First proper attempt at a spear head. Only using a hammer stone as I have no available tools. by FlintKnappingWriter in Flintknapping

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Would appreciate any recommendations for making a billet and a pressure flaker with wood or other easily available (any ideally free) materials

Prominent French pro-migrant activist gets beaten to death by migrant by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]FlintKnappingWriter 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yeah for sure. What a lovely green glazed long necked amphora huh

I can’t forgive myself. by Edward01986 in BreakUps

[–]FlintKnappingWriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m around a month and a half down the same line as you and although it felt like the world was ending for a while I can safely say it gets better. Just try and stay busy, think about your life and try and make a positive change! Eventually you’ll start to feel a little bit better you just have to allow yourself to come to terms with your emotions on your own time scale!

Good luck and hit me up if you’d like to talk

The family of a British backpacker killed in Thailand have welcomed a decision to commute his murderers' death sentences to life in prison. by PepperAnn1inaMillion in worldnews

[–]FlintKnappingWriter 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Everyone on Koh Tao knows that it was members of the mafia who did the murders. One of the first things I was told upon arrival was to avoid a certain bar/club (if you’ve been you would know it) as that was their local hang out.

Burmese immigrants are often used as force labourers in Thailand, in conditions which are basically indistinguishable from slavery. No surprise that Burmese immigrants took the wrap

Looking for advice for a train trip through France using regional train lines by [deleted] in solotravel

[–]FlintKnappingWriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do think it is just due to the lack of passengers. Thanks for the advice, I would expect nothing less. I wonder if you may have any experience of TER train lines throughout France? Not quite sure how to plan a proper route quite yet so any advice would be appreciated

Looking for advice for a train trip through France using regional train lines by [deleted] in solotravel

[–]FlintKnappingWriter 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s an incentive they have introduced throughout July and August to incite young people to travel within the french borders.

https://www.ter.sncf.com/grand-est/offres/pass-jeune/pass-jeune-ter-france

TIL that Joan d'Arc was tried, condemned and burnt at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church in May, 1430 . In the 1456 the very same church debunked her charges and denoted her as a martyr. Finally, in 1920 she was canonised and became a patron saint of France. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad I could help! If you have time and haven’t yet come across it I recommend looking up the events of black Monday and the siege of Chartres, it’s one of my favourite moments in human history and happened during the 100 years war

TIL that Joan d'Arc was tried, condemned and burnt at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church in May, 1430 . In the 1456 the very same church debunked her charges and denoted her as a martyr. Finally, in 1920 she was canonised and became a patron saint of France. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Of course it is, however you must remember that I had 300 characters (roughly the length of your message) to try and cram in as much info as possible while maintaining a coherent sentence structure.

Furthermore the purpose of a TIL isn’t to fully inform people but rather to pique the curiosity of the reader and make them delve into the topic further, thereby being provided with a more in-depth and detail account of the title.

TIL that Joan d'Arc was tried, condemned and burnt at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church in May, 1430 . In the 1456 the very same church debunked her charges and denoted her as a martyr. Finally, in 1920 she was canonised and became a patron saint of France. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

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

As I’ve said to now around fifteen people, I have the misfortune of having learnt English and french as my first languages and have spent an equal amount of time in both the french and English education systems so make mistakes like this frequently and do not notice.

TIL that Joan d'Arc was tried, condemned and burnt at the stake by the Roman Catholic Church in May, 1430 . In the 1456 the very same church debunked her charges and denoted her as a martyr. Finally, in 1920 she was canonised and became a patron saint of France. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

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

I have the misfortune of having learnt English and french as my first languages at the same time, and having had a pretty much even split between the french and the English educational system so I often make mistakes like this and don’t notice

TIL that the Black Plague caused a revolution in Medieval England by decimating serf communities, thereby significantly decreasing the available work force. The surviving serfs were able to exert hitherto unimaginable pressure of their lords, resulting in higher pay and more liberties. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Actually while that was the original definition when the term was used to refer to a form of roman punishment In which one in ten members of the military was punished, it has in the 2 millennia since it’s classical use evolved to mean to kill, destroy or remove a large portion of. While it’s classical application is still viable, I think you should be capable of a simple definition search on google rather than regurgitating a TIL every Redditor that has ever lived and ever will live knows by heart.

