Useless Facts about anything

[USAndretti42]

Where does the energy come from?

[Moxie]

I wasn't sure where else to post this first one, so I figure it's my entrée in to this most intimidating of off-topic TLF threads.

(1) It's a fact that none of you love your Lotuses more than this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzNPt8zeOlU

(2) The cognitive/lexical processing capacity of the human brain is approximately 60 bits per second, although I personally claim no more than 2 bits over an unspecified unit of time before my morning coffee. But at least I'm doing better than this guy:

(3) Using Scotch tape emits X-rays.

[molemot]

I don't know about Scotch tape emitting x rays...but unreeling it does produce a very high static electric charge, which is what I think is shown in the photo. Can't actually see x rays, but the static charge can photograph just like that. I remember having the effect demonstrated back when I was doing Quality Management in microelectronics, which were very prone to being "fried" by static discharges. Used to get total failures after this...or the "walking wounded" which would last long enough to get out the door and fail in service. They were the worst....!!

[Moxie]

That photo's a 30-second time exposure of the visible light it emits, but you can read all about the x-rays here (apparently it happens with all clear tape): http://www.nytimes.c...nce/28xray.html

[Iconic Ride]

Where does the energy come from?

According to some cosmological theorists "the vacuum" (which is, of course, not completely "empty" for a variety of reasons) possesses precisely the amount of "negative energy" (a concept that I have not been fully able to wrap my head around) required to cancel out the Universe's (this one, at least) total net "positive energy." It's the ultimate "zero sum game." There seems to be a "free lunch" effect of sorts, as the lunch has been paid for in advance. Or perhaps no payment was ever required in the first place. At some point it becomes a semantical argument.

Things get especially complicated conceptually when attempts are made to integrate, coordinate, and assimilate "dark energy" and other "exotic" physical aspects of the Universe. Suffice it to say, cosmologists have enough on their plate to keep them very busy for the indefinite future.

Personally, I think "the energy" comes from the vast caloric expenditure generated by the infinite number of keyboard strokes being performed by an infinite number of monkeys typing away at an infinite number of simian compatible computers in an infinite number of universes.

But then you have to ask where the monkeys came from.

[mayevora]

Thread resurrection

Just finished watching Shawshank Redemption

The rock wall where Red's "treasure" is buried was built specifically for the film and stood for many years. It was built by hand by the art department months before filming began. This allowed for the alfalfa grass to grow to make it look weathered. Eventually, the wall was sold on eBay, one rock at a time, by the farmer who owned the land it stood on. The tree at the end of the wall stood until it was cleaved in two by a lightning strike in 2011. Only a portion of its remains now stands, propped up.

[gghc87]

Now that is what I call a useless fact, outstanding

[Iconic Ride]

Speaking of Morgan Freeman, and useless facts connected to him, he played the role of Count Dracula on 780 episodes of The Electric Company,* from 1971 - 1977.

*a children's television series on PBS

He also speaks fluent French, though Hungarian would have been a better choice.

[Moxie]

Morgan Freeman is well-known to my son via The Electric Company as the infamous Easy Reader.

His moves are smooth.

[73JPS]

Leap years occur every 4 years, with the exception of century changes not divisible evenly by 400. Thus, although the year 2000 was a leap year, the century change years of 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not be leap years, even though they would otherwise fall into the regular 4 year pattern.

Since we all witnessed the year 2000 being a leap year, and we are all most unlikely to witness the next change of century (which will not be aleap year), this information is pretty useless... unless you own a perpetual calendar mechanical watch and you need to remind your heirs of the requirement to take it to watchmaker after 2100 to have it adjusted.

[ramjet]

Huh? Where did the 400 rule come from? I've never heard that.

[oneshot]

Absolutely correct - a fact which even some of my esteemed colleagues in academia refused to accept!

[ramjet]

Still doesn't answer where the 400 rule thingy came from? What's the difference with saying the year 2000 was not divisible by 800 either?

