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Mildly Interesting Things

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    Mortal SkyMortal Sky queer punk hedge witchRegistered User regular
    Speaking of sauropod nomenclature, the Brachiosaurus specimens from Tanzania, which include the largest complete dinosaur skeletons ever found, were determined to be a separate and distinct species recently after fossil evidence on other brachiosaurs was compared.

    The new name for these dinosaurs, Giraffatitan, is the baddest thing ever.

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    BeastehBeasteh THAT WOULD NOT KILL DRACULARegistered User regular
    qi thread

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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    Beasteh wrote: »
    qi thread

    nono
    that's quite interesting

    this is mildly interesting
    A gravity hill, also known as a magnetic hill and sometimes a mystery hill, a mystery spot, or a gravity road, is a place where the layout of the surrounding land produces the optical illusion that a very slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope. Thus, a car left out of gear will appear to be rolling uphill against gravity. There are hundreds of recognised gravity hills around the world.
    The slope of gravity hills is an optical illusion, although sites are often accompanied by claims that magnetic or even supernatural forces are at work. The most important factor contributing to the illusion is a completely or mostly obstructed horizon; without a horizon, judging the slope of a surface is difficult as a reliable reference is missing. Objects one would normally assume to be more or less perpendicular to the ground (such as trees) may actually be leaning, offsetting the visual reference.

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    BeastehBeasteh THAT WOULD NOT KILL DRACULARegistered User regular
    anthills that are close together regularly stage mock battles where they don't injure each other

    after they are done they go back to their hills in orderly lines

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    MayabirdMayabird Pecking at the keyboardRegistered User regular
    Inquisitor wrote: »
    Christmas in Japan is a date night for couples (well, Christmas Eve more specifically) with fried chicken (preferably from KFC) being the dinner of choice.

    No mention of crazy Christmas traditions is complete without Homage to a Catalonian Christmas.

    Learn about Catalonia's has the traditions of the
    tio, the Christmas log, which is a log with a cute little face on it that kids are supposed to hit with sticks until they shit out sweets. Also no Catalonian nativity scene is complete without a caganer, a guy who's taking a shit off to the side while baby Jesus is being born.

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    PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    edited February 2014
    Antimatter wrote: »
    you can probably blame/thank the creation of the legend of the chupacabra on horror movies
    So what explains the original chupacabra myth?

    One possibility, Coleman said, is that people imagined things after watching or hearing about an alien-horror film that opened in Puerto Rico in the summer of 1995.

    "If you look at the date when the movie Species opened in Puerto Rico, you will see that it overlaps with the first explosion of reports there," he said.

    "Then compare the images of [actor] Natasha Henstridge's creature character, Sil [picture], and you will see the unmistakable spikes out the back that match those of the first images of the chupacabras in 1995."

    Another theory is that the Puerto Rico creatures were an escaped troop of rhesus monkeys on the island, which often stand up on their hind legs.

    "There was a population of rhesus monkeys being used in blood experiments in Puerto Rico at the time, and that troop could have got loose," Coleman said.
    some unpleasant pics of dead coyotes with mange in this article as well, just as a warning
    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101028-chupacabra-evolution-halloween-science-monsters-chupacabras-picture/

    In a similar case, the first modern sighting of the Loch Ness Monster was reported in 1933, a few months after King Kong was released in Scottish cinemas. This alleged first sighting closely mirrors a scene from the movie involving a "Brontosaurus", including not only all the physical characteristics of the Brontosaurus from the movie (like undulations of the neck), but also elements like the lower portion of the animal being obscured and the animal carrying a victim in its mouth (a lamb in the reported sighting, a human in the movie).

    This connection is usually not brought up in cryptozooligcal discussions of the Loch Ness Monster (even though the person who made the first sighting directly referenced the film on one occasion when discussing the monster), but I read about it in this excellent book which I can only recommed to anyone with an interest in cryptids, monsters or folklore.

