Today I Learned #4: Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

[Gori the Grey]

I think someone may be blowing smoke up your a** with that one.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I think someone may be blowing smoke up your a** with that one.

Discussions of writing can lead to unusual avenues of research. There's a thread in the now-closed NaNoWriMo forum that asks people to discuss the weirdest thing they ever researched for a story, or if not the weirdest thing they intended to research, at least the weirdest information they found.

I actually ended up writing to Dr. Kat, who has a history channel on YT, for suggestions about where I could find information on men's underclothing in the 11th century (yes, there's a reason I needed to know this). I was upfront about telling her I was writing fanfic based on a historical fantasy computer game, but wanted to keep it as historically accurate as I could reasonably manage. She was very cordial about it, didn't think it was a silly question at all, and gave me a couple of helpful suggestions.

This is often how research goes for historical fiction:

 

[Arakhor]

And that comic page is why I never get around to writing anything vaguely historical!

 

[Valka D'Ur]

And that comic page is why I never get around to writing anything vaguely historical!

You're too easily distracted?

I was looking for names to go with the Royal Lineage puzzle in the King's Heir game - 6 generations of kings and queens needed names.

At some point I got sidetracked with a mention of the kingdom of Mercia, clicked the link, and spent the next several hours reading about the history of Mercia. It took another couple of days to figure out the names, and there's one of them that I haven't decided which foreign kingdom he's from (he's Prince-Consort to the one Queen-Regnant in the lineage).


And what I thought would be a casual watch of an episode of Modern History TV on YT turned out to be one in which the host had a guest on to help him explain crossbows. That intrigued me since I had a couple of crossbow scenes in my story. Turns out that one of them was completely inaccurate so I have to rewrite it. But that time - and the two other YT videos on crossbows I watched that night weren't time wasted. It gives me other options for my characters.


Some of the YT history videos are educational in an entertaining way. Shadiversity once did an experiment to see just how many gold coins an adventurer really could carry while wearing armor, carrying weapons, and walking miles through a dungeon and having to fight. In my experience all too many DMs ignore the encumbrance rules, which can result in some rather ridiculous situations.

And then there's the Shadiversity video in which he tested out multiple varieties of frying pans to see which, if any, would actually be a viable weapon (anyone who's seen the Xena: Warrior Princess episode in which Xena whacks the bad guys around with Gabrielle's frying pan could relate, or in Dragons of Autumn Twilight when Tika's weapon of choice is a frying pan).

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

It still doesn't seem right...

 

[Kyriakos]

It still doesn't seem right...

View attachment 691845

Well, it is a nice comment, but not an "explanation" (it's a reference to an effect) The reason you can get 9,99,999 etc in the demominator, is because (so as to get rid of the repeating decimals) you have to multiply the original number with a power of 10 and then subtract from that a multiplication with a smaller power of 10.
For example, 0.252525... is set as x, and multiplied by 100 so that you get 25,252525..., and from that you subtract x: 100x-x=25,25etc-0.25etc=>99x=25=>x=25/99.
For 0.999etc, this is written likewise as 10x (no need for 100, since there is only one repeating digit) - x= 9,99etc-0.99etc=> 9x=9=>x=1

Should be noted that you don't have to get all 9s in the denominator. For example 0.99 etc can be written as 100x-10x=99,99etc-9,99etc=>90x=90=>x=90/90=1.

It's why numbers with never-ending decimals that have periodicity, are rational.

Lastly, the numerator won't typically allow for so simple a subtraction, since chances are (if taken at random) that the repeating decimals begin deeper in the line. For example, if you have the number 12,403333etc, this will need to reach at least 1240 in both cases, so one way is to multiply it first by 1000 to get 12403,33etc, then by 100 to get 1240,33etc=> 1000x-100x=11163=>x=11163/900.
You can, of course, use the same method to turn also numbers with many (but not infinitely many) decimals to a fraction; eg 12,403333: 1000x-100x=12403,333-1240,3333=>900x=11162,9997=>x=11162,9997/900=111629997/9000000.

 

[EgonSpengler]

TIL there were many thousands of Canadians who enlisted in the Union Army during the US Civil War of 1861-65. Calixa Lavallée, who wrote Canada's national anthem, was among them. Edward Doherty, who led the group of soldiers who tracked down John Wilkes Booth after Booth killed Abraham Lincoln, was another. Wikipedia says "at least" 29 Canadians were awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor. Where the English were split over whether to support the Confederacy against the United States, Canadians were overwhelming opposed to slavery (Canada had been one destination of people following the Underground Railroad).

