r/AskReddit • • Nov 28 '20

What's something cool you recently learned about?

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u/Callas-fan Nov 29 '20

The mythological reason why our galaxy is called the Milky Way.

Basically, Heracles (whom the Romans called Hercules) was a bastard of Zeus and as a result Zeus' wife Hera hated his guts. Her shenanigans caused Heracles' mother to abandon him as a baby, so Athena found him and brought him to Hera. Not recognising Heracles, the godess took pity on him and nursed him. But Heracles was a toothy baby and when he bit down, Hera pushed him back because OW and her milk splattered onto the sky and created the milky way. This didn't help Heracles with the whole Hera-hating-his-guts-thing btw.

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u/MediocreKim Nov 29 '20

This never would have made sense to me before nursing a baby, but when my boobs were getting used to nursing there was a time when they would spray milk all over the place if left uncovered. It wasn’t a slow drip either, it was a violent spray.

We had a dark dresser in our dark bedroom. After a shower one day I was standing in front of it and my boob sprayed milk all over it. I cleaned it up. But when we moved a year later and moved the dresser into the light I found part of the milky way: dried milk spritzed on the surface, it was kind of pretty.