Today I learned...

[Naomasa298]

In Australia, they have to wrestle a marsupial. It's trial by wombat.

I'll get my coat.

 

[Rath Darkblade]

In Australia, they have to wrestle a marsupial. It's trial by wombat.

I'll get my coat.

Believe it or not, an entire family was held hostage by a vicious wombat before. Here's the article: MORTAL WOMBAT!!! (The Register, an online IT newsletter, 8 June 2020).

And now to England. The role of the King's Champion in England was held as a hereditary right by the Dymoke family, to whom it had been given by William the Conqueror. At the banquet that followed each coronation, it was the champion's task to challenge anyone present to contest the right of the new sovereign to wear the crown.

It was unheard of for anyone to take up the challenge, but oddly, at William III and Mary's coronation in 1689, the Champion's gauge (gauntlet) was picked up by an old lady on crutches. Champion Dymoke assumed it was a hoax and refused to accept battle to the death against the wizened old crone. Strictly speaking, therefore, the two monarchs were successfully challenged and should have forfeited their crowns.

Following the coronation of Charles I in 1625, the champion suffered a mishap, possibly occasioned by too much drink. He rode into the great hall, bellowed his challenge, threw down his gauntlet ... and promptly fell off his horse.

At the coronation of King George III in 1760, the King's Champion rode the horse that George II had ridden at the battle of Dettingen in 1743. This didn't reflect well on either the late king or his mount, since the animal had a predilection for retreating rather than advancing, and insisted on entering the banqueting hall backwards.

(From "Royal Blunders", by Geoffrey Regan)

 

[CatrionaGrace]

In Australia, they have to wrestle a marsupial. It's trial by wombat.

I'll get my coat.

No, no. Don't leave. I think I love you.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned (or the concept was reinforced by something I read) that emotional contagion is what happens when one individual’s emotions automatically trigger similar feelings in someone else.

Research (and everyday living) show that a baby sitting contently on his/her mother’s lap, if he/she sees another baby bursting into tears, will crumple his/her face, too, and begin to cry. That’s evidence that we are born with the ability to empathize.

Even now, if I see sadness in another’s face, I feel that sadness, too.

We are born to respond to the needs and feelings of others.

 

[Selluwud]

Today I learned (or the concept was reinforced by something I read) that emotional contagion is what happens when one individual’s emotions automatically trigger similar feelings in someone else.

Research (and everyday living) show that a baby sitting contently on his/her mother’s lap, if he/she sees another baby bursting into tears, will crumple his/her face, too, and begin to cry. That’s evidence that we are born with the ability to empathize.

Even now, if I see sadness in another’s face, I feel that sadness, too.

We are born to respond to the needs and feelings of others.

Must be why I laugh most of the time.....laughter is the best medicine.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that they do not use textbooks in high school anymore.

I was talking to my grand-nephew, who's starting grade 10 in September. He goes to the same high school I went to in the 1970s. So, I asked him, do you still go in a couple of days before school starts, to pick up your textbooks. He looked at me like I was strange, and questioned, "Textbooks? We don't use textbooks."

It seems like all is done online these days. He rhymed off for me several web applications they use.

 

[Link the Writer]

(spits out tea and glares in Old Man LinktheWriter)

Back in my day...

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today, I had the young 'uns over, and I learned how to do the Gorilla Smash.

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that the Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is also the only one still standing, as all the others have since succumbed to the passage of time.

The Ancient Greek poet Antipater of Sidon was one of the first to document the ancient wonders. He described them in one of his poems:

I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.

What happened to the 7 Ancient Wonders?

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Thanks Louanne for saving me the bother of going looking for this thread.

It wasn't today but Sunday night chatting to musical bro home from Canada who informed me that the heavily sideburned hippy chap in Buffalo Springfield was none other than Neil Young. How did this pass me by? I don't read much in biographies generally, either like it or don't and Buffalo Springfield don't feature very much in music magazines I've read, but Young does. Did not recognise him and, unfortunately because he one of the greats left standing, his voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me, except for Mr Soul by Buffalo Pringfield. My little mind is blown!

