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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 06-09-2003 04:17 PM                        Rated G Useless Fact - Why does it feel good when you stretch? Stretching sends a signal to the brain,telling it to make your muscles relax. As your muscles relax,you feel less tense.That's why it feels so good to stretch. The muscles in your body are like springs.Imagine a spring that is very tight.You can't compress it much or produce much power with it.On the other hand, if a spring is very loose,it's quite easy to compress it.Once you let go of the compressed spring,it releases a great deal of force. If your muscles are tight,they can't be contracted very far and they don't produce much power.Also, a tight muscle can't absorb much shock and puts even more strain on your joints.Tight muscles not only limit your performance in whatever you're doing;they can also lead to injuries. If you spend just a few minutes a day stretching your chest, back,shoulders,and legs,you'll be more flexible and will feel a lot better. Stretching may not be the fountain of youth,but regular stretching will keep you limber and make it easier to get in and out of your car or pick something up off the ground.You won't be any younger,but you'll feel younger.After all,youth is a state of mind. ~source used: "What Makes Flamingos Pink?" by Bill McLain~  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-10-2003 07:48 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - If I catch the squirrels that have taken over my bird feeder and take them to the woods several miles away, will they make it back to my yard? In other words, do squirrels have a homing instinct? They do have such an instinct. It is not well understood by science, but they will often return several miles. For example, an informal experiment was conducted at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment in Prospect Park, which conducts extensive environmental education programs for schoolchildren and adults. Some years ago, a classroom in the park's Picnic House was invaded by squirrels that would distract the children. So the Center trapped the squirrels alive and transported them to the Dyker Beach Golf Course near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which is about seven miles away from Prospect Park as the crow flies. There is no doubt that the same ones were back in three to four days. They had somehow found their way for more than seven miles,through urban backyards and busy streets, to their preferred habitat. ~source used: "The 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 06-10-2003 03:37 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Did dinosaurs sleep? If so, was it standing up or lying down? Carnivorous dinosaurs like "Tyrannosaurus rex" and "Deinonychus" would probably have slept a lot, based on the analogy of predaceous animals of today, which (whether warm- or cold- blooded) get their meals in big chunks after a quick pursuit, then go back and rest. Lizards often rest after dining on mice, and lions and cheetahs spend most of the time lounging around between hunts. Herbivorous dinosaurs probably did not get a chance to sleep as much, because they would have spent more time eating continuously throughout the day. As for their sleeping positions, scientists suspect that two- legged dinosaurs would have slept lying down, whereas sauropods like the brontosaurus (or apatosaurus), with their long necks and tails and their elephant-like stance on four straight legs, would have been the best candidates for sleeping standing up. It is hard to imagine that "Tyrannosaurus rex" could get much sleep standing up. ~source used: "The 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 06-11-2003 09:44 AM                        Rate G Useless fact - Can a sailboat go faster than the wind? Yes, but you probably can't afford it. Under ideal conditions, certain extremely light multihull sailboats benefit from a phenomenon called "apparent wind"—the true wind combined withthe wind that comes over the bow as you move forward. All sailboats experience apparent wind, but any gain on wind speed is usually checked by the drag of the hull. Boats that routinely outsail the wind are rare because they're extremely expensive and uncomfortable, the esoteric trimaran designs of speed-obsessed engineers. (By the way, it should also be noted that elite windsurfers routinely go faster than the wind, but that's another story.) The world speed record for sailing—46.52 knots, or 53.57 miles per hour—was set by one of these exotic multihulled vessels sailing off the coast of Australia in 1993. By comparison, the most impressive speed ever clocked by an America's Cup yacht was a relatively languorous 22 knots. ~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 06-12-2003 12:13 PM                        Rated G Useless Fact - Has anyone had sex in space? Not that we know of,but apparently,it's become a very hot subject.Rumors, speculations,and outright hoaxes can be found all over the Internet.One of them claims that the first woman in space,a Russian cosmonaut named