Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Brite
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse

The New Coffee Room

  1. TNCR
  2. General Discussion
  3. Mildly interesting

Mildly interesting

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General Discussion
2.7k Posts 34 Posters 474.1k Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • jon-nycJ Offline
    jon-nycJ Offline
    jon-nyc
    wrote last edited by
    #2703

    This looks satisfying.

    If you don't take it, it can only good happen.

    1 Reply Last reply
    • kluursK Offline
      kluursK Offline
      kluurs
      wrote last edited by
      #2704

      image.png

      1 Reply Last reply
      • kluursK Offline
        kluursK Offline
        kluurs
        wrote last edited by
        #2705

        image.png

        taiwan_girlT 1 Reply Last reply
        • kluursK kluurs

          image.png

          taiwan_girlT Offline
          taiwan_girlT Offline
          taiwan_girl
          wrote last edited by
          #2706

          @kluurs I remember reading something similar about tardigrades (water bears). The US army actually had given a grant to scientists to study them. If I remember, it related to being able to re-hydrate blood, and possibly being able to use de-hydrated blood because of its easier to store and transport.

          1 Reply Last reply
          • MikM Offline
            MikM Offline
            Mik
            wrote last edited by
            #2707

            Since 1630, land reclamation has made Boston over 10 times larger

            IMG_5219.jpeg

            "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

            1 Reply Last reply
            • jon-nycJ Offline
              jon-nycJ Offline
              jon-nyc
              wrote last edited by
              #2708

              I hope when Indians stand in that reclaimed land they do a land acknowledgment honoring the European population that first settled it.

              If you don't take it, it can only good happen.

              1 Reply Last reply
              • MikM Offline
                MikM Offline
                Mik
                wrote last edited by
                #2709

                IMG_5220.jpeg

                "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

                1 Reply Last reply
                • HoraceH Offline
                  HoraceH Offline
                  Horace
                  wrote last edited by
                  #2710

                  Link to video

                  Education is extremely important.

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  • MikM Offline
                    MikM Offline
                    Mik
                    wrote last edited by
                    #2711

                    “Bill of mortality” from the Great Plague of London's deadliest week, which ended on this day in 1665, leaving a count of 7165 dead.

                    In addition to the high count attributed to "Plague" and other expected maladies of the time, we see deaths assigned to more enigmatic causes — “Frighted”, “Suddenly”, “Winde”, “Teeth”, and “Planet”. In addition to those that paint a very specific and vivid picture, e.g. “Burnt in his Bed by a Candle at St. Giles Cripplegate”.

                    More info, and the whole year of "bills" to view, here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/londons-dreadful-visitation-bills-of-mortality

                    image.png

                    "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    • A Offline
                      A Offline
                      AndyD
                      wrote last edited by AndyD
                      #2712

                      Screenshot_20250930-065132_TikTok.jpg

                      Can't recall seeing a relief map of this area; look at all those mountainous areas in Yemen etc!

                      bachophileB 1 Reply Last reply
                      • markM Offline
                        markM Offline
                        mark
                        wrote last edited by
                        #2713

                        IMG_0245.jpeg

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        • kluursK Offline
                          kluursK Offline
                          kluurs
                          wrote last edited by
                          #2714

                          image.png

                          AxtremusA 1 Reply Last reply
                          • A Offline
                            A Offline
                            AndyD
                            wrote last edited by
                            #2715

                            Super photo(shop) of what it may have looked like when new; nonetheless true
                            https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/spain-uncovered-megalithic-monument/

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            • A AndyD

                              Screenshot_20250930-065132_TikTok.jpg

                              Can't recall seeing a relief map of this area; look at all those mountainous areas in Yemen etc!

                              bachophileB Offline
                              bachophileB Offline
                              bachophile
                              wrote last edited by bachophile
                              #2716

                              @AndyD said in Mildly interesting:

                              Screenshot_20250930-065132_TikTok.jpg

                              Can't recall seeing a relief map of this area; look at all those mountainous areas in Yemen etc!

                              yemen is not on the map, thats over to the east across the red sea, maybe you are referring to the Sinai peninsula, which in the south is quite mountainous (eg...Mount Sinai)

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              👍
                              • jon-nycJ Offline
                                jon-nycJ Offline
                                jon-nyc
                                wrote last edited by
                                #2717

                                If you don't take it, it can only good happen.

                                taiwan_girlT 1 Reply Last reply
                                • jon-nycJ jon-nyc

                                  taiwan_girlT Offline
                                  taiwan_girlT Offline
                                  taiwan_girl
                                  wrote last edited by
                                  #2718

                                  @jon-nyc Interesting. I would not have guessed that. I would have thought it was younger 100+ years ago.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
                                  • W Offline
                                    W Offline
                                    Wim
                                    wrote last edited by
                                    #2719

                                    WW II

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    • kluursK kluurs

                                      image.png

                                      AxtremusA Offline
                                      AxtremusA Offline
                                      Axtremus
                                      wrote last edited by
                                      #2720

                                      @kluurs said in Mildly interesting:

                                      image.png

                                      What, no companion articles on sighting of UFOs landing there?

