradicating" death. (Sorry if this is a rhetorical question).
Load More Replies... 
Lowrider 56 1 year ago
Didn't we almost eradicate measles and some people refused you get the vaccine and so it's still around.
Dame Cherry 1 year ago
because climate change is causing the permafrost across northern arctic countries to melt. Smallpox is present in the soil and could make a comeback. While vaccination eradicated it in human carriers we could see an outbreak as a vaccine doesn't get passed on in genetics
Load More Replies...
#29
In 1958, Burma-Shave offered a "free trip to Mars" for sending in 900 empty jars. A grocery store manager, Arliss French, took it literally and collected all 900. To save face, Burma-Shave sent him, fully dressed as an astronaut, to Moers, Germany (of which they felt was pronounced Mars).
Rena 1 year ago
Been there. believe me: even wish would not dare to pull this one.
Load More Replies...
Lester the Space Duck 1 year ago
There's a Mars, Pennsylvania, about 5 miles from where I live.
Heras buddy 1 year ago
They could have sent him to Mars, Pennsylvania. It's located outside Pittsburgh to yhe north.
Wang Zhuang 1 year ago
"Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" was a pretty cool documentary that reminds me of this story
John Mosley 1 year ago
Has the same vibe as the "Win a Toyota" that turned out to be a "Toy Yoda". That lady was pisssed!
Lez Be Honest 1 year ago
That was at a Hooters if I am remembering correctly
Load More Replies...
Justin Tyme 1 year ago
They could have sent him to Mars Hill, Maine. That location is almost as remote as the planet Mars.
Ryan Smith 1 year ago
Better than getting sent to Le Mars, Iowa, I guess (even though Le Mars has a huge ice cream factory).
#30
The first Sony Walkman had two headphone jacks so you could share it with someone else as they thought it would be considered rude to listen by yourself. This feature was removed as no one used it.
Pferdchen 1 year ago
My girlfriend, now wife, had one of those. We boarded a 747 headed to Europe in 1985. She's jamming away listening to the music. I plug my headphones in and got nothing. I mime that I'm not getting any sound. Trying to be heard over the music only she can hear, she yells "YOU'RE IN THE WRONG HOLE!"
Virgil Blue 1 year ago
Opposed to today, where features that are used are removed and sold back to us via adapters and subscriptions.
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
I had one of these! But I remember certain headphones you could buy separately? Came with an adaptor that was a single headphone jack but with two headphone jacks.... I'm so grateful for Bluetooth now!!! No more wires getting all tangled up!!!
JessieJ&LilyLovebug 1 year ago
You could still buy the jack that would allow to headphones to be plugged in.
Kraneia The Dancing Dryad 1 year ago
I have a jack thing somewhere that has two places for AUX jacks.
Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago
I believe the Walkman was first offered to another company, but they saw no point in a cassette machine thaf didn't record.
#31
After a lawyer complained that Cleveland Browns fans were throwing paper airplanes, their lawyer responded "Attached is a letter that we received on November 19, 1974. I feel that you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters."
Binky Melnik 1 year ago
Oh, this is sooo wonderful! I’m gonna use this idea but updated for email. 😀
#32
In 2012, a California high school student was directed to urinate in a bucket in a supply room closet after a teacher mistakenly believed that bathroom breaks were not permitted. In 2017, a court ordered the school district to pay the student $1.25 million.
Isaac Harvey 1 year ago
$1 million for a minute of abnormality? Is there a way to replicate those conditions?
Kris 1 year ago
The girl was then horribly bullied and forced to move school and then the new school found out and the bullying began again. She deserved more.
Load More Replies... Fishpanda (fish/panda/it) 1 year ago (edited)
As they should. That poor student! Bathroom breaks should be allowed in all schools.
TruthoftheHeart 1 year ago
Yeah that's just stupid and I hope the teacher was fired. THEY ARE CHILDREN AT SCHOOL NOT PRISONERS!!! They should be able to go to the bathroom freely.
penguino (they/them) 1 year ago
Hallo!!! Paragraph guy here! The school had a rule that in this one period, you could not leave the class. One girl needed to go so the teacher directed her to a bucket in the closet, put there for emergencies. She received horrible bullying and had to transfer schools. The parents sued for emotional damages and (I think) that the school had given their kid a uniary infection.
Trophy Husband 1 year ago
In fourth grade I was being punished for something and I had to stand against a wall with my arms out stretched holding something I think it was a book in each hand to make my arms tired and it wasn't allowed to drop them. I started to need to go to the bathroom after a while and it was told I wasn't allowed to to stop what I was doing. After what seemed like years of standing there needing to go to the bathroom it got so bad that I could no longer hold my hands up, and I dropped the books and set down on the floor. The administrators kept yelling at me to get up, and I refused. They threatened that my parents were going to punish me even more severely because I was not finishing my punishment there. I told them that I was going to sue the school. I sat there holding in my urine and unable to do anything else or think about anything else until my parents arrive. When my parents arrived my dad started screaming at the school administrators, I was allowed to use the bathroom.
Trophy Husband 1 year ago
When my father arrived he started screaming at the school administrators for not letting me use the bathroom. Years later I was told that the school stopped using that as a punishment after my example, and that my father also considers suing the school but didn't. Looking back on it I keep wondering how I knew what a bladder infection was at 9 years old.
Load More Replies... David Houde 1 year ago (edited)
My high school auto shop had a large, half round sink that about 6 or 7 people could use to wash up at the same time. One day the entire class got in trouble for something (likely roaming the halls instead of being in class). My older brother was in the class, and needed to urinate. His request to leave to use the restroom was denied and the teacher told him "if you need to go that bad, use the sink." so in front of the entire class, he used the sink as if it a urinal. And that is the story of how it became a tradition to p**s in the auto shop sink at my high school instead of going to the restroom.
pineapple87 1 year ago
How long are classes in American schools? This thing about going to the bathroom in the middle of a class keeps coming up and I find the whole concept baffling. Growing up in Finland, we had 10-15 minute breaks between classes (which normally lasted 45-90 minutes), during which you were expected to take care of your biological needs. Anyone over the age of 10 should realistically be able to hold it for 1-2 hours.
just me 1 year ago
Classes were around an hour in middle school. We had 3 minutes between classes. Stopping for a pee was only an option of the classes were close and you didn't need to go to your locker for books/notebooks.
