Things you were shockingly old when you learned

If you post calmly as you normally do in the public square the government generally can't tell you to stop just because of the content of what you say. Despite everything I still probably think this is good not bad. After all, everyone else can tell you to stop.

tbh the idea of hate speech laws -- as in being subject to fines and imprisonment for expressing a view -- is pretty shocking if you've grown up in the US! first amendment law is pretty deeply established here and attempts to criminalize speech haven't been successful.

when I used to bother with reddit there were constant debates about the meaning of free speech. there were a lot of americans shocked that count dankula went to jail in the uk "for making a joke video where he trains his girlfriend's dog to be a nazi" (having seen the video I can report that it mostly consists of him saying "gas the jews" and giggling like a prick)

tbh I find that aspect of uk law pretty vile.

I would never get tired of punching "count dankula" in the face

the guy who made the joke bomb threat against the airport I have some sympathy for, but would be happy to throw that third rate scottish muttley "dankula" in a dungeon for any reason.

The US OTM on this one.

Not generally in favour of that law either - except when it comes to pricks like that guy and Tommy Robinson.

the number of people who cite the first amendment in the usa when what they're talking about has absolutely nothing to do with the first amendment is very high, though

Seriously. The 1st applies to governmental attempts at censorship, not to, say, a publisher who doesn't want to publish your shitty novel.

or ilx posts

Thgat some graves have tiles, does that make them a mausoleum. Only really noticed when they were lowering my dad down.
THink I may have seen that kind of thing before but it would have a slab over it.

Also taht my dad was a massive book buyer hadn't realised taht was something he did. It's something I('ve done for years and never knew there was a connection. His 2nd wife spent a part of her eulogy to him talking about the extent to which he followed the pursuit. & if his kids wanted money from him they'd be much more likely to get it if they said it was for books.
Meanwhile I can't go by charity shops or remainder, even new bookshops without having long looks.

THought it really weird, was expecting to see the earthen sides of a grave and there's these white tiles going down 6 feet or whatever.
Maybe the soil is wrong to be planted straight into it or at least in a coffin. But it was white tiled like a shower room or something.
I thought poart of the ceremony was normally to thrown the first handful of earth on top of the coffin or at least if you were the spouse or closest kin. Wondered why that wasn't happening.

Could it be that those are temporary panels for holding the dirt back so the hole maintains its shape, and they are lifted out before the hole is finally filled?

I vaguely understood that most USian burials take place in a concrete vault - there is no dirt-to-casket contact. the casket is lowered into the concrete box, a concrete lid goes on top of that, the dirt is filled in around said vault. Surely practices vary by location and region and funereal industry practice

But the vault doesn't go up to ground level, does it? It's just high enough to fit the casket inside.

I think it looks like a solid wall from looking back at a still I have.

This burial was in the land around his house which is what was the area he grew up in. His dad's original home etc.
May be that as much, that it's not a normal graveyard. Just surprising cos I don't think I'd ever seen a structure like it. Surprised it only had the space for one grave and didn't seem to have anywhere for any of his immediate family to go.
I wondered if this was the structure taht was under large marble grave slabs in graveyards too.

a thing i discovered when my mum's grave was dug is this. her plan for it was to be next to her mum and dad under the yew tree, and she had a plot reserved in the churchyard in the village she lived in. but when the gravedigger -- a man with only one arm* and a tiny little digger that he drives -- checked, he said, "can't go there, there's someone already down there". we said "wait, someone buried without a gravestone?"** he said, "oh they probably have a stone somewhere, they move around a lot down there." so anyway we agreed to that the other side was fine, and everything was dug and sorted. but i feel we shd have pressed him more on the information he had so casually imparted.

*in my mind's eye he also has a hook instead of a hand but this is i think unlikely embroidery by my stressed memory
**in fact was with many old churchyards there are graves without stones, because there's reuse and the stones are cleared and repositioned, and any old skellingtons found are carefully reburied. i remember they did this in the 70s and found some bodies buried in leather bags instead of coffins, which everyone found very interesting. the graves are meant to be mapped but the maps go back centuries and are often quite inaccurate and also don't go back all the way (there's been a church of some sort there since c.1200). anyway this didn't apply to the corner by the yew, which was part of someone's farm or garden until quite recently.

didn't seem to have anywhere for any of his immediate family to go

often e.g. husband and wife are stacked not side by side

another thing i was shockingly old when i learned

the gravedigger -- a man with only one arm

Some people are just in the wrong jobs aren't they

Well, he also has a hook to loosen the soil.

How bad 12 Monkeys really is.

Terry Gilliam is amazing if/when you’re a 14-year-old boy.

I learnt about five years ago that Bonnie & Clyde were real people, not just fictional characters from a 1960s movie I watched as a kid.

I think Bonnie is about a foot shorter than she appeared in the film. Listened through the Last House On the Left version of the story a few months ago and watched a few History/Discover channel versions a while back. Think I listened to at least one other podcast on it too.

That chicken pox parties were ever a thing. Mind = blown.

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

They’re still a thing

I'm posting from one right now

I was shockingly old (because I didn't have kids until my 30s) that kids these days didn't even get the chicken pox anymore.

Another point for vaccinations.

We don't have those in the UK, my kids caught it last year, and my wife, which was pretty bad.

that the first three numbers in your SSN correspond to a geographic location within the USA

^unless you had one of the earliest ones or was issued one after 2007

it wasn't changed until 2011, apparently:
https://www.ssa.gov/employer/randomization.html

how do u think I learned all of ur SSNs

My social begins with 709 because my parents were hobos.

railroad!

boxcar!

• the paper they use to wrap butter is actually metallic
• microwave ovens are difficult to buy during a lockdown

Trying to think what the desired result would be otherwise gloop contained in a paper wrapper.

Though assume the process was more take frozen butter from freezer realise it won't spread for hours. Light bulb moment .
Later lovely little fire in useful machine.

But maybe that's obvious.

it took a few goes to blow out the fire

I don't know what the resulting substance would be like if it came out without the flames. Would it actually be nice or just a molten mess.
& wouldn't you be better off cutting off a chunk and putting it i a micorwaveable dish. Or did you need the whole stick.
Was wondering why you'd still have the wrapper attached.

there wasn’t enough butter to bother with a separate dish

more convenient to set the kitchen alight

Fela Kuti came from a well-off family of public intellectuals and studied music at one of the most prestigious conservatories in the world. I'd always enjoyed his music but never looked into his biography beyond the basic "they threw his mom out a window you know" stuff

Allspice is just one single spice and not a Five Spice+ mixture

xp
I really liked Michael Veal's biography of Fela back when I was absolutely obsessed with him (so maybe take this rec with a grain of salt). Wole Soyinka is Fela's cousin fyi

that "Sandy" is a shortening of "Alexandria" or "Alexander"

Next you'll be telling me you didn't know Eck is short for Alexander.

Wait huh? Every Alexandra I've know has gone by Alex.

Every Sandy i knew was a Sandra.

I know some Alexandras become Sandys but that's a minority innit?