Things you were shockingly old when you learned

sorry should have done this
https://cdn.historycollection.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/penis-tree-marginalia-to-roman-de-la-rose-14th-century.jpg

which was another image described in the episode
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0VeOZyyeuxJQsIE3LQ8qzI?si=226b9628f02d47dd

That blini (the little pancakes) are of Russian origin.
Maybe 2 years ago? Previously I thought they were Indian. A combination of only ever buying them to eat at home, rather than ordering them in a restaurant, plus wrong association with other foods ending in 'i' - bhaji, biriyani etc - being the reason.

somehow I only just learned the story behind Macron's marriage o_O

That there was a University gig network in ireland in the mid 70s until the late 80s.
I'd wondered what the story was on arriving fro. Hitching around gigs in the UK and colleges being a significant network. Just got told today that there had been one set up and ended when continual assessment and other academic focus became a significant factor.
So I'd missed one by a couple of years rather than it never existing.

There was a talk on gigs from late 70s and early 80s in Galway this afternoon.
So that came out in that. I had wondered though.
Plus with setting up stadium gigs like the venue that had been the Point and has been a few other things since. Meant that instead of having to work out logistics for a series of smaller gigs around the country they could get audience to all go to one point.
Interesting talk tied in with an exhibition of posters from the time.

there was a film on bbc1 last night (actually right now!) that might've covered this called Good Vibrations. seems to be the story of Terri Hooley, so more Belfast-based. it's from 2012 but i don't think I've seen it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05569p9

I don't know if Belfat would be part of same network since education system different in Northern Ireland. It would make sense to coordinate since a band would be in vague geographical proximity.
But border may create problems up to a certain point. Goods were smuggled across that border to escape duty up until some legislation change, not sure what Brexut has meant since not been up since 2009.

I think Good Vibrations was a good documentary. I could never remember if I had been in the shop concerned. Which is an oversight. But I was broke and didn't have a real base when I was up in Belfast in the early 90s so wouldn't be looking for records.

Burt Lancaster’s career started as a circus acrobat.

that's where he learned to chew the scenery

I just learned today that Debbie Harry and Chris Stein have not been a couple since 1987. I don’t keep up with that kind of stuff much at all, but still: 36 years ago.

That the dude behind Dave's Killer Bread (he sold the company in 2015) was a goddamn maniac and multiple felon. (The bread is excellent.)

― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 25 May 2023 04:29 (one month ago) link

this got me fearful of the Heidelberg bread backstory.

Lego Feet is considered part of the autechre discography?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autechre_discography

Johnny Marr is a stage name

(Born John Maher)

I always thought it was a pun on j'en ai marre (I've had enough of this), but wiki says he started calling himself Marr to make it easier for people to pronounce and to avoid confusion with John Maher out of the Buzzcocks.

^I went up this exact same learning curve years ago, wonder how many others have.

^I went up this exact same learning curve years ago, wonder how many others have.

― The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Elektra) (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 10 July 2023 18:15 (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

^I went up this exact same learning curve seconds ago

That Billy Wilder had a film director brother who made some lousy science fiction films in the 1950s, including the first Yeti/bigfoot movie.

The West Coast of the US doesn't have fireflies?

nope!

― out-of-print LaserDisc edition (sleeve), Tuesday, July 18, 2023 4:52 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I have learned that if you automatically clean the toilet and bathroom sink once a week, like on a Sunday morning, they won't get so completely gross that you don't want to bother

(Haven't learned this yet with the bath tub however)

Had a charming experience a while back with a dear friend from Oregon. She had never seen a firefly, and we just went out into the back yard at dusk and there they were.

It's amazing, the stuff you take for granted but would be utterly new for someone else. Treasure those moments.

Did she not believe her eyes?

I am trying to remember whether we had them in Colorado. I think we did, but memory is a funny thing.

Turns out, yes, Colorado has them, including a native species, which is, of course, endangered.

https://www.nbc11news.com/2023/07/17/fireflies-are-returning-colorado/

It's amazing, the stuff you take for granted but would be utterly new for someone else. Treasure those moments

as a 30+ yr front range resident, i do not recall ever having seen them here. but i grew up in CT, and they were common, awesome, and it's one of the few things i miss.

