Today I learned that the small covered porches that you find outside of the entrances to old churches (at least in the UK) are called Lychgates as lych (or Lich if you are a D&D player) is an old english word for a corpse and they used to leave the corpses wrapped in shrouds propped up in these porches while waiting for the grave to be dug.
Today I learned I should have gone with another team as my NFL team back in 2004 when I first immigrated to USA. I blame Namath and his story.
I didn't just learn this today, but it's a concept that has stuck with me for a while. I don't have such a flowery expectation about how it will develop though. https://www.telescopicevolution.com/tag/eamonn-healy/ If you’re looking at the highlights of human development, you have to look at the evolution of the organism, and then add the development of the interaction with its environment. Evolution of the organism will begin with the evolution of life, proceeding through the hominid, coming to the evolution of mankind: neanderthal, cro-magnon man. Now, interestingly, what you’re looking at here are three strains: biological, anthropological (development of cities, cultures), and cultural (which is human expression). Now, what you’ve seen here is the evolution of populations, not so much the evolution of individuals. And in addition, if you look at the time-scale that’s involved here: two billion years for life, six million years for the hominid, a hundred-thousand years for mankind as we know it, you’re beginning to see the telescoping nature of the evolutionary paradigm. And then, when you get to agriculture, when you get to the scientific revolution and the industrial revolution, you’re looking at ten thousand years, four hundred years, a hundred and fifty years. You’re seeing a further telescoping of this evolutionary time. What that means is that as we go through the new evolution, it’s going to telescope to the point that we should see it manifest itself within our lifetimes, within a generation. The new evolution stems from information, and it stems from two types of information: digital and analog. The digital is artificial intelligence; The analog results from molecular biology, the cloning of the organism, and you knit the two together with neurobiology. Before, under the old evolutionary paradigm, one would die and the other would grow and dominate. But, under the new paradigm, they would exist as a mutually supportive, non-competitive grouping independent from the external. Now what is interesting here is that evolution now becomes an individually-centered process eminating from the needs and desires of the individual, and not an external process, a passive process, where the individual is just at the whim of the collective. So, you produce a neo-human with a new individuality, a new consciousness. But, that’s only the beginning of the evolutionary cycle because as the next cycle proceeds, the input is now this new intelligence. As intelligence piles on intelligence, as abilty piles on ability, the speed changes. Until what? Until you reach a crescendo. In a way, it could be imagined as an almost instantaneous fulfillment of human, human and neo-human, potential. It could be something totally different. It could be the amplification of the individual – the multiplication of individual existences, parallel existences, now with the individual no longer restricted by time and space. And the manifestations of this neo-human type evolution could be dramatically counter-intuitive; That’s the interesting part. The old evolution is cold, it’s sterile, it’s efficient. And, it’s manifestations are those social adaptations. We’re talking about parasitism, dominance, morality, war, predation. These will be subject to de-emphasis. These will be subject to de-evolution. The new evolutionary paradigm will give us the human traits of truth, of loyalty, of justice, of freedom. These will be the manifestations of the new evolution, and that is what we would hope to see from this, that would be nice. Eamonn Healy, Professor of Chemistry at St. Edward’s University, Texas
Today I learned that Nirvana's Come As You Are is a blatant ripoff of Eighties from Killing Joke. I feel like I should have known this already.
I knew that Gretzky was the all time points leader in hockey but today I learned even if he had scored zero goals he would still be the all time points leader
Not as ground breaking as some of these, but TIL that Sir Michael Caine was watching TV and a Brazilian coffee commercial came up with a hot model. He told he his mate he they were going to Brazil the next day so he could find her. Ends up she actually lived in London very close to him. He ended up marrying her 2 years later.
Today I learned that Robby Benson lied about a a heart condition as a teenager because no Studio would insure him if they knew. He's kind of a kick ass person. I don't know if I could go through 4 open heart surgeries. He's also been married to Karla DeVito since forever. I can't believe how good he looks all these years later after being a teen heart throb. Heh.
Today I learned that early Islamic and pre-Islamic sites and cemeteries have been destroyed to accommodate more people to pray to a cube. The destruction includes almost everyone who was instrumental to the early stages of the religion. Islam is so pagan it's unreal. Edit: sp
Today I learned that death was called pollution to the ancient Greeks. No kidding. Decomposition stinks and poisons every waterway there is.
Today I learned that over 16,000 people were guillotined in France during the reign of terror. Public execution faded when people got bored.
I've read that the Aztecs sacrificed upwards of 250,000 people a year. They must have been really fertile people to keep that machine going.
