"Tell Me Something I Don't Know": Trivia & Fact Thread

[janestclair]

10 hours ago, riley702 said:

https://www.sciencealert.com/bacteria-cells-don-t-actually-outnumber-human-cells-in-our-bodies-study-finds

Well, shit. Now I'll need to change my lesson plans.  Although 1:1 is still pretty impressive.  I wonder how I missed that article.  This is what I love about biology.  We're always changing/expanding what we know.  

[Blergh]

Cake frosting was originally applied with bunches of feathers! I wonder how often folks ate, swallowed and/or choked on stray feathers while eating cake?

[Petunia13]

A moment is 90 seconds. 

[Blergh]

Some of the oldest free standing structures were temples built in the Malta Islands c. 3500 BC by a civilization who also built roads during this time before the islands abruptly become depopulated c. 2500 BC for reasons still unclear.

[Petunia13]

The chills you get from listening to music is caused by the release of dopamine in your body 

[Sandman87]

Here's one that made the BBC news a few days ago:

In southern Norway there's a minor tourist attraction consisting of a rock formation on the side of a cliff. It's called the Trollpikken, which translates as "Troll Dick" (that's how the Wikipedia article translates it, don't blame me). Make your own joke here.

Recently vandals with power tools cut off about 10 tons of the Trollpikken. Again, make your own joke about that. The locals are planning to use a crane to lift the severed portion back up and reattach it. Yet another chance to make a joke or two.

[Blergh]

 Yucatan got its name when the first Spanish explorers asked a Native American  what the name was and the local Mayan merely replied," I don't understand what you're saying."

[ennui]

1 hour ago, stewedsquash said:

easier to cut a piece of frozen key lime pie if you start at the outer edge

Did you run the knife under hot water first?

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

[Blergh]

Horses rarely will eat carrots without first being trained to do so. Not surprising since horses don't normally go around digging up roots in the ground looking for food while apples from trees are at just the right height for a ready treat!

[Mindthinkr]

On 6/23/2017 at 0:19 AM, Petunia13 said:

On Saturn and Jupiter it rains diamonds. 

I wonder then if diamond companies like DeBeers etc would go out of their way not to support space exploration to those planets as their value (if mined) would be diminished. Well in hundreds of years anyway. Just a thought. 

[Quof]

Every kiss begins with K.

So does kidnapping. That's how words work.

[ratgirlagogo]

3 hours ago, Quof said:

 

Every kiss begins with K.

So does kidnapping. That's how words work.

 

And killing.

[Sandman87]

On Monday, July 03, 2017 at 5:57 PM, Petunia13 said:

A moment is 90 seconds. 

But only in the medieval terminology for sundials. The ancient clock nerds also divided each moment into 12 ounces, and each ounce into 47 atoms.

[Zola]

Our Sun will eventually run out of Hydrogen and subsequently expand in size to become what is called a "Red Giant". So big will the Sun become that it will engulf its nearest planetary neighbours - Mercury and Venus (there is some scientific debate whether it will also "swallow up" planet Earth)

During these death-throes (over several million years), it will turn Nova by shedding its outer layers and eventually will shrink in size to become what is known as a "White Dwarf" star (unlike a more massive star that when it dies goes SuperNova and just explodes almost out of existence)

The good news is that this isn't likely to happen for at least 4.5 billion years 

[Blergh]

That's a good one, Zola!

Speaking of sun, the element helium was first discovered by astronomers using a spectrograph of a solar eclipse in 1868 and, after ruling out known elements, they named this one after the Greek word for sun 'helios'.  It would NOT be identified as existing on Earth until 1881 when someone analyzed some of Mt. Vesuvius's volcanic output!  

[Blergh]

"Gilligan's Island" performers Tina Louise and the late Nathalie Shafer had something in common few viewers would have guessed: they were both born Jewish but I wonder if they ever compared notes on that subject.

[ennui]

German chocolate cake is reportedly from 19th century America, invented by a man with the last name German. 

[Petunia13]

Sharks have existed longer than trees.

[janestclair]

The largest single living organism on earth is a humongous fungus somewhere out west.  Oregon?  The underground portion of the organism covers something like 9 or 10 square kilometers (over 2000 acres).  A clonal grove of aspen trees might beat it by weight.  

[Petunia13]

There are 30 million accounts of dead people on Facebook. 

[Sandman87]

Best current estimates of the total number of people who have ever lived, starting at the point where homo sapiens can first be identified in the fossil record, place the number at somewhere around 105-108 billion.

