Really?

[Calvin]

Americas civil war was not about abolishing slavery at all, the original reasons were about whether slave farms would be allowed in the newly annexed lands; the reasoning against them being that non-slave farms could not compete. in effect, that they were taking the white man's jobs.

[Calvin]

The British drank so much Tea, that it almost bankrupted the economy, as we had no export to the Chinese that could match it.

So we got the Chinese addicted to Opium. Eventually the Chinese navy, under orders from the emperor, blockaded the ports to stop the shipments. The British Navy sent 1 iron clad, which proceeded to sink the entire Chinese navy, chasing the sail boats up river with a motorized engine.

not our proudest moment i admit. but funny

eventually we took tea to india.

[Calvin]

In Victorian times, very pale skin was considered beautiful. Lime became a popular make-up. It would dissolve the flesh underneath it, causing severe scarring which would of course be covered up with more lime.

[Calvin]

Hawaii never officially joined the United States. it was annexed by soldiers of the United Fruit company, in a hostile take over that the US government simply accepted.

[Calvin]

Africa and the Middle East had been practicing slavery for thousands of years before colonial powers arrived.

in 1833 the British Empire abolished slavery, including in ALL of it's African colonies, effectively ending a millennia old practice, in less than a hundred years.

that actually is one of our proudest moments, we fucked china up though.

[Calvin]

When the British pulled out of India, the Muslims of India did not want to live under Hindu rule. the best example of why, is Gandhi. The Muslims did not like that he would walk around with groups of young women, wearing just a sheet. He was kinda seen like Mic Jagger.

so we endevoured to split India, areas which were majority Hindu would become India, and areas where were majority Muslim would become Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Hindus and the Muslims then set about killing each other to make their areas majority owned.
The British of course are blamed for this. But Pakistan and Bangladesh, basically ARE islamic states.

[Calvin]

the highest point on earth is Mount Everest, at 8,850 meters above sea level.

the lowest point on earth is the Mariana Trench, at 11,034 meters below sea level.

adding these numbers together gives 19,884 meters.

the diameter of the earth is 12,742,000 meters.

this means that every mountain, hill, valley, trench, ocean, etc, exists on the top 0.16% of the planet.
the deepest mine on earth is a bit over 4,000 meters deep.

[Calvin]

The human body contains about 100 trillion cells, but only about 10% of those are human.

You are an ecosystem.

[Calvin]

because the globe is a sphere, and maps are rectangular, what we think of as a world map is actually very wrong.

areas to the far north and south are stretched, and so appear bigger than they are.

this is what the world actually looks like:


https://thetruesize.com/

[Calvin]

the moon is 384,400 km away from the earth.

the nearest planet to us is Venus, 41,000,000 km away at it's closest.
Mars is 54,600,000 km away.

so going to the moon is not even 1% of travelling to another planet.
(0.7% is actually a lot better than i thought it would be)

[Calvin]

sailors used to used giant tortoises as a sort of fresh meat packed lunch, as they didn't need to be fed or watered for months, and stayed alive until butchered.

[Calvin]

Chocolate is poisonous. only 2 animals on earth possess a resistance to it, and are able to eat it:
Humans, and Hamsters.

(should probably check that one)

[Calvin]

Katanas are actually pretty crap.

The iron in Japan is from Meteor Strikes, and is actually very low grade, it is separated into high and low carbon. the high carbon metal is brittle, and holds an edge very well, but it will chip and shatter. the low carbon is soft and will bend, but will not hold an edge.

The Katana is made by placing a soft metal spine inside a high carbon jacket, the metals cooling at different speeds is what gives it the characteristic curve, and the high carbon edge allows it to be made razor sharp.

This is however an inferior sword to a pattern welded (otherwise known as Damascus steel) sword, which has both types of metal mixed throughout the blade:


real pattern welding should not be confused with just acid etched metal, with a surface pattern.

[Bama]

Chocolate is poisonous. only 2 animals on earth possess a resistance to it, and are able to eat it:
Humans, and Hamsters.

(should probably check that one)

Hampsters rats mice etc

The toxic component of chocolate is theobromine. Humans easily metabolize theobromine, but many animals process it much more slowly, allowing it to build up to toxic levels in their system.

The amount of chocolate and the size of the animal also matters
My dog MaGoo has eaten chocolate but it’s old age that is going to kill him not the chocolate he ate years ago

[Calvin]