Load More Replies...
#33
Matt Damon wanted The Bourne Conspiracy video game to be a puzzle game, and refused to lend his voice talent to the game when it was turned into a shooter.
#34
According to a 2016 study, having a first-class section on an airplane quadruples the chances of an air rage incident. Furthermore, loading economy passengers through first class doubles the chances again.
PFD 1 year ago
Sure but it can. This wasn't data fishing. The authors of the study in question predicted that visible, experienced inequality would correlate with higher incidences of air rage, looked at the data, and confirmed their prediction. You can look up the paper. You may disagree with their conclusions but it's lazy just to say "correlation/causation". If you have another hypothesis to explain the correlation, suggest it, and suggest how your hypothesis might be tested.
Load More Replies... Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
The funny part is that the tail of the plane is usually the safest area in most accidents, as opposed to the front where first class is located.
Matthew Savestheworld 1 year ago
Because First class is only available on larger planes. MOre people mean more air rage.
PFD 1 year ago
They controlled for that, of course (scientists aren't usually idiots who miss obvious confounders, and work that had such a schoolboy error wouldn't be likely to get published in PNAS). Also for many other variables including seat pitch (leg room), seat width, delay amount, cabin space, flight distance, whether or not the flight was international and the takeoff and destination airports.
Load More Replies...
Kurt Hartman 1 year ago
I fly first class so i can trip the economy passengers as they pass by
Miracle Max 1 year ago
On the one hand, we love that the poors have to walk by us as they head to cattle-class, on the other hand, they do interrupt our pre-flight beverage service. :D
Der Kommissar 1 year ago
People in first class are usually rich, and some are entitled. People in coach are jealous. This causes conflicts.
#35
Due to their long association with humans, dogs have evolved the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet, which would be inadequate for other canid species.
Emma London 1 year ago
Unlike cats, who were domesticated for killing mice, meaning that they provided their own food and adaptation to live off the same food that humans ate was not needed.
Zaach 1 year ago
Also, dogs joined up over 100,000 years ago for the offal around our fire pits; cats joined up about 14,000 years ago when they noticed the mice hanging around the granaries
Load More Replies...
Barry 1 year ago
They've also evolved the ability to read our eyes, which is something wolves can't do.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 1 year ago
Dogs are so attached to humans that puppies even from feral dogs will prefer human companionship to company of their own species. Dogs are amazing
Der Kommissar 1 year ago
Dogs are omnivores, cats are obligate carnivores, which means they must eat meat to survive.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 1 year ago
Dogs are still carnivores. They can survive without meat, but they're still carnivores.
Load More Replies... 
Gingersnap In Iowa 1 year ago
So that's why Melvin stares at me while I'm eating French fries?
#36
The Notre Dame fire disaster was made worse because a guard was sent to investigate, but to the wrong location where he found no fire. The alarm system was not designed to automatically notify the fire brigade.
Evagating Beewolf (she/they) 1 year ago
There isn't a cathedral next door, he went to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He was very confused why he was the one called, but hey, a fire's a fire.
Load More Replies...
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I think it had a state of the art fire alarm, but they hadn't changed the batteries since 1420
SkippityBoppityBoo 1 year ago
Warning***... I don't think after the fire that they want "Warming" systems! One fire was enough! 🙂😜 Agree with you btw! The "warming" made me laugh in a kind way 💜🙂💜
Load More Replies... Teresa Spanics 1 year ago
The Notre Dame fire could have been even worse if the fire had started to burn the wood frame of the structure. Hopefully with the restoration, a much better fire alarm and suppression system will be in place.
Bookworm 1 year ago (edited)
A really old church. They didn't build these things with fire safety in mind
Load More Replies... #37
No child with type I diabetes survived until adulthood before 1922.
Midwest Mike 1 year ago
AND YET!!! INSULIN SHOULD BE FREE!!!! Having been an Insulin Dependent Human being since 9 years old. I in the U.S.A.....the Weathest Country in the World...I live paycheck to paycheck on something THAT SHOULD BE FREE!!!!! or at least low cost.... https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/55/insulin-should-be-free-yes-free/
Emma London 1 year ago
For rest of the Western world, it is. Blame American society where people believe in politicians' lies and vote for people who make laws against people and for them. People are thought so scewed idea of what "freedom" is and be so afraid of "communism" that now Americans lack the basic rights to access medication, care, housing or clean water.
Load More Replies...
The Starsong Princess 1 year ago
Here’s to Banting and Best, who invented insulin. They sold the original patent to the University of Toronto for $1 so it could be available to everyone who needed it. Now big pharma uses it as a cash cow.
Regina Holt 1 year ago
The creators of insulin wanted it to be free for everyone. But capitalism screwed that idea.
bigoldthor 1 year ago
It could be cheaper, sure. And there are greedy corporations taking advantage of people, sure. But how should it be free? It still costs money to produce - raw materials, indirect materials, labor and wages, capital equipment, transportation, overhead, benefits, etc. Who's going to pay for all of that? Let me guess..."the State"? Guess what? "The State" means you, the taxpayers.
Load More Replies...
Heather Ball 1 year ago
Believe this deserves some follow-up. At the bottom is a link to the history of the development of insulin injections for diabetics. In January 1922, Leonard Thompson, a 14-year-old boy dying from type 1 diabetes, became the first person to receive an injection of insulin. Within 24 hours, Leonard’s dangerously high blood sugar levels dropped, but he developed an abscess at the site of the injection and still had high levels of ketones. Collip worked day and night on purifying the extract even further, and Leonard was given a second injection on 23 January 1922. This time it was a complete success and Leonard’s blood sugar levels become near-normal, with no obvious side effects. For the first time in history, type 1 diabetes was not a death sentence. https://www.diabetes.org.uk/our-research/about-our-research/our-impact/discovery-of-insulin
bigoldthor 1 year ago
I recognize your sarcasm (I hope) and applaud you. Just make everything free! Yay! No one has to pay for anything! "The State" will take care of it! Which just means the same people who think they are getting it for free. LMAO
Load More Replies...
