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

[LadyTevar]

TIL FFXIV is so popular fans can and will crash the online store attempting to log in and preorder the new expansion.
I'll try to buy it next week.

[bilateralrope]

TIL FFXIV is so popular fans can and will crash the online store attempting to log in and preorder the new expansion.
I'll try to buy it next week.

I've seen that before with other MMOs. With lots of very vocal people who demand to make their preorder that instant, even when waiting a few months would lose them nothing.

[LadyTevar]

TIL FFXIV is so popular fans can and will crash the online store attempting to log in and preorder the new expansion.
I'll try to buy it next week.

I've seen that before with other MMOs. With lots of very vocal people who demand to make their preorder that instant, even when waiting a few months would lose them nothing.

Instant Gratification.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL that the Dominican Republic and Haiti are not on separate Caribbean islands but share the island of Hispaniola.

[Zwinmar]

TIL: The hospital in town charges you, then the doctor charges you and this is considered the new normal. It was not this way that long ago.

[Batman]

Today (well technically yesterday) I learned that while my backpack won't securely hold 4 half-litre 6-packs, it WILL three and a 0.33 litre one (and a croissant). Valuable knowledge.

[Broomstick]

Today I learned...

.... what a total eclipse of the sun looks like.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I'd seen the news coverage, I was surprised nobody on here was talking about it.

[Broomstick]

I was busy spending a lot of time on the road getting there and getting back. And we even avoided most of the traffic jam. I suppose I could have done a play-by-play on line with my phone but I was wrestling with the GPS to navigate back roads (no, you stupid machine! I do NOT want to get on I-65! Show me that damn cow-path!).

It was definitely worth the drive.

As for not talking about it... not as many people on the board these days and not everyone is North American.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Today I learned...

.... what a total eclipse of the sun looks like.

I'm glad you managed to see it. Closest I've ever managed in the UK was the partial eclipse in 2015 and the total one in 1999 (though I was a long out of the path of totality for that). One day I'll see a full one.

I have also learned that US Google searches for "my eyes hurt" and "why do my eyes hurt" have spiked massively since the eclipse. Sometimes, Americans, you just love living up to the stereotypes

[Broomstick]

Oh, it's worse than that - there was a rash of videos on the internet claiming that the properly protective glasses were actually harmful/part of the conspiracy to control people/etc. and encouraging people to look at the eclipse without protection.

You can't fix stupid.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Oh, it's worse than that - there was a rash of videos on the internet claiming that the properly protective glasses were actually harmful/part of the conspiracy to control people/etc. and encouraging people to look at the eclipse without protection.

You can't fix stupid.

I...what....but...oh for fucks sake.

[Ralin]

Today I learned...

.... what a total eclipse of the sun looks like.

I'm glad you managed to see it. Closest I've ever managed in the UK was the partial eclipse in 2015 and the total one in 1999 (though I was a long out of the path of totality for that). One day I'll see a full one.

I have also learned that US Google searches for "my eyes hurt" and "why do my eyes hurt" have spiked massively since the eclipse. Sometimes, Americans, you just love living up to the stereotypes

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-tr ... 51752.html

Trump looked at the solar eclipse without glasses despite a shouted warning from an aide

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Today I learned...

.... what a total eclipse of the sun looks like.

I'm glad you managed to see it. Closest I've ever managed in the UK was the partial eclipse in 2015 and the total one in 1999 (though I was a long out of the path of totality for that). One day I'll see a full one.

I have also learned that US Google searches for "my eyes hurt" and "why do my eyes hurt" have spiked massively since the eclipse. Sometimes, Americans, you just love living up to the stereotypes

I'd gotten lucky in that I'd read about the 1999 eclipse in a magazine and told my parents about it so they were able to book suitable accommodation months in advance, before all the places cottoned on to the significance of that date and jacked up their prices. I still have the three sets of eclipse glasses tucked away in a memory box somewhere. I distinctly remember how the brightness of the sun didn't start diminishing until the moon had almost completely obscured it. I also remember how the RAF sent up a C-130 Hercules above the clouds to broadcast footage in case the view on the ground was blocked, though from where we were located we could see it just fine.