Watching the US Civil War from inches away may have also influenced the politics and character of Canada and Canadians.

the [U.S. Civil War] also had an important effect on discussions concerning the nature of the emerging federation [of Canada]. Many Fathers of [Canadian] Confederation concluded that the [U.S.] secessionist war was caused by too much power being given to the states, and thus resolved to create a more centralized federation.[23] It was also believed that too much democracy was a contributing factor and the Canadian system was thus equipped with checks and balances such as the appointed Senate and powers of the British appointed Governor General. The guiding principles of the legislation which created Canada – the British North America Act – were peace, order, and good government. This was a collectivist antithesis to American individualism that became central to Canadian identity.[24]

From Constitutional Politics in Canada After the Charter: Liberalism, Communitarianism, and Systemism (2010) by Patrick James:

Confederation was also an attempt to repel an invasion of ideas - in particular, uninhibited popular sovereignty. The phrase "peace, order, and good government of Canada" from Section 91 of the Constitution Act, 1867, sums up that mindset quite effectively. A definition of self in opposition to American values, along with a Tory-influenced collectivism, came into being. As Charlotte Gray observes, 'individualism has never been celebrated in Canada' and accolades are reserved for 'collective virtues' such as peacekeeping, compassion for disaster victims, and the like.

I suppose it must have appeared in 1862 as if the "American experiment" hadn't even lasted 100 years before it went up in flames, and the American system may have appeared to be a cautionary tale rather than any sort of guide for post-Colonial nations. We may be back there again, 150 years later. I think I remember hearing recently that a number of Central and South American nations tried systems of government modeled on ours, and that basically all of them combusted. If Canada saw the US Civil War as reason to do it a little differently, that may have served them well.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

TIL there were many thousands of Canadians who enlisted in the Union Army during the US Civil War of 1861-65. Calixa Lavallée, who wrote Canada's national anthem, was among them. Edward Doherty, who led the group of soldiers who tracked down John Wilkes Booth after Booth killed Abraham Lincoln, was another. Wikipedia says "at least" 29 Canadians were awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor. Where the English were split over whether to support the Confederacy against the United States, Canadians were overwhelming opposed to slavery (Canada had been one destination of people following the Underground Railroad).

Watching the US Civil War from inches away may have also influenced the politics and character of Canada and Canadians.


From Constitutional Politics in Canada After the Charter: Liberalism, Communitarianism, and Systemism (2010) by Patrick James:


I suppose it must have appeared in 1862 as if the "American experiment" hadn't even lasted 100 years before it went up in flames, and the American system may have appeared to be a cautionary tale rather than any sort of guide for post-Colonial nations. We may be back there again, 150 years later. I think I remember hearing recently that a number of Central and South American nations tried systems of government modeled on ours, and that basically all of them combusted. If Canada saw the US Civil War as reason to do it a little differently, that may have served them well.

Nowadays we rarely have all three at the same time (peace, order, and good government). But the articles are essentially true. We're generally flabbergasted by the flag worship that goes on in the U.S., and tend to reserve our patriotism for Canada Day, Remembrance Day, and sporting events like the Olympics and the hockey playoffs.

In Alberta, though, this is all being upended. There are people in a couple of my FB groups who are afraid to have Canadian maple leaf symbols, either as flags or pins or stickers, because the Take Back Alberta movement that's behind the current UCP government here and the "Freedumb Convoy" (the truckers who occupied Ottawa, blocked bridges, and blocked the international border at Coutts, Alberta) has appropriated it as their symbol. They don't want to be seen as one of these people, who among other things, tend to be gung-ho about Alberta either separating from Canada or joining the U.S.

There have been a few bills passed in the last couple of days that, among other things, lets the premier fire any municipal politician she thinks isn't "acting in the public interest" - no matter that they were democratically voted in and "the public interest" means "in the interest of the UCP party". So people are saying, why bother voting if they can just remove who we voted for? Of course that's not the right response, but it is the response the UCP is counting on.

And then they put in legislation that removes part of the homeless population's voting rights, as regards ID and vouching. You have to have an address to vote, but homeless people have been allowed to vote if vouched for at the polling station by a Canadian citizen who resides in that polling district and is registered to vote at that polling station. The homeless person can also have a social worker or health care worker confirm that the homeless person is staying at such-and-such a shelter. I shudder to think how much of that has been taken away from them. There are those who ask why a homeless person would even want to vote, and can't see why they should be allowed. It's news to them when I explain that there are only TWO people in Canada who cannot vote (who are Canadian citizens over the age of 18), and that's the Chief Electoral Officer and his/her deputy. They're the ones who have to resolve disputes and fraud, so they have to have complete neutrality.

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

That the Egyptians are so proud of the 1973 War they have an entire city named after the date it broke out

6th of October (city) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Kyriakos]

Spot the Ladybird

MALE ladybirds are pretty stupid. They can spend up to four hours mating with a dead female before realising something is wrong. And if these cold-blooded creatures get caught in the act when the Sun goes down, the falling temperatures may leave them immobilised till morning. Such tales about...

www.newscientist.com

Til.

