Today I learned +

[Reynard]

Wait until you hear about the Northrop-Grumman Manta Ray.

I am more terrified of Andruil's offerings in the autonomous fighter jet space...

 

[John R Davis]

I learned how fascinated I could be, watching for hours n hours, UK MPs individually taking the oath of loyalty in parliament.
A few things annoyed me, but won't mention in a + thread.

 

[Rabulias]

Not something I learned today, but did you know the threaded metal screw dates back to 1775? And was being mass-produced by 1798 or so?

Not too surprising. The concept of the screw, one of the Simple Machines, has been around since the ancient Greeks or older.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It's a generational thing. When I was a teen in the late 00's and early 10's ('Round the turn of the century I like to say) it was seriously uncool to have exposed socks. No-Shows were the norm, and it was often practice that if your parents purchased you crew socks, you'd fold them down over your heel to mimic the look of no-shows. Zoomers however have taken to dressing like my parents did when I was a kid in the 90's. Long white socks. Light washed, high waisted jeans and.... even jorts

I've personally always been, and still am a fan of ankle socks. The ones that come up just about an inch or so above the shoe line.

Re: socks

As a kid => young adulthood, I essentially had only black dress socks and white athletic/crew socks with colored stripes about calf height.

When monochrome white crews became more readily available, they became my athletic sock of choice.

Somewhen in the late 1990s, I found ankle height athletic/boot weigh socks in blacks, grays & browns and started buying those. White crews disappeared from my wardrobe.

And then around 2010 or so, I got a lot more concerned about stylistic choices across my entire wardrobe. My socks- dress, dress casual, and crew/boots- became more colorful in general, and more complex patterns & designs appeared. I got rid of the ankle socks; almost everything I own hits between the calf & knee.

And I have soooo many…

 

[billd91]

While not surprised that other fandoms are toxic, today I learned what one of the fast up-and-coming toxic fandoms is: Bridgerton.

‘Sorry, we don’t want lesbians’: Bridgerton’s problem with racism, homophobia and body-shaming

From petitions against LGBT romances to actors being deluged with racist comments, the Regency drama has a huge toxicity problem in its fandom – to the detriment of some of its stars’ mental health

www.theguardian.com

 

[Reynard]

While not surprised that other fandoms are toxic, today I learned what one of the fast up-and-coming toxic fandoms is: Bridgerton.

‘Sorry, we don’t want lesbians’: Bridgerton’s problem with racism, homophobia and body-shaming

From petitions against LGBT romances to actors being deluged with racist comments, the Regency drama has a huge toxicity problem in its fandom – to the detriment of some of its stars’ mental health

www.theguardian.com

This isn't really the kind of thing this thread is intended for. Maybe post it in Snarf's thread on similar topics?

 

[Reynard]

Today I learned from the most recent episode of the Our Fake History podcast that in the original games at Olympia, all free men could compete and so a farmer could wrestle and defeat a noble or even king, and that Alexander the Great (after he made Macedonians into Greeks -- I also learned they were considered barbarians before Alexander) refused to compete in the games because "it was beneath him" and "he only competed against kings."

 

[R_J_K75]

It was so cheap and considered such crap that it was fed to prisoners.

Lobster

 

[Richards]

I never realized (until today) that the band Sweet - which I considered a "two-hit wonder" due to "Fox on the Run" and "Ballroom Blitz" - also did "Love is Like Oxygen." I'd heard the song before, but never knew who sang it. And now I know.

Johnathan

 

[R_J_K75]

I read this the other day and I think I've heard it before but anyhow, the Beatles "Yesterday" is the most covered song ever. It's been covered over 2,200 times. If it's so covered, why have I never heard not even one other version before?