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

[Kaido]

They figured out why Polar Bear fur doesn't stick to ice:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/science/video/polar-bear-anti-icing-research-digvid

 

[IBMJunkman]

They figured out why Polar Bear fur doesn't stick to ice:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/science/video/polar-bear-anti-icing-research-digvid

There was most likely a multimillion dollar government study to find this out.

 

[Charmonium]

IDK, I think any money spent on potentially useful research is well spent.

Anyway, doing a molecular analysis of fur probably didn't cost a lot of money. We do shit like that on the regular.

The only question really is, can we do anything with the research - incorporate non-polar (greasy) compounds in aluminum paint (for airplanes), or roofing materials or my GD car windows.

We've gotten almost no real snow or ice here but I still have to de-ice my windows. I'd much rather aim the car, drop the clutch in first gear and watch the ice slide up and over the car.

But can I do that yet? No. No I can not and it's starting to p*** me off.

 

[Kaido]

There was most likely a multimillion dollar government study to find this out.

TL;DR they're greaseballs lol

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

There's a plant species that can mimic other plants, including plastic plants, without coming into contact with them.

Boquila - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Unlike most other mimicking species, close proximity is enough to induce mimicry and contact is not required. In one controversial study, B. trifoliata has been noted to mimic the leaves of plastic plants. If the vines approach another tree, the vine begins simultaneously mimicking that species as well.

 

[igor_kavinski]

But can I do that yet? No. No I can not and it's starting to p*** me off.

Need to wait for hovercars.

 

[William Gaatjes]

They figured out why Polar Bear fur doesn't stick to ice:

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/10/science/video/polar-bear-anti-icing-research-digvid

My first guess would be : Sounds like the fatty acids combined with the outer texture of the fur are hydrophobic.

If i am making an educated guess : Ducks do the same with their feathers, they grease the feathers to make the feathers hydrophobic. No issues while swimming, even in icy water.

How do ducks float?

All you amateur ornithologists might scoff at this seemingly simple question, but the answer isn't as straightforward as you think. And no, it's not just that their bones are hollow.

animals.howstuffworks.com

Also, to create ice, was there not a seeding material needed ?
Like howe snow is formed and from snow on ice ?

 

[Stiff Clamp]

"At Padua in Italy they have a stone called the stone of turpitude, near the senate house, where spendthrifts, and such as disclaim payment of debts, do sit with their hinder parts bare, that by that note of disgrace others may be terrified from all such vain expense, or borrowing more than they can tell how to pay."

 

[William Gaatjes]

I do not know if this is relevant to the song, but it is inspiring :

The Legend of the Lonely Shepherd​

The Welsh Legend of the Lonely Shepherd (Y Bugail Unig)

The shepherd spent his days on the mountains of Llangattock. It was a solitary life, wet and cold in winter, hot and dry in summer. Each season was different but all meant hard work for the shepherd. In winter his back strained as he carried fodder over the mountain to the pens so his sheep...

www.grahamwatkins.info

Small excerpt from text :
"
The shepherd spent his days on the mountains of Llangattock. It was a solitary life, wet and cold in winter, hot and dry in summer. Each season was different but all meant hard work for the shepherd. In winter his back strained as he carried fodder over the mountain to the pens so his sheep would not starve. In spring he worked through the nights to help them lamb. Before the hot days when the sun would be high in the sky he sheared the sheep and carried the heavy fleeces to market. In summer he would walk miles over the mountains searching for stray lambs. All year long he protected his flock from wolves and robbers. He didn’t mind. His sheep were his living. This was his life. But a shepherd’s life is lonely and a man that is alone grows sad.
"

"
The people found the lonely shepherd high on the mountain. Because of his cruelty, the shepherd had been turned into a pillar of rock and stood like a silent sentinel looking down on the valley where his wife had vanished. The people named the rock Y Bugail Unig or, in English, the Lonely Shepherd.
"

 

[Charmonium]

If you love chocolate, you'll probably enjoy this article about the various patents that have helped produce the smooth, creamy treat we now enjoy.

The Patents Behind Your Box of Valentine's Day Chocolates

Before you sample a truffle or a coconut cream, consider all of the innovation that has been poured into the sweets and their lovely presentation

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[William Gaatjes]

This is more stuff that i forgot and forgot to care about but it is fun to see it as a refreshner or just general fun to watch :

Bernoulli's principle :

The behavior of Magnetic fields towards each other. Makes anybody think how complex it must be on the interior of the sun and the exterior (the surface) of the sun :

 

[stargazr]

Natives in South America used to use horses to catch electric eels. They were difficult to catch because they would burrow in the mud. They would heard horses into swamps know to be inhabited by the creatures. It would startle the eels and they would jump out and attack the horses, exhausting themselves. Pretty fucked up thing to do.

Illustration by Jessica Eggers - JessMess on social media

https://www.aps.org/archives/publications/apsnews/201703/physicshistory.cfm

 

[Kaido]

Aww

Killed by Google

Killed by Google is the open source list of dead Google products, services, and devices. It serves as a tribute and memorial of beloved services and products killed by Google.

killedbygoogle.com

 

[lxskllr]

Aside from my general 'fuck google' policy, I would never invest any real time into anything they make. Anything that isn't email or ads is likely to go away. You spend the effort to invest(lulz) in a google solution, and the rug gets pulled out from under you. If you can't pivot with minimal effort, using google is foolish.

 

[Kaido]

They stole the throne!!

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/style/gold-toilet-trial-blenheim-palace/index.html

 

[Red Squirrel]

They need to make a comedy movie of this event.

In theatres now: Quest for the Golden Throne.
Also available in 3D

 

[sdifox]

They need to make a comedy movie of this event.

