Today I learned...

[Bone2pick]

Yesterday evening I learned that Christopher Columbus had red hair.

Excerpt from Ernle Branford’s Christopher Columbus:

In appearance, as we know from the descriptions of those who met him in later years, Christopher Columbus was singularly un-Latin. No doubt, in the waves of invaders that had beaten upon the Italian coastline over the centuries since the fall of Rome, some Germanic or other Nordic stock had become mingled with many of the families of the Ligurian coast. True, his nose was aquiline and his face long, but his hair was carroty red, his complexion ruddy rather than olive, and his eyes were blue. ​

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that the Māori (Hawaiian) word for autism is "takiwātanga" – which translates to "in his/her own time and space."

 

[Selluwud]

Some people made a living from that approach, the movie "Door to Door" was quite inspiring.

Door to Door is a 2002 American biographical drama television film about Bill Porter, an inspiring and successful door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy.

It's a tough way to make a living, but is it any worse than a Latter Day Saint making house calls for proselytizing?

 

[Homer Potvin]

Some people made a living from that approach, the movie "Door to Door" was quite inspiring.

Door to Door is a 2002 American biographical drama television film about Bill Porter, an inspiring and successful door-to-door salesman with cerebral palsy.

It's a tough way to make a living, but is it any worse than a Latter Day Saint making house calls for proselytizing?

Jesus or solar panels, is my line when the door goes a-knockin', but you can usually tell by the outfits.

 

[Louanne Learning]

door-to-door salesman

In Ontario, door-to-door salesman are banned, under law.

 

[Selluwud]

Jesus or solar panels, is my line when the door goes a-knockin', but you can usually tell by the outfits.

I usually tell them I have my own religion and I deliver a sermon (by appointment only) once a year and twice on leap year.

 

[JT Woody]

I usually tell them I have my own religion and I deliver a sermon (by appointment only) once a year and twice on leap year.

idk why but this reminded me of the time my brother slammed the door on 2 little old Jehovah's Witnesses.
We were still living at home and my brother's room was in the basement.
It was a weekend and our mom was at work. Well, we hear a knock at the door, and i peep out the window and see the old ladies. i dont even bother to open the door.
they ring the doorbell, and my brother gets out of bed. goes up the stairs and opens the door without looking and goes back down to his room. there was a pause. they knock on the glass door.
when my brother realized it wasnt our mom (he thought she might have forgotten her house keys), he ran back up the stairs and slammed the door shut in their faces. he didnt even know who was at the door, just that it wasnt mom. (when you come up the stairs from the basement, you come up BEHIND the open door, so he couldnt see who was out there, and they couldnt see who had opened/closed the door).

they never came back

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned about the free Yuka App - and downloaded it onto my phone.

With it, you can scan any product and get a nutritional rating on it.

I tried it out on items in my pantry. Olive oil is rated good (78/100) and balsamic vinegar is rated poor (48/100)

 

[Homer Potvin]

Today I learned about the free Yuka App - and downloaded it onto my phone.

With it, you can scan any product and get a nutritional rating on it.

I tried it out on items in my pantry. Olive oil is rated good (78/100) and balsamic vinegar is rated poor (48/100)

What's the criteria they use?

 

[Louanne Learning]

What's the criteria they use?

They look at amount of sugar, additives, quantity of fruits (?), saturated fats, sodium, calories, whether it is organic (synthetic herbicides)

 

[Catrin Lewis]

Today I learned that Eric Burdon, in the chorus, is actually singing, "Spill the wine, take that pearl."

I always thought it was "Spill the wine, dig that girl."

Was he riffing on the old medieval custom (cited in Hamlet) of dropping a pearl into a chalice of wine?

 

[Catrin Lewis]

I usually tell them I have my own religion and I deliver a sermon (by appointment only) once a year and twice on leap year.

Oh, I'm happy to give them a sermon on demand. It's hilarious when the older, more experienced "missionary" grabs the younger one and beats it out of there.

 

[Louanne Learning]

"Spill the wine, dig that girl."

I thought it was "Tell you why, dig that girl" - all these years!

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that elephants snore, and it sounds pretty human.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

C-PAPS for elephants?

 

[Kiraann]

C-PAPS for elephants?

Lol. That would be as big as a refrigerator with an included generator. Have to hire muscle builders to move ‘em around.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Nah, we'd just get the biggest elephant in the compound to move it around with trunk and tusks.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Nah, we'd just get the biggest elephant in the compound to move it around with trunk and tusks.

Now that would make him (her?) feel elephantastic. (And not irrelephant).

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that the last verified judicial battle – trial by combat - in Britain was in Scotland in 1597, when Adam Bruntfield accused James Carmichael of murder and then killed him in battle.

The last one in England occurred in 1446 when a servant accused his master of treason. The master drank much wine before the battle and was slain by the servant.

Britain did not uphold the right of a defendant to trial by battle again until 1818, in the case of Ashford v Thornton. Thornton had been acquitted of murdering Ashford’s sister, and Ashford appealed for retrial. Thornton demanded the right to trial by combat, and the court granted his request. Ashford refused to fight, and Thornton was set free and emigrated to America.

As a result of the trial, Parliament hastily passed a bill abolishing trial by combat.

Thornton died in Baltimore in 1860.

 

[CatrionaGrace]

Maybe what we need now is Trial by Scrabble.