Recent comments in /f/todayilearned

Reinventing_Wheels t1_ja3ye7y wrote

Reply to TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

My take on this is to be surprised that the OED isn't nearly as old of a publication as I assumed. I was thinking it was several hundreds of years old, at least, given how long Oxford University has been around.

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lagginglukas t1_ja3y7ex wrote

Reply to comment by TheCloudFestival in TIL there's a rock formation in Saudi Arabia about 6 meters high and 9 meters wide, split curiously in half and balanced on two small, natural pedestals. The origin of the Al Naslaa rock formation is unknown. by OccludedFug

Hands? Or tools? It’s still very intriguing since rope is believed to be created sometime a bit less than 5,000 years a go. If it’s believed to be not nearly that old then it’s still very odd to know that someone tried to work with this size of blocks and for what purpose?

I haven’t seen limestone being cut by saws or chains, it if that’s an easier method wouldn’t it bear very visible line cuts on both facing surfaces?

In my opinion its certainly man made. Seeing many other megalithic structures throughout the world I can confidently say that we most likely have no idea how they cut and moves giant stones into place. This seems to be a similar case seeing how well the cut is made pulling a rope back and forth will not provide a straight cut

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katarinamightytravel t1_ja3xssn wrote

Reply to TIL On long-haul flights, flight attendants have hidden sleeping areas above the passenger compartment. by real_zexy_specialist

That's correct, although it's not specifically for long haul flights - even some short haul aircraft have "crew rests" above the Passenger Compartment. I flew on such a plane recently and was lucky enough to get a ride in the crew rest before takeoff. It definitely is an interesting experience!

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SurroundTiny t1_ja3xpj1 wrote

Reply to comment by WillMudlogForBoobs in TIL of the Battle of San Jacinto. Just six weeks after the Texans terrible loss at The Alamo in 1836. The Texans regrouped under Sam Houston, and surprised the Mexican forces and overwhelming defeated the Mexicans. The Texans had 11 soldiers killed and the Mexicans lost 650. by triviafrenzy

Your "generally accepted rules of war" are just delusional fantasy. In any case, the Texans attacked at 4:30 in the afternoon. The reasons for the lopsided losses were the mistakes that Santa Anna made.

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Emilayday t1_ja3xjzv wrote

Reply to comment by Nixon4Prez in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

This is the first thing I've ever read that makes me want to read all his LOTR books now!! That's so cool!

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ThePrussianGrippe t1_ja3xddy wrote

Reply to comment by Admetus in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

And to make up for the fact there wasn’t much in the way of surviving Anglo myths since the saxons introduced themselves on the island.

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HouseAtomic t1_ja3wvmu wrote

Reply to comment by Nixon4Prez in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

The Neal Stephenson book Reamde centers around a MMOG that was invented then had an entire 100% realistic planetary geology created. The players having realistic mining, water flows & mountain ranges were important to the development team.

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racooncubbler t1_ja3w0l1 wrote

Reply to TIL about the only double barrel cannon in the world. When it was its first tested during the American Civil War, the chain snapped immediately and one ball tore into a nearby cabin, knocking down its chimney; the other spun off erratically and struck a nearby cow, killing it instantly. by ExpertPreference8481

Oh, I was thinking more along the lines of shoot once, shoot a second time. Reload both. I imagined there was some efficiency gained form a man power perspective. I.e. a crew on a double barrel canon could shot more often per member than a two crews on two guns. And you can see where your last shot went and shoot again immediately.

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thedefinitionofidiot t1_ja3ugkf wrote

Reply to comment by FartingBob in TIL Tolkien assisted on the Oxford Dictionary's first edition, focused on 'W' words waggle to warlock. He "learned more in those two years than in any other"; and certain etymologies continued to puzzle him for years, with many pages of notes written later on 'walrus' for a lecture at Leeds by PianoCharged

Ultimately, we can reconstruct that there was a Proto-Indo-European root *h₁es- that meant something like "to be" (also the root of the English word was) that came into Greek as eteos and its closely related or derived cousin etumos.

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chulookin2 t1_ja3r2rc wrote

Reply to comment by Admetus in TIL about the only double barrel cannon in the world. When it was its first tested during the American Civil War, the chain snapped immediately and one ball tore into a nearby cabin, knocking down its chimney; the other spun off erratically and struck a nearby cow, killing it instantly. by ExpertPreference8481

Exactly why The two canons in downtown Nanaimo were forcibly removed by Canada's gang leader Trudeau...

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