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Author Topic: Useless Fact's Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-18-2002 05:19 PM                        Rated G - Why are rainbows round, and often double? The most common rainbows form when sunlight enters raindrops. The drops act like prisms and disperse the sun's light into the familiar spectrum of colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Rainbows are round by necessity because of the geometry involved in seeing them. You see a rainbow when you have the sun to your back and the raindrops are in clouds in front of you. Rays of light come over your head from behind you, enter raindrops, get dispersed into colors, bounce off the backside of raindrops and come down into your eyes. The eye must Intercept the beam of light coming from the drops at a particular angle in order to see the colors. A visible rainbow will form only if the drops are in the right place, so that there is a certain angle between the sun, the drops and your eyes. The angle must be a constant angle, and the only geometry that keeps that angle constant Involves a circle. You only see the part of the circle that is above the horizon. If you imagine where the rest of the circle is, you will see that you can draw a straight line from the sun through your head to the middle of the circle that the rainbow is part of.It sounds poetic, but it is scientifically true that no two people see the same rainbow. If three people are looking at a rainbow, each is at the right angle for that particular rainbow. Occasionally people will see a second rainbow outside the first rainbow, a bigger circle. The colors in that second rainbow are reversed. The second rainbow is also typically fainter.What happens is that the light follows a similar path, but the light beam bounces twice Inside the raindrops. The two reflections have two effects: the order of the colors is flipped, and on each reflection, light is lost, scattered out of the drop, making the second rainbow fainter and less often observable. To test all this yourself, in warm weather, you can make a rainbow with a garden hose set to a fine spray and the sun at the right point behind you. ~source used: "Book of Science Questions and Answers" by C. Claiborne Ray  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-20-2002 01:43 PM                        Rated G What really killed people of Pompeii? The common notion that Pompeii was destroyed by molten lava is quite erroneous. Had this been the case, excavation would not only be virtually impossible, but little could be discovered as a result of it. Actually, there were two disasters involved in the fate of Pompeii. In A.D. 63, a great earthquake very nearly destroyed the city. Its occupants were still engaged in rebuilding when, in 79, sixteen years later, the eruption of Vesuvius occurred. (Notable as it was, this was by no means the worst Vesuvius could do. In 1631, some 18,000 are believed to have died as a result of a truly cataclysmic eruption. Estimates of those who died at Pompeii generally center around the figure 2,000. However, it was not lava, but rather noxious fumes and ashes, that covered the city and its inhabitants. Those killed by the fumes, often very quickly, were covered by the ash and other small volcanic particles which then hardened, as the result of water from above, to a substance not unlike plaster of Paris. This is how the moulds of corpses and other items, of such fascination to the tourist, were created. ~source used: "The Dictionary of MisInformation" by Tom Burnam  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-21-2002 08:28 AM                        Rated G HULA HOOP Children all over the world have always played with hoops. In ancient Egypt the hoop was made from dried grapevines and was propelled along the ground with a stick or swung around at the waist. During the Middle Ages--fourteenth century--a hooping craze swept through England. It was popular with children and adults. This 'craze' became known as "hooping" and the records of doctors at that time attribute numerous dislocated backs and heart attacks to hooping. The word 'Hula' was first associated with the toy in the early eighteen hundreds when British sailors who visited Hawaiian Islands noticed the similarity between hooping and hula dancing. In 1957, an Australian company began making wood rings for sale in retail stores. An Australian visiting California told Arthur "Spud" Melin and Richard Knerr that children from his country twirled bamboo hoops around their waists in gym class.Knerr and Melin were the founders of the Wham-O, a California toy manufacturer. They created a hollow plastic prototype and it won rave reviews from schoolkids. Wham-O began manufacturing the plastic "Hula Hoop" in a variety of colors. The Hula Hoop was introduced in 1958 and made these two men very rich. Wham-O sold 25 million Hula Hoops in two months. International orders followed numbering almost 100 million.The Wham-O Hula Hoop was made from a lightweight but durable plastic called Marlex which was