The "I learned something new today!" Thread

[Alienfish]

There are way too many kinds of sleeping pillows apparently. I basically more or less only use those shaping neck pillows that forms after your head/neck but.. still like how many are there lol.

 

[Alienfish]

You can microwave frozen french fries apparently. And a baking sheet is like.. large plate for the oven?? I totally thought it was that thin paper you put on those large things LOL.

 

[.: Meri :.]

Learned a little bit about vivid metallic ground beetles after what I'm fairly certain was one crawled across my foot while I was at my desk. This was initially terrifying, but after I managed to catch the little fella in a cup, he seemed much less threatening and was quite pretty, really. They seem to come in a few colors, but I think this one was probably either the bronze or copper variety? He had kind of a rainbow shimmer to him, like the one in the linked photo. This one also had some small white markings on his rear that I couldn't find any mention or pictures of? Wondering if it's a gender-identifier or something. Any beetle experts around?
We've had a lot of millipedes around the house, so that might've attracted him, since they're apparently hunters who will go after those. I also learned that I was quite lucky he didn't decide to cause a literal stink in self-defense, which I'm very thankful for.

EDIT: Upon further research, I believe he was actually a Carolina metallic tiger beetle! It has the exact white rear markings and legs/jaws of the little guy who crawled on me. They're often hunted by collectors for their unique coloration, apparently.

 

[Xara]

i actually learnt lots of new stuff today thanks to an askreddit thread (i fact-checked dw), so here’s some of the facts that stood out to me the most;

• avocados and peppers aren’t vegetables - they’re fruits. berries, to be exact.
• pepsi‘s original name was brad’s drink.
• tiffany is a medieval name.
• fingernails grow at the same rate that continents move.
• humans are the only species on earth that have a chin.
• harvard university existed before calculus was invented.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

Literally just found out that there is an expand modifier to the paint bucket tool in Medibang that makes it so that those fringey white areas dont appear when you fill in an area. I wish I had known this earlier cause that has been bothering me for way too long

 

[Princess Mipha]

Me and my best friend mixed some of our favorite LoL champions long time ago together, so I got named "Rivali" and I named him "Rivoli".. today I learned that there is a street in France called "Rue de Rivoli" and in Italy there is even a town named "Rivoli".. I thought that was pretty funny, as we never heard about this before v:

 

[Alienfish]

Literally just found out that there is an expand modifier to the paint bucket tool in Medibang that makes it so that those fringey white areas dont appear when you fill in an area. I wish I had known this earlier cause that has been bothering me for way too long

Ughhh I hate this when you get those frapped off white fringed edges, like just fill goddamnit. Gotta check if there are some better option like this for Firealpaca.

 

[Xara]

i learnt about highway hypnosis yesterday — that if you’re tired, driving down a route that you have taken time and time again, etc, your brain can just... decide that it’s not worth remembering and block it out, resulting in you driving anywhere between a short distance to hundreds of miles without having any memory of doing so, but still managing to arrive at the correct destination. o_0

 

[GuerreraD]

Today I learned that there are more tigers in captivity in the USA (around 5000) than in the wild in the rest of the world (around 3200) .

 

[.: Meri :.]

I've often wondered where the term "boba tea" came from and decided to look it up today. I'd assumed it was either because it sounds vaguely like "bubble", or that it might actually mean bubble.

It is neither of those things.

...Definitely gonna stick to calling it bubble tea.

 

[maria110]

I was reading the tattoo thread and learned there is an art form called American Traditional Tattoos. So I'm reading about them now.

 

[-Blue-]

i learnt about highway hypnosis yesterday — that if you’re tired, driving down a route that you have taken time and time again, etc, your brain can just... decide that it’s not worth remembering and block it out, resulting in you driving anywhere between a short distance to hundreds of miles without having any memory of doing so, but still managing to arrive at the correct destination. o_0

This is a real thing and I've had it happen a lot of times when I used to drive long stretches of roads that did not change, were just straight for miles, there weren't any cars around, and fields and fields of the same crops. So it's like one continuous blur of the same stuff. I would just snap out of it and wouldn't recollect anything. After the first few times I made a habit out of it to stay as focused as I could because I didn't want to be driving with my mind shut off.

 

[Holla]

Today I learned that the Red Star Fragment was actually the third least sold Star Fragment collectible at the Bell Tree Fair 2020.

Only the White and Purple Star Fragment had less sales.

For those that are curious:

79

86

93

107

108

149

188

 

[.: Meri :.]

Today I learned how to use an air fryer! It was really easy to use, actually, aside from the fact that it wasn't actually plugged in when I first started trying to use it. So I also learned to make sure that things are actually plugged in first.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

TIL the actual name of those japanese snow bunnies is "yukiusagi"

 

[Alienfish]

Some book publishers/sellers etc. wrap their books really tight which sucks because it's big pain taking the plastic off which might make you poke the book with a pencil or scissors... not good.

 

[Midoriya]

TIL you can convert genesys crystals in Genshin Impact into primogems by hitting the plus button next to genesys crystals when in the shop. I’m not sure how it took me this long to learn this, but

 

[Croconaw]

I learned that apparently poodles are hypoallergenic. I didn’t know this.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I learned that apparently poodles are hypoallergenic. I didn’t know this.

well no dog is 100% hypoallergenic since they all have dander, even dogs with minimal or no fur have dander. but poodles have minimal shedding, which means their dander doesn't spread as much, and if someone wants a dog that spreads minimal dander then low shedding dogs are best.


I just found out that those pitcher things used for drinks at restaurants and dining events are called "carafes". I always just called them pitchers lol

 

[Alienfish]

Apparently there is dolma(des) festival in Armenia, I need to go lol!