The 'I didnt know that' Thread

[W3H5]

It’s just occurred to me that the cherry tree in my garden must flower at night.
For years we’ve wondered why we never see the flowers on it, only littered on the ground in the morning. They aren’t little blossoms either, they’re big hand size flowers (which are edible).
In the mornings I sit on the balcony and smoke and often hear them drop to the ground.
Maybe these trees have evolved to spread their seed by land animals rather than bugs or birds.
Edit: moths! It must pollinate via moths or bats.

 

[Sonygamer455]

Something I didn't know until earlier this week is in the Spongebob episode "Sailor Mouth" when Spongebob says "We'll probably get 40 lashes", he meant lashes with a whip. Been watching Spongebob for almost 20 years now and all this time, I thought he meant eyelashes, especially since Patrick was shown thinking that. It's only now I realize what Spongebob really meant, how Patrick misunderstood him, and what the joke was. Now that I understand the joke, it's pretty funny to me now and I feel dumb for not knowing sooner.

 

[kikie]

.... there is a Hollywood in Florida.

 

[TheCracker]

.... there is a Hollywood in Florida.

There's a New Zealand and a California in Derby.

 

[Famine]

There's a New Zealand and a California in Derby.

And a Wales in Sheffield.

 

[Joey D]

We have a Wales, Utah too, along with a Modena and Naples as well.

 

[TexRex]

.... there is a Hollywood in Florida.

There's one in South Carolina as well.

 

[MUSC4EVER]

There is an Aberdeen in Washington.

It was the home town of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, Its sign says 'Welcome to Aberdeen, Come as you are'

 

[Dolph Drago]

I live fairly close to the towns of Milan and Versailles in Indiana. Of course neither are pronounced as their European counterparts, but have been Americanized instead. My-lin and Vur-sails. Us Hoosiers never bothered to get it right. 😝 Among other towns further north in the state include Peru and Warsaw. As far as I know, they are pronounced the same.

 

[Famine]

There is an Aberdeen in Washington.

It was the home town of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, Its sign says 'Welcome to Aberdeen, Come as you are'

There's a Washington in County Durham.

 

[kikie]

Hoboken in the US.

 

[Carbonox]

There's a Rome and a Cairo in Georgia (the US state, that is).

 

[Famine]

Here's one I recently learned, though there's layers to it.

With my wife occasionally working later shifts, I've been digging out things that youngest and I can watch as cultural (nerd) education without wife's presence. This week, that's included the 1981 TV series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the best adaptation; don't come at me with that crap 2005 film).

For those who don't know, H2G2 has always used the same theme tune - across the radio series (starting in 1978), the TV series, and even the crap film - but I was under the impression it was an original track or BBC Radiophonic Workshop composition.

Turns out it's not. It's actually a small portion of Journey of the Sorcerer by none other than the Eagles.



As it so happens, this particular track actually caused the Eagles to split. It was written by founder member Bernie Leadon for banjo, and recorded as an orchestral piece - with Don Henley on drums and Glenn Frey on guitar - but neither Henley nor Frey, who were keen on a more rock-focused sound, wanted it on the One of These Nights album.

However, it did, and that led to further friction between the three and Leadon's departure from the group.

Douglas Adams chose it for H2G2 because it sounded spacey, and the banjo made it sound hitch-hikery, and the track is generally a little downbeat and conveys the feeling of alienation.


So yeah. The cause of the Eagles splitting resulted in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy we all know and love. How about that?

 

[W3H5]

Journey of the Sorcerer by none other than the Eagles.

You can’t imagine how much I freaked out when I first discovered this whilst casually listening to an Eagles playlist several years back.
It was one of those genuine “hang on a minute…” moments.

 

[ScottPuss20]

These are the suburbs in Melbourne that share names with other places in the world:
Heidelberg
Newmarket
Cheltenham
Bentleigh
Sandown
Whitehorse
Ascot Vale
Berwick
Doncaster

 

[polysmut]

There's a Washington in County Durham.

And a Toronto which is tiny.

 

[daan]

We have a Moscow here in Scotland.

 

[TexRex]

Phew! Putin is prevalent.

 

[Spacegoat]

There's a Brooklyn just under an hour north of Sydney.

 

[m2595]

Some car-related stuff.
The first car ever to feature blind spot monitoring system was the 1995 Ford GT90.
Audi was owned at one time by Daimler-Benz.
Mercedes' W124 chassis was apparently designed to withstand both front + rear offset crashes at about 50-60 kph without serious passenger cell damage - unlike the EuroNCAP test where cars are required to pass only a front offset crash test to be deemed safe.

 

[W3H5]

Mercedes' W124

Indestructible

 

[m2595]

True. My father owned one for 15 years, a 2-liter diesel one.
I now have one myself, a 2.5 diesel auto. It is kinda slow, but it still gets the job done.
The only thing that can kill them is rust.

 

[kikie]

My father still has his W115, 220D ('74). He bought it new when he was still young.

 

[Joey D]

The first car ever to feature blind spot monitoring system was the 1995 Ford GT90.

True but the GT90 was a concept car and we all know how well technology on concept cars work. The first production car to have the system was the 2005 Volvo S80

 

[Sonygamer455]

Something I didn’t know until this past hour is NASCAR 2001 has a track on Mars! 😲 I noticed the track records section of the game mentioned it, but I didn’t see it anywhere. So I looked it up and sure enough it was a track set on Mars that can be unlocked through cheat codes and an amusing one at that. While the layout is not too exciting, the visuals are literally out of this world and it’s very fast too, you can reach speeds as high as 235 mph.

Played this game with my cousin and my brother a lot as a kid, got a copy of my own in recent years, and I had no idea this was even a thing until today! I will never look at this game the same again after finding out about this.

 

[kikie]

.... that Datsun was relaunched in 2013.

 

[TexRex]

Cultured sour cream can be whipped up fluffy and voluminous just like whipping cream. It's a little more difficult to get going than whipping cream if you're doing it by hand, but it eventually behaves just the same.

 

[kikie]

.... Pistachio is a family of the Cashew family.

Pistachio - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

No wonder I like them both.

 

[JohnBM01]

I did a little name research online last night. For the longest, I always thought of the name Marisol as a combination of "sea/ocean" and "sun." Well, according to one website, I learned the name "Marisol" is a combination of Maria and Soledad. Maria and Soledad. Maria y Soledad. Marisol. Never thought about those two names being combined to form Marisol.

 

[m2595]

Nicole Horne, the main antagonist in the original Max Payne game, was portrayed by writer Sam Lake's mother.