[Bedlam]

I should have put more effort into watching the 1999 one, I was well placed for it but working in a Salmon Smoking factory at that time. Most of the staff popped out to see it but I spent the entire time in a large freezer stacking boxes of fish instead.

[His Divine Shadow]

TIL that Al Bundy has a black belt in brazilian jiu-jitsu

[Raw Shark]

TIL that Al Bundy has a black belt in brazilian jiu-jitsu

I've always thought of Al Bundy's fighting style as, "I-Don't-Have-Any-Fucks-Left-Fu." Less a formal body of techniques than a state of mind, he is able to focus his self-hatred into an implement of mutually assured destruction so pure he's more or less using the Dark Side of The Force. But if you mean the actor Ed O'Neill, yeah he's pretty serious about BJJ.

[LadyTevar]

TIL that even if they tell you "Your appointment is now TELEMED", they do NOT MEAN 'stay by your home phone, we'll call you there'.

Oh no. I was supposed to go to Summersville like it was a REAL appointment, and see the PA while the doctor talked to us via phone app.

Would have been VERY NICE IF THEY'D SPECIFIED "GO TO YOUR APPOINTMENT AS NORMAL". Because TELEMED to me does not mean Office Visit.

[Zaune]

What was even the point in that...?

Anyway. On a slightly lighter note, TIL disabled bus passes take so long to show up in the mail that you get a two-week grace period to continue using an expired one. Saved me a non-trivial amount of money, that.

[Eternal_Freedom]

What was even the point in that...?

Anyway. On a slightly lighter note, TIL disabled bus passes take so long to show up in the mail that you get a two-week grace period to continue using an expired one. Saved me a non-trivial amount of money, that.

I am currently wrestling with that right now. Sad thing is, when I first got mine from Cardiff Council it was really easy. Ten minutes, in and out, no need for an appointment, gave it to me right then and there.

What they didn't mention, is that despite the card saying "valid until 2032" it gets turned off every 3 years so they can check you're still eligible for a disabled pass. Sure, because my fucking optic nerve is really gonna grow back, what part of "chronic, incurable condition" is unclear, ya twats.

ANd because I now live in the decidedly less helpful Rhondda Cynon Taff council area, to get one sorted I need a photo, proof of age, two proofs of address, and proof of disability.

Makes me wonder why I pay the fucking council tax frankly.

[LadyTevar]

What was even the point in that...?

Getting a 10-lead EKG done, mostly. The rest was just the basic checking of vitals.

TIL They have a way to hear a person's heart/lungs via Telemed. Not sure how loud it was for him but it worked.

[Zaune]

I am currently wrestling with that right now. Sad thing is, when I first got mine from Cardiff Council it was really easy. Ten minutes, in and out, no need for an appointment, gave it to me right then and there.

What they didn't mention, is that despite the card saying "valid until 2032" it gets turned off every 3 years so they can check you're still eligible for a disabled pass. Sure, because my fucking optic nerve is really gonna grow back, what part of "chronic, incurable condition" is unclear, ya twats.

ANd because I now live in the decidedly less helpful Rhondda Cynon Taff council area, to get one sorted I need a photo, proof of age, two proofs of address, and proof of disability.

Makes me wonder why I pay the fucking council tax frankly.

Weird. I guess my local council handle it a bit differently: The renewal process is dead simple, just go to any library (that hasn't been closed down because the Tories ran our county council into the ground...) and give your details. Then wait two weeks for it to show up. I think mine was only valid for three years in the first place though.

[His Divine Shadow]

Swapped out studded winter tires to summer tires again. For the first time I used a torque wrench to pull them to spec (~105nm / 76ft-lbs) and holy crap that's nothing. I have tightened the bolts a lot harder by hand all the 24 years I've been driving.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL that OJ Simpson just died.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

And that Virgin Holidays are pushing ads for holidaying in Israel of all places.