In theatres now: Quest for the Golden Throne.
Also available in 3D

Harry Potter and the Golden Turd.

 

[IronWing]

Harry Potter and the Order of the Bath

 

[KMFJD]

RNA neoantigen vaccines prime long-lived CD8+ T cells in pancreatic cancer - Nature

In a phase 1 trial, patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who were treated with surgery and bespoke neoantigen mRNA vaccines combined with anti-PD-L1 and chemotherapy exhibited marked long-lived persistence of neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cell clones, which correlated with prolonged...

www.nature.com

potential breakthrough against pancreatic cancer

 

[William Gaatjes]

RNA neoantigen vaccines prime long-lived CD8+ T cells in pancreatic cancer - Nature

In a phase 1 trial, patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who were treated with surgery and bespoke neoantigen mRNA vaccines combined with anti-PD-L1 and chemotherapy exhibited marked long-lived persistence of neoantigen-specific CD8+ T cell clones, which correlated with prolonged...

www.nature.com

potential breakthrough against pancreatic cancer

Sometimes while reading these articles, it makes me think that it in de medical world, it is a hidden contest to create the weirdest names ever like for example : "Atezolizumab".

 

[William Gaatjes]

The history of the (flushing) toilet, goes back to at least 2800BC and even many many centuries before as separate inventions over time. The flushing toilet was in Great Britain named by Sir John Harrington as : "The Ajax".

Learn Who Invented the Toilet - Brubaker, Inc.

Ever wondered who invented the toilet? Learn the answer here!

www.brubakerinc.com

Small excerpt from text:
"
In the late 1850’s the company he founded Thomas Crapper & Company, owned the world’s first bath, toilet and sink showroom, and is still in business to this day. So while he did not invent the toilet, it is generally assumed that the word ‘crapper’, meaning the toilet, finds its origins in his name.
"
and
"
A Toilet Timeline

• circa 26th century BC: Flush toilets were first used in the Indus Valley Civilization. In a few cities it was discovered that a flush toilet was in almost every house, attached to a sophisticated sewage system.
• King Minos of Crete had the first flushing water closet recorded in history, over 2800 years ago.

"
and

"
In 1596, a flush toilet was invented and built for Britain's Queen Elizabeth I by her Godson, Sir John Harrington. It is said that she refused to use it because it was too noisy. The first patent for the flushing toilet was issued to Alexander Cummings in 1775.
"

 

[lxskllr]

Konqi - KDE Community Wiki

community.kde.org

 

[Kaido]

If you love chocolate, you'll probably enjoy this article about the various patents that have helped produce the smooth, creamy treat we now enjoy.

The Patents Behind Your Box of Valentine's Day Chocolates

Before you sample a truffle or a coconut cream, consider all of the innovation that has been poured into the sweets and their lovely presentation

www.smithsonianmag.com

I make bean-to-bar chocolate at home; it boggles my mind how the process was ever invented lol. Starting with harvesting:

1. The nerf pods grow in specific areas of the world, most recently Hawaii
2. They are then typically fermented locally, which is a whole process
3. They are then solar or oven-dried, which also requires special care & procedures

Next:

1. The beans are roasted to sterilize them & add flavor
2. The bean is inside a husk, which has to be cracked to open, which shatters the beans into "nibs". A second roast can be done at this point, if desired
3. The nibs are then ground into paste. Once the paste is made, it's refined into liquidy state in a melanger (typically a stone wheel grinder, like a vertical mill) for half or a whole day

After that:

1. Couverture (real) chocolate is made by tempering the chocolate through the various crystallization stages with sugar & optionally milk power & lecithin
2. Compound (candy) chocolate is made with cocoa powder & vegetable oil and can simply be melted instead of tempered (great for candy bars etc.)

The scale is phenomenal... Hershey's sells 373 MILLION milk chocolate bars each year! They make 80 million Hershey's Kisses a DAY!

 

[KMFJD]

I make bean-to-bar chocolate at home; it boggles my mind how the process was ever invented lol. Starting with harvesting:

1. The nerf pods grow in specific areas of the world, most recently Hawaii
2. They are then typically fermented locally, which is a whole process
3. They are then solar or oven-dried, which also requires special care & procedures

Next:

1. The beans are roasted to sterilize them & add flavor
2. The bean is inside a husk, which has to be cracked to open, which shatters the beans into "nibs". A second roast can be done at this point, if desired
3. The nibs are then ground into paste. Once the paste is made, it's refined into liquidy state in a melanger (typically a stone wheel grinder, like a vertical mill) for half or a whole day

After that:

1. Couverture (real) chocolate is made by tempering the chocolate through the various crystallization stages with sugar & optionally milk power & lecithin
2. Compound (candy) chocolate is made with cocoa powder & vegetable oil and can simply be melted instead of tempered (great for candy bars etc.)

The scale is phenomenal... Hershey's sells 373 MILLION milk chocolate bars each year! They make 80 million Hershey's Kisses a DAY!

what's really amazing about that is how awful hershey's is compared to actual good chocolate and how they still manage to sell that much

 

[Kaido]

what's really amazing about that is how awful hershey's is compared to actual good chocolate and how they still manage to sell that much

I feel like Hershey's used to be good (like back in the 80's & 90's), but it just tastes like wax to me now. I'll still eat a Reese's cup or KitKat tho!!

I also think a lot of people simply haven't been exposed to better food. Like, Domino's pizza was gourmet dining to me growing up lol. I later ran a pizza shop, had a custom 1,000F outdoor pizza oven fabricated for home use (pre-Ooni days), and mill my own flour now! But that's a little on the extreme side haha.