What did you learn today MKF?

[Leaf]

Hey there everybody.

I was remembering when I was a kid how every night at dinner my dad would ask me and my sibs what we had learned that day. It drove me crazy, of course. But now that I'm all growed up (ha!), I find myself really giddy and excited when I learn new things.

For example, this weekend Mrs. Leaf and I went to the Met and hung out for a long time in the Greek and Roman sculpture gallery. And I learned that a lot of those white marble "Greek" sculptures are actually Roman copies, and that many of the originals were bronze, not marble, and ended up getting melted down for other things. So my mental image of ancient Greece and all its pristine white figures was totally wrong. More like a bunch of Adonises all went to the tanning salon and then doused themselves in oil. Shiny and golden. Almost raunchy that way, isn't it?

And then on the way home, I learned that an 8 member brass band is not an appropriate choice of instrumental group in the small, enclosed, tiled area of a subway station.

So, kittens, what did you learn today?

[jay/wt4evr]

Oooo I like this thread!!!

And about those sculptures, when Romans conquered Greeks they didn't know anything about art, and 'used' those sculptures recklessy, wanting them to show their strenght and ability to conquer such an advanced state like Greece
instead, those sculptures were meant to be strictly pedagogical, praises to Gods and Goddesses, symbols of love, perfection and so on and so forth
that's why Romans copied them with marble {and sometimes even chalk, but those were lost}
{sorry, geek til th end }

That wasn't today, but yesterday, anyway
I learnt that no matter wat, my mother always loves me, even if I'm not worht it
I learnt that my true friends love me and are always ready to kick my ass to kick some sense into me
I learnt never to give up

and I learnt not to be in the way of a 7-feet-tall guy {owie}

[Boschi]

Cool thread!

Oh Oh, pick me! Sorry, this may not interest everyone, but I thought it was mucho neato. This has been covered in many books lately, but I've never seen it laid out so well.

So this past weekend I attended (yet another) conference on food policy. There was an excellent speaker, an economist who demonstrated the following connection:

In 1973 or so the Sec. of Agriculture (U.S.) was named Earl Butz. He pushed for a vast increase in commodity farming, urging American farmers to plant "fencerow to fencerow". He hoped to increase supply and in doing so increase demand by opening up new export markets overseas. I will spare the kittens my opinion of this economic stategy....

So this worked for a couple years as wheat, etc. was shipped overseas to Russia in particular. Then, as overseas agriculture recovered, that market crashed, leaving farmers with incredible debt (they had expanded to meet the promised "long-term" market), vast commodity grain surpluses and no place to sell their product at a profit (if at all).

This was one of the main causes of the farm crises in the 80's, and the move away from small scale family farms. It also, it turns out, likely has a lot to do with childhood obesity problems today.

Turns out that about that time, someone thought that all that extra corn could be processed into high fructose corn syrup. So it was marketed rather extensively (because what the hell else were they going to do with all that corn). So as commodity farms failed, high fructose corn syrup use increased because it was marketed as a cheap alternative to sugar.

As most folks who look at labels can attest, high fructose corn syrup is an additive in almost all processed foods today.

Now! To my point! If you look at a graph that shows that increase in the use of high fructose corn syrup, and then you overlay a graph showing the increase in childhood obesity in the U.S., those curves show remarkable correlation. Almost as soon as high fructose corn syrup increased, so did childhood obesity.

So the decision to increase commodity grain production for export had a direct (if entirely unpredictable) effect on the obesity of U.S. citizens by way of creating a back door market for surplus corn in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

Sort of horribly neat, isn't it?

Sorry, I'm turning into a farming geek...

[EasierSaid]

Boschi - thank you for posting that. It was great to see that issue from another POV; I have definitely learned something today. The use of corn syrup as a sweetner is something that really pisses me off, and so I love to learn more about it so I can sound even more high-falutin when I rant about it at cocktail parties and on long road trips. (It is necessary to insert a note here that my girlfriend is a wonderful, patient woman.)

