Things you were shockingly old when you learned

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (12093 of them)

Since it's Easter I'll admit to not realizing the Mott the Hoople song title "Roll Away the Stone" was anything but a rock and roll reference until Alice Bag posted her version (with helpful graphic) on fb.

https://alicebag.bandcamp.com/track/roll-away-the-stone

nickn, Sunday, 16 April 2017 20:54 (seven years ago) link

rats and mice are different species????? what?????????????????????????????/

flappy bird, Sunday, 16 April 2017 21:35 (seven years ago) link

did you think a mouse was just a baby rat

Number None, Sunday, 16 April 2017 23:08 (seven years ago) link

mice are just domesticated rats iirc

progge went a-courtin' (unregistered), Sunday, 16 April 2017 23:38 (seven years ago) link

xp yes

flappy bird, Sunday, 16 April 2017 23:58 (seven years ago) link

Mice are the ponies of the rat kingdom, iirc

rb (soda), Monday, 17 April 2017 01:10 (seven years ago) link

i thought so

flappy bird, Monday, 17 April 2017 02:04 (seven years ago) link

weirdly I have known since middle school that mice were mus musculus and rats were rattus rattus.

However I was in my twenties before I learned that soft drinks were so named because there's no liquor in them.

Lauren Schumer Donor (Phil D.), Monday, 17 April 2017 04:41 (seven years ago) link

rats and mice are different species?????

I suppose if one's only point of reference is cartoons, then rats are just mice that smoke cigarettes and act like hoodlums.

a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Monday, 17 April 2017 05:00 (seven years ago) link

yes!

flappy bird, Monday, 17 April 2017 05:37 (seven years ago) link

this week i learned that the chorus of Dancing Queen isn't "you can dance! you can die!"

flappy bird, Monday, 17 April 2017 05:38 (seven years ago) link

haha

niels, Monday, 17 April 2017 07:36 (seven years ago) link

rats and mice are different species????? what?????????????????????????????/

― flappy bird, Sunday, April 16, 2017 10:35 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

How closely related are they?
Assume that they have a not that distant shared ancestor.
Though mutation over generations over time with something that breeds as frequently as they do and so on.
They do seem pretty static though.

Stevolende, Monday, 17 April 2017 10:18 (seven years ago) link


down vote
True rats and mice are rodents that constitute part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae. The Old World house mouse is Mus musculus, the brown rat is Rattus norvegicus, so they are members of two different genera in that family. It is estimated that they split from a common ancestor 12-24 million years ago. Just to put that in perspective, the rodent lineage (including rats and mice) and the primate lineage (apes, monkeys, humans) diverged about 80 million years ago.

So says the first Google hit.

Mud... Jam... Failure... (aldo), Monday, 17 April 2017 17:49 (seven years ago) link

the caribou is the north american species of reindeer

a landlocked exclave (mh 😏), Thursday, 20 April 2017 15:30 (seven years ago) link

I think I was about 30 when I learned that christians, muslims, and jews all believed in the same god. I was like wtf, forget all you people. People are the worst.

nicky lo-fi, Saturday, 22 April 2017 16:16 (seven years ago) link

Ikr. Even Shaivite Hindus and Vaishnavite Hindus can find different gods to pray to. It's sort of fun to think of Abrahamic religions as different 'sects' or 'denominations'.

My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Saturday, 22 April 2017 20:20 (seven years ago) link

That Mariska Hargitay is the daughter of Jayne Mansfield & Mickey Hargitay

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 23 April 2017 04:53 (seven years ago) link

Almost every sword & sorcery, sci-fi or post-apocalypse movie is also a road movie.

El Tomboto, Sunday, 23 April 2017 17:18 (seven years ago) link

Canadian Tire is, in fact, a store that sells a number of items and Canadians aren't talking about buying new tires for their cars all the time

a landlocked exclave (mh), Sunday, 30 April 2017 20:24 (seven years ago) link

There was a thing I heard some years ago about all the monotheic Gods having started as lightning Gods. & I think that's true of old Yahweh too.
I heard while studying history at the beginning of the milennium that there was an understanding during the rise of Islam of jews and Christians being respected as people of the book so being allowed to keep their religions under occupation, whereas other religiions were more forcibly converted.& that Freedom of practising those religions was probably freer than trying to practise either islam or Judaism under Christian rule of the same era. But most European history was written by Christians for hundreds of years so the understanding passed down is probably a deal different to practise at the time.

Also that sci fi/sword & sorcery story thing. Joseph Campbell has a basic story outline that covers most tales and might be seen as a road story of a kind.

Stevolende, Sunday, 30 April 2017 20:47 (seven years ago) link

American Eagle is, in fact, a store that sells a number of items and...

some sad trombone Twilight Zone shit (cryptosicko), Sunday, 30 April 2017 20:57 (seven years ago) link

Maybe more "today I learned," but the South Pole stays on New Zealand time. So even though it's daylight for six months out of the year (and night for six months), they still have to change their clocks for motherfucking Daylight Savings Time.

okey-dokey, gnocchi (Ye Mad Puffin), Sunday, 30 April 2017 21:18 (seven years ago) link

That it isn't Rufus (Khan) & Chaka Khan

How many gigabyte is in trilobites (Old Lunch), Monday, 1 May 2017 02:12 (seven years ago) link

That it isn't Rufus (Khan) & Chaka Khan

Next you will tell me it isn't Tony Orlando and Dawn Orlando.

okey-dokey, gnocchi (Ye Mad Puffin), Monday, 1 May 2017 02:36 (seven years ago) link

lol

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 May 2017 02:41 (seven years ago) link

Also that sci fi/sword & sorcery story thing. Joseph Campbell has a basic story outline that covers most tales and might be seen as a road story of a kind.

