The thread of learning something new every day
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Today I learned that Kevlar was discovered after trying to create lighter materials for tyres anticipating gas shortages.
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@taniwharugby said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Today I learned that Kevlar was discovered after trying to create lighter materials for tyres anticipating gas shortages.
So the Arabs in the 70s caused the Americans to develop kevlar which they then wore when they invaded in the 2000s.
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been on a school camp with Miss TR the past few days, and one place we went, was Rupekapeka, a place I had visited several times before, however this time, we had a guide (Albert Cash is his name if the opportunity ever arises)
He was fantastic, his ancestors fought the in the final battle, and his re-telling of the story that he said had been passed through the generations was superb! THe context he gave it and the surrounding hills and tribes, fantastic (were several other classes that went there today, and there were 2 guides and those who had the same one as us thought he was awesome too)
He also said he has heard the stories from other Maori (on both sides of the battle) and they all have thier own flavour as they have been re-told over the years.
Picked up plenty of new bits from him too.
Also went to Waitangi today and saw the new Te Rau Aroha Museum (opened last year) that focuses mainly on the Māori commitment to the armed forces and Maori Battalion in WW2, was also good.
Having a guide adds so much to the visits!
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Was going to put this in the "Memes" thread but would likely get told off by @R-L (again) - maybe that could be a good thing... hmmm.
Anyway:
"Richard Dawkins turned 80 this week! Dawkins is famous for many things, not least of which is coining the term meme to represent the cultural equivalent of a gene. He argued that Darwinian principles could be extended beyond biological organisms: just like the strongest genes become widespread, so too do the strongest memes become widespread."
Always liked Dawkins stuff. Did not know that the "meme" was his term.
Like this description of him:
" Richard Dawkins FRS FRSL (born 26 March 1941)[24] is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, atheist thinker, and author. He is an emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was the University of Oxford's Professor for Public Understanding of Science from 1995 until 2008."Professor for public understanding of science - good luck with that. Love it.
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@machpants said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@bones said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Once you start clapping, you never stop. The time inbetween claps just becomes longer.
Until you're dead, obviously
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I found out about a festival in Mali, where the townsfolk get water form the river and make a big old pile of mud, and then repair the cracks on the Great Mosque of Djenne, which is made of mud.
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@taniwharugby working bees are now called festivals. Something to keep in mind for the local club.
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@antipodean was pretty much large scale working bee, zero fucks given about health and safety with people standing on those bits sticking out to work on areas around them.
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In 2010 a law was introduced that made kidnapping brides or marriage by abduction illegal in Chechnya...although the law hasn't stopped the practice.
Bride abductions are an endemic phenomenon in the Caucasus and Central Asia. In Chechnya alone, rights activists say as many as one in four marriages begins with the woman being kidnapped and forced to wed against her will.
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@taniwharugby To hell with that. Living with someone who is with you voluntarily can be difficult enough. Imagine trying to cohabit with someone you've forced to be there. So many opportunities for utu, you'd never know when your moment of karma would be at hand.
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