TIL: Today I Learned
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You remember Business Cat!
I haven't used that avatar since 2011, when I was on staff!
I bet nobody here remember which of the site Civ avatars I used until I had enough posts and time to have my own... or what some of my early choices were...
I used to change my avatar fairly regularly, whenever I saw a new one that I liked. I've only had one political avatar, and that was back in 2015. It was an orange "Keep Calm" poster I made on one of the generator sites, and it said "Keep Calm and Heave Steve" (Stephen Harper). I remember someone wrote on my wall that "it appears that Steve has been heaved" (as in the Liberals won).I've been here already years, I cannot imagine Valka using other avatar. The interesting things about it, the avatar become our internet face, that's the reason I skip syns post in the beginning thinking that it's not him, that's not until BJ post made me notice and re-read it. But I already get used seeing Takhisis keep changing his avatar every now and then, my brain directly register Takhisis new avatar whenever he changed it
There was a weird moment a few years ago when Neil Degrasse Tyson hosted his version of Cosmos. I had a Carl Sagan avatar (Sagan sitting in front of a radio telescope), and somebody asked me, "Is that a photo of you?"
The current one I have is because it's like a combination of Maddy and astronomy - a little black cat looking up at the stars.
H4run
Deity
I used to change my avatar fairly regularly, whenever I saw a new one that I liked. I've only had one political avatar, and that was back in 2015. It was an orange "Keep Calm" poster I made on one of the generator sites, and it said "Keep Calm and Heave Steve" (Stephen Harper). I remember someone wrote on my wall that "it appears that Steve has been heaved" (as in the Liberals won).
There was a weird moment a few years ago when Neil Degrasse Tyson hosted his version of Cosmos. I had a Carl Sagan avatar (Sagan sitting in front of a radio telescope), and somebody asked me, "Is that a photo of you?"
The current one I have is because it's like a combination of Maddy and astronomy - a little black cat looking up at the stars.
I remember the first time we talk it was when I was still in Turkey, you told me the importance of cat sterilization, it's a very very long time ago, at that time Neomega was still around, but still in the back of my mind at that time you used this cat avatar, it must longer than 2015 at that time.
Possibly. I've had this one for a long time, and only used the orange avatar during the 2.5 months of the federal election campaign.
All cooked in Takhisis' delıcatessen.I've been here already years, I cannot imagine Valka using other avatar. The interesting things about it, the avatar become our internet face, that's the reason I skip syns post in the beginning thinking that it's not him, that's not until BJ post made me notice and re-read it. But I already get used seeing Takhisis keep changing his avatar every now and then, my brain directly register Takhisis new avatar whenever he changed it
Are you sure there's no family resemblance?
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not really
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
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The other day I learned that Canadian band Finger Eleven used to be called "Rainbow Butt Monkeys." Yeah.
You remember Business Cat!
I haven't used that avatar since 2011, when I was on staff!
I certainly remember Business Cat too, but then people who don't frequently change their avatars are easier to remember.
Paul in Saudi
Emperor
Marcel Marceau, the French mime, fought in the Resistance during the war. His cell smuggled Jewish children to safety. When the Americans rolled through he worked with Patton's Third Army as a translator. His dad was murdered at Auschwitz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau#Personal_life
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau#Personal_life
Today I THINK I learned that "race card" means something completely different in the UK and the US. In the UK it is generally used to mean a "politician who uses appeal to racists to get votes", eg.
Whereas in the US it appears to be used to mean "the implicitly unjust use of the accusation of racism to invalidate arguments", eg.Grundiad said:
H4run
Deity
Then after all this time I just understand the US definition of it.
Farm Boy
run boy run
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Gets even more fun when you have the context and buy-in that "everybody's racist" in their own ways. Mix it in with some passive aggressive Midwestern and man, you might be able to give the English a run for their money on left handed compliments and the like! 
TIL that there are alloys of gold which look blue.
https://www.globalintergold.info/en/the-mystery-of-blue-gold-zo92/
https://www.globalintergold.info/en/the-mystery-of-blue-gold-zo92/
The modern jewelry industry uses gold alloys of different colors to create jewelry items in order to attract clients and enhance the effect of the product.
Pure gold, which has a yellowish-reddish hue, is not used in jewelry because of its low resistance against wear and tear and insufficient firmness. Classic gold alloys along with other metals, mostly silver and copper, are used to create precious jewelry.
What are intermetallic compounds?
Over the last decade, jewelry items made from non-traditional gold alloys have been gaining popularity. Alloys of the most unusual hues are called intermetallic compounds. These are chemical compounds of gold with "low density" metals - cobalt, aluminum, potassium, and "high density" — silver, tin, lead.