Dogcat vet (retired) 1 year ago
By the way...Walmart sells their brand of NPH insulin for 40 or so US dollars a bottle. When I have a new dog diabetic I tell owners that if they can't afford the vet versions of insulin (esp for a large dog). So maybe ask your doctor about that? I would talk to them before just changing it though since you have to wean on to a new version of insulin as the final dose may be changed.
Heather Hernandez 1 year ago
That is super useful information to know! Thank you!
Load More Replies...
#38
Before the breakup, AT&T didn't allow customers to use phones made by other companies, claiming using them would degrade the network.
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My! 1 year ago
They also wouldn't sell phones. Customers had to rent them.
Multa Nocte 1 year ago
You OK? You haven't been as prolific of late. Just worrying.
Load More Replies...
Matthew Currie 1 year ago
Though it was never much of an excuse in most places, there were a couple of reasons once long ago. One was "ringer equivalence," in an age when phone ringers consumed a fair amount of current, and non-standard phones could, at least in theory, overload circuits. That issue essentially vanished when electronic ringers became standard. The other issue, a real one, occurred in places where party lines were still standard. An old fashioned mechanical ringer could be arranged so it would not ring for every number called on the line, by selecting the polarity of the DC ring signal and the biasing of the spring-loaded bell. On the standard 8-party line, you could select four different combinations, making each party ring for only two of the numbers - one number answering a single ring, and the other a double. A standard phone would mess up the ringing. This, of course, became a complete non-issue when party lines became obsolete.
Mike F 1 year ago
Which was bunk anyway because the bell type ringer used far more energy than the "chairper" that the OTC phones used.
Load More Replies... 
Jumping Jellyfishes 1 year ago
I was taught by my mom to say we had two phones if a telephone repairman asked me how many phones we had (we had four). Sure enough, one of them asked ME that question and not my mom. I was eight years old.
#39
Senior citizen Emerich Juettner eluded the US Secret Service for 10 years while he used just enough poorly created counterfeit $1 bills (one version misspelled Washington) to support himself & his dog. He only used fake $1 bills one at a time & never to the same place twice. He'd serve 4 months.
Stephanie Did It 1 year ago
Per Wikipedia, he only used his funny money a dollar at a time, and never in the same place twice so that his victims never suffered the loss of more than a dollar. Hence, Juettner was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, plus a one-dollar fine that elicited laughter from those inside the courtroom. No mention is made of his serving only 4 months of his sentence, at least from that source.
Isaac Harvey 1 year ago
So, a citizen gets 4 months for the equivalent of defying court orders, yet modern politicians get little more than a slap on the wrist...
Laughing otter 1 year ago
A New Yorker writer named St. Clair McKelway wrote a wonderful article about him. The title is OLD EIGHT EIGHTY III, and you can read it online.
#40
When Elton John married his wife Renate Blauel in 1984, Rod Stewart sent a wedding telegram that read "You may still be standing but we're all on the f**king floor".
Bill 1 year ago (edited)
Not too long ago homosexuality was a lot more discriminated against than it is now believe it or not. When I was young I heard of a woman married to a gay man as a "beard" like they were almost forced to fake being hetero to be taken seriously. So yeah, some guys married to have a "beard" Edit: spelling
Bill 1 year ago
On a side note, Freddie Mercury also had a wife but they were legit. He loved her but realized he preferred the company of men. RIP Freddie
Load More Replies...
Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
I remember that. I knew he was gay, but reconsidered after the marriage, thinking he might be bi. I also remember his wife saying he’s the nicest guy in the world, so I would hope he was kind to her toward the end, as realizing your husband prefers men, especially back in the eighties, would’ve been devastating. I haven’t heard of any kind of abuse or cruelty, so it looks like he was kind to her. I’d think it still would be difficult to face today. Even though you could be happy that your partner will now live their authentic life, it would still be a blow to know there’s absolutely nothing you could do, barring extreme surgery and therapy, to become desirable to them—-and that might not even work, as love isn’t just physical attraction. I would hope that couples who face that do their best to be as kind to each other during the upheaval as possible, as it cannot be easy for them, and especially for their children.
Marlowe Fitzpatrik 1 year ago
Personally, I always thought that I'd be happy if my (theoretical) marriage failed because my husband was gay instead of he just not liking me anymore. I mean, what could I even do against sexual orientation? At least that way, it'd not be due to a mistake on my part.
Load More Replies... veirdbuttrue 1 year ago
yes its a really good read, full of Elton' s wit and humour
Load More Replies... G A 1 year ago
Someone famous (I forget who) made a comment about the groom needing a splint for the wedding night.
#41
George Washington was unusually tall (6'2") and quite strong, and never wore a powdered wig.
Tabitha 1 year ago
The tall gene ran in his family and he had the benefit of being rich and eating a healthy diet. My Slovene grandparents came to the US in 1909-1910. They were both barely 5 feet tall (grandma was about 4’10” and grandpa was around 5’2”). Their son, my father, ended up being 6 feet 1 inch tall, and their daughter, my aunt, was 5 feet 6 inches tall (tall for a woman in the 1930s). The tall gene was always there, but it just wasn’t being fed while my grandparents were living as Eastern European peasants back when Slovenia was part of Austria-Hungary under the Hapsburgs monarchy.
Alex Kennedy 1 year ago
6’8, weighed a f*****g ton! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv6OOuPI5c0
ABC no seven FCK CENSORING 1 year ago
are fúcking tons heavier or lighter than chaste tons? 🤔
Load More Replies...
