Stuff I learned today

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

That a pack of cigarettes costs $10.45 with a $4.75 total tax in New York State while in Missouri you could buy a pack for $4.38 with only a $0.36 total tax.

I also read today that when Frontiersmen Sam Morgan and Jedediah Smith crossed the Mojave and found themselves stuck without shade they'd dig a hole and bury themselves to their chins while wearing their beaver skin hats.

 

[VaqueroTD]

Yesterday I watched on Hulu the History Channel biography on Vice Industry Tycoons and learned…

• Budweiser was the first lager, the first to pasteurize beer, the first refrigerated rail cars and the first beer bottles. (Which was done because saloons out west were watering down their product and they wanted a tamper-free system)
• Jack Daniels was the first liquor in a square bottle and has had the same logo on bottle for over 100 years.
• Shiek condoms, the #1 company for 100 years until Trojan took over, were started by a disabled German immigrant who would take the extra intestine skin at his sausage industry job and sew them into condoms in his spare time which he illegally sold on the streets of NYC.
• Cigarettes were never big until the industrial era with most people working in factories and didn’t have time to smoke out of a pipe on their five minute breaks.

Saw some more episodes. Things I never knew…

• That famous Marilyn Monroe spread in the first issue of Playboy was found by Hugh Hefner and not done with her consent.
• A black woman, Stephanie St.Clair, started the state lottery system as we know it with her sophisticated numbers racket in NY, and also led to Dutch Schultz being killed.
• Duke University was founded by Buck Duke, the third richest man in America who monopolized the tobacco industry until the government forced them to split into the companies we know today.. at which point Duke lived the rest of his life as a philanthropist much like many of the 19th century business tycoons. He also invested in energy companies and founded Duke Power.
• Bugsy Siegel stole the Vegas Strip conception from the man who ran The Hollywood Reporter which was the biggest publication in California at the time, but unfortunately he was also a degenerate gambler.
• Prohibition lasted over 10 years. For some reason I always thought it was a few years tops.
• Budweiser sold its brewing ingredients to the Mob to stay afloat during prohibition.

 

[Tabascocat]

A Whopper near LAX is now $10.39 and that isn’t the meal!

 

[Roadtrip635]

I learned that Ritz crackers have ridges and are round to make it easier to cut slices of cheese to top the cracker.

 

[CouchCoach]

That a pack of cigarettes costs $10.45 with a $4.75 total tax in New York State while in Missouri you could buy a pack for $4.38 with only a $0.36 total tax.

I also read today that when Frontiersmen Sam Morgan and Jedediah Smith crossed the Mojave and found themselves stuck without shade they'd dig a hole and bury themselves to their chins while wearing their beaver skin hats.

I just learned of two new people to avoid if they ever ask “hey, how about a road trip”?

 

[CouchCoach]

I learned that Ritz crackers have ridges and are round to make it easier to cut slices of cheese to top the cracker.

Why in the hell doesn’t Wendy’s have square hamburger buns?

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I actually learned this yesterday. If you're short on vitamin B12, it can really run you down. My doc figured out from a blood test that my B12 level was about one fifth of what it should be. He gave me a B12 shot and I immediately felt a lot better! It was a HUGE difference. All of a sudden my energy level was much higher.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

A Whopper near LAX is now $10.39 and that isn’t the meal!

That's way, way too much! I think it's even more in Hawaii. I haven't checked in a while, but I think here in Omaha a Whopper will run you somewhere around $4.50 to $5.00.

 

[CouchCoach]

I actually learned this yesterday. If you're short on vitamin B12, it can really run you down. My doc figured out from a blood test that my B12 level was about one fifth of what it should be. He gave me a B12 shot and I immediately felt a lot better! It was a HUGE difference. All of a sudden my energy level was much higher.

My bartender gave me a breath test and figured out I was a fifth of vodka lower than what it should be and he gave me several shots.

 

[CouchCoach]

A Whopper near LAX is now $10.39 and that isn’t the meal!

That's the Hollywood Whopper, no meat...silicone.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

My bartender gave me a breath test and figured out I was a fifth of vodka lower than what it should be and he gave me several shots.

Not quite the same thing, but I'm sure you were feeling pretty good.

 

[CouchCoach]

Not quite the same thing, but I'm sure you were feeling pretty good.

I was kidding, I don't have a bartender. Can't afford the health insurance for them with all the shaker's elbows and Carpel Tunnel's.

 

[triplets_93]

Toxic worms that reproduce when cut have been spotted in Houston. What are they?​

The species can be found out on the soil, driveways, patios and sidewalks following heavy rains.​

https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/texas-invasive-species-toxic-worm-18085622.php

 

[triplets_93]

Toxic hammerhead flatworm invades Houston

 

[CyberB0b]

Today I learned that He-Man the cartoon was made specifically to sell the toys, not the other way around. I feel like a tool of the big advertising machine.

 

[paladin]

Today I observed that in The Godfather, after Sonny gets shot at the tollbooth & the assassins' drive off
Theres a shot of Sonny lying VERY dead in the road and the sign in the booth reads:
"Toll Paid"

 

[VaqueroTD]

One of those quick informative YouTube videos.

Title was roundabout… “Why is Haiti such a dump while Dominican Republic is doing well, but they’re both next door on the same island?”
I started thinking about that and realized it was right, so it piqued my curiosity enough to watch. YouTube Recommendation Algorithm still working.

• Goes back to colonialism. France ruled Haiti, Spain ruled DR.
• French turned Haiti into a sugar-mecca slave society with almost 700k at one point While DR never had more than 30k and the impact to later gens.
• Haiti was one of first of the colonies to fight off monarchies so rest of Europe ignored it not wanting to support the precedent.
• The only way international community agreed to support Haiti was them paying a debt to France that was so big they could never pay it off.
  • They even tried to takeover the DR and charge it’s citizens higher taxes for that debt but we’re quickly overthrown.
• Geography of both countries is divided by mountains. DR gets the rain and tropical climates. Haiti gets dry sun.
• There is a major earthquake fault in both countries. DR‘s fault is inactive And near remote areas. Haiti’s erupts constantly and is located near populated cities.

 

[Creeper]

I learned that King Tut's parents were brother and sister and that he had physical deformities which were probably the result of in-breeding. I never knew that.

 

[Rockport]

That a pack of cigarettes costs $10.45 with a $4.75 total tax in New York State while in Missouri you could buy a pack for $4.38 with only a $0.36 total tax.

I also read today that when Frontiersmen Sam Morgan and Jedediah Smith crossed the Mojave and found themselves stuck without shade they'd dig a hole and bury themselves to their chins while wearing their beaver skin hats.

It’s your choice. You want to die for $10.45 per pack or $4.38?

 

[CalPolyTechnique]

I'm 5'10 and 215 pounds
The official chart says I'm obese.
The chart is insanely wrong.

True, you’re morbidly obese.