I was today years old when I… (17 Viewers)

[aaronroch]

Seriously. I was like fuckin 40 when I learned that. It’s been so useful since then.

Wait… really?!? I’m learning all kinds of stuff here. <heads outside to look at his car>

 

[Windwalker]

… found that the first episode of a TV show is called a “pilot” because it’s the initial thing that’s made “to air”.

 

[CrazyEddie]

… found that the first episode of a TV show is called a “pilot” because it’s the initial thing that’s made “to air”.

I can believe that Hollywood thinks that, but I doubt it's actually true. Or rather, maybe it's true now (because everyone believes it!) but it probably wasn't true back then when the term was invented.

c.f. e.g. a "pilot hole" which is a small hole drilled in something like a piece of wood prior to being followed up by a screw driven into place. Or a pilot wave in quantum physics, which is a (theorized) wave that guides the path of a particle. So it seems like a pilot show on TV is something that comes in ahead of the show and guides the path for the episodes to follow.

... but what do I know, I don't even live in LA.

 

[chipinla]

I can believe that Hollywood thinks that, but I doubt it's actually true. Or rather, maybe it's true now (because everyone believes it!) but it probably wasn't true back then when the term was invented.

c.f. e.g. a "pilot hole" which is a small hole drilled in something like a piece of wood prior to being followed up by a screw driven into place. Or a pilot wave in quantum physics, which is a (theorized) wave that guides the path of a particle. So it seems like a pilot show on TV is something that comes in ahead of the show and guides the path for the episodes to follow.

... but what do I know, I don't even live in LA.

It’s on the internet so 100% true… maybe we should ask someone who works in TV… oh wait…

 

[Mr Winberg]

… found that the first episode of a TV show is called a “pilot” because it’s the initial thing that’s made “to air”.

I can believe that Hollywood thinks that, but I doubt it's actually true. Or rather, maybe it's true now (because everyone believes it!) but it probably wasn't true back then when the term was invented.

c.f. e.g. a "pilot hole" which is a small hole drilled in something like a piece of wood prior to being followed up by a screw driven into place. Or a pilot wave in quantum physics, which is a (theorized) wave that guides the path of a particle. So it seems like a pilot show on TV is something that comes in ahead of the show and guides the path for the episodes to follow.

... but what do I know, I don't even live in LA.

I was today years old when I learned about Schrodinger's pilot.

 

[Bluegrass Poker]

That my home state of KY had several POW camps for Axis soldiers during World War II.

https://www.courier-journal.com/sto...s/2015/07/28/ky-home-pow-camps-wwii/30788117/

 

[TheDuke]

… learned that @desjgn is pronounced “J Design”.

Now you go.

I'm always confused by this.

Even though I know it's "J Design", I always think "Dez-Jean" when I see it. And I'm still like WTF.

The cards are nice. The name sucks.

 

[chipinla]

I'm always confused by this.

Even though I know it's "J Design", I always think "Dez-Jean" when I see it. And I'm still like WTF.

The cards are nice. The name sucks.

It’s French

 

[TheDuke]

It’s French

Yes - it translates to "confukion". Which means f'ing confusion.

But that's the French-Canadian translation.

 

[Tonysquander]

Learned this long ago, but it has served me well. If your eyes are adjusted to the dark and you keep one eye closed when turning on a light, that eye retains its “night vision” when you reopen it after turning the light off again.

 

[Gear]

Learned this long ago, but it has served me well. If your eyes are adjusted to the dark and you keep one eye closed when turning on a light, that eye retains its “night vision” when you reopen it after turning the light off again.

This is why pirates wore eye patches. It's not that they were (necessarily) missing an eye, but rather, by keeping one eye covered while outside in the bright sunlight at sea, they'd be able to see when they went into the darkness below decks by just switching the patch over to the other eye.

 

[Tonysquander]

This is why pirates wore eye patches. It's not that they were (necessarily) missing an eye, but rather, by keeping one eye covered while outside in the bright sunlight at sea, they'd be able to see when they went into the darkness below decks by just switching the patch over to the other eye.

I was today years old when I learned why pirates wore eye patches…lol

 

[TheDuke]

View attachment 769445

 

[bezerkus]

I was today years old when I learned why pirates wore eye patches…lol

And I always thought this was the reason...

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Alas, there are far too many of those invented back-formation

For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden
To Insure Promptness
Ship High In Transit
Stuff We All Get
Notable Events, Weather, and Sports

....all of those are Bull Shit

Even better is the recursive acronym, a special kind of backronym that refers to itself, much like a recursive function in math or computer programming.

That's probably the reason why recursive acronyms are popular in the FOSS community:
GNU = GNU's Not UNIX
PHP = PHP Hypertext Preprocessor
LAME = LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder

The first time I ever saw a recursive acronym was in a comic book I had as a kid (dating myself here):
ATARI = ATARI Technology And Research Institute

 

[Schmendr1ck]

Learned this long ago, but it has served me well. If your eyes are adjusted to the dark and you keep one eye closed when turning on a light, that eye retains its “night vision” when you reopen it after turning the light off again.

