The thread of learning something new every day
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Just found this tread.
See it's more daily facts but interested to know what others have been learning that's been on the to do list that was for when you had some spare time and now by a sock twist of fate you now have time to do it.
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@Toddy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@taniwharugby There was a documentary (Free to run) on Māori TV last night that covered the start of women running in the Boston marathon. The picture below is of race director Jock Semple trying to remove Katherine Switzer from the race in 1967. The dude in race #390 is her boyfriend. Puts in a decent shoulder to remove Jock.
"Tom Miller, a 235-pound ex-football player and nationally ranked hammer thrower" according to wiki so, he was probably going easy on him!
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Crap picture but the hit is about 4 seconds in.
Apparently Kathrine now lives in Wellington for half the year with her kiwi husband Roger Robinson (works at Vic Uni). Hope for their sake they're in Wellington and not New York at the moment.
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@nzzp said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Thought this was amazing. Remember, malaria kills 450k/year; C19 250k or so (to date). This could be massive
Fucking yeah. I was reading some statistics and is estimated that up until (around 1800 when the world's pop started to explore, I can't remember) that 50% of ALL human deaths were caused by malaria. All human deaths in the history of mankind.
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@nzzp said in The thread of learning something new every day:
Thought this was amazing. Remember, malaria kills 450k/year; C19 250k or so (to date). This could be massive
Imagine the demand for resources...
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QI thing about Malaria that I was reminded of in the Covid / Planes threads because of the slightly airborne nature of covid. Mal air (as in malady / sick) is the origin of the word, before we learned that it was mosquito driven and therefore completely incorrectly named.
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@nzzp Well I've learned something else too - Carrier air con is named after a bloke.
Mal air was actually blamed for heaps of things for quite some time. I think the London cholera outbreak was attributed to it because the Thames was so polluted that it stank. It is now known to be water or food borne. Air gets a rough time when it comes to diseases.
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@Snowy said in The thread of learning something new every day:
@nzzp Well I've learned something else too - Carrier air con is named after a bloke.
Mal air was actually blamed for heaps of things for quite some time. I think the London cholera outbreak was attributed to it because the Thames was so polluted that it stank. It is now known to be water or food borne. Air gets a rough time when it comes to diseases.
yep, which leads to John Snow and modern epidemiology...
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@nzzp Knew about Mr Snow and "Bad air" Did not know about his connection to anaesthesia and chloroform (nice to know the history of some handy "household" products).
I have just also been informed that he was a vegan and teetotaler, so everything he said was bullshit, but then:
"his health deteriorated and he suffered a renal disorder which he attributed to his vegan diet so he took up meat-eating and drinking wine."and he became credible again.
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AI for KOi Carp...
Amusingly, was the No Such THing as Fish podcast I learned about this wonderful process.
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30 May 1901
A 10-man Royal Commission reported unanimously that New Zealand should not become a state of the new Commonwealth of Australia.
Although New Zealand had participated in Australian colonial conferences since the 1860s, federation only became a serious prospect following the decision to unite Australia’s six colonies in 1899.
Premier Richard Seddon preferred to be the leader of an independent country rather than an Australian state. He set up the Royal Commission in 1900 to buy time and get a sense of public opinion. While most submissions opposed union with Australia, many farmers were in favour, fearing new trade barriers to their produce.
The prevailing view was that New Zealanders were of superior stock to their counterparts across the Ta$man. New Zealand’s trade was mostly with the United Kingdom; Australians were economic rivals rather than partners. Although New Zealand and Australia eventually signed a Free Trade Agreement in 1965, and the two economies have become closely integrated, political union is no closer today than it was in 1901.
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@taniwharugby said in The thread of learning something new every day:
The prevailing view was that New Zealanders were of superior stock to their counterparts across the Ta$man.
@NTA @barbarian they're trolling you from 119 years ago!