Did you know?... The Interesting Fact Thread

[pig]

Originally Posted by BigBen931

Those are called Fibonacci numbers, right?

The first thing I thought was Pascal that Rascal, and his Magic Triangle. I had forgotten why I made that association, but I find those things to be pretty damn neato.

[Uncle Pony]

Pennsylvania only has two seasons; winter and road construction.

A little known fact to anyone outside Pennsylvania.

[SirLance]

I thought that was just Arizona...

Arco imports no foreign oil, nor does Conoco.

[braindamage351]

The Roman emperors Tiberius, Claudius, and Nero all had the same name:
Tiberius Claudius Nero

[MichaelFarker]

My favorite fact about numbers deals with multiplying 9's. Look at 4x9=36, 5x9=45, 6x9=54, 7x9=63 ... The first digit of the answer is your 9's target minus one (4-1=3 for 4x9=36). Then the second digit of the answer is the number needed to make the answer add up to 9 (3+6=9 for 4x9=36).

Drinking 6+ cups of coffee each day reduces men's chance of developing diabetes by 50%, women's by 30%. (According to a recent study authored by Dr. Frank B. Hu, an associate professor at the Harvard School of Public Health.)
Coincidentally, if an olympic athlete drinks 6 cups of coffee he may be banned, since caffeine is prohibited by the International Olympic Committee (for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine, approx 5-6 cups of coffee).

[spindles]

Originally Posted by MichaelFarker

Coincidentally, if an olympic athlete drinks 6 cups of coffee he may be banned, since caffeine is prohibited by the International Olympic Committee (for more than 12 micrograms of caffeine per milliliter of urine, approx 5-6 cups of coffee).

Actually, according to the TV show I saw during the week, caffeine is no longer on the banned substance list...

link

How far would you go to win at your favourite sport? Would you take anything that's not on the banned list? Or would you refuse even a simple supplement?

In this sweaty episode, John Marsden asks what counts as cheating today. For instance - he tests claims that caffeine improves stamina by about 5% (which is plenty enough to make the difference between fourth and gold) and asks if it's true, how come caffeine is off the banned list for the Athens Olympics?

John also meets people with very different attitudes to the use of drugs and supplements in sport. Chris has been taking steroids to improve his muscles for so long that he's seen both the good and bad effects. But he still thinks it's worthwhile, and is convinced it's not cheating - because steroids alone aren't enough to make you a competition winner.

London's worst hockey team 'The Sinners' are willing to try anything and get roped into an experiment to see if a pharmacy supplement really can give you an athlete's body without the hard work. Can Creatine really be better than exercise?

Mark Richardson, 400 metre sprinter and Olympic silver medallist, tells how he convinced the sport's authorities that his positive test result for the banned steroid Nandrolone, was caused by apparently innocent dietary supplements.

The most interesting part of this was the hockey team though, who showed that taking a creatine supplement was more effective than exercising at improving performance.

[5757]

In Atlanta it is illegal to make faces at school children while they are studying.

It is illegal to fish for whales in any stream, river, or lake in Ohio.

It us unlawful to tie a crocodile to a fire hydrant in Detriot.

It is illegal for barbers in Waterloo, Nebraska, to eat onions between 7am - 7pm

In Portland, Oregon, it is illegal to shake a feather duster in someone's face.

In Knoxville. Tennessee, it is illegal to lasso a fish.

A South Carolina statute states that butchers may not serve on a jury when a man is being tried for murder.

Aren't these funny!? I like reading stuff like this. These are out of a little bathroom fun fact reader!

[itch vaccine]

Originally Posted by 5757

In Atlanta it is illegal to make faces at school children while they are studying.

It is illegal to fish for whales in any stream, river, or lake in Ohio.

It us unlawful to tie a crocodile to a fire hydrant in Detriot.

It is illegal for barbers in Waterloo, Nebraska, to eat onions between 7am - 7pm

In Portland, Oregon, it is illegal to shake a feather duster in someone's face.

In Knoxville. Tennessee, it is illegal to lasso a fish.

A South Carolina statute states that butchers may not serve on a jury when a man is being tried for murder.

Aren't these funny!? I like reading stuff like this. These are out of a little bathroom fun fact reader!

haaha..are these for real? haahaha man they're hilarious..haaahahahah... nice one

[FatFreeGoodness]

"Did you know that urine is sterile? That's right, you can drink it."

Two points: A) It's not sterile. It's generally (but not always) non-pathogenic, but almost never sterile. B) Sterile is not the same as non-toxic.

[pig]

sterile and non-toxic aren't the same as not smelly and disgusting and yellow JinnKai: I channel thee!