#42
Following Michael Jackson's death, his sister discovered two hard disks at her brother's home that contained more than 100 unreleased songs, many of which were unregistered. In 2010, Sony signed a deal with Jackson's estate to release 10 posthumous albums, but only 3 were ever released.
keyboardtek 1 year ago
Much of the quality of Jackson's albums were created by a variety of very talented keyboard players and arrangers. Michael had minimal music talent.
#43
The end of the Stone Age to the present represents only around 0.7% of human history.
Heffalump 1 year ago (edited)
Pedant here. History is by definition what is recorded of the past. Since even the end of the stone age is pre-historic, the end of the stone age to the present represents a span of time more than 100% of human history. OP means the existence of homo-sapiens, and since we evolved rather than started, we can't say how long we've been around, only how old the earliest remains are that are accepted to be homo sapiens..
Georgy 1 year ago
Your definition of history is not definitive and universal.
Load More Replies... TruthoftheHeart 1 year ago
And yet some people would swear Earth was made by magical sky people and is younger than that!!
Steve Robert 1 year ago
And, yet, we still are as warmongering and uncivilized as we were back in the stone age.
John Dilligaf 1 year ago
modern Homo Sapiens dates back to about 300,000 yrs ago. Our oldest written records go back to 3400 BC. The oldest known city existed from approximately 7400 BC to 5200 BC.
Hmmm hmmmm 1 year ago
If all of the earth was put into a year humans would begin at 11:55 on New year's eve
#44
A 2022 study proposed that Bruce Lee may have died from hyponatraemia - a low concentration of sodium in blood, which is caused by excessive water intake. At the time of his death, Lee had reportedly been existing on a near-liquid diet of mostly juices.
Ryan Smith 1 year ago
No truth to the rumor he died from "vibrating death touch" because he was going to reveal the deepest, darkest secrets of kung fu?
Midoribird Aoi 1 year ago
*Looks at clear soups just purchased*. Well, temporarily in my case! I had food poisoning and have to eat really lightly for a few more days.
#45
A basketball player, Boban Janković, frustrated with his fifth foul, slammed his head into a padded concrete post, leaving him unable to walk for the rest of his life.
Robin Roper 1 year ago
A guy who lived in the area where I grew up was golfing and make a bad shot. Who to show his frustration, took his iron and swung it at the bar that hold up the golf cart top. The shaft wrapped itself around the bar and snapped. The head and shaft connected to it swung around and went through his chest. He died instantly. True story.
Mike F 1 year ago
And I thought that putting your balls on the ground and beating them with a club was the rough part of golf!
Load More Replies...
#46
In 1952 a doctor in France released a deadly virus to kill rabbits on his estate, which then killed 90% of France's rabbits within two years.
Kira Okah 1 year ago (edited)
Is this about Myxo? Just checked OP, yeah, it's Myxo. Myxomatosis, a natural mild illness of the Brazilian and Brush rabbits of the Americas, it was widely used as a biological European rabbit control in the 1950s, to devastating results. It's very widely studied because of this. Because it can be spread by contact and by fleas, an infected rabbit can spread it across, well, a whole country, hundreds of millions of rabbits. In places where it was released (or spread to, rabbits don't follow country borders), over 90% population death occurred, and the survivors are all immune to it - and also carriers, which is why in countries with Myxo, you shouldn't mix wild rabbits and domestic rabbits (domestic rabbits are domesticated European rabbits and they will suffer immensely before dying). Erm...another thing that I did a paper on after seeing some sick rabbits in a rescue centre, they were mixing wild and domestic rabbits in the same enclosure.
Binky Melnik 1 year ago
I don’t understand, Kira; what happens when you place domesticated rabbits with wild ones? You say the wild ones are immune, so who’s gonna get the disease and how?
Load More Replies...
Laughing Orc 1 year ago
It's a horrible, horrible virus. Causes immense suffering and is practically incurable.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
Domestic rabbits can be vaccinated against it, but if they get it then there is no cure.
Load More Replies... leendadll 1 year ago
Did anyone notify Australia? (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbits_in_Australia)
Kira Okah 1 year ago (edited)
Yes, it was released in Australia, resulting in the horrific death of hundreds of millions of rabbits. The remaining rabbits and their offspring are all immune carriers.
Load More Replies... Tabitha 1 year ago (edited)
Is that virus confined to rabbits, or could it jump species and infect other animals too? Could it mutate and infect other animals, or humans? What about animals that ate the rabbits that died from it? What about humans who killed and ate rabbits that were newly infected and still appeared healthy? Messing around with viruses, then releasing them, ffs, isn’t something we should be monkeying with as, let’s face it, we’re not smart or patient enough to wait until we find out about the side effects, and more importantly the long term effects, of a virus, not to mention the possibilities for mutation to infect more than just the intended target. What the doctor did was reckless and potentially harmful to more than wild rabbits—-and don’t forget about the implications of removing one link in the ecosystem’s chain. Killing all wild rabbits removes an animal who has a role to play in the ecosystem, which could have negative, or even dire, implications—-maybe not immediately, but sometime down the line. I remember a case where farmers eradicated just about all the local snakes (non-venomous) because they considered them pests in their fields—-only to be overrun a short time later with the rodents those snakes used to eat. With no snake predators on hand, the rodent population exploded, grain was decimated (eaten or befouled with rodent waste), and it was like the ground was crawling beneath their feet. Had they just left the snakes be, they wouldn’t have had the rodent apocalypse they ended up with. If I remember correctly, they had to import the rodent-eating snakes from another area to restore the snake predator-rodent prey balance. We really shouldn’t be playing Jenga with ecosystems. Every part is there for a reason. Yeah, I know it’s too late, and we’ve f****d up big time, but nature has a way of healing itself, as long as we don’t wait until it’s really too late, so our f**k ups can still be turned around by nature itself.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
Myxo is rabbit only, but it's effects are different across different types of rabbit - in brush rabbits where it naturally occurs its effects are mild, but it is a horrific death sentence for European rabbits. Thre is no evidence that it has gone beyond rabbits, and in places that it was released on European rabbit populations, mot of the rabbits are immune carriers. I live in one of the countries where Myxo was released and I have certainly eaten rabbit to no ill effect. The virus was not messed around with, released Myxo strains are the same as their natural strains, I believe the version released here was the South American variant but I am not entirely sure as I wrote my paper on it about 20 years ago now. Nature has healed itself from te Myxo releases - the rabbit population is huge and thriving, and all of the survivors and their offspring are completely immune to Myxo. Myxo is possibly the most studied animal virus, and it is definitely not zoonotic.
