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Cake day: July 10th, 2023

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  • loaExMachina@sh.itjust.workstoScience Memes@mander.xyzPenguins 🐧
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    6 days ago

    In French, the “correct” word for “penguin” is “manchot” /mãʃo/ , and “pingouin” /pɛ̃ɡwɛ̃/ stayed the word for “great auk” for longer… But translating “penguin” as “pingouin” has grown more and more common. First as a mistake, but at that point it’s not clear anymore what is correct or not. Someone a bit pedantic might correct you if you say “pingouin” instead of “manchot”, but is a linguistic mistake still a mistake when it’s understood by the majority?








  • loaExMachina@sh.itjust.workstoScience Memes@mander.xyzHoney
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    18 days ago

    Roaches can transmit diseases, they’re an actual biohazard. This doesn’t change that they’re living animals, but this does mean killing them when they’re invading a home is legitimate defense. You may shun someone who goes tiger-hunting, but if a tiger comes into town, threateningly approaches people and get shot, you’d think this was necessary, although regrettable. You might want to investigate the cause for the tiger’s unusual town venture, maybe blame deforestation, but the one who ends up shooting is likely not the one to blame. Same for roaches. Yes, they’re animals; and certainly fascinating ones in some regards, but if they start proliferating in our homes, bringing bacteria and molds everywhere… At some point it’s us or them.





  • Good question, but I guess it also goes down to what you think Jesus was. Do you think he was God Incarnate or had a divine nature? Do you think he was a prophet of God, but himself simply human? Or just a cool guy, but nothing divine? In the first case, you are a Christian, even if you don’t identify with any of the well known versions of Christianity. After all, many different conceptions of Christianity have existed.

    In the third case, I don’t think there is or should be a term for it. After all, is there a word for someone who thinks Marcus Antoninus was a cool guy? If that’s not something that constitutes an important part of who you are and how you think, why should you be called anything in regards to it? Maybe depending on just how much you like him, we might call you a Jesus fan. Jesus fanboy or fangirl at worst. But there needsn’t be a specific word.

    Now, the middle case, where you recognize Jesus as a prophet is an interesting one, because several religions would qualify, including Manichaeism, Islam and Druzism; and as far as I know there isn’t a term that englobes them all without also including Judaism… If I were to invent a term for that, I might go with “jesuic” or “yeshuaic”, by analogy with the word “abrahamic” that englobes those who recognize Abraham as a prophet.






  • loaExMachina@sh.itjust.workstoScience Memes@mander.xyzCheeky
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    27 days ago

    [Edit : It turns out people have said the same thing while I was looking for the right source to confirm my point, so I guess this comment’s a bit redundant now. Still leaving it in case someone’s interested]

    The number’s correct but…

    Child mortality The most significant difference between historical mortality rates and modern figures is that child and infant mortality was so high in pre-industrial times; before the introduction of vaccination, water treatment, and other medical knowledge or technologies, women would have around seven children throughout their lifetime, but around half of these would not make it to adulthood. Accurate, historical figures for infant mortality are difficult to ascertain, as it was so prevalent, it took place in the home, and was rarely recorded in censuses; however, figures from this source suggest that the rate was around 300 deaths per 1,000 live births in some years, meaning that almost one in three infants did not make it to their first birthday in certain periods. For those who survived to adolescence, they could expect to live into their forties or fifties on average.

    So reaching 50 wasn’t too rare for someone who had survived childhood, and given how people often started having children younger then, that was well enough to be grandparent. Doesn’t mean everyone would’ve gotten to known their grandparents, but it wouldn’t have been super rare either.