[jaymes]

Cockroaches can surivive an atomic bomb but my mom developed a concoction of oven cleaner and streak-free window cleaner that can knock them on their ass.

[pig]

jaymes,

use pure ethanol.

[keyshawn]

If you pay close attention to advertisements for watches, the displayed time will often be 10:10.
This is because, on an analog watch, the 'hands' form a V shape which accentuates the Manfacteur's name or logo.

[ex: http://arkalum.org/images/alumni/watch.jpg ]

- One of my kickball teammates told me this last night, I thought it was pretty interesting and it reminded me of this thread.

catcha back on the flipside,
will.

[thingstodo]

Turtles can breath through their butts.
Wrigley's gum was the first product with a bar code.
Apples arew more efficient at waking you up than caffeine.
The first owner of the Marlboro company died of lung cancer, as did the first Marlboro Man.
Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
Pearls melt in vinegar.
And finally...a duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knowsw why.

[SirLance]

Originally Posted by thingstodo

And finally...a duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knowsw why.

Actually the TV show "Mythbusters" proved that a ducks quack does echo. The reason people thought it didn't is because the echo is acoustically identical to the quack that produced it, making it indistinguishable from the original quack.

[Phage]

Originally Posted by SirLance

Actually the TV show "Mythbusters" proved that a ducks quack does echo. The reason people thought it didn't is because the echo is acoustically identical to the quack that produced it, making it indistinguishable from the original quack.

Add to that the fact that getting a duck into the proper positions to get a good echo going is not common.

[sunkssd]

A hiccup is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm.

Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

[Sage]

apparently vinegar sprayed on a surface followed immediately by hydrogen perioxide (or in reverse order, doesn't matter) is more disinfecting than bleach. Don't know this to be true in the biblical sense, I've just heard it here and there....

[ngdawg]

Originally Posted by MichaelFarker

My favorite fact about numbers deals with multiplying 9's. Look at 4x9=36, 5x9=45, 6x9=54, 7x9=63 ... The first digit of the answer is your 9's target minus one (4-1=3 for 4x9=36). Then the second digit of the answer is the number needed to make the answer add up to 9 (3+6=9 for 4x9=36).

Edit: oops, read it again and you had the sums=9. Another way to look at it any multiplier of 9 will equal a factor(or multiple) of 9 when the sum's digits are added together. 9x31=279, 2+7+9=18, 1+8=9.
Anything multiplied by 5 is half the multiplier x10. Ex: 5x36=180, 5x130=650, 5x112=560, etc.

[maleficent]

Originally Posted by ngdawg

Edit: oops, read it again and you had the sums=9. Another way to look at it any multiplier of 9 will equal a factor(or multiple) of 9 when the sum's digits are added together. 9x31=279, 2+7+9=18, 1+8=9.
Anything multiplied by 5 is half the multiplier x10. Ex: 5x36=180, 5x130=650, 5x112=560, etc.

You can also do the 9 times tables on your fingers to get accurate results...

Put your hands out in front of you palms facing out...

starting with your left hand..

count off on your fingers what you want to multiply 9 by...

for instance 9 x 3

count three fingers and hold down the third finger
you now have 2 fingers the finger held down then 7 fingers...

9 x 3 = 27


While on the subject of fingers... if you hold your palms out in front of you -- drop your thumbs... your left hand makes an L - (sad to admit but that is th eonly way i k now my right hand from my left hand...)

[Charlatan]

Originally Posted by maleficent

While on the subject of fingers... if you hold your palms out in front of you -- drop your thumbs... your left hand makes an L - (sad to admit but that is th eonly way i k now my right hand from my left hand...)

What do you do for your feet?

[maleficent]

Originally Posted by Charlatan

What do you do for your feet?

be double jointed???

[Chamaeleontidae]

Originally Posted by maleficent

While on the subject of fingers... if you hold your palms out in front of you -- drop your thumbs... your left hand makes an L - (sad to admit but that is th eonly way i k now my right hand from my left hand...)

Luckily your not Dyslexic, or you would still be lost...

[avernus]

Bob Marley's song No Woman No Cry is NOT about annoying women. Its about freedom and he is comforting his lady by saying "no women cry". FREEEEEDOM!

[BigBen]

Really?

Wow, that puts a new spin on it. I love that song, and always thought it was about heartache.

[avernus]

I know! I didn't realise for AGES but the lyrics make it kind of obvious:

So dry your tears I say

No woman, no cry
No woman, no cry
Little darlin' don't shed no tears
No woman, no cry

[pwspcs]

Did you know that urinating on your feet in the shower will heal athletes foot?

[itch vaccine]

Wow, I urinate in the shower all the time

*oops* I shouldn't have said that.

[Tama]

Originally Posted by bendsley

'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' is the fear of long words.

