Things you were shockingly old when you learned

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He could be named Charley, and he could be named Ned
But if he drank this jake, it will give him the limber leg

This is my new favorite couplet.

peace, man, Monday, 21 September 2020 14:49 (three years ago) link

xps i think that, since edison cylinders were never ubiquitous like discs were, and since they were largely done by 1910, it's fair to assume the term "canned music" was probably always used by many people only as a metaphor, or perhaps might've even migrated from "in the can" — originally a film term that presumably referred to metal film canisters

budo jeru, Monday, 21 September 2020 14:59 (three years ago) link

"Flowers is also known for having composed the novelty hit "Grandad" for Clive Dunn in 1970.[1]...

Perhaps Flowers' most famous bass line is the one he created for Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" from the album Transformer (1972),[1] the only song by Reed to reach the Top 20 in the US."

koogs, Tuesday, 22 September 2020 13:34 (three years ago) link

I didn't know he wrote "Grandad" either. In fact I don't even know what that is.

ABBA O RLY? (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 22 September 2020 14:14 (three years ago) link

needs to be heard to appreciate the gulf between those two things.

B-side is called "I Play the Spoons"...

koogs, Tuesday, 22 September 2020 16:59 (three years ago) link

Bill Wyman's son from his first marriage married the mother of Bill Wyman's second wife.

joni mitchell jarre (anagram), Friday, 25 September 2020 08:46 (three years ago) link

Herbie Flowers thing reminds me of Ray Russell going from pretty avant guitar playing to writing tv theme tunes.

Stevolende, Friday, 25 September 2020 09:33 (three years ago) link

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon

There is still French territory in north america, right by Newfoundland

despacito ergo sum (jim in vancouver), Saturday, 26 September 2020 00:45 (three years ago) link

Florida is further west than South America.

Andy the Grasshopper, Saturday, 26 September 2020 00:56 (three years ago) link

Florida is further west than most people think. Miami Beach is west of Pittsburgh (just) and only a little east of Cleveland.

Brazil extends surprisingly far eastward. There are Brazlian islands that, were they located at a more northerly latitude, would be only about 290 miles from Iceland.

Josefa, Saturday, 26 September 2020 01:41 (three years ago) link

Florida is also south of Heaven

LaRusso Auto (Neanderthal), Saturday, 26 September 2020 01:57 (three years ago) link

tbf most of the usa is south of canada

mookieproof, Saturday, 26 September 2020 02:08 (three years ago) link

Yeah, but when you realize part of California isn't, that's when it gets weird.

pplains, Saturday, 26 September 2020 02:13 (three years ago) link

https://i.imgur.com/X2ueroC.png

https://i.imgur.com/pNNPG3S.png

pplains, Saturday, 26 September 2020 02:17 (three years ago) link

a few weeks ago I learned that Maine is the U.S. state closest to Africa, and I'm still finding little pieces of my brain in the carpet

the burrito that defined a generation, Saturday, 26 September 2020 02:35 (three years ago) link

xp <3

mookieproof, Saturday, 26 September 2020 02:40 (three years ago) link

27 US states have land north of the southernmost point of Canada. That's a famously weird bit of trivia.

Josefa, Saturday, 26 September 2020 02:47 (three years ago) link

That is crazy.

The only part of Iraq that wasn't under a no-fly zone during the 90s was between the 33rd and 36th parallels -- which coincidentally are also the two lines my state is in!

pplains, Saturday, 26 September 2020 02:53 (three years ago) link

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/311/608/1d6.gif

mookieproof, Saturday, 26 September 2020 03:02 (three years ago) link

I grew up in Michigan north of Montreal and Toronto which has confused some Canadians I’ve known.

And when I lived in eastern Washington, five hours from the ocean, I was further west than my friend in San Diego which was incredibly counterintuitive

joygoat, Saturday, 26 September 2020 12:28 (three years ago) link

I thought Canada had a straight border because it was following a line of latitude or something.
Is it accurate?
Would think the whole this is further West than that thing would indicate it might not be.

Is the standard understanding of angle of continent totally off compass understanding?

I mean what kind of layout of continents do you call that.

Stevolende, Saturday, 26 September 2020 12:46 (three years ago) link

I didn't really have a concept of Michigan's Upper Peninsula until I went there for my brother's wedding. I was just thinking 'oh, Michigan, that's not too far from Chicago' but it took soooo looong to get there. Beautiful place, though.

OrificeMax (Old Lunch), Saturday, 26 September 2020 12:55 (three years ago) link

I was just realising where Minneapolis was last week, not sure why I was thinking it was on water. It's pretty far inland though next to the north of the Mississipi, wonder if that was it?

Stevolende, Saturday, 26 September 2020 13:41 (three years ago) link

Yeah, I went to Minneapolis about a decade ago and was shocked to learn that the Mississippi River flows through it.

but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 26 September 2020 13:56 (three years ago) link

The part of the UP where I lived is west of Chicago but is on eastern time because they gerrymandered the time zone so (allegedly) copper mines would be in the same time zone as the mining companies in Ohio.

