Today I Learned...

[Crosby87]

Good thread, Stu. I can't believe this whole time (and having worked in restaurants) that until I saw the last episode of "The Bear" last night...I thought "Stage" was pronounced like it looks. When a visiting chef sets up a stage. I feel soooo stupid. It's "Stoge."

[osarusan]

In the Mexican-American war of 1846-48, there was a Mexican artillery batallion called St. Patrick's Batallion, led by Irishman John Riley and comprising mainly Irish Catholic soldiers, who had often defected from the US army. After losing the battle of Churubusco, they were subjected to the largest mass execution in US history.

Apparently there was a commemorative stamp issued in Ireland in 1997 but I don't remember that at all.

I learned this today while watching a youtube video of Mexico v Ireland in WC 1994, and there was a comment under the video from a Mexican (I presume) saying Mexico should have let Ireland win because of this batallion.

[SkStu]

Republic of Ireland have been the Unofficial Football World Champions twice in history, last held in from March 31, 2004 (when we beat Czech Republic 2-1) to May, 29 2004 (when we lost to Nigeria 3-0). We also held it in 1977.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unoffi..._Championships [this link says we have held it three times but the Ireland MNT wiki says twice and is supported by the article below]

https://www.balls.ie/uncategorized/i...ionship-351369

[John83]

In the Mexican-American war of 1846-48, there was a Mexican artillery batallion called St. Patrick's Batallion, led by Irishman John Riley and comprising mainly Irish Catholic soldiers, who had often defected from the US army. After losing the battle of Churubusco, they were subjected to the largest mass execution in US history.

Apparently there was a commemorative stamp issued in Ireland in 1997 but I don't remember that at all.

I learned this today while watching a youtube video of Mexico v Ireland in WC 1994, and there was a comment under the video from a Mexican (I presume) saying Mexico should have let Ireland win because of this batallion.

I worked in Mexico for a bit. They hear you're Irish, the San Patricios are the first thing a lot of them bring up. They tend to have a positive association with Ireland as a result. (Whereas they can be a bit chilly until they figure out you're not American.)

[joey B]

Jack and Bobby Charlton’s dad didn’t watch their World Cup semi final because he wouldn’t change his shift working at the mine!

[seanfhear]

Jack and Bobby Charlton’s dad didn’t watch their World Cup semi final because he wouldn’t change his shift working at the mine!

Must have been the bonus shift.

[OwlsFan]

...(or rather reminded me) that it was a Thierry Henry goal which condemned Wednesday to relegation from the Premier League in 2000. God I love that man.

[Mr A]

...(or rather reminded me) that it was a Thierry Henry goal which condemned Wednesday to relegation from the Premier League in 2000. God I love that man.

Am still boycotting Glilette razors all these years later

[A N Mouse]

TIL Janet Jackson's 'Rhythm Nation' could brick some laptops because of resonant frequencies with the HDD. As in not necessarily the machine playing the video, but one nearby.

Manufacturers had to add audio filters, which may or may not still be in place.

here's the original blog post with the story
https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldne...6-00/?p=106994
but I see it's been been picked up by others including the daily heil in the last week.

[osarusan]

Sergei Krikalev was a Soviet cosmonaut who was on board the space station Mir when the Soviet Union collapsed. Thus, the country which had sent him into space didn't exist any more, and the landing zone for his scheduled return was now in newly-independent and now-not-Soviet Kazakhstan, so there was confusion about who was in charge. He ended up spending 311 days in space, twice as long as planned (Out of his 803-day total, which is the 3rd highest ever).

And him spending so much time away from gravity means that time dilation caused him to be 0.02 seconds older than he would otherwise be.

[John83]

And him spending so much time away from gravity means that time dilation caused him to be 0.02 seconds older than he would otherwise be.

The idea that the space station is in zero gravity is common and natural but mistaken. Gravity depends on the squared distance from the centre of mass (in this case the centre of the earth). You or I are around 6300 km from the centre of the earth. (Earth is very big.) The ISS (and I assume MIR had a similar orbit) is around 400 km up there, so it's 6700 km up from the centre of the earth. That means that the force of earth's gravity is around 88% as strong (100%*(6300/6700)^2) up there. Any difference will make for time dilation: we know for sure that this is true because if we didn't account for it, GPS would steadily get less and less accurate as the clocks on the satellites fall out of synch with those on the ground.

