TIL: Today I Learned

[Takhisis]

Hey! Gypsies don't always sell stolen horses.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Um, Takh, you do realise that this is a slur, yeah?

 

[Snerk]

When will you cease your relentless Gypsie bashing, tak??

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Apparently, there's two different versions of It Came Upon The Midnight Clear.

The version I grew up with:

The other one:

I've never heard of the one you grew up with.

There are different versions of a lot of Christmas songs. The first one I knew of with two different versions was "Away in a Manger."

 

[Arakhor]

Presumably that's the great Atlantic divide once again, Valka. You should listen to the Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols more often. 3 pm every Christmas Eve on BBC Radio 3.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

"Castration-resistant prostate cancer" has got to be the worst phrase I've read today.

 

[Arakhor]

Thanks for that.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Presumably that's the great Atlantic divide once again, Valka. You should listen to the Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols more often. 3 pm every Christmas Eve on BBC Radio 3.

That first one is from King's College, right?

I remember back in the '80s, there was a series on PBS about the King's Singers - a group of six of them, in a six-episode series about madrigals. I wish they'd put that on DVD and make a version that works over here. I loved that series, and basically wore out the VHS tape I made of it.

I don't really do much about Christmas anymore. It's just the cats and me now, and other than indulging in a treat or two and a guilt-free order of books from Amazon, I tend to ignore it.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Presumably that's the great Atlantic divide once again, Valka. You should listen to the Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols more often. 3 pm every Christmas Eve on BBC Radio 3.

Fair bet it was distributed as a poem and afterwards different people set it to different music.

 

[Arakhor]

Valka, the video description says "Carols from Kings 2006", so yes. I don't really do Christmas either, but I do like the odd seasonal fixture now and then.

Tim, almost certainly. That is how William Blake's And Did Those Feet was turned into the endearingly popular Jerusalem. You can hear it every year during the Last Night of the Proms at the beginning of September.

 

[W|M]

"Castration-resistant prostate cancer" has got to be the worst phrase I've read today.

At least if you find it early you won't have to get castrated

 

[Takhisis]

Um, Takh, you do realise that this is a slur, yeah?

What, you wouldn't eat a horse?

When will you cease your relentless Gypsie bashing, tak??

When I gain self-respect?

 

[Snerk]

Big up yerself brah!

 

[Zkribbler]

TIL that a suspicious pile of ashes in the Haunted Mansion ride was reported to the people at Disney. Further investigation revealed they were from a human cremation.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

TIL that a suspicious pile of ashes in the Haunted Mansion ride was reported to the people at Disney. Further investigation revealed they were from a human cremation.

I want my ashes scattered on a ride at Disneyland. Who wouldn't?

 

[danjuno]

Preferably into the lap of an unsuspecting rider.

Edit: Today I learned that Mickey is an accessory to the genocide of his fellow rodents. In order to combat rat infestations, cats are allowed to roam Disneyland at night.

 

[Zkribbler]

The Northern Hemisphere will experience the spectacular Perseid meteor shower for the next three nights. 100 meteors/hour. For the best viewing get as far a way from lights as possible and then look straight up; it's the darkest part of the sky.

Edit: 11 hours later. I was just outside, looking up. I have a sky full of high clouds. The moon is visible but no stars.

 

[Samson]

TIL that the whole continent of africa spends only 1% of what the world spends on medicine.

 

[Zkribbler]

TIL that the greatest TV ever, The Torkelsons has been uploaded to YouTube.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

TIL that the HMS Invincible is more level-headed than the USS Vincennes.

On 23 April, while en route from Ascension Island to the Falklands, Invincible mistakenly locked her Sea Dart missile system on a VARIG Brazilian Airlines DC-10 rather than on the Argentine Air Force Boeing 707 that had been monitoring the fleet's movements.[8] The previous day, Task Group Commander Rear Admiral "Sandy" Woodward had sought permission from Commander-in-Chief Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse to shoot down the 707[9] as he believed its activity indicated a raid would be launched from the Argentine aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo. As the 707 would be no direct threat to the fleet, Woodward ordered Weapons Tight[9] and the continued tracking of the aircraft's course while a Sea Harrier was dispatched to investigate. The Harrier pilot reported that "it was a Brazilian airliner, with all the normal navigation and running lights on." Details of the Harrier interception appeared in the Brazilian press along with the claim that the DC-10's passengers were "alleged to have been frightened" and Woodward's comment that "nconvenience to passengers' underwear regretted unless any of them were Argentinian".