Useless Facts about anything

[ramjet]

I don't think that would be very goo'd though @Bibs

(See what I did there?)

Does make us seem quite insignificant, doesn't it?

I wonder how big a ball would be made if we took everything that humans have made i.e. vehicles, buildings etc and did the same thing with those things?

[Kimbers]

If you put all the gold ever mined in the history of the world, into Olympic sized swimming pools it would still only fill just under 4 pools. 190,000 metric tonnes approx

If you put all the Silver ever mined in the world into Olympic sized swimming pools you would fill nearly 34 pools! 1.6 million metric tonnes

Most Silver is not economically viable to mine even at current silver costs, due to it being spread so thinly through the earths crust, however much of the worlds supply comes as a by product from mining other things such as Gold, Copper & Zinc which have much larger formations (Or like gold is worth much more to make it viable).

In real world product applications Silver is only second in industrial uses to Crude Oil!

This means that whilst there is still 2.5 billion oz of gold in the world there is now only 4 billion oz of Silver left, so less than twice that of Gold. 49% having been lost to industry or land filled in disposed of items instead of being recycled! 

[pete]

For those of a certain age

[Kimbers]

You are more Bacteria than human! The bacterial cells in your body outnumber your human cells significantly. In fact, scientists once thought that ratio was about 10 to one in favour of bacteria, but more recent research has found that's it's likely to "only" be 39 trillion bacteria compared to 30 trillion human cells.

 Stress can make you produce more earwax than usual, and worry-induced wax smells worse than the stress-free kind. The apocrine glands in your ear are the same glands that are responsible for your smelliest sweat, and when you'e stressed or sick, they can encourage faster, smellier earwax production. It's basically the same process that makes you sweat when you're worried

"Ectopic axillary breast tissue" is where breasts stretch out beyond their usual boundaries, often expanding sideways into the armpit. Pregnancy doesn't cause this, but lactation can make it show up – some people find that milk travels to their 'pits when they're breastfeeding, and others even end up lactating from the pores underneath their arms.

 

[Escape]

I do wonder who did the research about earwax. What could possible lead to a comparative smell test??

[ramjet]

It's like watching the shows where they show how underarm deodorants are weighed against each other.

Whole heap of people lined up smelling subject armpits.

[ramjet]

Apparently polar bears are actually black skinned and their fur is clear.

The Cheetah can accelerate from standstill to 60mph in 3 seconds. Not bad for something without an engine. I didn't realise it was that fast.

[ramjet]

So lightning comes before thunder,

so why do we call it Thunder & Lightning?

[Colin P]

4 minutes ago, ramjet said:

So lightning comes before thunder,

so why do we call it Thunder & Lightning?

because otherwise you could not follow it with "very very frightening me galileo..." and that would be a tragedy

[oneshot]

1 hour ago, ramjet said:

So lightning comes before thunder,

so why do we call it Thunder & Lightning?

<pedant mode on>

Actually they occur at the same time it's just that sound travels slower than light in air

<pedant mode off>

[C8RKH]

On 10/08/2021 at 11:57, Bibs said:

I think they're more marketing assets than footballers though aren't they? No amount of skill can justify that salary but if they return more in tickets/merch/tv revenue etc it's a justifiable spend. Not that I'm a football fan, but they're just businesses after all. 

Anyway...

I get a lot of failed links like that one above on here.

[C8RKH]

11 minutes ago, oneshot said:

<pedant mode on>

Actually they occur at the same time it's just that sound travels slower than light in air

<pedant mode off>

Only in air? I thought the speed of sound was slower than the speed of light, full stop. Which is why you see things before you hear them?

It's like feelings and light - you feel the wife clouting you behind the ears before you see it coming!

[ramjet]

I haven't used the word boomerang in quite a while.

I just heard it and saw it spelt (In the subtitles. Hearing ain't what it used to be.) and it sounded and looked odd.

Much like the word "frock'. Just seems odd now in favour of the word 'dress'.

