Today I Learned #2: Gone for a Wiki Walk

[EnglishEdward]

Way things are going that could happen here too under the next Oliver Cromwell.

 

[AmazonQueen]

According to a report for Sainsburys almost a third of 25-34 years olds would buy orange wine because it would look good on their Instagram feeds.
I suspect this says more about Sainsbury customers than the average 25-34 year old.

 

[Cutlass]

Turns out it took exactly $25.00 to fill my car after driving up to Maine, and exactly $25.00 to fill it again once home.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Today I learned about bath bombs. They don't actually explode.

 

[tjs282]

Today I learned about bath bombs. They don't actually explode.

Are you disappointed?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

...yeah a bit.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Today I learned that the phrase is "batten down the hatches," not "batter down." Though actually I think battering down would be the opposite thing of what you want to do before a storm.

 

[Birdjaguar]

That sounds a little bit like restless leg syndrome, which I get late at night sometimes, when I get pins and needles and a crawling sensation in my legs when I'm lying down.

Try eating more bananas or dried apricots.

 

[Hrothbern]

Today I learned that the phrase is "batten down the hatches," not "batter down." Though actually I think battering down would be the opposite thing of what you want to do before a storm.

Is coming from ships.
If you have holes in your hull (like for canons or entries) you want to make sure that your doors (hatches) are really securely closed and tightened to prevent sinking. Nails very good.
The force of big breaking waves on ships is beyond normal.
Batten is a plank for special purposes. Now the word is mostly used for planks in sails to get a better aerodynamic profile.

 

[Berzerker]

330 elephants died in Botswana (?), the culprit was a cyanobacteria bloom

 

[Takhisis]

Today I learned that the phrase is "batten down the hatches," not "batter down." Though actually I think battering down would be the opposite thing of what you want to do before a storm.

Yeah, the storm is what will batter the hatches.

 

[Phrossack]

Today I learned that the phrase is "batten down the hatches," not "batter down." Though actually I think battering down would be the opposite thing of what you want to do before a storm.

There are tons of misunderstood sayings. For example, it's "toe the line" rather than "tow the line," "free rein" instead of "free reign," and "hold the fort" rather than "hold down the fort." The first has to do with lining toes up in military formation. The second is about releasing the reins to let a horse go where it likes while riding. The last has to do with defending a fort - holding it - but a lot of people seem to think forts are balloons that will float away if not held down.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

but a lot of people seem to think forts are balloons that will float away if not held down.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OminousFloatingCastle

 

[Valka D'Ur]

When I was outside earlier today I could smell/taste some smoke in the air and it was slightly hazy. I thought it was just someone in the area running a wood stove.

TIL that it might actually be the smoke from all the wildfires on the west coast.

A few years ago I was having a rather intense argument with someone on YT. She said all kinds of ridiculous things, I got angry, she got angry, a bystander took her side, another bystander took my side...

And then she posted that she read about the wildfire in Fort McMurray, and wanted to know if I was okay. So I told her that while the smoke was awful here, I was in no danger from the fire, being several hundred miles south of it, and thank you for asking. She lives in New Orleans. Turns out we could have a great conversation about vacation spots (though I was taken aback when she gushed about how wonderful it was that Chinese restaurants in Toronto were so authentic and had REAL CHINESE PEOPLE working there, it added such a nice authentic atmosphere to the place, they really went all out for the tourists...

Whereupon (after nearly falling off my chair in crogglement - that's a word, because I say it's a word), I informed her that it's actually unusual in Canada for Chinese restaurants not to be owned and staffed (at least in part) by Chinese people. I can't think of any I've been to or ordered from that weren't.

 

[MaryKB]

I don't know what New Orleans is like, but every real Chinese restaurant (that's not a Taco Bell-esque fake chain) I've ever been to has been Chinese owned and staffed.

 

[Cutlass]

I don't know what New Orleans is like, but every real Chinese restaurant (that's not a Taco Bell-esque fake chain) I've ever been to has been Chinese owned and staffed.

While generally they are, they still tend to "Americanize" the food somewhat.

 

[Zkribbler]

One of my interns when I was working at the court was a daughter of a couple who owned a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. We had loved it from the first day we'd found it, but she refused to go to lunch with us there because she ate there everyday of her life.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I don't know what New Orleans is like, ....

Hot and steamy year round except in summer when it is hotter and steamier.

 

[Arakhor]

Try eating more bananas or dried apricots.

Why apricots?

 

[Sarin]

Why apricots?

Potassium. I don't know why dried apricots are considered excellent source of it while fresh aren't. Maybe the drying process alters the potassium compounds into digestible forms. In any case, don't neglect it.