firelock_ny
firelock_ny t1_j2agf0h wrote
Reply to comment by Brotherdodge in TIL Archduchess Mathilde of Austria accidentally set her dress alight and immolated herself while trying to hide a cigarette from her father by Brotherdodge
Umberto I, murdered by an anarchist during an impressive international wave of anarchist assassinations. They got Presidents, Kings, a Tsar, a whole list of government leaders.
firelock_ny t1_iydmuns wrote
Reply to TIL that beans are banned in Spacecraft because they can produce "1-3 cups of flatus" in an environment where there are no windows by April_Spring_1982
This makes me think of the 1997 movie RocketMan, which I believe was inspired by the idea of something being about as funny as a fart in a space suit.
firelock_ny t1_iy6pkv8 wrote
Weirdest thing to me about this movie is that its theatrical release was as a double feature - with My Neighbor Totoro. How's that for an emotional shift in gears?
firelock_ny t1_ixcp010 wrote
Reply to TIL the Great Pyramid of Giza is not the largest pyramid in the world, Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtepetl, is the largest archaeological site of a pyramid in the New World, as well as the largest pyramid by volume known to exist in the world today. by Mind-Matters-Not
"Known to exist in the world today" makes me wonder if we know of bigger ones that were destroyed.
firelock_ny t1_iwhjxlx wrote
Reply to comment by Daniel_The_Thinker in TIL that the civilian sailors of the U.S. Merchant Marine had a higher casualty rate during World War II than any branch of the armed forces. by p38-lightning
I think that's the UK's Bomber Command. US Army Air Corps 8th Air Force losses were in the 7% range.
firelock_ny t1_iwhj3o7 wrote
Reply to comment by series_hybrid in TIL that the civilian sailors of the U.S. Merchant Marine had a higher casualty rate during World War II than any branch of the armed forces. by p38-lightning
> the Germans called the east coast of the US the "happy hunting ground" when we were sending supplies to England.
I've read accounts of nights during the war you could fly from Maine to Florida along the Atlantic coast and never be out of sight of a burning ship.
firelock_ny t1_iw2b5n6 wrote
Reply to comment by sterlingphoenix in TIL 'The Land of Nod' is originally a biblical reference of a sort of purgatory where Cain was exiled after murdering Abel -- rather than a 'dreamland' sleepytime dealie as it is now colloquially known. by quicxly
Old storytelling imagery, seen in children's bedtime stuff - the Sandman whisking you off to the Land of Nod, that kind of thing. 19th to early 20th century.
firelock_ny t1_itpjcsu wrote
Reply to comment by Smart_Ass_Dave in TIL the Port Chicago disaster accounted for 15% of all African American casualties in World War II by Butthole_Alamo
Fun bit: two US Presidents (Hoover and Nixon) were raised as Quakers.
firelock_ny t1_ithppbd wrote
Reply to comment by kozmonyet in TIL the Port Chicago disaster accounted for 15% of all African American casualties in World War II by Butthole_Alamo
My brother's first management job was at a printing company in Chicago, their huge main factory building had been built around 1900.
Each corner of the building had a staircase that only went to one of the four main production floors. This was so the management could segregate their factory workers by ethnicity - otherwise management was certain there'd be daily brawls between the various sects of recent European immigrants working there.
firelock_ny t1_jdir57v wrote
Reply to comment by Kagomefog in TIL that Chinese Food was introduced into America during the California Gold Rush, starting in 1848. As 30,000 immigrants had arrived from the Canton region of China, the restaurants gave the predominantly male population a connection to home and provided gathering places for the Chinese community. by jdward01
> Cecilia Chiang introduced non-Cantonese Chinese food to the US.
Northern non-Cantonese Chinese food. My great-uncle introduced the US to Southwestern non-Cantonese Chinese food. ;-)
(OK, he probably wasn't the first...but Sichuan cuisine is quite different from Northern (Shandong?) cuisine.)