Tell Me Something I Don't Know

[AnaKhouri]

In my home state, at any given time there are more barrels of bourbon than people.

[Aethian]

I don't remember seeing this one..

On July 24, 1969 in Honolulu, HI Neil Armstrong was forced through customs.

[wolfie]

On July 24, 1969 in Honolulu, HI Neil Armstrong was forced through customs

Government stupidity in action. He flew from Florida to a "ditching" in the Pacific, was picked up by a U.S. Navy ship, and disembarked in Hawaii. By requiring him to clear Customs, the U.S. government was in effect stating that he made a stopover in territory controlled by an entity other than the U.S. It would have been more appropriate to treat the moon as "terra nulla" (i.e. not owned by anyone). The items he brought back (moon rocks) were not produced in a non-U.S. country, so it's not a question of importation. After all, Columbus didn't need to clear Customs when he returned from the New World.

There were 3 ways this could have been handled:
- Interpreting the moon as belonging to a non-U.S. entity, Customs clearance required. Consequence: expect other countries to follow this logic by claiming ownership of the moon.
- Interpreting the moon as "terra nulla", no Customs clearance required. Consequence: U.S. implying "the moon isn't ours, but it's not yours either".
- Interpreting the moon as U.S. territory, no Customs clearance required. Consequence: probable objections from other countries.

[sms001]

Government stupidity in action.

More likely some tongue-in-cheek humour. But of note is that it is Agriculture, Customs, Immigration, and Public Health. iirc (Nine at the time) there were serious concerns that there would be viable bugs brought back; so much so that I believe they quarantined astronauts for quite some time. (Never mind their contact with all those sailors in the interim... ) Which all makes that "To Be Determind" line pretty ominous.

[Kit-Ginevra]

It isn't just my eyes...that last paragraph really does say disINSECTing treatment doesn't it....

[Sheldonrs]

It isn't just my eyes...that last paragraph really does say disINSECTing treatment doesn't it....

Yeah. That bugged me too.

[Jester]

Missed it. Stuff like that FLIES right by me.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Missed it. Stuff like that FLIES right by me.

Sometimes it misses me, too, but I just let it BEE.

[Jester]

Doesn't shit like that just TICK you off?

[crazylegs]

There is evidence that suggests being secured to a longboard is detrimental to patient outcomes.

[Jay 2K Winger]

Doesn't shit like that just TICK you off?

Oh, FLEAS, I've got thick skin, I'm not gonna NIT-pick over something like that.

[Jester]

Well, apparently I ANT as thick-skinned as you.

[Andrew B.]

The game Atelier Rorona contains a passage on making a homonculus, which comes from an actual treatise by Paracelsus.

[KhirasHY]

How about some general Dick Knowledge?

-Dick became a nickname for Richard not as a pejorative (dick in reference to genitalia didn't happen until the 1890's or so), but more as a rhyming scheme. Richard would be shortened among friends to Ric, Rich, Rick, and so on. So a Rick would be referred to as Dick by some friends, hence the rise of the name. Hick and Hitch were other nicknames that arose from Richard.

-While you won’t typically hear people calling Richards ‘Hicks’ anymore, this nickname did give rise to ‘Hudde’. This in turn gave us ‘Hudson’ around the late 13th century, which of course is now a somewhat common surname.

-Spotted dick, the pudding, not someone with a certain STD, is thought by many etymologists to have gotten its name from the fact that certain types of hard cheese around the 19th century were called ‘dick’. This in turn gave rise to treacle dick (treacle with cheese), then when raisins or the like were added, ‘spotted dick’, though of course it’s made a little differently today, but the raisins particularly are still commonly used. One alternative etymology of spotted dick that some etymologists ascribe to is from the word pudding itself giving rise to puddink, then puddick, and then just dick. As spotted dick is just a type of suet pudding with dried fruit added, giving it the spots, this seems reasonable enough as well.

-Dick also once popularly meant an assertion, announcement, or declaration, such as “I do dick Mr. Beauregard… you are my hero!” Similarly, someone’s ‘dying dick’ meant something completely different in the Middle Ages as it would now, namely their ‘dying declaration’.

-Other things that were commonly called ‘dick’ through the middle ages up to now include: aprons, dictionaries, detectives, whips, and nothing (as in, ‘I got dick for my birthday’).

-Incidentally, “That’s what she said” is thought to have been around since the 1970s with the earliest documented case of the phrase showing up on Saturday Night Live, spoken by Chevy Chase in a weekend update skit in 1975, which also happened to be the first season of SNL. “That’s what she said” was later hugely popularized thanks to Wayne’s World skits on Saturday Night Live and later usage in the movie “Wayne’s World”. The British also have their own version of that statement which has been around for much longer (over a century), “said the actress to the Bishop”.

[Jester]

-Other things that were commonly called ‘dick’ through the middle ages up to now include: ...nothing (as in, ‘I got dick for my birthday’).

It still is commonly used in that manner.

"She told me dick about what happened."
"The rest of us were busting our asses, but that guy did dick all day."
"I paid them all that money for their "service," but I got dick from them."

Etc, etc, etc.