[theredhead77]

On 7/3/2017 at 5:57 PM, Petunia13 said:

A moment is 90 seconds. 

It's also a galaxy destroying device

[Blergh]

 In 1381, the English Peasant Revolt in an attempt to overthrow the near-slavery conditions of serfdom was led by a Wat Tyler whom all agreed was  a very cunning and resourceful man- even his bitterest enemies. Mr. Tyler would be killed and the movement collapsed upon his death.

 

In 1831, Nat Turner's Rebellion of slaves was led by the man of the same name whom all agreed was a very cunning and resourceful man- even his bitterest enemies. Mr. Turner would also be killed and the movement collapsed upon his death as well.

 

History sometimes can repeat with astonishing hiccoughs.

[Quof]

The "newly discovered photo that proves Amelia Earhart survived" has been quickly disproved. 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/07/13/a_blogger_exploded_the_hot_new_theory_about_amelia_earhart_with_30_minutes.html

[ratgirlagogo]

On 7/13/2017 at 10:40 AM, Blergh said:

In 1381, the English Peasant Revolt in an attempt to overthrow the near-slavery conditions of serfdom was led by a Wat Tyler whom all agreed was  a very cunning and resourceful man- even his bitterest enemies. Mr. Tyler would be killed and the movement collapsed upon his death.

 

In 1831, Nat Turner's Rebellion of slaves was led by the man of the same name whom all agreed was a very cunning and resourceful man- even his bitterest enemies. Mr. Turner would also be killed and the movement collapsed upon his death as well.

 

History sometimes can repeat with astonishing hiccoughs.

Oh, but those movements didn't die.  In the very long run, they succeeded in many important ways, and failed in some other important ways. Serfdom was abolished, and chattel slavery was abolished - but no, true equality has been a longer time coming (or not).  To quote my beloved William Morris (from his piece A Dream of John Ball, about the Peasants' Revolt):

  " I pondered all these things, and how men fight and lose the battle, and the thing that they fought for comes about in spite of their defeat, and when it comes turns out not to be what they meant, and other men have to fight for what they meant under another name."

It's so important to remember this in these extremely dark times.  I say along with Adrienne Rich that "a wild patience has taken me this far" and it's a wild patience we're all going to need now.

Edited July 14, 2017 by ratgirlagogo

[Blergh]

ratgirlagogo,

 

I was trying to make a point how two men with startlingly similar names four centuries apart with oddly similar years had virtually identical fates.

 

However; your point is rather valid,too.

I wonder if anyone geneticist researchers out there have done any projects to see if either side of the Wat Tyler Peasant Revolt might have had descendants who'd participate in the Nat Turner Rebellion? I mean, it would be most astonishing to find out not only if there WERE descendants who wound up doing this but how many of this number might have wound up on the opposite side of their English ancestors' stances in Virginia!

[AgentRXS]

Quote

I was trying to make a point how two men with startlingly similar names four centuries apart with oddly similar years had virtually identical fates.

This reminds me of the Lincoln-Kennedy list of coincidences: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln–Kennedy_coincidences_urban_legend. History sure is fascinating sometimes.

[SirOsisOfLiver]

In 1965, the producers of The Avengers were casting for a new female lead. They wanted someone with "man appeal" which they referred to as "M Appeal" which eventually morphed into the new character's name - Emma Peel.

[Zola]

On 09/07/2017 at 6:36 PM, Blergh said:

That's a good one, Zola!

Speaking of sun, the element helium was first discovered by astronomers using a spectrograph of a solar eclipse in 1868 and, after ruling out known elements, they named this one after the Greek word for sun 'helios'.  It would NOT be identified as existing on Earth until 1881 when someone analyzed some of Mt. Vesuvius's volcanic output!  

Some more interesting fact about our Sun (I love astronomy!)

The Sun, is a piddly little star in the great scheme of things - it's just under a million miles in diameter, and contains something like 99% mass of the entire Solar System;  It is also middle-aged, roughly 5 billion years old, with at least another 4.5 billion years left to go.

To put that into perspective, the largest (not necessarily the most massive) star in our Galaxy is UY Scuti, a red SuperGiant and is 1,730 times as large as the Sun (so if you replaced the Sun with this star in our Solar System, it would gobble up Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and possibly Saturn!) To better visualise the scale of that, imagine some balls -  the Sun would be 74 feet in diameter, UY Scuti, would be something like 130,000 feet across! And what about Earth? how does that compare? Well planet Earth would be a ball some 8 INCHES in diameter!

