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Author
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Topic: Useless Fact's
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 06-25-2003 08:41 AM
Rated G ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Useless fact - What Is the Technical Definition of a Sunset or Sunrise? How Is It Determined at What Time the Sun Sets or Rises? Why Is There Natural Light Before Sunrise and After
Sunset?
The definitions are easy, A sunrise is defined as occurring when
the top of the sun appears on a sea-level horizon. A sunset
occurs when the top of the sun goes just below the sea-level
horizon.
But how do scientists determine the times? No, they do not send
meteorologists out on a ladder and have them crane their necks.
No observation is involved at all—just math. By crunching
the numbers based on the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, the
sunrise and sunset times can be calculated long in advance.
Richard Williams, a meteorologist at the National Weather
Service,explains that published times are only approximations of
what we observe with our naked eyes:
The time of sunrise and sunset varies with day of the year,
latitude,and longitude.The published sunrise and sunset times
are calculated without regard to surrounding terrain.That is,
all computations are made for a sea-level horizon,even in
mountainous areas.Thus the actual time of sunrise at a
particular location may vary considerably from the "official"
times.When we observe sunset,the Sun has already gone below the
horizon.The Earth's atmosphere "bends" the Sun's rays and delays
the sunset by about three minutes. Likewise with sunrise,the sun
makes its first appearance before it would on a planet with no
atmosphere.We actually get five to ten minutes of extra sunlight due to this effect.
~source used: "Do Penguins Have Knees?" by David Feldman~
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 06-25-2003 11:43 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - Where did the story of Frankenstein come from?
From a ghost story party in 1816. Nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley, her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley, her pregnant stepsister, Claire Clarement, Lord Byron (father of Claire's unborn child), and Byron's physician, John Polidori, were all staying together on holiday in Geneva, Switzerland. To fill the long, rainy nights during this stay Lord Byron challenged them each to come up with a homespun ghost story. One evening while Lord Byron and Percy Shelley were arguing over whether human life could be artificially created, Mary Shelley was struck with an idea and stayed up to write her tale of Frankenstein. It was a hit the next night at story time—so much so that her fellow storytellers insisted she write a novel-length version for publication.
~source used: "Just Curious, Jeeves" by Jack Mingo & Erin Barrett~
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
|
posted 06-27-2003 05:08 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - Why won't rubber tires stay buried?
Most people,having never tried to bury a tire,are not aware
that one will not stay in the ground.In fact,if you bury a tire
five feet below the surface,it will—under normal conditions—rise
to the top in about ten years.
The reason for this is as follows.The rubber tire,being
resilient,is constantly pushing back against the soil around it.
And since the pressure above the tire is less than that below it,the tire has more success pushing up than it does pushing down.
As this pushing proceeds,small particles of soil around the tire
are dislodged and fall down through cracks and crevices too small for the tire itself to fit through,a process that is accelerated somewhat by the slight movement of the tire as it expands and contracts with changes in temperature.Thus,as the tire pushes upward and the soil around it slowly moves down, the tire migrates toward the surface.
~source used: "Ever Wonder Why?" by Douglas B. Smith~
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 06-27-2003 01:55 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - Do opossums sleep hanging upside down by their tails?
The opossum's tail is,of course,prehensile,meaning that it is
well adapted to grasping and holding on to things.And the
opossum uses its tail in just that way.It holds on to tree limbs to keep from falling,holds on to its young to keep them from falling,and it sometimes even hangs by its tail—and one or more of its paws—when it is eating, grooming its young, or reaching for something it could not reach in any other way.But the fact is,opossums do not sleep hanging upside down by their tails,and drawings of them doing this are inaccurate.Opossums sleep on top of limbs,in crevices,or in recesses just like most other
arboreal animals.
~source used: "Ever Wonder Why?" by Douglas B. Smith~
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 06-29-2003 09:18 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - What was the last song the musicians on the Titanic played?
The eyewitness accounts of Titanic survivors disagree as to what
the band was playing as the ship went under.Many said it was
"Nearer My God to Thee", while others said it was "Autumn",a tune
popular during that time but virtually unknown today.The producers of the most recent film probably chose "Nearer My God
to Thee" because it is still a familiar melody.
