To find the square of any number ending in 5: Take the number 5 off the end, and multiply the resulting number by itself +1. Then append 25 to the end. E.g. the square of 105 = (10x11) = 110 add 25 to the end = 11025. I can't remember where I read that, I think it was in an Asimov novel.
No, I did not know that. So I googled, and found out a henge is actually an earthworks. So then I went to etymology online henge (n.) 1740, noted as a Yorkshire word for hanging rocks (see Stonehenge). Stonehenge (n.) "celebrated stone circle on Salisbury Plain" [OED], early 12c., Stanenges, literally "stone gallows," perhaps so called from fancied resemblance to old-style gallows with two posts; from stone (n.) + second element related to hang (v.). Some antiquarians suggest the notion may be of "supported in the air, that which hangs in the air" (compare henge-clif for Latin præruptum), in reference to the lintel stones, but the order of the elements and the inflection is against this. The thing itself is from a time immemorial to the earliest Germanic writings. An ancient common name for it was the Giant's Dance. In Middle English a stonehenge also was a device for clamping stones together.
Yes, I learned that when I visited in 2017. To quote English Heritage: I always loved Michael Flanders's take on it - an imagining of a disgruntled Neolithic man seeing Stonehenge being erected. (This was recorded in a theatre as part of a show, so the laughter and applause are live, not canned)
Anyway, I learned something new today. I just finished a short story set in ancient Greece, in the time of Herakles (roughly 1,250 BC). Herakles visits Athens, where he finds a new job. After a few days, he and a friend have a day off, so they head into town to celebrate with a meal. So far, so good. My question was simple: where would they go? It wouldn't be a symposium, i.e. a place for learned philosophers to eat, drink, and discuss the universe. Herakles doesn't strike me as that kind of fellow. I looked it up and found the word kapeleion (translated roughly as "dine-in restaurant", but obviously much simpler than the ones we have today). The landlord would be called a kapelos (or in Greek, bκάπηλος; source: wikitionary). On the other hand, I also read that: (Source: University of Pennsylvania.) So ... where lies the truth? Was a kapeleion simply a place to eat (which is what I'm looking for), or was it something else - e.g. a cover for a brothel? Clearly more digging was needed (pardon the pun), so I did - and found three sources: 1. The first was a 2001 paper written by Clare Kelly-Blazeby, who was then a PhD student at the University of Leicster; 2. The second was an 2009 NBC article, quoting Clare's earlier paper and interviewing her; 3. And finally, a 2024 article in Greek Reporter, again quoting Clare's research and illustrating it with new discoveries. (Clare is now a Classics faculty member in University of Leeds). All three sources agree that a kapeleion (plural kapeleia) was a place enjoyed by everybody in ancient Athens - slaves as well as lower-class men and women - and offered drink, food, and a place to rest. Some of them also offered ... other things. (Use your imaginations). Such establishments also existed in other cities, such as Corinth, but not Sparta, which had communal eating-halls instead. So, a kapeleion wasn't a restaurant as we'd understand it. Instead of living elsewhere and using the site purely for the restaurant, or living "above the shop", some of the kapelos converted their own houses into a kapeleion, setting aside only a room or two for themselves, and using the rest to cook, serve food and drink, etc. The food was also much more limited, divided into "savories" and "sweets" (essentially, "bar snacks"). The wine - which was much more intoxicating than today, with about 16% alcohol - was watered down, about 3 parts water to one part wine. Three varieties were available: dry, sweet, or medium-sweet (and available in white, red or rosé). Not everyone approved. Indeed, many of the upper classes sniffily commented that people who owned such establishments ought to be expelled from the city. Later archaeologists also couldn't believe that such places existed, and thought they must be private houses, or places of worship. But through her research, Clare showed that they were taverns and inns. This is the first place (that we know of) that had these arrangements. Considering the importance of bars and pubs to later generations, we have the ancient Greeks and their kapeleia to thank.
Just learned about the existence of horse chestnuts, which is a keratin growth on the inside of the leg horses sometimes have. It's a vestige of when horses had three toes. Here's a video of a farrier trimming it off like they do overgrown hooves.
Today I learned that when poet Edna St. Vincent Millay became addicted to painkillers, her husband Eugen Boissevain got himself addicted so that they could kick the habit together.
Today I learned how to measure like a Brit. And, just for fun ... here's what not to do (but I'm sure you all know this!)
Today I learned that, when following the super old-school trad rules, one should never wear a necktie with a button-down collared shirt. Those shirts are for wearing when playing polo (Allah only knows what Polo shirts are for then, but I digress), and the buttons are to keep the collar from flying up while on horseback.
What we know as a polo shirt were originally tennis shirts designed by Lacoste in 1933. In 1972 Ralph Lauren marketed a tennis shirt for polo as part of his polo collection.
Hold on ... what? I'm confused. If (according to these super-conservative rules) you're not supposed to wear a necktie with a button-down collared shirt, what kind of shirt ARE you supposed to wear a tie with? *shrug* Perhaps a collared shirt without buttons ... but that's just a t-shirt with a collar and sleeves. What makes this more interesting is that, when you look at black-and-white photographs of men in ties, they are always wearing waistcoats. So it's impossible to tell if their shirts are buttoned down or not. Hold on - Yusuf Karsh's famous portrait of Churchill (1941) clearly shows at least one button, below the bow tie. And in this photograph of him with Mackenzie King, again, he's clearly wearing a buttoned shirt: (Photographs compliments of karsh.org). Could the super old-school rules are mistaken?
I believe the reference is to buttons on the points of the collars, not the shirt front buttons. which begs the question: when did buttons on the points start?
Yes, thanks @KiraAnn I meant to answer that earlier but it slipped my mind. Shirts with buttons going down the middle are button up shirts, while shirts with buttons on the collar points as well are button down shirts. And they were invented in 1896 by John Brooks, of the Brooks Brothers company, to stop polo players from having their collars flip up.
To complicate things further in the uk we also have what we call polo neck jumpers… these are what you colonial types call turtle necks… again it’s because polo players started wearing them in replacement to button up shirts in the 1800s
And to further further complicate things, for an American a jumper is a style of dress meant to be worn over a shirt, like the blue denim number on the lady below:
Interesting! I had no idea about that. (I'm nowhere near rich enough to play polo, so I thought button-down shirts had something to do with keeping the tie in place, maybe). Thank you, Iain. OK, that's a new one. I have plenty of sweaters (which we colonial Aussies call jumpers), but they're all either V-necks or look like this: Or this: Are turtleneck sweaters warmer than those? It'd make sense - our winters are fairly cold (I live about 3,500 kms from the shores of Antarctica, so our winters can get pretty nippy), but I imagine winters in the Northern Hemisphere would be colder than ours ... so a warmer sweater would be a good idea.
In the polo discussions, what I think is somewhat odd, is playing a sport in a shirt and tie! How do they breathe?
Very true. On the other end of the scale, need we even mention that in ancient Greece, athletes used to train and compete in the nude? (Greek women also trained, but "only" in the almost-nude). The past is a different country.
If you're saying what I think you are, I remember a scene from Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) where the male character told the female lead she should go braless because of the air density. I think he said that he heard the straps creaking ETA: Whoops, sorry, it was a corset ("stays"), not a bra. Around the 54:10 mark.
