Random possibly useful fact

[El]

@ Genesis - From her website:  "Sugar Bush Squirrel  is a real, live Eastern Gray Squirrel who is owned and photographed by  Ms. Kelly Foxton. Rescued, as a baby in her nest, from a tree which was being cut down, she is now living the 'good life' with Kelly in Boca Raton, Florida. A small, lime-green parrot, named Rio, is her big sister and constant companion."

 http://www.sugarbushsquirrel.com/

Oh.... cute....

...that is so unspeakably creepy.

[TheoK]

The Roman Emperor Claudius (the one that the Brits made a TV series about) had problems with flatulence. His physician told him that "If you don't let out the gas in your stomach not to embarass people, Caesar, your stomach will get hurt".

So Claudius actually made a law stipulating that it was alright to fart in public 

[TheoK]

A fact that is probably more useful: when I'm learning Latin I have no textbook or anything. I mostly use a homepage that teaches the really basic stuff. Thus, when I want to make long phrases, I must use Google Translate. But as you know, Google Translate is far from flawless, so how do I do?

Well, if there is any doubt (which it often is due to the very complex Latin grammar), I translate from Swedish, English and German to Latin and then back from Latin to these three languages. That way I probably reduce the numbers of errors a bit. I then often Google the translation to see if I can find it anywhere else, to further eliminate grammar mistakes.

[TheoK]

Ah, now I understand why East Prussia is translated but not Östergötland: East Prussia is merely a geographical name, while Östergötland is (supposedly) named after the tribe Geats. Austrians are also a kind of tribe, namely Eastern Bavarians.

[odeon]

A fact that is probably more useful: when I'm learning Latin I have no textbook or anything. I mostly use a homepage that teaches the really basic stuff. Thus, when I want to make long phrases, I must use Google Translate. But as you know, Google Translate is far from flawless, so how do I do?

Well, if there is any doubt (which it often is due to the very complex Latin grammar), I translate from Swedish, English and German to Latin and then back from Latin to these three languages. That way I probably reduce the numbers of errors a bit. I then often Google the translation to see if I can find it anywhere else, to further eliminate grammar mistakes.

What's the URL of the web page you use?

[TheoK]

Here

[Parts]

Nitrile gloves do nothing to stop methyl chloride

[TheoK]

The ratio 75:15:10 for black powder isn't really optimal. With really good softwood charcoal such as poplar, willow etc, the optimum is:

potassium nitrate 74.63
charcoal 13.43
sulfur 11.94

This is pretty close to what both the British and French armies used before using smokeless powder:

potassium nitrate 75
charcoal 12.5
sulfur 12.5

The French used poplar, while the Brits used willow.

[TheoK]

It seems like Latin, just like German, has many common forms for masculine and neuter.

For example;

German:

         Masc.            Neut.
Nom. der Mann      das Haus
Acc. den Mann       das Haus
Dat. dem Manne    dem Hause
Gen. des Mannes   des Hauses

Latin:

         Masc.                Neut.
Nom. accusativum   accusativum
Acc.  accusativum   accusativum
Dat.  accusativio      accusativio
Gen. accusativi        accusativi
Abl.  accusativio      accusativio
Voc. accusative        accusativum

[TheoK]

In ancient Greek time wasn't as important as aspect. Thus the Greeks didn't make a difference between present and imperfect. They were the same.

The verb for "be" was εἶναι - "einai". Present/imperfect of this verb in 1st person singular was εἰμί - "eimi", which is etymologically the same as English (I) am. The Proto-Indoeuropean word was *h₁ésmi (I am, remain, exist), which is also the origin of Latin esse, es, est, estis, German ist, and war, English is, was and were, from the verb *wesanan. It's also the origin of Swedish vara, var, varit.

[TheoK]

Oh, this is interesting: Indo-European copula

I wish I could re-live my life, so that I could learn all this 

(Now you barbarians will no doubt talk about fucking, since I mentioned copula  )

[Queen Victoria]

I have read, but not tried this.

To make smoked tuna:  Buy the tuna in oil.  Fold a paper coffee filter to fit the can.  Remove the lid from the can of tuna.  Place the coffee filter on the tuna, making sure it is touching the oil to absorb it.  Light the coffee filter.  When it has burned all the oil in the tuna can, remove the ashes of the coffee filter.  You now have smoked tuna.

[P7PSP]

The Roman Emperor Claudius (the one that the Brits made a TV series about) had problems with flatulence. His physician told him that "If you don't let out the gas in your stomach not to embarass people, Caesar, your stomach will get hurt".

So Claudius actually made a law stipulating that it was alright to fart in public 

I particularly like farting in a grocery store or book store and going over to the next aisle to see if I can hear a response from someone obliviously walking into it. 

[odeon]

Communication made easy.

["couldbecousin"]

  If I'm ever in a store in California again, I shall be on my guard!