 

[Louanne Learning]

Mr Soul by Buffalo Pringfield

Well, I had to go looking for it, and found a video of them from 1967 - with a nice close-up of a very young looking Neil Young

 

[Rigor Mortis]

Well, I had to go looking for it, and found a video of them from 1967 - with a nice close-up of a very young looking Neil Young

I don't know how many times I've watched that video and still didn't cop it was Neil Young. He looks less like himself than ever.

 

[Louanne Learning]

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Today I learned that the Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It is also the only one still standing, as all the others have since succumbed to the passage of time.

The Ancient Greek poet Antipater of Sidon was one of the first to document the ancient wonders. He described them in one of his poems:

I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the Colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand.

What happened to the 7 Ancient Wonders?

Fun fact: the 'vast tomb of Mausolus' is where we get the word mausoleum from. (It means "an external, free-standing building, constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people.")

Extra fun fact: a mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph.

Bonus fun fact: a Greek arsonist named Herostratus set fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus in 356 BCE, hoping his name would be remembered throughout history.

He was caught, confessed, and sentenced to death. In addition, the authorities tried to erase his name from existence through damnatio memoriae.

However, they recorded his act of destruction, so it came down to us. Now, a term known as "Herostratic fame" means a desperate attempt to be remembered by any means necessary, including destruction.

 

[Homer Potvin]

Thanks Louanne for saving me the bother of going looking for this thread.

It wasn't today but Sunday night chatting to musical bro home from Canada who informed me that the heavily sideburned hippy chap in Buffalo Springfield was none other than Neil Young. How did this pass me by? I don't read much in biographies generally, either like it or don't and Buffalo Springfield don't feature very much in music magazines I've read, but Young does. Did not recognise him and, unfortunately because he one of the greats left standing, his voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me, except for Mr Soul by Buffalo Pringfield. My little mind is blown!

Neil Young ain't for everyone. I love him, but many don't. His voice is very dynamic and the way he harmonizes himself on the guitar is one of a kind. But again, not for everyone. Kind of like Stevie Nicks.

 

[Link the Writer]

Watched a documentary on the British Empire. Today I learned that during the Revolution, there were Blacks who fled slavery to join up with the British to fight the American rebels, many of them massing in New York, the last British stronghold. The British governor at the time decided to ignore the Treaty of Paris part that said, 'Uh, we should return all those people who escaped slavery back to their American masters and stuff' and instead put them on ships and sent them far and wide across the British Empire.

Here's an example of one such person, Harry Washington, a man enslaved by George Washington. Yes. THAT George Washington.

Spoiler: Wiki's entry on Harry Washington

American Revolutionary War​

Moving to New York in late 1776, Washington served as corporal in the Loyalist Black Pioneers, attached to a British artillery unit<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>3<span>]</span></a> and part of the British forces in Governor Lord Dunmore's fleet. The British occupied New York City through much of the war.

At the end of the American Revolution, Washington was one of about 3,000 Black Loyalists evacuated from New York by the British and resettled in Nova Scotia. The Crown granted the Loyalists land there. When Sir Guy Carleton's officials included him on the list for evacuation in the Book of Negroes, Washington gave his age as forty-three and said he had fled Mount Vernon in 1776.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a>

Emigration to Nova Scotia and then Sierra Leone​

Under General Carleton's policy, Harry Washington took a British ship to Nova Scotia (as did two other former Mount Vernon slaves, a man and a woman).<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a><a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>7<span>]</span></a> He lived for several years in Birchtown, Nova Scotia, Canada, which had become the largest free African-American city in North America. There he married Jenny, another freed slave, and they began to plan for their future.

Discontented with conditions in Nova Scotia, he and his wife chose to join the 1,192 black colonists who migrated to Sierra Leone, West Africa (see Nova Scotian Settlers), a new colony founded by the British in West Africa.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>8<span>]</span></a> He planned to begin a farm, using scientific farming techniques he had learned at Mount Vernon.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a>

Rebellion in Sierra Leone​

In 1800 Washington was among several hundred settlers who rose up in a brief rebellion against British rule.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a> The precipitating issue was one familiar from the American Revolution: taxation.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a> The Sierra Leone Company, which ran the colony for the British government, required the settlers to pay taxes, called quitrents, for using their land, which land remained the property of the company.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a> The rebels formed a provisional government and wrote a set of laws, which they nailed to the office door of a company administrator.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a>