Intermetallic compounds are obtained by fusing a strictly fixed ratio of components determined by the chemical formula. These metals are characterized by having low plasticity and high fragility — they can crack or be fractured after the fall or become dented from a blow, so it limits their broader usage in the jewelry industry.
Intermetallic compounds include blue gold and its hues, ranging from light blue to saturated violet.
In the photo: a wedding ring made of blue gold with a pink sapphire.
Intermetallic purple is obtained by combining pure gold with aluminum or potassium.
Blue gold alloys
Blue gold is a gold alloy with indium — AuIn2, containing 46% of 11-carat gold and 54% . The blue intermetallic compound is very fragile.
The compound of gold and gallium — AuGa2 has a lighter bluish hue and contains 58% of 14K gold. This gold alloy is more solid than AuIn2.
The manuscripts of the medieval alchemists contain information that they were able to obtain a blue-colored gold in those early times. They achieved a blue hue effect by fusing together the two components in the following ratio: 18 parts of the precious metal and 6 parts of sponge iron. Attempts of modern jewelers to obtain blue gold, using the ancient alchemists’ recipe, have failed.
The secret of craftsman Antoniassi
At the beginning of the 20th century, the well-known Argentinean jeweler Antoniassi invented a method of producing a blue-colored gold. He added cobalt into the pure molten precious metal.
Competitors sought a way to find out the mystery of the alloy and demanded Antoniassi to reveal the composition of the metal as required by international rules. Publication of the technological process with a list of all required components and their exact quantities is necessary to confirm the fineness of metals from which the jewelry has been made. The fineness must comply with the current regulations.
The South American jeweler published the composition of his alloy, but other craftsmen could not get the blue-colored gold from the components listed in his list.
The real details of the chemical process were kept secret. The technology of making the blue-colored gold by the goldsmith Antoniassi still remains unsolved.
A black-blue gold
One of the ancient alloys of gold that is colored in black and blue is called Shakudo, a transliteration from Japanese – "shakudō." In its composition, pure gold constitutes only 5%. It was used in the Middle Ages in Japan to make samurai weapons — daggers and swords. Earlier, it was believed that gold "shakudo" had been the original invention of the Japanese. Later on, studies have showed that the composition of this alloy was known even to the ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek and Roman jewelers.
In the photo: an ancient Japanese bracelet made of gold "shakudo" and silver.
The usage of blue gold
The original color of the metal is intended to attract the attention of clients to the jewelry. Due to the poor malleability of the alloy, jewelry pieces made of blue gold are rare and therefore in high demand.
Due to its fragility, blue gold is used in jewelry and other precious accessories mainly as parts of the trim. This unique material is also used in the making of necklaces or bracelets from plates.
Manufacturers of expensive watches use blue gold to add opulence to their products. Owing to the bright intermetallic compound, the watches look spectacular and exquisite.
In the photo: the case of Swiss men's watches from Andersen "Kamar The Moon" is made of 18K white gold, the dial of a mechanism is made of blue 22K gold. The price of a precious accessory is $30,000.
Throughout the ages, people valued precious items and sought to accumulate the noble metal. As of today, investment gold bars serve as the most important tool for preserving and accumulating personal savings.
Berzerker
Deity
Never thought I'd have reason to feel bad for Brad Pitt, but he went on a 'date' with Christina Applegate of Married With Children fame to some Hollywood function and she dumped him and left with another guy.
Samez
Emperor
I am a bit confused regarding their use of karat while giving the composition of the intermetallic phases. Karat should be a fraction of 24 in weight. So e.g. 58% of 14k would be 58/100 of 14/24. Imho they should have used either or but not both.
Fun fact: the university of Dresden worked about a decade ago with gold as base material for metallic foams. Iirc their idea was to crush/mill the metal foam to get metallic nanoparticles.
TIL Lee Oswald got away from his shooting position because his boss stopped a cop from questioning him, then Lee went and killed another cop and he STILL got away with that, ducking into a movie theatre without a ticket and being singled out from a pedestrian outside.
H4run
Deity
Dang I just learn there is this huge simulation world called Second Life from LM. It seems like a combination of sword art online and the sims, I wonder why I never heard that before.
Never visited it myself, but I recall reading Estonia had a virtual embassy there
https://vm.ee/en/news/estonia-opens-embassy-virtual-world-second-life
I joined when it launched but nothing was actually going on for months. I guess my character is still there sad and lonely after many years of being abandoned.
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