Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

Will12239 t1_jadjk0m wrote

Reply to comment by SterlingArcherTrois in TIL the deacon Saint Lawrence was roasted alive on a giant grill during the persecution of Valerian. The poet Prudentius tells that he joked with his tormentors, "Turn me over—I'm done on this side". He is now the patron saint of cooks, chefs, and comedians. by ALasagnaForOne

Religion was a great way to transition from tribalism to modernism. It melded society into a cohesive unit. A natural phenomena, we would be in the stone age without it. To dismiss it is ignorant.

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Lalakea t1_jadiw4i wrote

Reply to comment by GenXer3383 in TIL Thomas Jefferson regularly attended many different churches and declared "I am of a sect by myself" unlike many of the other devoted founding fathers. by skylightyourlife

Washington owned slaves. Madison owned slaves. Monroe owned slaves. Were there any founding fathers from the south that weren't slaveowners? I mean, you probably weren't getting elected to anything unless you owned a plantation. If you tried to farm without using slaves you'd probably go broke, because your competition is able to sell at a cheaper price.

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Lyrolepis t1_jadiguf wrote

Reply to TIL that when you say a word many times over, and it stops sounding like a word, that is called 'semantic satiation.' by Bean_Superiority

Weirdly enough, for me it works as advertised for words in my native language (Italian, if it matters), but it doesn't seem to work at all in English (or at least, if it works it does so slowly enough that I got bored with repeating random words to myself before it happened).

I'm just musing around; but perhaps it might be related to me having learnt English words (and the association between their sound and their meaning) much later in my life and in a more formal, less "unconscious" way?

I'd be curious to see if other bilingual people notice the same, or if that's just me being weird.

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HotAd8825 t1_jadi6ry wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL American paratroopers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade mistakenly raided a working olive oil factory in Bulgaria as part of a large-scale joint exercise with NATO forces. by delano1998

It’s usually some European country accidentally crossing into another while patrolling in bumfuck no where with no discernible border. This one was definitely more embarrassing for whoever couldn’t read a map that day.

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Underworld_Denizen t1_jadi1ie wrote

Reply to TIL Hawaii is the best place on earth to see rainbows. There are words for Earth-clinging rainbows (uakoko), standing rainbow shafts (kāhili), barely visible rainbows (punakea), and moonbows (ānuenue kau pō). The rainbow is seen as a symbol of transformation and a pathway between Earth and Heaven. by -AMARYANA-

A friend of a friend lived there for a while.

I've been told that while Hawaii is indeed one the most beautiful places in the world, however, it's very expensive to live there, and lamentably, they have a terrible meth problem.

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NoxDominus OP t1_jadhzbt wrote

Reply to TIL the Futurama theme song is considered a variation of a 1967 song called "Psyché Rock" by french composer Pierre Henry, which in turn is based on the well known 1966 song "Wild Things" by the Troggs. by NoxDominus

Note: The Song is called "Wild Thing". I made a typo on the initial post.

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e30Devil t1_jadhaom wrote

Reply to comment by Constant_Peach_amigo in TIL Anvil firing is the practice of exploding an anvil into the air. Anvils are typically fired as a celebration, be it to honor St. Clement's (the Patron Saint of blacksmiths) or in a 21 anvil salut as found in New Westminster, British Columbia. by jamescookenotthatone

I actually was injured by falling anvil in real life as a young child. No memory of it whatsoever but I understand my finger was pretty flat.

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Locke_and_Load t1_jadh5ez wrote

Reply to comment by LewisEFurr in TIL Thomas Jefferson regularly attended many different churches and declared "I am of a sect by myself" unlike many of the other devoted founding fathers. by skylightyourlife

The US is explicitly NOT founded on the Christian religion, and anyone throwing out quotes from them to prove otherwise is pulling shit out of their ass. They all believed in a higher power but knew the dangers of defining it narrowly or letting a single religious organization run the country

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