Svetlana Savitskaya,had sex with one of her two male co-travelers back in 1982.Another, written to look like it was a government document,purports that NASA did tests to try out different sexual positions using a variety of harnesses,grips,and Velcro.There was also speculation about the first married couple to go into space. These and other sexual rumors were never supported by evidence and were denied across the board by the fellow crew members,the guys who watched the live cams,and the principals themselves. Add the privacy issue as a formidable obstacle:Most missions consist of 5 to 7 people in a space that's about the size of a school bus. On the other hand,the answer might also depend on what you mean by sex.We've been talking about two-person sex here.Although nobody's willing to talk about it much,masturbation has probably occurred.In fact,according to Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins,mission doctors advised them to engage in the practice as a way of preventing infections of the prostate gland. ~source used: "Just Curious about History, Jeeves" by Erin Barrett & Jack Mingo~  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-13-2003 12:06 PM                        Rated G Useless fact: Why do auctioneers call out bids in that peculiar, singsong manner? An auctioneer's rapid chant is designed to provide order to the bidding process and keep the bids coming in rapid succession. There is a great deal of uncertainty and hesitation among bidders at a large auction, and this chant acts as a steady cadence that urges the bidders to place their bids quickly. To control a very rapid bidding process auctioneers had to develop an almost musical chant as the only means of enunciating the bids fast enough to keep up the pace. The chant is made to sound even more peculiar by the odd filler phrases auctioneers use to maintain the tempo of the auction. One such filler is "Give me the bid. Little bit more," which comes out sounding like "gimmedebid libbydemo." All of this may make the auctioneers sound funny, but it is essential to the smooth operation of the auction. ~source used: "Ever Wonder Why?" by Douglas B. Smith~  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-14-2003 05:02 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - As Earth spins, what kinds of matter leak out into the universe? We are not residents of a hermetically sealed ball.You'd be surprised how much stuff we leave behind,whether accidentally, incidentally, or on purpose.For starters,gases such as helium, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are constantly defying gravity and escaping from our upper ionosphere,swept away by solar winds. Then, of course,there are light waves—infrared lightreflected sunlight, and the luminance of major metropolises—which are flung into space at a fleet 186,000 miles per second. As for more tangible castoffs, the U.S. and Russian space programs have sent a total of sixty-five probes to other planets and beyond— including the Voyager 1 spacecraft that's currently hurtling out of our solar system carrying a disc of greetings in fifty-five languages, plus recordings of humpback whale calls, Mozart sonatas, and Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." Earthlings have made at least one other notable attempt to leave our imprimatur on the cosmos:In 1974 scientists beamed a potent,three-minute electronic signal from the half-million-watt transmitter at Puerto Rico's Arecibo Radio Observatory. "It was undoubtedly the strongest deliberate message that we've ever sent—easily strong enough to be heard on the far side of the galaxy," says California-based astronomer Seth Shostak with the organization SETI. Arguably our most indelible imprints on the universe, however, are the millions of hours of FM radio and television transmissions that have been inadvertently seeping heavenward for the better part of the last century. "The first TV broadcasts are approximately 240 trillion miles away from us now," says Shostak. "They have washed over some two thousand stars, any of which could theoretically have a planet with intelligent life. Right now there are worlds out there that may be tuning into episodes of 'Mister Ed'—and really wondering." ~source used: "Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison" by Hamption Sides  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-15-2003 02:00 PM                        Rated G Useless Fact - How Father's Day Started: Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd's mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child.Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a "father'sday." In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. Father's Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends are all be honored on Father's Day.