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Ladymia69's avatar

Will you teach me something new? (redux)

Asked by Ladymia69 (6881points) February 26th, 2011
21 responses
“Great Question” (2points)

Going by JLeslie’s question from a few months ago, I decided to extend this question again. What did you learn recently (or not-so-recently) that you found very interesting?

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TexasDude's avatar

5000 US troops were deployed to Arkhangelsk, Russia to fight the Red Army in 1918 as part of the Polar Bear Expedition.

the100thmonkey's avatar

There is currently only one school in Japan where a prospective teacher can take an introductory English teaching qualification like the CELTA. This is in a country where thousands of young graduates are brought over every year to teach English. Thousands.

Jenniehowell's avatar

I learned that when I find myself annoyed or bombarded with a negative behavior from someone (or multiple someones) in my life in a consistent way, the best way to stop the behavior from continuing is to stop doing that thing in my own life.

For instance, if I can’t stand people being hypocrites and I feel that is affecting me directly, then I choose something in my life I’m a hypocrite about and I resolve it. If I can’t stand someone not paying me on time when they owe me money, I make sure that I always pay my bills on time etc.

This has worked for me for 3 reasons:
1— I’m slowly improving my life
2— Those who are unable to make the same change in their lives will often have issues being around someone who can because they don’t enjoy facing their failures and they will often disappear from my life on their own which in turn improves my life further by removing those who continue that negative behavior
3— Those who are already doing the positive thing or who want to are motivated to be around me because we are all on the same track which then further improves my life

I’ve started doing this with lots of things and it has really made a difference in my life. I thought this little lesson was interesting because had you asked me before I tried it whether I thought it would make any significant difference I’d have probably thought it was a bunch of hooey. LOL

ETpro's avatar

I went to a rally today in front of the Massachusetts State House on the Boston Common. It was a show of support for the public employees of Wisconsin. Hedge fund managers are taxed at capital gains rates. If the top 13 hedge fund managers where taxed at ordinary income tax rates, even with our low tax for the rich now, that would generate enough revenue to pay the salaries and full benefits packages of 300,000 school teachers.

It was so astonishing I Googled to fact check it when I got home. It is true.

faye's avatar

My daughter acted in Vagina Monologues. The play was sold out for 2 nights. They were raising money for AIDS research and our Women’s Shelter. I enjoyed the play tremendously.

BarnacleBill's avatar

I learned that of the Labors of Hercules, the quest for the Golden Apple sounds suspiciously similar to the Garden of Eden. Also, the ascention of Hercules to the Gods and his transformation of half god, half mortal is very similar to Jesus.

Brie's avatar

I learned that Sharpies can cause poisoning.
I learned that from Fluther! That’s why I made an account…because I thought the jellyfish was cute and I’m sick of the people on yahoo answers.

Nullo's avatar

The Middle Ages weren’t nearly as bad as we tend to think; they were, in fact, an improvement on the Classical periods which preceded them. They only became the “Dark Ages” when the Enlightenment people started calling them that. As I understand it, these were the same people who would exalt the glories of the ancient Greco-Romans.

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

@Nullo Wrong. They were first called the “Dark Ages” by Petrarch, who felt that we should return to the ways of Classical Times and all their glory. That’s about 500 years before the Age Of Enlightenment. Also, it says teach us something new – you can’t repeat an old one, silly!

Nullo's avatar

@MyNewtBoobs All the same, I did pretty well for not being awake.

I learned that seeing groups of 6–8 adults packed together and weaving through my store really bugs me, though I don’t yet know why. I also learned that people will enter the store, make a beeline for the rotisserie chickens, wander around for an hour, and then want to swap their chicken for a fresher one, wholly ignorant of the fact that food safety standards require that we dispose of any and all chicken that is brought back to the case.

I learned that the dipstick on a typical car is not suitable for gauging the amount of oil in the engine.

Some months ago, I learned that some public school students do not know what clouds are made of.

12Oaks's avatar

I’ve been learning that the older you get, the more you hate learning new things. Or, if you have to learn, make it something you want to learn. I always hated “studying,” never saw the point. Still, I do like “learning,” if this is the right term, about the happenings of my favorite sports teams. One just lost in the championships last night, another has switched leagues in the off-season and the former league is now defunct. Not sure if that qualifies as “learning” in th traditional definition (which I never learned).

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

@Nullo So then how long does a rotisserie chicken have to be gone from the case in order to need disposing off? If I take one, put it in my cart, and 2 minutes later decide that I’m feeling the Savory more than the Lemon Pepper and swap, do you have to throw out that Lemon Pepper? And how do you even know which ones are brought back – are you in a position to have a hawk eye constantly on that thing?

Ladymia69's avatar

@MyNewtBoobs You sound a little like you’re sort of picking on @Nullo , but I could be wrong (even though the Dark Ages correction was well-made).

MyNewtBoobs's avatar

@ladymia69 I’m actually curious about the rotisserie chicken – I’d never heard of that before, and I want more info about it. Isn’t that the point of this thread?

Nullo's avatar

@MyNewtBoobs The letter of the law (so to speak) is that the chicken must be maintained at a temperature of 140 degrees or higher until someone goes to buy it. It starts to cool off as soon as it’s taken from the case.
I appreciate the hard-line approach, but I find it impractical – my clientèle has a maddening tendency to rifle through the contents of any given display, so strict adherence to The Rules would lead to massive local shortages. My interpretation, then, is that if I lose track of the merch, I throw it out if it comes back. If I see you get a chicken and then return it within a couple minutes, I’ll let it be, especially if you haven’t left my field of view.
I actually spend most of my time off-site with my other duties, so I have no real way (besides timestamps and the blatantly obvious things like position and being wrapped in a plastic bag) to ascertain the history of the chickens. This is where the massive safety margins come into play.

Mercifully, Sam’s Club only stocks the one flavor. There’s challenge enough just keeping that properly stocked.

I’m glad that you have the decency to at least try to return it to the case – a lot of people just leave the chicken at whatever spot they happened to be in when they decided on something else for dinner.

Ladymia69's avatar

Does anyone else have anything they have learned that doesn’t involve rotisserie chicken? :)

Sandman's avatar

When a sun dies, it sheds heavy elements that may go on to be recycled into rocky planets during the creation of new suns. Also, you do not tip customarily in Europe, though this is changing, and horses nearly went extinct several hundred thousand years ago, and its suggested that humans also had a close call; that said, all human beings can trace their DNA back to this one woman who had particularly dominant traits. We call her the genetic Eve.

Nullo's avatar

@ladymia69 There is a prototype car out there that’s made out of plastic and runs on compressed air, and can be outfitted with a solar-powered compressor. The concept is aimed at India where cars are projected to soon be cripplingly numerous.

WyCnet's avatar

My Mama died recently and these are her praises I sing.
C major., 4/4.
The day my mama died
she just upped and left
didn’t even say goodbye
oh oh ohoh,
ah ah ahah.
I broke down an cried
played the songs she’d liked
from her life gone by
oh oh ohoh,
ah ah ahah
When Mama died
she left me the tears an fears
from our xchanges in her life
oh oh ohoh,
ah ah ahah
the day my mama died
she just upped an left
didn’t even say goodbye…

ETpro's avatar

@WyCnet Love those lyrics. Welcome to Fluther

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