Things you were shockingly old when you learned

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Assuming that 'realized' is as welcome as 'learned' itt, it occurred to me the other day that some people had a living memory of both the Salem Witch Trials and the Revolutionary War. The two events just seem separated by like a million years in my mind.

John Denver – Led Zeppelin IV (Part II) (Old Lunch), Monday, 3 June 2019 15:27 (four years ago) link

re apples, that sounds right, I'll defer to anyone who knows more about this

Josefa, Monday, 3 June 2019 15:28 (four years ago) link

Old Lunch, are there any documented interviews or published recollections? I'd imagine there were a few, but the span of 1692 and 1775 means anyone who remembered the witch trials would have had to have been pretty young or pretty long-lived

I'm assuming anyone who did witness both wouldn't shut up about it

mh, Monday, 3 June 2019 15:39 (four years ago) link

some people had a living memory of both the Salem Witch Trials and the Revolutionary War

yeah this is daniel day-lewis iirc

Aspen Jortstein (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 3 June 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link

Thomas Hutchison comes p close

Οὖτις, Monday, 3 June 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link

I guess the example which prompted that realization doesn't quite count (an early Ben Franklin piece where he upbraided a judge who I suddenly realized was the Samuel Sewall) but it's close.

John Denver – Led Zeppelin IV (Part II) (Old Lunch), Monday, 3 June 2019 16:03 (four years ago) link

We'll steal a bunch of boysenberries and I'll smear em on your face...

Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Monday, 3 June 2019 16:57 (four years ago) link

ah yeah, the generational crossover would definitely be there with pre-revolution figures coming up while post-witch trial figures were still around for sure

mh, Monday, 3 June 2019 16:57 (four years ago) link

Surprised to find french speaking Africans in South Africa since it's not one of the 2 European languages that dominate. Watched a film last night set in i think Johannesburg but in the Congolese ex-pat community.
So probably find there are enclaves in other non-French dominant countries around the continent.

Just surprised me when the film started and I recognised the language being spoken.

Stevolende, Monday, 3 June 2019 17:01 (four years ago) link

SA is full of immigrants from other African countries - the cause of a lot of tension and unpleasantness.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist (Tom D.), Monday, 3 June 2019 17:04 (four years ago) link

That after scooping some sour cream, yogurt or cottage cheese out of a container, you should flatten the top surface of what remains before covering and putting it back in the fridge. That keeps it from separating. I had always assumed that the little watery, kinda gross stuff that accumulates in the hole where you scooped was just an unavoidable residue which you needed to either pour off or stir back in with your next portion.

punning display, Monday, 3 June 2019 20:54 (four years ago) link

That seems to make eminent sense and makes me feel dim for not having thought of it. Haven't tried it yet, though.

anatol_merklich, Monday, 3 June 2019 23:30 (four years ago) link

i like the yogurt water

Lil' Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 09:00 (four years ago) link

Disgusting yogurt savage.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist (Tom D.), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 09:44 (four years ago) link

No whey

badg, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 12:42 (four years ago) link

lol

John Harris is a Guardian columnist (Tom D.), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 12:47 (four years ago) link

I was shockingly old when I learned/realized that it's trivially easy to make popcorn on the stove in traditional fashion and thus that the markup of microwave popcorn is a complete outrage

don't mock my smock or i'll clean your clock (silby), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 15:14 (four years ago) link

By the way, you can also take a half of a handful of popping corn, put into a paper bag (like a brown paper lunch bag) and make your own microwave popcorn.

As much or as little as you want, seasoned and flavored however you want (including not at all). For pennies.

I like stovetop popcorn plenty, but hot oil can be a pain to deal with and you need to tend it carefully last it burn. It takes salt and seasonings better than microwave popcorn. Pros and cons to each.

We are in agreement that the microwave stuff in bags full of goop is overpriced.

Velcromancer (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 16:58 (four years ago) link

By the way, you can also take a half of a handful of popping corn, put into a paper bag (like a brown paper lunch bag) and make your own microwave popcorn.

My wife does this! It has the side effect of leaking canola oil into the microwave though.

☮ (peace, man), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 17:24 (four years ago) link

I make my popcorn in a wok with oil - works pretty good!

brownie, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 17:25 (four years ago) link

Until I lived in a house across from a small farm, I had no idea that roosters crow all day long, not just at dawn.

punning display, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:03 (four years ago) link

Um, just now shocked to wiki-learn that the word "rooster" was originated by American pilgrims as a euphemism for "cock".

punning display, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link

Well I only just this very second recognized that the word very obviously refers to 'one who roosts'. Hiding in plain sight my entire damn life...