Load More Replies... Andy Frobig 1 year ago
It would have killed all of them, but one of the last 10% said "of course you realize this means war," but in French
Tabitha 1 year ago
“ Bien sûr, tu réalises que cela signifie la guerre!” Followed by two slaps across the human face with leather gloves, and a very huffy exit.
Load More Replies...
Isabel Galvez 1 year ago
The vaccine is very cheap and absolutely worth it. Death by Myxo is extremely cruel.
#47
Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that sank in 2012, resulting in the death of 32 people, had been carrying a large amount of mafia-owned cocaine when it sank and traces of it were found in Captain Francesco Schettino's hair samples.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
Likely knowledge of the d***s was not known to the captain, or any of the senior officers, but it would have taken the complicity of at least one crew member. The particular mafia group that hid the d***s aboard is known for hiding d***s aboard cruise ships without senior officer knowledge. Note: traces in hair samples /= traces in the hair strands themselves - the strands and his urine tested negative, n evidence that he had taken any d***s.
#48
Hippos can defecate into rivers so much that their feces builds up and kills fish through hypoxia, or lack of oxygen. In the Mara River, about 4,000 hippos poop out more than 9 tons of dung each day. Hippo feces also leaves behind chemicals such as ammonium and sulfide, which is harmful to fish.
Say No to Downvoting 1 year ago
Do yourself a favour and look up some videos on YouTube of hippos pooping. It’s hilarious.
Vicki Perizzolo 1 year ago
Hippos also leave co.post and create all kinds of new pathways creating rivers within rivers. They also can't swim
Mark Hastings 1 year ago
I visited Kenya this past June, one morning our photo safari group enjoyed breakfast near the banks of Mara River. There were at least 75 or more hippos in the river. We dined on a bluff about 50 feet above the river. I climbed down a bank to get a better picture but was overwhelmed by the smell. 6023-67119...18e96c.jpg 
ZestyBison 1 year ago
I mean surely one day they will take notice that the water tastes like their a*****e and will try and s**t elsewhere because they have experienced cleaner water.
#49
If your SSN was issued before 2011 it reveals where you lived when you got your number. The first 3 digits correspond to a specific state.
Midwest Mike 1 year ago
and if you are "THE OLD" in the United States....you may be like myself that LITERALLY your Social Security Number was listed as and printed on your "College ID" because....hey this is normal and will never be weird or a problem. So I by age 19 learned my Social Security Number number by age 19 since it was used even for my College Food ID....nope...was never going to be a horror show in the future....!!!!
Bec 1 year ago
My middle school math teacher had us memorize our SSN assuming we would need it for lots of reasons, but I do remember having test scores posted on paper on the walls in college, can't remember if it was our whole number or not though
Load More Replies...
Sky Render 1 year ago
Yep. Born in Washington, but my family only stayed there for a few months after I was born before moving right back to Oregon, which is why my first 3 are for Oregon.
Mark Hastings 1 year ago
While in the Navy my SSN was my service number. After I got out of the Navy I went to work for Boeing, my SSN was my employee number and was displayed prominently on the front of my badge. It wasn't till about 1990 Boeing quit doing this.
Jane Hower 1 year ago
That's why it was ODD that Obama's SSN showed it came from CT, a State he never lived in. He is NOT a US Born Citizen - should never have 'qualified' to be President. POS
Cydney Golden 1 year ago
We were told in the 60s to carry our SS cards around with us so we'd have the number for job applications.
Teresa Spanics 1 year ago
I live in Canada and my SSN is on a card so I wonder would that also apply?
#50
The burial sites in Medina and Mecca for the Prophet Muhammad's family members were destroyed to make room for the Hajj pilgrimages.
Andy 1 year ago (edited)
In many cases it was also due to the rise of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. Preserving or celebrating structures and sites related to Muhammad, his family and the founders of Islam were seen as heretical and idolatrous in their eyes.
Geoffrey Scott 1 year ago
Sooo...just as the Baptists view Catholics..same book different interpretation.
Load More Replies...
#51
Since its invention in 1959, the MOSFET transistor has become the most produced artificial object in history with over 13 sextillion manufactured.
#52
More than 86% of psychologists have themselves sought therapy (average of 221 sessions), and 62% identify as depressed, themselves.
Robin Roper 1 year ago
Of course. A standard recommendation in the training to become a therapist is to "heal thyself" first and to maintain a therapeutic relationship for yourself. Anyone who spent as much time and energy helping others through their trauma and struggles could escape the blowback onto themselves. No one would consider it odd that a cardiologist would see a cardiologist would they?
Not-a-Clue (she/her) 1 year ago
Most therapy training in the UK make having some personal therapy a requirement rather than just a recommendation. We need to experience it from the clients' perspective.
Load More Replies... FreeTheUnicorn 1 year ago
Practicing psychologists are required to be in therapy to keep their license. It's best practice for any field where you heat disturbing stuff all day on purpose.
Upstaged75 1 year ago
My shrink is definitely a little nuts. He's a super weird guy. But he's good at his job, so that's all that matters to me. :)
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I've always assumed that people enter the field because they want to know what's wrong with themselves or someone close to them
Cathy Homan 1 year ago
I'm studying psychology and that is far from why I am doing it and I definitely don't want to be a therapist
Load More Replies...