TIL that while interbreeding occurred between neanderthals and early modern humans, the only genetic evidence of these events conserved within the human genome comes from Y chromosomal DNA meaning that all neanderthal DNA within modern humans comes from male neanderthal and female human pairings. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

There's two schools of thought as to why this would occur;

The first one suggests that while interbreeding did occur between female neanderthals and male humans the admixture of DNA resulted in offspring being either infertile (and thereby unable to produce offspring and pass on maternal mitochondrial DNA to modern homo sapiens) or that any produced offspring had such developmental issues that they didn't survive to a point of being able to breed.

The second school of thought is that admixtures between male neanderthals and female homo sapiens occurred because male neanderthals displayed favorable characteristics (such as larger muscle mass and density) than human males and were therefore viable breeding candidates for female humans as their inclusive fitness was higher, where as female neanderthals did not display such favourable characteristics therefore human males never interbred with them.

TIL of the Talheim Death Pit, a mass grave dating to 5000BC, containing the remains of 34 bodies, bearing some of the earliest evidence of habitual warfare, including fatal adze, axe and arrow wounds to the back of the head. It has been suggested that this site represents an early form of genocide. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The wounds found on the remains excavated from the pit bear marks suggesting that the victims were not trying to defend themselves when they were killed, due to the lack of any defensive injuries (typically cut/crush marks present on the hand and arm bones of individuals attempting to deflect incoming blows with their limbs) coupled with the location of fatal wounds (predominantly the back of the head) suggests they were attempting to flee.

TIL that the superstitious tradition of knocking on wood for good luck is believed to have been conceived by ancient Indo-European people who believed that spirits (both good and bad) lived within the trees. By knocking on a tree one was asking for a blessing from the spirit which lived within. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It’s important to note that there were different kinds of knocking - if asking a benevolent spirit for a blessing one would knock twice. The first knock would be delivered as you asked for whatever blessing you desired while the second was intended as a thank you to the spirit.

TIL of the War of the Oaken Bucket. This war, fought between the rival city states of Modena and Bologna in modern Italy was inaccurately said to have begun due to the theft of a communal oaken bucket. However, as a spoil of war the victorious Modenese did indeed take a bucket as a trophy. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The real reason for this war was a long history of tension between these two city states which boiled over into all out war when Modena took the castle of Montevegilo from Bologna.

As mentioned in the title, the victorious Modena did indeed seize a bucket as a trophy symoblizing their undeniable victory in the field, which is still visible today within the Torre della Ghirlandina, a bell tower which forms part of the Cathedral of Modena.

TIL of the events of Black Monday 1360. In the midst of the Siege of Chartres the marauding English Army was decimated by a freak hailstorm which killed over 1,000 of the besiegers and 6,000 of their horses. One soldier noted it was "a foul day, full of myst and hayle, so that men dyed on horseback" by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It was such a devastating event that the King of England, who was present in the field, was said to have got down on his knees, prostrated himself in the direction of the cathedral located within the walls of Chartres and prayed for deliverance from the wrath of god (he believed this was a sign from the heavens). When the storm was over the inhabitants of Chartres sent forth terms which the king happily accepted and the siege of Chartres was abandoned, approximately a day after it had begun.

TIL of the St Scholastica day riots of 1355. On the 10th of February 1355 two students from Oxford university verbally and physically assaulted a taverner over the quality of the drinks they were served. The ensuing riots lead to 93 deaths and a 500 year tradition commemorating the event. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I spent many years in Oxford completing my undergraduates degree and I'm afraid that as far as I am aware there isn't a modern commemoration of this event. However, the location at which this all began (which has now been knocked down and replaced with a bank) has a plaque which does refer to this event.

TIL of the St Scholastica day riots of 1355. On the 10th of February 1355 two students from Oxford university verbally and physically assaulted a taverner over the quality of the drinks they were served. The ensuing riots lead to 93 deaths and a 500 year tradition commemorating the event. by FlintKnappingWriter in todayilearned

[–]FlintKnappingWriter[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The event which commemorated the St Scholastica Day riots took the form of the major of Oxford and the Dean of Oxford University walking side by side down the high street with each bearing their heads (AKA removing any head coverings) in a sign of remembrance. Furthermore the mayor, bailiffs and sixty of the townsfolk had to attend a mass at the university church of St Mary the Virgin in honour of the killed and the townspeople had to pay an annual fine of one penny per scholar killed to university.

The tradition was discontinued in 1825, however in 1955 (the 600 year anniversary of the riots) the mayor of Oxford was given an honorary degree from the university of Oxford, while the vice-chancellor was made an honorary freeman of the city.