Fun Fact Thread! (previously fun fact for the day, not limited to 1 per day anymore.)

[DDE]

Phraseologism of the day: administrative rapture. The state of an individual in a position of power (often minor and/or recently installed) who excitedly imposes and/or enforces rules in order to showcase said power and boost their self-importance. Defined by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1872.

Quote

In a word, put some absolutely non-entity in charge of selling some paltry railroad tickets, and that non-entity will immediately consider itself entitled to look down at you like Jupiter when you have to go buy a ticket, just to show you its power. "Come, let me show you who's boss here..." And this can get to the point of administrative rapture.....

ed.: a quarter of the above was in French rather than in Russian; the character speaking is continuously urged to be laconic throughout the dialogue, to absolutely no avail

[darthgently]

On 7/15/2023 at 3:55 PM, SunlitZelkova said:

Maybe she can write a book about rockets and call it the Yi Jing (易經).

I finally recognized this as the more familiar to me romanization "I Ching" and finally got the joke, excellent! 

[kerbiloid]

All-year warm swimming pool at the nuclear powerplant penthouse, with thick hoses as aquapark.

[darthgently]

5 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

All-year warm swimming pool at the nuclear powerplant penthouse, with thick hoses as aquapark.

With Radium Health Drinks available at the food court

https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-blessings-of-radium-water-made-his-head-disintegrate-3ac052cb8620

[DDE]

The name of this fairly large and often controversy-embroiled corporation: https://crushmash.com/en/

Yes, it's entirely deliberate

And because it's rendered with two "a" in Russian, it gets pronounced CrushMush

[kerbiloid]

7 hours ago, DDE said:

https://crushmash.com/en/

Quote

• DEMOLITION AND DISMANTLING

They remove even mantles from planet cores???

[darthgently]

4 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

They remove even mantles from planet cores???

That could leave an entire planet incontinent

Edited August 23, 2023 by darthgently

[DDE]

Norway is building a border wall with Russia.

 

And it's not what you think.

 

Norwegian deer herds keep wandering over to the Russian side, and the Russian environmental authorities giddily send over detailed bills for all the eaten moss... which the Norwegian side honors (as best as it can given the current restrictions), but the costs merit a border fence at this point.

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6183457

Meanwhile, the Soviet-Finnish Deer Convention of 1933 fixes such payments at 0.05 Swiss Golden Franc per adult deer per day, but no such document exists with Norway.

http://docs.historyrussia.org/ru/nodes/138740-konventsiya-ob-olenyah-mezhdu-soyuzom-sovetskih-sotsialisticheskih-respublik-i-finlyandskoy-respublikoy-gelsinki-4-iyulya-1933-goda#mode/inspect/page/4/zoom/4

[kerbiloid]

Die Wacht am Reindeer.

[kerbiloid]

Actually, they are trying to stop the Santa deer from flying to Russia for moss.

They don't know that the Santa's leprechauns elves are already corrupted with Russian gold.

(Since the Coca-Cola has stopped its business here, nobody cares about Santa himself. We have Dead Morrows Ded Moroz for his duties, and he doesn't ride the deer, he's going on his own, together with the presumably frozen girl Snegurochka (Snowie) instead of elves).

[DDE]

Two stories about car AC from my very, very early childhood.

On Mitsubishi Lancer, the AC really, really ate into the engine power. This unfortunately was discovered when my father was passing a semi-trailer, the thermal sensor engaged the AC, and the car... just... stopped accelerating... while in the oncoming lane.

Our next car (enabled by certain shenanigans with the corporate car rules, and a detour into Finland) was a Subaru Forester. 2L turbo. And one summer day, stuck in an unmoving traffic jam on the beltway, it overheated. The automatics shut the turbine down... and switched the AC to maximum heating.

[darthgently]

6 hours ago, DDE said:

Two stories about car AC from my very, very early childhood.

On Mitsubishi Lancer, the AC really, really ate into the engine power. This unfortunately was discovered when my father was passing a semi-trailer, the thermal sensor engaged the AC, and the car... just... stopped accelerating... while in the oncoming lane.

Our next car (enabled by certain shenanigans with the corporate car rules, and a detour into Finland) was a Subaru Forester. 2L turbo. And one summer day, stuck in an unmoving traffic jam on the beltway, it overheated. The automatics shut the turbine down... and switched the AC to maximum heating.

My Dodge truck disabled the AC clutch when the accelerator pedal was pushed to the floor.  Nice feature when passing

[steve9728]

5 hours ago, darthgently said:

My Dodge truck disabled the AC clutch when the accelerator pedal was pushed to the floor.  Nice feature when passing

Reminds me of my dad's Dodge van again: AC disabled in the hottest summer, window "refuse" to go up during the heavy rain, smoke from an overheating water tank with my grandparents on board.