I was shockingly old when I learned that most kids didn’t have to go to bed in essentially full daylight in the summer because the sun doesn’t set til 10:30

joygoat, Saturday, 26 September 2020 14:26 (three years ago) link

I thought Canada had a straight border because it was following a line of latitude or something.
.


Only in the West. Eastern Canada is all over the place.

Boring, Maryland, Saturday, 26 September 2020 14:42 (three years ago) link

I live in Toronto. I just looked at a map, I knew we dipped south but I don’t think I’d ever really thought about it - we’re south of Boston!

she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Saturday, 26 September 2020 15:48 (three years ago) link

Toronto: 43° 44′ 30″ N, 79° 22′ 24″ W
42° 21′ 29″ N, 71° 3′ 49″ W

So not really?

pomenitul, Saturday, 26 September 2020 15:56 (three years ago) link

Err, second one is Boston.

pomenitul, Saturday, 26 September 2020 15:56 (three years ago) link

El Paso is closer to San Diego than it is to Texarkana.

pplains, Saturday, 26 September 2020 16:31 (three years ago) link

A sizable chunk of Virginia is west of Detroit. Geography is full of these little oddnesses.

The Mississippi is supposed to be the border between Missouri and Illinois, but the river has its own ideas about where it wants to be, and it shifts with some frequency. As a result, there are bits of Illinois on the Missouri side, and vice versa.

velcro-magnon (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 26 September 2020 18:15 (three years ago) link

UK one that often surprises people is that Edinburgh, on the east coast, is further west than Liverpool and Bristol.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGpuNvQWcAAxTTp.jpg

here we go, ten in a rona (onimo), Saturday, 26 September 2020 18:58 (three years ago) link

Sorry, I just looked at some shitty jpg man, guess I was wrong.

Toronto: 43° 44′ 30″ N, 79° 22′ 24″ W
42° 21′ 29″ N, 71° 3′ 49″ W

So not really?

Okay

she started dancing to that (Finefinemusic), Sunday, 27 September 2020 04:14 (three years ago) link

You'd think if you 5hought your country was the centre of the universe you'd stop it stooping like.
& try to set it more firmly on a North South compass axis.
Should make that a Brexit precondition. If they can't straighten it they can't leave. Makes about as much sense dunnit.

Stevolende, Sunday, 27 September 2020 07:32 (three years ago) link

That in 1970, Rod Stewart told the International Times magazine:

"I think Enoch Powell is the man. I’m all for him. This country is overcrowded. The immigrants should be sent home."

Alba, Sunday, 27 September 2020 16:39 (three years ago) link

Courtesy of clemenza, on this thread.

Alba, Sunday, 27 September 2020 16:42 (three years ago) link

I never knew that tbh but always thought he was a colossal twat and a waste of space anyway. Did his PR team go around every newspaper archive in the UK with a hidden bottle of tippex or something lol!

calzino, Sunday, 27 September 2020 17:19 (three years ago) link

I always thought Itchycoo Park was a fascist anthem about attending a National Front rally tbh!

calzino, Sunday, 27 September 2020 17:22 (three years ago) link

nah its a smutty thing about a park in Ilford or Stratford or vicinity.
Lover's lane type thing. BUt surrounded by stinging nettles which is presumably less painful than poison ivy but gives you an itchy coo.
I think its a childish pun on the actual name

Stevolende, Sunday, 27 September 2020 17:33 (three years ago) link

you are absolutely correct Stevo, my humour-fail deserves that level of pedantic contempt!

calzino, Sunday, 27 September 2020 17:35 (three years ago) link

Now I've learned from the Itchycoo Park – which has a separate section on critical reaction to the M-People cover version – that Steve Marriott was childhood friends with Tony Robinson of Blackadder and centrism fame, which makes a certain amount of sense.

Alba, Sunday, 27 September 2020 19:38 (three years ago) link

That Azerbaijan has a non-contiguous exclave, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

All cars are bad (Euler), Monday, 28 September 2020 06:13 (three years ago) link

That E.B. White was Roger Angell’s stepfather!

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Tuesday, 29 September 2020 03:18 (three years ago) link

That white stuff covering Judy Garland? Pure asbestos, of course—in chrysotile form, making the material a bit more dangerous than, say, in building material. (By the way, not exactly a nice gesture on the part of the Good Witch there, but odds are good she didn’t know about mesothelioma, because not a lot of people did.

that they often used to shower actors with the most deadly form of asbestos on 30's Hollywood sets as fake snow!

calzino, Thursday, 1 October 2020 22:24 (three years ago) link

oh yeah and also the Good Witch's broomstick in the Wizard of Oz was made out of asbestos as well.

calzino, Thursday, 1 October 2020 22:26 (three years ago) link

That Azerbaijan has a non-contiguous exclave, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.


Miss that guy he was hilarious.

Boring, Maryland, Thursday, 1 October 2020 22:52 (three years ago) link

He was a law unto himself.

here we go, ten in a rona (onimo), Thursday, 1 October 2020 23:00 (three years ago) link


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