Where does the 400 thing originate?

Bloody hell!

I thought, stuff it, I'd have a look myself and found this on wikipedia.

clicky

It's 10:40 pm and now I just have a bloody headache. I'm too tired to try and comprehend this.

[73JPS]

From Wikipedia:

"Some exceptions to this rule are required since the duration of a solar year is slightly less than 365.25 days. Years that are integer multiples of 100 are not leap years, unless they are also integer multiples of 400, in which case they are leap years.^[3][4] For example, 1600 and 2000 were leap years, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. Similarly, 2100, 2200, 2300, 2500, 2600, 2700, 2900 and 3000 will not be leap years, but 2400 and 2800 will be. Therefore, in a duration of two millennia, there will be 485 leap years. By this rule, the average number of days per year will be 365 + 1/4 − 1/100 + 1/400 = 365.2425, which is 365 days, 5 hours, 49 minutes, and 12 seconds. The Gregorian calendar was designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon—i.e. a full moon—that falls on or after March 21) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.^[5] The vernal equinox year is about 365.242374 days long, measured in ephemeris time.^[6]"

[Iconic Ride]

"...unless you own a perpetual calendar mechanical watch and you need to remind your heirs of the requirement to take it to watchmaker after 2100 to have it adjusted."

Now ain't that just like a pilot...always thinking ahead.

Vernal Equinox? Didn't he work with Syd Barrett on The Dark Side of the Moon lyrics?

[73JPS]

Only when I'm sober ...

And oh no... Syd was pretty much gone by the time Dark Side of the Moon showed up...

[mayevora]

To date, there has never ever been a single fatality as a result of a motor accident on a Motorway in Cornwall.

[Iconic Ride]

You sure about that?

Friends of Cornwall Red Squirrels

• Home
  
• About Us
  
• Red and Grey Squirrels
  
• Grey Squirrels & Biodiversity
  
• Squirrel Legislation
  
• Squirrel Facts
  
• How to get involved
  
• Become a Friend
  
• How to donate
  
• Send a donation
  
• Events
  
• Conservation Conference
  
• News
  
• Red Squirrel Links
  
• Online Shop
  
• Thanks to..
  
• Contact Us
  

You can support the Cornwall Red Squirrel Project by becoming a friend. Click here to download our "friends of" form, or just call or email to arrange to have one sent to you. Your freindship money all directly supports the project. You'll be sent a welcome pack containing a pin badge and eco-pen and kept up to date with regular newsletters.

Friends of CRSP are also eligible for discounted tickets at Paradise Park in Hayle, where you can see their captive breeding population of red squirrels.

Post your friends form and cheque to: Natasha Collings Bolitho Estate Office Chyandour Penzance TR18 3LW

© Cornwall Red Squirrel Project | created at www.mrsite.com

[USAndretti42]

No motorways in Cornwall, John.

[Iconic Ride]

Oops.

Cornwall trivia: If you want to travel by helicopter on British International Helicopter Services, Ltd, between Penzance Heliport, Cornwall, and St. Mary's Airport, Isles of Scilly, you'd best get cracking, as flights cease at the end of this month.......after 49 years of service.

[mayevora]

There have only ever been 104 F1 Grand Prix winners.

[ramjet]

A pipe broke on my BMW today that I don't have a replacement for.

I shall now mix and ingest alcohol.

[Iconic Ride]

Was it meerschaum or corncob?

[mayevora]

In humans, each cell normally contains 23 pairs of chromosomes, making for a total of 46 Chromosomes.

Most types of Potatoes have 48 Chromosomes.

[slewthy]

In a similar vein (pardon the pun),

Horseshoe crabs have blue blood. Thats because its based on copper rather than iron.

They are more like spiders than crabs and are really living fossils.

So, they are so completely different to us, yet, are the ONLY non-mammal to have a blood clotting system the same as ours.

 

Figure that one out....