Recent comments in /f/todayilearned
danathecount t1_j9updiv wrote
Reply to comment by NewCanadianMTurker in TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
There is actually research on this topic, as this problem applies to colonizing space.
Apparently, you only need a starting population of 160 people to have enough genetic diversity for a healthy population, but that's in a vacuum (no pun intended). I'm sure it would be a lower number if every so often new genetics are introduced to the population - which is probably the case on Tangier Island.
On a side note, Iceland has an app where you can make sure the person you want to be with isn't related to you.
GreenStrong t1_j9uolp1 wrote
Reply to comment by NewCanadianMTurker in TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
The dialect is regional, not isolated to the island, and they probably find ways to exchange genetic material with other people in the region. Rumor has it that they go at it with enthusiasm. Just a bit down the coast they call this accent an "Ocracoke Brogue" or simply a "Hoi Toide" (high tide) accent.
Dialect changes over time in ways that are not predictable, but which follow consistent patterns, simply because we have to make words sound different from each other. The rhoticity of this dialect and fragments left over from the tail end of the great vowel shift are how linguists know this dialect has seen relatively little change. But it is a mistake to think that everyone talked this way in the 1700s. Accents in England are very diverse based on region and social class, and they were even more so before things like public education, railroads, and mass media. This Shakespeare dialog is a pretty well sourced performance of late 1600s London English, but people from other parts of the country would have sounded different, and colonists would have developed idiosyncratic regional dialects.
Shank6ter t1_j9uogia wrote
Reply to comment by PaoliBulldog in TIL about the 1938 Gettysburg Reunion, where veterans of The American Civil War met, they were on average 94 years old. by VengefulMight
This was taught but it really wasn’t. Most European powers were not impressed by American battle tactics. I think the only two things of note were the first use of ironclad warships and the extent of artillery used by both sides was abnormal for the time
HighHcQc t1_j9uo8ba wrote
Reply to comment by ascoult in TIL about the 1938 Gettysburg Reunion, where veterans of The American Civil War met, they were on average 94 years old. by VengefulMight
My younger brother was born that year and knew my grandfather. He is the reason why I chose this number. Also, I didn't say that anyone over 25 met someone from the 1800's. But that anyone over 25 met someone who met someone from then.
I never met anyone from the 1800's.
HPmoni t1_j9uo6bh wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in TIL about Janet Parker, the last person to die of smallpox in 1978. She worked above one of the last labs in its last months of permission to study the virus. The day Janet's viral strain was confirmed, Henry Bedson, the doctor in charge of the lab, took his own life. by w0mpum
Your hiking but he did the honorable thing. Kind of went overboard.
eddie_koala t1_j9unv24 wrote
MrSquigles t1_j9umgpq wrote
Reply to comment by Van_GOOOOOUGH in TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
I'm from SW England and I can confirm this accent is very close.
jugglervr t1_j9um7aa wrote
Reply to TIL that the reason Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it 'macaroni' was because at one time macaroni was slang for something very fashionable or trendy by elephantsgraveyard
A man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful girl on his arm.
The show begins and the comedian comes out for his first show of the evening.
The comedian says "A man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful girl on his arm.
The show begins and the comedian comes out for his second show of the evening..
The show begins and the comedian says "A man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful girl on his arm".
Just then a man in the front row stands up and says "I think I've heard this before".
The comedian says "Well maybe you caught my first show of the evening".
The man says "No, I just walked in here".
The comedian says "Well it was a guy looked just like you walked in with a beautiful girl on his arm could have been your twin brother".
The man says "My twin brother's dead".
The comedian says "What is this, a wake?".
The man says "I don't have to stand for this".
And he stands up and he walks outside.
And the comedian says "Are you out there? I can hear you breathing.".
The man says "I'm holding my breath".
The comedian says "Well I'm holding you wife".
Just then the man says "That's not my wife".
And he walks back into the nightclub with another beautiful girl on his arm.
"Who's that lady I'm seeing you with" the comedian says.
The man says "This is my wife. That other lady is my dead twin brother's wife.
You can take her if you want her".
And the comedian says "Not unless you say please".
Just then, a man walks into a nightclub with a tatoo of a beautiful girl on his arm eating elbow macaroni..
The comedian says "Is that girl from Italy?".
The man says "No just hungry".
Just then a man walks into the nightclub, he comes riding into the nightclub, on a pony, with a feather stuck into his hat.
"What do you call that?" the comedian asks.
"An entrance" the man says "But forget that".
Just give me a beer and give my pony a jockey".
The bartender says "I think that pony's had enough already".
"Well make it a short jockey" the man says.
"And while you're at it give that lady's lawyer some briefs".
The lady stands up and says "I can defend myself, your Honor".
And the lawyer says "But I'll defend her honor, your Honor".
The judge says "Well on her or off her, make up your mind".
The comic says "Definitely on her, that's the best offer I've had all day".
"Well take it or leave it" says the Judge.
"Couldn't we just drop it?" says the comedian.
He says "You better drop leaflets before you bomb".
And the comedian says "I'm already bombing".
He says "Maybe it's your material".
He says "You don't think it fits?".
He says "Well it could be let out a little".
