The "I learned something new today!" Thread

[QueenCobra]

Joseph Merrick a.k.a. the “Elephant Man”’s mother was the first one to give him the nickname. When she was pregnant, she was allegedly frightened by a circus elephant, which she believed was responsible for her son’s condition.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

TIL that Tomohiro Kitakaze, the person who made the designs for Scolipede and its pre-evolutions, also made the designs for Charcadet, Armarouge, and Ceruledge. which is great because those are all pokemon which I adore

 

[Ghost Of Mascevanje]

Today I learned that NeoGaf publishes a list of its banned users, along with the reason they were banned. Some include being a "propagandist", "alt", "crybaby" and "console warrior". Various of the reasons are written in a snarky manner, with the most amusing one probably being "King of the imbeciles. Appropriate that you have a Kanye avatar".

Never been a member of that place, as I've never cared to join it (aside from that, I've also heard not-so-many-good-things about it, just like ResetEra, which sounds even worse). Just randomly visited that forum tonight and saw a (locked) thread of somebody mentioning the ban list feature.

 

[Midoriya]

Water chestnuts are not nuts, but aquatic vegetables found in Asia, tropical Africa, and parts of Oceania. They are rich in minerals such as Manganese-Potassium, which helps the body in many ways, including digestion, energy levels, prevention against cancer, etc...

 

[Yoshi155]

I learned this yesterday, but TV Tropes started as a site dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, before stretching out to TV in general, and then essentially everything.

 

[ShinyDungeoneer]

I learned that SRB2 can be played at school! about to join a battlemode server right now! that is, once the stuff finishes downloading...

 

[wrenbow]

TIL that only 6% of the combined biomass of land mammals on Earth comes from wild mammals, and 40% of that is accounted for by just 10 species, half of which are deer.

 

[nightglow]

Gold tetras have the gold color because of a external parasite (a trematode). The parasite causes irritation on the fish, so the fish grows thicker scales that reflect light more and forms prism crystals which gives the gold color. Guanin. It's skin is not harmed.

The color encourages fish mating, and because the fish is so apparent in its environment, it encourages the fish to be eaten by a larger fish. This allows the parasite to spread and complete its life cycle.

This was discovered after scientists realized the gold tetra, which they thought was a new species at first, was the same as another tetra already discovered that was silver in color.

Turns out several species of tetra can catch this and get a gold color.

Gold tetras that are captive bred are not gold in color due to not being exposed to the parasite.

 

[-Blue-]

Water chestnuts are not nuts, but aquatic vegetables found in Asia, tropical Africa, and parts of Oceania. They are rich in minerals such as Manganese-Potassium, which helps the body in many ways, including digestion, energy levels, prevention against cancer, etc...

Makes me think of the geoducks. Never knew they existed or that it was a big job until I watched an episode of Dirty Jobs where they were digging clam like snails out of mud.

 

[Bluelady]

So back in high school I learned that

usted= (polite) you
tú= (informal) you *Usually used on people with equally standing like friends.

At that time I thought that was the only distinction between words other than past, present, future, and accents. My teacher also told us that although most people add an "s" to the end of a you+verb combo in present tense, it is in fact incorrect.

For example
"You eat...": usted comes ----> usted come


It wasn't until this week that I learned why it was incorrect. Adding an "s" to the end of a verb makes it sound informal and lack of respect. That is why it shouldn't be used when addressing strangers, or combined with the word "usted". However, it is ok when paired with the word "tú".

 

[Mimi Cheems]

Today I learned how to utilize the 'noise reduction' feature in Audacity! :3 I was really impressed by the differences >< But feeling kinda silly for not knowing how to do that earlier.

 

[themysterybidder]

After months of trying to figure out how to resize a signature with several websites and software, I saw a post by @Aquilla and now I can finally use my own signatures with ease! Thank you, Aquilla!

 

[Yoshi155]

If you have an Apple lighting cable, you can actually use a Nintendo Switch or Switch pro controller to charge your iPhone, since the end of the cord fits perfectly into the charger slot. Not sure if it's safe, though, and it's definitely not practical.

 

[daisyflowers]

i learned that matt berry is the narrator for the trailer of the third cat quest game

 

[-Blue-]

You can eat loofahs.

Before you go and rush to eat your loofah in your shower, I mean when it's still a gourd. It has to be young and small before it grows the fibers.

 

[Yoshi155]

This is another one that was a few days ago, but I learned that a majority of the voice actors on The Amazing World of Gumball aren't actually American even though they're voicing American characters. All of the Watterson kids and Richard are voiced by Americans, along with a few other characters, but everyone else isn't. It makes sense since the show is technically British.

 

[TN4U]

I found out yesterday that the Nick Jr. pitch pilot for Super Why from 1999 (!!!) was finally found in full earlier this year - in high quality nonetheless! I’ve known about it since first reading about its “lost” status on the Lost Media Wiki several years ago, but never found out about its rediscovery until now.

For those who don’t know about the PBS show, this pilot - originally pitched to Nick Jr. by Blues Clues co-creators Angela Santomero and Traci Paige Johnson in 1999 - is drastically different from the show that first aired on PBS Kids in 2007. For instance, instead of CGI, this is advanced stop-motion animation, and Super Why looks completely different in both normal and hero forms. For many years, all we had from this pilot was a single screenshot of the titular character. In recent years, an unused theme song was found, alongside the audio, before the pilot was finally revealed to the world in June 2023. I can’t embed the video as it’s on YouTube Kids, but here it is.

Speaking of Blue’s Clues, I also found out that the full version of the pilot for that show was also released earlier this year. Originally titled Blue Prints and screened to a preschool test audience in 1995, it’s mostly similar to the final product, but with a few changes. For instance, Steve Burns wears a plain red shirt, Blue (who looks virtually the same) has her tongue out for most of the pilot, Mailbox is all-purple including his face, and the outside of the house (as well as the rest of the interior) is much simpler and more boxy in shape. Only a few clips of the pilot were shown on the 2006 10th anniversary special, and it also revealed different concept designs for Blue and a Brooklyn accent for Mr. Salt. The full pilot can be viewed here (again, can’t embed as it’s on YouTube Kids). Of note, the audio only seems to work whenever Steve is on screen, and you can actually hear Traci Paige Johnson off-screen making vocal cues at certain points.

Also, Steve Skidoo-ing in the pilot is hilarious. He just flails his arms and spins in circles like a child. I chuckled when he did that.

 

[daisyflowers]

one of the bosses in lies of p is called mad donkey

 

[TN4U]

The message that is tied to the dancing Bob gif meme ("No one's around to help") actually pops up in Pocket Camp when your friends are unavailable to assist you in the quarry. I sorta knew the phrase came from some Animal Crossing game, and finally found out without looking it up that it's from Pocket Camp.

 

[Yoshi155]

The message that is tied to the dancing Bob gif meme ("No one's around to help") actually pops up in Pocket Camp when your friends are unavailable to assist you in the quarry. I sorta knew the phrase came from some Animal Crossing game, and finally found out without looking it up that it's from Pocket Camp.

I've actually seen this happen, but I didn't know this is what inspired the meme.