Maybe. I'm disappointed he didn't touch on the 4 categories of races you'll find at the track (Stakes, Allowance, Claiming, Maiden).

I've owned some claiming horses and have had my picture taken in the winner's circle. I'm a pretty big degen.

I'm right there with you. The think Crazy Canuck posted is gorgeous and I enjoyed reading about it, but hell no I'm not getting in the water with one. Last few times I went to the beach I didn't go further than getting my ankles wet.

Flatulist was a fun read as well.


Rococo: that's an interesting bit of history. I like to read about Italy, but I've never heard this mentioned before anywhere. The video did not disappoint, what a gruesome looking sport.

According to my wife, the only break in the 50 minute match was a brief stoppage to remove a player on a stretcher. Most players were injured to a greater or lesser degree by the end of the match. And almost every fan yelled taunts and curses at the opposing team for the entire match.

I'm the same way. I once fell into a sink hole while I was in the Keys. Another 6 inches and I'm not sitting here today. I was already not comfortable in the water... I was also luck that a hammerhead or whatever wasn't home.

So, now this is how I spend my time thinking of the ocean... learning about Delta P. You can't see it, you can't escape it, and it attacks suddenly, without warning. Survival is unlikely.

enjoy!

James Harrison:

Had major surgery at age 14 and needed substantial amounts of blood. When he recovered and turned 18, he donated blood as thanks, and it was found his blood had some rare quality that cures a disease. His donations are estimated to have saved over 2M lives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_...n_(blood_donor)

Rococo,

Seriously awesome bit of history. If I ever go to Italy I will make sure I see one of those. Doubt I'd make it 50 minutes but I'd see a bit at least for the novelty.

dave,

That's terrifying. I don't have any traumatic water experiences like that, I'm just a very boring (safe) person. The clip was terrifying as well. At first I thought it was pretty bad but at least I'm safe since I don't do any activities like that... then the swimming pool one. Never getting in one again.

Punker,

That was a nice uplifting and wholesome one. I also found it funny that there's an "Australian of the year" award.

We also tend to give it away to a bunch of people who rarely deserve it (namely sports people and politicians a lot more often than we should).

"Who got Australian of the Year this year" is one of those perennial trivia questions that nobody ever knows.

All everyone remembers is Steve Waugh got it in 2001, which pissed a lot of people off.

I guess some people remember Fiona Stanley (inventor of spray on skin for burns victims) and Adam Goodes I guess.

Stumped 2 out 3 search engines...

Is it open to animals? This seems to capture all of what I imagine are the major Australian ideals:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...w-8805312.html

Genie the feral child. File this one under Human Beings Are Terrible:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)

wow we found the WOAT father holy ****

Not even close...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl_case

Damn, you two ruined my weekend.

For the curious, the bottom fo the Fritzl case article has a few more similar stories which are just horrific as well.

I don't know, which is worse abuse? At least the Fritzl children had one another as companions.

The wiki article for the balloon launch in Cleveland was posted here a few times. Despite growing up there, I didn't know anything about it, but this short film from the Atlantic was released a few days ago.



Being from Cleveland, it's very strange to watch this slice of history. I can't describe it...

In the interest of posting a wiki (probably not that interesting, sorry), the two hosts were Big Chuck and Lil' John, a local duo who had a major station TV show strictly broadcast for the area.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Chuck_and_Lil%27_John

The mother in that case should be in prison also. I can't believe that she didn't know people were being held prisoner in her house, or at least that her husband was doing something very suspicious in the basement. What kind of wife allows her husband to have a secret basement she isn't ever allowed to go into? I'd say 90% chance she knew exactly who was down there, 5% she knew something fishy was going on and ignored it, 5% chance she's just a total idiot who I wouldn't mind locking up anyway.

mass suicides in germany after ww2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_s...5_Nazi_Germany

Finally finished reading this... had to pause several times. Was hoping for some kind of happy ending, but every time it seemed to be heading that way something got in the way. I don't get how she ever got entered into a regular foster care system to begin with.

It was also pretty fascinating to read about the researchers. I don't think anyone had any poor intentions regarding Genie, but clearly there was quite a bit of conflicting views on what was best. Really seemed like everyone wanted the best for her, but ended up fighting each other over what the best method was.

One thing I never quite figured out and I thought would be explained: she would give no response to extreme temperatures? How is that possible?

Also noticed they mentioned the Fritzl case towards the end and that_pope linked it too so looking forward to reading that now too.

Having been posted in '11 and '14, I guess that's enough time inbetween to give this fella another mention here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Pujol_Garc%C3%ADa

"The Germans paid GARBO (or Alaric Arabel, as they called him) US$340,000 to support his network of agents, which at one point totaled 27 fabricated characters."

Supposedly there are some good books and documentaries to put on one's list.

Edit: This is the one people on reddit seem to recommend: "Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day" (Talty)

Probably in the back of my mind I was relating the story about Genie to this story, where the researcher clearly did not have the subject's best interest in mind:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Money

Posting these two links because it was the feature topic in a recent 'Interesting Things Explained Well' podcast. Really enjoyed the line in it saying "Hook, Line, and Sickle".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Temple

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

I'm pretty sure they've been posted before. In case you somehow haven't heard about this before, here is a quick synopsis to draw you in:

Jonestown was the scariest thing I ever saw on the news as a kid. I still remember seeing the magazine cover with all the dead bodies too.

I think Andy Kaufman was the scariest thing I saw as a kid