Well, the article was from Grand Junction, so maybe they are found more easily there. However, I spent 20 years of my life living in places from Pueblo to Boulder, and like I said I think I remember seeing them then. It's possible they were at least occasionally seen before and are not now (I moved away in 1991).

i replaced you pretty exactly (1/91), for the worse i'm betting.

last summer along the platte river in littleton near my house i came upon a very impressive 7"+ long bullfrog. i've ridden along there since 91, never seen the like. i understand them to be invasive. man, it was ginormous.

species move. normally we're pushing them.

Doubtful it was for the worse haha

My mom and siblings still live in Boulder County, I try to get there several times a year. I really enjoy being back, but I'm also content to be where I am.

reminds me of the time when someone from France was going back home after a year in Montreal and was asked what she liked the most about her stay here and she responded that she liked the squirrels she saw all over the city. I think they have squirrels over there but I guess not in the ridiculous amounts we see here.

wife's relatives from Paris get very excited by London squirrels. we don't have them in Portugal either.

reminds me of the time when someone from France was going back home after a year in Montreal and was asked what she liked the most about her stay here and she responded that she liked the squirrels she saw all over the city.

it was a long time ago so I can't remember exactly where I saw them, as it was an extended trip around NE USA then up to Toronto and Montreal, so it could've been Montreal, but I was all excited about seeing different colour squirrels. in the UK we mostly only have grey squirrels, there are isolated pockets of red squirrels but I've never seen one. but I remember seeing black and brown squirrels which I didn't know existed before that.

I was also very excited to see a skunk in Massachusetts on that trip.

The "j'en ai marre" story was certainly used by the music press in The Smiths' early days.

He had also briefly considered the stage name Fu LeCamp.

Since Paul McCartney had already used San Ferry Ann.

Sam Edigalle

re: squirrels, as a wee babe my parents hired an Irish babysitter who was pretty new to the US, through a church friend. On her first day she called my mom and was hysterical: “Mrs. Table, Mrs. Table, there are RATS in ye trees!” Apparently they didn’t have squirrels like ours in her part of Ireland.

She was probably used to red squirrels.

My college pals in Missouri were all, "You probably got armadillos in Arkansas, doncha?" I was surprised that there were places with no armadillos.

Of course, that was in the early 90s. A quick check of wikipedia tells me that the armadillos have now made it to Omaha, with further plans sketched for the midwest.

I thought they were only in Texas until about oh idk a couple years ago??

I saw one in Florida on the side of the road and made my dad pull over the car so I could investigate. They're so weird but I was so happy to see one. I had no idea they had them in Florida.

I've still only seen two of them that were alive.

ife's relatives from Paris get very excited by London squirrels. we don't have them in Portugal either.

― Daniel_Rf, Wednesday, July 19, 2023 5:26 AM (four hours ago)

not really the same, but we were obsessed with the storks when we visited in May

I've seen red and black squirrels in New England but mostly they're grey. Animals that we don't have in NA that I'd like to see here: badgers, hedgehogs. Animals people from outside the US were excited to see when they visited me in Boston: racoons, skunks, opossums.

The armadillo I saw in Fl was def alive. Do you mostly just see roadkill? :(

I had a family of armadillos living in my back yard at one point, they're pretty cute but also carry leprosy.

I am sad that despite going to California pretty much every year from 2003-2015 that I never saw a raccoon.

I was happy to see a chipmunk one time though.

We had a contingent of German grad students teaching undergraduate German classes when I was in college. They got so excited by squirrels. Apparently, they are quite scarce in Germany.

tbf most of the hedgehogs I've seen in my life have been roadkill

I've seen plenty of roadkill armadillos in Alabama.

x-post - Yeah, I know. So weird. I wasn't cuddling the guy. I just got close-ish and got a good look.

They have squirrels in Germany but I think mostly little red ones and definitely not as many as in America.

I started seeing armadillos in MS in the 1990s, more every year since then.

xps yeah grey squirrels are relatively recent to Ireland as an invasive species, you’d be more likely to see red squirrels ime. There was a dray on my walk home from school and I’d sometimes see them. I went to school way out in the country and you wouldn’t see them very much cos they’re shy (?) Grey squirrels basically outnumber people in London though.

Kind of more concerned that your old babysitter seems to have stepped out of Under The Hawthorn Tree though.

My back yard has plentiful chipmunks, black and grey squirrels, rabbits, and shrews/voles*, and red foxes. Occasionally a raccoon.

We don't usually get deer in the yard, but they live nearby and we see them on walks.

* = I confess I can't tell the difference between shrews and voles