Lynn Fitzpatrick 1 year ago
I have always preached that "Everyone should have someone" to talk to ❤️
#53
On Dec 16, 1962 John Paul Scott escaped Alcatraz and swam to Fort Point beneath the Golden Gate Bridge where he was found hypothermic and exhausted. It is the only verified case of an inmate escaping and reaching shore by swimming. He was then returned to Alcatraz.
Laughing Orc 1 year ago
John Mason also escaped Alcatraz, but then snuck back in with Stanley Goodspeed when General Hummel and his rogue military outfit occupied the Rock. I saw a movie about it.
JK 1 year ago
Fun fact: John Mason looks *exactly* like Sean Connery - wild!
Load More Replies...
#54
The reason The Simpsons are so crudely drawn in their first appearances on the Tracey Ullman Show was because Matt Groening had sent in basic sketches assuming they'd be cleaned up by the animators, but the animators just traced over his drawings.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I loved the time all the family photos got burned, and they had to pose for replacements, and for the earliest ones they had to look like their Tracey Ullman versions
#55
Nauru, the third smallest country in the world (8sq miles) had a 10 year civil war in 1878 that saw the island's population fall from ~1500 to >1000, sparked by the introduction of firearms. It eventually ended when the German Empire intervened and confiscated >700 rifles.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
It...was not about firearms, it was sparked by an attempted coup to depose the King and replace him with a rival.
Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago
...they...didn't say it was *about* firearms.
Load More Replies... leendadll 1 year ago
Guessing OP meant <1000. From Wiki: "The introduction of firearms and alcohol destroyed the peaceful coexistence of the 12 tribes living on the island. A 10-year civil war began in 1878 and resulted in a reduction of the population from 1,400 (1843) to around 900 (1888).[7] Ultimately, alcohol was banned and some arms were confiscated."
#56
Pascha is the largest brothel in Europe, having over 120 workers and serves 1000 daily customers. The workers rent a room for 180 Euros/day and negotiate in the halls. Each floor is themed with one for cheap services and another for Trans. It offers a money back guarantee for bad service.
TruthoftheHeart 1 year ago
And a thousand times safer, legal brothels are better than allowing criminals to control the sex selling, that's when people who don't want that job become victims
#57
In 1959, thirty TV Westerns aired during prime time in the US; none had been canceled that season, while 14 new ones had appeared. In one week in March 1959, eight of the top ten shows were Westerns. In addition, an estimated $125 million in toys based on TV Westerns were sold that year.
Kira Okah 1 year ago (edited)
Entertainment comes in popular waves before moving onto something else, like all popular trends. The current in thing in entertainment is superheroes.
Ace 1 year ago
Have the vampire/supernatural/zombie genres lost their appeal now then?
Load More Replies...
#58
Pakistan accidentally took down Youtube for the entire globe in 2008 in an attempt to block it.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
It happened, it's not impossible. Pakistan Telecom essentially rerouted the web address with a false gateway protocol, marking its own website as the destination to the youtube url, but tey released te redirect worldwide instead of just in Pakistan. It was a known internet security weakness that took out the site globally for two hours. This has happened before this, with some global redirects having even occured in 1997.
Load More Replies... #59
The reason why older Japanese paints have women with black lips is not to provide contrast, but because they actually represent black teeth which was a common custom of the time.
#60
After Kevin Costner declined the lead role in the film Tombstone to develop what turned into the film Wyatt Earp instead, he attempted to "blacklist" Tombstone & commandeered every Western costume in Hollywood. Yet it was more well-received & made more money than Wyatt Earp on a smaller budget.
Michael Danhauer 1 year ago
Tombstone is shorter and has a fun feel to it despite the dramatic flourishes. Wyatt Earp is almost pure drama and loooong for movies of the time of its release. WE is probably the better movie, but Tombstone is definitely an easier watch.
Sheena Leversedge Wood 1 year ago
what a wanker. Tombstone is one of my husbands favourite films.
Vix Spiderthrust 1 year ago
Also Tombstone is great. I've often thought that the reason Val Kilmer is rubbish in so many later films is because he used up all his acting in Tombstone
Rosemary . 1 year ago
Val Kilmer really was so great in Tombstone. No offense to Kurt Russell, but Kilmer absolutely stole that movie.
Load More Replies... #61
There is a fancy restaurant in California where you can eat free if you are taller than the chef.
#62
In the 17th century, young upper-class men in Europe would travel across the continent in a rite of passage known as The Grand Tour.
Laughing Orc 1 year ago
Typically they travelled as a party of 3 and took a film crew with them.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
And the 18th and 19th, but in the 20th they more often traveled with their regiment. I never really thought of the Grand Tour as TIL material
FreeTheUnicorn 1 year ago
Just the 17th century word for gap year, not really a surprising fact.
Nevid 1 year ago (edited)
The word tour in general means a trip (usually there and back). Un petit tour is simply a small trip. Unless there's context, you need to specify where you're going, (un petit tour aux toilettes = a small trip to the toilet). But it's not about the toilet by default.
Load More Replies... #63
Disney spends about $50M each year on fireworks, over $130k a night. The only consumer that tops this is the military.
Cammy Mack 1 year ago
Maybe they should spend nothing on fireworks and pay to have better writing in their movies instead.
pocwaddler 1 year ago
One of the main ingredients in those displays is powdered coffee creamer. I was on a river trip once with a couple of guys who put those shows on and they demonstrated using coffee creamer over the campfire. It makes a spectacular flare
#64
Shoes discovered in Titanic wreckage are typically found in pairs because they were worn by victims when they died. The bodies disintegrated but the shoes remain due to tannic acid in leather
Jaaawn 1 year ago
This isn't entirely true. As cameras have got better, 'pairs' of shoes have been found to be different shoes entirely.
Paulina 1 year ago
I've seen a documentary recently where they said it's not only shoes but some articles of clothing, jewelry etc. - lying there like someone trying to figure out their outfit for the day by putting it together on the bed... And that's exactly how the bodies fell down and then dissolved in the "toxic" waters.
Load More Replies...
