Things you don't need to know…

Originally Posted by Dilvish
…Cats are always causing trouble.

One of the reasons I lik'em.

pibbur who claims that when he orders his cat to "come here or don't", said cat does exactly that.

'Abacha loot': Switzerland to return $320m to Nigeria

So, if you're a Nigerian prince who suddenly receives an email saying they've got $320 million for you in a swiss bank, and they just need your account details, you should probably go with it.

Lots of prophecies regarding the end of the World. The 2012 prediction based on the Maya calendar wasn't entirely successful. Come to think of it, none of them has succeeded.

Here's my prediction: January 19, 2038.

This is the day when the 32 bit Unix timestamp will overflow. According to https://www.unixtimestamp.com/index.php

I will overflow by turning (approx.) 2341332000 timestamps units on that very date.

pibbur who asks himself: What about Corwin?

PS: Actually, one of the end of the world prophecies may have succeeded. This one: "There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened" DS.

PPS. It's from "The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy" in case - shame on you - you didn't know. DS.

Man 'cements microwave to head' in Wolverhampton

This is the sort of thing they like to do in Wolverhampton. I think it would have made for a very interesting art installation, named "Brexit".

Originally Posted by Ripper
Man 'cements microwave to head' in Wolverhampton

Oh-kay …
Unfortunately the article didn't answer one important question: Why?

Originally Posted by Arhu
Oh-kay …
Unfortunately the article didn't answer one important question: Why?

Probably same answer as to why dogs lick their testicles

Originally Posted by Arhu
Oh-kay …
Unfortunately the article didn't answer one important question: Why?

Originally Posted by Hurls
Probably same answer as to why dogs lick their testicles

Because they're there?

pibbur who usually needs a bit (not necessarily rational) more than that to do things

Because they can.

Originally Posted by Hurls
Because they can.

That also.

pibbur who refrains from doing a lot of things he can do, and wishes for a lot of things he can't. No matter what, inserting head in heating devices (and that other thing) is not and will never be on the repertoire.

Rhinoceros beetles are a subfamily (Dynastinae) of the scarab beetle family. They are among the biggest (largest? Hugest?) beetles. By 1992 200 species were known.

Then.

Another one was discovered, in the Cyclocephala genus. Apparently they weren't too happy with that. They called it Cyclocephala nodanotherwon.

pibbur who would happily aknowledge other pibburs.

PS. On a similar note: In the mid-1930s, physicists thought they knew all the subatomic particles of nature – the proton, neutron, and electron of the atom. However, in 1936 the muon was discovered – a new particle having such surprising properties that Nobel laureate I.I. Rabi quipped, "who ordered that? (https://newatlas.com/standard-model-…article/23897/) DS.

PPS: The article above mentions the possible discovery of a new light boson, not predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, provisionally called E(38). The article is from 2012. I couldn't find current references, so I assume that the discovery has not been confirmed. If confirmed it would be another "Who ordered that" particle. DS.

What lives in my Christmas tree?

Your Christmas tree may be adorned with lights and glitter. But 25,000 insects, mites, and spiders are sound asleep inside the tree.
[…]
There are a number of insects hiding in a Christmas tree, says Associate Professor Bjarte Jordal at the University Museum of Bergen, who goes on to list springtails, bark lice, mites, moths and the odd spider as the creeps most likely to be dragged into the average household come Christmas time.

Note: from Bergen. People from Bergen pay attention to things the rest of us overlook.

I like the thought of so many living beings participating in the Christmas "hygge"

The Norwegians send us a giant Christmas tree every year for Trafalgar Square, which is very nice of them. If it's infested with spiders, they're probably quite civilised Norwegian ones.

what the point of this thread

Originally Posted by Kickit
what the point of this thread

You don't need to know

That said:

It's the same as any other thread. Exchange of information and opinions.

Originally Posted by Kickit
what the point of this thread

Yes

Enjoy

@NewDArt.
Ja, gezellig! And if these bugs peek through the window of the doors that lead to the garden, they might even think it is not that bad here.

Ps
Big tree. From floor to ceiling. Photo is just a part of it. So lots of bugs.

Originally Posted by Eye
@NewDArt.
Ja, gezellig! And if these bugs peek through the window of the doors that lead to the garden, they might even think it is not that bad here.

They're more than welcome to enjoy the warmth and the awful singing

Boys will be boys and girls will be girls, and when it comes to clothing they (or rather their parents, when they're very young, which they are assumed to be in this context) they prefer blue and pink, respectively. Right?

Wrong. At least if you were born before 1930. Back then, when selecting baby clothes it was the opposite, blue for girls and pink for boys. Why? And why changing it? And why can't I answer that? I certainly can't tell you.

And while we're at it. "Girl" means a female child, right? Well. Only after year 1500. Because before that "girl" meant just "young person of either sex" (wiktionary). So how could you specify that a girl was a girl? Calling her a "gay girl". A boy would be a "knave girl".

I got this from Stephen Fry (QI) and http://www.historyextra.com/blog/great-misconception, which both are English references. Don't know how it applies to other countries.

pibbur who only likes "pink" when it's about his fiorst cat, or whern it's followed by "floyd".

PS. The Norwegian word for "boy" is "gutt", which apparently derives from dutch "guit", which (according to no.wiktionary.org) means "bragging young male". DS.

Another Human Foot Washes Ashore in Canada. That Makes 13.

“It makes sense to me that if a body is in the ocean and decomposes, you end up with a shoe that floats and an ankle where it would disconnect from the tibia and fibula,” Mr. Constandinou said. “That is what they are finding on the beaches.”