"Random fact of the day" thread.

[DoPo]

The largest non-technical word is antidisestablishmentarianism, with a mere 28 letters.

There are several others larger than that but they were artificially created to be as long as possible.

If you google do a barrel roll it will obey.

Almon Strowger was the person who created automatic telephone exchange. However, he was an undertaker. He only created the technology, because the wife of one of his competitors worked as a telephone-operator. This meant that when people called, there was a person manually transferring their call to whatever it was for, and the wife transferred the calls to her husband instead of other undertakers. So probably

Spoiler: Don't mess with undertakers otherwise they would create a technology far more advanced that what anybody has

Don't mess with undertakers otherwise they would create a technology far more advanced that what anybody has

Also: epic beard. Don't mess with the beard.

 

[RoBi3.0]

Anitediphobia: The fear that somehow, somewhere, a duck is watching you.

The fun fact that you eat about 8 or so spiders a night is not actually a fact, but a falsehood perpetrated by a scientist for an experiment to see how quickly information travels around the world.

"Magic numbers" is an actual technical term in nuclear physics. These magical numbers are the numbers of nucleons that make up extremely stable nuclei. Nuclei with more or less nucleons are less stable until the next magic number is reached.

Water expands when frozen. This is due to the structure of the H2O molecules that causes them to have intermolecular bonds strong enough to form a sort of crystal structure when the temperature becomes low enough.

Lukewarm water freezes faster than cold water. While apparently a fact I do not know the background behind it, nor do I quite believe it is a fact, but I thought I'd share it.

Start from any page in Wikipedia. Click the (I think) first link in that page, and every subsequent page. You will eventually end up on the philosophy page.

All that I could come up with at this time. I'll see if I can't recall more later

Just tried the wikipedia thing, i got stuck in a loop which doesn't include philosophy, sorry

It's actually the first link not contained with in parenthesis or brackets, and technically not all but something close to 95%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Getting_to_Philosophy

 

[barbzilla]

There is about as much caffene in a apple as in one cup of coffee.

Incorrect, there is no caffeine in apples. This is a common misconception based on Caffic acid in apples.

 

[hashtag]

It is estimated that 1% of people have schizophrenia.
A penny is worth less than the cost of it's materials (zinc and copper cost 1.7 cents)
When a person is sleep deprived, parts of their brain will fall asleep while they are awake.

 

[RuralGamer]

Calling the capital of Thailand Bangkok is the equivalent of calling the Russian capital Muscovy or the capital of the UK Londinium; it hasn't be called that in Thailand for centuries. They call it Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit or just Krung Thep for short.

 

[Fappy]

Calling the capital of Thailand Bangkok is the equivalent of calling the Russian capital Muscovy or the capital of the UK Londinium; it hasn't be called that in Thailand for centuries. They call it Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit or just Krung Thep for short.

Holy shit. That must all the names of their royal elephants throughout history or something.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Just tried the wikipedia thing, i got stuck in a loop which doesn't include philosophy, sorry

It's the first link not in brackets or italics.

 

[Drakmeire]

Biology:Most dinosaurs had feathers
Science: The area slightly outside the sun is hotter than the sun itself
random fact about Michigan: Exit 42 leads to Adams road (Hitchhikers guide reference) Exit 69 leads to Big Beaver road.

 

[RuralGamer]

Calling the capital of Thailand Bangkok is the equivalent of calling the Russian capital Muscovy or the capital of the UK Londinium; it hasn't be called that in Thailand for centuries. They call it Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Phiman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit or just Krung Thep for short.

Holy shit. That must all the names of their royal elephants throughout history or something.

According to Wikipedia, it translates to "The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarma".
Personally I think they should officially cut the end off, all 95%...

Another fact: In WW2, the Allies spent more money, time, manpower and other resources trying to learn about the German nuclear weapons programme than the German government actually spent on said programme.

 

[DJjaffacake]

electrons and photons are particles, but when they pass through a gap they become waves, unless they are being observed

 

[Xenowolf]

The youngest person ever to get pregnant was 5.

 

[Guffe]

I have poop in my fridge, no joke and no pun intended...

 

[Doitpow]

heres a fact of the day, my ass hurts and im having stir fry for dinner

that's just not trying

 

[dontlooknow]

If you drink an average-sized glass of water, the chances are that you'll take in at least one molecule that passed through the bladder of Oliver Cromwell.

Richard Dawkins teach you that?

Not true - I taught Richard Dawkins that... yep, that's a fact.

 

[dontlooknow]

Gah, double post

 

[The Real Sandman]

Arizona has more places called "Hell" than other state in the USA

Bowhead whales are believed to have the longest life span of any mammal on the planet. Some are almost 200 years old.

Clint Eastwood's first film role was as an uncredited extra in the 1955 film Revenge of the Creature, the sequel to The Creature From the Black Lagoon.

It is physically impossible to lick your elbow.

67% of all statistics are made up.

 

[Fatboy_41]

Arizona has more places called "Hell" than other state in the USA

Hell has also had records of snowfall. Meaning Hell did, in fact, freeze over.

 

[Averant]

Hedgehogs float. I think it's all the air trapped in their spines...

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Dogs cannot look up, it's true big Al says so!

My dog can. I see her doing it when I walk up my staircase.