TIL: Today I Learned

[Valka D'Ur]

Is there sand there?

If there are kids who play in sandboxes, then yes.

 

[Arakhor]

Is there sand there?

It used to be one of the Cinque Ports, but now it's two miles inland.

I are confused.

Kent is a county. In English, a county was the fief of an earl.
Sandwich is a town, not a county. So, why does it have an earl?

Titular titles (that is, in name only) have been used for centuries now. The royal Duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster are unusual in that regard.

 

[Traitorfish]

Kent is a county. In English, a county was the fief of an earl.
Sandwich is a town, not a county. So, why does it have an earl?

In addition to what Arakhor said, many English counties, particularly in the South, were essentially royal administrative divisions even before the Norman Conquest. Sometimes an earl might have particular administration or legal responsibilities in the county, but you only find the sort of wide-ranging "feudal" authority we associate with Continental nobility in a few border regions, initially in the North and West and later in Wales and Ireland. Earldoms were mostly associated with specific shires for tradition's sake, and because it suited Medieval kings to maintain a certain scarcity for the title.

 

[Takhisis]

TIL Santa Claus is 9th in the order of succession to the US presidency:

 

[Traitorfish]

So if the Secretary of the Interior suddenly keels over, we know who to suspect.

 

[Ryika]

So there's a children's book about Santa and his black husband and apparently, people are outraged over it.

 

[shadowplay]

So there's a children's book about Santa and his black husband and apparently, people are outraged over it.

Gotta do something to keep warm.

 

[Takhisis]

Gotta do something to keep warm.

Ain't them a buncha wankers?

 

[Gori the Grey]

TIL Santa Claus is 9th in the order of succession to the US presidency:

I guess I'm rootin' eight deaths, then.

Also, "Designated Survivor," I'm guessing, safely ensconced up there in the North Pole.

 

[Takhisis]

Yes, but can you become President of the U.S. of A. with outstanding arrest warrants?

 

[Birdjaguar]

TIL that the USPS will send you a scan of the letter mail they are going to deliver to you that day. The scan shows you a picture of the envelope so you can see address label and return address. Informed Delivery is a free service you can get here: https://informeddelivery.usps.com/box/pages/intro/start.action

 

[Hrothbern]

Today I learned that when I have a nice evening downtown Amsterdam, I should not piss in the canals because of "micturition syncope".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micturition_syncope

It turns out that quite some people, half drunk, fall into the water, while or directly after pissing.
According to investigation 60% of the casualties fainted and did fell into the canal from the acute effect of lowered bloodpressure from the urinating (stacked upon the lower blood pressure and lessened control from the alcohol).

 

[Kyriakos]

^The Netherlands is messed up.

Was there an amphibian Swarte-Piet waiting in the river to take them away and drown them?

 

[Takhisis]

TL; DR you fell into a canal while pissing?

 

[Hrothbern]

Last time narrow escape was from a small sailing boat, after too much Beerenburg.....

 

[GoodSarmatian]

TIL that fainting while passing water is one of the many "perks" I can look forward to as I grow older...

Is that particularly common in the Netherlands ? Why ? Is it low blood sugar because they eat nothing but cheese ? Or is it all the fun substances that are legal here ?
Or is it just as common everywhere in the world and we just don't notice because there are no canals to fall into ?

 

[Kyriakos]

Usually only creeps or vagabonds would do that...

 

[Hrothbern]

TIL that fainting while passing water is one of the many "perks" I can look forward to as I grow older...

Is that particularly common in the Netherlands ? Why ? Is it low blood sugar because they eat nothing but cheese ? Or is it all the fun substances that are legal here ?
Or is it just as common everywhere in the world and we just don't notice because there are no canals to fall into ?

It is a basic human property that your bloodpressure dips strongly at the moment of urinating or direct after also vomitting and strongly coughing.
When you have a lot of alcohol in your blood your arteries widen, so you have already a lower blood pressure.

The only thing specific with the canals in Amsterdam, is that there are a lot of them, so you really cannot miss them.... and once you are in the water, the sidewalls are too high for easy climbing out.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Usually only creeps or vagabonds would do that...

Do what ? Piss into canals ? The only reason I don't do that is that there are no canals here and I have to make due with trees, bushes or the Rhine on a night of drunken debauchery.

 

[Kyriakos]

Do what ? Piss into canals ? The only raeson I don't do it is that there are no canals here and I have to make due with trees, bushes or the Rhine on a night of drunken debauchery.

Kafka has your answer, then:

Es gibt eine ausgezeichnete deutsche Redensart: sich in die Büsche schlagen; das habe ich getan, ich habe mich in die Büsche geschlagen. Ich hatte keinen anderen Weg, immer vorausgesetzt, daß nicht die Freiheit zu wählen war.

(translation for those not speaking bar can be found at https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...th-some-words-for-a-translation.612228/page-2)