Something I learned today.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

One of the pranks Eli Manning likes to play is borrowing a complete stranger's phone, then changing all the settings to a foreign language.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

How do sequoias get so damn big?

They’re too strong to be knocked over by wind. Their heartwood and bark are infused with tannic acids and other chemicals that protect against fungal rot. Wood-boring beetles hardly faze them. Their thick bark is flame resistant. Ground fires, in fact, are good for sequoia populations, burning away competitors, opening sequoia cones, allowing sequoia seedlings to get started amid the sunlight and nurturing ash. Lightning hurts the big adults but usually doesn’t kill them. So they grow older and bigger across the millennia.
(National Geographic)

[evie]

That's fantastic!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

It is.

[Félix]

They are amazing creatures.

[Jammies]

I learned, much to my surprise, that my father is fascinated with the Duchess of Cambridge being pregnant.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

That's funny. My father got up at 4 a.m. or whatever it was to watch the wedding live. I don't know if he's fascinated by her pregnancy. I would guess not; I think it's the pomp and splendor of things like royal weddings and funerals that fascinates him.

[Jammies]

It's just weird, because my dad can take apart a computer, a carburetor or a residential wiring system and generally is uninterested in celebrity gossip of any sort.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

My dad cannot take apart a computer, carburetor, wiring system, or put any of them back together. He is not handy. He's quite bookish. And watches a lot of tv sports. And is totally uninterested in celebrity gossip. I'm sure he has never heard of Beyonce or Lady Gaga or Angelina Jolie. But he wanted to watch the royal wedding...

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Dingoes are the feral descendants of domesticated Asian dogs.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

If you get a mosquito bite, the best immediate treatment is to run it under the hottest water tolerable. Mosquitoes leave a protein on the skin and it's possible that the hot water cooks it, like cooking an egg.

[Félix]

Interesting.

[evie]

In a world first, coffee made from pure arabica beans are being slow cooked in the stomachs of 30 elephants . Thirty hours later the beans are removed from the dung then washed and roasted. Some say it tastes of milk chocolate,nutty, earthy with hints of spice and red berries.

[Phil]

I heard about that on the radio. Isn't it about $500 US per pound?

[Phil]

I learned what a shearling coat is. Thanks, Ikea monkey.

[Chris]

I learned that if you type the word "askew" into Google's search engine, a very nifty little easter egg shall be discovered. :D

[janine]

Christopher wrote: "I learned that if you type the word "askew" into Google's search engine, a very nifty little easter egg shall be discovered. :D"

Now I know too :)

[Jammies]

janine wrote: "Christopher wrote: "I learned that if you type the word "askew" into Google's search engine, a very nifty little easter egg shall be discovered. :D"

Now I know too :)"

Me three. :)

[Susan]

[image error]

[Susan]

Hey, I have a dialect! Fancy pants.

[janine]

I speak the regional dialect with a Dutch accent. It is hilarious.

[Félix]

Kyle ~Special K: Rebel Leader~ wrote: "I speak the Boston dialect. "Pawk yer caw in the yawd!"

Where I grew up we called them bean eaters.

[Susan]

Who you callin' a bean eater?

[Phil]

I dunno who he means, but he got the new page!

[Susan]

Hey!! Go FeLarryix!

::throws confetti::

[Félix]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beaneaters can refer to
Atlanta Braves, formerly Boston Beaneaters
The Bean Eaters, a Gwendolyn Brooks poetry collection
The Beaneater (Mangiafagioli) a 1580s painting by Annibale Carracci
Babazorros (Basque: Bean Eaters), a demonym for residents of Vitoria-Gasteiz
Bean Eaters, a demonym for residents of Islandmagee

[Susan]

Well, I eat beans and sometimes go to Braves games so I guess you can call me a bean eater or beaneater.

[[deleted user]]

I don't have an accent or a dialect. I talk normal, it's all y'all that talk funny!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

If you are part of the Amazon Affiliate program and have an Amazon link on your website, say to a book - anyone who clicks through your link and buys stuff on Amazon, you get a percentage of what they spent. So if they don't buy the book, but they keep shopping on Amazon and buy $200 worth of nonbook stuff, you get your percentage of that $200.

[Susan]

What! How does one do this?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

No idea.

[Susan]

Tease.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Is your google button broken? You're as bad as Mynheer Peeperkorn.

[Susan]

Compliments will get you nowhere.

[Phil]

Hmm, I'm an Amazon merchant & we don't get cool benefits like that. I guess I should become an Affiliate.

[Susan]

I learned this today from Jonathan: A cold chisel, meaning a blunt demolition chisel--i. e., not a wordworking chisel, which is a fine tool with a sharpened edge.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Women find a man more attractive if another woman smiles at him.

("Social Transmission of Face Preferences Among Humans")

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Of the 10 counties in the U.S. with the lowest federal income tax paid as a percentage of AGI, four are in Texas, four are in Mississippi, and two are in South Dakota. All of them had a negative tax rate.

[Susan]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Women find a man more attractive if another woman smiles at him.

("Social Transmission of Face Preferences Among Humans")"

I find a man more attractive if he smiles at me.

[Susan]

Oh, I don't even need the hairbrush! I can belt Me and Bobby Mcgee like nobody's business.
It use to be a favorite request of my nephew. That and If I Could Turn Back Time by Cher.
I have been forbidden to sing the aforementioned on our road trip to the north but it takes every ounce of my will when I see the Kentucky state sign.

[Susan]

♪ ♬ ♩ Waitin' on a train and I's feeling nearly as faded as my jeans ♪ ♬ ♩

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

We still have a Kennedy in Congress? WTF!

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Francis Cardinal George, our Cardinal here in Chicago, the Archbishop of Chicago, has round the clock police protection, 3 cop cars, at his mansion. Apparently a cop lives in the mansion. Why? What happened to the separation of church and state? Why can't the Catholic Church provide its own security?

[Pat]

Lobstergirl wrote: "Francis Cardinal George, our Cardinal here in Chicago, the Archbishop of Chicago, has round the clock police protection, 3 cop cars, at his mansion. Apparently a cop lives in the mansion. Why? W..."

Is the catholic church billed for this security?
Have there been threats that make the police feel this is needed?

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

I have no idea, Pat. I heard it on the radio and it was not delved into deeply. I googled it briefly and couldn't find any information about it.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

A few years ago when Wal-Mart was trying to figure out ways to lower its healthcare costs, one of the ideas proposed in a secret memo was to add the task of "collecting carts" to more job descriptions. The idea was that older and unhealthier workers wouldn't be able to do it, and could then be let go. (This would be a violation of federal law.)

[Susan]

Grrrr.

[Lobstergirl, el principe]

Afghanistan is a major producer of pine nuts. A lot of the cheaper pine nuts at the grocery store come from China or Korea.

[Cynthia]

They are crazy expensive lately. Pine nuts, that is.

[[deleted user]]

I love toasted pine nuts. They are always crazy expensive here.