dishonourableaccount
dishonourableaccount t1_ja2bynt wrote
Reply to comment by TimTimmington in TIL of the 1955 Le Mans disaster. French driver Pierre Levegh crashed into a crowd of spectators. The crash, explosion and subsequent fire killed 84 and injured more than 120. It is still the deadliest car race crash ever. by triviafrenzy
Yeah there wasn’t a single viewing area- besides the grandstand where the disaster took place spectators lined up all along the course. The course included some local roads that were blocked off for the race.
Organizers reasoned that if the race was called off, everyone would leave at once, and no one would be able to use the roads to get medical care in and out.
dishonourableaccount t1_j6jn4gf wrote
Reply to comment by rxFMS in TIL: Between 800 and 1349 AD, the Colosseum was converted into a residential apartment building by Serath4
> jan 1st each year is an uncounted bonus day
This is the problem. There will be drift across years.
Ignore months for a bit. The length of a day is not a perfect multiple of a year.. of course, they're independent phenomena. The fact that a year is approximately 365.24 days means we can roughly correlate them with 3 365 day years and 1 366 day year, with the next exception happening in 2100.
But, even ignoring religious significance, so much regarding employment, planning, and pop culture relies on every 7th day resetting the cycle. There's no reason to construct a "new" calendar that messes up that pattern. If there was to be an alternate calendar, it should just tick upwards independently of the concept of weeks or months. Something like today is "Day 8431" of the 3rd millenium. And use kilodays, hectodays, and decadays. Weird, but so is every other alternate calendar concept. At least this one would make time keeping off-Earth simple.
dishonourableaccount t1_j6jhrfe wrote
Reply to comment by rxFMS in TIL: Between 800 and 1349 AD, the Colosseum was converted into a residential apartment building by Serath4
I really dislike that idea because it ignores the point of weekdays. The goal is 7 days that are on loop, forever. You can go back 7n days for any integer and know that that day was a Monday, just like today is. Really any modified calendar should be independent of the concept of weekdays, and adding an arbitrary non Mon-Sun day defeats the purpose.
dishonourableaccount t1_j6iow44 wrote
Reply to comment by Buck_Thorn in TIL Margarine was originally named oleomargarine from Latin for oleum (olive oil) and Greek margarite ("pearl", indicating luster). by joshemerson
The white color makes sense if it was named after being pearl-like.
dishonourableaccount t1_j6inc8w wrote
Reply to comment by 1895red in TIL: Between 800 and 1349 AD, the Colosseum was converted into a residential apartment building by Serath4
If people actually gave a fuck, they'd come up with some new calendar like the French Republican Calendar or in the Year of Our Ford. Instead people lazily renamed it in fear of people getting triggered.
Also, isn't it even more religious to imply the "Common Era" started with the start of the Christian calendar. Didn't think of that, huh?
dishonourableaccount t1_j6g42jj wrote
Reply to comment by rokman in TIL that St. John's University's sports teams formerly being called the Redmen actually referred to the team wearing red uniforms and not Native Americans as often interpreted. Regardless, the mascot name was changed to the Red Storm in the 90s. by J_S_M_K
If you’re talking about the Redskins it’s funny. You go into SE or Trinidad and you’ll still see people wearing Skins hats and gear. The people who cared about the team name was people not from the area or white people that moved in and gentrified enough of the city. Most local fans didn’t care.
dishonourableaccount t1_j6g3jgo wrote
Reply to TIL redwood trees -- growing to heights of 350 feet or more (over 100 meters) -- have roots that go only about ten feet into the ground. by OccludedFug
Trees grow tall evolutionarily to outcompete neighbors for access to sunlight. It takes more energy to grow tall and distribute resources up a tree via passive means, than it would if a tree would grow laterally.
Roots on the other hand typically want to be close enough to the surface to get water and nutrients in soft soil rather than less rich soil and harder rock below.
This is all very surface level but that’s the gist of it.
dishonourableaccount t1_j1t4tue wrote
Reply to TIL in the movie Kate and Leopold (spoiler alert!) References to Kate being Stuart's great great grandmother had to be removed because critics were horrified by their incestuous relationship by mankls3
Funnily enough Stuart was portrayed by Liev Schreiber and Leopold by Hugh Jackman. The two would later portray the siblings Sabertooth and Wolverine.
dishonourableaccount t1_j1rg86i wrote
Reply to comment by Rudy_Colludiani in TIL the FDA’s Food Defect Action Levels Handbook details the acceptable levels of contaminants of food from sources such as maggots, thrips, insect fragments, “foreign matter”, mold, rodent hairs, and insect and mammalian feces. by anogre8me
Try a tissue next time
dishonourableaccount t1_iz32w7m wrote
Reply to TIL "The Twelve Days of Christmas" STARTS on Christmas Day, and ends of January 5th (Three Kings Day). by HauntedHippie
This is my gripe with the current commercialized Christmas season. Not for religious reasons or anything, but I never felt Christmassy until I was actually on vacation from school or off work, usually a couple days before Christmas. That's when I'd want to spend time with family, listen to music, and all that.
But nope, at December 26 at midnight all the radio stations that have been blaring holiday music since mid November go back to pop music. And the commercial calendar pushes New Year's Eve on us immediately.