Although you can't "feel" it, but the Sun and it's family of planets is orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy at an average speed of roughly 500,000 mph - which is very slow in galactic terms. And given the size of the Milky Way, and our position within it, it will take 220 million years to perform one orbit!

The Milky Way galaxy is a member of what is called the Local Group - a smallish collection of other galaxies of various shapes and sizes. The Milky Way, is the 2nd largest of them all, at around 120,000 light years across with between 200-400 billion stars. The unfortunate thing for the Milky Way galaxy is that it is being "pulled" towards the Daddy of the Local Group - the Andromeda Galaxy, some 2.4 million Light Years away. Andromeda is almost twice the size and mass of the Milky Way; and due to respective gravitational influences, the Milky Way and Andromeda are approaching each other at a relative speed of around 240,000 mph (still dog slow in cosmological terms)

They will both collide in about 4 billion years time.

I will shut the hell up now :)

[Blergh]

Only Zola,

 

Considering how in Greek Mythology, Andromeda was chained naked on a rock to be sacrificed to a sea monster but was rescued by Perseus, it somehow seems fitting that the galaxy named after her not only will spell the end of our own but also is considered the farthest object many humans can see in a clear night sky!  BTW, close to  Jaffa Harbor in modern day Tel Aviv, there is a large rock outcrop where Andromeda was supposed to have been chained to.

[Sandman87]

The first recorded labor strike took place in Egypt in 1152 BC, when skilled workers at the Royal Necropolis walked off the job over unpaid wages.

[Zola]

The Moon is slowing moving away from Earth at a rate of 3.78cm (1.5 inches) per year. The Moon was much closer to Earth hundreds of thousands of years ago, and also dominated the night sky, as well as having a stronger gravitational force on our ocean tides. But as it slowly moves away from us, our ocean tides will also become weaker.

However, Earth's gravity should be strong enough to keep the Moon from ultimately drifting out into space (unless there is some alignment between the planets and Sun which could have a stronger gravitational effect than the Earth can deal with)

[MrSmith]

On 6/28/2017 at 0:31 PM, Blergh said:

On the other end of the scale, there once was a community in West Virginia named '6' [yes, the number itself not the word spelled out].   I wonder what that and the Welch town's inhabitants called themselves.

Sixlets!

[Blergh]

2 hours ago, MrSmith said:

Sixlets!

Ah  what would that Welsh town's inhabitants be known as?  Llanners (and do they pronounce the 'll' the same way the Spanish do)?

[auntlada]

6 minutes ago, Blergh said:

Ah  what would that Welsh town's inhabitants be known as?  Llanners (and do they pronounce the 'll' the same way the Spanish do)?

I believe the Welsh pronunciation is something similar to "thl." I have only seen it explained in books and never heard it, though.

[MrSmith]

Just now, auntlada said:

I believe the Welsh pronunciation is something similar to "thl." I have only seen it explained in books and never heard it, though.

I have heard that town's name spoken exactly one time and I can't recall how it's said. So, not sure what the inhabitants would be called, @Blergh.

[Petunia13]

On 7/18/2017 at 10:48 AM, MrSmith said:

I have heard that town's name spoken exactly one time and I can't recall how it's said. So, not sure what the inhabitants would be called, @Blergh.

Here's a short video with a song that helps 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1BXKsQ2nbno

I elected to display this as a link to the video, rather than embed it so it won't auto-play. 

I watched one season of UK Big Brother that had 2 Welsh cast mates Imogen and Glenn and they spoke Welsh.  It was the season with Pete and Nikki and had the clip show hosted by Russell Brand. 

[Zola]

According to NASA (and other scientific sources), the "average" human body is 70% water; which, by coincidence is the same for planet Earth, which is also roughly 70% water! 

[walnutqueen]

11 hours ago, Only Zola said:

According to NASA (and other scientific sources), the "average" human body is 70% water; which, by coincidence is the same for planet Earth, which is also roughly 70% water! 

Lemme know when they find a planet that's about 30% alcohol, woulja?!  :-D

[ABay]

"I'm goin' I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine/I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine/We can jump in the water and stay drunk all the time."

[walnutqueen]

17 minutes ago, ABay said:

"I'm goin' I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine/I'm goin' where the water tastes like wine/We can jump in the water and stay drunk all the time."

'cause they've figured out how to grow us new livers in that place, eh!

[JTMacc99]

39 minutes ago, walnutqueen said:

'cause they've figured out how to grow us new livers in that place, eh!

