TIL: Today I Learned... (Join in!)

[LadyTevar]

How do you even fit in the after lunch nap?!!

You sneak that on the clock, or during a "potty break".
And no, I'm not joking.

[Raw Shark]

I'm gonna assume it's like the rest of the Civilized World and is probably an hour.

Silly Tev.

It's two hours.

I was actually going to guess two hours. Long enough to actually cook a meal for myself at home, walk my dog, maybe a little *ahem* quality time with my lady. You know, the way I got to live when I was a cab driver AKA: When I was happy with my life. Buddy of mine from high school teaches college in China for twenty years now (English and English Lit, of course). He says he loves it there. Dude's about 6'5", 120#, which is considered a lot more of a chick magnet there than at home for some reason.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL that I suck at taking selfies

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL that Batman is also a place in Turkey.

[muse]

TIL the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush the Stupider has a social media account.
https://x.com/muntazer_zaidi

[Ralin]

TIL the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush the Stupider has a social media account.
https://x.com/muntazer_zaidi

And was elected to public office if I remember right.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at Bush the Stupider has a social media account.
https://x.com/muntazer_zaidi

And was elected to public office if I remember right.

Not exactly. He ran for office but failed.

[muse]

TIL the US Department of Defence is actually run by Russians.


Yes, this is real. The comments are...amusing...
https://x.com/DeptofDefense/status/1933947548965781863

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL that Flag Day is a thing Just not the right flag

[Eternal_Freedom]

TIL that our departments "enhanced security checks" for dealing with more sensitve cases is, drum roll please....

A 2 question form:

Question 1: "Are you a terrorist?"
Question 2: "Are any of your family terrorists?"

I wish I was making this up.

Of course, given that peacefully participating in protests organised by Palestine Action now officially counts as terrorist behaviour, the word has lost all meaning.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

One of the online forms I had to fill in to fly to the USA had questions that asked the same thing, the wording is they ask if you're involved in any terrorist activities

[Eternal_Freedom]

When I went to the States back in 2013, on the visa form, right after "Date of Birth" (1992) was "Were you a member of the National Socialist Party between 1939 and 1945?"

I mean, come on.

[Batman]

Yeah, that question becomes redundant once they 'know' your date of birth but how are they supposed to know at the time you're filling it out?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Yeah, that question becomes redundant once they 'know' your date of birth but how are they supposed to know at the time you're filling it out?

The annoyance was more at the very specific nature of the question, it's position at nearly the top of the page, and the thought that in 2013 I had expected the US to ask "Are you part of Al-Qaeda?" or similar, not "where you a Nazi in this specific period?"

I mean, what would they do if someone ticked "No, I got kicked out in 1937?" or "I only joined in 1950?" It was just so weirdly out of place.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Now that I think about it, my trip was in 2012 and it had that question asking whether I was a Nazi.

[muse]

TIL humanity is an anal probe arms race with extraterrestrials.
It's the only rational explanation for this device.

[Raw Shark]

What kind of "treatment" are they doing with something that big, prepping you do a cam show with a Clydesdale?

[muse]

What kind of "treatment" are they doing with something that big, prepping you do a cam show with a Clydesdale?

It's a reverse engineered anal probe machine from an alien spaceship and humanity will use it to violate every space alien we encounter!
Or at least all the ones with a back orifice.

[J]

What kind of "treatment" are they doing with something that big, prepping you do a cam show with a Clydesdale?

Maybe it's the full size version of this thing?

[Solauren]

What kind of "treatment" are they doing with something that big, prepping you do a cam show with a Clydesdale?

It's a reverse engineered anal probe machine from an alien spaceship and humanity will use it to violate every space alien we encounter!
Or at least all the ones with a back orifice.

Why stop there? Orifice violation and awkward poses....

[EnterpriseSovereign]

TIL who the Rootes brothers were and how they influenced the history of British car manufacturing.

And that fire extinguisher spheres are a thing.

[J]

TIL Nepal chose its new leader with ChatGPT. All hail our silicon overlords?

https://themorningtelegraph.com/32915/

In one of the most extraordinary political developments in Nepal’s modern history, a wave of youth-led protests driven by Generation Z forced the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli within just 48 hours. What began as an uprising against corruption, nepotism, and restrictions on digital freedoms quickly snowballed into a full-blown movement that shook the foundations of power in Kathmandu. Yet removing Oli was only the first step. The next challenge was determining who would lead the interim government. Instead of relying solely on political elites or party deals, Nepal’s restless Gen Z looked elsewhere, and in an unprecedented twist, they turned to artificial intelligence. ChatGPT, the AI chatbot, was consulted by youth activists to help guide the choice of a new leader.