Current Events > Random Interesting Facts ITT #2

(+) Yeah! (+)

Radiation doesn't make other things radioactive.
You can be bombarded with alpha (entire helium nuclei) beta (very fast electons) and gamma (absurdly wiggly photons) radiation and never become radioactive. You just become dead.

Stray neutrons are the only things that make other atoms become radioactive.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King paid the hospital bill for Julia Roberts when she was born.

Bernie in Gundam was voiced by David Hayter (Solid Snake, Guyver, etc)

Leeches were used to predict the weather. This was a common practice during the Victorian era. However, further research proved that this type of prediction method was not reliable.

Poop-based medicine is not only real, but effective!

For bacterial infections caused by Clostridium difficile bacteria, pills containing frozen fecal matter donated by healthy volunteers have been used to help restore the gut microbiome of affected individuals, according to a study.

IKEA is named after the initials of founder Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd, the farm on which he grew up, and Agunnaryd, the nearby village.

A web of ice can form under an iceberg called "Finger of death" that forms a frozen column from the surface to the bottom, freezing everything it touches in it's path.

Video is fascinating, skip to 1:10 for the formation. WARNING: starfish are in the path of this phenomenon and don't survive.

https://youtu.be/93oz36zFuiA

The sun smiled on October 26

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/9/4/AAEhCpAAD3my.jpg

This was actually a gigantic solar flare.

The largest star known is the red supergiant Stepenson 2-18.

It is so huge that if placed at the centre of The Solar System you can kiss goodbye to Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter AND Saturn.

It takes light 9 HOURS to travel around it. In comparison it takes light 14.5 SECONDS to travel around The Sun.

CassandraCroft posted...

It takes light 9 HOURS to travel around it. In comparison it takes light 14.5 SECONDS to travel around The Sun.

a star nine light-hours across is absurdly huge.

Earth is about eight and a third light-minutes from the sun.

The T-shirt was invented for men who did not know how to sew.

MabusIncarnate posted...

A web of ice can form under an iceberg called "Finger of death" that forms a frozen column from the surface to the bottom, freezing everything it touches in it's path.

Video is fascinating, skip to 1:10 for the formation. WARNING: starfish are in the path of this phenomenon and don't survive.

https://youtu.be/93oz36zFuiA

What color is the starfish?

Both main temperature scales are matched at -40

The pisonia tree has thick canopies that encourage birds to nest in the branches. Like many plants, it relies on animals to spread its seeds, and as such has sticky seeds that latch on to birds.

...However, the seeds are so sticky, that the birds become covered with them and incapacitated, which of course means death. Some birds have been found with over 200 seeds stuck to them, while others have their corpses hanging from the tree like disturbing Christmas tree ornaments.

Botanists have no idea why the tree is like this, and scientists have conducted several studies and concluded that the trees gets absolutely no benefit from its killing of birds.

The United States had ship in WWII primarly used for making and storing ice cream.

The ?! punctuation mark has a term.
It is called an interrobang and was invented during the 1960s. This combination of punctuation made it easy for advertisements to express emotional questions. The interrobang originally looked like both marks were overlapped ().

Only owning one guinea pig is illegal in Switzerland. Guinea pigs are herd animals and therefore become severely depressed when alone. Switzerland considered only owning one illegal to practice social rights for animals.

The Yongle Encyclopedia, completed in the early 1400s, was estimated to be the largest encyclopedia in the world until it was surpassed by Wikipedia in 2007.

Napoleon's dong was stolen by a doctor during his autopsy, and eventually purchased by a British collector for $3,000. As it wasn't properly preserved, it was described as "a bit like jerky". It was 1.5 inches long lol. But in all fairness that's partly due to shrivelage...

YugiNoob posted...

As it wasn't properly preserved, it was described as "a bit like jerky"

"Chewy, with a sort of tangy aftertaste."

Vampire_Chicken posted...

"Chewy, with a sort of tangy aftertaste."

Wonder if they used it to make beef Wellington
>___>

The remains of JFK's brain was put in a stainless steel container with a screw-top lid and moved to the National Archives.
There, it was placed in a secure room designated for the use of JFKs devoted former secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, while she organized his presidential papers.
But by 1966, the brain, tissue slides, and other autopsy materials had vanished. And a subsequent investigation proved unable to locate them.

Foppe posted...

