Fifth Avenue Forum

The Missouri is actually longer than the Mississippi.

Most people don't know that the headwaters of the Missouri are way out in western Montana. The Upper Missouri river valley is beautiful.

Electrocute is a portmanteau of electricity and execution.

People tend to use that word incorrectly. It is irritating.

The Greek name Αἰθιοπία (from Αἰθίοψ, Aithiops, 'an Ethiopian') is a compound word, derived from the two Greek words, from αἴθω + ὤψ (aitho "I burn" + ops "face").

legless lizards and snakes are two different things

Legless lizard may refer to any of several groups of lizards that have independently lost limbs or reduced them to the point of being of no use in locomotion.[1] It is the common name for the family Pygopodidae,[2] but often refers to other groups, such as limbless anguids, depending on the region of the world.[citation needed] These lizards are often distinguishable from snakes on the basis of one or more of the following characteristics: possessing eyelids, possessing external ear openings, lack of broad belly scales, notched rather than forked tongue, having two, more-or-less equal, lungs and/or having a very long tail (while snakes have a long body and short tail).[1]

TIL snakes have tails.

TIL snakes aren't only tails

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, was last month renamed "Nur-Sultan" in honor of their ex-President (and pretty much a dictator) Nursultan Nazarbayev who stepped down last month.

Related TIL - Nursultan Nazarbayev is no longer the President of Kazakhstan...

Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, was last month renamed "Nur-Sultan" in honor of their ex-President (and pretty much a dictator) Nursultan Nazarbayev who stepped down last month.

Related TIL - Nursultan Nazarbayev is no longer the President of Kazakhstan...

Apparently Akohito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne yesterday due to old age and declining health, and is no longer the Emperor of Japan. He had been Emperor since January 1989, when he succeeded upon the death of his father, Hirohito. Many people don't realize Hirohito remained Emperor of Japan even after the end of World War II, and reigned for another 44 years. From December 1926 until yesterday, the only two Emperors of Japan were Hirohito and Akohito.

Emperor Naruhito, Akohito's son, is now on the throne.

Apparently Akohito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne yesterday due to old age and declining health, and is no longer the Emperor of Japan. He had been Emperor since January 1989, when he succeeded upon the death of his father, Hirohito. Many people don't realize Hirohito remained Emperor of Japan even after the end of World War II, and reigned for another 44 years. From December 1926 until yesterday, the only two Emperors of Japan were Hirohito and Akohito.

Emperor Naruhito, Akohito's son, is now on the throne.

For more trivia (because of course you know I'd know all this stuff), Akihito was the first emperor to abdicate in more than 200 years, although abdications before that used to be fairly common. For the vast majority of Japanese history, the emperor was only a religious figurehead who was cloistered in the imperial palace in Kyoto and didn't have any actual political power, so there really wasn't much to give up when an emperor decided to hand over to his son or the next relative in line.

While international news will use the personal names of Japanese emperors, the Japanese would never do so. The current emperor is simply called "the Emperor" (Tennō or 天皇), and most Japanese consider it a major faux pas to ever use his given name. An abdicated emperor is called Daijō Tennō (太上天皇), which the Imperial Household Agency officially translates as "Emperor Emeritus." Once a man becomes the Emperor, only his family members would ever again refer to him using his actual name.

Since the Meiji Restoration in 1866, each emperor has been associated with an "era name," which is announced when a new emperor takes over. (Prior to that, there was often more than one era per emperor, but since then, it's been a strict one-emperor, one-era policy.) The abdication marks the end of the Heisei (平成, roughly "peace everywhere") era and the start of the Reiwa (令和, roughly "beautiful harmony") era. The era names are taken from sources such as ancient Chinese or Japanese poetry. Posthumously, emperors are known by their era names, so following his death the "Emperor Emeritus" will be referred to as the "Heisei Emperor," just as his late father (Hirohito) is called the "Shōwa Emperor" after the era he ruled over. Just like it's considered a faux pas to call the emperor by his given name, it's also a faux pas to call the current emperor by his era name; that only applies after he's already dead.

The era actually matters and has a real-world effect because many levels of the Japanese government and even many private companies use the era to set the calendar year. In the post-Meiji practice, the first year of a new era starts immediately upon the emperor's accession and ends on December 31, after which each successive year follows the Gregorian calendar. So April 30, 2019, was the last day of the year "Heisei 30," while May 1 was the first day of the year "Reiwa 1," and Reiwa 2 will start on January 1, 2020. A whole lot of Japanese programmers had to make sure their software property accounts for the year changeover.

Fascinating... Thanks!

Shyster is the smartest person on this board.

I think it would be more accurate to say," Shyster is a borderline Aspie who often exhibits an Aspergers-like obsession with certain topics that catch his interest, such as typography, guns, airplanes, and rockets." For some reason imperial-type successions are on that list. For example, I also know a heck of a lot about how Popes are selected—even though I'm (1) not Catholic and (2) not religious.

I also have a strange interest in the papacy. I've read history on every 'known' Pope and am fascinated by it, but I'm not even Christian let alone Catholic.

not religious.

Shyster is the smartest person on this board.

I think it would be more accurate to say," Shyster is a borderline Aspie who often exhibits an Aspergers-like obsession with certain topics that catch his interest, such as typography, guns, airplanes, and rockets." For some reason imperial-type successions are on that list. For example, I also know a heck of a lot about how Popes are selected—even though I'm (1) not Catholic and (2) not religious.

At least you like cool things. Like sumo

I also have a strange interest in the papacy. I've read history on every 'known' Pope and am fascinated by it, but I'm not even Christian let alone Catholic.

If you've never read it, the book The Bad Popes by E.R. Chamberlin is pretty good. It's an older book, so one can find cheap used copies on sites like abebooks.com. It covers the real dirtbags like John XII, who was supposedly murdered while in bed with another man's wife.

Oh man. I'm in a church tradition that believes that the Pope is the Antichrist. I got some good books for you.

Oh man. I'm in a church tradition that believes that the Pope is the Antichrist. I got some good books for you.

A church, you say? I have a passport of a country where "Catholics are a-holes!" has been in effect for 600+ years!
And all the modern Popes come to that country and apologize, and apologize, and apologize...

All because of this:



https://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraff ... s-comments

Medieval art is the best.

In watching a video about F1 team Andrea Moda I've learned Subaru used to be in F1.

#4 reactor at Chernobyl exploded in 1986. The other 3 reactors remained in service until the last one was decommissioned in 2000. The others remained operational during the #4 accident...

The King of Queens (one of the best sitcoms of the 21st century) still has an active Twitter account.

#4 reactor at Chernobyl exploded in 1986. The other 3 reactors remained in service until the last one was decommissioned in 2000. The others remained operational during the #4 accident...

In Nuke School we watched a Discovery Channel "documentary" about Three Mile Island to illustrate how little the general public knows and understands about nuclear power. The anti-NP activist featured in the doc gleefully spoke about how he appreciates the cooling towers still standing at TMI as a symbol of a failed technology, while steam was pouring out of the cooling tower for Reactor 1.