invented by Phillips Petroleum. By the end of 1958 "Hooping" was dying down but it has never completely disappeared thanks to the fitness craze. It is a fun way to deal with those unsightly bulges around your waist and hips. Richard Knerr was also working on another 'invention'. In 1958 he discovered the '"Frisbie" DID YOU KNOW: A) Truckloads of hula hoops were hijacked on their way to stores by crazed consumers. B) In 1958 a Hula Hoop cost $1.98 in the United States. C) In Japan, nervous officials banned the toy's use in public for fear of mass impropriety. D) Other toys that took the world by storm around the same time--Silly Putty, Slinky and the Super Ball E) WHAM-O was born in a garage in 1948 when entrepreneurs and best friends Melin and Knerr began producing slingshots that sold for 75 cents. F) Knerr and Melin sold their business to Kransco Manufacturing in 1982 and retired. ~this article was written and submitted by 'Lorraine'  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-22-2002 12:52 PM                        Rated G Why do you always wake up before the alarm goes off? A couple of things are at work here* The first part involves your own bodily alarm clock. Everybody experiences circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms are changes in the way your body works over the course of a day. One of these rhythms involves body temperature.Your body temperature usually is highest during the day and drops at night. It reaches its lowest point around 4 A.M. and then rises again. When it does, you begin to wake up. Around 6 or 7 A.M., even though you may not be fully alert, you're aware of whatis going on around you. Then something else happens. Many alarm clocks make a faint click a few moments before they sound the alarm, When you're half awake, you hear this click, even if you're not fully aware of it. Bingo, you're out of bed like a shot, before the alarm has a chance to go off. Fun it's not, but it is a good way to get the blood flowing first thing in the morning. ~source used: "Know It All" by Ed Zotti  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-24-2002 01:56 AM                        Rated G - HOPE DIAMOND This violet- blue diamond most likely came from the Kollur mine in Golconda, India. It originally was a 112 3/16-carat diamond. It was sold to King Louis XIV of France in 1668.In 1673 the stone was recut by Sieur Pitau, the court jeweler, resulting in a 67 1/8 carat stone. It became known as the "Blue Diamond of the Crown".The diamond was set in gold and suspended on a neck ribbon which the king wore on ceremonial occassions. During the French Revolution, the jewels of the French Royal Treasury were turned over to the new government and during a week- long looting of the crown jewels in September of 1792, the Blue Diamond was stolen. The diamond was named for Henry Philip Hope who acquired it in the 19th century.How he acquired it and how much he paid for it remains unknown.The diamond was passed on to Hope's descendants and they in turn sold it to pay off debts.The diamond changed owners numerous times for the next several years. In 1909 it was sold to Pierre Cartier who then sold it to Mrs. Evalyn Walsh McLean of Washington DC in 1911. It was now mounted as a headpiece on a three-tiered circlet of large white diamonds(she later had it set into a pendant). Mrs. Mc Leanowned the stone until her death in 1947. Harry Winston Inc. of New York bought Mrs. McLean's entire jewelry collection in 1949.It included not only the Hope diamond, but also the 94.8- carat Star of the East diamond, the 15-carat Star of the South diamond among others. For the next 10 years the Hope diamond was shown at many exhibits and charitable events world wide by Harry Winston Inc.On November 10, 1958,they donated the Hope diamond to the Smithsonian Institution. The diamond's blue color is attributed to trace amounts of boron in the stone.In the pendant surrounding the Hope diamond are 16 white diamonds.The necklace chain upon which is rests contains 45 white diamonds. According to legend there is a curse associated with the Hope diamond.The legend tells us that the stone was plucked from an idol in India and that bad luck and death would befall not only the owner of the diamond but all who touched it. The Hope diamond has intrigued people for centuries and many believe the curse associated with this diamond led to the beheading of King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. Today, the Hope Diamond is a premier attraction at the Smithsonian Institute. ~this article was submitted by 'Lorraine'  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-24-2002 07:47 AM                        Rated G Today's useless fact - Frisbee: Combine a pie maker from Bridgeport, Connecticut, and an UFO aficionado from Southern California and you come with the Frisbie. William Frisbie's pies, nestled in circular tin pans bearing the family name, were all the rage in 1870's Bridgeport, Connecticut. As years went by, students at nearby Yale University came to consider them a two-fer: not only did they enjoy eating