I bet you didnt know that

It's proper name is the Adansonia tree. It can live for thousands of years, and can store vast amounts of water in it's trunk, making it very drought resistant even if it looks dead most of the time. I think there's nine or ten species of it.

The seeds look like big white coconuts, and the oil pressed from the seeds is a big favorite among African traditional healers because of it's anti inflammatory and anti oxidant properties. It's not for consumption in any quantity since it's full of cyclopropenoid fatty acids, but it's very popular as a dental treatment and people rub a few drops into inflamed gums, for skin disorders like eczema, cuts and grazes and for it's moisturizing properties.

I had a bottle of it and it's great for dry skin but the smell is a bit earthy, like petrichor.

sbsquarepants

sbsquarepants wrote: »

In a similar vein to the cosmonaut thing - It's blindingly obvious when you think of it, but I still remember being a little surprised when I read something along the lines of "For every adult on the planet, there's a day somewhere in your past, when your parent picked you up, put you back down and then just never picked you up again"

Luckily you don't know it at the time, just imagine how sad a day that would be if you knew!

Well, that's me choking back the tears.

MyStubbleItches

EndaHonesty wrote: »

The first day of the 21st century was January 1st 2001, so the children won't be adults until 2019...

Nope.

EndaHonesty

MyStubbleItches wrote: »

Nope.

Nope, what?

MyStubbleItches

EndaHonesty wrote: »

Nope, what?

Nope, the first day of the 21st century was not Jan 1, 2001. It was Jan 1, 2000.

EndaHonesty

MyStubbleItches wrote: »

Nope, the first day of the 21st century was not Jan 1, 2001. It was Jan 1, 2000.

Nope.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-is-the-beginning-of/

The inexorable mathematical logic is that the official calendar millennium does not start until the year 2001. The first 2000 years end with the year 2000, and the next thousand start with 2001, the first year of the third millennium. Imagine a vast army of soldiers, with 1,000 men in each row. In the first row are soldiers 1 to 1,000, in the second, 1,001 to 2,000, and in the third, 2,001 to 3,000. The third row starts with soldier 2,001. Or suppose you work 1,000 hours a year. The first year, you work hours 1 to 1,000, the second year hours 1,001 to 2,000, and the third year begins with your 2,001st hour of work. So we should definitely celebrate the official calendar millennium on January 1, 2001.

MyStubbleItches

MyStubbleItches wrote: »

Nope, the first day of the 21st century was not Jan 1, 2001. It was Jan 1, 2000.

It appears I'm incorrect, you're spot on. I apologise and stand corrected. Every day is a school day!

wally79

Yeah there was no year zero so the first year is always the 01

the purple tin

The naval commander in the Gulf of Tonkin incident which paved the way for America's entry into the Vietnam war, was Rear Admiral George Morrison, father of Jim Morrison of The Doors.

New Home

sbsquarepants wrote: »

There's an ancient fable (aboriginal I think?) about how the trees vanity led to it's upside down appearance.

Back at the dawn of time the first baobab grew next to a calm lake where it could see it's reflection, he then began to notice other trees and felt he was ugly compared to them, so he began to complain to god about how he wanted leaves like this tree, or flowers like that tree, fruit like another.
Eventually god got an almighty pain in his almighty arse with the moaning and yanked him out of the ground and replanted him head first where he no longer had to be bothered by how either himself or others looked. Poor auld baobab has been that way ever since.

Which is a long time since he was around for some dinosaurs to shade under!

Meet Narcissus, his "brother".

Foggy Jew

sbsquarepants wrote: »

In a similar vein to the cosmonaut thing - It's blindingly obvious when you think of it, but I still remember being a little surprised when I read something along the lines of "For every adult on the planet, there's a day somewhere in your past, when your parent picked you up, put you back down and then just never picked you up again"

Luckily you don't know it at the time, just imagine how sad a day that would be if you knew!

That is gut-wrenchingly, heartbreakingly sad. How I wish I could remember the last time I picked upmy kids.

sbsquarepants

New Home wrote: »

Meet Narcissus, his "brother".

I'd heard the words of course, but I never realised where Nemesis and Echo came from until reading this!

Every day is a school day

Every day is a school day:D

New Home

Echo is a bit of a déjà vu. :pac:

Kat1170

RiderOnTheStorm wrote:

And if you think about it ..... The planet Mars is, potentially, entirely populated by robots!

FYP

In 2010, 19 people were killed in a plane crash in the Democratic Republic of Congo on a flight from Kinshasa to Bandundu, leaving only two survivors.