[Bibs]

https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo

There's a lot of stuff in orbit! 

[comem47]

2 hours ago, Bibs said:

https://platform.leolabs.space/visualizations/leo

There's a lot of stuff in orbit! 

And I'd be paranlid about avaiding it. Even though they claim to tarackit it all. A  17000 mph collision is no "fender bender".  😧

[Kimbers]

Scientists have discovered that the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish can revert back to its juvenile polyp stage after maturing, continuing in an endless cycle making it the only known officially immortal creature.

The U.S. government has an official plan for a zombie apocalypse. The 31-page Counter-Zombie Dominance Plan, or CONPLAN 8888-11, was designed in 2011. And just in case you think it’s weird bureaucratic humour, the first line reads, “This plan was not actually designed as a joke.”

Polar bears may be known as being so white they can hide in snow but the truth is they aren’t white at all. Their skin is black and the hairs in their fur are hollow and clear. So why do they look white? Light hits their fur and is trapped inside the hollow part of the hair, causing a reaction called luminescence. In addition, salt particles stick to the bears’ fur and act as light-scattering particles.

[calvan]

6 hours ago, Kimbers said:

 

The U.S. government has an official plan for a zombie apocalypse. The 31-page Counter-Zombie Dominance Plan, or CONPLAN 8888-11, was designed in 2011. And just in case you think it’s weird bureaucratic humour, the first line reads, “This plan was not actually designed as a joke.”

 

I have long wondered about popular culture's fascination with the prospect of a zombie apocalypse. It seems to me that if zombies eat brains, most people are safe.

Present company excluded, of course.

[RobinB5]

Learnt today that when a computer 'boots up', it's a shortening of 'bootstrapping'. On start, the loading of a program to load another program and so on. Bootstrapping sometimes associated with Baron Munchausen and his ability to get himself out of a swamp by pulling up on his own hair.

[Kimbers]

Most sitcom laugh tracks were recorded in the 1950s, so you’ve probably been listening to dead people laughing.

In a recent test over 90% of mobile phones tested had 10 times more germs than an average toilet seat.

Dogs love squeaky toys because the sound mimics small animal's cries of agony after being bitten.

Shaking ketchup turns round tomato particles into a thinner ellipses shape, making it 1,000 times runnier and the perfect consistency for squirting onto fries, burgers, and all your favorite meals.

Banana flavouring in sweets was based on the extinct Gros Michel variety of banana, which had a slightly different taste to todays Banana's. Which is why Banana Flavouring always seems different to true Banana. 

[RobinB5]

5 hours ago, Kimbers said:

Shaking ketchup turns round tomato particles into a thinner ellipses shape, making it 1,000 times runnier and the perfect consistency for squirting onto fries, burgers, and all your favorite meals.

Strictly speaking shaking the ketchup just homogenises the solid and liquid constituents. Any solid particulates don't change shape, they are just better distributed in their liquid matrix, despite commonly copied internet descriptions

[yeller77]

On 26/05/2022 at 04:10, Kimbers said:

In a recent test over 90% of mobile phones tested had 10 times more germs than an average toilet seat.

That's because so many are on one when they're using the other!

Quote

Dogs love squeaky toys because the sound mimics small animal's cries of agony after being bitten.

I can vouch for this. My dog got hold of a baby bunny in the yard recently and had a ball running around with it in his mouth, tossing it and recatching it. Fortunately was just mouthing it but the thing was just squeaking away like his favorite toys. Took me about 15 min before I could coax it from him and let it high tail for the bushes. Apparently none the worse for wear other than PTSD.  

[ramjet]

There is possibly enough canvas in some of Lewis Hamilton's, Oops, sorry Sir Lewis Hamilton's, clothes to make a small tent.

[mayevora]

The first U.K. Driving Test (this was voluntary) was in 1935.

The first person to pass was a Mr Been.

[exeterjeep]

Wonder who taught him to drive.

[pete]

Jeff Bezos' net worth is roughly the equivalent of being given £233,000 every day since Jesus was born.