Then he later changed to a Peugeot. Although French cars are designed... emmmmm... pretty characterful, he's glad he doesn't have to go to the repair shops so often.

Edited September 5, 2023 by steve9728

[darthgently]

1 hour ago, steve9728 said:

Reminds me of my dad's Dodge van again: AC disabled in the hottest summer, window "refuse" to go up during the heavy rain, smoke from an overheating water tank with my grandparents on board.

Then he later changed to a Peugeot. Although French cars are designed... emmmmm... pretty characterful, he's glad he doesn't have to go to the repair shops so often.

The AC cutout is as designed as a performance function.  Bought new and have had truck 20 years.  They have good reputation overall.  Power windows always work fine, no AC issues.  But I've heard the minivans are more of a gamble.

[magnemoe]

13 hours ago, DDE said:

Two stories about car AC from my very, very early childhood.

On Mitsubishi Lancer, the AC really, really ate into the engine power. This unfortunately was discovered when my father was passing a semi-trailer, the thermal sensor engaged the AC, and the car... just... stopped accelerating... while in the oncoming lane.

Our next car (enabled by certain shenanigans with the corporate car rules, and a detour into Finland) was a Subaru Forester. 2L turbo. And one summer day, stuck in an unmoving traffic jam on the beltway, it overheated. The automatics shut the turbine down... and switched the AC to maximum heating.

Remember the wan we had the year we graduated from high school, think we was 20, driving to lots of parties and stuff with an dedicated driver  
Fun time but the van had two features: 1 the starter did not work, I used this to commute to school as school busses are the slowest busses imaginable. 
At home I parked it on the ramp up to second floor of the barn, going home I asked other students to give me an push, if its stupid and work its not stupid, saved 1.5 hour every day. 
Second was that it overheated at above 80 km/h on hot days. It had an internal heater unit in the rear who helped a bit so we ran that at full power and opened all the windows on highways. 
Radiator had been patched multiple times so probably half capacity. 

[DDE]

Chery Automobile Co. Ltd.

They didn't mean "cherry", they meant "cheery"

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

This is so weird to me.  I've heard people say that running AC eats into performance but never experienced it.  Ofc I drive Chevy and GMC trucks - but full AC, towing a load up a mountain pass, and I'm able to pass.   Just step on the gas and go. 

Is it a EuroCar thing? 

[darthgently]

47 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

This is so weird to me.  I've heard people say that running AC eats into performance but never experienced it.  Ofc I drive Chevy and GMC trucks - but full AC, towing a load up a mountain pass, and I'm able to pass.   Just step on the gas and go. 

Is it a EuroCar thing? 

I think AC cutout at full throttle is common in a lot of US vehicles.  It is a bit of a no brainer.

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

1 hour ago, darthgently said:

I think AC cutout at full throttle is common in a lot of US vehicles.  It is a bit of a no brainer.

Yeah - also, my AC cuts out on phone calls, too, so it makes sense that they'd keep Powah in mind alongside convenience 

[magnemoe]

5 hours ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Yeah - also, my AC cuts out on phone calls, too, so it makes sense that they'd keep Powah in mind alongside convenience 

Now this is a bit baffling to me as an European, yes you hear if the AC in the car is on or not if its your car, but its not an concern about noise outside then you start up an car who has stand in the sun for hours. 
Also the power draw and US cars tend to have larger engines than the European ones. 
 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

8 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Now this is a bit baffling to me as an European, yes you hear if the AC in the car is on or not if its your car, but its not an concern about noise outside then you start up an car who has stand in the sun for hours. 
Also the power draw and US cars tend to have larger engines than the European ones. 
 

I can prestart the car with the fob and run the AC along with the engine.  Or the heater given time of year.

When I get or make a call the radio mutes and the AC drops down to just a breeze - and back up again when I hang up. 

But losing power while driving has never been a concern. 

Maybe I don't notice it - but after a few minutes of running the AC I usually turn down the fan anyway.  Never noticed it cycle during acceleration - but maybe it does. 

Ofc - I just hit the gas and that 6.2 liter V8 just goes 

... 

My wife's Toyota isn't as satisfying.  6cyl.  It's a gas sipper compared to the truck - but lots of acceleration lag. 

[kerbiloid]

As it was told before, when you are talking to a cat or a dog, and it bends the head to the side, this doesn't mean a confusion.
This means that the beast has already estimated the position angle of the sound source with the stereopair of ears, and now has rotated it by 90° to define the elevation angle.
When it then looks and listens attentively, it is processing the accuracy optimisation routine.
When it licks its nose after that, it doesn't feels something tasty, it initializes the smell sensor to feel the air motion and odors, to apply the wind correction and to ensure that nobody is hunting the hunter from back (like when you press the liquid nitrogen button on a Stinger to cool the missile IR head, just with tongue and nose.).

