Today I Learned

  • Thread starter Greg Bernhardt
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In summary: Today I learned that Lagrange was Italian and that he lamented the execution of Lavoisier in France during the French Revolution with the quote:"It took them only an instant to cut off this head and a hundred years might not suffice to reproduce it's...brains."
  • #4,446
pinball1970 said:
is my dog could attack a stranger and there is absolutely no way to find out why.
Once I've heard a case about a dog continuously harassing groups of guests (only groups!).
Needed an expert to clarify that it's not attacking. It's herding o0)
 
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  • #4,447
Rive said:
Once I've heard a case about a dog continuously harassing groups of guests (only groups!).
Needed an expert to clarify that it's not attacking. It's herding o0)
You mean it herded them agrssively like sheep? :)
 
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  • #4,448
Yes. It was in the breed. But it never ever seen a sheep, so ... found it's own way :doh:
 
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  • #4,449
sbrothy said:
You mean it herded them agrssively like sheep? :)
Smart dog. Groups of people are sheep!
 
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  • #4,450
Rive said:
Yes. It was in the breed. But it never ever seen a sheep, so ... found it's own way :doh:
Hahaa. "Line up people! Humor the dog please!" :)
 
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  • #4,451
sbrothy said:
who claim that their dog "doesn't like men", or "doesn't like people of color"(?!).

This leaves me completely baffled! Is your dog a racist?! The explanation must be that the owner feels unsafe around men or people of color and the dog pic
Yes that is the way a few of them are, but it is based on the dog's experiences. A dog may come to quick judgements according to how people treated him/it. One would imagine that the dog can be reconditioned also, but that would be for some canine behaviorist to explain.
 
  • #4,452
fresh_42 said:
Smart dog. Groups of people are sheep!
THAT poetically explains many things, do you'all realize!
 
  • #4,453
sbrothy said:
Hahaa. "Line up people! Humor the dog please!" :)
That is a sensible way of viewing it.
 
  • #4,454
sbrothy said:
People are weird.
Dogs are color blind.
However, there are other clues they could use for distinguishing race, like their owner's reactions.
 
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  • #4,457
TIL that there is something called Diesel pest or maybe Diesel plague in English, I don't know. We add Bio Diesel these days and that contains bacteria. If a boat lies unused in the harbor for longer then there will grow a slimy compound at the bottom of the tank consisting of those bacteria. This slimy material diffuses into the normal part of Diesel if the boat is moved again and clogs filters and fuel lines.

(Story told by a coast guard of the Kiel channel who reported about recreational boats that get stuck in the channel because of it.)
 
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  • #4,458
Tower in Frankfurt:
"LH 343 descend on flight level 3,000"

Tower in Paris:
"AF 343 descendre au niveau de vol 3,000" ##^*)##

Now, if even a modern country like France frankly ignores IATA regulations, imagine Russia, China, and the rest of the world!##^*)## I couldn't hear whether they - at least - still use feet or even change heights into meters.
 
  • #4,459
Today I Learned
Windows 10 has an included video editor as part of the Photos application.
If it is sufficient, then a user might not need to try or use something like OpenShot or ShotCut or others like those.
 
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  • #4,460
Rive said:
Once I've heard a case about a dog continuously harassing groups of guests (only groups!).
Needed an expert to clarify that it's not attacking. It's herding o0)
But isn't herding, taught and bred for by humans, based on wolves' original clever hunting tactic?
 
  • #4,461
epenguin said:
But isn't herding, taught and bred for by humans, based on wolves' original clever hunting tactic?
APPROXIMATELY so. Look for information about the various breeds and the Predatory Sequence.
 
  • #4,462
epenguin said:
But isn't herding, taught and bred for by humans, based on wolves' original clever hunting tactic?
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  • #4,463
Organizational consultant.
 
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  • #4,464
symbolipoint said:
Yes that is the way a few of them are, but it is based on the dog's experiences. A dog may come to quick judgements according to how people treated him/it.
This is my understanding too.

Dogs who have experienced trauma may make associations that follow them. I recall a (possibly apocryphal) story about a dog that hated coppers because of the big shiny buttons on their uniforms.

Their judgments can be 'men', or even 'dark-skinned men'. Since those are generalizations from the individual to the group, then technically yes, some dogs can be sexist and/or racist.
 
  • #4,465
TIL that Backstroke Starting Ledges have been in use in international competition since 2013. I'm not sure how I could have missed this with all the time I spend in the workout pool and watching meets, but today I was watching a Pro International swim meet from Mission Viejo in Southern California, and noticed the meet officials putting something into the water at the starting blocks before the 200m backstroke event. I did a Google search, and found that FINA made them legal in 2013 to improve backstroke starts.