As the ill-fated ship began to sink,the band moved to the deck
and began playing in an effort to calm the passengers who were
waiting to be rescued.
Although behavioral psychologists talk about how people panic
during a disaster,they find it difficult to explain the reaction
of the Titanic's passengers in comparison to those of other
maritime disasters.In typical panic situations,the individual
completely disregards the lives of fellow passengers.Yet the
Titanic passengers reacted in the opposite way.Although
everyone knew that the ship was sinking and that there were not
enough lifeboats for everyone,there was little panic.In fact, many men refused to board the lifeboats until all of the women
and children had been rescued first.The crew performed heroically before and after the ship sank.One man exchanged his
life jacket for a sweater;he said that if he were about to die,
he wanted to die like a gentleman.
But perhaps the most heroic action was that of a small band of musicians still playing melodious music as the ship sank beneath the waves.
If the Titanic were built today,it would cost at least $400
million.The ship was known as the R.M.S. Titanic; "R.M.S."
stands for Royal Mail Steamer.At 882 feet,the ship was longer
than the tallest skyscraper in New York at that time.
It took over 22 tons of soap,grease,and train oil to launch the
giant ship.
Christopher Columbus's ship the "Santa Maria" weighed less than
the Titanic's rudder.
Although there were four funnels on the Titanic,only the first
three were used.The fourth was an air ventilator.
The Titanic was the first ocean liner to have a swimming pool and gym.It also had an infirmary and associated operating room.
That fateful night,seven iceberg warnings were sent to the
Titanic.The last and most important was ignored because the
radio room was so busy sending passengers' messages to friends,
relatives,and business associates.
Many survivors saw a nearby ship that must have seen the Titanic's signal flares but never responded to help.It was
thought to have been the steamer "Californian" but a later
investigation proved nothing.
In answer to the radio distress call,the steamer "Carpathia"
arrived nearly two hours after the sinking and picked up the
survivors.Of the over 2,200 people on board,only slightly more
than 700 survived.
The brave musicians were not among them.
~source used: "Do Fish Drink Water?" by Bill McLain~
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 07-03-2003 06:59 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - What did Philo T. Farnsivorth, the
inventor of television, do before becoming an inventor?
Not much.When Farnsworth sketched his idea for a television for
the first time in 1922,it was for a science project,and it was drawn on a high school blackboard in Utah.At the time,he was a 14-year-old farm boy,yet to discover college and the world
beyond.That sketch would prove pivotal in television history,in
more ways than just the obvious.Years later,Farnsworth would
have to battle the radio giant RCA over rights to his patent.
During litigation,that blackboard sketch and his high school
science teacher became crucial evidence in court and made
Farnsworth the first independent inventor to ever win a royalty-
paying patent license from RCA.
~source used "Just Curious, Jeeves" by Erin Barrett & Jack Mingo
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 07-06-2003 08:40 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - "Flipping the bird" around the world:
Thrusting out the middle finger or "flipping the bird" is one of
the more familiar hand gestures. Its popularity is worldwide and
it has been around a very long time. No one is sure how it
originated but we know the Romans used it at the time of Christ.
While the meaning of "the finger" is understood around the world,there are several gestures that are peculiar to different regions.
In most of Europe the V sign is meant to represent victory when
the palm is kept facing away from you,as was popularized by
Winston Churchill during World War II.However,in England and
Australia,when the palm faces in,the V sign means "shove it."
Former President George Bush made the embarrassing gaffe of
flashing the "shove it" sign to the people of Australia during
his 1992 visit there,much to the amusement of the Aussies.The
President didn't know that there are two ways to give the V sign,or maybe he just forgot.Either way, it was not much of a victory for George "down under."
The American OK sign is widely accepted as meaning all right.In
Brazil,however,it is considered obscene.It is also considered
impolite in Russia and Greece.In Colombia,the OK sign is placed over the nose to imply that a person is a homosexual.
