Silly geographical comments (or whatever you'd call this)

Comments

• Stormtroper

  2024-10-15 11:48:41

  I learned this about the causes of the Three Mile Island accident:
  

  The reason why the operator missed the lights for the second valve is not known, although one theory is that his own large belly hid it from his view.

  
  
• glennmagusharvey

  2024-10-15 22:34:38

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  oh this must be why homer simpson has a potbelly
• Stormtroper

  2024-10-28 21:54:18

  Finally, the anime adaptation you were waiting for..
• glennmagusharvey

  2024-11-01 19:34:12

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  > https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.catholicnewsagency.com/amp/news/260129/meet-luce-the-vatican-s-cartoon-mascot-for-jubilee-2025
  
  i love how it's just the whole URL swallowed inside another one
• Stormtroper

  2024-11-02 20:07:26

  Deadpool and Wolverine bust drug dealing operation in Lima, Peru.
• lrdgck

  2024-11-04 20:46:13

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  Well, it's kind of their job description, ain't it. Although I was convinced that superheroes mostly limit themselves to one country or region. Perhaps they were visiting.
• lrdgck

  2024-11-06 23:22:14

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  Vampire woman unearthed in 2022 now with reconstructed face
• Stormtroper

  2024-12-01 21:58:14 edited 2024-12-01 21:58:47

  I learned about the time a US state agency sneaked devices with surveillance equipment so as to spy on the youth and ensure their compliance with proper behaviour.
• lrdgck

  2024-12-02 13:53:32

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  I've gotta say that's surprisingly mellow. I mean, no massive leak of highly private content, FBI only involved to stop that stuff... I've come to expect more from these sorts of stories.
• Stormtroper

  2024-12-28 01:34:14

  Brazilian man killed in his bed by falling cow.
  
  I wonder if Chinese Take-away was inspired by that.
• lrdgck

  2024-12-28 14:33:01

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  looks like somebody cast the cowkill spell
• Stormtroper

  2025-01-09 01:42:38

  TikTok prankster jailed for spraying groceries with pesticides for clicks
  
  Reminder of social media trends: As bad as TikTok is, it won't be worse than whatever takes its place as the dominant social media platform.
• lrdgck

  2025-01-11 17:28:04

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  Polish general fired after missing anti-tank mines were found in IKEA
• glennmagusharvey

  2025-01-12 17:36:52

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  KĘPCZYNSKI
  mina przeciwpancerna
  49,99
• lrdgck

  2025-01-12 21:51:34

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  
  
  Also, the Huta Częstochowa ironworks, important for the arms industry, has launched a furnace for the first time in 14 months. Must be the increased demand for Black Madonna-pattern mobile field altars.
• glennmagusharvey

  2025-01-13 07:53:05

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  > TÅNKEBÖM
  
  lmao
• Stormtroper

  2025-01-22 12:43:49 edited 2025-01-22 12:44:26

  TIL panty raids were a real thing in the US, including some large-scale ones.
• lrdgck

  2025-01-22 13:00:37

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  Meanwhile YIL that not only trace amounts of medicinal substances in human urine can enter the water cycle and turn frogs gay fish female, but also that eels congregate in waters with highest trace concentrations of cocaine and exhibit withdrawal symptoms if caught, and anti-depressants make fish too laid-back to care about predators.
• Stormtroper

  2025-01-22 14:46:53 edited 2025-01-22 14:49:29

  We actually did an experiment on that in high school biology class (gotta get started early on with animal experimentation), we put things like nicotine (cigar stubs) and caffeine plus some other stuff on fish' water to see the effects anti-depressants and other drugs had on them.
  
  Poor fishies.
  
  Also this:
  
• lrdgck

  2025-02-04 09:50:09

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  Meanwhile in Czech Republic, beavers built a dam that the locals have been clamoring for for the last seven years, saving millions of CZK in the process.
  
  Rumours of Krtek's involvement remain unconfirmed.
• glennmagusharvey

  2025-02-06 11:17:21

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  who's Krtek?
  
  TIL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mole
• Stormtroper

  2025-02-07 05:10:34

  Coincidentally the other day I learned about the time someone sabotaged a dam so as to cause a flood that would get his wife stranded and be free to "party, fish and have an affair".
• lrdgck

  2025-02-07 10:37:10 edited 2025-02-07 10:43:13

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  In 1982, he burned down his elementary school [...] By 1993, Scott was out of prison on parole for the 1988 fire.[5] He worked at a Burger King in Quincy and spent most of his nights drinking heavily.[3]

  A man with a vision for living his life to the fullest.
  
  In other silly geographical news, I recently learned that for centuries, Oxford students had been swearing an oath not to reconcile with one "Henry Symeonis". Who he was had been completely forgotten by 17th century, but they kept going until the oath was finally abolished by mid-19th.
  