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      • MikM Offline
                                        MikM Offline
                                        Mik
                                        wrote last edited by Mik
                                        #2721

                                        This is interesting, if true. Complete opposite of what we learned from monopoly, which was to amass wealth and mercilessly crush your opponents. Of course we were like that with everything. All competition was blood sport.

                                        The original Monopoly was invented by a woman in 1904 to highlight the dangers of unchecked capitalism, she was told her concept was too complex, then the idea was stolen.
                                        Long before Monopoly became a family game-night staple, it was a pointed critique of economic inequality. The game was originally created in 1904 by Elizabeth Magie, an American writer, inventor, and staunch supporter of economist Henry George’s ideas about land reform. She called it The Landlord’s Game and designed it to demonstrate how wealth accumulation and rent-seeking concentrated power in the hands of a few while impoverishing everyone else.
                                        Magie patented the game in 1904, including two rule sets: one where players competed to monopolize property and another where everyone benefited equally from shared wealth — a direct moral lesson about the difference between greed and fairness. She hoped it would teach players that monopolies harm society.
                                        Years later, Charles Darrow encountered a version of Magie’s game, modified and circulating informally among friends and communities. He sold it to Parker Brothers in the 1930s, claiming it as his own invention. The company bought Magie’s patent for just $500 and erased her name from history. Monopoly went on to become one of the best-selling board games of all time — ironically celebrating the very capitalist spirit it was meant to criticize.
                                        Added Fact: Elizabeth Magie’s original 1904 patent for The Landlord’s Game remains one of the earliest known board game patents filed by a woman in the United States.

                                        alt text

                                        "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        • MikM Offline
                                          MikM Offline
                                          Mik
                                          wrote last edited by Mik
                                          #2722

                                          There's a lesson here. I'd never heard this story.

                                          𝗗𝗿. Frank Mayfield was touring the Tewksbury Institute when, on his way out, he accidentally bumped into an elderly floor maid. To ease the awkwardness, Dr. Mayfield struck up a conversation.

                                          “How long have you worked here?” he asked.

                                          “I’ve worked here almost since the place opened,” she replied.

                                          “What can you tell me about the history of this place?”

                                          “I don’t think I can tell you much,” she said, “but I can show you something.”

                                          She led him down to the basement beneath the oldest wing of the building and pointed to a small, rusted cell. “That’s the cage where they used to keep Annie Sullivan,” she said.

                                          “Who’s Annie?”

                                          The maid explained that Annie was a young girl brought there because she was considered incorrigible—wild, uncontrollable, impossible to manage. She bit, screamed, and threw her food. Doctors and nurses couldn’t even examine her.

                                          “I was just a few years younger than Annie,” the maid continued. “I used to think, ‘I’d hate to be locked in a cage like that.’ I wanted to help her, but if the doctors couldn’t, what could someone like me do?

                                          “One night I baked some brownies after work. The next day, I set them on the floor outside her cage and said, ‘Annie, I baked these just for you. You can take them if you want.’ Then I hurried away, afraid she’d throw them. But she didn’t. She took the brownies and ate them. After that, she was a little nicer to me. Sometimes I’d talk to her, and once I even got her laughing.

                                          “One of the nurses noticed and told the doctor. They asked if I’d help them with Annie. So whenever they needed to see her, I went in first to calm her, explain things, and hold her hand. That’s how they discovered Annie was nearly blind.”

                                          After a year of slow, difficult progress, the Perkins Institute for the Blind opened. Annie was sent there, where she learned to read, write, and eventually became a teacher herself.

                                          Years later, Annie returned to Tewksbury to visit and to help. The Director remembered a letter he had just received from a desperate father. His daughter was blind, deaf, and thought to be “deranged.” He didn’t want to put her in an asylum and asked if anyone might come work with her at home.

                                          That is how Annie Sullivan became the lifelong companion and teacher of Helen Keller.

                                          When Helen Keller later received the Nobel Prize, she was asked who had most influenced her life. She answered, “Annie Sullivan.”

                                          But Annie replied, “No, Helen. The woman who influenced us both was a floor maid at Tewksbury who brought a little girl some brownies.”

                                          alt text

                                          "The intelligent man who is proud of his intelligence is like the condemned man who is proud of his large cell." Simone Weil

                                          1 Reply Last reply
                                          Reply
                                          • Reply as topic
                                          Log in to reply
                                          • Oldest to Newest
                                          • Newest to Oldest
                                          • Most Votes


                                          • Login

                                          • Don't have an account? Register

                                          • Login or register to search.
                                          • First post
                                            Last post
                                          0
                                          • Categories
                                          • Recent
                                          • Tags
                                          • Popular
                                          • Users
                                          • Groups