Today I learned

Drop the pasta, start the playlist, when the music is over, you've got perfectly cooked pasta

@todayilearned Today I learned about the "village homosexual" in Tahitian culture who is always available when there are no women.

Screenshot is from David Gilmore's* "Manhood in the Making".

____
* No, not that David Gilmore.

It seems that the Republic of China also control a few islands in the Fuchien/Fujian province as well, which are quite close to the People's Republic of China

The Italian maker wanted to export to Libya. But it never happened, and it stands around in storage 🚧.

The Library of Things offers Londoners the chance to get their hands on the random tools, gadgets, and household items they need, in a far more sustainable way than buying them brand new. From camping gear and carpet cleaners to party supplies and pressure washers; the Library of Things is packed full with handy items to borrow at affordable prices. And with 19 libraries now scattered across the city; it’s never been more convenient to borrow rather than buy.

@todayilearned Today I learned that the Archbishop of York had a piece of Louis XIV's mummified heart in a locket. In 1848 he showed it to the Dean of Westminster, who ate it. https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/william-buckland

… yes they used cow gut/intestines 🐄🐄. 7 layers of cow gut where sewn onto a carrier layer of fabric to create an airtight balloon that could hold hydrogen lifting gas for some days 🎈. 50.000 cows where slaughtered for one gas-cell

Advantages over rubber of cow gut:

• rubber-cotton balloons got brittle with repeated uses with hydrogen filling. Cow gut is a flexible material that lasted longer, though expensive.
• rubber balloons can get statically charged. A small spark can flame all the hydrogen at once. Cattle gut does not charge as quickly as rubber.

Source:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldbeater%27s_skin#Applications
• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldschl%C3%A4gerhaut german article mentions some more numbers data.
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airship#Envelope

@todayilearned Today I learned that Wernher von Braun (of Nazi Rocket Scientist infamy) wrote a sci-fi novel about Mars colonisation. In 1971 a South African racist named his son after the book's Martian Leader: Elon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project/_Mars:/_A/_Technical/_Tale#The_%22Elon%22

i know someone who is a native russian speaker and said they were “eating lunch” at 5pm despite already having eaten lunch. i was confused, and either figured they were having a second or late lunch, when i found this: