DoofusMagnus

DoofusMagnus t1_jeao6ip wrote

Reply to TIL the milky way was named as such because of Hera's breaskmilk...An infant Hercules tried to nurse from her, and she threw him off. Allowing some milk to splash and creating the galaxy and all its stars... by Themakia

Just keep in mind that while the Milky Way was known as the galaxias kyklos ("milky circle") the ancient Greeks didn't understand that it was a galaxy in the modern sense of the word.

They didn't realize when they looked up at it that it was a partial, edge-on view of a huge, spiral system of billions of stars of which the Sun is one that sits near the edge.

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DoofusMagnus t1_j106fid wrote

Reply to comment by APRForReddit in I wrapped our white elephant gifts in the shape of toilet and a giant plunger. by LeftClique

Things can evolve beyond the origin of their names.

In the part you quoted you even demonstrate that the activity has names other than White Elephant. By your logic, can Yankee Swaps only be done by people in the northern US?

"Gift exchange" could describe any number of things, from a standard everyone-buys-soemthing-for-everyone-else, to Secret Santa, to White Elephant/Yankee Swap. Have you seen "gift exchange" used anywhere to specifically refer to a game of White Elephant done with non-shitty gifts?

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DoofusMagnus t1_j0yt8yt wrote

Reply to comment by Jukimundo in I wrapped our white elephant gifts in the shape of toilet and a giant plunger. by LeftClique

Secret Santa is when everyone pulls the name of another participant and buys that specific person a gift. Usually you try to get them something they genuinely want.

White Elephant/Yankee Swap is when everyone brings a gift without a specific recipient in mind, everyone pulls a number, and you pick a gift in that order and can choose to either keep it or force a previous opener to swap with you. A higher number is better because you have more to choose from, except for #1 who gets their pick of anything at the end. The gifts often tend to be on the silly side.

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DoofusMagnus t1_ixk9l48 wrote

Reply to TIL that ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, and giraffes, do not have a top row of front teeth. They instead have a dental pad where gums meet directly to their bottom row of front teeth. by gmnitsua

Wow, okay, I'm surprised it took me this long to learn this, but I guess that finally explains the nagging feeling that something was off which I'd occasionally feel when I saw images of cow or deer skulls. Looking at images now I feel pretty dumb that it never registered with me that there are no (upper) incisors.

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DoofusMagnus t1_ix3m54o wrote

Reply to comment by Conscious_Bend_7308 in TIL: raccoons are native to North America, having been introduced elsewhere only in the 20th century. by acequark

This is not true. There are the shrew opossums which despite the similar common name are a separate order from the "true" opossums, of which the Virginia opossum is only one example. And the monito del monte is another marsupial in the Americas which is even more distant from the opossums.

The fact you may be thinking of is that the Virginia opossum is the only marsupial native to the United States (and bits of Canada). I feel like I've heard it phrased as "native to North America" before but even that isn't true because there are other opossum species in Central America and into Mexico as well.

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DoofusMagnus t1_ivu927k wrote

Reply to comment by makalder in TIL In 1983, Air Force One (with Reagan aboard) landed six minutes before a microburst slammed into the ground at Andrews Air Force Base, causing wind speeds to hit 149 mph. At the time, that was the fastest wind speed ever measured by an anemometer. by theotherbogart

Oh? They can't be relied on to distribute their wealth? I wonder if anyone's had the idea of some sort of federal authority to collect a pre-established percentage from each of them to be pooled for use by the public.

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