# Something you learned recently, that you didn't know before **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 9, 2017, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199 "2017-08-09T22:05:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/81 "2017-08-21T18:51:42Z")
> [@mistymage](#): > > That’s called a bachelor herd: [Bachelor herd - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_herd) That sounds like a great slang term for a Singles Bar. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/82 "2017-08-21T19:03:50Z")
Yesterday I learned that it’s a lot harder to get detergent out of a washing machine than it is to pour it in. It wouldn’t start because apparently the water sensor was broken or something. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/83 "2017-08-24T12:55:48Z")
I just learned there’s a Las Vegas, New Mexico. It predates that other one in Nevada by about 70 years. Also, 1 in 5 Koreans have the surname “Kim.” For most of Korean history only the aristocracy had surnames, and they adopted surnames that suggested their families originated in China. Around the 10th century commoners began to take surnames, and they emulated their social betters by taking their “noble” names, which at the time were dominated by “Kim” and “Park.” Later “Choi” and “Lee” became prominent. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/84 "2017-08-31T07:39:33Z")
I recently learned why, a few years ago, issues of _Popular Mechanics_ mysteriously began appearing in my mailbox. Now, I suppose it shouldn’t have been all that hard to work out that a snafu involving my similarly named father’s subscription was the reason. I had always assumed that someone had bought me a gift subscription, albeit someone who doesn’t really know me that well, because nothing about my behavior especially suggests that _Popular Mechanics_ would be the mag for me. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/85 "2017-08-31T09:18:29Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I just learned there’s a Las Vegas, New Mexico. It predates that other one in Nevada by about 70 years. > > Also, 1 in 5 Koreans have the surname “Kim.” For most of Korean history only the aristocracy had surnames, and they adopted surnames that suggested their families originated in China. Around the 10th century commoners began to take surnames, and they emulated their social betters by taking their “noble” names, which at the time were dominated by “Kim” and “Park.” Later “Choi” and “Lee” became prominent. But did you know that this used to be quite the problem in finding a suitable [marriage mate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_809_of_the_Korean_Civil_Code)? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/86 "2017-08-31T09:58:52Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > You can buy an electric kettle for $20, but I’ve never seen the need for one. > > If I need hot (but not boiling) water I use the microwave. I don’t like to boil it, and try to have something in the cup to prevent any explosions. > If I need boiling water I use the stove top. > > I don’t use boiling water for tea, hot chocolate, ramen, etc. I prefer merely hot water and the microwave is fine for that. Please, God, don’t open this wound again. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/87 "2017-08-31T12:34:34Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I learned recently that Osama bin Laden chose that particular date for the attack on the World Trade Center because he hated Porsches. That’s weird. I thought he chose 119 because it’s the emergency fire number in Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/88 "2017-09-01T04:25:20Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I didn’t realize this until I read this post (and corroborated it with online listing of the lyrics). Stopped into a church I passed along the way Got down on my knees And I pretend to pray ?? Why the change in tense? I’m sticking with “began” if only because it’s grammatical. And it doesn’t make a lot of sense as “pretend”. I guess the 60s were a crazy time. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/89 "2017-09-01T05:47:22Z")
I recently learned the noise my Yorkie makes is not a snort or a snore…but a reverse burp! Hmm! ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2017, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/90 "2017-09-01T13:23:29Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I learned that California Condors are actually vultures, they were renamed “condors” to escape the deleterious vulture label so people would like them and help save them from extinction. > > And it worked. Actually, the word “condor” comes from a native Peruvian language - Quechua - ‘kuntur’ which was used to describe the Andean Condor. When European naturalists arrived in the 1700s, they classified the Andean Condor and the California Condor in the same genus, _Vultur_. In the mid-1800s, the common name of the California Condor became more frequently used than the earlier ‘California Vulture,’ or ‘Royal Vulture.’ While it’s possible this shift in terminology is due to the rarity and an attempt to protect the bird, it’s classification and similarities with the Andean Condor may be enough to explain the name change - this is only 60 years after the birds were described. Conservation efforts to protect the California Condor were not common at the time, but by 70 years later in the 1920s it would be recognized that the population was less than 100 birds. By 1987 it would be extinct in the wild and only revived through a breeding program in captivity. It may be that the timing of the name change is too early to explain by using conservation motives. > [@wikipedia on California Condor](#): > > The California condor was described by English naturalist George Shaw in 1797 as Vultur californianus. It was originally classified in the same genus as the Andean condor (V. gryphus), but, due to the Andean condor’s slightly different markings, slightly longer wings, and tendency to kill small animals to eat,[6] the California condor has now been placed in its own monotypic genus. The generic name Gymnogyps is derived from the Greek gymnos/γυμνος “naked” or “bare”, and gyps/γυψ “vulture”,[7] while the specific name californianus comes from its location in California. The word condor itself is derived from the Quechua word kuntur.[8] > **[California condor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_condor)** > > Genus-level: > Species-level: > The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah (including the Grand Canyon area and Zion National Park), the coastal mountains of California, and northern Baja California in Mexico. It is the only surviving member of the genus Gymnogyps, alth... > [@Snyder and Snyder in "Introduction to the California Condor"](#): > > The scientific name of the California Condor, _Gymnogyps californianus_, literally means naked vulture of California, referring to the general absence of feathers on the bird’s head and neck and to its primary recent range in California and Baja California. The bird’s present common name, California Condor, did not appear in early writings on the species and became widespread only in the mid-nineteenth century. Prior to that time the species was most usually referred to as the California Vulture, the Royal Vulture, or simply the Vulture. “Condor” came into general use largely because of similarities of the species to the Andean Condor (_Vultur gryphus_) of South America. > **[Introduction to the California Condor](https://books.google.com/books?id=CacwDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=%22california%2Bcondor%22%2B%22common%2Bname%22&source=bl&ots=6-SMla44Qq&sig=hn4oxPCd10-I20eSh67BSJ_vVc4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjm_pKwhoTWAhVD9WMKHWp_CvA4ChDoAQhQMAk#v=onepage&q=%22california%20condor%22%20%22common%20name%22&f=false)** > > The story of the California Condor—an awe-inspiring symbol of wilderness—is one of the most dramatic and contentious in conservation biology. Huge scavengers with wingspans reaching more than nine feet, Condors declined by 1985 to just nine... ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/91 "2017-09-02T21:13:29Z")