I use this every time I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

 

[Windwalker]

A “club sandwich” is famously thought to be an acronym — chicken and lettuce under bacon.

 

[Windwalker]

This is why pirates wore eye patches. It's not that they were (necessarily) missing an eye, but rather, by keeping one eye covered while outside in the bright sunlight at sea, they'd be able to see when they went into the darkness below decks by just switching the patch over to the other eye.

Ooh, that’s a lovely tidbit.

 

[Gear]

A “club sandwich” is famously thought to be an acronym — chicken and lettuce under bacon.

Well you're not in the F'ckn Club

Gotta love Mitch!

 

[BonScot]

Here’s two that I think are brilliant

Cleopatra lived closer in time to us than she did to the pyramids being built.

Tyrannosaurus Rex lived closer in time to the iPhone than it did to the Stegosaurus.

 

[Gear]

"Helicopter" is not heli + copter ... it's essentially helico + pter

helico meaning spiral
pter meaning wing

 

[Gear]

Coleoptera

That's a beetle. I'm guessing autocorrect mangled Cleopatra

 

[BonScot]

That's a beetle. I'm guessing autocorrect mangled Cleopatra

Today I learned that Coleoptera is a beetle

*from koleos, sheath, and pteron, wing.

 

[Coyote]

A little supplement to this nice little improvised Greek class.

This a helicophoro (rotor-carrying) aeroplano:

This is an aeriothoumeno (gas-pushed) one, from the 115 Pteryga Makhis (Combat Wing) of the Hellenic Air Force:

Andromakhi is an ancient girl's given name, meaning she 's capable of taking on even andres (men).
Edit: often nicknamed Makhi nowadays, which results into calling your daughter "Combat"

 

[Quicksilver-75]

Shit you realized way too late that people think is obvious. I was this days old when I found out the population of California is larger then Canada.

Quality. Not quantity.

 

[Josh Kifer]

Quality. Not quantity.

Oh I like Canada way more then Cali. Hahaha.

 

[pltrgyst]

… found that the first episode of a TV show is called a “pilot” because it’s the initial thing that’s made “to air”.

I don't think so.

1. "A Pilot episode is like a Pilot light, a small flame that is used to start a bigger fire. If the pilot goes out, there can be no fire. If the pilot fails to get an audience interested, there can be no show. A Pilot light or burner is a well known term prior to the first use of pilot episode, predating it by 70 years."

2. "According to Etymology Online, the term pilot has been used since the 1920s to mean "serving as a prototype". It is this sense that you get terms like pilot episode for a TV Show, or pilot program for an emerging technology.

If you go back further in time, there was an old sense of pilot as far back as the 1600s meaning "to guide". For example, in woodworking there is a common technique of drilling smaller "pilot holes", sometimes called "starter holes", in places where you plan to attach two objects by screw; the pilot holes guide the screw in straight and prevent the wood from splitting under the stress.

This earlier sense pre-dated the concept of manned flight by hundreds of years. However, the term pilot is not just used for the captain of an aircraft: the person who steers a ship or boat is also called the pilot, and their job is to "guide" the vessel along the correct path to avoid running aground, etc.

Most likely, the later sense of a pilot episode evolved out of the idea that this episode "guided" the TV show and got it "started" through the initial process of being picked up by the network."

 

[pltrgyst]

"Helicopter" is not heli + copter ... it's essentially helico + pter

helico meaning spiral
pter meaning wing

My etymological dictionary says: Greek helix (spiral) and pteron (wing) > French helicoptere > English helicopter.

 

[Gear]

Greek helix (spiral) and pteron (wing)

Pretty sure that's essentially what I already said?

 

[liftapint]

I don't think so.

1. "A Pilot episode is like a Pilot light, a small flame that is used to start a bigger fire. If the pilot goes out, there can be no fire. If the pilot fails to get an audience interested, there can be no show. A Pilot light or burner is a well known term prior to the first use of pilot episode, predating it by 70 years."

2. "According to Etymology Online, the term pilot has been used since the 1920s to mean "serving as a prototype". It is this sense that you get terms like pilot episode for a TV Show, or pilot program for an emerging technology.

If you go back further in time, there was an old sense of pilot as far back as the 1600s meaning "to guide". For example, in woodworking there is a common technique of drilling smaller "pilot holes", sometimes called "starter holes", in places where you plan to attach two objects by screw; the pilot holes guide the screw in straight and prevent the wood from splitting under the stress.

This earlier sense pre-dated the concept of manned flight by hundreds of years. However, the term pilot is not just used for the captain of an aircraft: the person who steers a ship or boat is also called the pilot, and their job is to "guide" the vessel along the correct path to avoid running aground, etc.

Most likely, the later sense of a pilot episode evolved out of the idea that this episode "guided" the TV show and got it "started" through the initial process of being picked up by the network."

This makes sense to me. In research, we often do a "pilot" trial, to make sure everything (study protocol, etc) is working out OK, before we continue on to a bigger (more expensive) efficacy trial.