TIL: Today I Learned

[Takhisis]

I've used toilet paper that was probably made from leftover sandpaper. Ah, the joys of being broke.

One of the joys of living in a city where all dwellings have to have a bidet, by law, is that you can go months without having to use paper to wipe your arse at all.

It's one of the relatively few positive points of this banana republic's strange approach to legislation.

 

[MaryKB]

One of the joys of living in a city where all dwellings have to have a bidet, by law, is that you can go months without having to use paper to wipe your arse at all.

It's one of the relatively few positive points of this banana republic's strange approach to legislation.

But you do know a woman can have a bidet and still need toilet tissue?

 

[Synobun]

I'm not sure @Takhisis knows what those are.

 

[Dachs]

wouldn't using a bidet without any attempt to wipe give you a case of swampass

 

[Takhisis]

But you do know a woman can have a bidet and still need toilet tissue?

I already know that girls don't poop ( ) so clearly there must be another cause for women having to use toilet paper.

I'm not sure @Takhisis knows what those are.

Oh, so it's the time of the month when you just have to criticise me out of the blue.

wouldn't using a bidet without any attempt to wipe give you a case of swampass

Nah, you just wipe yourself with your hands. And you use soap. And, of course, you wash your hands.

 

[Synobun]

Nah, you just wipe yourself with your hands. And you use soap. And, of course, you wash your hands.

I am never shaking your hand.

 

[Birdjaguar]

In India the right hand is for eating the left for wiping.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Today I learned about Ganbreeder, a site that lets you combine images into weird stuff.

I combined a cup of espresso and a dog:

Then I combined that with a geyser:

 

[Arakhor]

I like the dog espresso.

 

[Takhisis]

I am never shaking your hand.

Don't tempt fate.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I like the dog espresso.

Me too. The geyster dog thing looked pretty cool, though.

I ended up doing a bunch of combinations and here's one of a ladybug and a Pekingese:

I also learned that Ganbreeder works by using something called BigGAN. I'm not entirely sure I understand it but it uses machine learning to produce some pretty realistic images. Though it's not perfect and can produce some weird stuff that falls into the uncanny valley.

 

[Takhisis]

TIL people are already expecting to dig sand out of Greenland (for ek$port) if it continues to melt, because we apparently don't have enough empty housing built to make money out of thin air. There's even a study on it.

I already knew that sand is now valuable enough to make a black market viable, but… GREENLAND!

 

[The_J]

Apparently also Scotland https://www.csmonitor.com/1980/0904/090407.html and Australia https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/n...f32c0d8d8?sv=3ee8a84ca48c354474913771d8cca5fb are exporting sand to Saudi Arabia.
Crazy, isn't it?
Explanation for this is that it seems that the sand in Saudi Arabia is too fine to build anything with it, that you cannot make a building down their with their own sand, and need it from elsewhere.
The world is weird, and sand doesn't equal sand.

 

[Silurian]

The sand in Saudi also often contains chemicals that react with steel so not much good for reinforced concrete.

The UK also exports British Standard sand to Saudi for calibrating testing equipment.

 

[Lexicus]

The world is weird, and sand doesn't equal sand.

Kind of obvious when you think about it. Sand is pulverized rock, basically, so different kinds of rocks make different kinds of sand. I assume you've seen photos of black sand for example, from volcanic rocks.

That said, there's certainly irony and humor in a country known for its vast desert relying on imported sand.

 

[Takhisis]

You mean Australia? There was a mention somewhere among the things I read, that Greenland could export sand to Australia.

 

[Cutlass]

Kind of obvious when you think about it. Sand is pulverized rock, basically, so different kinds of rocks make different kinds of sand. I assume you've seen photos of black sand for example, from volcanic rocks.

That said, there's certainly irony and humor in a country known for its vast desert relying on imported sand.

That was done a couple years ago.

 

[Yeekim]

Related joke:
Q: What happens after Communism is eventually reached in Sahara?
A: At first, not much. But then a shortage of sand is likely to emerge...

 

[Takhisis]

I see somebody's either a fan of armeniapedia or an inhabitant of the former Soviet Empire.
‘Q: Could Socialism be instituted in Switzerland? Y: Yes, of course, but what have the Swiss done to you?’

 

[Birdjaguar]

Kind of obvious when you think about it. Sand is pulverized rock, basically, so different kinds of rocks make different kinds of sand. I assume you've seen photos of black sand for example, from volcanic rocks.

Black sand is typically from lava (as opposed to rock). Black sand beaches were a thing in Hawaii until the recent set of eruptions covered them with new lava. the coral sand beaches of the Bahamas is coral and very soft compared to typical quartz sand of the US. White Sands Natl Monument in NM is a huge area of gypsum sand washed there from the surrounding mountains.