random facts

[noight]

random, interesting facts always interest me. curiosities for random stuff have driven me to be the person i am today. anyone here share the same perspective and dig on some cool facts? post a few if you do.
t to search for food for the extra crew, the British took over the ship and left the Americans stranded on the island.

in the early 1800s, an american ship saved a stranded british crew on an island. while the americans went out and searched for food for the extra crew, the british crew highjacked the ship and left the americans stranded.

while filming “Blues Brothers,” John Belushi disappeared from the set. Dan Ackroyd went door to door looking for him. A homeowner told him, “Oh, you mean Belushi? He came in here an hour ago and raided my fridge. He’s asleep on my couch.”

two random facts that tickled me.

[Galant]

Today is Thursday.

(Sorry. First thing that came into my head when I saw the thread title.)

[Galant]

Here you go - here's a proper one:

"For almost 100 years, thousands of Americans lived a life of luxury in secluded tropical communities close to the Bay of Panama. Known as "Zonians", they maintained one of the world's great engineering feats - the Panama Canal.

Established in 1903, the Panama Canal Zone constituted a home away from home for the Americans who built and maintained the Panama Canal and the workers who supported them.

The zone was an area of 533 square miles that ran the course of the canal and was controlled by the US. Families were given generous benefits, including subsidised housing, ample holiday time, well-stocked commissaries and attentive staff.

Its residents enjoyed the beautiful weather and more relaxed lifestyle of Panama, while also living in comfortable American-style housing, experiencing a top-notch American education and enjoying all the perks of US citizenship.

"They had a joke - how many Zonians does it take to change your light bulb?" says Jill Bany, who grew up in the Zone. "Two. One to call housing and the others to mix your drink.""

Source.

[KeyboardDemon]

The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

[Galant]

The name of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.

North America?
South America?

[virtuo]

This has the potential to be an -amazing- thread.

Most elevators in Las Vegas casinos don't have a "13th" floor. It's unlucky!

[PixL]

Speaking of unlucky,

There was this guy (can't remember his name unfortunately) who was a rich man who laughed in the face of superstition. So he set off to sail a ship with everything considered unlucky, he found a Cpt. Friday, a crew of 13 men and named the ship the Lucky Thirteen, he set off on his journey (to somewhere) on Friday 13th.

Later that day, the ship sank and everyone died, The End.

(It is true though)

[SeriousSam]

The number used to track data on the internet is named after a former circus performer....

[Repressor]

An apple weighs approximately 1 Newton.

[kalniel]

An apple weighs approximately 1 Newton.

Depends where.

[PixL]

True.

[Galant]

"Each of us is made up of 7 octillion atoms (7 followed 27 zeros) that are mostly empty space. If you could squeeze all the empty space out of those atoms, you could reduce the entire human race to the size of a sugar lump."

"Niels Bohr – the father of sub-atomic physics and a true genius of the 20th century and possibly the brainiest man ever to walk the planet – used to be a footballer... Everybody in Denmark loved Niels, he was brainy, personable, an all round super star and national hero. So much so the Danish brewer Carlsberg built him a house and gifted him a lifetime supply of free beer... Other notable if unlikely goalkeepers include Albert Camus (French existential novelist), Pope John-Paul 2nd (last Pope but one), Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) and Che Guevara (Cuban revolutionary)."

"Polo mints possess a quality called "triboluminescence" which means they will light up when snapped in half. Find a very dark place and snap or crush a Polo mint and it will release a tiny flash of light. It is thought this is caused by the electrons trapped in the crystalline structure of the sugars being released suddenly and violently: they rush about to find a new place to go – hence the glow."

"Trees blow up when lightning strikes... The water inside them instantly boils and expands blowing most of the tree to smithereens."

Source.

[PixL]

Water attracts to a cup that has been rubbed against your hair because the ions inside the water are leaving behind negative or positive atoms (depending on the charge created on the cup) making the droplets of water attract to the cups charge. Hopefully that made sense... :/

[virtuo]

"Niels Bohr – the father of sub-atomic physics and a true genius of the 20th century and possibly the brainiest man ever to walk the planet – used to be a footballer... Everybody in Denmark loved Niels, he was brainy, personable, an all round super star and national hero. So much so the Danish brewer Carlsberg built him a house and gifted him a lifetime supply of free beer... "

Carlsberg logic - this guy has an impressive brain, let's give him the tools to destroy it. (Although Carlsberg is so weak, it's probably harmless.)


To carry on the facts, if he can live long enough, every man will eventually get prostate cancer. And a bonus fact, along with humans, dogs are the only other species to have prostates.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Moose spit is antifungal:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?n...gal-180952154/

[MrJim]

Swimming pools can contain a highly toxic chemical called cyanogen chloride, which is produced when urine comes into contact with chlorinated water. Don't be too alarmed though, the concentration is incredibly small. For a detailed examination into how much urine in a pool it would take to get to lethal concentrations, take a look here:

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/...would-kill-you