Your favorite statistics and bits of trivia

[gunhilltrain]

I'm not sure if 'runnels' is a typo or an American technical term, but the London Underground as opened in the 1860s-80s isn't in tunnels (it's also not what we'd ever call rapid transit!), but what we call "cut and cover' lines - roads were dug up, a ditch made, and then the railway cutting was covered up in many places - with gaps to let the steam out.

The tunnelling shield wasn't invented until the late 1860s and the first actual tunnel on the London Underground was only opened in 1890 (from Stockwell to King William St near Bank, mostly now the Northern Line), with electric trains. Technically, the term 'Tube' only includes these deep tunneled lines, and not the 'sub-surface' lines.

Outside the built-up areas, the extending London rail networks were mostly surface level and the city expanded around them. We don't actually have many elevated lines - cuttings are much more common.

The Circle Line including Sloane Square was always black on the brick walls when I was a kid. Then in the 80s and 90s a huge renovation programme started, cleaning buildings all over London. The walls went back to their original limestone colour,.as did the Houses of Parliament. Some of the stations on the original Paddington to Farringdon section look pretty much how they'd have looked to Sherlock Holmes.

Thanks, it was a typo, "tunnels." Fixed it, if anyone cares. I'll try to deal with the rest of this later today.

 

[alohadave]

I'm not sure if 'runnels' is a typo or an American technical term, but the London Underground as opened in the 1860s-80s isn't in tunnels (it's also not what we'd ever call rapid transit!), but what we call "cut and cover' lines - roads were dug up, a ditch made, and then the railway cutting was covered up in many places - with gaps to let the steam out.

Cut and cover is still a commonly used technique for building subway lines (and for underground utilities in general). It's far cheaper and easier to dig a trench than to tunnel underground.

Tunneling is used where the track doesn't align with existing streets, or they need to go deeper to avoid something else already in the ground.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I'm not sure if 'runnels' is a typo or an American technical term, but the London Underground as opened in the 1860s-80s isn't in tunnels (it's also not what we'd ever call rapid transit!), but what we call "cut and cover' lines - roads were dug up, a ditch made, and then the railway cutting was covered up in many places - with gaps to let the steam out.

The tunnelling shield wasn't invented until the late 1860s and the first actual tunnel on the London Underground was only opened in 1890 (from Stockwell to King William St near Bank, mostly now the Northern Line), with electric trains. Technically, the term 'Tube' only includes these deep tunneled lines, and not the 'sub-surface' lines.

Outside the built-up areas, the extending London rail networks were mostly surface level and the city expanded around them. We don't actually have many elevated lines - cuttings are much more common.

The Circle Line including Sloane Square was always black on the brick walls when I was a kid. Then in the 80s and 90s a huge renovation programme started, cleaning buildings all over London. The walls went back to their original limestone colour,.as did the Houses of Parliament. Some of the stations on the original Paddington to Farringdon section look pretty much how they'd have looked to Sherlock Holmes.

The "tunnels" under the Magic Kingdom at Disney World (the "Utilidors") are also cut and cover. The park is actually built on top of all the fill dirt from the excavation of the 7 Seas Lagoon.

 

[hugh_jarce69]

I’ve got more than the average number of arms and legs for a human

 

[AG31]

I’ve got more than the average number of arms and legs for a human

????

 

[NotWise]

????

There are people missing one or more arms or legs, so the average number per human is less than four.

 

[iwatchus]

But you probably have less than the average number of toes

 

[Erozetta]

Fresh pineapples have an enzyme in it that that, essentially, tenderizes you as you eat it. That enzyme also makes it impossible to use fresh pineapple in jello.

 

[iwatchus]

I was literally just talking about this ten minutes ago. That one was for marinades

 

[Erozetta]

I was literally just talking about this ten minutes ago. That one was for marinades

It's great with chicken in a stir fry, and is why so many pork recipes that use canned pineapple aren't as tender as ones that call for fresh pineapple.

 

[Erozetta]

If your tongue feels tingly after eating something with vanilla in it or after eating certain fruits (mostly stone fruits, but also a few others like bananas and tomatoes) you're probably allergic to them.

 

[Erozetta]

There's a tick whose bite can cause your body to develop an allergy to (specifically a sugar found in) some types of animal products and carrageenan.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Fresh pineapples have an enzyme in it that that, essentially, tenderizes you as you eat it. That enzyme also makes it impossible to use fresh pineapple in jello.

One author refers to it as 'murder fruit', which is later clarified to mean a fruit that attempts to digest you back.

 

[alohadave]

There's a tick whose bite can cause your body to develop an allergy to (specifically a sugar found in) some types of animal products and carrageenan.

Alpha-gal syndrome. It specifically causes an allergy to mammal products.

An allergy to cheeseburgers.

 

[lovecraft68]

The skeleton of Napoleon's warhorse, Marengo, is in the National Army Museum in London.

The London Underground and Overground have obvious explanations of their names. Except at Whitechapel where the Underground is actually overground and the Overground is underground (and Wombling free...)

The only street licenced for brothels in the mediaeval City of London was Cock Lane. Though like many towns, there was a Gropecunt Lane just across the river in Southwark.

