TIL: Today I Learned... (Join in!)

[Broomstick]

So everyone else is less likely to get clogged but on the flipside you're more likely to get 'stains' on the inside of the bowl compared to North America.

Why would anyone choose the clogs over the stains ?

Especially when a little toilet cleaner block attached to the side of the bowl can really cut down on the stains.

You're talking about a culture that until recently preferred slicing off the foreskins of babies to teaching boys how to properly clean their foreskins. I'm not sure these things are entirely rational. Americans have some rather strong cultural taboos/fears over things other cultures find not a big deal.

You know what also helps prevent stains or "skidmarks" in the toilet bowl? Cleaning your goddamned toilet. It's really that simple. You'd be surprised the machinations some Americans go through to avoid doing that, as if cleaning that appliance will somehow contaminate them and stain their souls or something.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Some UK toilets have the full/half flush features depending on the flushing mechanism installed in the cistern. The half-flush is also good if your cold water pressure is lousy as it means it won't take as long to refill after flushing.

[LadyTevar]

TIL:

If an idjit plows his vehicle into a power pole and blows the transformer and takes out power to several blocks of downtown, including the Library and Library Annex, there is NO MANUAL OPEN to the Bookmobile Garage. There's no way to lift the doors, as they are too heavy for normal humans to lift. There's no pulley system, no manual crank, nothing will get those garage doors moving without Electricity.

So the Staff Meeting was held with only the light from the windows (it was enough), then my supervisor and I took the company van around to pick up books from a school and a couple Headstarts while waiting to see if power would be back on in time to make our stops.
It wasn't. But I am now very jealous of the SUV's heated seats (It was 45F outside).

My supervisor went with the Asst Director to remove books from the library we're closing down. I got to sit in the office and remove the bar-scan tags from all the books that were "weeded out" for being too old/damaged to remain on the shelves. I got through one whole box before the power came back on, which let me switch on my computer and actually check-in the books from the Headstarts and school. Then, I did two more boxes of "weeds" before 2:30.
At that point the Director said "Well, we're out of weeds for now, you may as well go home and come back tomorrow."

Short day, so why do I feel so exhausted?

[Zaune]

TIL that Rogue Energy, a powdered drink mix company who are targeting the gamer market with lots of Twitch stream sponsorships right now, use the same artificial sweetener as those infamous sugar-free gummy bears.

And yes, I did find this out the hard way.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

YIL what HDMI ARC is and that I need to buy a new cable to connect two devices that have it.

[aerius]

https://nypost.com/2023/04/10/man-break ... -position/
TIL that reverse cowgirl is the most dangerous sex position, and responsible for 50% of all penis fractures.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL (from Bob's Burgers of all places) that a ship's toilet is called the head.

[Batman]

I have no clue WHY it's called that , but I've known that for a long time(not trying to brag but when you're into miltary fiction you run into little details like that pretty much by default.)

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I have no clue WHY it's called that , but I've known that for a long time(not trying to brag but when you're into miltary fiction you run into little details like that pretty much by default.)

So am I, evidently not enough focus on the Navy! thinking about it I don't think it's ever been called that in any of the Trek media, you'd think even as a legacy name it would come up at least once

As to the why, as Wikipedia explains:

The name derives from sailing ships in which the toilet area for the regular sailors was placed at the head or bow of the ship.

Looking at the pictures it's clear the toilets in American subs were way, way nicer than in their British or Soviet counterparts!

[The_Saint]

In case anyone was still wondering ... The heads were placed at the bow due to the front of a sailing vessel generally being downwind.

[LadyTevar]

In case anyone was still wondering ... The heads were placed at the bow due to the front of a sailing vessel generally being downwind.

Also why the Galley (kitchen) was at the bow of the ship. Smoke from the cookfire would blow away from the ship.

[bobalot]

https://nypost.com/2023/04/10/man-break ... -position/
TIL that reverse cowgirl is the most dangerous sex position, and responsible for 50% of all penis fractures.

Well, that has scared me off suggesting this to the wife.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

https://nypost.com/2023/04/10/man-break ... -position/
TIL that reverse cowgirl is the most dangerous sex position, and responsible for 50% of all penis fractures.

Well, that has scared me off suggesting this to the wife.

And yet pornstars make it look so easy

[LadyTevar]

TIL Lox can be tasty without being salty as fuck.
The ladies at the event took fresh salmon, smeared it with a mix of salt, sugar, dill, and something else, wrapped it in plastic wrap, put weights on it, and let it sit for 5days (turning every 24hrs)

They rinsed the lox before cutting it, and because they were not well trained in lox-cutting the slices were thicker than normal lox, which made more like sashimi than lox, and O.M.F.G it was AMAZING. Tender, flavorful with just a hint of salt, and we ate every single bit we got our hands on.

THEN they brought out the HandPies -- Venison/Chicken with onions and carrots in a flaky pie dough. *droooooooooooools*

[His Divine Shadow]

Sounds like gravlax to me, but you don't rinse that afterwards, just scrape it and it's kinda salty and thinly sliced. One of the few fish things I can stand, I really don't like fish or seafood otherwise.

