Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

dishonourableaccount t1_j6g42jj wrote

Reply to comment by rokman in TIL that St. John's University's sports teams formerly being called the Redmen actually referred to the team wearing red uniforms and not Native Americans as often interpreted. Regardless, the mascot name was changed to the Red Storm in the 90s. by J_S_M_K

If you’re talking about the Redskins it’s funny. You go into SE or Trinidad and you’ll still see people wearing Skins hats and gear. The people who cared about the team name was people not from the area or white people that moved in and gentrified enough of the city. Most local fans didn’t care.

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dishonourableaccount t1_j6g3jgo wrote

Reply to TIL redwood trees -- growing to heights of 350 feet or more (over 100 meters) -- have roots that go only about ten feet into the ground. by OccludedFug

Trees grow tall evolutionarily to outcompete neighbors for access to sunlight. It takes more energy to grow tall and distribute resources up a tree via passive means, than it would if a tree would grow laterally.

Roots on the other hand typically want to be close enough to the surface to get water and nutrients in soft soil rather than less rich soil and harder rock below.

This is all very surface level but that’s the gist of it.

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ChrisRuss86 t1_j6g214k wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL redwood trees -- growing to heights of 350 feet or more (over 100 meters) -- have roots that go only about ten feet into the ground. by OccludedFug

Agreed. —> “Aside from logging, the most frequent cause of death for mature redwoods is windthrow. The reason for this is that redwoods have no taproot. The roots only go down 10 to 13 feet (3-4 m) deep before spreading outward 60 to 80 feet (20-27 m).”

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GetsGold t1_j6g1k2h wrote

Reply to comment by sineroth745756 in TIL China is bigger than the U.S. in terms of land area. The U.S. is also bigger than Canada in terms of land area. by Mewhenthe4

Can't be measured.

>The coastline paradox is the counterintuitive observation that the coastline of a landmass does not have a well-defined length. This results from the fractal curve-like properties of coastlines.

The length changes depending on how you measure it.

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betsy_blair_fan t1_j6fzxyc wrote

Reply to TIL the term “cloud cuckoo land” goes back to the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, who used it for a utopian city of birds in his farce, the Birds by Mr_Westerfield

Toby Esterhazy berating Joss Ackland:

> ...You're an embarrassment. You go on a bender, drink yourself into Cloud Cuckoo Land, and come staggering back here....

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Episode 6, 1979, Smiley Sets A Trap.

Adapted from the LeCarre novel.

Quite excellent dialogue.

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