Tapping the ends of the index fingers together,in Egypt, indicates that two people are sleeping together.It can also be
used to ask another person to sleep with you.Slapping the
back of the fist with the palm means "fuck you" in Italy and
Chile.The same message can be conveyed in the Mediterranean
by hitting the biceps and lifting the forearm.
In Taiwan, blinking of the eyes is considered impolite.In Italy,
flicking the ear with the finger signifies that the man in
question is effeminate.
Just as there are many gestures in the world to convey one's
negative feelings about another,there are also regional
differences to show approval.Men around the world have several
gestures to imply that a woman is pretty.In the United States,
men lift their eyebrows,in the Arab world a man grabs his beard,
while in Greece he would stroke his cheek.In Italy,a man sticks
his finger into his cheek and rotates it,Frenchmen kiss their
fingertips,and Brazilians will pretend to hold up a telescope to
their eye.
Obviously,almost any gesture can have meaning,either positive
or negative,somewhere in the world.So next time you travel
abroad,be careful how you gesture with your hands,you might
unwittingly attract unwanted attention from the natives.
~source used: "Thoughts for the Throne" by Don Voorhees~
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
|
posted 07-07-2003 06:24 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - Why doesn't the North Star ever appear to move in the sky as other stars do?
Sailors have used the North Star (Polaris) since early times to navigate, since it remains in a relatively fixed location in the northern sky. If you view Polaris from various points around the Northern Hemisphere, you will be facing almost due north. Actually, all stars are set in a fixed position in the sky relative to each other. It is the movement of the Earth, rotating on its axis, that makes the stars, including the sun, appear to move across the sky. (Planets, however, do move on their own through the sky and can thus be differentiated from stars.)
The North Star is situated directly above the northern axis of Earth. Thus, as Earth spins, Polaris, on the northern pivot point of rotation, does not appear to move from its polar position. Hence the name Polaris.
Over the millennia, all the stars are shifting in relation to Earth, due to a phenomenon known as precession. The direction that Earth's axis is pointing is slowly, almost imperceptibly, changing, in much the same way that a spinning top leans one way and then another. This precession occurs because Earth is not a
perfect sphere, but is about twenty-seven miles wider in diameter at the equator than between the poles. The bulge in the middle is caused by Earth's rotation. Earth's slow wobble traces out a circular pattern in the sky, and it takes twenty-six thousand years to complete one circle. For this reason, Polaris will not always be the "North" Star. In about fifteen thousand years, the star Vega will take the place of Polaris in the northern sky. By A.D. 27,990, Polaris will return to its present position as the North Star.
It is easy to find the North Star. Locate the Big Dipper. Form a line between the two pointer stars, follow it north to Polaris.
~source used: "Thoughts for the Throne" by Don Voorhees ~
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Bob Maar
(Maar stands for Maartini)
Posts: 28608
From: New York City & Newport, RI
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 07-08-2003 08:19 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - Earth's core is constantly losing heat, right? Shouldn't we be worried about global cooling?
Actually, Earth is far from becoming the third snowball from the Sun, even though we are perpetually spinning in the subfreezing meat-locker of space. The core got hot about 4.5 billion years ago, when our vulnerable planet is believed to have collided
with another planet-size body. The core temperature was approximately twelve thousand degrees Fahrenheit then, and it's dropped by only about a thousand degrees since.
At present cooling rates, the core should be toasty for tens of billions of years. Besides, geological heat doesn't contribute much to the total planetary energy picture above ground: scientists measure the internal heat energy radiated at the earth's surface in
milliwatts per square meter, and a football-field-size parcel gives off only about two hundred watts—barely enough to power a couple of lightbulbs. It's also true that various radioactive elements inside the earth are producing new heat all the time.
The oven, in other words, is still turned "on." But the main reason the core has stayed hot, according to University of California, Berkeley, geophysicist Raymond Jeanloz, is that rock is a terrific insulator. "Even if you could instantly turn off the core heat, we wouldn't know it for millions of years," he says. "We'd have volcanoes and earthquakes for a long time to come."
~source used: "Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison" by Hampton Sides~
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