Things you were shockingly old when you learned

TIL = within the past week

TWIL

Didn't realise that the original letter locations on a typewriter were changed so that the word 'typewriter' could be typed with keys that are situated only on the upper row.

When Sholes sold his typewriter design to the Remington company, Remington engineers made an additional change to the layout by transferring the letter “R” to the upper row so their typewriter salesmen could quickly type the word “typewriter” to potential clients by locating all of the necessary letters in the upper row.

The use of the word piracy to copy someone’s work goes back to the 17th century.

When I heard the phrase I assumed the phrase referred to the school year: “a teacher dates a student over the summer holiday”, for example

I did not realize that it referred to the months of the year as a metaphor for the stages in one’s life

tbf the song’s lyrics deliberately touch on both these meanings.. “oh the days dwindle down, to a precious few” etc. As in, a time-bound relationship

that the buffalo bills are named after buffalo bill i guess??

Not the Silence of the Lambs guy, tho.

either that or their mascot should be a duck

With spicy wings!

Sister Lovers was him and abandmate dating a pair of sisters though it sounds like it should be a poetic allusion dunnit?

It is also a quote from David Crosby's "Triad".

The "months as life-stages" trope seems to cast aside January, February and March. I can do without them myself but it makes for an inconsistent metaphor.

it was only today that it dawned on me that for years, I'd been reading the thread title "Every huge artist has their "New Jersey"" as "Every huge artist has their "Nebraska"" and now that thread finally makes more sense. I have no idea why my brain confused these states.

They're the only two states that appear in Bruce Springsteen album titles.

Is that so.

https://i.imgur.com/RLCFyjB.jpeg

The resolute desk in the White House is called that not because it’s where presidents sit while being purposeful and determined. It was built from the oak timbers of the British Arctic exploration ship HMS Resolute.

that’s actually pretty cool. i always thought it was because it was as big and sturdy as a ship not cause it was built from one

I had no idea either. Some interesting history (on both)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resolute_desk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolute_(1850)

TIL: four nuclear missiles were detonated during the Cuban Missile Crisis - two by the U.S. and two by the Soviet Union. Doing this during DEFCON 2 conditions seems like a bad idea and I'm kinda shocked that we're all still here.

Ned Ludd was actually a folkloric figure whose name was appropriated by the Luddite movement several decades after he (or the person/people he was based on) lived. I'd always assumed he was the leader of a social movement! Shows you how much I know about British industrial history.