To contribute a little to the learning, let me tell you all why I get so upset about corn syrup. Corn syrup is used in place of sugar in everything from soft drinks to condiments and mass-produced bread. For those not familiar with how horrible corn syrup is as a food additive, it is not only linked to obesity and gout, but also heart disease, as it cuts down two necessary enzymes for healthy hearts. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. For those who opt to drink sodas that don't use corn syrup, artificial sweeteners are starting to be linked to (who woulda thunk it) obesity, and possibly cancer. Of course, the above wouldn't happen if sugar was used to sweeten sodas, condiments, bread, etc. Which leads to the question, why isn't it?

Because the U.S. government restricts sugar imports to the United States in order to help prop up the U.S. sugar industry. Americans pay three times the amount of other nations for sugar because imports are restricted, and sugar lobbyists are urging the government to spend tens of millions of tax dollars to buy up other countries sugar to keep it off the market. Not only would using sugar as a sweetener be healthier for Americans, but it tastes better. Of course, none of that is taken into consideration, because using sugar would hurt the U.S. sugar and corn industries. Sugar growers in the U.S. would be relegated to minor players as they competed with the rest of the world, while corn growers would find the corn syrup market depressed as producers switched to sugar.

I'm all for supporting U.S. farmers - I buy local every chance I get, but it really bothers me to no end that the government subsidizes in a manner that harms its citizenry by promoting unhealthy food options. The best option? Buy at local bakeries, farmer markets, etc. and cook at home, and of course, avoid anything that says it has a high fructose content!


Hmm... now that I think about it, maybe this should have gone in the Rant thread... I'll try and be more upbeat with my "what I learned today" in the future!

[gorn]

High fructose corn syrup is bad for you? Aww, man ... it's one of the top ingredients in Mt. Dew!

I bet Yellow #5 isn't good for me, either. I didn't learn this today, but Yellow #5 is also in my underarm deodorant (though it tastes much better in Mt. Dew).

Anyway, I love this thread! I learned an awful lot from Boschi & EasierSaid's posts ... though I somewhat wish I hadn't. I suppose I always knew better in my heart, but I somehow always thought corn syrup - being made from good, wholesome corn - was good for you, while sugar was almost as bad for you as cocaine.

[maudmac]

Wow, corn syrup is a hot topic. I just saw this yesterday: united states of food additives

I don't believe I've learned anything yet today, other than what's in the daily news.

I think the most intriguing thing I've learned recently (and which I've read more about today) is that MZ twins' genes may differ more than previously thought. Here is a news article about it: Identical Twins' DNA Varies

Fascinating stuff with huge implications, especially since twin studies are so common and have been considered to be the way to solve the nature vs. nurture debate. Are we going to have to go back and start over now? I really thought that debate had been more or less settled (at least in psychology) with the emergence of the interactionist perspective, holding that it isn't about genes OR environment but rather the interaction between them. I imagine there must be a lot of researchers out there now having fits.

[EasierSaid]

What I learned today: Eskimos do not have 3,000 words for snow. The '3,000 words for snow' thing is just a linguistic legend born of citation telephone. (You know, one source starts by citing 4 words, and that becomes 14 in the next book, etc., etc. until all of mankind comes to believe that Eskimos love snow so much they've found thousands of ways to describe it.) In reality, Eskimos appear to have just four words to describe snow, which is not so different than what English speakers have for the white stuff (snow, slush, sleet, blizzard).

I don't know why I found this busted myth so fascinating, but I did!

[gorn]

The northern Japanese dialects have more "words" (kind of like local "slang," perhaps?) for snow than the southern dialects, who in turn have more words for rain than the north. The extreme north - Aomori & Hokkaido - have extra words for the cold borrowed from the Ainu language.

I really would've thought the Eskimo would've had more words for snow, though. Interesting.

Today, I learned the Phoenicians introduced the vowel-less alphabet to the Middle East, which is why the Hebrew name for God is spelled YHWH. It also seems we're just guessing when we think it's pronounced "Yahweh" - nobody really knows anymore. Regardless of your religion, though, it's kind of interesting that anyone would use a vowel-less alphabet, you know? If you've already gone to the trouble of inventing the consonants, you'd think it wouldn't be that much more work to throw in a few vowels.

Seems like the kind of thing you'd catch in the beta-release, you know? The Phoenicians should've issued a patch or update.

[JustSkipIt]

Well today I learned that there's apparently voting in the primary (which I did early) and then there's going to the caucus. I'm pretty confused but my neighbor who turns out to be a Precinct captain for Obama was telling me that I should head down to the Elementary school 3/4 at 7:15 to sign in and vote in the caucus. I thought that was it.