Howlin' Oates - 'Wang Can't Dang for That (No Can Doodle)' (Old Lunch), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:15 (four years ago) link

whoa same here

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 18:52 (four years ago) link

fuck

Lil' Brexit (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 20:17 (four years ago) link

I think you mean "one who fucks"

Arugula Raccoon (DJP), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 20:37 (four years ago) link

to roost: to settle or congregate for rest or sleep

^^^this is not really what they are best known for

mark s, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 20:46 (four years ago) link

Don't chickens also roost?

pplains, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 21:36 (four years ago) link

They even come home to do it, that's how committed to roosting they are.

John Harris is a Guardian columnist (Tom D.), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 21:38 (four years ago) link

This may sound stupid, but I just realized that the band name High on Fire means, like, you caught a buzz from the element, and not that you're high and also happen to be on fire

Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 21:58 (four years ago) link

"High, On Fire" is how I always read it, I guess

Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 21:59 (four years ago) link

I always figured it could go either way, and both were awesome and super metal.

I did not know before today that Anton LaVey's speaking voice was the thick-tongued mumble of a guy with a three-line cameo in a Rob Zombie movie.

shared unit of analysis (unperson), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 22:24 (four years ago) link

Fred Rogers did all the voices of the puppets on his show

A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 22:39 (four years ago) link

I'm imagining a TV puppet show hosted by LaVey with puppet voices done by Fred Rogers.

nickn, Tuesday, 4 June 2019 22:46 (four years ago) link

That it's Ian McShane's voice at the start of Grace Jones’ Slave To The Rhythm

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Tuesday, 4 June 2019 23:13 (four years ago) link

I'm imagining a TV puppet show hosted by LaVey with puppet voices done by Fred Rogers.

That's not the done thing, but did you know Mr. Rogers was friends with horror legend George Romero? I believe Romero worked on his show in the early years of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. The reverend even supported his friend by going to see Dawn of the Dead when it was out in the theaters in 1978 and gave George his seal of approval. Imagine Mr. Rogers watching Dawn of the Dead. That DID happen.

Dee the (Summer-Hating) Lurker (deethelurker), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 00:51 (four years ago) link

pittsburgh lyfe

mookieproof, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 01:05 (four years ago) link

https://blog.sfgate.com/parenting/2010/05/13/dead-and-fred-george-a-romeros-connection-to-mr-rogers/

I had to look it up because it sounded so wild and apparently it wasn’t just Romero: Michael Keaton was a grip on Mr. Rogers’ show!

pittsburgh rolling hard

mh, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 01:54 (four years ago) link

Any Warhol connection?

nickn, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 02:26 (four years ago) link

That "serving suggestion" is a legal disclaimer, not a sincere suggestion for dim people.

punning display, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 13:35 (four years ago) link

Yeah presumably meant the gunk you got out of the packet wasn't going to look exactly like the idealised picture on the packet.

Stevolende, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 13:53 (four years ago) link

As a kid spending countless hours at the breakfast table staring at cereal boxes, reading everything printed on them no matter how trivial, I assumed that the words in fine print next to the photo on the front were there just to tell customers that if they tried eating their product out of a bowl with milk and maybe some fresh fruit, it might taste better than just reaching into the box and stuffing dry fistfuls into their mouths. "Hey, just a friendly suggestion, folks."

punning display, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 13:58 (four years ago) link

This is more of a TIL than I should have known, and wont mean a thing to anyone under 40 but:

the theme tune to Educating Marmalade was done by Bad Manners!

Stoop Crone (Trayce), Friday, 7 June 2019 03:40 (four years ago) link

It’s “she WANTS the young American” not “she WAS the/a young American”??!!??!!
Wut? I looked it up. It’s WANTS?? Wow.

weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 7 June 2019 05:15 (four years ago) link

Wow, what?

ƒ©˙∆˚¬ (Whitey on the Moon), Friday, 7 June 2019 05:18 (four years ago) link

It's possible to be shadow banned from nearly everywhere on the internet. That'd genuinely shock people like Crowder and company.

rapmaster_5000, Friday, 7 June 2019 05:22 (four years ago) link

Last time I tried to talk shit my WiFi router somehow got installed from my laptop and it took me close to an hour to re-install it. Good times.

USA. USA. USA. Land of freedom, baby.

rapmaster_5000, Friday, 7 June 2019 05:29 (four years ago) link

*uninstalled

rapmaster_5000, Friday, 7 June 2019 05:29 (four years ago) link

I'm aware if I keep speaking my voice in the US I'll get murdered. Hence this Russiagate smokescreen crap where they pin Putin with the shit the USA does to its own citizens.

Whatever. My life is more important than anything else. Whatever. I'm done with politics.

rapmaster_5000, Friday, 7 June 2019 05:33 (four years ago) link

Who knows? If you play your cards right you could get banned from one more place.

Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, 7 June 2019 05:44 (four years ago) link


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