Recent comments in /f/todayilearned
Rising65 t1_jeg0izb wrote
Reply to comment by colonelsmoothie in TIL that New Orleans chicory coffee mix started during the American Civil War when Union naval blockades cut off the port of New Orleans bringing coffee shipments to a halt. New Orleanians looking for their coffee fix began mixing chicory with coffee to stretch out the supply. by GeoJono
Sweetened condensed milk or regular?
proggR t1_jeg0hus wrote
Reply to comment by _Dnikeb in TIL: honeycombs start out circular, and the surface tension of the beeswax pulls them into hexagons as it solidifies, because it is the most energetically favorable conformation. by craigdahlke
Another fun experiment that will take some wonder out of the "but how did so many civs arrive at a pyramid?!"
Take a square box and put it in a sandbox, and then overload with sand it until the scoops just run down the side and no longer "stack"... voila... you've just made a pyramid! lol
fizzlefist t1_jeg0feb wrote
Reply to comment by ferriswheel9ndam9 in TIL: honeycombs start out circular, and the surface tension of the beeswax pulls them into hexagons as it solidifies, because it is the most energetically favorable conformation. by craigdahlke
However, Nonagon Infinity Opens the Door
res30stupid t1_jeg06xx wrote
Reply to comment by jacobspartan1992 in TIL that New Orleans chicory coffee mix started during the American Civil War when Union naval blockades cut off the port of New Orleans bringing coffee shipments to a halt. New Orleanians looking for their coffee fix began mixing chicory with coffee to stretch out the supply. by GeoJono
Right.
The Italians couldn't get their hands on enough chocolate during World War II so they bulked it out with hazelnuts. A couple changes to the recipe two decades later and we have Nutella.
proggR t1_jeg025w wrote
Reply to comment by sooprvylyn in TIL: honeycombs start out circular, and the surface tension of the beeswax pulls them into hexagons as it solidifies, because it is the most energetically favorable conformation. by craigdahlke
What, you don't like honeycombed shaped styrofoam? Impossible! What's not to love!...
dougglatt69 t1_jefzzr2 wrote
Reply to comment by pongnguy in TIL: honeycombs start out circular, and the surface tension of the beeswax pulls them into hexagons as it solidifies, because it is the most energetically favorable conformation. by craigdahlke
Actually you've got it backwards. Surface tension is going to pull an isolated cell into a circle as it minimizes length. Of the cell walls. When the circular cells are adjacent. The hexagon shape minimizes the length of the cell walls for adjacent cells
Solidsnakeerection t1_jefzvfn wrote
Reply to comment by r1ch999999 in TIL that New Orleans chicory coffee mix started during the American Civil War when Union naval blockades cut off the port of New Orleans bringing coffee shipments to a halt. New Orleanians looking for their coffee fix began mixing chicory with coffee to stretch out the supply. by GeoJono
Ill stick to mixing my coffee with poop
BVas89 t1_jefzrm2 wrote
Reply to TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes. by Imbiberr
This puts a new spin on A Modest Proposal, doesn’t it?
MuForceShoelace t1_jefzl0g wrote
Reply to comment by wwarnout in TIL Arabic numbers have only existed in their present form since about the 10th century. Only a few texts using Arabic numerals appeared outside of Italy until the late 15th century. It wasn't until the mid-16th century that Arabic numbers were in common use in most of Europe by joecooool418
that isn't even remotely true
stevedorries t1_jefzh9q wrote
Reply to TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes. by Imbiberr
So you’re saying a baby is a slightly dried out potato, or a very moist banana?
sooprvylyn t1_jefzh4i wrote
Reply to comment by SmokeyBare in TIL: honeycombs start out circular, and the surface tension of the beeswax pulls them into hexagons as it solidifies, because it is the most energetically favorable conformation. by craigdahlke
Well, adults can get any cereal they want, and while honeycomb is kinda nice, is it really the one you choose when you get to have anything you want?
