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2011: The Year You Weren’t Expecting (arbesman.net)
44 points by wglb on Jan 2, 2011 | hide | past | favorite | 14 comments



The full sentence is necessary here; headline is somewhat baffling, since Neptune obviously has orbited at SOME point before:

The planet Neptune completes its first full orbit since its discovery on Sept. 23, 1846.


before that date it wasn't neptune, so I guess it's correct.


Heh. Yeah, I guess I have to concede that one.


A planet by any other name...

would still smell of methane and ammonia.


But does it smell if there is no living thing there to do the smelling?


Does it smell if any living thing cannot survive smelling it?


Just ammonia since methane is odorless :p


The Corduroy Appreciation Club exists and has an annual holiday? Weird.

I can't believe that they were tactless enough to choose November 11. Which in much of the world is a very solemn day, dedicated to remembering various wars. In the US it is a much smaller deal than in other countries, but we still have veterans day. Not exactly a day for celebration.

(The reason for choosing November 11 is that the treaty ending WW I specified that the shooting would stop on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.)


Remembrance Day has become something of a misnomer, since almost no one alive actually remembers WW1. Also, there are more people alive today with a Nov. 11 birthday than died in that war. So I think it's OK to celebrate again.


Nobody may remember WW I, but there are lots of other wars that people remember. And in lots of countries, Nov 11 is the day set aside to remember it.

Personally I cannot think of Nov 11 without remembering school assemblies where a WW II vet had put together a program to impress upon us the seriousness of the occasion. In particular I can't forget a picture of a man whose throat had just been cut by a bayonet. The wall of blood coming out had not yet hit the ground.

YMMV. But for me, personally, November 11 will never be a day of celebration.


I'm going to buy a corduroy suit just for the occasion. I can't wait to walk around the office. "Vvvrrrip, vvvrrrip, vvvrrrip"


I personally liked that detail so much that I thought it merited its own post:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2060166


> The youngest countries in the world currently are Curacao and the Republic of Kosovo.

It's actually Southern Ossetia and Abkhasia. The recognition is spotty of course, but Kosovo ain't perfect either.


I thought they were moving towards basing all units of measure on the speed of light?




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