Maybe with time they developed a fondness for necrophilia anyway

 

[EgonSpengler]

I was reading an article about British MMA fighters Brendan Lougnane and Paddy Pimblett, and Lougnane said, "I genuinely believe that we cannot finish our careers without fighting each other, it’s just in there" [and] "he’s a Scouser and I’m a Manc, there is always going to be that."

I thought "What does soccer/football have to do with it?"

TIL the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester goes deeper, and indeed further back, than just the footie.

First, they're only 35 miles/56 km apart. I mean, I knew they were in the same proverbial neighborhood of Northwest England, but I guess I didn't realize they were right in each other's faces like that. The Liverpool-and-Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city railroad, opening in 1830. It was also the first railway to bar horse-drawn carriages and be powered exclusively by steam locomotives; the first railway to use signals; the first railway to use a double track along its entire length; and the first to be fully timetabled. The two cities are also connected by the Bridgewater Canal, opened in 1761, and the M62 motorway, opened in 1976.

Through the 17th Century, Manchester was the largest city in the North of England. Liverpool started to catch up in the 18th Century, and in the late 19th Century was generally recognized as 'England's 2nd City.'

In the 19th Century, Manchester merchants got so fed up with having to ship their goods out through the port of Liverpool, they built the Manchester Ship Canal, at a cost of £2 billion in 2023 money. It opened in 1894 and runs 36 miles/58km, and at the time it opened was the largest ship canal in the world. Liverpool business owners and dock workers were not happy.

Just 3 months after the Manchester canal opened, Liverpool F.C. and Newton Heath F.C. played their first match against one another. In addition to everything else, it was a relegation playoff match. Since 1902, Newton Heath has gone by a different name: Manchester United. Liverpool won that first battle in the war, 2-0, sending Newton Heath down to the 2nd division. (Since then, Liverpool and Man Utd have been King Kong and Godzilla, winning 39 league titles, 21 FA Cups, and 9 UEFA Cups/Champions Leagues between them. Wikipedia says their head-to-head record, as of May 2024, stands at 83-60-71 to Man Utd, and both clubs have 68 trophies in their cases.)

Full disclosure: There are those who say that one's first football club is the one you're stuck supporting for life, sorry, not sorry. If you subscribe to that philosophy, then I'm a Man Utd guy. The 1998-99 treble-winning side got the lion's share of the coverage on what was then called the Fox Soccer Channel. Each year, their coverage of European football would feature one league and one club. In '98-'99, it was the Premier League and Man U. (The following season it was Serie-A and Juventus.)

Also, it turns out the U.S. Civil War played a part in the Liverpool-Manchester rivalry: Liverpool supported the Confederacy and Manchester supported the Union. Liverpool shipyards constructed ships for the Confederacy, and Manchester's factory workers organized a boycott of American cotton to protest slavery. The boycott had terrible economic effects for Manchester mill workers, and President Lincoln sent a letter of gratitude to 'the working men of Manchester' in 1863, which is today inscribed on the base of a statue to Lincoln in Manchester's Lincoln Square.

 

[Arakhor]

I didn't know that about Manchester. Cool!

 

[Gori the Grey]

Funny, I'd never thought to myself that there must be male ladybugs.

And then I learn this about them.

 

[Birdjaguar]

WHAT’S MINEIS YOURS
How couples share an all-access pass to their digital lives

https://www.malwarebytes.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/06/Whats-Mine-is-Yours-052324.pdf

 

[Bonyduck Campersang]

About the Deep Scattering Layer, the Dark Matter of the aquamarine world

 

[Kaitzilla]

Life is amazing.

A humble chicken takes 21 days to go from a speck to a chick.

An elephant takes, uhh, 2 years.

 

[Birdjaguar]

^^^ Nice video. I was wondering though, what he injected? removed? from the shell on most of the days.

 

[Kaitzilla]

^^^ Nice video. I was wondering though, what he injected? removed? from the shell on most of the days.

The two leading theories are the needle is applying antibiotics since the fetus partly out of the shell, or it is some kind of moisture to keep the fetus from sticking to the eggshell.

I don't really know, but opening the commercial eating egg on day 1 with a dremel, pouring the egg out of the bleached white eggshell, cracking open a fertile brown egg, and dumping that fertile yolk into the now-empty pristine white shell for our viewing pleasure has to cause some complication I would image.

 

[The_J]

TIL (well, a couple of days ago): The sistine chapel is not in the St. Peter's Basilica.
I guess I should have known.
Still got to see both, so no consequences from this .

 

[Birdjaguar]

Did you have a long wait to get in?