The remains of JFK's brain was put in a stainless steel container with a screw-top lid and moved to the National Archives.
There, it was placed in a secure room designated for the use of JFKs devoted former secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, while she organized his presidential papers.
But by 1966, the brain, tissue slides, and other autopsy materials had vanished. And a subsequent investigation proved unable to locate them.

Well, we all get a bit snacky sometimes while working late in the office.

Foppe posted...

The remains of JFK's brain was put in a stainless steel container with a screw-top lid and moved to the National Archives.
There, it was placed in a secure room designated for the use of JFKs devoted former secretary, Evelyn Lincoln, while she organized his presidential papers.
But by 1966, the brain, tissue slides, and other autopsy materials had vanished. And a subsequent investigation proved unable to locate them.

Did they happen to store his brain next to the one labeled 'Abby Normal?'

masterpug53 posted...

Did they happen to store his brain next to the one labeled 'Abby Normal?'

Or did they just pop it through the slot in the door because it was out of office hours?

Have you ever had anything Banana flavoured and wondered why it doesn't taste exactly of Bananas?

Actually they do but it is based on a different type of Banana.

When companies came up with Banan flavoured things the main cultivar at the time and the most imported and exported was a type called The Gros Michele.

But in the 1950's Panama Disease which affects Banana plants almost wiped it out and in the 1960's Banana growers took to cultivating The Cavendish Banana which we all eat today.

The Gros Michele still exists but there isn't enough to import and export around the world.

So Banana flavour is based on Bananas just a different type of Banana.

I remembered that one the other night but forgot some necessary details.

Banana flavoured stuff doesn't taste a lot like Gros Michel either, but that's beside the point.

The CIA faked Vampire Attacks in the Philippines to scare leftist guerrilla forces:

The CIA chose to exploit the Huks belief in the aswang, a vampire-like monster, Filipino folklore said to drain the blood of humans. Back in the 50s, residents of rural Philippines still very much believed in and feared the aswang, so Lansdale took advantage of this.
A unit of Hukbalahap rebels had taken up a prime position on a hill in Luzon. This was the perfect opportunity for Landsdale to deploy his psywar tactics.
When the unit went on patrol at night, Lansdale ordered his people to silently grab the last man in the group, puncture his neck in two places, hang him upside down to drain his blood, then throw his body back out on the trail, a covert and gruesome action.
The rebels, of course, returned later to look for their missing comrade, only to find an exsanguinated corpse that looked like the victim of an aswang attack.
While this might seem like an odd tactic, believe it or not, it worked! The very next day, the frightened rebels fled their hilltop position, losing one of their greatest advantages.Although it only took one fake vampire attack to scare the Huks away from that location, it wasnt the end of things.
Lansdale deployed more psywar techniques, such as painting menacing all-seeing eyes on homes in villages where he suspected Hukbalahap rebels were hiding in the night and broadcasting messages from low-flying planes to make the rebels believe spies were in their midst.
In May 1954, the Hukbalahap surrendered and the rebellion was over, and Edward Lansdale is largely credited with putting an end to it.
While his fake vampire attack wasnt the only event to end the rebellion, it stands out as one of the strangest tactics used against Cold War combatants.

^ IIRC, a similar tactic was used in Vietnam, but it involved the wailing of supposed ghosts

The ancient Greeks believed that there was an inverse relationship between penis size and intelligence. Thats why all their statues look like they just stepped out of a cold shower.

indica posted...

The CIA faked Vampire Attacks in the Philippines to scare leftist guerrilla forces:

The CIA chose to exploit the Huks belief in the aswang, a vampire-like monster, Filipino folklore said to drain the blood of humans. Back in the 50s, residents of rural Philippines still very much believed in and feared the aswang, so Lansdale took advantage of this.
A unit of Hukbalahap rebels had taken up a prime position on a hill in Luzon. This was the perfect opportunity for Landsdale to deploy his psywar tactics.
When the unit went on patrol at night, Lansdale ordered his people to silently grab the last man in the group, puncture his neck in two places, hang him upside down to drain his blood, then throw his body back out on the trail, a covert and gruesome action.
The rebels, of course, returned later to look for their missing comrade, only to find an exsanguinated corpse that looked like the victim of an aswang attack.
While this might seem like an odd tactic, believe it or not, it worked! The very next day, the frightened rebels fled their hilltop position, losing one of their greatest advantages.Although it only took one fake vampire attack to scare the Huks away from that location, it wasnt the end of things.
Lansdale deployed more psywar techniques, such as painting menacing all-seeing eyes on homes in villages where he suspected Hukbalahap rebels were hiding in the night and broadcasting messages from low-flying planes to make the rebels believe spies were in their midst.
In May 1954, the Hukbalahap surrendered and the rebellion was over, and Edward Lansdale is largely credited with putting an end to it.
While his fake vampire attack wasnt the only event to end the rebellion, it stands out as one of the strangest tactics used against Cold War combatants.