In my version of that place, you eat pizza for lunch and dinner and instead of making us fat, it aids the liver to process the alcohol. A win/win for everybody.

[walnutqueen]

20 minutes ago, JTMacc99 said:

In my version of that place, you eat pizza for lunch and dinner and instead of making us fat, it aids the liver to process the alcohol. A win/win for everybody.

My German/Polish family drank vodka like water, but had delicious fatty German food to wash it all down.  They rarely got drunk, never got sick or hung-over, and almost always died of old age.

A girl's gotta have a dream, eh!

[Zola]

1 hour ago, walnutqueen said:

My German/Polish family drank vodka like water, but had delicious fatty German food to wash it all down.  They rarely got drunk, never got sick or hung-over, and almost always died of old age.

A girl's gotta have a dream, eh!

My parents and I, are South African, and we can drink white wine by the bottle and not feel the consequences the day after.

However, none of us can get past one glass of red wine without feeling sick & hungover before we've even got truly started!

[walnutqueen]

21 minutes ago, Only Zola said:

My parents and I, are South African, and we can drink white wine by the bottle and not feel the consequences the day after.

However, none of us can get past one glass of red wine without feeling sick & hungover before we've even got truly started!

Back before you were born (early 80s), my scientist boyfriend scored a trip to South Africa to work the marlin fishing tourneys.  Unlike those of us spoiled by marinas & such in Hawaii, the South Africans launched their fishing boats directly into the heavy surf. They also, according to him, ate an awful lot of fried meat and drank hard booze by the gallon.  In the space of two weeks, he had 2 locals collapse on the beach with heart attacks - one he revived, one, sadly he couldn't (I'm talking big needle to the heart type measures).  We had many friends from your homeland, and they were delightful drinking buddies.  I can't recall a single one ever ordering red wine, now that you mention it!  (But then, I may have still been boycotting that delicious elixir for political reasons, back in the day.  We were a generation of protesters.)   :-)

On Topic?  Yikes!!!

All I can come up with off the cuff is that raccoon don't wash their food.  They wet their paws to soften the skin, so they can better feel the food they are touching/foraging.  But they DO love their water, and dip their paws & noses into the water bowl even when it isn't needed to feel the copious amounts of cat food in bowls at their disposal.  Even the babies love to splash.  ;-)

[Sandman87]

Some Popeye trivia:

• In the original comic strip, Thimble Theater, he began as a minor character. He eventually became the most popular character.
• The word "doofus" probably comes from a character named Dufus in the Popeye comic strip. Likewise, the word "wimpy." Jeep may be originally connected with the strip as well.
• Popeye originally got his strength by rubbing the head of a magic chicken named the Whiffle Hen.
• The Popeye statue in Crystal City, TX in 1937 was the first to be erected by a city in honor of a cartoon character.
• In one cartoon he told his nephews that he was descended from Hercules.

[Blergh]

Good trivia, Sandman.

 

 I'd also like to add that the movie "Popeye" was Robin Williams's first major film role with him playing the title character and Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl ! Alas, the movie bombed. However; the set of its main port of Sweet Haven was built in Malta and remains a popular tourist destination to this day!

 Going back to the original cartoons, Mae Questel [yes, Betty Boop's most recognized voice!] not only voiced Olive Oyl but, for a brief time when the original voice actor  Jack Mercer got drafted in WWII, Miss Questel voiced Popeye himself!

[Zola]

We are 1cm taller in the morning than in the evening

300 million cells die in adult body every minute, but produces 300 billion new cells every day!

The average man/woman can go without food for 20 days, but can survive only 2 days without drinking.

Edited July 22, 2017 by Only Zola

[Blergh]

The human body facts are fascinating, Only Zola.

 

 However; I'm somewhat in the mood for cartoons so I'll give a triviality of one my fave voice artists of all time (but it's linked to human resilliance) : Mel Blanc.

 

Not only did he voice virtually all Looney Toons male voices but in 1961, at age 52, Mr. Blanc was in a near fatal car accident  at Dead Man's Curve in LA,in which he was rendered unconscious. At first the hospital physicians tried to around him by asking him 'Mr. Blanc can you hear me?' but got nowhere. Then after about two weeks one of them thought to ask him 'How you feeling today, Bugs Bunny' to which Mr. Blanc replied (in his Bugs voice)' Eh, just fine, Doc. How are you' and then asked for (and got) responses from his other 'voices'. It would be several days before he started to reply in his own voice and emerge from the coma but he'd always credit Bugs and the others for saving his life!

[Petunia13]