the tasty pies, but they seemed to gain equal pleasure from tossing around the empty pie pan. Meanwhile, Californian Walter Frederick's interest in the UFO craze of the 1950's propelled him into designing his own toy flying saucer. The Wham-O company of San Gabriel, California, bought Frederick's idea and in 1957 set out to turn the rest of country on to the "Flyin' Saucers" craze. When Wham-O president Richard Knerr ventured east he discovered college students tossing Frisbie pie pans for fun. Knerr had a new name for his toy -- the Frisbee -- and America had a new pastime. ~this article was submitted by 'Lorraine'  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-24-2002 08:15 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why does moss grow on rocks? What's the appeal? In a word, stability. It's an anchorage affording some measure of stasis in a turbulent world. Though a moss plant (or lichen) doesn't need its rock for daily food and drink in the way that a tree needs its soil, without something to attach to, these swatches of green velvet would be nothing more than common vagrants, consigned to tumble in the wind until they shriveled and died. So a long time ago the mosses decided to hitch their fate to stationary things — tree roots, cathedral walls, and especially (how can you beat them, really?) rocks. Moss plants have hundreds of sticky root hairs called rhyzoids — lichens, on the other hand, have little clasping tentacles called hyphae — with which they grab onto the rock surface and don't let go. Over time, the acidic compounds in the plants themselves will slowly digest the rock surface, allowing them an even firmer purchase on their real estate. This dissolved crust, in turn, provides the moss and lichen with a bit of calcium and other trace minerals that help their body grow twelve ways. Moss and lichen can be extremely finicky about their choice of rock. Some species will only glom onto limestone, others only basalt or coarse granite. Light exposure, pH, porousness, proximity to water drainage — each species of moss and lichen has a different set of requirements. Once they find a suitable stone and set up housekeeping, where do they get the primary sustenance to go on living?"You'd besurprised," says Alan Whittemore, a noted bryologist, or moss expert, at the Missouri Botanical Garden. "They can get food from wind-blown dirt, from dead leaves that land on them, from nutrients suspended in water that drips from over hanging trees. Even a rat that comes along every twenty years and leaves a single dropping can provide a significant source of nourishment." Bon appetit. ~source used: "Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison" by Hampton Sides  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-25-2002 08:27 AM                        Rated G Useless Fact - Ripe and green olives: Don't count on saving much in the way of calories if you reach for the green ones instead of the ripe ones, as many dieters will tell you to do. Two giant green olives contain fifteen calories, two giant ripe ones sixteen. The ripe ones do have more carbohydrate content, however. ~source used: "The Dictionary of Misinformation" by Tom Burnam  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-25-2002 04:46 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Was kissing under mistletoe a pagan fertility rite long before it became a Christmas tradition? People have believed in the special powers of mistletoe, "Viscum album", since the Bronze Age. Druids thought the plant was heaven sent, perhaps because it seems to appear out of nowhere: It's a parasite that taps its rootlike "sinkers" into a host tree and literally sucks the life juices out of it. It grows slowly, ruthlessly, and doesn't die until its host dies. At the winter solstice, a white-robed Druid priest would climb an oak and use a golden sickle to harvest mistletoe, which most ancient Europeans consid-ered a cure-all, good for toothache, epilepsy, and yes, infertility. (Today we know that mistletoe is poisonous, though researchers recently found that a leaf extract might inhibit the growth of cancer cells and bolster the immune system.) In ancient Rome, the plant was regarded as a symbol of peace. Enemies would discard their weapons under a sprig, declare a truce, and embrace. It was in Victorian England, however, that smooching under mistletoe became fashionable as a romantic Yuletide tradition—and it continues today as the one occasion each year when Brits actually touch. ~source used: "Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison"by Hampton Sides  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-27-2002 10:48 AM                        Rated G Today's useful fact - Thanksgiving: The first American Thanksgiving celebration was held in the fall of 1621 by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. They invited their new Massosoit Indian friends to mark the occasion with food and games. The Pilgrims were very thankful to be alive after surviving a horrible trip over on ther ship "Mayflower" and a very hard year in