You can go back a lot further than that, stories like this are canon. Look at "Journey to the West" for example which is the ancient story that Monkey Magic was based on.

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 1 May 2017 03:27 (seven years ago) link

BTW whenever anyone mentions tony orlando and dawn all I can think of is "Bitchin Camaro".

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 1 May 2017 03:28 (seven years ago) link

I think it was Campbell that consciously pointed out the boiled down outline. Not sure if anybody had done that before. He was also talking about stories that are much older but he showed the skeletal structure and meaning ascribed. I think that has passed into near common parlance so a lot of people after him are aware of the structure.

Also reminded of the there are only 7 stories thing. I think that normally ends 'in Hollywood' but think it might be much wider. & that boils things down to bare bones like where factor a effects factor b and factor c happens thusly resulting in factor d and the rest is detail or things happen in a different order. Just woke up so not thinking what the actual 7 stories are or the formulas at least.

Stevolende, Monday, 1 May 2017 08:51 (seven years ago) link

I've known "licorice pizza" as slang for a record since I was a kid, but I did not connect that it was derived from the term 'LP' until today.

Sushi and the Banchan (Spectrist), Saturday, 6 May 2017 16:32 (six years ago) link

There was a chain of record stores called Licorice Pizza and it was many years after knowing about it that I realized it referred to records. Never thought about the LP thing until now, and am thinking that is a coincidence since the visual relationship is so perfect.

nickn, Saturday, 6 May 2017 21:05 (six years ago) link

I've never heard that phrase until today

Moodles, Saturday, 6 May 2017 21:06 (six years ago) link

Me either.

My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Saturday, 6 May 2017 21:19 (six years ago) link

i knew it was a record store name but i never knew the provenance

Yoni Loves Chocha (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 6 May 2017 21:25 (six years ago) link

Also never made that connection even though this place is down the road

http://licoricepie.com/

(and pie =/= pizza)

Sherman's Shermits (S-), Thursday, 11 May 2017 04:37 (six years ago) link

Similar marketing.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fc/f4/72/fcf47218184083cee3af82d51128a826.jpg

nickn, Thursday, 11 May 2017 04:47 (six years ago) link

"They" can be use singularly

AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Friday, 12 May 2017 20:56 (six years ago) link

I always thought the name of this movie referred to 1991 being the year punk became popular and mainstream.

http://i.imgur.com/qGVuROq.jpg

But looking back in hindsight, was it supposed to be a pun on when punk fell apart beyond repair?

pplains, Friday, 12 May 2017 21:53 (six years ago) link

I think your first thought was correct?

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Friday, 12 May 2017 22:04 (six years ago) link

In the UK, punk fell apart in 1978-79, it seemed to retain credibility for a lot longer in the US.

Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Friday, 12 May 2017 22:06 (six years ago) link

that's because it didn't actually break in the US in '778='79

Οὖτις, Friday, 12 May 2017 22:08 (six years ago) link

'78-'79

Οὖτις, Friday, 12 May 2017 22:08 (six years ago) link

I never interpreted the title the second way.

My Body's Made of Crushed Little Evening Stars (Sund4r), Friday, 12 May 2017 22:11 (six years ago) link

The soy sauce I've been using to cook with isn't actual soy sauce.

MarkoP, Friday, 12 May 2017 22:23 (six years ago) link

not so much old as "took a long time" but I now know that DJ Sotofett and DJ Fett Burger are different people

brimstead, Friday, 12 May 2017 22:30 (six years ago) link

two weeks ago i had never heard of fidget spinners

what the hell is going on

mookieproof, Tuesday, 23 May 2017 19:51 (six years ago) link

My kid made me watch a YouTube celeb unbox 13 fidget spinners last night.

It's always (sunny successor), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 20:00 (six years ago) link

I've scrolled past a few heated arguments about whether they are

(a) very helpful for stress reduction in non-neurotypical children, particularly those with autism and ADD;

(b) come the fuck on, it's a TOY;

(c) and anyways they weren't even a THING six weeks ago, how can it now be a vital medical device?;

(d) why the hell does a KID need STRESS REDUCTION jeez louise what has our society come to? etc.

(e) everybody chill the fuck out, everyone will be tired of them next Thursday anyways

leprechaundriac (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 20:49 (six years ago) link

I bought one a month ago, it's on my work desk in the same spot any other work time killer thing like one of those stress balls would be

I can't do any tricks

mh, Tuesday, 23 May 2017 20:51 (six years ago) link

(a) very helpful for stress reduction in non-neurotypical children, particularly those with autism and ADD;

So says the label. But in actual fact, um, how is it better/less distracting than a rubber band or silly putty or interlocked paperclips? these dumb things have made my life a living frustration for the last month. I actually have a cracked classroom window from one that flew free.

rb (soda), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 22:57 (six years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.