I would love to see that shift back to celebrating a big holiday break.
dishonourableaccount t1_iyd0icb wrote
Reply to comment by DavoTB in TIL that in 1979, a charity special episode of the academic student quiz show "It's Academic" was held between a team of three Democratic U.S. Senators, three Republican U.S. Senators, and three members of the press. The special was handily won by the press team. by FranklinDRoosevelt32
Yes, Montgomery County which is right north of DC in Maryland. I guess I assumed it was a show that would happen in a lot of major metro areas, but maybe it was just a DC thing!
dishonourableaccount t1_iybn93a wrote
Reply to comment by DavoTB in TIL that in 1979, a charity special episode of the academic student quiz show "It's Academic" was held between a team of three Democratic U.S. Senators, three Republican U.S. Senators, and three members of the press. The special was handily won by the press team. by FranklinDRoosevelt32
I was on a couple episodes of It’s Academic with a team against other high schools in my county. It was so cool as a 16 year old seeing what a tv studio looked like, even if it was just for local tv.
dishonourableaccount t1_ixw67db wrote
Reply to comment by good_fox_bad_wolf in It’s always nice to see Baltimore recognized on the world stage - Go USA ⚽️ by chrisbeall
I grew up in Silver Spring, it’s not a thing there. Interesting how different MD culture is just 2 counties away.
dishonourableaccount t1_ixvr2hs wrote
I’m still miffed that 2026 World Cup games won’t be played in Baltimore anymore, solely because I want to see how commentators explain us shouting “O” during the anthem.
dishonourableaccount t1_ix0zw3l wrote
Reply to TIL of John R. Baylor the self-proclaimed 'governor' of Arizona who was a Confederate Colonel whose self-appointment was later approved by Jefferson Davis. Baylor gave orders to exterminate the indigenous Apache and when Davis got wind of it he rescinded the orders as well as Baylor's governorship. by ChronosBlitz
You know you're unpleasant when Jefferson Davis off all folks is like "Whoa, slow down buddy, you're fired."
dishonourableaccount t1_iwy1emi wrote
Reply to comment by MrCowBells in TIL in response to infamously high suicide rates at Mapo Bridge in Seoul, South Korea, the bridge was adorned with suicide prevention messages and uplifting photos. These measures weren't enacted by the government, however, instead the entire project was financed by Samsung's life insurance division by evilclownattack
Imagine a European noble family saw the winds of change coming, and prior to getting merged into a larger empire or ousted in a revolution, decided to just get into business. Or imagine the Rockefellers, Fords, and Waltons on steroids (and lasting centuries instead of fizzling into nothing in 3 generations or so).
dishonourableaccount t1_iwvi6k6 wrote
Reply to comment by Auricfire in TIL that a non-custodial parent kidnapped his two sons from Italy and choose to escape Europe on the Titanic. When the ship sank, the young boys were saved but the father drowned. The now famous boys appeared in Newspapers in Italy and their mothers saw them and reunited. by triviafrenzy
Yep my dad and uncles (from Haiti in the 1960s) have photos of them wearing what are basically dresses.
dishonourableaccount t1_ivuwfbn wrote
Reply to comment by Real-Werner-Herzog in TIL in 1996, surveyor Mike Tate got a side street in NC renamed for the band Anthrax. After the 2001 Anthrax attacks, town residents were suddenly uncomfortable with the name and petitioned to have it changed. by aaj617
Asbestos mining town. Even though we've known asbestos mining could harm miners longterm since the Romans, it really is a wonder material that was appreciated until a few decades ago. I mean, it's a freaking rock/mineral that can be woven into fiber. Medieval kings would make asbestos cloth that could be cleaned by tossing it in a fire.
dishonourableaccount t1_is6eoel wrote
Reply to comment by mseg09 in TIL on March 15, 2011, 51-year-old William Melchert-Dinkel went online under screen names like "Cami" and "Falcongirl" encouraging people to commit suicide. Those who were interested he would instruct them step by step. He admitted to assisting in the deaths of 5 people but was only convicted for 2. by deeper_with_time
There are plenty of people that stick with (or seek out) people that are murderers, people that admit to abuse, and worse.
Gross as it is to say, encouraging people to suicide is less creepy to me than that.
dishonourableaccount t1_iqp5dhu wrote
Reply to comment by Alphal66 in TIL that Santorio Santorio, an Italian Professor, Physician, qnd Physiologist weighed everything he consumed and excreted over a period of 30yrs in the study of Insensible Perspiration or what we know today as metabolism. by mfairview
114 would be for sure, but it's a misconception that people died much earlier in pre-modern times. Assuming you made it past the much higher chance of infant mortality and childhood diseases, odds are you could make it to 70 years old just like nowadays.
dishonourableaccount t1_iqnfp4z wrote
Reply to comment by Devadander in TIL that Santorio Santorio, an Italian Professor, Physician, qnd Physiologist weighed everything he consumed and excreted over a period of 30yrs in the study of Insensible Perspiration or what we know today as metabolism. by mfairview
You made a typo, the wikipedia entry says 29 March, 1561 – 25 February, 1636.
That’s 74 years, not 114.
dishonourableaccount t1_ja38z4s wrote
Reply to comment by Menolith in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged
Voulomé