Then the beast is ready to jump precisely into your sounding face, but at the very last moment it gives itself a command "Cease attack! It's a drill!", and returns back to the observation.

Spoiler

***

When a cat is licking your hand, then biting it, then licking again, this doesn't mean that it's roleplaying a nurse with a syringe and fleese.

Spoiler

This means that the feline tongue is covered by horny tips, which are actually little sharp teeth.
(The real teeth are themselves mineralized taste buds, and so are the buds on the cat's tongue, or buds on the whole shark skin.)
If it's a small mouse, rather than a piece of meat, the cat just scratches off its muscular fibers with the tongue.

The predators get the energy from the proteins, which are very energetically hard to digest, while the herbivorous and omnivorous can consume carbohydrates (cellulose by cows and their bacteria, fructose and starch by apes and theirs).
So, the predators prefer if possible to hide their prey for several days, and let the autolysis process make it partially dissolved.

Spoiler

The kitty is just checking, are you a mouse, or rotten enough to be digested more easily, then tries to gnaw a piece of you off.
Then the disappointed pet falls into recursion.
It just applies it nutrition algorithm both to gather and consume fleas and fat pollution from the companion skin, and to consume the prey.

Who are you - it figures out in process.
That's why it is randomly switching between love and hate in a second.

***

Also, that's why cutie kitties sleep twenty hours daily, and a well-fed pride of lions walks away from the partially eaten prey instead of staying there, and scaring away the scavengers.
The proteins don't give them enough glycogen as a fast energy reserve. They get literally discharged after eating, and crawl away to a safe place in the "Low battery!" state. Then it takes several hours to recharge.

That's also why does the kitty like to sleep close to you, or on you.
It's relying on you as on a companion, believing that other predators will avoid coming close to the big and scary you, while it's recharging the cellular batteries.
Then it wakes up, yawns, and tastes you with tongue to check, whether you are a host or a breakfast.

***

But are you morally better than the kitty, from the height of your sapient intellect?

What are you doing to an object of your sympathy?
You kiss it.

I.e. you attach your mouth opening to the object and make vacuum to suck it into.
This has nothing to do with social behavior, feromones, or so, because you can kiss a letter, a new wrench, a piece of stone.
This is an instictive digestive activity of a worm-level creature, which is aware of the only kind of sympathy: "Wow! It's edible!"

Though, as the worms belong to the opposite branch of the invertebrates, while our ancestors are starfishes and sea urchins, the kiss has come to us from the polyps, which suck the water to filter out edible organisms in it.

Is it unexpected then, that a traditional place for romantic dates is a restorant, and a session of collective eating?
No. It came from the polyp colonies.
They gather together around the food source and share it with relatives, you do so in the same way.
They suck in the food, but not suck in a friendly polyp, you do the same.
That's how the coral reefs grow.

Edited September 10, 2023 by kerbiloid

[DDE]

In 1991, K-51, one of the Soviet SSBNs, was sent out on patrol with one of the shafts messed up. The crew were stoics:

"I wanna go home. Summer 91"

[magnemoe]

I knew you could get floating islands but not so large. 

And moving it with a lots of boats is cool. As I understand you can walk around on the island. 
If so it would be an cool place to build an cabin.  If you do, it raises some questions like if its an cabin or an boat or rater an raft?

Apparently the floating islands are natural preserves so its not legal to build on them and you can not own them but you can move them
 

Edited September 12, 2023 by magnemoe

[DDE]

The Russian Empire's most recent acquisitions often had little to no serfdom restrictions, which was the case with Bessarabia (Moldova). This attracted a fair share of fugitives. A census would be conducted every 10-15 years, primarily to update the official information for the per capita taxes - a gap that usually resulted in families paying taxes for long-gone family members.

But in Bessarabia, time after time censuses would come back with zero deaths as the new arrivals greased some palms and adopted the identities of the dead. In case with the town of Bendery, someone relayed the statistical curiosity to Alexander Pushkin, who in turn shared the idea for a novel with Nikolay Gogol', and thus a book entered the Russian school curriculum* while the term "dead souls" became a by-word for many sorts of statistical shenanigans.

Spoiler

* currently there's a scandal about both Golden Age classics being removed off the standardized graduation test under the pretense of them being covered by the grades 5-9 test. However, unlikely inclusions like T.S. Elliot, and a shady public survey showing support for inclusion of the trite Stalinist classic How The Steel Was Tempered (rewritten posthumously two dozen times, in macabre affirmation of Ostrovsky's obsession with the destruction of the self) have riled a lot of people up.

We have our own furious culture wars here, no need to look for the mote in eyes overseas.