ENSJ 1 year ago
Nah, there's a river (I think) were a lot of feet still inside shoes wash up on shore. Most often just one shoe and not a matching pair.
Load More Replies... #65
Randy Savage (aka Macho Man) died from a heart attack while driving with his wife; autopsy found his coronary artery 90% blocked.
#66
There is enough actinide metal (thorium and uranium) on Earth to sustain Breeder Reactors, which produce more fissile material than they consume, leading to enough fuel to satisfy the world's energy needs at 1983 levels for 5-billion years, making nuclear energy effectively renewable.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
Spent rods can be made into crystals and continue to be used. Most waste is low-radioactivity boiler suits and other clothing that is stored, not tipped.
Load More Replies...
WindySwede 1 year ago
Some claim that thorium are much better due to lower risk?
Load More Replies... #67
In addition to ethical concerns, Ford's Theatre won't put on "Our American Cousin" (the show Lincoln was assasinated during) in part because it's a comedy that just isn't very funny.
Kira Okah 1 year ago
It's actually very funny. I mean, if it wasn't then it wouldn't have crossed the pond to America in the first place. Crossd the pond? It's a British play, with British humour about British classes. America has a different humour style and a different social makeup, so the jokes don't land in the same way as they do to a Brit. It is very funny, if you're British.
Sand Ers 1 year ago
It always annoys the fork out of me when Brits say Americans don’t have a sense of humor. It goes both ways. We don’t always get their humor, and they don’t get ours.
Load More Replies... Andy Frobig 1 year ago
I guess that answers the question, "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"
pocwaddler 1 year ago
There's a line in the play that goes "Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap." The word "sockdologer" was a Victorian-era term for a decisive or a knockout blow. John Wilkes Booth used the laughter from that line as cover for the shot that killed President Lincoln. In 1869, John Wesley Powell, in his exploration of the canyons of the Colorado River by boat, named a rapid in the Inner Gorge "sockdologer" because it was so difficult to run.
pocwaddler 1 year ago
John Wilkes Booth used the laughter generated by the line in the play "Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologising old man-trap" to cover the sound of his shot that killed President Lincoln. In 1869, John Wesley Powell named a rapid in the Grand Canyon "Sockdologer," because it was so difficult to run.
#68
The Brooklyn Bridge was inaugurated in 1883 and was considered an engineering marvel at the time. However, rumors of its weakness caused a public panic that led to the death of about 12 people. To restore confidence in the bridge's strength, P.T. Barnum marched 21 elephants and 17 camels across.
Rob D 1 year ago
How? Like was it the opening ceremony, and the rumor spread in the crowd, leading to panic? 12 cases of "weak bridge induced spontaneous death"?
whineygingercat 1 year ago
More like '12 trampled to death, as crowds stampede to get off bridge.'
Load More Replies... #69
Drawing the time on a clock is a test used to check for signs of dementia.
LakotaWolf (she/her) 1 year ago
I feel like the skill of reading an analog clock is no longer commonly taught to children since digital clocks are pervasive and phones/devices with clocks on them are downright ubiquitous. I wonder if this test will lose its efficacy as current generations age :x
leendadll 1 year ago
You're feeling is accurate. Handwriting and analog clocks are becoming sort of like a secret language.
Load More Replies... Lord of the laserprinter. 1 year ago
Just last week I took my mother for a test. She could not draw the clock….!
#70
Actor Peter Dante, famous for his appearance in Adam Sandler films, has not appeared in a Sandler film since 2013, following an incidence in which he called a hotel worker the N-word for not recognizing him.
Rob D 1 year ago
Getting a little disconcerting how many of Sandlers really close friends are absolute a*****eṣ.
Jocelyn Webster 1 year ago
I presume you've never heard about Mr sandlers antics then as well. 🤔
Load More Replies... #71
No-panties cafe in 1980s Japan. It's just like every cafe but the waitresses do not wear panties and wear short skirts.
FreeTheUnicorn 1 year ago
Now they have similar clubs with see through floors/ceilings where the men can be on the lower floor looking up at the women in skirts.
T'Mar of Vulcan 1 year ago
I read (in Fortean Times, I think) that they don't have those anymore.
Load More Replies... #72
Marlon Brando often refused to memorize his lines for movies like The Godfather. Instead, the crew used cue cards placed around the set, even on other actors. Brando claimed this approach made his performances feel more real and spontaneous, capturing the uncertainty of real conversations.
Michael Danhauer 1 year ago
Brando is highly overrated and eccentric af. He was not easy to work with for almost everyone around him. There were a lot of actors from the golden age of Hollywood that were walking nightmares.
#73
The third season of 'Finding Your Roots' was delayed after it was discovered the show heavily edited an episode featuring Ben Affleck. Affleck pressured the show to do so after he was shown one of his ancestors was a slave owner.
Andy Frobig 1 year ago
We were just talking about how almost everyone who's been on the show, except most Ashkenazi Jews and descendants of fairly recent immigrants, has been descended from a slave owner--regardless of the guest's race. Maybe if Affleck had known that he'd have been less of a jerk about it
Regina Holt 1 year ago
I was also going to comment the fact that a heck of a lot of caucasian folks descend from slave owners. And a pretty high percentage of African Americans descend from slaves.
Load More Replies... T'Mar of Vulcan 1 year ago
Big deal. One of my ancestors was murdered by her slave. Another of my ancestors WAS a slave. (I'm South African.)
#74
After assaulting two people, Monroe Isadore, a 107-year-old man from Arkansas, died in a shootout with a SWAT team.
TribbleThinking 1 year ago
The chap didn't want to move from his home, and no one was listening.
#75
Neanderthals lived in a high-stress environment with high trauma rates, and about 80% died before the age of 40.
PFD 1 year ago
Hmm. This sounds rather speculative - surely it depends not only on correctly identifying the ages of people from mostly fragmentary fossil skeletons but also assuming that the discovered remains of a few hundred individuals are representative of widespread populations of millions of people over tens of thousands of years. Would, say, a random collection of a few thousand bone fragments from a few hundred graves allow a sweeping statement about "the conditions in which homo sapiens lived"?