North America. Here are some interesting facts and fun trivia about this national holiday of food and fun! The Pilgrims and Thanksgiving * Of the 104 passengers that came over on the Mayflower, only 52 survived the first year at Plymouth Rock. Twenty-one of these survivors were under the age of 16.America was, in fact, founded in large by children. * 90 Massosoit Indians arrived for the first Thanksgiving celebration. * Only four Pilgrim women had survived and oversaw the three-day feast for 142 people. * Games were played at the first Thanksgiving and most likely included: "The Staggin Match" where two contestants with their feet tied together and their hands tied behind their backs tried to knock each other down and "A Egge Race To Be Runn," where contestants placed a whole egg in their mouth and raced to a finish line; the first person who crossed with an unbroken egg in their mouth won. * Sarah Joseph Hale, fashion editor for Godey's Lady's Book, started a campaign that made Thanksgiving Day the true national celebration as we know it today. * Although it wasn't the first, Abraham Lincoln's "Thanksgiving Proclamation," in 1863 seems to be the one that put the holiday on our calendars. Turkey * Benjamin Franklin suggested the turkey be the American National Bird and was disappointed when the eagle was selected instead. He felt the turkey had much more moral in character. * The turkey is native to America and has been around for over 10 million years. * The largest turkey on record weighed 86 pounds. * Over 45 million turkeys are eaten at Thanksgiving. * Since 1999, sales of Tofurky, the vegan 'turkey' have increased 110%. * Only male turkeys gobble. Females make a clicking noise * Domesticated turkeys can not fly, but the wild turkey can fly at speeds of 55 m.p.h. and run at 20 m.p.h. * What's a tom? A male bird. The female is the hen Pumpkins: * In colonial Connecticut, pumpkins cut in half were used as guides for haircuts and thus the nickname "Pumpkin Heads" was given to New Englanders. * Pumpkins are native to America. * Pumpkins are a fruit because they contain seeds. * The largest pumpkin on record weighed 1337.6 pounds. * Pumpkins were once used medicinally for removing freckles and curing snakebites. * "Apocolocynposis," means fear of turning into a pumpkin. Cranberries: * There are only three major fruits native to North America: cranberries, blueberries, and Concord grapes. * Cranberry juice is the official state beverage of Massachusetts. * Cranberries got their name either because the cranes love to eat them or their flower resembles a crane's head. Maybe both. It's a debate. * Cranberry Jell-O is the only flavor that comes from real fruit flavor. * You can tell a cranberry is ripe by bouncing it. A perfectly ripe cranberry can be dribbled like a basketball. * "The Great Cranberry Scare of 1959" was the precedent for many more to come. Trace amounts of the weed killer Aminotriazole were found in domestic cranberries. Aminotriazole produced cancer in lab rats. Cranberry sales were suspended and millions of Americans did without cranberry sauce that year. Sweet Potatoes: * Sweet Potatoes are native to America and have been around for 20,000 years. * They are not related to Yams and neither are Potatoes. Sweet Potatoes are a member of the Morning Glory Family while Yams belong to the Lily family. * Sweet Potatoes are rich in vitamin A; yams have none. ~source used: mybackyard.com  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-02-2002 08:52 AM                        Useless fact - Why are yawns contagious? Nobody knows for certain.The main problem is that nobody is sure why we yawn at all. Many people believe we yawn because our bodies are demanding more oxygen. Others say we yawn because it's too warm in the room.I don't know who's right, but I do know this: If it's too warm or there's not enough oxygen around, not only do you want to yawn, so does everybody else in the room. So when you yawn, the power of suggestion is enough to trigger yawns in those nearby.Until someone else comes up with a better theory, I'm sticking with this one. ~source used: Know It All by Ed Zotti  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-03-2002 07:21 AM                        Useless fact - Why are so many people right-handed than left-handed? This is a complicated subject, but it has a simple answer: We don't know. It would make a lot more sense if about half of us were left-handed, or if there were no lefthanders, but when the percentage of left to right is 15-85 or 10-90 (estimates vary), it seems a little odd. True, it's a lot easier to be right-handed these days. Righties are in charge and they've organized things to suit themselves. What with right-handed scissors, right-handed automobile gearshifts, and right-handed guns (if you're a lefty, the shell ejects right in front of your face), the world can be a dangerous place for a southpaw. Not surprisingly, they end up having more accidents. Does that mean there are fewer lefties because they've all been killed off? Thankfully, no—being left-handed isn't that