It is impossible to lick your elbow. (wondering how many of you might actually try this)

"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

All the planets in our solar system rotate anticlockwise, except Venus. It is the only planet that rotates clockwise.

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

Did you know these are all wrong. plz I encourage self correction so I'll let you look them up

[Tama]

Originally Posted by c172g

Here you dictionary fans go:

Bookkeeper has the most pairs of letters in a row in the English language.

Try Subbookkeeper

Did you know a fact is something waiting to be dissproved so it is no longer a fact. No-one on this planet can state a fact, Try its hard.

[Martian]

Here's one I came across recently that I kinda like.

In the Apple OS to this day (up to 10.3 now, I think), there is a system sound named Sosumi. Most folks look at that and assume that the name is of Japanese origin, but that's not actually true. The real beginnings of the name go back to 1991. An Apple engineer, tired of having to constantly rewrite portions of the sound programs in the current OS release due to the ongoing legal battle with Apple Corps, came up with the name. So why Sosumi? Say it out loud for a hint.

Another potential name for the sound was Let It Beep, but that one was scrapped.

[Willravel]

Martin, that's a really good one! I had no idea.

I just found out Peanut Butter can be made into diamonds.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcr...03diamond.html

Originally Posted by H. TRACY HALL, SR.

We can take some [peanut butter] and put it in this tube which is constructed out of graphite. And we will be heating this in a high-pressure, high-temperature press. And in the process, the peanut butter will be carbonized.

*Willravel runs off to get some Jiffy*

[Nimetic]

Really? Do you have a reference?

That song is great - but the meaning has always been a bit vague for me...

[CaliLivChick]

Originally Posted by Martian

Here's one I came across recently that I kinda like.

In the Apple OS to this day (up to 10.3 now, I think), there is a system sound named Sosumi. Most folks look at that and assume that the name is of Japanese origin, but that's not actually true. The real beginnings of the name go back to 1991. An Apple engineer, tired of having to constantly rewrite portions of the sound programs in the current OS release due to the ongoing legal battle with Apple Corps, came up with the name. So why Sosumi? Say it out loud for a hint.

Another potential name for the sound was Let It Beep, but that one was scrapped.

Wikipedia elaboration...

Sosumi is one of the system sounds introduced in Apple Computer's Macintosh System 7 operating system in 1991. It is an extremely short sample of a xylophone. The sound is still used in modern versions of Mac OS, including Mac OS X.

The sound's unusual name was coined during a trademark dispute with Apple Corps, The Beatles' holding company. The two Apples have a long litigation history, and on the release of System 7 had recently settled a lawsuit over Apple Computer's addition of MIDI capabilities to their products.

Apple Corps' legal team began scrutinizing every audio aspect of the computer. During the development of System 7, they objected to one of the new system beep sounds as having a name that was too musical.

The creator of the new beeps for System 7 and the Macintosh Startup Sound, Jim Reekes, had grown frustrated with the legal scrutiny. Reekes first quipped it should be named "Let It Beep", a pun on The Beatles' "Let It Be", but renamed it Sosumi, which is pronounced "so sue me".

On May 7th 2006, Judge Edward Mann ruled that the Apple logo is used by the iTunes store, not by the music sold by iTunes, and therefore it is not an infringement of the Apple Corps logo.


Now to give a couple original tidbits...

- A whale's penis is called a dork.
- The white reflective squares you see when going down the road will reflect red on the opposite side, letting you know if you're going the wrong way.

[Lady Sage]

The worlds thickest liquid is GLASS
Early settlers used shark skin as sand paper

[trickyy]

no US president was born in the 1930s

[Martian]

I wonder why people don't double-check facts before putting them up?

Glass is a solid.

[newtx]

A mixture of dish washing soap and water will kill wasps. About 1 tablespoon per one half gallon tap water. Use a garden type pump up sprayer and you won't have to buy those expensive wasp killers.

[hulk]

Originally Posted by Martian

I wonder why people don't double-check facts before putting them up?

Glass is a solid.

Originally Posted by From that article

Glass as a liquid
One common misconception is that glass is a super-cooled liquid of practically infinite viscosity at room temperature and as such flows, though very slowly. Glass is generally treated as an amorphous solid rather than a liquid, though different views can be justified since characterizing glass as either 'solid' or 'liquid' is not an entirely straightforward matter [1]. However, the notion that glass flows to an appreciable extent over extended periods of time is not supported by empirical evidence or theoretical analysis.

It could go either way

[wolf]

Originally Posted by retsuki03

What about...wept?

More word trivia....

The only countries in the world with one syllable in their names are Chad, France, Greece, and Spain.

What about Laos and Guam?

Honey is one of the only foods which will never spoil provided it is kept in a sealed container.