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I bet you didnt know that

Cartouche

As people here work in various jobs / professions they might know things from work or study no one here knows yet. this is what this topic is about.

what do you know that we have never heard of?

Eg: you don't need to be great at maths to be an architect

this is obvious to me but everyone says to me "i wanted to be an architect but i was bad at math,i can barely add"

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Esel

VW 1 wrote: »

Wibbs, the more of your posts i read between here, the watch forum etc (and i imagine thats quite a few over my years on boards) the more you become one of the 5 people (alive or dead) l would have at a dinner party table! Great info above.

Probably BAF IRL.

evolving_doors

mzungu wrote: »

I know it's a fake (it's very obvious), I stuck the picture there for the laugh instead of going with the usual picture as below.

However, in hindsight I probably should have put a pacman smiley in there just to seal the deal but I figured at the time there was no need because the picture was such a dodgy photoshop.

In any event :pac: Lincoln didn't grow a beard till just before the presidential election.

http://time.com/3462545/abraham-lincoln-beard/

storker

Wibbs wrote: »

RIP Alan Bean. Pilot, engineer, astronaut, artist and good egg.

Aha! Wibbs! You missed the obvious giveaway that was staring you in the face from that photo! That painting on the right is what was presented to us as an actual photograph of the faked moon landings! This proves that it was a painting all along and the landings never happened and anyone who thinks otherwise is a sheeple!

Proof positive! I'm off to make a 30-minute YouTube video about it. Or maybe I'll take my meds first.

_

Fourier

I wanted to continue this on, as a better rendition of #5654. My poor sense of knowing when I've jumped into incomprehensibility might rear its head here, any confusion is my fault.

Fourier wrote: »

Sorry for the late reply, I was trying to think of an analogy and some facts that are easy to grasp to emphasise the point.

Think of a snakes and ladders game...

So I've basically said, Quantum Mechanics doesn't really tell you anything much about the world, but I wanted to also reduce the confusion of pop science books and some of the myths they carry.

As a different analogy, QM is closer in some ways to a cooking recipe than an explanatory theory. "Turn the oven on, set it to 200 C, add flour, etc" this just tells you if you do so and so, you get a certain result. The theory behind cooking is organic chemistry, which basically tells you why flour does what it does at certain temperatures. QM is cooking with no chemistry.

I will continue the cooking analogy to breaking point! :pac:

So this obviously leads to the question what is really going on, underneath QM. Over the last century there have been several guesses, but all have some problems and there is no consensus. Here's a list of some guesses with the names of some people who have espoused that point of view. Cooking analogy in italics.

What goes on underneath transcends science and human comprehension (Neils Bohr) or cannot be expressed in any language we can understand. (Werner Heisenberg)
Quantum Mechanics is the best humans can manage, a recipe for dealing with experiments.
All you can do is cook following the recipes, what flour or yeast really do is beyond you mortals.
Underneath the world is made of particles that act in a fundamentally random way (Paul Dirac, John von Neumann).
Quantum Mechanics's talk of particles and randomness is literally true.
The recipe is what is going on. You might want some explanation for "why" yeast rises, but there isn't one, it just does. Your human mind just foolishly wants a reason.
Quantum Mechanics is actually talking about multiple worlds/a multiverse. When I do an experiment the world splits into copies where I saw different outcomes. (Hugh Everett, David Deutsch).
Quantum Mechanics is literally true, but we were wrong in how we read it. Those aren't chances for different outcomes, it's saying all the outcomes happen.
The recipe is what is going on, but it isn't actually a recipe for one cake, read the right way it's how to make a whole bunch of different cakes, but you only get one of them out of the oven, the rest go somewhere else.

(Note: Yes, the cooking analogy is a bit strained here :P, however both 2. and 3. take Quantum Mechanics literally, saying there is nothing underneath, QM is fundamental. The problem is QM is so vague people disagree with what taking it literally actually means)
Something very odd is going on underneath, challenging very deep intuitions we have, but it is fundamentally something that can be discovered. (Einstein, Bohm, Northern Ireland's John Bell)
Different advocates of this have very different ideas of what is underneath, but they all share the idea that Quantum Mechanics is not the end and the next level can be described with a scientific theory.
Cooking is explained by organic chemistry.

