Mildly interesting

[mark]

[Mik]

Can't do that on black coffee, so I'm out. A coffee Luddite.

[LuFins Dad]

@Axtremus said in Mildly interesting:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2025/04/24/california-gdp-us-states-ranked/83250950007/

Which US states have the largest economies?
From largest to smallest economy by nominal GDP, here’s how other U.S. states and Washington, D.C., stack up behind California according to preliminary 2024 numbers from BEA:
California: $4.1 trillion
Texas: $2.7 trillion
New York: $2.3 trillion
Florida: $1.7 trillion
Illinois: $1.1 trillion
Pennsylvania: $1.02 trillion
Ohio: $928 billion
Georgia: $883 billion
Washington: $855 billion
New Jersey: $847 billion
North Carolina: $839 billion
Massachusetts: $781 billion
Virginia: $764 billion
Michigan: $707 billion
Colorado: $553 billion
Arizona: $552 billion
Tennessee: $550 billion
Maryland: $543 billion
Indiana: $527 billion
Minnesota: $501 billion
Wisconsin: $451.3 billion
Missouri: $451.2 billion
Connecticut: $366 billion
South Carolina: $350 billion
Oregon: $331 billion
Louisiana: $328 billion
Alabama: $321 billion
Utah: $301 billion
Kentucky: $293 billion
Oklahoma: $266 billion
Nevada: $261 billion
Iowa: $257 billion
Kansas: $235 billion
Arkansas: $189 billion
District of Columbia: $186 billion
Nebraska: $185 billion
Mississippi: $157 billion
New Mexico: $141 billion
Idaho: $128 billion
New Hampshire: $121 billion
Hawaii: $116 billion
West Virginia: $108 billion
Delaware: $103 billion
Maine: $99 billion
Rhode Island: $82 billion
Montana: $76 billion
North Dakota: $75.4 billion
South Dakota: $75.2 billion
Alaska: $70 billion
Wyoming: $53 billion
Vermont: $46 billion

I wish there is an animated "how the rankings changed over time" video

DC with 700K residents has a higher GDP than 16 states. That should really make you think…

[Horace]

So adorable.

Link to video

[jon-nyc]

[jon-nyc]

Nature’s tariff.

[jon-nyc]

[taiwan_girl]

Quite the arm workout for that guy!

[jon-nyc]

They’re always pretty jacked and mostly under 45. If not under 35.

[Mik]

In Kazakhstan's majestic Tian Shan mountains lies the birthplace of every apple you've ever eaten. These ancient forests are home to Malus sieversii, the wild ancestor of all modern apple varieties.

Long before the Silk Road connected East and West, bears and birds spread apple seeds throughout these pristine mountain ranges. When traders eventually discovered these sweet mountain fruits, they carried them across continents, leading to natural hybridization with other wild species.

The legacy of these ancient apples lives on in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, whose name literally means "Father of Apples." But time hasn't been kind to these precious forests - today, only 1% of the original wild apple forests remain in their ancestral home.

These hardy mountain trees gave rise to the thousands of apple varieties we enjoy today - from the crisp Honeycrisp to the tart Granny Smith. Their genetic diversity holds the key to developing disease-resistant and climate-adaptable apples for future generations.

Sources: Research by Soviet scientist Nikolai Vavilov (1929), Kazakh geneticist Aimak Dzangaliev's studies, The Royal Horticultural Society

[Mik]

"Sealed by a landslide for 21,000 years, the Chauvet Cave’s walls pulse with the oldest known paintings—lions, rhinos, and galloping horses frozen in torchlight. A time capsule from the Ice Age, untouched until 1994. Who else feels the whisper of Paleolithic genius? Artists scraped walls clean before painting and used torch flicker to make beasts appear to move—proto-cinema 30,000 years early! #ChauvetCave #FirstArtists"
In 1994, three French speleologists squeezed through a narrow cliffside tunnel near the Ardèche River—and stumbled into a cathedral of prehistoric art. The Chauvet Cave’s walls, preserved by a perfectly timed landslide around 19,000 BCE, bore over 400 animals painted with charcoal and ochre: stampeding woolly rhinos, dueling cave lions, even a 10-meter-long panel of horses flowing like a Paleolithic filmstrip.
Radiocarbon dating shocked the world: these were twice as old as Lascaux, painted when Neanderthals still roamed Europe. The artists used cave contours to create 3D effects (a bison’s head emerging from a rock bulge), and footprints of an 8-year-old child—perhaps an apprentice—remain fossilized in the clay.

[Mik]

[Mik]

Ian Fleming, who was a keen bird watcher living in Jamaica, was familiar with ornithologist James Bond's book "Birds of the West Indies," and chose the name of its author for the hero of "Casino Royale" in 1953, apparently because he wanted a name that sounded "as ordinary as possible." Fleming wrote to the real Bond's wife, "It struck me that this brief, unromantic, Anglo-Saxon and yet very masculine name was just what I needed, and so a second James Bond was born. In return,'' Fleming wrote, ''I can only offer you or James Bond unlimited use of the name Ian Fleming for any purposes you may think fit. Perhaps one day your husband will discover a particularly horrible species of bird which he would like to christen in an insulting fashion by calling it Ian Fleming.'' He also contacted the real James Bond about using his name in the books, and Bond replied to him, "Fine with it."
At some point during one of Fleming's visits to Jamaica, he met the real Bond and his wife, as shown in a made-for-DVD documentary about Fleming. A short clip was shown with Fleming, Bond and his wife. Also in his novel "Dr. No", Fleming referenced Bond's work by basing a large ornithological sanctuary on Dr. No's island in the Bahamas.
In 1964, Fleming gave Bond a first edition copy of "You Only Live Twice" signed, "To the real James Bond, from the thief of his identity." In December 2008 the book was put up for auction, eventually fetching $84,000. (Wikipedia/New York Times)
Happy Birthday, James Bond!

[jon-nyc]

Interior of the Orient Express

[jon-nyc]

Hey @mark , aim higher. lol

[jon-nyc]

Watch that bar start to bow.

[taiwan_girl]

The comment "Ronnie Coleman is not human". I wonder what % is steroids? 555

[Horace]

@taiwan_girl said in Mildly interesting:

The comment "Ronnie Coleman is not human". I wonder what % is steroids? 555

He was obsessed with bodybuilding. Obviously, steroids are necessary to look like that. He's paying the price these days. I don't think he can walk anymore. He still lifts, though. As I said, he's truly obsessed.

[taiwan_girl]

Read the general info about him on Wiki. 60 years old and in a wheelchair. Sad, but apparently, he has no regrets.

I imagine his heart is in pretty bad shape also. Seems like a lot of those people who use steroids a lot time end up with heart problems.