General

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

mwalsh — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:12:31 GMT

Yeah- supposedly one area was in the Mississippi/Alabama area- based on rituals/languages- I found this in the same book as the Ze Heng thing of him circumnavigating before Magellean did.

That there are nerves in your joints that register shifts in pressure/position only, and are the reason you know where your limbs will be, allowing you to stand on 2 feet.

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Prateek Sanjay — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:45:53 GMT

There was a rumour (and possibly a hoax) that there have been Welsh-speaking tribes in modern day Canada and America, before the European started colonizing it, and there was another rumour that a Welsh prince Madog first built a colony there in medieval times.

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Marko — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:22:50 GMT

Some pop science writer named Robert Felix believes oil is abiotic,

Don't know who Robert Felix is, but this is not so unusual. There is the several decades old Russian-Ukrainian theory which believes the same:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/crispin/crispin11.html

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/II27Ag01.html

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Laotzu del Zinn — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:43:41 GMT

and evolution of species is caused by bombardment of cosmic rays and happens instantly, instead of leaps

Technically that would be how mutation happens (some of it, at least). Evolution, by definition happens over time; mutation proves effective at keeping alive/ mating, if successful enough the trait overtakes the population.

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

SirThinkALot — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:36:12 GMT

and evolution of species is caused by bombardment of cosmic rays and happens instantly, instead of leaps.

Of corse thats how it works. Havent you ever read The Fantastic 4?

Then again radiation was the phlembotiam of silver age Marvel comics....

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

AdrianHealey — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:30:30 GMT

mwalsh:

that you need to construct additional pylons

This is so ********* true!

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Dabba — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:23:51 GMT

Albert Einstein was a socialist :(

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

mwalsh — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:57:49 GMT

1 gill = 4 fluid ounces

1 abampere= 10 ampere

1 abmho = 1000000000 siemens

1 acre = 10 square chain

1 kip = 1000 lbf

[A while ago, but...] Paul Revere never made his famous midnight ride- he was passed out drunk in Medford Square on Old Mr. Boston (or what it was called back then)

that there are now 5 states of matter- solid, liquid, gas, plasma, bose-einstein condenstate (and this was a 5th grade science book)

that you need to construct additional pylons

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

cporter — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:51:50 GMT

Studen:
the meaning of balls to the wall

Interesting, I didn't know that. So that's my entry as well. :)

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Student — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:48:49 GMT

the meaning of balls to the wall

term used by pilots. when accelerating quickly, the throttle is pushed all the way to the panel and the throttle lever (ball) actually touches the panel (wall). Hence, balls to the wall.

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Bert — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:40:47 GMT

assimilateur, you may find a lot of people in Asatru don't take the Eddas and myths as literal fact, unlike a lot of people who take a lot of the things in the Bible as factual history, but I do enjoy the picture, and I'll respond with:

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

fakename — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:38:36 GMT

Things I didn't know until now...

Apparently the Trinity is a real ordering amongst three persons in God who are the same thing but differentiated according to logical order. That is, the Son exists as a different & separate manifestation of the Father just as human utterance is just a separate but nevertheless identical manifestation of the human thought. The relationship between thought and word I believe is very much similar to the relationship between one person of the Trinity and another.

There might be more things to define knowledge except true justified belief or justification is just equal to reliability.

People probably weren't eating watermelons until the muslim empire began to import them from india.

The mayans believed in something called Ik which was a lifeforce of the universe and they sacrificed to their gods to aid them in keeping the world from dying out. There may've been some social upheaval in 700s AD Teothihuacan.

I finally figured out why I kept sucking at the quadratic formula back in the day: I always forgot to consistently apply PEMDAS -damn that PEMDAS!

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

assimilateur — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:30:08 GMT

It is just as legitimate as any of the other largely practiced religions, and should deserve the same respect.

I agree.

Re: Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Bert — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:09:19 GMT

Besides what Liberte/Vichy Army has to say about it, Asatru (or more bluntly Norse Heathenry or Heathenism, sometimes referred to as Odinism), is a pre-Christian European religion that predates Christianity that almost died out completely due to Christian persecution of anything heathen in Europe. Most modern traditions in Christianity were taken from Asatru (Christmas and Easter, for example), and even the days of the week are named after Norse gods. This was a rather secretive and adoptive way to keep the tradition going through an alien religion/culture. Asatru is still practiced today, and growing amongst those who are turning their back to an alien eastern cult and looking to their own ancestry. It is just as legitimate as any of the other largely practiced religions, and should deserve the same respect.

Wicca is just some mishmash of various pagan religions who's main tenets are: nature. It's nothing more than some fluffy white magic nonsense practiced by teenagers and hysterical adults. It has no real connection to any pagan religion. If you ever meet a Wiccan, smite them.

Interesting things you didn't know until recently...

Interesting things you didn't know until recently.

Prateek Sanjay — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 17:36:10 GMT

I'll start.

The word Islam predates Prophet Mohammed's Islam itself (who may have borrowed from that Islam), and according to Jewish Rabbi Abrahamson, it was once used to refer to another Mediterranean culture that coexisted with Hebrews, attended some of their practices, and even adopted a few of them. Also known as Yiras Shamyam, and perhaps now what are now known as Kakaite Jews.

Some pop science writer named Robert Felix believes oil is abiotic, and evolution of species is caused by bombardment of cosmic rays and happens instantly, instead of leaps.

Mexican financial institutions often lend only in more stable foreign currency, lest easily inflated domestic currency end up favouring their debtors over them.