Internal exile and death​

The Sierra Leone Company responded by sending a corps of recently arrived black Jamaican maroons against the rebels. In the trials that followed the defeat of the rebellion, Washington was among the rebels sentenced to banishment to Bullom Shore, a flat but fertile area north of the new colony where Lungi Airport is located today. He became one of the two leaders of a new settlement but died there of disease.<a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>6<span>]</span></a><a href="Harry Washington - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>9<span>]</span></a> His descendants and those of other African Americans make up a portion of the Sierra Leone Creole people.

The TL;DR:

• Harry Washington (c. 1740–1800) was born in Gambia and sold into slavery as a war captive, then purchased by George Washington. During the American Revolutionary War, Harry Washington escaped from slavery in Virginia and served as a corporal in the Black Pioneers attached to a British artillery unit. After the war he was among Black Loyalists resettled by the British in Nova Scotia, where they were granted land. There Washington married Jenny, another freed American slave. In 1792 he joined nearly 1200 freedmen for resettlement in Sierra Leone, where they set up a colony of free people of color.

 

[Louanne Learning]

George Washington. Yes. THAT George Washington.

The myth of George Washington ignores that his major motivation to fight the British was the British protection of land west of the Ohio River for the native population. (See Stanwix Treaty) Washington's family claimed land west of the Ohio River and that claim was threatened by British policy.

Also - Washington ordered the Sullivan expeditions, a scorched-earth policy, which destroyed about 40 native towns in upstate New York, houses, crops, orchards, etc, all destroyed, and sent thousands of Natives as refugees to Niagara. Many died.

The Native name for George Washington was Hanödaga:nyahs (he who destroys towns)

 

[Rath Darkblade]

Washington's legacy is complex. He undeniably made significant positive contributions to the founding of the USA, but many of his actions (particularly his lifelong participation in the institution of slavery) would now be considered morally reprehensible.

Washington also faced tremendous challenges in office, one of the most pressing being the national debt incurred during the Revolutionary War. There is also the Whiskey Rebellion to consider.

I'd say Washington was probably one of the better Presidents America had. I can't say I approve of all his actions in private life, but he was a skillful general and a effective politician. He certainly wasn't a saint, but if he had been one, I don't think he could have achieved as much.

 

[Link the Writer]

Yeah, his legacy is... errrrgh... Don't wanna risk turning this into a debate though, Feel the mods glaring at me right now. D:

The myth of George Washington ignores that his major motivation to fight the British was the British protection of land west of the Ohio River for the native population. (See Stanwix Treaty) Washington's family claimed land west of the Ohio River and that claim was threatened by British policy.

Also - Washington ordered the Sullivan expeditions, a scorched-earth policy, which destroyed about 40 native towns in upstate New York, houses, crops, orchards, etc, all destroyed, and sent thousands of Natives as refugees to Niagara. Many died.

The Native name for George Washington was Hanödaga:nyahs (he who destroys towns)

It's horrifying that it took Assassins Creed III, a goddamn videogame, to teach me about that bit of Washington. The American education system is a joke.

(hears ban hammers being prepped)

GAH!! OK, back to topic!

What I Learned Today:

So here I am doing a one-off fantasy piece because I wanted to stir my creativity pot. Created a magical order called Mägi because I didn’t want to call em ‘wizards/witches’.

Looked it up. Mägi (or really, Magi) is apparently the name of priests from Ancient Persia who followed the Zoroastrian faith and would interpret meaning from the stars. (Remember how in the New Testament it’s said that there came wise men from the east? Yeah, that’s them. They saw this bright shining star over the area they knew Jerusalem was, and interpreted it as divine, hence why they went to ask King Herod about it. And, of course, he flips all the lids and tables over it.)

I… guess that can work. Magic, stars, wizards, I can work with it. Maybe in my lore, the magical order was founded by one of those men, perhaps? *starts jotting down in his lore journal*

 

[Louanne Learning]

Today I learned that Victor, the boy who laid on top of his friend to shield him from bullets in the Minnesota shooting, has been released from hospital and is recovering with his family.