The reason the astronauts on the ISS (and previously on MIR) seem like they're in zero G is that the station is in freefall. It's just that it's moving sideways fast enough that the ground is falling away at the same speed. This is an orbit. If you could build a 200 km tall building, the ISS could whizz by the roof (though at a blazing 26,700 km/hr, it'd be a blink-and-you'd-miss-it situation). However, you'd still feel gravity (and a severe shortness of breath) standing on the roof.

To actually get to zeroish G, you need to go to the Lagrange point. That's where the James Webb telescope is sitting. It's around 1.5 million km away.

Space is weird.

[nigel-harps1954]

The idea that the space station is in zero gravity is common and natural but mistaken. Gravity depends on the squared distance from the centre of mass (in this case the centre of the earth). You or I are around 6300 km from the centre of the earth. (Earth is very big.) The ISS (and I assume MIR had a similar orbit) is around 400 km up there, so it's 6700 km up from the centre of the earth. That means that the force of earth's gravity is around 88% as strong (100%*(6300/6700)^2) up there. Any difference will make for time dilation: we know for sure that this is true because if we didn't account for it, GPS would steadily get less and less accurate as the clocks on the satellites fall out of synch with those on the ground.

The reason the astronauts on the ISS (and previously on MIR) seem like they're in zero G is that the station is in freefall. It's just that it's moving sideways fast enough that the ground is falling away at the same speed. This is an orbit. If you could build a 200 km tall building, the ISS could whizz by the roof (though at a blazing 26,700 km/hr, it'd be a blink-and-you'd-miss-it situation). However, you'd still feel gravity (and a severe shortness of breath) standing on the roof.

To actually get to zeroish G, you need to go to the Lagrange point. That's where the James Webb telescope is sitting. It's around 1.5 million km away.

Space is weird.

Apt to be reading this in Today I Learned thread. Excellent bit of reading that.

Space is weird, but it's great too.

[Mr A]

It's also big. Really big.

[pineapple stu]

I don't know. I walked down the chemist there last week and that was a long aul way

[pineapple stu]

Johnny Cash was the first person outside the USSR to learn of Stalin's death. He was in the US Air Force at the time and intercepted a morse code message with the information.

And on a similar note, Lenin supposedly spoke English with a Dublin accent. He was living in London at the start of the 20th century and his tutor was from Rathmines.

[OwlsFan]

..that I look my age. Ticket man on the Luas checked everyone's ticket but when he came to me he just said "it's ok" and moved on :-(

[passinginterest]

..that I look my age. Ticket man on the Luas checked everyone's ticket but when he came to me he just said "it's ok" and moved on :-(

Ah, it's like the first time you walk into a club and don't get ID'd there's a moment of this is great and then there's the realisation that you don't look like a teenager anymore!

[pineapple stu]

Vuvuzelas were infamously banned during the 2010 World Cup for being a complete pain in the hole.

But the city also took down a 115 foot long one it had installed on an incomplete freeway in the centre of Cape Town called the Foreshore Freeway Bridge. Though it was installed, it was never actually used, as the Council decided "the jarring sound and volume level was a cause of concern" to city centre traffic.

Could you imagine driving along and having this go off above you?

[pineapple stu]

(North) Earl Street, Henry Street and Moore Street are all named after the same person - Earl Henry Moore of Drogheda.

He also had Drogheda Street (now O'Connell Street) and, to complete the set of streets from his title, Of Lane (now Henry Place)

[SkStu]

The Shrew’s Fiddle

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew%27s_fiddle

A device from the Middle Ages that was used to punish people who were constantly bickering or quarreling.

A version of this would have definitely come in useful on here over the years. I’d have found myself a victim of it a few times.

And, Tets, this version could be the answer to all the moderation problems:

Another version was a "double fiddle" by which two people could be attached together face-to-face, forcing them to talk to each other. They were not released until the argument had been resolved.