I got a text today that mentioned “water bears” (Tardigrades). I’d never heard of these, so Googled. Absolutely fascinating indestructible little creatures that probably everyone knows about except me. Can’t imagine how they escaped my attention for so long. [Tardigrades.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade) ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/92 "2017-09-02T23:23:16Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > I got a text today that mentioned “water bears” (Tardigrades). I’d never heard of these, so Googled. Absolutely fascinating indestructible little creatures that probably everyone knows about except me. > Can’t imagine how they escaped my attention for so long. > > [Tardigrades.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade) I learned about those things from the Cat in the Hat cartoon when my daughter was about 2 years old! ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2017, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/93 "2017-09-03T00:36:06Z")
[http://www.mainestatemuseum.org/exhibits/malaga\_island\_fragmented\_lives\_-\_educational\_materials/explore\_malaga\_island/the\_history/](http://www.mainestatemuseum.org/exhibits/malaga_island_fragmented_lives_-_educational_materials/explore_malaga_island/the_history/) I learned about this ,I saw it on Chronicle a few days ago. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/94 "2017-09-08T19:58:46Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > I got a text today that mentioned “water bears” (Tardigrades). I’d never heard of these, so Googled. Absolutely fascinating indestructible little creatures that probably everyone knows about except me. > Can’t imagine how they escaped my attention for so long. > > [Tardigrades.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade) I adore tardigrades (before they were cool.) I have a friend who does biologically accurate marine art. He has a piece called “life in a drop of pond water” which features a tardigrade, and which I have framed in my bathroom. He also wrote an illustrated children’s book for his son about a tardigrade who wears a little backpack and explorer’s cap. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/95 "2017-09-10T10:22:46Z")
I learned yesterday of the existence – in British English anyway – of the word “widdy”, meaning a hangman’s rope. It’s somewhat old-fashioned, and colloquial-ish; but it’s allowed in Scrabble. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/96 "2017-09-10T19:59:14Z")
I just learned about [vinegaroons](https://sydkab.com/2014/11/30/arachnids-vinegaroons/) thanks to a reference in a SD BBQ Pit post. Rather cool member of the arachnid family. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/97 "2017-09-10T20:54:10Z")
Listening to music one enjoys releases dopamine into your blood steam. It makes sense, but I just hadn’t thought of it in that way before. However, one can “overdose” on a particular song. When Cream put out \*Sunshine of \*_your Love_, it was a huge hit and I really enjoyed listening to it, but I heard it the other day and it didn’t feel like I got even a small drop of dopamine. The best is when one hasn’t heard a certain song that you really enjoyed in the past and suddenly it comes on. It seems to release an extraordinary amount of dopamine. The latest case for me was not hearing _Hold Me Now_, the 1984 hit by the Thompson Twins for years. Gave me a good rush. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/98 "2017-09-11T01:57:54Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What’s insidious is that vitamin C apparently deteriorates rapidly, so taking on board a supply of vitamin C isn’t as easy as you’d think. Why it is that it survives in line juice and sauerkraut, but deteriorated to a useless byproduct in other cases (and, for that matter, how we keep the vitamin C from deteriorating in bottles of modern supplements) I admit I do not know. But early attempts to prevent scurvy by bringing on board foods that should have prevented it , but which didn’t, must have been a severe test of the Scientific Method. Vitamin C didn’t survive in Lime Juice. The British continued to have problems with scrurvy until they started using steam ships (which required frequent port stops to refuel). “Lime” was a language misunderstanding: it was a word which was used to describe what we would call a lemon. “Acid” was just ignorance: at the time, scientists didn’t understand that there was a difference between ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and acetic acid (vinegar). The lime cordial provided to the sailors was prepared by ??? boiling ??? the limes, which destroyed the vitamin C. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/99 "2017-09-11T02:08:56Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Mea culpa. > > When the urgeoning American Mafia took a hit as a result of Prohibition, the KKK took advantage of their influence with the booming southern moonshining industry to make inroads on the mafia’s weakened alcohol distribution networks. According to the documentary, the KKK had their fingers in a number of vice-related industries. When the KKK began dabbling in such industries, they structured their organization based on that of the Sicilian mafia. > > I had no idea that the KKK had any agenda other than the suppression of blacks before viewing this show. > > Hope that is clearer. The Irish IRA in the '70s too. We used to get Irish youth here in Aus on working visas. One of the reasons for comeing to Aus on a working visa was because you’d come to the attention of the security services, and wanted to go somewhere else with less heat. Another reason was because you’d been dealing dope without being a member of the IRA, and wanted to go somewhere with less heat… ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199/100 "2017-09-11T02:27:01Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > … Humans, orcas, and blue finned whales. Blue whales and fin whales are well known. What is a blue finned whale? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-you-learned-recently-that-you-didnt-know-before/793199.md?page=6)