About a million pop science books say Einstein was wrong about QM or that he didn't understand it. This is nonsense. He just didn't agree with Bohr. Books like this often act like (1) or (2) are known to be true and Einstein's idea of (4) is wrong, but nobody knows this. An example would be randomness, we don't know if that is a real feature of the world, or just something the recipe of QM uses. Horse betting also uses probability and odds, but we don't think that horses just randomly win races for no reason. The odds/probabilities represent ignorance of factors that will influence the race. It might be the same in QM.

So my words of warning would be: a pop science book author will be presenting QM the way they find easiest to picture, not "the truth" as nobody knows "the truth". This will make reading two books by two different people often seem contradictory, because they are, they picture QM in different ways. The really confusing thing is that many authors will switch between 1-4 depending on the topic, as some stuff is easier to explain with one or the other.
(e.g. radioactive decay is often explained with (2), quantum computers with (3))

The "default" for most physicists in the 20th century was (2), but this is considered the least likely today.

MikeyTaylor

Blathnaid Treacy's brother is a member of the band Columbia Mills.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

Blathnaid Treacy's brother is a member of the band Columbia Mills.

Should it concern me that I never heard of her nor the band?

mzungu

Anders Shy Aircraft wrote: »

Should it concern me that I never heard of her nor the band?

I certainly did not know that

I also have no idea who she is or who the band are!

Are Am Eye

Colombia Mills was also a music venue in Dublin.
Colombia is a South American country that was conquered by the Spanish in the sixteenth century.
Near Toledo in Spain are the windmills which inspired La Mancha in Don Quixote.

Gloomtastic!

Pete Waterman, of Stock, Aiken & Waterman fame, used to manage The Specials.

mzungu

There's a Nikola Tesla statue in Palo Alto that provides free Wi-Fi.

Ipso

Very prestigious.

sbsquarepants

Anders Shy Aircraft wrote: »

Should it concern me that I never heard of her nor the band?

I'm the same - in fact I've just googled her and her brother, photos, what show she presents, their songs and so on and I still haven't a clue - never seen her, never seen him, never heard of the show, never heard of the band......:mad:

I'm obviously old, I'm going home.
Actually fúck it, I'm going to sign myself into a home:D

Graces7

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I'm the same - in fact I've just googled her and her brother, photos, what show she presents, their songs and so on and I still haven't a clue - never seen her, never seen him, never heard of the show, never heard of the band......:mad:

I'm obviously old, I'm going home.
Actually fúck it, I'm going to sign myself into a home:D

I have never heard of any of the "celebrities" mentioned in thread titles and care not one iota!

greenspurs

Graces7 wrote: »

I have never heard of any of the "celebrities" mentioned in thread titles and care not one iota!

excellent... thanks for coming on to tell us :rolleyes:

Greybottle

During the Troubles, the IRA killed more Catholics than the British Army and the RUC combined.

Source: http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/troubles/troubles_stats.html#communityperpetrator

Professor Moriarty

During the troubles, security forces and Loyalists murdered twice as many Catholics as the IRA.

Source: http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/troubles/troubles_stats.html#communityperpetrator

[Deleted User]

Not for the squeamish.

Menstruation taboos and myths exist in practically every culture and up until ridiculously recently even in the Western world, menstrual blood was considered a dangerous and powerful force for both good and not so good at all.

Throughout history the blood itself was almost universally considered to have a mana - a powerful magic, supernatural quality. Menstruating women were kept apart from those they most endangered - young men - in case the essence of femaleness contaminated them and diluted their virile, manly potential. Menstruating women were barred from contact with crops lest their aura of decay doom them to failure, and were kept from food since their unclean presence turned milk sour, turned wine to vinegar, and poisoned meat. The vile vapours of menstruation also rusted metals, rotted wood, and drove people insane (that part's probably true). Native American tribes had taboos about the proximity of menstruating women to hunters, their evil girly cramps weakened the manly ability to kill stuff for food and made cissies of even the most masculine and brave men. Taboos concerning proximity are still quite common, and in modern day Tibet there are family homes with outside huts (in which girls and women freeze to death every year to this day) to which menstruating women are banished for the duration, as they can cause all kinds of terrifying havoc, particularly to pregnant women who's unborn children are at risk of defect from the effects of a bleeders presence. In Uganda, if a woman even touched a cooking utensil while menstruating then the whole lot would be ditched just in case they were cursed by the curse, and an orthodox Jewish woman is prohibited from quite a few things during menstruation including planting or harvesting.