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-17-2003 05:57 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Wasn't Sherlock Holmes killed off and then resurrected? Sherlock Holmes "died" in 1893. After 24 Holmes stories in six years, creator Arthur Conan Doyle had grown weary of the popular hero and wanted to focus more on his "real" work, his historical novels. The Holmes series was running in "Strand" magazine out of London, and so to end it, Doyle had Holmes plunge to his death from Switzerland's Reichenbach Falls, holding his archenemy, Professor Moriarty, in a mutual death grip. Public outcry was enormous, but Doyle was adamant about not bringing Holmes back. So why was Holmes resurrected? Money, of course. In 1903, "McClure's" magazine in the United States offered Doyle $5,000 per story if he'd bring Holmes back to life. Doyle as much as said the editors were fools but couldn't resist the deal. To bring him back, Doyle had Holmes come out of hiding after 10 years. He then continued writing Holmes stories for nearly 25 more years, before retiring for good in 1927. ~source used: "Just Curious Jeeves" by Erin Barrett & Jack Mingo  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-18-2003 01:38 PM                        Rated G Useless fact:What is the longest-living animal species? What about mammals? For most animals the idea of an expected life span is meaningless, since so many die shortly after birth and so few die of old age,except in captivity.However, reliable longevity records for individual animals have been kept. The animal with the longest recorded life span is the Marion's tortoise of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. One tortoise lived to be more than 152 years old and found its way into The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. The quahog, a type of clam, is in second place and can survive 150 years if it avoids the dinner table. The mammal with the longest recorded life is man. Some human beings live more than 110 years. After humans, the Asiatic elephant lives the longest; one elephant lived to be 78 years old. The shortest-lived mammal is the pocket gopher, which typically lives for 20 months. ~source used: "The 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 06-18-2003 01:46 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why do champagne bottles have that deep indentation at the bottom? The deep indentation at the bottom of champagne bottles is there for a practical purpose, not just to cheat you out of a little of the bubbly. There are three main reasons for the indentation (referred to as the "punt"). The first relates to traditional design. It was found that a recessed cavity in the bottom made pouring from the bottle much easier, especially for people with small hands. Also, when you hold the bottle by the bottom lip, the warmth of your hands does not raise the temperature of the chilled champagne. The second reason has to do with the history of wine mak-ing. Historically, champagne bottles were stored horizontally for fermentation and aging. By laying the bottles end to end, with the top of one bottle inserted into the punt of another, more bottles could be stored per bin. The third reason has to do with the structural integrity of the bottle. Champagne is under pressure in the bottle. (Hence the warning labels instructing you to aim the bottle away from people when opening. One champagne cork was shot a record distance of 109V2 feet, upon opening!) By having the indentation in the lower portion of the bottle, the glass is made structurally stronger. Next time you pour from a bottle of champagne for your friends, do it by holding the lip of the punt between thumb and forefinger. If you really want to impress them, tell them why the dent is there. ~source used: "The Thoughts for the Throne" by Don Voorhees~  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-18-2003 07:03 PM                        Rated G Useless fact: What is the longest-living animal species? What about mammals? For most animals the idea of an expected life span is meaningless, since so many die shortly after birth and so few die of old age, except in captivity. However, reliable longevity records for individual animals have been kept. The animal with the longest recorded life span is the Marion's tortoise of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. One tortoise lived to be more than 152 years old and found its way into The Guinness Book of Animal Facts and Feats. The quahog, a type of clam, is in second place and can survive 150 years if it avoids the dinner table. The mammal with the longest recorded life is man. Some human beings live more than 110 years. After humans, the Asiatic elephant lives the longest; one elephant lived to be 78 years old. The shortest-lived mammal is the pocket gopher, which typically lives for 20 months. ~source used: "The 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 06-24-2003 05:49 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What blood type is the rarest? There are four basic blood types: A, B, 0, and AB. The most common is type O. Roughly 40 to 60 percent of the population has this blood type. The rarest is type AB. Blood type percentages vary among different populations. For instance, although type O is the most common in the United States, type A is the most common in Scandinavians, Australians, and North American Indians. Here is the breakdown of blood types in the United States: Type