Today I learned +

[Ryujin]

Today I learned lemmings leap off cliffs to their deaths as a thing to do is a myth. I also learned it's because of Disney. AND Disney won an Oscar for murdering innocent lemmings.

Do Lemmings Really Commit Mass Suicide? | Britannica

Is it true that groups of lemmings jump off seaside cliffs to their deaths?

www.britannica.com

A lemming
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Who on earth would throw such an adorable little creature into a river for a film?

I remember when "The Fifth Estate" broke the story, in Canada, in the '80s. The show was kind of our version of "60 Minutes." It was disgusting. Of course while watching it on "The Wonderful World of Disney", on Sunday night, we all believed it.

*EDIT - Here's the whole programme.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I'm not surprised people still have trouble with boars or feral hogs, but I'd have thought a blast of double-0 buck to the face would be sufficiently discouraging the boar spear was no longer necessary.

If all you have is a shotgun, you don't ever want to let a boar get into the range where buck shot would do more than tickle them. Solid slugs if anything. Anything other than rifle fire will barely slow them down unless you get a perfect head shot.
Most of the time, boars are taken down by harrying them with dogs who can keep the boar in one place long enough to get them with the spear or if necessary a close-range headshot. Boar spears have the crossbar on them to keep the boar from pushing its body right up the entire length of the spear to get to you.
Best practice is to shoot them from a distance, but if they charge and you're close enough that you can't guarantee stopping them before they close with you, you're better off after the initial shots if you sling your rifle and set for their charge with the spear. Assuming they don't just plow you over anyway, you hold them pinned long enough to either bleed out or exhaust themselves enough to pull your side arm and put a round or two in their head to be sure.

 

[Bohandas]

Actually learned this about a year but it's interesting. The Githyanki were originally created by George R.R. Martin (although Martin's stories didn't really flesh them out beyond the idea of them being a race of psychics who are the slaves of another, more powerful, race of psychics)

 

[briggart]

If all you have is a shotgun, you don't ever want to let a boar get into the range where buck shot would do more than tickle them. Solid slugs if anything. Anything other than rifle fire will barely slow them down unless you get a perfect head shot.
Most of the time, boars are taken down by harrying them with dogs who can keep the boar in one place long enough to get them with the spear or if necessary a close-range headshot. Boar spears have the crossbar on them to keep the boar from pushing its body right up the entire length of the spear to get to you.
Best practice is to shoot them from a distance, but if they charge and you're close enough that you can't guarantee stopping them before they close with you, you're better off after the initial shots if you sling your rifle and set for their charge with the spear. Assuming they don't just plow you over anyway, you hold them pinned long enough to either bleed out or exhaust themselves enough to pull your side arm and put a round or two in their head to be sure.

 

[Blue]

Today I learned that ChatGPT has a number of words it uses at a much higher frequency, which can be useful for following trends of usage in large published bodies of work.

 

[trappedslider]

All nerds should know this but TIL: 11 Aug 1942: U.S. actress Hedy Lamarr and U.S. composer George Antheil receive a patent for what becomes the basis for wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.

Happy wi-fi day!

 

[Scribe]

I'm reading about Piracy (history is wild) and found this little bit.

By the 1850s, slaves constituted 50% or more of the population of the Sulu archipelago.

 

[Ryujin]

TIL that the vocals only version of "Tom's Diner", by Suzanne Vega, was the test audio for MP3 encoding.

 

[Bohandas]

Tell me you don't know anything about philosophy without telling me you don't know anything about philosophy...

Ironically I can cite philosophers who back up my position. Diogenes of Sinope and Chuang Tzu were both concerned with the observation that much of philosophy is specious and/or overthought. When Zeno of Elea "proved" that motion is impossible Diogenes pointedly got up and walked off, solidly refuting Zeno in doing so.

Also, the biblical philosopher Qoheleth taught that everything is meaningless and arbitrary

 

[Mannahnin]

When Zeno of Elea "proved" that motion is impossible Diogenes pointedly got up and walked off, solidly refuting Zeno in doing so.

This and the plucked chicken are practical examples of cogent criticism, not dismissing the entire endeavor.