Air crash investigators researching the background of British pilot Chris Wilson found that he had communicated grave concerns about the safety of the airline and the abilities of his co-pilot Danny Philemotte, who was a part owner of the airline, Filair. Wilson had emailed his father and expressed his surprise that Philemotte was still alive.

One of the remaining survivors told crash investigators that it wasn't the pilot that caused the crash. During the flight, a crocodile that had been smuggled aboard in a sports bag managed to free itself and snap at one of the cabin crew who ran towards the front of the plane as it prepared to land, the passengers followed suit after seeing the croc out and about, and the surge to the front of the plane caused the crash. Investigators couldn't rule this theory out even though the pattern of the crash seemed to follow a classic stall and spin pattern. The definitive cause wasn't nailed down and the inquest into the British pilots death recorded an open verdict.

The remaining crash survivor never spoke of what transpired, as it was the crocodile.

No, Dad.

New Home

Candie wrote: »

No, Dad.

Whut??

New Home

New Home wrote: »

Whut??

Ah the post is deleted.

It was "QI?"

No, Dad.

New Home

Ah, now it makes sense!

cdeb

Well JC is typically said to have been born in 4BC, so we're well into the 21st century if that's your basis.

But the 21st century goes off 1AD, not when Jesus was born

Water John

Thought that was the other way. That he was born about 6 BC?

cdeb

Sometime between 6 and 4 BC.

But if you take, say, 4BC as the first year of the century, then the 21st century began in 1996. So we don't have a few years to go to it

But it didn't, because the first century began in 1AD, not the year Christ was born.

roosterman71

cdeb wrote: »

Sometime between 6 and 4 BC.

But if you take, say, 4BC as the first year of the century, then the 21st century began in 1996. So we don't have a few years to go to it

But it didn't, because the first century began in 1AD, not the year Christ was born.

Excuse my silliness, but does BC not mean "Before Christ". Therefore, ergo, how can Jesus be born 4-6 years before himself?

cdeb

The year 1AD wasn't known as that obviously. In fact, it was only the early eighth century when the current year system was popularised by the Venerable Bede, who was writing a history of England - one of the very first such books - and needed a reference point better than "The third year after the great famine in the reign of King whoever". So he settled on calculations from the sixth century by Dionysus Exiguus, who had a calendar where year 1 was the year Christ was born. But he got his calculations wrong. (And not by much in fairness. It's a heck of a calculation for mediaeval times)

quickbeam

sbsquarepants wrote: »

In a similar vein to the cosmonaut thing - It's blindingly obvious when you think of it, but I still remember being a little surprised when I read something along the lines of "For every adult on the planet, there's a day somewhere in your past, when your parent picked you up, put you back down and then just never picked you up again"

Luckily you don't know it at the time, just imagine how sad a day that would be if you knew!

Reminds me of...

Every year we pass the anniversary (pre-anniversary?) of the date of our own death without even knowing its significance.

quickbeam

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

A very rough guide to warships for the first half of the 20th century.

quickbeam

the purple tin wrote: »

The naval commander in the Gulf of Tonkin incident which paved the way for America's entry into the Vietnam war, was Rear Admiral George Morrison, father of Jim Morrison of The Doors.

Didn't know that. Was reading Wiki on the dad and saw this of father and son from 1964 (Jim would have been 21):

RiderOnTheStorm

wally79 wrote:

Yeah there was no year zero so the first year is always the 01

Yea, so the year after 1BC is 1AD. So mathematically the 21c starts in 2001. But by general consensus its taken as 2000. You could say its 2000 years after 1BC (because there was no zero).

BTW, when thinking about age we say the number of years we have completed. So when you are, say, 50 you are actually in your 51st year. But when talking about centuries its the other way round, eg the 1800s are the 19th century.

Go figure...

Franz Von Peppercorn

cdeb wrote: »

Sometime between 6 and 4 BC.

But if you take, say, 4BC as the first year of the century, then the 21st century began in 1996. So we don't have a few years to go to it

But it didn't, because the first century began in 1AD, not the year Christ was born.

It didnt really, it was retrofitted to when Dionysius Exiguus claimed in the 6th C that Jesus was born, but they didn’t know exactly. Nor do we.

Personally I celebrated New Year’s Eve 1999 as the millennium because that’s when the most significant digit (1-2) changed for the first time in 1000 years and won’t for another 1000, while the least significant digit changes every year.

cdeb

Well I think the concept of "the eighth century" has to date from around the same time, so its invention at least ties in with the current dating scheme. So the first century started in 1AD, whether the people around then knew it or not