Hit me with some weird trivia. I know you guys know about so many and varied things.
My brain wants new stuff.
Share something random.
@weirdfizz this is exactly the kind of thing I’m asking for. So dragons can always just… exist… 🤯
@Coffee_and_Salt Just imagine a dragon/tardigrade hybrid. They could take over the universe!
@weirdfizz …. I kind of want this reality?
@Coffee_and_Salt here's a documentary everyone should see. My Octopus Teacher.
@holon42 thank you for this! Looks very interesting. Octopi would rule the world if they could.
@Coffee_and_Salt i welcome our octopus rulers✌🏽😎
@holon42 I’m not unopposed. We could start a welcome committee.
The only SR-71C Blackbird made is on display at the Hill Aerospace Museum in Utah.
It was given the nickname "The Bastard" because it was built out of the rear section of a YF-12 and an SR71 engineering mockup. Being made from 2 planes it was assembled slightly crooked and flew as such.
@Pgfrisby this is Hilarious!!
I thought all the Blackbirds were hinky in the air. iirc, one of the pilots spoke of dealing with fuel leaks at speed and altitude.
@northernbassist @Pgfrisby see these are the reasons (among so many other more realistic reasons) why I never became a pilot.
I never want to be involved with high altitude and hinky anything. It’s not the fall that gets you…
@northernbassist @Coffee_and_Salt
Notoriously finicky to control oand leaked fuel (by design) until flight temperatures allowed the Titanium to expand enough to "seal" the gaps.
A marvel in many ways, some of them a little alarming.
@Pgfrisby @northernbassist the expanding titanium sealant is mad science. 😂 will it work? Yea. Should we do it? No!
@Coffee_and_Salt @northernbassist
'It'll be fine, the JP-7 fuel won't ignite unless we use a pyrophoric and toxic ignition source.'
They choose Triethylborane. Which is just a nasty compound that will auto ignite at temperatures as low as -4°F
@Pgfrisby @northernbassist alright gotta go educate myself a little on this but I’m doing to go out on a plane wing here and say that was an insane choice.
Old Singer sewing machines couldn't sew in reverse. The technology was certainly available - contemporary German machines could go in reverse (of course they could).
Singer just figured, "Eh. No one will REALLY need that." Apparently they never consulted with people who actually, ya know, SEW.
@Agatha now I have lots of questions about timelines and how long before Singer adopted the idea, and what the hell?? I backstitch constantly because I’m bad at sewing. I’d be lost without it.
It depends on the model and treadle vs electric. One of the treadle models didn't get reverse until the 1950s, while German models had it around 1900.
my roosters are crowing and are loud af.
@peeppeepcircus thats like, a really good sign right? they're feeling good? hopefully?
can be because they are happy.
can be because they are joining the hens' egg songs.
can be because they are competing with each other by singing together or off of each other (think dueling pianos but with 3 loud roosters).
can be because it's night time and they are scared of something but are trying to scare it away.
can be an alarm when a predator is near.
can be because they announce their awesome flock to the jungle.
but in this case i do think they are happy.
@peeppeepcircus that was a delightful explanation 💛
+ some trivia about the loud af part. 130 decibels!
How roosters protect themselves from their own deafening crows
https://www.science.org/content/article/how-roosters-protect-themselves-their-own-deafening-crows
@Coffee_and_Salt One of the great pioneers in the development of cataract lens replacement was an injured RAF pilot in WW2. He had shards of plastic in his eye that couldn't be removed without further injury, but somehow they never became infected or inflamed. Light bulbs went off and the first implants became available just a few years later.
@JLong that was such a cool thing to learn I just had to know his name, Gordon Cleaver. Serendipitous!
@Coffee_and_Salt
both the invasive house sparrow and the starling were introduced in the Americas from Europe in 1890 by a German immigrant named Eugene Schieffelin.
He was a member of the American Acclimatization Society, which aimed to further colonize America with European plants and birds.
These birds are responsible for the decline of native species including the red headed woodpecker, purple martin and bluebird, and thus are not protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
@fernfren this is amazing. My beloved starlings, of course they are trouble makers.
@Coffee_and_Salt ha-- starlings are thugs of the sky, apparently. i knew about the house sparrows edging out bluebirds bc i participate in a bluebird study with my Master Gardeners group, but i learned about starlings while filling in some gaps in my knowledge with this article: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-27055030
apparently ol' Eugene wanted to bring over every bird mentioned by Shakespeare...
@fernfren Eugene NO! What a terrible idea!
@Coffee_and_Salt
*shakes fist in Eugene's direction*
dayam you, Eugeeeeennne
@Coffee_and_Salt Snakes and monitor lizards - including komodo dragons - are descended from one of the biggest mosasaurs, Tylosaurus.
And if a female komodo dragon goes long enough with no others around, she'll just get pregnant! And the baby will be male so that they can start breeding.