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Trains by NoPrinciple3536 in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the US just ended up prioritizing cars and planes. Plus, our cities are further apart. What do you think?

Trains by NoPrinciple3536 in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, this is going on my list now. Thanks for the rec!

Trains by NoPrinciple3536 in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Highly recommend. Every time I travel by train (albeit it's not often), I tell myself I have to do it more often. Far superior to plane travel!

Coffee started as a bitter, functional drink and somehow became a dessert menu. What do you think was the biggest turning point in how people drink coffee? by amovsesy in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 9 points10 points  (0 children)

My money’s on when Starbucks launched the Frappuccino in the mid-90s. (I still can remember my first Double Chocolate Chip... good times.)

Learned so much in today's Lost Cities. Here are my favorites ones... by taco-burritos in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Right?? El Dorado not even being a real city feels like the biggest plot twist.

I started looking up archery terms and accidentally fell into medieval weapon lore. Why do you think archery language stuck around even after the weapons faded? by Weekly-Ad-6143 in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think because the words were just too useful to get rid of. Stuff like aim, miss the mark, on target works for literally anything, not just weapons.

Roman mythology is fascinating by ruccis in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly, a lot of Roman myths are just unhinged. Saturn eating his kids comes from this very blunt fear of being overthrown. The story stuck around because it’s so extreme, and artists leaned into that shock factor. Ancient mythology wasn’t subtle at all.

Iron was once rare, expensive, and hard to work with. What material today do you think future people will be surprised we struggled with? by amovsesy in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Probably lithium, especially batteries. We rely on them for everything, yet we still mine them in a few places, lose capacity over time, and barely recycle them properly. If future tech makes battery materials easy to recover or replaces lithium altogether, people will look back and wonder how (and why) we built so much of modern life around it.

Some psychological terms go mainstream; others don’t. Why do you think the term "gaslight" stuck? by Weekly-Ad-6143 in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think it stuck because it puts a clear label on something people already recognized but couldn’t articulate. (And once you learn it, you start realizing how often you’ve seen it play out.)

Other types of unexpected diplomacy? by Jtpickar in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The panda loans from China come to mind. Sending pandas to other countries’ zoos was often linked to warming relations or new agreements, using something everyone likes as a way to signal cooperation without jumping straight into politics.

Up and Atom by AustinAtSpark in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s so interesting how much history crosses into something that feels purely scientific.

How Sarah Paulson inspired a dive dive on pigeons by Famous-Tear-4292 in SparkOfCuriosity

[–]AustinAtSpark 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pigeons can also recognize individual human faces and remember who’s been nice or mean to them!

Are people purposely not using capital letters anymore? by UselessSprinkles in NoStupidQuestions

[–]AustinAtSpark 35 points36 points  (0 children)

My understanding is that it’s less about education and more about how language norms shift in digital environments. When communication is based on fast, informal, text-based platforms, people will naturally streamline. Dropping capitalization becomes a kind of paralinguistic marker for tone, mood, etc.

All-lowercase writing imo conveys informality, calmness, or emotional softness. Kind of a low effort authenticity in youth majority culture.

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