Things I learned lately 30 Sep

• There is so much made up stuff on the internet. I mean, I didn’t just learn this, but I’m learning just how much stuff that is presented as truth, but is in fact total BS. A lot of it isn't even consequential stuff, it's just crap that seems funny or interesting and it's all made up.
• In 1910, Imogene Rechtin tried an 18 month campaign designed to end kissing of any kind, in order to stop the spread of germs and disease.
• We spend a lot of resources getting rid of our poop and doing not so great things to our ecology in the process, when the stuff is ultra valuable as a natural fertilizer. Much more eco-friendly than the artificial stuff we use in its place. In Japan's 18th century, shimogoe, literally meaning 'fertiliser from the bottom of a person' was greatly sought after by farmers. Farmers went so far as to steal peoples' shit.
• The old officer’s mess in Currie Barracks is now an inn and restaurant. The Inn on Officer’s Garden.
• The White House has a curated collection of over 1,800 vinyl albums in its archives, donated by the RIAA between 1973 and 1981. Most, if not all of those records have never been played.
• There was a time when Japan prohibited foreigners from entering the country, and restricted Japanese citizens from leaving. There was one tiny exception, a 2 acre man made island in Nagasaki Bay that was connected to Nagasaki by a bridge leading to a military post. This was Dejima, the only place that traders from around the world could do business with Japan between 1636 and 1854. First the Spanish and the Portuguese came, but they were expelled for attempting to spread Christianity. The Dutch East Indies Company then took over. They had to surrender their sails when arriving, and had to ask for them back in order to leave. No Westerners were allowed across the bridge, and the only Japanese to enter Dejima were designated traders, interpreters, sex workers, and various cooks, gardeners, and clerks. There was only room for between 10-20 men to stay on the island at a time. Meanwhile, shiploads of lumber, silk, livestock, and other goods changed hands between countries that weren't allowed to interact otherwise.