OT - Name your Unusual Fact

[mj4cy]

This thread rocks my face off. It's fun facts like this that lead to the best conversations over a beer or at a campfire ect.

More facts:

-The Capitol building in Denver contains copious amounts of Rose Onyx - and uses all of the world's known supply of it.

-The Washington Monument was the world's tallest building from 1884 to 1889.

-The furthest any human has been from earth was the crew on Apollo 13 who traveled around the moon to use its gravity to launch back to earth (watch the movie if you need more explanation)

-Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa has more escalators than the whole state of Wyoming.

-On a day in April, 1930 the BBC reported there is no news and played piano music instead.

-The sum of all numbers on a roulette wheel is 666.

-Until 1954, stop signs were yellow.

 

[CloneinWDSM]

The earth is flat

 

[SNEDDS3]

Female kangaroos have 3 vaginas. #LifeOfTheParty

 

[NWICY]

Millionaire businessman, philanthropist, and eccentric, Howard Hughes once had a bodyguard by the name of Wilford Brimely. Yep, the "Diabeetus" guy

I prefer to think of him as the oatmeal guy.

 

[NATEizKING]

8 glasses a day of tap water costs $0.49 for a whole year. The bulk bottled water equivalent cost would get you about 5 cups total.

 

[diaclone]

The 10th President, John Tyler, born in 1790, has two living grandchildren.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/tylergrandsons.asp

 

[Dandy]

The 8th POTUS, Martin Van Buren, was the first American born President.

 

[cyclones500]

I prefer to think of him as the oatmeal guy.

I prefer to think of him this way:

“Junk Mail” interrogation, “Seinfeld” (Scene begins at 1:19)



“ … It’s the job of a general to by-God get things done.”

 

[cyclones500]

Not trying to blow any minds but a couple weeks ago I had to use the google machine to prove to a coworker that Toronto is south of Minneapolis

Somewhat related: To travel from Detroit to Windsor, Canada, you head southeast.

 

[cyclones500]

A million seconds is equivalent to about 11 days
A billion seconds is equivalent to about 31 years

 

[HGoat]

A few I learned in school that come to mind..

- Sickle Cell Anemia is a hereditary blood disease resulting from an error in DNA coding that tells the body how to make Hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying molecule in blood. It turns out that this trait was actually selected for, as it is especially prevalent in parts of the world hit hard by malaria and provides people with the sickle cell gene an evolutionary advantage as they have extra resistance to malaria.

- The common bed bug copulates by a process called "traumatic insemination", in which the male pierces the female abdomen with his penis and injects his sperm into her abdominal cavity.

- It is widely thought that the head of the male penis in humans, with its coronal ridges, was selected as an evolutionary advantage because the ridges on the head were used to help expel and displace semen left in the female reproductive tract by other males. (I wish I didn't remember many of the facts I learned in human sexuality HD FS 276 at ISU)

- An axon is the long threadlike part of a nerve cell that conducts impulses from the cell body to project to other parts of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. In the human brain, you have enough axons to wrap around the circumference of the earth more than 4 times.

- Flaming pigs were used in the year BC 266 to combat enemy war elephants.The pigs were doused with combustible pitch, crude oil or resin, set alight, and drove towards the enemy's massed war elephants. The elephants bolted in terror from the flaming, squealing pigs, often killing great numbers of their own soldiers by trampling them to death.

 

[bustamoveisu]

ISU offense only entered the red zone 1 time in their 9-7 victory at Nebraske in 2009.

 

[Bryce7]

The earth is flat

You must be talking about North Dakota which was bulldozed by glaciers and the fall is one inch per mile in places.

 

[Bryce7]

Dark energy and dark matter make up 95% of the universe. What we see is only 5%. Of course finding the dark matter and energy is the challenge for science.

 

[agcy68]

Des Moines is, roughly, the same latitude as Barcelona, Spain.

 

[Bryce7]

The moon may be hollow. One NASA mission a piece of the rocket was jettisoned and hit the surface and the moon made bell-like noises for a minute. The next mission NASA left microphones on the surface and jettisoned a heavier chunk to the surface. It then rang like a bell for three minutes. The only explanation that made sense was that it is hollow. The calculations predict a two and a half mile thick shell. To top that to NASA the depths of all craters small or large are the same depths. That should be impossible unless the surface may be artificial. Is that spooky or what. No wonder NASA stopped going to the moon for awhile.

 

[Bryce7]

The moon has one 16% the gravity of Earth while Mars has 38% the gravity of the Earth. This is why you can lose 15-30% of your muscle mass when operate for a period on either one.

 

[throwittoblythe]

My only takeaway is that I feel bad for the poor bastard who gets elected in 2060

Calling it now: John Abraham for President in 2060.

 

[throwittoblythe]

- 18-35% of people suffer from a condition called Photic Sneeze Reflex which causes them to sneeze when they go from a dark room to bright sunlight. I have this condition and my wife was convinced it was fake for the first 8 years we new each other. Science has yet to solve why.

- Scientists are yet unable to determine what mechanism causes an ice cream headache

 

[jcyclonee]

The southernmost point of Canada is farther south than Ames, IA.

Did Canada invade again?