Today I learned +

[Ryujin]

TIL that Nord VPN will send you an astronomical renewal bill, that's more than double the cost of your initial 2 year subscription, for only a single year, but if you go into your account and check the price of a renewal there, you can get another 2 years for about half the price of what was in their initial email

 

[Aeson]

A VPN? What are you trying to hide?

 

[Mad_Jack]

James Chadwick, who discovered neutrons, was a student of E. Rutherford, who discovered protons... E. Rutherford was a student of J.J. Thomson, the person who discovered electrons.

 

[MoonSong]

TIL Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame was a heavy drinker during the filming of said documentary. All of the extreme effects reported during the physicals featured in the movie were in fact the result of him drinking a lot.

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Also learned that Raccoons living in US cities are starting to evolve rounder faces, larger eyes, floppy ears and exhibit less aggressive and more playful behavior. All of which are markers/signs of domestication. So in a few decades they might be suitable as pets.

Related trivia, we humans ourselves might count as domesticated animals. We exhibit a lot of these traits too.

 

[Dioltach]

TIL that Nord VPN will send you an astronomical renewal bill, that's more than double the cost of your initial 2 year subscription, for only a single year, but if you go into your account and check the price of a renewal there, you can get another 2 years for about half the price of what was in their initial email

Last year, when I wanted to cancel my SPOT subscription because it had gone up by 50% within the space of a few years, I learned that they have a non-advertised option of paying a small flat rate per year, plus a monthly fee if and when you're actively using your device. It's saved me about 200 euros per year.

 

[Scribe]

'Tiktok is bad for you'.

https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2026-89350-001.pdf

 

[Autumnal]

The ancient Egyptian name for cats, the oldest known human word for the species, was miw.
Cats be catting. Also of note, there are no known ancient Egyptian superstitions about cats as bad luck or anything. From current reading: “Moreover, unlike all other peoples who have kept cats, the Egyptians seem to have felt no ambivalence toward their feline pets: there is no evidence that they saw anything in them that was not pleasant and benign.”

And: “By the fourth century [AD], domestic cats must have been prowling around British towns, for one left its footprints on some tiles laid out to dry beside a factory in Silchester.”

 

[Meech17]

The ancient Egyptian name for cats, the oldest known human word for the species, was miw.
Cats be catting. Also of note, there are no known ancient Egyptian superstitions about cats as bad luck or anything. From current reading: “Moreover, unlike all other peoples who have kept cats, the Egyptians seem to have felt no ambivalence toward their feline pets: there is no evidence that they saw anything in them that was not pleasant and benign.”

And: “By the fourth century [AD], domestic cats must have been prowling around British towns, for one left its footprints on some tiles laid out to dry beside a factory in Silchester.”

I wonder how similar ancient cats were to modern domestic cats.

I'm just imagining some ancient Egyptian being frustrated showing up to work and realizing his new good robes were covered in cat hair.

 

[Autumnal]

Pretty similar, I gather. Egyptian paintings show cats sitting under people’s chairs at banquets, drinking from bowls set down for them and straining at leashes to get scraps of food. A powerful scribe commissioned a tomb painting of him doing his favorite thing, hunting with his wife, daughter, and cat. The afterlife is full of abundant prey for everyone, and the cat has caught three birds.

The major changes appear to be the usual domestication thing of retaining childhood features into adulthood. More vocalization, more hanging around with family and social groups, more playfulness, and like that.

Muhammad chose to cut off the sleeve of his robe rather than wake the cat who was sleeping on it, so they were certainly modern by then.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Cats had us trained a long time ago.

I for one am totally pussy whipped.

(am I using that phrase right?)