TIL: Today I Learned

Status
Not open for further replies.
It probably was. But the customer, who was being an entitled jackass, still felt better for having someone fired.
 
An employee whose job was to be sacked
Posted on January 9, 2010 by henry tapper
According to no less an authority than Danny Baker, this story is absolutely true.

Harrods in the sixties employed someone to be sacked- surely the best job in the world.

Apparently the employee was paid to sit among the boxes on Harrods top-floor smoking his pipe and reading the Sporting Life. From time to time a bell would ring and he would be summoned to a department where an irate customer was being mollified by the Head of the Department.

Let us say today that Lady Ponsonby-Waffles has discovered one of the precious china teacups she recently purchased is chipped.

The Department Head greets our friend with “Lady Ponsonby-Waffles is a most valued customer, your failure to check the quality of her china cups has led to her current predicament, you sir are fired”

Despite Lady Ponsonby-Waffles pleas for mercy, the Head cannot be swayed. Our friend slopes disconsolately to the exit. Lady Ponsonby-Waffles drops her complaint convinced to the store’s determination to enforce the highest standards. Our friend, once passing the Department’s exit, slips back to his Sporting Life and his Pipe, to await the next occasion he would be called upon to be sacked.

We didn't have any particular person assigned, but when I was in the car business salesmen getting "fired" was a pretty regular event.
 
It probably was. But the customer, who was being an entitled jackass, still felt better for having someone fired.
I saw no indication in the story that the woman was being "an entitled jackass" or that she demanded the employee be fired. In fact, the story states that she asked for mercy for the employee.

If I bought a set of expensive dishes and found one chipped, I would definitely complain about it and want it replaced.
 
In 2016 the Black Rhino was declared extinct
TIL that the last male White Rhino died, 45 years old; only two females remaining of that species.
(in 2009 4 females were relocated from a Polish zoo to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenia, where there were at that moment 3 Rhino's left, in the hope for offspring)
And no real money available to give that species a last shot:
After all attempts at getting him to mate naturally failed, conservationists last year put Sudan on dating app Tinder, hoping to raise enough money to pay for a $9 million fertility treatment.
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/wor...o-dies-in-kenya-ol-pejeta-conservancy-1826142

In this sense we really are the killer ape

Schermopname (1412).png
 
Last edited:
In 2016 the Black Rhino was declared extinct
TIL that the last male White Rhino died, 45 years old; only two females remaining of that species.
(in 2009 4 females were relocated from a Polish zoo to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenia, where there were at that moment 3 Rhino's left, in the hope for offspring)
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/wor...o-dies-in-kenya-ol-pejeta-conservancy-1826142

In this sense we really are the killer ape

View attachment 491464
There were 8 subspecies of Black Rhinos, 5 are still kicking.
Similarly, Southern White Rhinos are still around... for now.

But I don't dispute your conclusion.

EDIT: On an unrelated note, Black and White Rhinos are all colored the exact same.
 
Should have added North White Rhino !
The black rhino was a real mistake
thanks for correcting :)
 
TIL:

While we don’t know as much about the pleasures of sex for insects, we know something about the negative aspects of rejection. Male fruit flies that are rejected by potential mates seem to form a “negative” memory of that rejection. These flies perform a complex courtship ritual to attract female mates. The males chase the female, lick the female’s genitalia (probably to make sure she is of the right species and to test whether she is a virgin), and they play a courtship song by vibrating their wings. If the female is not receptive to the advances of the male he will remember this rejection and he will then be inhibited from additional courtship attempts for several hours. This is probably an evolutionarily advantageous strategy as it prevents the male from wasting his time courting the same unreceptive female and to move on to find another. There is even one study that discovered that male fruit flies have a tendency to drink more alcohol when they are repeatedly rejected by females.
 
They definitely serve chicken, although (at least in USA #1) Popeyes, or any other number of local or regional chains, do it way better.

Yeah, I used to like Popeyes best but after the flap with a lot of chicken places using chickens grown using hormones, it seem that almost all the big chains chickens seems smaller now. My my, what a coincidence. One chain, (can't remember which) publicly came out and said they were stop using them, but I believe they all stoped but many never admitted that they were.
 
TIL: Apparently AR-15 style rifles have a "full semi-automatic" mode of fire:

Waaaait, semi-automatic reloads automatically but you have to squeeze the trigger again. Automatic keeps firing. What the hell is ‘full-semi-auto’ then?
 
I hate to break it to you, but...
a) if definite proof that a gradient in normative sexual behavior between you and the errant people who have opinions that are not yours is the actual cause of said opinions has not been found in the last 16 months it is likely that this is not going to happen.
b) public use of machismo heuristics like that may very well be one of the causes for countless people having dropped from the coalition.
Well, okay. But my joke was "lol those nerds don't process rejection in a healthy way, like these flies, and also they are very dumb and probably eat poop, like these flies". It wasn't a virgin/chad thing.
 
Today I learned that if you manage to convert an audio file into image (I imported a BMP as raw data into Audacity, and then managed to fudge the file header onto an audio before re-exporting) it looks a little like TV static.

Spoiler :
R2S48MJ.jpg
 
Last edited:
That's Jungle Boogie from Kool and the gang. I can see it from some of the pixels.
 
Nah, it's the opening bit from Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker's Refugee.
 
To be fair to Snerk, Jungle Boogie and Refugee sound almost exactly alike.

It's a wonder Kool and the Gang didn't sue Petty.
 
Waaaait, semi-automatic reloads automatically but you have to squeeze the trigger again. Automatic keeps firing. What the hell is ‘full-semi-auto’ then?

That's the joke. And that's why this retired 3-star general who should know better has been getting clowned by the entire firearms community since this aired.
 
It's funny but not the hilarious type of funny.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom