What did you learn today TIL

[Pornhubby]

Tiffany's Law

No matter how socially outcasted a person is, they will attempt to demonstrate their superiority over other social outcasts.

All freaks have a deep psychological need to feel superior to a different type of freak. — ContraPoints definition of Tiffany's Law

[MintJulie]

What a Scuthe is.  I used a sickle when I was younger, briefly. Never thought much about a scythe.

[msslave]

My grandfather was very adept at swinging a scythe.  I marvled at how the grass fell to his swings. He made it look so effortless.

Me...I was lucky not to cut a foot off.

[Shiela_M]

I too tried after watching my grandfather use one. It's a very satisfying sight to watch it fall almost rhythmically.  I was so very awful at it and ended up driving the tip into the ground. It bent and I was never allowed to touch anything like that ever again.

[msslave]

Grandfather's...they were special. The older I get the more I find myself falling back on things I learned from the time I spent with mine.

[staci]

mine just wanted me to sit on his lap. old fart

[msslave]

Staci, that beats getting up before sunrise, going out and hoeing corn out of the beans. I remember how grown up it made me feel at the time. It was later I realized how much work that was.

[Pornhubby]

What a Scuthe is.  I used a sickle when I was younger, briefly. Never thought much about a scythe.

TIL sickles and scythes are both agricultural tools used for harvesting. The sickle is the one with a short handle and a hook-like blade (the one in Miss B’s recent photo). The scythe has a long handle and a slightly curved blade. The Grim Reaper is traditionally shown holding a scythe.

[Pornhubby]

TIL Nicolas Ferrial (1479–1536), also known as Le Févrial or Triboulet, was a jester for kings Louis XII and Francis I of France.

Triboulet was born in France in 1479, and it is believed that he suffered from microcephaly, negatively impacting him neurologically and physically. Ferrial found purpose in life as the court jester for kings Louis XII and Francis I, who found him amusing in both speech and appearance. As "Triboulet," the jester was known for being extremely witty, often to the point where he would get in trouble with the royalty and nobles.

Once, Triboulet slapped Francis I on the buttocks, to the enjoyment of the surrounding nobles. The monarch lost his temper and threatened to execute Triboulet. The monarch calmed down, and promised to forgive Triboulet if he could think of an apology more insulting than the offending deed. Triboulet responded: "I'm so sorry, your majesty, that I didn't recognize you! I mistook you for the Queen!"

Francis I ordered that he be put to death for once again violating his order not to make jokes about the queen and her courtiers. As he had served him particularly well for many years, the king granted Triboulet the right to choose how he would die. Triboulet said (translated from the original French): "Good sire, by Saint Goody Two Shoes and Saint Fatty, patrons of insanity, I ask to die from old age." Laughing, the king ordered that Triboulet not be executed but instead be banished from the realm. Triboulet actually did die of old age in 1536.

[Hilda]

Today I learned that some martinis don't contain martini. I always assumed that martinis were made from Martini & Rossi vermouth. I now know that the main ingredient is gin, and the vermouth content is insignificant or non-existent.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/aug/30/gin-vermouth-chicken-stock-how-did-martinis-get-so-weird

I don't remember ever trying Martini vermouth. My parents swore by Cinzano. This came from their time in Italy, when they were stationed not too far from a Cinzano factory.

[Pornhubby]

We better get growing some food. Gosh, there are going to be a lot of people in the next 75 years.

There were 3.5 Billion people on the planet when I was born.  8.1 Billion now. That’s 4.6 Billion new souls in my lifetime.

Scientist say the world can only support about 10 Billion people. So expect war, natural disaster, or a plague to solve the problem. Covid barely put a dent in things. Maybe AI will solve it.

Agent Smith : I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure.

UPDATE: Agent Smith was wrong.  Most biologists agree that viruses are not organisms. Viruses are not made out of cells, they can't keep themselves in a stable state, they don't grow, and they can't make their own energy. Even though they definitely replicate and adapt to their environment, viruses are more like androids than real living organisms.

[Pornhubby]

Ancient Huichol Indian Traditions Insisted Men Feel Childbirth Pain

You don't often sit and think about what childbirth was like hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but there were some unique ways of handling it. The Huichol Indians are indigenous people native to Central Mexico, and images like these indicate some intense ancient traditions. This photo shows the practice of a father sitting above his wife while she is in labor. Whenever she felt contractions, she would tug on a rope tied around his scrotum.

This was intended to bond the woman and man, so they both endure pain and joy during childbirth. Who would've known?

[msslave]

Where's the photo? Without a picture it didn't happen!
 

[Hilda]

Ancient Huichol Indian Traditions Insisted Men Feel Childbirth Pain

You don't often sit and think about what childbirth was like hundreds or even thousands of years ago, but there were some unique ways of handling it. The Huichol Indians are indigenous people native to Central Mexico, and images like these indicate some intense ancient traditions. This photo shows the practice of a father sitting above his wife while she is in labor. Whenever she felt contractions, she would tug on a rope tied around his scrotum.

This was intended to bond the woman and man, so they both endure pain and joy during childbirth. Who would've known?

Reading that, I recalled a TV report about an odd custom in an isolated corner of the Mediterranean.  When a man was at death's door, the women of the village would carry him to a secluded spot and give him a royal send-off. It began with the women standing around his makeshift bier and singing cheerfully suggestive songs. The songs got more and more explicit and the women began dancing around him. It ended with the women taking turns to step over him, giving him a splendid view up their skirts. The women seemed to be having a great time, and so did the fortunate/unfortunate man. He managed one or two toothless grins before he passed away.

I remember wondering if all that excitement was a last-ditch attempt to revive him, and if it every worked.

[Pornhubby]

Where's the photo? Without a picture it didn't happen!
 

[msslave]

Thanks for the pictures Toe. Hilda... I've just changed my end of life plans. I've been saying I want to go out laughing. Now I have an idea how.

[ObiDongKenobi]

Under certain conditions pigeons have proved faster than the internet

https://www.techspot.com/news/100006-homing-pigeons-can-theoretically-transfer-data-faster-than.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=starfield_gpu_benchmark_best_pc_games_you_should_be_playing_mainstream_ryzen_vs&utm_term=2023-09-07

[msslave]

Interesting Obi. Let's hear it for the avian kingdom.

Now you people know why I love birds so much.

[Hilda]

In a novel written in the 1920s, the author describes a nervous young woman distractedly rubbing her hair with a silk handkerchief "to make it shiny".

I didn't know that people did that. It stirkes me as a waste of a good silk handkerchief, silk not taking well to sweat, skin oil and other organics. What I also found difficult to understand was the young woman doing the rubbing while talking to a man she'd met only a day before. No doubt the author's intention was to convey the fragile mental state of someone who'd just witnessed a murder.

[Pornhubby]

TIL anlbren has small tits and loves to talk about them.