Not wanting to stray into politics nor get too depressing, but related to previous comments on this thread - the average active suicidal impulse lasts about 20 minutes. So if there are barriers preventing impulsive suicide methods, these can be pretty effective. E.g. deaths from paracetamol overdose declined by 43% after the UK restricted how many could be bought on open sale at once, ditto liver transplants. Similarly, gunshot suicides declined by 50% in the 20 years after the UK handgun ban. (Rifles and shotguns are still legal)

I wonder if the stat is out there-or if it is how hard people are working to down play-on how many suicides are caused by social media? For that matter how many assaults and murders? Its 24/7 lies, hate mongering and fear mongering with zero accountability.

Of course, if one were to shut off social media completely, that would also lead to mass suicides because society has become that weak and dependent upon constant stimulation. Imagine being left alone with your own thoughts and no one to influence them.

But the powers that be, all of them regardless of their party or affiliation all want this. Angry, divided, dependent. Toss in legalized drugs to the point people are popping THC gummies every hour to change their mood, 'news; that is literally lies-thank you the repealing of the Smith Mundt law here in the US-and you have a dream society of mindless people who are either angry or docile, but whichever it is oh, so controllable.

Social media was the beginning of our doom, AI will finish it as it provides even more shiny distractions as it kills us, and if it doesn't, the 10 scripts doctors are putting teenagers on to hook them for life will do it.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The title of the Boggie movie was Dead End. They received their noms de guerre from the movie. I don't believe they were credited as the Dead End Kids until the movie came out. But the Bowery Boys weren't the same group as the Dead End Kids, and none of the Bowery Boys were in Dead End. The original Dead End Kids were featured in the 1935 play. In 1937, the producer of the movie brought the "Kids" to Hollywood, and the rest is history. They had their own series of movies, but it didn't last as long as Bower Boys features did.

New York has certainly had its ups and downs, but it probably hasn't been an easy place to live in the last two centuries. The Gangs of New York was an uneven movie mostly, and Scorsese is an uneven director. The death toll could have been as high as 1,000, but we're probably never going to know. One other thing he gets wrong: the Five Points, which was a real place, was not affected the way it's shown in the movie.

One amusing thing: "The Bowery Boys" movies started with the Humphrey Bogart movie Dead End around 1937. The actors were really adolescents then. Twenty years later people like Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall were still doing the same roles in ever dumber movies.

https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/inspirethoughts/13441765/1116763/1116763_2000.jpg

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Alpha-gal syndrome. It specifically causes an allergy to mammal products.

An allergy to cheeseburgers.

What a terrifying thought.

 

[MetaBob]

Alpha-gal syndrome. It specifically causes an allergy to mammal products.

An allergy to cheeseburgers.

Among other things: https://mvmagazine.com/news/2025/06/06/island-epidemic

 

[Kelliezgirl]

In the 1980s, Fredric Baur, the founder of Pringles, requested to be buried in a Pringles can. His children honored the request.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Alpha-gal syndrome. It specifically causes an allergy to mammal products.

An allergy to cheeseburgers.

But not to dolphin. As I found out when my BIL started talking about his tick born allergy. Still not sure how that's relevant. It's not like he's ever gonna be in a position where he could eat dolphin, but oh well.

 

[Erozetta]

But not to dolphin. As I found out when my BIL started talking about his tick born allergy. Still not sure how that's relevant. It's not like he's ever gonna be in a position where he could eat dolphin, but oh well.

And here I just stopped eating red meat and pork (I miss BLTs but not much else). Looking into other meats never occurred to me. I can still eat chicken, which is pretty much the only meat I've ever been able to tolerate texture wise anyway.

It's only mammalian products that are affected. So no cannibalism in the zombie apocalypse for me.

 

[NuclearFairy]

And here I just stopped eating red meat and pork (I miss BLTs but not much else). Looking into other meats never occurred to me. I can still eat chicken, which is pretty much the only meat I've ever been able to tolerate texture wise anyway.

It's only mammalian products that are affected. So no cannibalism in the zombie apocalypse for me.

Humans might've also been on the safe list. I'm not sure though cause I kinda checked out at some point during that convo.

I mean, when he started talking about dolphins, it was kinda weird but okay. But when he started talking about humans, I didn't even want to think about why that might be relevant to him.

I do know that it might eventually clear up and so he goes and gets retested every few years.

 

[Erozetta]

Humans might've also been on the safe list. I'm not sure though cause I kinda checked out at some point during that convo.

I mean, when he started talking about dolphins, it was kinda weird but okay. But when he started talking about humans, I didn't even want to think about why that might be relevant to him.

I do know that it might eventually clear up and so he goes and gets retested every few years.

Holy shit, you're right. Other primates, too. But cannibalism in a zombie apocalypse is no longer off the table! (I don't think I ever would, but... I mean... I'm a pretty curious person and might try a little if offered to me.)

I thought it was just blanket mammals across the board, but it's only the normal livestock variety of mammals, which I didn't really eat anyways, lol.

And yeah, it can go away for some but not all. I never bothered to retest, though. I literally had a BLT like once a year and ate the veggies out of a pot roast. I'm otherwise just not a fan of red meat. The texture grosses me out.

 

[Foxed]

Less than 60% of Jews around the world (including Jews living in the UK and Israel) identify with Zionism and Israel as a Jewish state.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

There are more than 1.4 billion insects for EACH HUMAN on the planet, according to recent estimates.