1654461317034.png
 

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  • #4,466
berkeman said:
TIL that Backstroke Starting Ledges have been in use in international competition since 2013. I'm not sure how I could have missed this with all the time I spend in the workout pool and watching meets, but today I was watching a Pro International swim meet from Mission Viejo in Southern California, and noticed the meet officials putting something into the water at the starting blocks before the 200m backstroke event. I did a Google search, and found that FINA made them legal in 2013 to improve backstroke starts.

View attachment 302453
We used the gutters that ran the perimeter of the baths when we were kids. It did the job ok. Most of those old Victorian baths are gone now, shame.
 
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  • #4,467
DaveC426913 said:
This is my understanding too.

Dogs who have experienced trauma may make associations that follow them. I recall a (possibly apocryphal) story about a dog that hated coppers because of the big shiny buttons on their uniforms.

Their judgments can be 'men', or even 'dark-skinned men'. Since those are generalizations from the individual to the group, then technically yes, some dogs can be sexist and/or racist.
Or just the wrong sort of movement. My friend had a Japanese Akita and we spent the day together with the kids.
No issues till we got to the house and was joking around and I put my hand on his shoulder.
The dog did not bark or growl, it silently darted across the room jumped up and bit my arm just below the shoulder.

I had a thick bikers leather on which probably stopped the bite from going through my skin.

All day today together but one move took as aggression and it pounced.
I had a bite shape bruise on my arm for a week or so.
They are aggressive dogs but are supposed to be ok with kids and strangers if trained properly.

No issues since with anyone else, I kept my distance after that.
 
  • #4,468
fresh_42 said:
TIL that there is something called Diesel pest or maybe Diesel plague in English, I don't know.
We call it "Diesel bug".
 
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  • #4,469
I have a childhood memory of reading in the children's Encyclopedia about something or other that Benjamin Franklin did with lightning. Another one later of the physics teacher saying he nearly got a death certificate from the experiment. But somehow I can't remember ever knowing exactly what he did beyond it involving flying a kite in a thunderstorm (on this day, Jun 10, 1752). (I just thought he captured from it some electricity in a Leyden jar and showed it did the same things electrical charges were then known to do.)

Today I learned that nobody else is quite sure either.

https://www.history.com/news/benjamin-franklin-kite-experiment-electricity

And this recounts that somebody else did get his death from such an experiment.

Franklin surely did make contributions to electrical science. Including the lightning conductor, which has surely saved many lives and much property.

What I do remember and maybe TYL is that Franklin's lightning conductors were pointed. As they came in there was a British electrician (the word 'scientist' did not yet exist) who maintained that a round ending was more efficacious protection. As the other type was the invention of an American rebel the question became political, and your choice of lightning conductor shape manifested whether you were a supporter or opponent of the Kings Government.
 
  • #4,470
Hi @epenquin:

I am wondering what you use of "TYL" means. I looked at https://www.abbreviations.com/TYL and decided it was probably "Thank You Lord". Did I get it right?

Regards,
Buzz
 
  • #4,471
"Today You Learned", IMNSHO.
 
  • #4,472
fresh_42 said:
##^*)## I couldn't hear whether they - at least - still use feet or even change heights into meters.

If that were the case, we would receive far more reports of Boeing aircraft smashing into the French countryside than we do; that's what happens if you give pilots instructions in units approximately three times the size of those used by their instruments.
 
  • #4,473
hmmm27 said:
"Today You Learned", IMNSHO.
Yes. (Whatever IMSNHO is).
 
  • #4,474
In My Not So Humble Opinion...
 
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  • #4,475
Greg Bernhardt said:
SMS messaging shorthand ("text-message-speak"), such as using "u" for "you", "please" for "please", or "wanna" for "want to" is not acceptable.
Just saying. :cool:
 
  • #4,476
fresh_42 said:
Just saying. :cool:
Ah but where deos one draw the line between acronyms and Textspeak?
 
  • #4,477
DaveC426913 said:
Ah but where deos one draw the line between acronyms and Textspeak?
In the sand, of course. Often just before a storm of next-generation users takes over
 
  • #4,478
Tom.G said:
In the sand, of course. Often just before a storm of next-generation users takes over
Internet haboob.
 
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  • #4,480
sbrothy said:
Today I learned that turtles can breathe using their butt.
A skill essential for success in the social sciences.
 
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