  --edit--
  
  Some other academic fun stuff I found about right now:

  Gina Grant (born 1976) is an American woman who gained notoriety when her admission to Harvard University was rescinded after it became known that four years earlier, at age 14, she had killed her mother. Controversy ensued
• lrdgck

  2025-02-27 21:06:36

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  It's Fat Thursday, a sort of a holiday celebrated in Poland specifically by eating sweet jam-filled doughnuts, and I've got the weirdest, really, Florida Man-level meanwhile-in-Poland story for it.
  
  *ahem* Polish scientists invented fish spread-filled doughnuts.
  
  A lengthy explanation follows.
  
  

  The city of Szczecin has been a part of Poland since 1945 and for the first time in practically ever, so the folks who settled there had a severe identity problem: they were no longer from where they came, but also there was nothing in particular that tied them to their new home. Fortunately, at one point the folks from the local fish processing works invented the paprikash and it's been a focal point of regional identity ever since. There's even a monument to the paprikash can in the city.

  
  
  

  So, scientists from the local university, Western Pomeranian University of Technology, ran a food science project to come up with a savory doughnut. They filled it with the paprikash instead of jam and sprinkled fried onion on top instead of powdered sugar or glazing. They say it's really tasty, which I'm very much willing to take at face value since the dough itself isn't any particularly sweet and savory deep-fried dough tends to be very tasty in general. Still, it feels bizarre even when you know this context, kind of like these stories about deep-fried Mars bars and the like.

  
  
  tl;dr fellas filled a fckin sweet doughnut with fish spread because of course they would
  
  
  
  ...in other news, I finally met a Florida Man in real life, even if he's only Florida Man by adoption rather than birth. Nice guy, even if a bit on the talkative side.
  
  He's a professor, apparently a really good researcher, and an amateur homeopathy practitioner. Kept talking how he cured himself out of covid with homeopathic cures. Also, after a few minutes of searching teh webz I found his mugshot. "Grand theft", it said. (Didn't ask if "auto".)
• glennmagusharvey

  2025-02-28 17:00:46 edited 2025-02-28 17:01:43

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  Also, after a few minutes of searching teh webz I found his mugshot. "Grand theft", it said. (Didn't ask if "auto".)

  
  "Florida Man Is So Good At Gaming He Gamed In Real Life"
  
  also i like canned fish so now i need to try Szczecin paprikash
  
  Polish Man Successfully Advertises Polish Fish Spread To Florida Man
• lrdgck

  2025-02-28 18:34:23 edited 2025-02-28 18:34:58

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  I got hints of paprykarz presence at:
  

  1390 South Federal Highway
  Pompano Beach, FL

  
  But you have to go there pick it up in person. linky here
  
  (I'll just warn you, even if you get it, it might be... underwhelming... after all that bother.)
• glennmagusharvey

  2025-02-28 18:59:03 edited 2025-02-28 19:02:22

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  I'll pick some up the next time i'm in that part of town
  
  (which is like 20+ miles from where i am lol)
  
  hopefully it won't be too expensive in spite of the Trump Tariffs jacking up prices on everything
• glennmagusharvey

  2025-02-28 19:01:01

  Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human

  wait
  
  > Paprykarz
  
  is the z in Polish pronounced like sh in English?
  
  also
  
  > Graal
  
  > wiktionary
  > Holy Grail
  
  the Holy Grail contains paprikash
• lrdgck

  2025-02-28 20:45:38

  "you duck spawn, refined creature, you try to be cynical, yokel, but all that comes out of it is that you're a dunce!!!!! you duck plug!"

  "Z" is pronounced like... well, "z", but "rz" is pronounced like this French "zh" sound for a J or a G. Or, for that matter, like the Russian sound transcribed to Latin as "zh".
  
  Compare "bzzzh" to "psssh". Kinda the same, but kinda... not the same.
  
  Now, on to the "sh" sound specifically. We have the hard "sz", which is the sound of white noise, and the soft "ś". English has no good approximation of the latter so "sh" is used to render both. (At least, when it matters. English phonetic spelling of Polish generally isn't anybody's priority. But I've myself seen "sh" used for the soft sound, for lack of a better thing.)
  
  We also have a separate letter "ż" for the "zh" sound, which I guess had a reason in the past but now is just a sadistic stumbling block for people learning to spell Polish. Kind of like how Magic: the Gathering developers like to add a subpar card every now and then so that veteran players can pat themselves on the back for recognizing not to use it.
  
  As for paprikash/paprykarz, from what I can gather the name is a bit of a Polish-Hungarian pun based on a Hungarian word for pepper-based meat soup or something.