Mildly interesting

[Horace]

@taiwan_girl said in Mildly interesting:

Old story, but there is a world record for the 100 m while running on all four limbs.

100m world record for 4 limbs

Was reading an article where someone said that it would be possible that by 2050 or so, someone could set a world record for the 100 m by using 4 limbs instead of 2 limbs. Much more efficient to do so.

(I lost the article so will see if I can find it again)

That's cool. Certainly there is plenty of precedent for people figuring out new ways of engaging in sporting events. Basketball shots have changed drastically in their form over the years, then there's the Foosebury Flop in the high jump. I'm sure there are more subtle examples in any sport. Athletes don't instinctively know the most efficient ways to do what they do, but they can be taught, especially if it's from scratch and they don't have to relearn anything.

[jon-nyc]

2000 years old.

[jon-nyc]

[George K]

[jon-nyc]

Interesting.

[jon-nyc]

[taiwan_girl]

Here are some statistics for Year 1920:

The average life expectancy for men was 47 years.
Fuel for cars was sold in drug stores only.
Only 14 percent of homes had a bathtub.
Only 8 percent of homes had a telephone.
The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The tallest structure in world was Eiffel Tower.
The average US wage in 1919 was 22 cents per hour.
The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
A competent accountant could expect to earn $2,000 per year.
A dentist earned $2,500 per year.
A veterinarian between $1,500 and $ 4,000 per year.
And, a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
More than 95 percent of all births took place at home
Ninety percent of all Doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which condemned in the press AND government as "substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound.
Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.
Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women washed their hair once a month . and, used Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering into their country for any reason.
The Five leading causes of death were:

1 Pneumonia and influenza
2 Tuberculosis
3 Diarrhea
4 Heart disease
5 Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.
The population of Las Vegas, Nevada was only 30.
Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented yet.
There was neither a Mother's Day nor Father's Day.
Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
And, only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were available over counter at local drugstores.
Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears complexion, gives buoyancy to mind, regulates stomach, bowels, and is a perfect guardian of health!"
Eighteen percent of households had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.
There were about 230 reported murders in ENTIRE U.S.A

[Rainman]

@taiwan_girl said in Mildly interesting:

Heroin clears complexion, gives buoyancy to mind, regulates stomach, bowels, and is a perfect guardian of health!"

Thanks for the list, TG!

I don't get it. If the drugs are so addictive, why didn't people get addicted back then? Poor quality, uncomfortable side effects?
Or, people were addicted, everyone was addicted. But, no one talked about taking drugs, because they were not considered drugs or not even as strong or bad as whiskey.

Makes sense. If I were to start from Tucson and ride my donkey all the way to Houston, I'd want all the drugs mentioned above for me, and some quality speed for the donkey.

[jon-nyc]

[Rainman]

Jesus.
All that drama, and he missed the landing.

[Axtremus]

@rainman That’s because the videographer slowed it down too much and it lost some momentum as a result.

[Axtremus]

@taiwan_girl said in Mildly interesting:

Here are some statistics for Year 1920:
...
There was neither a Mother's Day nor Father's Day.

There was also no Black History Month back then.

But amazingly, the early version of what later became the Hallmark Corporation already existed back then under the name “Hall Brothers”. The Hall Brothers started marketing “Hallmark” branded greeting cards in 1928.

[taiwan_girl]

[jon-nyc]

[Catseye3]

An excerpt from the book Picnic Comma Lightning, . . . "a beguiling exploration of what it means to exist in the world today. It used to be that our lives were rooted in reasonably solid things: to people, places and memories. Now, in an age of online personas, alternative truths, constant surveillance and an increasingly hysterical news cycle, our realities are becoming flimsier and more vulnerable than ever before."

The above was to put the following mildly interesting thing into context.

" . . . the questions of how we experience the real world, how we access its truths, have become mainstream concerns. On 16th January 2018, in a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee, US Senator Orrin Hatch began his statement by taking off a pair of glasses that he wasn't wearing. He raised both hands up beside either eye, clipped them around invisible handles, and brought them back down to the bench. He continued as if this were normal, with perhaps just one nervous little cough registering the mistake. The moment was like a Lucille Ball slip-up, a clown's attempt at gravitas. At the same time, it instantly seemed a perfect symbol of our present state of affairs: the unreality of American politics in the wake of its reality-TV president, the deception of the political classes who no longer even feel the need to disguise their deceptions."

And so on.

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

[George K]

[George K]

We did this at work all the time....

[brenda]

Brilliant