Today I learned...

Premise of this thread is simple. Post something (or some things) that you learned today that you didn't know before, that are interesting to you. Bonus points for links to where you learned it from or somewhere that explains the point further.

For some added fun, I'd like no discussion to take place in this thread. We have plenty of other parts of this forum for discussing things, and I don't want to see those parts go unused. So, if you think that something in this thread is interesting, or want to discuss it more, or have questions, start a new thread about it! This thread is just a "dumping ground" for someone randomly perusing to learn a few new things each day.

I'll start.

Apparently, you can't break a piece of uncooked spaghetti into less than three pieces if you bend it end-to-end. BBC - Bang Goes the Theory - Hands-on challenge: spaghetti snap

 

Today I learned to distinguish, in silhouette, the house finches (desirable) in my back yard from house sparrows (invasive and aggressive) by the finches' forked tails.

/birdnerd

 

Today I learned that Philly is being terrorized by a half naked pervert with Swiss cheese:

'Swiss Cheese Pervert' terrorizes Mayfair

I've never before envisioned deli cheese as a sex toy....go figure.

 

Today I learned (the hard way) that if you're scripting in Bash and doing a conditional 'if' statement, you *have* to put spaces between the square brackets and the first/last operands.
Otherwise Bash will try to interpret it as a function and everything will get screwed up.

 

Today I learned (via XKCD, and confirmed elsewhere) that there is an entity called the Long Now Foundation, which among other things advocates that we start using five-digit years (like 02014), so we can avoid the year 10,000 problem.

 

Today I learned that 11 states have an official state dog breed, and North Carolina is one of them. Ours is the Plott Hound. Want, please.


Oh-- I learned this after talking to a customer about our dogs. Her husband asked if I knew what the State Dog was. Wait, there are state dogs? How did I not know this? I thought to myself. I hit the interwebz as soon as they left.

In case you're interested, other official state dogs are as follows:

Alaska - Alaskan Malamute
Louisiana - Catahoula Leopard Dog
Maryland - Chesapeake Bay Retriever
Massachusetts - Boston Terrier
New Hampshire - Chinook
Pennsylvania - Great Dane
South Carolina - Boykin Spaniel
Texas - Blue Lacy
Virginia - American Foxhound
Wisconsin - American Water Spaniel

Cool.

 

Today I learned how to get music from my phone to our stereo system - I used the internet to hack the Merantz unit with a bluetooth receiver! Awesome loud music and bad dancing commencing!

 

I learned that I have better taste in earrings than does my wife.

Seriously?

I was born a natural lefty, but was forced to be right-handed, which resulted in me totally sucking at any sport that required quick reflexes and hand-eye coordination.

 

I apologize for my tone in my earlier post.

I don't have any fond memories of PE or my participation in any other sports. Except running, which I never did as a team sport.