[Batman]

TIL that Lox can mean something OTHER than Liquid Oxygen.

[Eternal_Freedom]

TIL that Lox can mean something OTHER than Liquid Oxygen.

If it makes you feel better Batman, the only reason I know the two meanings is from one scene in "You Only Live Twice" when Bond and Tanaka are looking at a shipping manifest.

[LadyTevar]

Sounds like gravlax to me, but you don't rinse that afterwards, just scrape it and it's kinda salty and thinly sliced. One of the few fish things I can stand, I really don't like fish or seafood otherwise.

AHHA! Another TIL from yesterday!!
Gravlax is SMOKED. This was just ... pickled... for lack of a better term.
Either way, it was as tender as sashimi, just enough salt with the dill being the strongest flavor to me, and I ate at least 4 servings of thick slices over cream cheese on a home-made butter roll. Extras included were capers, "everything seasoning", and a couple other things, but I just ate it plain.

Also on the menu was fresh fruit (strawberries, apple slices, grapes), boiled eggs, pickled beet eggs (w/optional horseradish which *I* never heard of together), sweet gherkin pickles, crudites, and homemade italian bread with butter, honey butter, peach jam, or basil/peach jam.

[The Infidel]

Sounds like gravlax to me, but you don't rinse that afterwards, just scrape it and it's kinda salty and thinly sliced. One of the few fish things I can stand, I really don't like fish or seafood otherwise.

AHHA! Another TIL from yesterday!!
Gravlax is SMOKED. This was just ... pickled... for lack of a better term.
Either way, it was as tender as sashimi, just enough salt with the dill being the strongest flavor to me, and I ate at least 4 servings of thick slices over cream cheese on a home-made butter roll. Extras included were capers, "everything seasoning", and a couple other things, but I just ate it plain.

Also on the menu was fresh fruit (strawberries, apple slices, grapes), boiled eggs, pickled beet eggs (w/optional horseradish which *I* never heard of together), sweet gherkin pickles, crudites, and homemade italian bread with butter, honey butter, peach jam, or basil/peach jam.

TIL that the Norwegian "gravlaks" translates to "gravlax" in English. The salmon (laks in Norwegian) is usually just marinated as above, but can also be cold smoked as well, but doesn't have to be, according to Wikipedia.
I've never eaten it myself.

[LadyTevar]

TIL that the Norwegian "gravlaks" translates to "gravlax" in English. The salmon (laks in Norwegian) is usually just marinated as above, but can also be cold smoked as well, but doesn't have to be, according to Wikipedia.
I've never eaten it myself.

Considering this was a Viking-themed event, I now understand why they added lox/gravlax/gravlaks on the menu. Perhaps it was Gravlaks/gravlax, but they were calling it the Yiddish "Lox" because more people would recognize that term.

And a quick check of the dictionary shows that the Yiddish word is also "Laks", angelized "Lox", and related to the Germanic "laks" (salmon).

[His Divine Shadow]

Sounds like gravlax to me, but you don't rinse that afterwards, just scrape it and it's kinda salty and thinly sliced. One of the few fish things I can stand, I really don't like fish or seafood otherwise.

AHHA! Another TIL from yesterday!!
Gravlax is SMOKED. This was just ... pickled... for lack of a better term.
Either way, it was as tender as sashimi, just enough salt with the dill being the strongest flavor to me, and I ate at least 4 servings of thick slices over cream cheese on a home-made butter roll.

We've never smoked gravlax so that's news to me if so. The correct name in swedish which I speak, is "gravad lax". It's most often served in my family for christmas, or on smörgåstårta (sandwich cake):

[His Divine Shadow]

Here's a photo of a smörgåstårta my SO made, she's vietnamese but really has the hang of proper smörgåstårta


My dad makes gravad lax for christmas


I like it on sweet brown rye bread:

[His Divine Shadow]

TIL that there is a venomous sea snail that uses insulin as venom to put it's victims into hypoglycemic shock
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-res ... n-insights

Scientists are very interested the properties of it's very rapid acting insulin.

[madd0c0t0r2]

TIL that there is a venomous sea snail that uses insulin as venom to put it's victims into hypoglycemic shock
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-res ... n-insights

Scientists are very interested the properties of it's very rapid acting insulin.

well that's fascinating. I trade you the new discovery on termites. This is the discovery that, in wet areas, they create a interlaced netowrk of small channels on the north side of the mound. Small breezes passing the mound are enough to set up oscillations in the tunnels, which pump air through the mound much faster than mere diffusion would allow for. There's videos.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10 ... 26974/full

[LadyTevar]

TIL that there is a venomous sea snail that uses insulin as venom to put it's victims into hypoglycemic shock
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-res ... n-insights

Scientists are very interested the properties of it's very rapid acting insulin.

Oh yes, there's going to be a lot of research on these things now. Far too much money in insulin production.