I also learned that ITunes was putting everything on the now overful C drive rather than the E drive and just how long that takes to change.

[littlewicca]

That you need to Sacrifice to get what you want

[Floyd]

I learned a lot of crap about haemoglobin and myoglobin. *cheers half heartedly*

[littlewicca]

1- I think for myself and then im not able to say all I wanted to

2- Not all mondays are bad.

[Paint the Sky]

What did I learn today? I learnt that no matter what you think, no matter what you think has changed. No matter what, is that things can't go back to the way they were. You can try, but circumstances will fuck up your veiw of the situation and you just have to cut your losses or lose yourself in the shit that is your life.

This lesson was brought to you by Corona Beer. Let's give a cheer for the mexican piss-water!!!

[Floyd]

^I love that stuff. Three cheers for Corona! With lime.. With tequilla..

<33

[Shaucker]

Today I learned more about chairs. Another six hours tacked on to the last six weeks and the majority of last semester.

Finally finished my "material constraint/maximum stability" chair with its X-beams and surprisingly strong, yet sparse backrest. Everyone could sit on it without breaking and lean back. Kudos me.
I also learned that I have to fix several faulty elements on said chair, like the oddly claustrophobic armrests and the need for some kind of saddle horn. No joke.

[Saena]

I learned how to break up a fight in the schools.

Saena

[woahnellie]

I've learned never to file for workers comp, it will only come back to haunt you.

[gorn]

I was flippling through the channels today, and I stumbled across a Jessica Simpson concert. Now, please don't laugh at me - I was out of the country from '94 to '05 and missed a lot of stuff ...

I learned today that Jessica Simpson is a singer, that she as albums, and - according to the guide - she has "greatest hits." Until now I really had no idea why she was famous, but after all those years in Japan that wasn't unusual to me (there's a whole class of "entertainers" in Japan who are only famous because they keep showing up on tv - they don't sing, or dance, or act, or really do anything; they're just famous).

Until she started dating Tony Romo, I never really understood why everyone hates her so much, either.

[Boschi]

Huh. She sings. I didn't know that either, and I haven't been overseas. Just oblivious I guess.

As for me, I learned a little about pruning fruit trees today, and then had far too much practice.

My favorite detail was that when pruning you are supposed to maintain the "apical dominance" of a branch, which means that you should trim it in such a way that the tip continues to produce hormones which move down the branch. These hormones tell offshoots of the branch that there is already a branch that is filling the "tip" position, and so they should grow out away from the branch at a more obtuse angle.

[gorn]

I was reading up on my Roman Emperors the other day, and I learned that Diocletian voluntarily gave up the throne & retired ... in order to spend the rest of his days "occupied in his beloved hobby of growing cabbages." Weird, huh? Sounds like the kind of thing Boschi might do if she were Empress of Rome, doesn't it?

[jay/wt4evr]

Fizzy water is an acid, properly acid tri-oxide-carbonic formula H2CO3 while normal water, even though its formula would suggest it was an acid, has a pH {power of Hydrogen} around 5 so it's neuter

[Floyd]

Powdery snow doesn't make good igloo roofs. :(

But it's awesome fun destroying the almost-made igloo by diving into the bottom of the walls.

[JujuDeRoussie]

I've learn the identity of the Iron Mask.
No it is not Leornardo Di Caprio, lol, nor is he the Louis XIV's twin. Nope.
He is just a servant, who happened to be a servent during secret negociations with the King of England (he wanted to convert to catholicism), and he has learnt a very important secret.
For this secret he was put in jail (with these famous letters from the King) where he spent the last 34 years of his life.
The last 18 he wore a Iron Mask and lose his identity.

So why did this man was also wearing an Iron Mask? Because his jailer had been known for being the jailer of famous people (like Nicolas Fouquet who was condamned because he was richer and more famous than the King himself). And when he was sent with his last charge far away, he felt shame. So he invented a real mystery around his prisonner. No one knew his name or his crime. Even before it was forbidden to listen to anything the man would say, after that it was worst. And soon he had to wear an Iron Mask (not all the time, it wasn't sealed as often believed, imagin e18 years without being able to wash your head? so not good). And that's how he was caled after that.

