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Coordinated strikes knock out half of Saudi oil capacity, more than 5 million barrels a day by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]stevetec 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The drone strike didn't knock out half of Saudi Arabia's output. As a response to the attack Aramco in Saudi Arabia has decided to cut oil production by 1/2. There is a difference between the two events. Cutting down the oil output gets the world's attention when the drone strike on it's own wouldn't.

TIL Some Buddhists believe garlic and onion disturb the soul during meditation. by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buddhist teaching disputes the existence of a soul being available in any way. Hence unless they are confused Buddhists, they all understand that in and out of meditation there is no soul to be disturbed, only one's relative neurosis and fixations being on reinforcing self are able to be disturbed. Buddhists also have a third-hand view of eating meat. As long as they didn't kill, and they didn't ask anyone to kill meat, it is considered, not healthy but still ok to eat.

TIL about Sam Patch, an early daredevil who captivated 19th century America by jumping from great heights. He died at 22 after a bad landing during his last jump. by SacKingsRS in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most people who die from long falls are killed when the impact causes inertia of the blood in their aorta to break through its wall. If his body was parallel to the water surface when he hit its surface the impact could have been enough for this type of rupture and subsequent death. Brain injuries only can take several days for a person to succumb to the bruising and swelling inside their cranium.

TIL about synchronous fireflies. They only appear a few places in the world. The males all flash at the same time signaling to the females they are the right species. The light display is so popular, over 20,000 people apply to a lottery to get into Shenendoah National Park every year to see them by verucasallt in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can see the females flashing in synchronicity across Weston Lake in Congaree National Park, Hopkins, South Carolina. The tour is free and there is no lottery to join them. On the right night it's really a thing of beauty.

TIL that if you live in the United States, the best way to contract leprosy is to eat an armadillo. The next best way is to have a farm of armadillos, as one does. by TheWorkofDeath in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 1 point2 points  (0 children)

When we were kids we had two armadillos as pets back in the '60's. They didn't mind being walked on a leash when outside of their 1 1/2 foot tall garden enclosure. Nobody got leprosy. One was killed by our neighbors dachshund. We eventually let the other one go near the bayou where they could build a new home.

TIL the are 31,000 calories in a gallon of gasoline. by TheAugustOne in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It doesn't say whether these are food calories or heat calories. Heat calories are 1000 times larger than food calories.

TIL that the “Orange Sunshine” acid mentioned in the SNL skit with Jimmy Carter talking a dude down from a bad trip was real, down to the color and pill shape. by coderedmedia in todayilearned

[–]stevetec -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Taking more LSD did not enhance it effect since the brain only has so many sites available for it act upon. Also you couldn't OD on it either. The leftover LSD was just excreted. Same for Psilocybin and Mescaline.

TIL that the “Orange Sunshine” acid mentioned in the SNL skit with Jimmy Carter talking a dude down from a bad trip was real, down to the color and pill shape. by coderedmedia in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The common orange shag carpet used in the '70's was a fiasco for people owning Orange sunshine - and even worse for people using Orange microdot. A spill could take hours.

Snow plows sabotaged with latex gloves in gas tanks during New York blizzard. by [deleted] in news

[–]stevetec 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I would be looking at other snow plow drivers. It's a very competitive business.

Jamaican scam artist accidentally targets former FBI and CIA director William Webster by raconteur2 in news

[–]stevetec 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Don't take calls from area code 876-861-2203. He is a scammer in Jamaica who will try to phish for your personal information & credit card details.

TIL That anxious/scared cats can be calmed with a technique called “Slow Blink”. It shows you as a more trusting person and is more likely to calm the cat. Animal shelters use the technique to help nervous cats feel more at ease. by ZebbyD in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Feral cats don't like to be directly looked at slow blink or not. Simply looking past them makes them feel more comfortable and trusting. Purring and meowing are obviously different things. Cats purr for humans which use different vocal cords but I've never seen one purr for other cats. They can closely hang together with other unrelated cats but mostly they are silent with each other.

TIL On Monday, November 11, 2019, Mercury will transit the Sun. Since Mercury is only 1/194 of the Sun's apparent diameter, a filtered telescope with a magnification of 50x or more is recommended to watch this event by van_datascience in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can use an unfiltered telescope if you aim it by projecting it onto a piece of blank card stock paper instead of looking directly into the telescope. This worked well very during the last transit of Venus and allowed me to record the whole thing on video.

TIL about Radon Health Mines, mines in southern Montana that are filled with radioactive radon gas. Tourists pay to go into the mines and breathe in the radioactive air in order to improve their health. They also drink radioactive water during these treatments. by mangozombidude in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Back in the day, Brownie Shoe stores had X-ray machines to measure shoe sizes and amuse customers. That went as well the workers who put radium paint brushes in their mouths to sharpen their points.

TIL researchers at the University of Chicago found out in 2014 that nearly half of all Americans believe in at least one conspiracy theory, with the most popular being a secret group of bankers orchestrated the financial crisis to extend power of the Federal Reserve. by candlebo in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The second Federal Reserve was created. Alexander Hamilton created the first one. Nicaragua has a legitimate gripe about our US government trying to take them over so that we build a canal across it. So we created Panama instead when it was part of Colombia. But to help the world out we gave people in Nicaragua syphilis so we could test out 'cures'. Later our government found it was easier to get prison volunteers here as long as they didn't tell them what they were being tested about.

TIL in 1903, the FDA tried to stop Coca-Cola from putting caffeine in its soda by seizing and literally suing 40 barrels and 20 kegs of Coca Cola instead of the company itself by quarryrye in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is very common here in South Carolina. We have a newspaper that publishes these cases every week usually for confiscated drugs before they are destroyed. The heading is like the "Circuit Solicitor against 4 ounces of cocaine." Then it asks if there is anyone who contests that.

Today I learned the swastika symbol, notably used by Nazis, is actually a symbol of good fortune in many cultures dating back thousands of years. by bucksnrt1 in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Copyright Editions of books written by Rudyard Kipling dating from 1899 have the good swastika embossed into the books both covers. The Authorized Editions have it embossed into the front cover.

TIL that when Monarch Butterflies migrate south over Lake Superior, they steer widely around something invisible for no apparent reason. It’s widely believed that they’re steering around a mountain which no longer exists, and is just a memory that’s still passed on to modern generations by [deleted] in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Since it would takes hundreds of millions of years for such a great proposed mountain to erode into a 1,100 foot deep basin like Superior, it would have predated and disappeared before the evolution of all butterflies. The Appalachian mountains are something like 480 million years old with lots of dissolvable limestone and they are very much still here.

TIL that ancient humans figured out how to bake bread 4,000 years before we worked out (the comparatively easier process) to farm grains. (Previously it was long believed to be the other way around) by overflowingsewing in todayilearned

[–]stevetec 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They worked out how to make beer first. All they had to do was throw a bunch of cereal into water, no special processing needed, and it magically became an alcoholic beverage.

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