Mildly interesting
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 09:57 last edited by
The Horse Manure Problem of 1894
The 15 to 30 pounds of manure produced daily by each beast multiplied by the 150,000+ horses in New York city resulted in more than three million pounds of horse manure per day that somehow needed to be disposed of. That’s not to mention the daily 40,000 gallons of horse urine.
In other words, cities reeked. As Morris says, the “stench was omnipresent.” Here are some fun bits from his article:
Urban streets were minefields that needed to be navigated with the greatest care. “Crossing sweepers” stood on street corners; for a fee they would clear a path through the mire for pedestrians. Wet weather turned the streets into swamps and rivers of muck, but dry weather brought little improvement; the manure turned to dust, which was then whipped up by the wind, choking pedestrians and coating buildings.
. . . even when it had been removed from the streets the manure piled up faster than it could be disposed of . . . early in the century farmers were happy to pay good money for the manure, by the end of the 1800s stable owners had to pay to have it carted off. As a result of this glut . . . vacant lots in cities across America became piled high with manure; in New York these sometimes rose to forty and even sixty feet.
We need to remind ourselves that horse manure is an ideal breeding ground for flies, which spread disease. Morris reports that deadly outbreaks of typhoid and “infant diarrheal diseases can be traced to spikes in the fly population.”
Comparing fatalities associated with horse-related accidents in 1916 Chicago versus automobile accidents in 1997, he concludes that people were killed nearly seven times more often back in the good old days. The reasons for this are straightforward:
. . . horse-drawn vehicles have an engine with a mind of its own. The skittishness of horses added a dangerous level of unpredictability to nineteenth-century transportation. This was particularly true in a bustling urban environment, full of surprises that could shock and spook the animals. Horses often stampeded, but a more common danger came from horses kicking, biting, or trampling bystanders. Children were particularly at risk.
Falls, injuries, and maltreatment also took a toll on the horses themselves. Data cited by Morris indicates that, in 1880, more than 3 dozen dead horses were cleared from New York streets each day (nearly 15,000 a year).
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 12:29 last edited by
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 14:22 last edited by
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 14:23 last edited by
More from Wiki
HMS Resolute was abandoned in the Arctic while searching for Sir John Franklin and his lost expedition. The ship was found in 1855 by George Henry, an American whaling ship, repaired, and returned to the United Kingdom as a gesture of goodwill from the United States. The ship was decommissioned in 1879, broken up, and had three desks constructed from its timbers. Queen Victoria sent one of these desks to American President Rutherford B. Hayes. The Resolute desk was received at the White House on November 23, 1880, and was used in the President's Office and President's Study until the White House Reconstruction from 1948 to 1952. After the reconstruction, it was placed in the Broadcast Room where Dwight D. Eisenhower used it during radio and television broadcasts. Jacqueline Kennedy rediscovered the desk and had it brought to the Oval Office in 1961. The desk was removed from the White House after the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, and went on a traveling exhibition with artifacts of the Kennedy Presidential Library. President Jimmy Carter brought the desk back to the White House in 1977, where it has remained since.
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 15:05 last edited by
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 23:26 last edited by
I don’t think I could do this.
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 23:33 last edited by jon-nyc 5 Dec 2024, 23:33
That takes practice for sure. Also it probably helps to be closer to 25 than 75.
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wrote on 12 May 2024, 23:48 last edited by
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wrote on 23 May 2024, 13:35 last edited by
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wrote on 25 May 2024, 17:34 last edited by
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wrote on 25 May 2024, 21:04 last edited by
@Mik said in Mildly interesting:
@George-K I don’t know whether that is a kindness or cruelty.
It's a cruelty we're all born with, in some sense. Not to that extent.
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wrote on 26 May 2024, 00:54 last edited by
Looks so neat and orderly, (and somewhat kind in a way, but like @Mik said maybe not)
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wrote on 26 May 2024, 01:07 last edited by
In a related thread, I read that the prisoner scheduled for execution is not told, in advance, when that day will be. He is told ON THE DAY, between 6:30 and 8:00 AM.
Executions are carried out by hanging in an execution chamber within the detention center. When the death warrant has been signed, the condemned prisoner is informed on the morning of their execution. The condemned is given a choice of a last meal. The prisoner's family and legal representatives, and also the general public, are informed only after the execution has taken place. Since 7 December 2007, the authorities have been releasing names, natures of crime, and ages of executed prisoners.[20]
In Japan, until the 1970s, the date of execution was announced to the condemned prisoner before the execution. However, because there were cases of death row inmates committing suicide before the execution, the method was changed to one or two hours before the execution to ensure the emotional stability of the inmate.[21]
The method of hanging is the long drop, causing instant unconsciousness and rapid death by neck fracture.[22]
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wrote on 26 May 2024, 01:22 last edited by
Its weird. My experience with Japanese society is that they are very neat, orderly, good manners, and basically very thinking of others. That is why it is so weird what they did in World War 2 and how they acted so terribly and atrocious.
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Its weird. My experience with Japanese society is that they are very neat, orderly, good manners, and basically very thinking of others. That is why it is so weird what they did in World War 2 and how they acted so terribly and atrocious.
wrote on 26 May 2024, 01:30 last edited by@taiwan_girl said in Mildly interesting:
That is why it is so weird what they did in World War 2 and how they acted so terribly
Derailing here.
Guy that I worked with spent a couple of years in Hawaii while in the Air Force.
This was in the mid 1970s.
He said that the Japanese were among the most racist, arrogant, and xenophobic people he's ever met.
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@taiwan_girl said in Mildly interesting:
That is why it is so weird what they did in World War 2 and how they acted so terribly
Derailing here.
Guy that I worked with spent a couple of years in Hawaii while in the Air Force.
This was in the mid 1970s.
He said that the Japanese were among the most racist, arrogant, and xenophobic people he's ever met.
wrote on 26 May 2024, 01:33 last edited by taiwan_girl@George-K said in Mildly interesting:
He said that the Japanese were among the most racist, arrogant, and xenophobic people he's ever met.
Hmm, had to look up the meaning of xenophobic (LOL). Not sure they hate foreigners but definitely are nationalistic. I have not had problems there, and people know right away that I am not Japanese. Maybe they are saying something, but since I do not speak the language, "ignorance is bliss". I have had pretty good experience there.
There is a lot to like about the country. I mentioned previously that you will not find a cleaner city in the world than Tokyo. Even with no public garbage cans, there is no random garbage around. They are pretty good rule followers. I am mainly a rule flowerer, so I have no problems there. I am sure that if I lived there and understood the language, etc better, I would see the bad side. But from the outside, there is a lot to like.