When the jailer (Le Marquis de Saint-Mars) was called back to France to rule the Bastille, the king didn't ask him to bring Eustache Danger, the Iron Masked prisonner. It seems he had forgotten, we'll never know because it was forbidden to quote the man's name or his very existence. So there is nothing left for us. But we know that it is Saint Mars who asked the permission to bring his prisonner. Which was granted.

So, after many fantasies over the centuries about this mystery, we now know for sure of the identity of this very famous prisonner. But what did he know to spent his last 34 years in jail that was so important? We'll probably never know. We just can assume from where he was arrested and his position then that it has something to do with the King of England.

That was a very well done documentary that I saw, and the specialists were all very careful to explain things so everybody could understand. Not only History Geeks like me that have already some sort of background from this time of France.

[Shadowygirl]

Today I learned never to underestemate my dogs senses ... When she tells you she doesn't like someone then BELIEVE HER ! lol I also learned not to wake my partner up while she is sleeping a nice deep sleep she doesn't like it lol And I learned to never regret anything EVER it only causes more of a head ache if you do regret it then if you don't everything happens for a reason just let it flow it'll all work its self out !


A.K./Shadowygirl

[Guest]

I learnt about the practice of lampadomancy today. In bygone days, metal lamps were used for divination and provided a proper speculum for mirror gazing when polished. It is hypothesised that the idea behind the genie in the bottle originated from gazing myths about communication with the dead.

[LesbianJedi87]

I learned that I'm probably one of the smarter, well spoken students in my class of 13. And that my spelling abilities are far better as well.

[meretricious]

This week I learned about a condition called "malignant hypothermia". It occurs during general anesthesia, and was common knowledge to people who work in the OR, but in the last few years general anesthesia has moved to other departments in most hospitals, and we were under-informed.

Malignant hypothermia a hereditary condition, and a patient is at increased risk for it if it's anywhere in their family tree, even aunts, uncles, second cousins, etc. The reaction occurs after a patient receives a certain class of sedation gases. The body will begin to dump calcium at an alarming rate, which will cause a cascade of failures. Unfortunately, the patient is unconscious and unable to complain about any of this.

The first sign is an increase in carbon dioxide output, followed by a stiffening and spasming of the patient's muscles. Within minutes the patient can enter renal failure. If the condition is treated immediately, there is still a 10 percent rate of mortality. If untreated, the rate increases to 80 percent.

The only treatment for malignant hypothermia is a drug called dantrolene. It is stored in a powder form, and needs to be reconstituted before injecting. It only comes in 60cc bottles, and a minimum dose for most patients is 19 bottles of this, so two to four people will be responsible just for mixing the dantrolene in addition to the usual code team.

Even after an initial successful dantrolene treatment, the patient has a 25 percent chance of recurrence during the next 24 hours. It can also present hours after the initial anesthesia in patients who did not react during induction.

Malignant hypothermia occurs in approximately 1 in 20 000 general sedations. The only sedation gas which can not cause this condition is nitrous oxide, so don't worry about getting it at the dentist. Other outpatient surgeries are riskier. A recent fatality in our area was a 28 year old female having breast augmentation surgery at a clinic. They were not prepared to treat her, and she died later at the hospital.

The most important thing to know about malignant hypothermia your family history. If you know of even a distant relative having had surgical complications, ask questions. And if you're having a general anesthetic at an outpatient clinic, ask if they are prepared to treat this condition. 1 chance in 20 000 is pretty rare, but it's a much higher chance than say, winning the lottery, and I'm still deluded enough to think that's going to happen to me someday.

[Boschi]

It is stored in a powder form, and needs to be reconstituted before injecting. It only comes in 60cc bottles, and a minimum dose for most patients is 19 bottles of this, so two to four people will be responsible just for mixing the dantrolene in addition to the usual code team.

This seems like a perfect example of stupidity in packaging.

As for me: I learned that calladium bulbs/corms should not be stored below 50 degrees. Which is unfortunate, as it was colder than that outside in my truck, where I was storing some.
[/quote]

[woahnellie]

The longest word in the English language is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

[JustSkipIt]

If you save an excel file as .htm, it creates an additional folder and if you delete that folder, the file won't open.