A = 40 percent Type B = 10 percent Type O = 46 percent Type AB = 4 percent If we add the Rh factor, then the rarest blood types of all are type AB Rh-negative (1 percent), type B Rh-negative (2 percent), and type AB Rh-positive (3 percent). In an emergency, type 0 blood is a universal donor because it can be given to anyone, while type AB is a universal receiver because a person with this blood type can receive blood from any donor.The donated blood is separated into a number of components.Red blood cells are used to treat anemia, platelets control bleeding and are used to treat leukemia, white cells are sometimes used to fight infection, and plasma controls bleeding. Other products from donated blood include albumin,immune globulin,and clotting factor concentrates. An adult male has about 12 pints of blood in his body, while an adult female has about 9 pints. If frozen, red blood cells can last up to 10 years. Two or three drops of blood contain about 1 billion red blood cells. These cells live only for about four months. The body's bone marrow continually produces new red blood cells. White blood cells fight bacteria and viruses. There are twice as many white cells as red cells in the bone marrow, but there is only one white cell for every 600 red cells in the bloodstream. Although we may marvel at modern technology in collecting, storing,and using blood,it's not all that modern. The first successful blood transfusion occurred in 1665 when Richard Lower, an English physician,kept dogs alive by using blood transfusions. Subsequently there were many attempts to transfuse animal blood into humans, but these were always fatal and the practice was outlawed, preventing any other significant advances from being made for over 150 years. Beginning in 1818, doctors once again started advancing the use of blood transfusions. To improve safety, it was suggested that blood be typed and cross-matched between donor and recipient. The first transfusion using blood typing and cross-matching was performed in 1907. In 1930 a London hospital established the first blood bank. Seven years later a blood bank was set up at Chicago's Cook County Hospital by the director of therapeutics, Bernard Fantus, who coined the term "blood bank." ~source used: "Do Fish Drink Water?" by Bill McLain~  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-24-2003 09:28 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why Is Pubic Hair Curly? If you want to know the anatomical reason why pubic hair is curly, we can help you. Dr. Joseph P. Bark, diplomate of the American Board of Dermatology, explains: Pubic hair is curly because it is genetically made in a flat shape rather than in a round shape. Perfectly round hair, such as the hair seen on the scalps of Native Americans, is straight and has no tendency to curl. However, ribbonlike hair on the scalps of blacks is clearly seen to curl because it is oval in construction. The same is true with pubic hair. . . . But answering what function curly pubic hair serves is a much trickier proposition. Some, such as Samuel T. Selden, a Chesapeake, Virginia, dermatologist, speculate that pubic hair might be curly because if it grew out straight and stiff, it might rub against adjacent areas and cause discomfort. (Dermatologist Jerome Z. Litt, of Pepper Pike, Ohio, who has been confronted with the question of why pubic and axillary hair doesn't grow as fast as scalp hair, facetiously suggests that "not only wouldn't it look sporty in the shower room, but we'd all be tripping over it.") Before we get carried away with our theories, though, we might keep in mind a salient fact—not all pubic hair is curly.Early in puberty, it is soft and straight. And for the readers in Japan or China, this article should have never been posed. The pubic hair of Orientals tends to be sparser and much straighter than that of whites or blacks. ~source used: "Do Penguins Have Knees?" by David Feldman~  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 06-24-2003 09:33 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Did Alexander Graham Bell invent other things besides the telephone? Certainly. He was the inventor of the hydrofoil boat, a  man-carrying kite, the aileron (a moveable part of an airplane wing that helps control rolling), and the landing/take-off airplane tricycle gear. He was also a cofounder of the National Geographic Society. Bell also inadvertently invented a land-mine detector. When President Garfield was shot, Alexander Graham Bell showed up with a metal-detector contraption, hoping to locate the site of the bullet. Unfortunately, in an era when sanitation was poorly understood, President Garfield's health slowly declined from infections introduced by unsterile fingers and instruments being shoved into his bullet wound. Because Bell's invention was able to detect the bullet within the body the principle was later adapted into the land-mine detector. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to save the president. ~source used: "Just Curious about History, Jeeves" by Erin Barrett & Jack Mingo  |  IP: Logged

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