Things you were shockingly old when you learned

i'll be Iaian McGeachy in a Taxi honey

"Your dressing is over here, Mr. Geeky... *headbutt* ... ugh..."

dressing room, that is

• Duluth
• Milwaukee
• Chicago
• Detroit
• Cleveland
• Buffalo
• Toronto

It wasn't until today that I realized... Detroit isn't really a "Great Lake" city.

OK, this one kind of blew my mind a bit. Jefferson Airplane drummer, Spencer Dryden was related to Charlie Chaplin. His dad, Wheeler Dryden, was Chaplin's younger half brother, Chaplin's mother was Spencer Dryden's granny!

read today that the bloke who wrote Strange Fruit also adopted the Rosenberg's children after they were electrocuted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Meeropol

I don't know if that list of cities is a well-known litany, but if it's based on size, Hamilton, Ontario is twice the size of Buffalo.

A lot of that is the city-limits/metro-area distinction though - Buffalo's metro area population is a lot bigger than Hamilton's

That Meeropol bio whoa

I admit a U.S. bias to those cities.

Might also explain why I thought Detroit had a Great Lake shore.

I immed thought Toledo and Akron. Turns out just one. I mean, Toledo is 3x more populous than Duluth, offset by being 1/3 as wealthy I spose. I had to look up the sizes tbh.

Akron is just Akron, no lake.

Detroit IS basically on a great lake and is close to a 2nd one, don't be so hard on yourself

A 2nd not so great lake, that is

Was shocked to learn recently that part of Virginia is further west than Detroit.

For me the revelation was a couple years ago, lining up Detroit and Atlanta.

As a Virginian person, I'll say that the thing about the part of Virginia that is west of Detroit is... that appears to be the main thing people say about it. When someone speaks of far southwestern Virginia, they will almost certainly mention that it is west of Detroit. Even in conversations that don't have anything to do with longitude or the automotive industry or the relative positions of bits of American geography. I long for a new topic. Hey can we maybe talk about the Knights of the Golden Horseshoe or the Cumberland Gap or Appalachian geology or the trail or... nope. Hey did you know we're west of Detroit?

An analog is how often longtime St. Louisans will somehow find a way slip the 1904 World's Fair into conversations that don't require it. Wow, that person is eating an ice cream cone. Hey did you kno--- YES, YES I DO KNOW ABOUT THAT

Do you know that this building was built for the W- YES YES I KNOW, THE WORLD'S FAIR GAH SHUT UP SHUT UP

Hey, look, a golf course, did you know that under the golf course in Forest Park there's a Ferris Wheel from the- YEAH I KNOW, THE FUCKING WORLD'S FAIR can we please talk about Nelly or Chingy or the Cardinals please

(inches away from playlist containing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas")

Hey did you know that that movie is about the YEAH I FUCKING KNOW

For me the revelation was a couple years ago, lining up Detroit and Atlanta.

― peace, man, Saturday, December 25, 2021 3:15 AM

This, today, for me. (And don't get me started on Reno / Los Angeles).

Got a geography lesson the other week when I had to figure out the time zone to call someone in South Africa. (Seven hours ahead of the US east coast.)

That there was a format called Playtapes

https://i.imgur.com/RRMwmAi.jpg

Rae Dawn Chong is Tommy Chong's daughter. god, so obvious and yet....

I recently learned that some of the members of the band Queen (such as Brian May) are actually heterosexual.

How did I not know that Janice Long was Keith Chegwin's sister?!

tbf, she used her married name throughout. he died at 60, she at 66, which is no age at all really.

She was on the pilot episode of "3-2-1" with her husband, but they split not long after

They did win, a canteen of cutlery I think. (They avoided winning the Great Dane. Winning live animals on TV quiz shows is forbidden, so just as well)

Great Danes bum, it was a St Bernard. Still, though....

That the Wizard People, Dear Reader alternate soundtrack to the 1st Harry Potter movie, was done by Brad Neely, whose China, IL show on Adult Swim I am enjoying.

That jasmine rice is not rice mixed/flavoured with jasmine but is in fact a variety of long-grain rice. Caused my partner much incredulous amusement.

I was not aware of that

Ditto.

Edinburgh is further west than Bristol

and further north than Moscow!

Ok, not shockingly old but only discovered today after listening to her for past couple of years that the singer Spellling has 3 l’s in her name.

I was about to type something (probably heavily influenced by John McPhee) about how the geology of Manhattan affects the skyline, and I saw this

http://www.actforlibraries.org/the-geology-of-manhattan/

There is a persuasively made counterargument that it is economics, not the accessibility of bedrock, that accounts for the profusion of skyscrapers in lower Manhattan and midtown, and the relative paucity of skyscrapers in (say) Greenwich Village.

I am not convinced yet but I am intrigued that it's up for debate.

https://buildingtheskyline.org/bedrock-and-midtown-i/

^ the counterargument

I've always wondered why I was led to believe you couldn't build tall buildings in the East Village/Lower East Side and then suddenly there were a bunch of tall buildings there after 2000 or so. That second link does offer an explanation.

That article is great but ignores the impact of Zoning regulations which started limiting building heights in certain areas starting around WWI (although granted that's slightly later than his time frame).

good articles!

Wow, great read - I've definitely heard and repeated the bedrock story myself.

I don’t know that Barr’s story is sufficient to entirely support his claim to be honest— I mean yeah, the cost of building caissons to bedrock may not be prohibitive for an additional feet as he specifically claims, but 20 STORIES deeper? Your market has to be pretty damn supportive to make your time horizon to profitable roi doable, esp before robots and deep drilling to keep the proles from dying of the bends all the time (if they cared about that). He never writes that bedrock is not a necessary target zone.

Like his point is good and important, but now I want more content on what tech it takes to make that shit now, or if there’s now bldgs that float on quicksand or whatever.

“50 ft”

The Michelin man is made out of stacked tires

Tyres of the future from the Michelin man - prints now in the shop: https://t.co/iznhWeAhMj pic.twitter.com/qpRYy3Jdvl

— Flashbak.com (@aflashbak) January 11, 2022

Show the tire guy some respect. He’s got a name, and it’s Bibendum

Are Michelin * restaurant guides even related to the tire company anymore?

Yes. Bibendum writes them.

Yes, still the same company.

I fondly recall my grandad being a slave to the AA's version of the scheme in the UK and their Book of the Road.

Michelin guide, where to eat when out driving etc.
A bit like the Green Book though a lot less necessary I guess. JUst is useful to know where it is worth eating if one is far away from home.
Whereas the Green Book told people where they actually could eat