Its the "kids consolation prize cereal" when your nutritionally responsible mom wont get the terrible-for-you sugary one you really wanted.
spastical-mackerel t1_jefzgpk wrote
Reply to TIL that New Orleans chicory coffee mix started during the American Civil War when Union naval blockades cut off the port of New Orleans bringing coffee shipments to a halt. New Orleanians looking for their coffee fix began mixing chicory with coffee to stretch out the supply. by GeoJono
“The past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past” - Faulkner
md4024 t1_jefzdi4 wrote
Reply to TIL: “EGOT” is an acronym that was coined by actor Philip Michael Thomas. It gained wider recognition after being introduced on the comedy series “30 Rock” by lily_noodlez
That's a good goal for a talented crazy person.
CallitCalli t1_jefz7do wrote
Reply to TIL that on top of the 3 matters of state that we’re all familiar with (solid, liquid, gas), there are at least 24 more, though most only exist under extreme conditions by gianthooverpig
The Sun is a miasma of incandescent plasma....
Double_Distribution8 t1_jefz6ar wrote
Reply to TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes. by Imbiberr
One of the first things they taught us in Webelos is that if you're lost in the desert and you run out of water, babies have more liquid in them than snakes or prickly pear cacti.
dandroid126 t1_jefz1u4 wrote
Reply to comment by Ragnarotico in TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes. by Imbiberr
How does that compare to fruits and vegetables, though?
saliczar t1_jefyy1y wrote
Reply to comment by adamcoe in TIL over the course of his 23 published adventures, Herge's Tintin was knocked unconscious 43 times. Between 1929 and 1973, he was hit with a rake, a brick, a whisky bottle, an oar, a giant apple, a camel femur, a block of ice, and countless punches and clubs. by morerubberstamps
Meh, I don't want to live forever.
EndoExo t1_jefyxhm wrote
Reply to comment by kuahara in TIL: About Earth trojans. Two asteroids that share our orbit, leading us around the sun. by RevolutionaryAd94
If they're in our orbit and orbiting the sun at the same rate, there's no chance of them hitting us. We keep the same distance apart at all times. It's asteroids crossing our orbit that have a chance to hit us.
But it's not actually in the exact same orbit. It moves around a Lagrange point where the Earth-Sun gravity interaction creates a stable zone to hang out with us while we move around the Sun.
Ducksaucenem t1_jefywrh wrote
Reply to comment by zx109 in TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes. by Imbiberr
I live here because that’s where all my stuff is.
Keyspam102 t1_jefyjeb wrote
Reply to comment by 80088008135 in TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes. by Imbiberr
It’s a bit like the ‘what size is your baby’ at every week you are pregnant, I think I had an entire cornucopia inside me, a small bean to a medium eggplant to a cabbage…
barriekansai t1_jefygbx wrote
Reply to TIL Hou Jing, a general during the China's North-South period, seized control of the government of the Liang dynasty by rebelling. After that, in an act of vanity, he gave himself the title of "General of the Universe, Past, Present, and Future, Commander of all Forces in the Six Directions". by zhuquanzhong
The original Galactic President Superstar McAwesomeville.
srv50 t1_jefyfxm wrote
th3h4ck3r t1_jefy7f2 wrote
Reply to TIL In the West the largest meal of the day has historically been eaten at midday. It was not until Napoleon's empire there was the "abominable habit of dining as late as seven in the evening" as British travelers reported. The British adopted later dinners by 1850 from changes in work schedules. by jamescookenotthatone
Here in Spain, the largest meal by far is still lunch. Breakfast is a coffee and a couple of biscuits, and dinner/supper is very light (sandwich, omelet, etc.)
pongnguy t1_jefy678 wrote
Reply to comment by _Dnikeb in TIL: honeycombs start out circular, and the surface tension of the beeswax pulls them into hexagons as it solidifies, because it is the most energetically favorable conformation. by craigdahlke
Good observation! So it's not surface tension as claimed in the article. If it was only surface tension, I think isolated circular tubes would solidify into a hexagon as well.
I notice a lot of research papers exagerate their findings, and in some cases are just plain wrong, some fraudulently so (see Alzheimer's research scandal).
Gelmy t1_jeg0s3u wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL A newborn baby is 75% water at birth. A slightly higher water content than bananas, but slightly less than potatoes. by Imbiberr
I just had a stroke reading that.