imapassenger1

imapassenger1 t1_jed7i35 wrote

Reply to TIL over the course of his 23 published adventures, Herge's Tintin was knocked unconscious 43 times. Between 1929 and 1973, he was hit with a rake, a brick, a whisky bottle, an oar, a giant apple, a camel femur, a block of ice, and countless punches and clubs. by morerubberstamps

The Hardy Boys would top that, being knocked out every book and there were LOTS of books. "With a cry, Joe sank to the ground...unconscious!"

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imapassenger1 t1_ja2976y 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

Interesting to look at a map of Iceland and some of the place names look like they belong in his books. Tolkien was a big fan of Old Norse and Icelandic.

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imapassenger1 t1_j941m0f wrote

Reply to M45 The Pleiades by defnotsandis

Very nice. Also known as the Seven Sisters but normally you can only see six. I think there's a star in your photo which could be the seventh.
Do people call this the little saucepan/pot/dipper? Here in the Southern Hemisphere (Australia) many people call Orion "the pot" because it's upside down here. So this constellation can be called the little pot. You have the Big Dipper of course, which we can't see.

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imapassenger1 t1_j838d83 wrote

Reply to TIL the Pacific island nation of Nauru has been so damaged by phosphate mining that in 1964 Australia offered to repopulate the entire nation to Curtis Island near the Australian Coast. Nauru refused the offer in order to maintain their sovereignty and not become part of Australia. by triviafrenzy

They didn't spend all their mining windfalls on terrible musicals. They also invested in real estate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru_House. It was the tallest building in Melbourne for a year. Looks like they sold it for $140 million in 2004.

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imapassenger1 t1_j4ddkou wrote

Reply to comment by mila626 in Aurora Australis over dunes in Western, Australia [1080x1350] [OC] by steven_sandner

I think I do. I was referring to the name a. australis as opposed to the northern lights. I meant it's in Australia (for the benefit of our northern hemisphere friends). WA is fking huge and it could only be seen right at the southern extreme I would bet. Tasmania is really the only regular sighting place in Australia, being furthest south.

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