    Platy on
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    PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    edited February 2014
    Japanese folklore knows a monster called the "akaname" whose name means "filth licker" in Japanese. The story goes that this monster will appear at night to lick up the grime in bathrooms which haven't been cleaned in a while. For this purpose, it's sometimes portrayed with a large tongue. So always remember to keep your bathroom clean or you might stumble into the akaname one night when you get up to use it.

    Platy on
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    Raijin QuickfootRaijin Quickfoot I'm your Huckleberry YOU'RE NO DAISYRegistered User, ClubPA regular
    Used to have a roommate named Rich Trickey

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    StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    A river will turn around when it approaching a cliff, almost as if the water was afraid of it.

    YL9WnCY.png
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    InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    There is a city named Shingo in Aomori prefecture in Japan that has an interesting legend.

    That legend being that it is in that village that Jesus Christ, of biblical fame, is buried.

    The story is basically during the "missing" years in the Bible that Jesus came to Japan and there pursued knowledge of divinity, he then returned to Judea to spread his enlightenment. When Jesus was going to be crucified instead his brother, Isukiri, took his place and died in his place with no one noticing, while Jesus fled back to Japan.

    There he became a rice farmer, married, and had three daughters, eventually dying at the ripe old age of 106.

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    BillyIdleBillyIdle What does "katana" mean? It means "Japanese sword."Registered User regular
    I thought it was pretty crazy that Prince actually uploaded new material on Youtube.

    PSN: BillyIdle_
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    CrackedLensCrackedLens Registered User regular
    Japanese folklore knows a monster called the "akaname" whose name means "filth licker" in Japanese. The story goes that this monster will appear at night to lick up the grime in bathrooms which haven't been cleaned in a while. For this purpose, it's sometimes portrayed with a large tongue. So always remember to keep your bathroom clean or you might stumble into the akaname one night when you get up to use it.

    If some monster wants to get his rocks off by showing up and cleaning the grout in my bathroom, have at it.

    XBoxLive Gamertag: ZombieKyle Secret Satan Wishlist
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    MarathonMarathon Registered User regular
    Beasteh wrote: »
    anthills that are close together regularly stage mock battles where they don't injure each other

    after they are done they go back to their hills in orderly lines
    holy shit, for real?

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    RankenphileRankenphile Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderator mod
    Beasteh wrote: »
    anthills that are close together regularly stage mock battles where they don't injure each other

    after they are done they go back to their hills in orderly lines

    please cite your source, because I desperately want to believe this

    8406wWN.png
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    PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    Other monsters from Japanese folklore include the Ashiarai Yashiki, a gigantic foot which comes crashing through the ceiling and demands that the owners of the house wash it, and the Odokuro, a terrifying skeleton spectre sometimes said to be formed from the bones of fallen warriors.

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    CrackedLensCrackedLens Registered User regular
    Other monsters from Japanese folklore include the Ashiarai Yashiki, a gigantic foot which comes crashing through the ceiling and demands that the owners of the house wash it


    monty_python_foot_01.jpg

    XBoxLive Gamertag: ZombieKyle Secret Satan Wishlist
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    InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Other monsters from Japanese folklore include the Ashiarai Yashiki, a gigantic foot which comes crashing through the ceiling and demands that the owners of the house wash it, and the Odokuro, a terrifying skeleton spectre sometimes said to be formed from the bones of fallen warriors.

    There is a local folklore monster in my area, that has to do with kaki (persimmon) trees.

    Basically, if you don't harvest the trees, a man will emerge from the tree at night and show up at your house in the dead of night and make you lick his asshole. And apparently it tastes exactly like persimmons that have gone bad on the tree.

    I'll have to go bug my friend for the name though, it is escaping me at the moment.

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    PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    There's also a human-like monster which has an eye where its anus should be and exclusively moves by crawling backwards.