The comedian says "How much do you think it will cost me?".
He says "It'll cost you an arm and a leg".
The comic says "Well listen, could you put it on the cuff?".
The tailor says "I'll tell you what I'll do. We'll forget the leg and I'll just charge you an arm".
And a beautiful arm it is.
"OK" says the comedian and the tailor cuts off the comedian's arm and gives him the suit.
The tailor calls his girlfriend and asks her to go out on the town with him in order to celebrate.
He calls on his girlfriend and gives her the beautiful arm as a gift.
She wears it around her neck just like a stole and they go out on the town.
The man walks into a nightclub with a beautiful arm on his girl.
The show begins and the one-armed comedian comes out for his last show of the evening..
He does his act, and the audience stands up and gives him a hand
drhunny t1_j9um6mg wrote
Reply to comment by DrJawn in TIL about Janet Parker, the last person to die of smallpox in 1978. She worked above one of the last labs in its last months of permission to study the virus. The day Janet's viral strain was confirmed, Henry Bedson, the doctor in charge of the lab, took his own life. by w0mpum
Article says she was working in an office near the lab, not necessarily working on the smallpox research
Fut22Newb27 t1_j9um2re wrote
Reply to TIL that in 1846 Christian Friedrich Schönbein discovered a formula for nitrocellulose when working in his kitchen. He spilled nitric acid and sulfuric acid on the kitchen table, wiped it up with a cotton apron, then hung it on the stove door to dry. As soon as it was dry, the apron ignited. by Do_Not_Go_In_There
I hate it when that happens
DrJawn t1_j9ulua6 wrote
Reply to TIL about Janet Parker, the last person to die of smallpox in 1978. She worked above one of the last labs in its last months of permission to study the virus. The day Janet's viral strain was confirmed, Henry Bedson, the doctor in charge of the lab, took his own life. by w0mpum
If you were working on smallpox, wouldn't you get the vaccine?
ascoult t1_j9ulb3w wrote
Reply to comment by HighHcQc in TIL about the 1938 Gettysburg Reunion, where veterans of The American Civil War met, they were on average 94 years old. by VengefulMight
I think you may need to adjust your '25 years', people born in 1998 probably did not meet anyone from the 1800s.
dpmad t1_j9ukt5a wrote
“Black-hole-regurgitation” sounds nasty AF.
Van_GOOOOOUGH t1_j9ukolc wrote
Reply to TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
Short documentaries on the people of Tangier Island
The Americans who still speak with West Country British English in Tangier Island
Do_Not_Go_In_There OP t1_j9ukl6m wrote
Reply to TIL that in 1846 Christian Friedrich Schönbein discovered a formula for nitrocellulose when working in his kitchen. He spilled nitric acid and sulfuric acid on the kitchen table, wiped it up with a cotton apron, then hung it on the stove door to dry. As soon as it was dry, the apron ignited. by Do_Not_Go_In_There
It should be noted that nitrocellulose wasn't a new discovery. It had been made in 1832, but Schönbein's discovery was more practical and became widely adopted, though guncotton itself was still dangerous to manufacture until more reliable methods came along.
ThomasButtz t1_j9uk609 wrote
Reply to comment by NewCanadianMTurker in TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
People move away and move there. A random sailor can drop some "diversity" into a lady once in awhile. Etc Etc.
IIRC, genetically, not really a problem with basic social norms like "you and your sister don't make kids." Skipping generations and after first cousins, the genetic risk is kinda negligible.
Edit: Also, I'd have to imagine it's socially taboo. I heard from a guy that worked on St. Helena it wasn't a polite topic of conversation with the locals...
[deleted] t1_j9ujlzm wrote
thewickerstan OP t1_j9ujhr8 wrote
Reply to comment by Aromatic-Reference69 in TiL that in order to make their triple album, "Sandinista!", affordable for their fans, the Clash let go of any royalties made on the first 200,000 copies sold in the UK. by thewickerstan
“The only band that matters”.
hurling-day t1_j9uhitx wrote
Reply to comment by NewCanadianMTurker in TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
That’s why they talk funny.
[deleted] t1_j9uh8kr wrote
NewCanadianMTurker t1_j9ugvm8 wrote
Reply to TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
Wait, their population is only 727 yet they've been living on that same island for hundreds of years? Wouldn't inbreeding be a problem?
Logical_Crab_4594 t1_j9ufo15 wrote
Reply to TIL residents of Tangier Island, 12 miles off the coast of Virginia, have remained so isolated they still speak a dialect similar to the original colonists from the 1700s by emily_9511
Fascinating and a bit sad. Surely seems globalisation and rising sea levels are going to slowly erode this community
SnooWalruses3945 t1_j9udvrb wrote
Reply to comment by Aromatic-Reference69 in TiL that in order to make their triple album, "Sandinista!", affordable for their fans, the Clash let go of any royalties made on the first 200,000 copies sold in the UK. by thewickerstan
Saw Strummer live in ‘99 in a small venue. When he started his first song and his voice hit me, it was transcendent. Great concert!
Dupak46 t1_j9uq2vk wrote
Reply to TIL that scientists created contact lenses that zoom when you blink twice through the use of electric impulses by jamjam1090
Enhance!