About a month ago I learned something new. Ironically I can't now remember what that was, but it inspired me to think about the subject some more. How often do I learn something? What qualifies as new? Do I need to put effort into learning, or does it happen all the time and I simply need to pay more attention?
And is it possible to learn something new every day?
The answer is, of course, no. Or it might be yes. It's quite hard to say. What I set out to do with this challenge was to write down at the end of each day something I'd learned. It didn't have to be spectacular (e.g. 'the violin') but it had to be something I didn't previously know, and it had to be worth writing down.
It's been an interesting month.
I didn't manage to write something down for every day, and I did cheat a little bit. I'd coincidentally been reading a QI book during the month, so for the days where I couldn't think of anything I'd learned, I simply read another chapter and picked out something interesting. Among other things, I learned that:
- some animals dream, but dolphins don't
- honey badgers aren't badgers
- horseshoe crab blood is blue and sells for sixty thousand dollars per gallon
- the only letter of the alphabet that does not occur in any U.S. state names is Q
- the head of a broccoli is made up of lots of tiny flowers, which will eventually look like flowers in the right conditions
- the funny bone isn't a bone, it's the ulnar nerve, which is unusually near the surface
- that thing about urine on bar snacks is completely made up
Often I didn't learn something entirely new, just a little bit more about a thing I was already familiar with, such as my work. I learned:
- about the govuk-frontend export mixin and what it does (it's quite clever)
- how GOV.UK's Sass gets compiled, specifically where it stores individual css component files and how it incorrectly incorporates that into the application CSS (we're working on a fix for that)
- corner shape is a new CSS property that lets you do cool things with corners
I learned some random but practical things...
- library cards expire if you don't use them
- how drainpipes attach to the side of houses
- if you get a spam text you should forward it to 7726 (7726 corresponds to the letters that spell 'spam')
- car batteries have a charge level and a crank level, which is an indicator of the health of the battery and the ability of the battery to start the car
I learned some interesting historical things.
- the phrase 'a flash in the pan' originated from muskets, referring to a shot that had fired but not actually launched the bullet
- the first public railway to use steam engines connected collieries near Shildon with Stockton and Darlington in 1825. The company that did this was confusingly named 'The Stockton and Darlington railway'
I learned some fun things.
- there is such a thing as a dormouse licence and you can apply for it on GOV.UK
- Google has a videogame where you can drive a racing car using your eyeballs (I got to have a go and it was fun)
- Asterix and Obelix are still a thing
I also learned some things about the people around me, and felt richer because of them. I learned that our Tesco delivery driver is a keen gamer and likes World of Warcraft and strategy games. I learned the name of my friend's brand new baby. I learned that Richard Osman is six foot seven and is quite hard to see past if you're standing behind him. And I learned that K-pop Demon Hunters isn't quite as bad as I'd assumed.
Finally, I learned some things that I wished I hadn't. Flushing a toilet coats everything within a six foot radius with a fine bacteria filled mist. And now you know that too.