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    CrackedLensCrackedLens Registered User regular
    Ye ol brown eye

    XBoxLive Gamertag: ZombieKyle Secret Satan Wishlist
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    King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    Japanese folklore knows a monster called the "akaname" whose name means "filth licker" in Japanese. The story goes that this monster will appear at night to lick up the grime in bathrooms which haven't been cleaned in a while. For this purpose, it's sometimes portrayed with a large tongue. So always remember to keep your bathroom clean or you might stumble into the akaname one night when you get up to use it.

    Japanese demons are mostly designed to make people clean or act safely.
    Theres one for clipping your toenails at night( which obviously was dangerous back when electricity wasnt a thing) that decapitates you.

    Kinda harsh.

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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    InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    Related to that, actually, it's still a Japanese superstition that cutting your nails during at night will bring bad luck. Doing so means you will not be with your parents at their deathbed.

    I am not sure if that is specifically the reason why, but, some of my fellow teachers here clip their nails in the office at work during the day.

    One teacher told me to stop swatting flies because one of them might be the reincarnation of my father. My response was to swat another fly.

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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    edited February 2014
    Magic the Gathering did an (unsuccessful) block about Japanese mythology about mortals vs kami, basing many of the cards off actual Shinto spirits
    http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&type=+["Creature"]&subtype=+[Spirit]&set=|[%22Betrayers%20of%20Kamigawa%22]|[%22Saviors%20of%20Kamigawa%22]|[%22Champions%20of%20Kamigawa%22]
    just copy/paste that into your address bar, I guess
    no one understood the references and it did poorly, especially because the samurai and ninjas didn't show up til the second set of the three part block

    Antimatter on
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    PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    There is a boat in Norse mythology, Naglfar, which is made entirely from the fingernails and toenails of the dead. In the Prose Edda, the text warns against burying the dead with untrimmed nails, otherwise they would contribute much material to the boat and hasten Ragnarök (during which Naglfar will be captained by one of the giants).

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    BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    here is a mildly interesting, mildly horrifying thing

    http:// www.pornmd.com/live-search

    it is a live text scroll of searches being made on pornhub right this second

    obviously nsfw

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    InquisitorInquisitor Registered User regular
    I liked that set, even if the execution probably could have been better.

    I am happy that they felt like exploring things other than just standard fantasy stuff. I think the theme of the current set is pretty cool too. But I have no desire to play magic these days.

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    King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    Inquisitor wrote: »
    Related to that, actually, it's still a Japanese superstition that cutting your nails during at night will bring bad luck. Doing so means you will not be with your parents at their deathbed.

    I am not sure if that is specifically the reason why, but, some of my fellow teachers here clip their nails in the office at work during the day.

    One teacher told me to stop swatting flies because one of them might be the reincarnation of my father. My response was to swat another fly.

    Myths and superstitions evolve like that.

    The fly one is probably specifically Buddhist . Kind of insulting too given how reincarnation works.

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
    on the plus side, though they'll likely never return to Kamigawa in a normal expansion, there are references to it in supplementary products and occasionally even within the normal expansions
    qrsayh1vjv_en.jpg

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    Panic ButtonPanic Button Robo-cannibal Registered User regular
    Antimatter wrote: »
    Magic the Gathering did an (unsuccessful) block about Japanese mythology about mortals vs kami, basing many of the cards off actual Shinto spirits
    http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&type=+["Creature"]&subtype=+[Spirit]&set=|[%22Betrayers%20of%20Kamigawa%22]|[%22Saviors%20of%20Kamigawa%22]|[%22Champions%20of%20Kamigawa%22]
    just copy/paste that into your address bar, I guess
    no one understood the references and it did poorly, especially because the samurai and ninjas didn't show up til the second set of the three part block

    It was also right after Mirrodin. So you have a bunch of people who left because Mirrodin was lolbroken, but people also take it poorly when Wizards intentionally drops the power level is Standard, and Kamigawa was a pretty significant drop. A lot of things in it look really cool, though. The main issue is the Arcane and Spirit stuff really only works with other stuff from the block. It's pretty insular.

