During the 50's, when Chile's capital Santiago was undergoing a severe drought, a team of glaciologists hired by the city's Intendency proposed detonating a nuclear device inside the eternal glaciers (ie, glaciers that never melt) uphill to get water running. It was only discarded because of lack of funding.
On the same line, a Japanese company in the 80's was hired to evaluate the demolition of Mount Manquehue, a 1,800-metre (5,400 feet) high mountain on the north side of the city, as it was considered a viable way of opening the otherwise mountain-locked city in order to reduce the levels of air pollution. The plans had to be halted due to the severe banking crisis that hit the country in the mid-80's.
Every day at noon, since 1824, a cannon is fired from the top of Santa Lucia Hill, a small mount smack in the middle of Santiago covered by a castle system, gardens of all sorts and museums. Known as the "Cañonazo de las Doce" ("Twelve's Cannonade"), it has served as the city's main way of keeping time for the past two centuries, even today among smartphones and everyday watches.
Around here, we actually eat this, which on the inside it looks like this.OK, I give up. I'm assuming "shoggoth" is not correct, so what exactly is that?
It's called Piure (Pee-U-reh), and it's a very typical seafood in Chile. It grows in those nasty-looking formations near the shores, and you can eat it either directly out of the shell (which you have to crack open with powetools) with some lemon, or in one of the hundred different manners in which it is prepared (my favourite is with spring rice, abalon, and shrimp).
It's an acquired taste, though, since it has an extremely intense flavour that can throw you back if you are not expecting the explosion of bitterness it carries.
It's greatest value to national culture, however, is the effect it causes on tourists when they first gaze upon one. I'm not sure how uglier can food get.
It's called Piure (Pee-U-reh), and it's a very typical seafood in Chile.
Ooh! I totally want to try that now!
Translation: For English speakers, piure is a sea squirt.
In scientific lingo, Pyura chilensis is a species of Ascidiacea.
For Ozzies, P. stolonifera is eaten as "cunjevoi."
Other info here.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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There is no such thing as a naturally blue food.Blue Corn!Different varieties of blue corn range in color from powdery gray to nearly black
Meh, the wiki is poorly written. The middle of that range is pretty freaking blue.
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And unlike Blueberries, it stays blue all the way to the plate.
...The infamous scene of Indy shooting the guy with the big sword was ad-libed. Turns out some of the food did not agree with Harrison Ford and he kept having to run off to the restroom. Finally after hours of trying to shoot the choreographed fight scene of whip vs. sword, he turns to the director and says, "the only way we will get this scene shot today is if Indy pulls his gun and shoots the guy." They then shot it in one take.
According to Ford's stuntman, Vic Armstrong, that was actually assistant director Dave Tomblin's idea (last two paragraphs).
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Then rewrite it, after all that is what a wiki is for! :)
If I'm gonna exert that much effort, I'll re-write so it was LPM's idea.
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unit 731 was a japanese unit that used chinese citizens as human Guinea pigs in experiments ranging from the effectiveness of grenades to artillery shells filled with black plague bearing fleas.
I really with they'd stop potraying the nazis as the only evil in world history...
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Hundreds of follicle mites live in your eyelashes.
**Begins screaming and clawing at his eyes**
Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead briefly worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix.
Michael Moorcock, creator of Elric of Melniboné, sometimes wrote and sang for the 70's psychedelic proto-metal band Hawkwind.
There is no such thing as a naturally blue food.Blue Corn!Different varieties of blue corn range in color from powdery gray to nearly black
Blueberries, edible flowers, blue crab. ;-)
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There are also some kinds of sweet potatoes that are blue.
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The blue food thing usually requires some splitting of hairs. "Well, flowers aren't really food, even though some people eat them." "I know blueberries are bright blue on the bush, but the juice is purple, so it doesn't count." "Blue corn is only blue-ish." Etc etc. I always thought the argument was silly.
The blue food thing usually requires some splitting of hairs. "Well, flowers aren't really food, even though some people eat them." "I know blueberries are bright blue on the bush, but the juice is purple, so it doesn't count." "Blue corn is only blue-ish." Etc etc. I always thought the argument was silly.
Agreed.
sometimes wrote and sang for the 70's psychedelic proto-metal band Hawkwind.
Who kicked Lemmy out for doing drugs.
[Laughs uncontrollably]
-The "OK" hand gesture where you make an "o" with your thumb and index finger and a "k" with the other three is considered highly offensive in Brasil, where it has an obscene meaning.
-Prior to the First Crusade, a massive throng composed of nothing more than peasants (historians have estimated their numbers between 50,000 and 100,000) marched on their own volition and without any kind of real structure or command all across Europe, across Byzantium and into Muslim territory. They were slaghtered to the last man in less than a week.
-The practice of selling Indulgences actually consisted not in selling forgiveness itself (which could not be sold and had to be granted automatically to anyone who expressed true repentace), but rather in selling an official recognition that the buyer had been granted forgiveness. In fact, these were often turned into valuable documents that served as the Medieval equivalent of a CV, as people appointed for important posts were regularly required to provide some kind of proof of their aptitudes. The practice has its origin in the Third Crusade, when those who could not join the armies in Holy Land due to illness, physical incapacity or family/realm duties could still partake in the mass atonement that was granted by the Pope by donating money to equip those who went. With time, this evolved into what eventually caused the Reformation.
sometimes wrote and sang for the 70's psychedelic proto-metal band Hawkwind.Who kicked Lemmy out for doing drugs.