At the same time, menstrual blood also harboured contradictory magical healing and restorative properties. A bloody cloth could keep marauding animals from the very fields the same blood could rot, could cure warts, treat leprosy, even heal a broken leg. The first menstrual blood of a virgin - the champagne of menses, as it were - could even cure the plague. In the Middle Ages it was harnessed as a cure for demonic possession (not a cause!). At a few points in history it's power has been utilized in medicines and potions, not something Big Pharma has harnessed yet. Yum.

In the early 1920's, scientists Schick and Macht attempted to prove the dangerous power of discarded uterine lining and devised illuminating experiments that proved beyond doubt that menstruation caused decay in all it touched and all that came within range of it's terrifying supernatural vapours. Girls were given flowers when menstruating, and lo and behold, those flowers wilted. Aparently 'menotoxins' also prevented bread from rising and beer from fermenting. Convincing stuff.

The fear and respect that menstrual blood inspires is, as Freud proposed, likely to be a result of the healthy and necessary human difficulty with blood. Blood usually means injury or illness to men so the long history of menstrual taboos is likely to have it's roots in our natural antipathy towards things that could harm us - disease carrying animals, decaying flesh, blood, bodily fluids and functions and all the other things that challenged our lives before modern standards of hygiene made us the safest we've ever been.

TL:DR Women are dangerous beings who simply refuse to relinquish their selfish habit of emitting the most toxic substance ever known thus putting all humanity at risk, can rob you of your masculinity, sanity and facial hair, and any failures can safely be blamed on their presence. For pity's sake, keep your distance.

P.S. Tampon is French for plug.

mzungu

Mobile phone throwing is an international sport played in Finland. It started back in 2000 and now Finland is host to The Mobile Phone Throwing World Championships. Current world record holder is Tom Philipp Reinhardt from Germany with a throw of 136,75m. There are four categories: Original (over the shoulder throw with the winner being who throws it the farthest), Freestyle (marks for aesthetics and choreography), Team (three competitors on each team, longest combined distance from three throws wins) and Juniors (over the shoulder throw).

JUNIOR_CATEGORYK%C3%A4nnykisat%20080.jpg?height=224&width=320

Mobile-Phone-Throwing-Championships-to-be-held-in-Finland-during-March-2017.jpg

cell-phone-throwing.jpg?output-quality=80

maudgonner

sbsquarepants wrote: »

I'm the same - in fact I've just googled her and her brother, photos, what show she presents, their songs and so on and I still haven't a clue - never seen her, never seen him, never heard of the show, never heard of the band......:mad:

I'm obviously old, I'm going home.
Actually fúck it, I'm going to sign myself into a home:D

You're obviously not old enough...she's Denise from Glenroe!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

maudgonner wrote: »

You're obviously not old enough...she's Denise from Glenroe!

Who?

castletownman

The Dundonald was a Belfast ship that got shipwrecked in 1907. Sailing from Sydney to Falmouth, UK with a cargo-load of wheat, it was decided to sail around New Zealand to avail of the winds and save them time on the return journey. But it got into difficultly and crashed into rocks on the appropriately named Disappointment Island, just north of Auckland Island.

Only seventeen of the 28 crew managed to escape the wreck and reach shore (although one slipped off the cliffs and fell to his death), and would end up surviving seven months on the uninhabited, inhospitable island. They initially had to eat the local wild seabirds raw as their matches hadn't dried out and they had no other source of fire. There was no trees on the island so sustainable fires, or decent shelter was a no-go. The dug holes in the ground and covered them with canvas from the wreckage which sheltered them from the wet but not from the cold. Blankets and shoes etc. were made from the skins of local seals.

Eventually, with limited supplies dwindling, they fashioned a primitive boat out of branches and left-over canvass and managed to get to Auckland Island knowing that there was a food depot there. It took a couple of tries before the depot was eventually discovered, along with a boat which they used to ferry the remaining party to Auckland Island.

They were finally rescued by passing steamer in November of that year, which happened to be visiting the island to replenish the food depot and dropping scientists off for a sub Antarctic Scientific Expedition. The crew were shipped to New Zealand, but were asked to bring some of their improvised tools with them so they could be exhibited in a museum and raise funds for the survivors.

I came across this particular story when I began part-time work in the Arklow Maritime Museum. The connection to the town is that there were two Arklow men on the Dundonald, including one of the Disappointment Island posse. I really think it's a story worthy of a film.