    As an aside, after "So Raven" has run its course, can we get a "Metal" button? I would be thrilled.

    Drawings and short stories: sketchatron.tumblr.com
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    King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    So I recently discovered cabbage,broccoli,brussel sprouts and cauliflower are all the same plant .

    Its the dog of the plant world

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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    Captain KCaptain K Registered User regular
    Rick Springfield killed a Vietcong.

    The man will stop at nothing to possess Jesse's girl.

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    StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    I blame the set's failure on the Legendary theme which can make for anticlimatic games.

    YL9WnCY.png
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    StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Donkey Kong is based off a gorilla. His buddy Diddy Kong has a tail, which would group him with either of the monkeys as opposed to the family of great apes that DK would belong to. This would technically make Mario, a human and therefore also a member of the great apes, a closer relative to Donkey Kong than Diddy.

    Funny enough, Lanky Kong, who is described by Cranky as a distant relative of the Kong family, is depicted after an yet another great ape: the orangutan.

    YL9WnCY.png
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    PlatyPlaty Registered User regular
    So I recently discovered cabbage,broccoli,brussel sprouts and cauliflower are all the same plant .

    Its the dog of the plant world

    There was a Bulgarian ruler of the 13th century nicknamed "cabbage". He started out as a swineherd, led a successful peasant uprising and was tsar of Bulgaria for two years before he finally lost support.

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    The GeekThe Geek Oh-Two Crew, Omeganaut Registered User, ClubPA regular
    Y'know how you can see old timey signs at ren faires and in movies and such that say "Ye Olde Shoppe" or whatever?

    That Y is actually an old English character called a thorn and it is pronounced as though it was a TH, not a Y sound.

    BLM - ACAB
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    AntimatterAntimatter Devo Was Right Gates of SteelRegistered User regular
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    King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    Donkey Kong is based off a gorilla. His buddy Diddy Kong has a tail, which would group him with either of the monkeys as opposed to the family of great apes that DK would belong to. This would technically make Mario, a human and therefore also a member of the great apes, a closer relative to Donkey Kong than Diddy.

    Funny enough, Lanky Kong, who is described by Cranky as a distant relative of the Kong family, is depicted after an yet another great ape: the orangutan.

    The kong family is non tradtional. Only a few guys are directly related and Nintendo constantly changes their minds.

    Mostly this is rares fault because they couldnt quit making monkeys with dumb names

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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    The GeekThe Geek Oh-Two Crew, Omeganaut Registered User, ClubPA regular
    One of my favorite kinds of fun factoids are the disparate characters that voice actors have played.

    Optimus Prime is Eeyore
    Zapp Brannigan is Doug Funnie
    Johnny Bravo is Prowl (from TFA)
    Megatron is Aladdin's monkey Abu

    BLM - ACAB
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    King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    Piglett is jack the ripper

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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    StericaSterica Yes Registered User, Moderator mod
    Rorus Raz wrote: »
    Donkey Kong is based off a gorilla. His buddy Diddy Kong has a tail, which would group him with either of the monkeys as opposed to the family of great apes that DK would belong to. This would technically make Mario, a human and therefore also a member of the great apes, a closer relative to Donkey Kong than Diddy.

    Funny enough, Lanky Kong, who is described by Cranky as a distant relative of the Kong family, is depicted after an yet another great ape: the orangutan.
    The kong family is non tradtional. Only a few guys are directly related and Nintendo constantly changes their minds.

    Mostly this is rares fault because they couldnt quit making monkeys with dumb names
    I am aware that the Donkey Kong "canon" is very mixed up because Rare and Nintendo had different ideas for it, and ultimately it doesn't matter because it's a game about throwing barrels. It's just (mildly) interesting to consider.

    YL9WnCY.png
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    King RiptorKing Riptor Registered User regular
    Donkey Jr's whereabouts will be determined Rorus.

    Coppy kong is on the case

    I have a podcast now. It's about video games and anime!Find it here.
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