Sounds like a hero to me. Idk if the cause was just but he did things in a way that minimalized bloodshed.

Ever worry about needing to pee when you're golfing? Fear no more, a genius invented the Uroclub!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx_cmAIyaDQ

Bear in the Big Blue house was canceled after the actress playing Luna died and everyone else were too bummed to continue :(

The largest recorded snowflake is 15 inches wide.
This was dated January 28, 1887, in Montana, U.S.A. It was stated that army personnel witnessed the falling snowflake as frisbee-sized.

Ah yes, Japan. In Tokyo there's a restaurant called Sushi Singularity that serves 3D printed sushi catered to your body's dietary needs. To book a reservation you need to submit a DNA and urine sample so they can determine what nutrients your body needs lol

It's not close to real sushi though, and has been described as being pretty bland. Rather than using fish and rice, it uses little gel blocks that are injected with different flavors, colors, and nutrients before being formed into "sushi".

The first patent for maglev trains (short for magnetic levitation, trains that use electromagnetism to push the train off the track and propel it forward) was issued to a man named Albert Albertson lol

Toads can lick, too

The infamous dub of the anime Ghost Stories became the way it was for a number of reasons: The anime failed in Japan, so when the rights were given to ADV Studios, there were very little creative restrictions. Basically they just had to keep the character names and the way the ghosts were defeated the same.

And most of the script was ad-libbed because of how they chose to go about dubbing each episode. Whoever arrived at the studio first each day would choose how to set the tone of the script, then the other actors would brainstorm to figure out how to incorporate it into the episode lol

...Which is how we got stuff like the infamous "rabbit" scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RINHjxsPOEg

The gissar or hissar are a very popular sheep breed in Uzbekistan. They are prized for their enormous rumps, by far the biggest of any sheep, and gissar which exhibit the largest rumps sell for the highest prices.
Warning! Image NSFW: https://i.redd.it/o4k3te701k1a1.jpg

Here is a size comparison between The Sun and planets:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/7/4/AAfUmvAAD6dS.jpg

Around an estimated 1,300,000 Earths could fit inside The Sun.

It takes light something around 8 minutes 15 seconds to around 8 minutes 30 seconds depending on where Earth is in its orbit to reach Earth.

Over millions of years, Earth's rotation has been slowing down due to friction effects associated with the tides driven by the Moon. That process adds about about 2.3 milliseconds to the length of each day every century. A few billion years ago an Earth day was only about 19 hours

But earlier this year, scientists discovered that Earth is suddenly spinning 1.59 milliseconds faster.

CassandraCroft posted...

Here is a size comparison between The Sun and planets:

...is mercury missing?

Foppe posted...

But earlier this year, scientists discovered that Earth is suddenly spinning 1.59 milliseconds faster.

Finally, irrefutable scientific proof that our ancestors are indeed rolling in their graves.

Questionmarktarius posted...

...is mercury missing?

I believe Mercury is the smallest visible dot, and the arrow is pointing to an even smaller spec next to it.

CassandraCroft posted...

Here is a size comparison between The Sun and planets:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/7/4/AAfUmvAAD6dS.jpg

Around an estimated 1,300,000 Earths could fit inside The Sun.

It takes light something around 8 minutes 15 seconds to around 8 minutes 30 seconds depending on where Earth is in its orbit to reach Earth.

And then look at the sizes of other stars compared to our sun and realize how tiny we truly are.

Remarkable to think how big things in space are and how much is out there.

this is the other side of the moon:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/7/AAOc9VAAD6g7.jpg

pojr posted...

this is the other side of the moon:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/0/7/AAOc9VAAD6g7.jpg

Feels wrong

EyeWontBeFooled posted...

Feels wrong

For real. No transformers...

The universe is expanding and galaxies are moving farther and farther apart. In the far distant future some alien species will look up at a night sky that would be practically starless.