#76
Jeremy Harper, who in 2007 livestreamed himself counting to 1,000,000. It took him 89 days, during which he did not leave the house or shave. He spent an average of 16 hours a day counting.
Tucker Cahooter 1 year ago
I'm guessing that there were also people who wasted 89 days watching him do it too
WindySwede 1 year ago
"He spent an average of 16 hours a day counting." He had 8h for that I guess?
Load More Replies... #77
Mohammad is the most popular boys' name in Berlin, Germany.
Alex Kennedy 1 year ago
Yes, if you consider 25 different spellings of “Mohammed” all the same, but also don’t do that for other names, then a *whopping* 1% of baby boys in Berlin had the name “Mohammed”. It’s a madhouse! Those damn dusky hordes are going to replace us. (Sarcasm). https://amp.dw.com/en/baby-name-mohammed-afd-context/a-48624839
Regina Holt 1 year ago
Mohammed and it's different spellings is the most common name in the world.
Load More Replies... #78
Robert Hoagland vanished from Newtown, Connecticut, in 2013, with suspicions of foul play. in fact, he had actually resettled in Rock Hill, New York, under an assumed name, Richard King, which was not discovered until after his death in late 2022.
#79
The average age for virginity loss in the USA is 17 years old.
#80
Medieval Peasants generally received anywhere from eight weeks to a half-year off. At the time, the Church considered frequent and mandatory holidays the key to keeping a working population from revolting.
David 1 year ago (edited)
This is a well known falsehood that was fabricated by Sociologist Juliet B. Schor (who is hated by historians of the Medieval period for what they refer to as shoddy research, and poor understanding of historical documents) that historians have been trying to correct. This entire myth is based on one single data point from Medieval England, and not any other place. The one data point was looking at the villein (a feudal tenant farmer in England) and took amount of hours required under law for them to work for the Feudal Lord, to earn their tenant rights and rent (150 days of sun-up to down of labor). Schorr takes this one data point, and then claims this was the only labor they had to do, and then assumes all Peasants at the time in England did the same hours. It did not take into account any other professions, nor the other labor required by the villein, such as their own food, excess to trade to others, taking care of the animals, making goods for the home, etc. Her work is bad research, and
David 1 year ago
The Church myth, is just a single English Church Document that stated that to prevent peasants from revolting, that the nobles should give peasants time off for wakes , weddings, births (in the family), and the once a year fair (the entertainment to keep the masses happy), on top of Sundays, as labor free, and that the peasants would make up their hours with longer days of labor to get the work done. This was not the church thinking lots of holidays were good things, etc. Schor, like her data, misunderstood the documents she was reading and extrapolated something not there. This is why actual historians hate her work, and try to correct this myth she invented.
Load More Replies...
Kira Okah 1 year ago
Mediaeval peasants? The farmers? With the livestock? Yeah, no. Cows being hungry doesn't wait for farmers taking holidays. That has been very much debunked, in fact there is a debunk in the top comment on the OP. The villein's labour in service to the lord is not labour that makes the food that they eat, that is just to pay the land rent, they still needed to grow their own food to eat, tend to the livestock, do all of the household tasks, spin wool, cook food. There is a vast difference between the amount of labour required to run a household nowadays (something like 3 hours a week) and in the mediaeval period (100+ hours a week).
Isaac Harvey 1 year ago
I prefer the "8-8-8" rhythm: work for 8 minutes, take an 8-hour break, go on vacation for 8 weeks. Repeat.
Kelly H. Wilder 1 year ago
I get 54 days off per year, but it's not as impressive as it sounds. We are closed every Sunday, and Thanksgiving and Christmas days. Other than those days, I am at work (6 days a week).
Sand Ers 1 year ago
That sounds very unpleasant. Are you ever able to relax?
Load More Replies...
iseefractals 1 year ago
David already covered this....but JFC this one is just dumb. Medieval peasants, weren't clocking into McDonalds. Peasants, were responsible for providing everything they needed for themselves and their families. Growing food, making clothing, tools, caring for livestock, building and maintaining their homes.....and covering whatever "taxes" were imposed on them by the church, their ruler, or both. This would be akin to the church telling people today "everyone gets two months vacation!" yeah....sure, lets see how your landlord/bank feels about that when your rent/mortgage is due, lets see how the family feels when they get hungry, or when the utility bills come, or when you go to pick up your starbucks.
Donna Peluda 1 year ago
8 weeks of from what, not being molested by a priest? So the went on the dole and bought their food at the local supermarket.
Tucker Cahooter 1 year ago
I'm sure the peasants took advantage of that to have a nice long holiday in the Bahamas
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
Sand Ers 1 year ago
Why do I always start on these long lists right when I should be going to bed?
Lord of the laserprinter. 1 year ago
Is it just me or has anybody else the problem of BP being “jumpy” and “crashy” and generally being a PITA on a mobile?
Cat Chat 1 year ago
You're not alone. On my phone, when trying to type in a comment/reply box, the keyboard glitches on/off the screen. It only happens on BP.
Load More Replies...
Sand Ers 1 year ago
Why do I always start on these long lists right when I should be going to bed?
Lord of the laserprinter. 1 year ago
Is it just me or has anybody else the problem of BP being “jumpy” and “crashy” and generally being a PITA on a mobile?
Cat Chat 1 year ago
You're not alone. On my phone, when trying to type in a comment/reply box, the keyboard glitches on/off the screen. It only happens on BP.
Load More Replies... You May Like 41 Intriguing “Today I Learned” Facts That Show How Little We Actually Know (New Facts) 60 Interesting Facts That Are Better Than Watching The News “I Didn’t Know This And Now I Feel Stupid”: 48 Pieces Of Knowledge That Were Supposed To Be Common
Evelina Šiukšterytė
Ilona Baliūnaitė
Jonas Žvilius
Related on Bored Panda