dangerous. It was once believed that everybody was right-handed to start with, but that lefties suffered some sort of brain damage during birth and had to switch. It is safe to say this theory was thought up by a right-handed scientist. You don't hear much about it anymore. But nobody has come up with a better explanation. ~source used:Know It All by Ed Zotti  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-03-2002 12:50 PM                        Rated G :)Useless fact - Weather Vanes Q. Does a weather vane point to the direction the wind is coming from or the direction it is going to? A. The arrow points into the wind. If the arrow is to the north, the wind is from the north. The tall of the weather vane is heavier than the nose, and in some but not all weather vanes, there is some type of flap that moves as the wind blows so that the vane is always aligned with the wind. Weather vanes have been used for centuries, perhaps even millennia. Many are in the form of roosters, an old symbol related to their use on Christian church steeples, high up so that everyone could see where the wind was blowing. The rooster is symbolic of the apostle Peter's denials of Christ, which Jesus had predicted would occur three times before the cock crowed. It signifies how easily faith could be swayed, like a weather vane in the wind. ~source used: "Book of Science Questions and Answers"C. Claiborne Ray  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-04-2002 11:59 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Can bees really detect fear in humans? As far as we know,bees and wasps are not psychics.When a group of hikers comes dumbly clomping through their territory,bees have no telepathic knack for singling out the one bee-o-phobe hiding among the stoics. And yet the bee-o-phobe is indeed the one who often gets stung.Why is this?It just so happens that many of the typical manifestations of human fear are exactly the things that make bees more aggressive.Like many insects,bees don't have exceptionally sharp vision,so they've evolved other senses to detect threats to the queen and her hive.For starters, they're expert at detecting motion.And if there is one kind of motion that they hate,it's sudden, jerky motion—exactly the sort of erratic flailing people exhibit when they panic.(Hence the tai chi fluidity of professional beekeepers.) A panicked person also tends to hyperventilate and to sweat—two more traits that can set bees on edge, as they are extraordinarily sensitive to sudden chemical changes in our sweat and breath. "If you're frightened, you exhale more CO2, and the odors of your sweat become more pungent," notes USDA research entomologist Justin Schmidt. "Bees are one thousand times more sensitive to certain chemicals than we are." If you're venturing into African killer bee country, do what Schmidt does: wear light-colored, long-sleeve clothing, move very s-1-o-w-l-y,and—no kidding—hold your breath. After you get stung once, however, panic does become a prudent response, Schmidt says, because the first bee that nails you plants a pheromone on your body that acts as a homing device for all its stinging compatriots. You're marked. "In that case," says Schmidt, "what you want to do is channel all of your panic to your legs—and make a fast exit." source used: "Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison"by Hampton Sides  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-05-2002 07:31 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why is the ocean salty? Rocks that erode on the continents contain salt, which is brought by the rivers to the ocean. In fact, fresh water rivers carry a certain amount of dissolved minerals. Most of it is commontable salt, NaCl, or sodium chloride. Once the salt gets to the sea, it tends to stay there and accumulate. Sodium chloride is very soluble in water, and the interconnected oceans of the world are very large, so the solution does not get saturated and the salt does not precipitate out. Earlier in the century, it was thought that the age of the earth could be calculated by comparingthe saltiness of all the rivers of the world to the saltiness of the ocean. The figure the theorists came up with was 300 million years. In fact, the earth is about 4.5 billion years old. The reason for the discrepancy is relatively simple. The salty spray of the ocean goes into the air, evaporates, dries, is blown onto the continents, and is recycled back to the rivers, so their salt content is too high for the calculation. If you subtracted the approximate amount of salt that is recycled, you would come closer to the real age of the earth. The concentration of salt in the sea does vary somewhat from place to place. For example, it is lower in the tropics, where rainfall is heavy, and near the mouths of big rivers. The average concentration is usually taken to be 3.5 percent, with about three-quarters of the total in the form of sodium chloride. ~source used: "Book of Science Questions and Answers"by C. Claiborne Ray  |  IP: Logged

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