What interesting things have you only recently learned about?
To be clear, this is about things which have been true for some time and you only recently learned about, not things that only happened recently. In particular, recent deaths of celebrities and other high-profile individuals should go in the General RIP Thread
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So, what interesting things have you guys...and gals...only recently learned about?
Edited by Twiddler on Apr 8th 2023 at 1:07:55 AM
At your service.
I learned that I know virtually nothing about PDEs. The exam is in two days...
edited 9th Jun '09 1:44:50 PM by DaPatman
I hate many things, some more than others. So there are some things that, on a good day, I can just about stand. Others, like character limi
DUMB
Norweigans are very patriotic and ski everywhere during the winter. Someone please tell me I was misinformed, it seems too stereotyped to be true.
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.
I just learned that fish tapeworms can get to be over 50 feet long.
Luckily, I don't eat fish.
I learned that kitchen knives are not sharp enough to draw blood. Only poorly maintained kitchen knives. I strongly recommend getting and using a sharpener for those; a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one, as any Boy Scout will tell you.
I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.
Planescape Hijack
Te Adversary:
Botox has lethal applications.Now there is an understatement. We did some calculations for how much you'd have to have to kill everyone in New York, and the answer was very little. The only comfort is it's impractical because it's not an airborne toxin. But as Wikipedia puts it, one teaspoon is all you need to deal with about a sixth of the planet.
Productivity is for people without internet connections. -Count Dorku
Cold.
Dose is everything. The difference between poison and food is dose. (is there a trope about this?)
Sex, Drugs, and Rationality
"That Other Wiki": Patients may find themselves laughing uncontrollably at something that is only moderately humorous, being unable to stop themselves for several minutes. Episodes may also be mood-incongruent: a patient might laugh uncontrollably when angry or frustrated, for example. OHMYGOD I think I have emotional lability.
Only poorly maintained kitchen knives. I strongly recommend getting and using a sharpener for those; a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one, as any Boy Scout will tell you. My mom is a sad housewife! Good news: I found a sharpener!
edited 9th Jun '09 4:59:12 PM by melloncollie
DUMB
Don't diagnose yourself, especially with only internet information. It doesn't work that well.
Also I am emotionally labile as well 
edited 9th Jun '09 5:50:56 PM by Tzetze
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.
Bah, I started suspecting I have bipolar disorder after finding out what it really was HAHAHA
Laughing makes you feel nice. Maybe the world would be a better place if everyone had emotional lability?
I learned that kitchen knives are not sharp enough to draw blood.Maybe you're just not trying hard enough.
Why did somebody have to respond to this before I could? ._.
Was that a Take That!? Sabbo isn't nice! ;_;
shall I break out the power tools?
edited 9th Jun '09 6:24:24 PM by melloncollie
...?
I was thinking homicide, not suicide or emo-ness.
:D
edited 9th Jun '09 6:28:51 PM by Sabbo
Oh i see. I have a tendency to think everything is out to be mean to me.
On a different note, does anyone here watch Deadliest Warrior? or Innocent Venus?
edited 9th Jun '09 6:30:05 PM by melloncollie
DUMB
My little brother does. I can't stand it. I can't help thinking, "What the hell would the IRA and Taliban fight over anyway?!". If someone can give me a satisfactory response I'll watch it.
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.
I don't know, Rule of Cool? And if you're planning to write a fic where one of the warriors they've analyzed plays a big role it might be useful to learn something about their weapons & fighting style.
DUMB
In a World… where aliens have invaded and destroyed almost all of humanity, the survivors have gathered in Europe for some reason. A coalition of every guerrila group ever heroically fights them off! But now that the aliens are gone... ONLY ONE GROUP CAN RULE.
Okay, I'll watch it now.
"George Orwell" is a pen-name! Dammit! Why did all of my favorite authors use pen-names?! Probably because "Eric Arthur Blair" is sorta lame.
edited 9th Jun '09 10:39:11 PM by Tzetze
[1] This facsimile operated in part by synAC.
vigilantly taxonomish
I learned that kitchen knives are not sharp enough to draw blood.My right hand disagrees.
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Likes Burnt Offerings
So does the idiot who broke into my apartment last night.
"I kind of pegged EVH as sounding like Jack Nicholson's alcoholic Anglophile dad." —Furiko Maru
I just learned that the stuff I thought was incredibly important and worth saving 5 years ago is junk. Old scripts, grade books, and a stack of magazines for starters.
edited 10th Jun '09 9:47:42 AM by blackcat
John Meynard Keyenes and Umberto Eco (see correction below) were gay; D. H. Lawrence was bisexual.
(rather flexible definition of "recent", I've found these things out in over the last two months)
edited 11th Jun '09 10:49:25 AM by JethroQWalrustitty
Umberto Eco is gay?
Well, that'd explain all the Ho Yay in Foucault's Pendulum — but the Wikipedia article on him says nothing on the subject. Where'd you hear this?
edited 11th Jun '09 10:47:22 AM by Nornagest
I will keep my soul in a place out of sight, Far off, where the pulse of it is not heard.
No wait, I misspoke, Michel Foucault is. got a mix up with the names. Interestingly enough, Focault's pendelum doesn't actually reference Michel Focault.
edited 11th Jun '09 10:50:04 AM by JethroQWalrustitty
At your service.
As a followup from my last post in this topic, I learnt that it doesn't matter that I did crap in todays PDEs exam, since as long as my average for the year is 40% or higher, I don't have to resit a single module.
I hate many things, some more than others. So there are some things that, on a good day, I can just about stand. Others, like character limi
Perhaps because the pendulum was names after Leon Foucault, the physicist. 
Erik
I learned that I never want to take another Archaeology of the Americas course... my brain hurts... How the hell was I supposed to remember all the steps that the Mayans and Incas took towards developing complex societies, with stratified social classes.
“This happy breed of men, this little world, this precious stone set in a silver’d sea.."