The "I learned something new today!" Thread

[-Blue-]

I don’t know if y’all know who Christine Jorgensen was, but she was a WWII veteran best known as the first American to undergo gender reassignment surgery.
(1950s)

Now, I knew about Christine, but not her nightclub act. She would sing “I Enjoy Being a Girl” (from the musical Flower Drum Song) and change into a Wonder Woman costume. In the early ‘80s, Warner Communications (who owned the rights to Wonder Woman) asked her to stop, so she switched to a Superwoman costume. She did this for the rest of her career; DC Comics didn’t know or didn’t care. (I hope they were early trans rights supporters.)

This reminded me about how Elvis styled his hair from Captain Marvel/Shazam because he was a big fan of them growing up. The DC bit that is.

 

[QueenCobra]

This reminded me about how Elvis styled his hair from Captain Marvel/Shazam because he was a big fan of them growing up. The DC bit that is.

I was also reminded of how Tandi Iman Dupree dressed up as Wonder Woman at Miss Gay Black America in the early 2000s and lip-synced to “Holding Out for a Hero.” Wonder Woman is an LGBT icon!

 

[QueenCobra]

I saw a cute video of geese marching down a street. The guy leading them was playing a drum, and few people gathered to watch. This was on Instagram, so I commenting asking where this parade was.

Someone replied and told me it was in the Netherlands, and the tradition is called “ganzenmars” (“goose march”) or “ganzenfanfare” (“goose parade”). It’s not clear when it became a thing, but it’s based on geese herding.

Now, to write an emo parody: “Welcome to the GOOSE Parade.”

(Not the exact video, but a similar one.)

 

[rrenaa]

Something new I learned today was what a Vietnamese Mossy Frog is and that they don’t have to move their heads when scanning their environment for predators. I’ve never seen something like that before! They are really cool looking and look like they would blend well with things!

 

[AlexSilverpen]

not learned today, but recently I learned about this weird hybrid fish. A cross between the Russian Sturgeon and the American Paddlefish, called the Sturddlefish. These fish are real weird because they basically were created on accident.
From an evolutionary tree of life, Humans are more related to a platypus than these two fish are related to each other. Their last common ancestor was in the cretaceous period. So, when scientists put Paddlefish roe in a tank with the Sturgeon for some science experiment, they were stunned to find Sturddlefish. Hybrids with a high vitality rate [about 70% survived].
There was an article on this 4 years ago, but it was cool to learn when I saw a post about it the other day!

 

[QueenCobra]

The band Lynyrd Skynyrd named themselves after Leonard Skinner, a gym teacher who constantly critcized them.

 

[Suguri]

A while before the famous music video for “Bad Apple!!” was released, a NicoNico user requested a music video be made using this storyboard. However, it was poorly drawn and while people made fun of it, others tried to interpret the storyboard and make a music video out of it.

(found this out in Lost Media Wiki)

 

[Yoshi155]

Robert E. Lee Day is a holiday that’s celebrated on the same day as Martin Luther King Day in Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and Mississippi (the fact that it’s those states doesn’t surprise me).

 

[rrenaa]

The James Webb Space Telescope has identified one of the earliest and most distant supernovas, marking the death of a massive star approximately 20 times the mass of the sun.

 

[QueenCobra]

So this is a real village, and not just a nickname for “Bridgerton”:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/****terton

 

[QueenCobra]

Birds can cry. Their tears are similar to humans', as they contain water, proteins, and electrolytes.

 

[QueenCobra]

Steve Wozniak was on Dancing with the Stars??

 

[VernalLapin]

Spoiler: New fear unlocked

i learned that baby shrews bite onto each others and their mom’s tails as she guides them around, unfortunately it looks like a giant furry centipede

 

[chocovelvetcake]

Taft is the only U.S. President who was born in September, he was born on the 15th. Every other president shares their birth month with at least one or more presidents.

 

[VanitasFan26]

Just a warning for something that happend to me and I learned this the hard way. BECAREFUL of what food you ordered. On Monday I ordered a Burrito from Chiptole and I got really sick with the Stomach Flu. I was able to contact Doordash and get refund. Food Poisoning is no joke always check to make sure the food is cooked prepared right before eating it

 

[-Blue-]

Robert E. Lee Day is a holiday that’s celebrated on the same day as Martin Luther King Day in Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, and Mississippi (the fact that it’s those states doesn’t surprise me).

I just looked it up since I didn't know about that day. I thought it might've been a holiday created/observed around the same year as MLK Day, but it turns out it's because that's Lee's date of birth. It was first observed in 1917.

Not that this really relates, but it reminded me reading of when soldiers, during the Civil War, raided some supply station on their way to some engagement. They came across ice-cream and most never saw or knew what it was. So they stuffed it in their bags and pockets and by the time they got to the battlefield they had melted ice cream in their pants.

 

[Giddy]

I never knew the name of this pastry which is called Samosa; I've seen it before, but never knew its name!

Also a while ago, I realised some countries don't have on/off switches for their plug sockets. 0-0
So the plugs are just always on, even not used? The on and off is a safety procedure, plus saving electricity - if you have something plugged in and not using it - as my mum is always making sure everything is switched off.

 

[-Lumi-]

I never knew the name of this pastry which is called Samosa; I've seen it before, but never knew its name!

Also a while ago, I realised some countries don't have on/off switches for their plug sockets. 0-0
So the plugs are just always on, even not used? The on and off is a safety procedure, plus saving electricity - if you have something plugged in and not using it - as my mum is always making sure everything is switched off.

Regarding the second point - I remember learning about that in school! In elementary or middle school school during science maybe? We were learning about about energy saving, our green footprint, etc. They touched on how if something is plugged in (even if its off!) It's drawing energy so be sure to unplug everything.

 

[QueenCobra]

There was a Greek goddess of wrestling— Palaestra! She was Hermes’ daughter, and introduced the sport to men so they would have something to do outside of war.
I’m currently writing a story about her!

 

[QueenCobra]

“His Coconutship” All jokes aside, this sounded more like a peace movement than a cult.