What do you know today that you didn't know yesterday?

[Anomalocaris]

In 1774, Frederick the Great ordered Prussians to grow potatoes as a hedge against famine. Peasants thought of potatoes as disgusting and refused. In response, Frederick had the Royal Potato Fields planted and patrolled by guards. However, the guards were under orders to be less than vigilant in their duties, to the point of letting people go who were caught stealing potatoes and even accepting bribes from those who wanted to steal the tubers. The result was the creation of the impression that potatoes were valuable, but remarkably easy to steal. His plan turned spuds into a major food crop.

Marketing genius, that man.

Boru

Not sure if I am impressed more by the cleverness of the Prussian king or the dumbness of the Prussians.

[brewer]

The Chinese are bad at naming rockets. Reminds me of Bataan or Stephen King.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

In 1774, Frederick the Great ordered Prussians to grow potatoes as a hedge against famine. Peasants thought of potatoes as disgusting and refused. In response, Frederick had the Royal Potato Fields planted and patrolled by guards. However, the guards were under orders to be less than vigilant in their duties, to the point of letting people go who were caught stealing potatoes and even accepting bribes from those who wanted to steal the tubers. The result was the creation of the impression that potatoes were valuable, but remarkably easy to steal. His plan turned spuds into a major food crop.

Marketing genius, that man.

Boru

Not sure if I am impressed more by the cleverness of the Prussian king or the dumbness of the Prussians.

I wouldn’t necessarily call the Prussian peasants ‘dumb’ (not for this, at least). It’s a pretty common trait to want what we’ve been told we cannot have.

I suspect that if the masses were told that the various COVID vaccines were only being made available to people in the highest income brackets, the lower income people would be in the streets with torches and pitchforks demanding to be vaccinated right fucking now.

Boru

[arewethereyet]

My plan to head to the Outer Banks and finally scatter dad's ashes changed. I called my sister to ask her to send the ashes to me and it turns out she already has plans to make the trip in August. So....another destination for a road trip is in order for early fall.

So up until this morning I thought I was the only one concerned about getting this mission accomplished.

[Pat Mustard]

Being knighted confers upon you the right to own a sword (a holdover from an earlier era). Some knights take this more seriously than others.

When Sir Terry Pratchett was knighted, he dug up his own iron ore, learned to smelt, smelted the ore, added a bit of meteoric iron, learned to forge, and forged himself a Starmetal sword.

Just how cool can one person get?

Boru

Terry Pratchett, that's how cool.

[Rev. Rye]

You know Paul Verhoeven? The guy who directed Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, and The Hollow Man?

Turns out that in addition to making those movies, he's also a theologian and member of the Jesus Seminar, which seeks to study the Gospels and try to figure out what actually happened. And the results are very much like the Jefferson Bible.

Maybe that's why the sex scenes were so ridiculous in Showgirls; he was too busy thinking things like how plausible the story of the woman who touched Jesus' tunic was to keep track of how anatomically possible the blocking in the pool scene was.

[Rev. Rye]

When making an instrument, cutting the soundhole comes before staining the top. Doing it the other way around is just going to end up ruining the stain, meaning you have to sand the original stain off and reapply another coat, rendering that first step totally pointless.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

When making an instrument, cutting the soundhole comes before staining the top. Doing it the other way around is just going to end up ruining the stain, meaning you have to sand the original stain off and reapply another coat, rendering that first step totally pointless.

Except in very, VERY rare cases, that applies to all woodwork. Measuring comes before cutting comes before sanding comes before staining.

Boru

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The patron saint of Glasgow, Scotland is called 'St. Mungo'. It just...fits.

Boru

[Jackalope]

The new car buying process outside the USA is a lot different than inside.

No haggling, the price is the price out the door. In a city of 225,000 people, the three dealers we went to had about a dozen vehicles each in the showroom and almost no other stock. If we want a different color we can get one shipped from Guadalajara or Mexico City. Salespeople were generally pleasant and appeared to be trying to meet our needs and budget. Test drives by appointment, which works out great for us since we want to look at most of the dealers in the city before making a decision.