[Laughs uncontrollably]
I know, right? *giggles and snorts*
The average human brain contains around 78% water.
Delicious delicious water.
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Delicious delicious oxygen.
Delicious delicious oxygen.
I was waiting for that. ;-)
The microwave was intented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
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in england the speaker of the house isn't allowed to speak
More people are killed annually by donkeys than plane crashes
The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the english language.
In 1967 American Airlines saved $40,000 by removing one olive from each salad served in first class.
unit 731 was a japanese unit that used chinese citizens as human Guinea pigs in experiments ranging from the effectiveness of grenades to artillery shells filled with black plague bearing fleas.
I really with they'd stop potraying the nazis as the only evil in world history...
I almost live there...well 2 hours away. It's quite amazing one of the staff ended up at John's Hopkins.
Not just one of the staff, the guy in charge. Even today doctors use his data on poisons.
I almost live there...well 2 hours away. It's quite amazing one of the staff ended up at John's Hopkins.unit 731 was a japanese unit that used chinese citizens as human Guinea pigs in experiments ranging from the effectiveness of grenades to artillery shells filled with black plague bearing fleas.
I really with they'd stop potraying the nazis as the only evil in world history...
They still use a lot of that data for everything from biological warfare to your flu vaccines.
-The character "&" comes from the Medieval conjunction of the Latin "et" (meaning "and"), and was developed by scriptorial monks as a way to reduce the amount of ink needed in writing.
-In a similar way, the Castilian letter "Ñ" (which in English would be something like "ny") actually comes from the conjunction of the "nn" found in Latin words such as "Anno" (year); the letter was originally just a tiny N on top of a bigger N. It was also meant to save ink.
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1 nautical knot equates to 1.852 Kph (1.150 mph).
"Nautical knot" is a tautology -- the word "knot" is a contraction (more properly an elision and truncation) of "nautical miles (per hour)." An explanatory fun fact: Nautical miles are longer than statute miles because they take into account the curvature of the Earth.
1 nautical knot equates to 1.852 Kph (1.150 mph)."Nautical knot" is a tautology -- the word "knot" is a contraction (more properly an elision and truncation) of "nautical miles (per hour)." An explanatory fun fact: Nautical miles are longer than statute miles because they take into account the curvature of the Earth.
If I'm not mistaken, the term "Knot" comes from the usage of knotted ropes to measure the speed of the ship: One guy would throw the rope into the water and count the knots that passed through his fingers, while another guy would be keeping track of the time. Since the distance between each knot was the same, they could then proceed to determine how fast they were going by counting the number of knots per turn of the hourglass.
If I'm not mistaken, the term "Knot" comes from the usage of knotted ropes to measure the speed of the ship: One guy would throw the rope into the water and count the knots that passed through his fingers, while another guy would be keeping track of the time. Since the distance between each knot was the same, they could then proceed to determine how fast they were going by counting the number of knots per turn of the hourglass.
That's an awesome story, but it would only work if the speed of the ship were constant -- which, if you've been on a sailboat, you'll know is a hard trick to manage.
EDIT: Of course, Wikipedia agrees with you, so it must be true!| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
While I'm always open to the posibility of being mistaken, given that I had to learn how to measure with a chip log (or "corredera", as we call it around these parts; basically a piece of wood tied to a string with knots, that you throw into the water) for my sailing licence, I'm rather certain it works. It is precisely because sailing speed is hard to keep stable the reason you have to keep making measures regularly and jot them on the log.
Then again, it might have all been a conspiracy. The water seemed too liquid, now that I think of it.
But wouldn't the log remain pretty well in place, if the sea was calm enough to get out on deck and toss it overboard? This relates to how a sea anchor functions.
(I always thought thought those knotted ropes measured fathoms, but whatever.)
Edit: the amateur etymologist in me thinks that "knots" is more likely a transliteration of "nauts," an abbreviation of nautical miles, but yeah, amateur.
But wouldn't the log remain pretty well in place, if the sea was calm enough to get out on deck and toss it overboard? This relates to how a sea anchor functions.
The chip log is a flat wooden plank, tied sort of like a kite. The idea is that it causes resistance and lags behind (like throwing a parachute into the water). It will then start pulling the string and thus the knots.
(I always thought thought those knotted ropes measured fathoms, but whatever.)
Well, fathoms are a unit of depth (you can measure the traditional fathom by stretching a rope between both hands and extending your arms. Unless you're particularly big or small, you'll be close to a fathom), but they can also involve knots. In this case, though, you throw in a line with a weight on one end, and count the number of marks/knots that sink.
Fishermen still use that method often.
While I'm always open to the posibility of being mistaken, given that I had to learn how... for my sailing licence, I'm rather certain it works.
Beats me; I'm a landlubber. I can tell you how the mountains formed and why the ridgelines are shaped the way they are, but I still call the bulkhead a wall, and I have no idea what the hell a yardarm is.
Hey, neither do I! One of the things with naval terminology is that it can be extremelly idyosincratic, and the names usually don't translate between languages. So while, sure, I can name all sorts of ship elements in Castillian, I still get confused with most of them in English.
It's like trying to name fishes or trees in another language.
There's no salmon tree anywhere though, right?
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Judging from the way some of the trees here in Tennessee smell in the spring, I would contest that.... I don't know the real name of the offenders though.