Incidentally three other factoids I have learned since starting are that Arklow Shipping is the third biggest shipping company in Europe, Ireland's first lifeboat station was opened in Arklow in the first-half of the nineteenth century, and the town had a "moving pictures" house (AKA cinema) before Dublin did.

Shemale

eisenberg1 wrote: »

Commendable, but how do the goats get to the lawns? If it entails a couple of 40 ft trucks over say 20 miles, once per week it's probably much the same thing. Though I'm sure they gave it some thought.

I would imagine they are left there....

Fourier

Candie wrote: »

Not for the squeamish.

Menstruation taboos and myths exist in practically every culture and up until ridiculously recently even in the Western world, menstrual blood was considered a dangerous and powerful force for both good and not so good at all.

More menstruation taboo facts, now with added sperm.

Some of the boks of the Bible have various cleanliness codes, e.g Leviticus, concerning how menstruating women could not be approached or enter the temple for various periods of time. Men similarly were unclean after ejaculation (Lev 15 covers most of this) also barring them from Temple.

This however is not what it seems, as "unclean" is not remotely accurate to the Hebrew, which literally means "common/normal", i.e. common to mortal life.

The idea was that Yahweh, existing outside of the cycle of life and death, could not be approached when one was still too recently connected with that cycle. Menstruation wasn't being described as "wrong", but more incapatible with or foreign to Yahweh, too mortal, preventing you approaching him in Temple (Yahweh was thought to live in the Temple).

The very strict code required for priests was to strip them of mortal trappings (washing to remove dead skin, an aspect of physical non-divine life).

This removes some confusion from a reading of the Bible. Yahweh commands proper burying of the dead, not doing so is immoral. However you are barred from Temple as common due to this, simply because you've too recently been involved in a mortal process. Most of Leviticus is not about what is moral, but is a code for removing traces of mortality.

Reference: Christine Hayes, Introduction to the Old Testament, Yale Press

wexie

Fourier wrote: »

now with added sperm.

worst advertising slogan....ever

Capt'n Midnight

In Fairy Tales the witches house in the forest may refer to houses where menstruating women went while temporarialy banished from the village.

It still happens in India and Nepal.

Duckworth_Luas

Fiordland is a remote forested region on the South-Western tip of New Zealand's South Island.

Something of an urban myth about the region is that it is home to moose. If true it would be the only place in the Southern Hemisphere inhabited by the creatures which are native to North America and Northern Eurasia.

Many people have claimed to have seen the animals but without scientific confirmation it is considered something of a Kiwi Bigfoot..

However, unlike the Sasquatch, there is a plausiable explaination as to why they may actually be there.

Joseph Ward, New Zealand's Prime Minister in the early 20th century, wanted to make his country the world's largest game reserve. To do this he planned to collect big game aniimals from all over the globe and plant them in the New Zealand wilderness.

Ten moose were captured in Saskatchewan and shipped in crates to Fiordland where they were released..

Over the years a number have been killed by hunters but there hasn't been a confirmed sighting in over 50 years.

Fiordland, however, is large, remote and highly forested region. Very few people go there and moose are also very elusive.

A biologist who went there in the 1990s to check if the rumours were true captured the following time-lapse video.

2FlrJDU

This is one of the last confirmed images of a Fiordland moose take in the 1950s.

cdeb

Yeah, basically some moose were imported in the 20s, given a sporting chance to breed, and then shot to extinction for fun in 20 years. Humans are great...

Kat1170

cdeb wrote: »

Yeah, basically some moose were imported in the 20s, given a sporting chance to breed, and then shot to extinction for fun in 20 years. Humans are great...

Actually that is the best outcome of that situation*, introducing foreign Flora and Fauna to an area rarely works out well. :mad::mad: It is a worldwide problem and one that is here in Ireland as well.

Zebra Mussels.
Signal Crayfish.
Grey Squirrel.

The list goes on and on ………..

*Of course the best thing is not to introduce them in the first place.

py2006

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

In Fairy Tales the witches house in the forest may refer to houses where menstruating women went while temporarialy banished from the village.

It still happens in India and Nepal.

and Tallaght

cdeb

Kat1170 wrote: »

*Of course the best thing is not to introduce them in the first place.

Yeah, this was what I meant alright.

Also, the moose were brought in explicitly to be shot. It's not like they snuck in accidentally on a boat (as happens with smaller animals) and had to be eradicated