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Stuff you didn't know and probably don't care about

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Charmonium

Lifer
May 15, 2015
10,555
3,546
136
Uptown and Downtown rats each have distinct DNA.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/rats-of-new-york/546959/

The average uptown rat lives in a Starbucks Trenta cup - often placed mouth to mouth with a small entrance on one side. He or she commutes to the nearest dumpster in a discarded remote control car or truck. They eat mainly at the dumpsters of 4 and 5 star restaurants.

In contrast, downtowners tend to live in cramped crevices in building walls and foundations.Some even live in the dumpsters they eat from. They're commute is much longer since they have to walk on 3 legs - the fourth paw is for holding a stiletto or used heroin needle. A good day for a downtowner is when McD's has a big party cancel and all those burgers and shakes get tossed.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,101
10,567
126
There's such a thing as an albino redwood...

450px-Albino_redwood.jpg


An 'albino'[a] redwood is a redwood tree which is unable to produce chlorophyll, and so has white needles instead of the normal green. It survives by obtaining sugar through the connections between its roots and those of neighboring normal redwood(s), usually the parent tree from whose base it has sprouted.[1][2][3] (Sap exchange through roots is a general phenomenon among redwoods.[4]) About 400 are known.[4] They can be found in both Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and Humboldt Redwoods State Park, with eleven trees in the first.[4] However, the exact locations are not publicized to protect the rare trees.[5] They reach a maximum height of about 20 m (66 ft).[1] Other conifers lack the ability to graft their roots, so 'albino' mutants of other species do not survive to become sizable trees.[1] Albino redwood sightings between Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and Roaring Camp Railroads were first sighted by Roaring Camp CEO Georgiana P Clark in 2004 and reported and shared with naturalists at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and botanists at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albino_redwood

Pretty interesting a conifer could be albino.
 

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,998
126
One of the many iconic scenes of "Breaking Bad" was the mid-air collision between two planes when Jane's air traffic controller father made a mistake is his grief over her death. The event was similar to a real mid-air collision when a small plane crashed into a DC-9 over Cerritos California in 1986. All 67 people in the two planes were killed and an additional 15 people on the ground also died from the fires and impact of the debris. The name of the air traffic controller who was in charge of that air space at the time of the collision was Walter White.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,101
10,567
126
One of the many iconic scenes of "Breaking Bad" was the mid-air collision between two planes when Jane's air traffic controller father made a mistake is his grief over her death. The event was similar to a real mid-air collision when a small plane crashed into a DC-9 over Cerritos California in 1986. All 67 people in the two planes were killed and an additional 15 people on the ground also died from the fires and impact of the debris. The name of the air traffic controller who was in charge of that air space at the time of the collision was Walter White.
That's interesting. I wonder if it was a happy coincidence, or if it was planned at all. That's an elaborate connection for an overall minor plot point.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
21,033
16,282
136
The average uptown rat lives in a Starbucks Trenta cup - often placed mouth to mouth with a small entrance on one side. He or she commutes to the nearest dumpster in a discarded remote control car or truck. They eat mainly at the dumpsters of 4 and 5 star restaurants.

In contrast, downtowners tend to live in cramped crevices in building walls and foundations.Some even live in the dumpsters they eat from. They're commute is much longer since they have to walk on 3 legs - the fourth paw is for holding a stiletto or used heroin needle. A good day for a downtowner is when McD's has a big party cancel and all those burgers and shakes get tossed.

When I read this thread in future, I'll have my eye on you!
 
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lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,101
10,567
126
The Church put a dead pope on trial.

@zinfamous posted this gem of church history over in P&N but it deserves a spot here. It is worth reading the entire account as it just keeps getting better.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadaver_Synod
That's some stupid shit right there. Arguing with a corpse... Might as well try a rock for falling on your foot. I can't believe that nonsense has made it to the 21st century :^S
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
60,101
10,567
126
The Harii were a Germanic army that blacked everything out, and attacked at night. Pretty bad ass...

The Harii ( West Germanic "warriors"[1]) were, according to 1st century CE Roman historian Tacitus, a Germanic people. In his work Germania, Tacitus describes them as using black shields and painting their bodies ("nigra scuta, tincta corpora"), and attacking at night as a shadowy army, much to the terror of their opponents. Theories have been proposed connecting the Harii to the einherjar, ghostly warriors in service to the god Odin, attested much later among the North Germanic peoples by way of Norse mythology, and to the tradition of the Wild Hunt, a procession of the dead through the winter night sky sometimes led by Odin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harii

Found over the weekend chasing wiki links. I think it started by reading up on Harald Bluetooth, starting from an xkcd comic :^D

bluetooth.png
 
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Charmonium

Lifer
May 15, 2015
10,555
3,546
136
How to break spaghetti into just 2 pieces.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smar...w-break-spaghetti-two-clean-pieces-180970017/

What they found is that by twisting the dry noodles 360 degrees before bending them, they could get them to break in two. The trick works on Barilla No. 5 and Barilla No. 7 spaghetti, but there’s no word if it works on DaVinci, Ronzoni or the stuff you get at the farmers' market. And Dunkel says it only applies to long rod-shaped pasta. Flat noodles like linguini have a whole different set of physics. And rotini? That’s stuff is just quantum-level weird.

Indeed. Rotini requires a deep understanding quantum chromodynamics.
 

GagHalfrunt

Lifer
Apr 19, 2001
25,284
1,998
126
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CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126

IronWing

No Lifer
Jul 20, 2001
72,900
34,006
136
The sampling rate of audio CDs (44,100 Hz) is based on the number of scan lines in the old broadcast television standards.

NTSC:
245 × 60 × 3 = 44,100
245 active lines/field × 60 fields/second × 3 samples/line = 44,100 samples/second
(490 active lines per frame, out of 525 lines total)


PAL:
294 × 50 × 3 = 44,100
294 active lines/field × 50 fields/second × 3 samples/line = 44,100 samples/second
(588 active lines per frame, out of 625 lines total)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/44.1_kHz
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
Depending on which school of thought you subscribe to, Cthulhu is actually a type of Obyrith.

Obyriths are ancient demons, older than all mortal life. They dont normally look like classical demons.


500px-Golothoma.jpg





obox_ob__prince_of_vermin_by_michaeljaecks-d4vcmo4.jpg
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
21,033
16,282
136
Depending on which school of thought you subscribe to, Cthulhu is actually a type of Obyrith.

Obyriths are ancient demons, older than all mortal life. They dont normally look like classical demons.


500px-Golothoma.jpg

I guess the StarCraft 2 artists were not that original in their creations:

latest

(Abathur)
 

shortylickens

No Lifer
Jul 15, 2003
80,287
17,081
136
Sylvester Stallone was the original Beverly Hills Cop.
The arrogant jackass decided to rewrite the script on his own.
They fired his sorry butt immediately.
 

nutxo

Diamond Member
May 20, 2001
6,824
503
126
Some dude on Imgur posted a battleship:


If anyone cares this is almost exactly what a cruiser looks like.
EXCEPT for the bed. NOBODY gets a bed. Not even the captain. He has a bunk/rack just like everyone else. Except its in a private compartment, just below the bridge.


That's a BB. Looks like the Mighty Mo. One of my best friends was on this ship. I've seen this ship fire it's 16 inch guns. Its an incredible vessel.
 
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