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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 08-27-2003 09:23 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What is the world's fastest roller coaster? If you like drag racing or taking off in a jet fighter,you'll love the "Superman,the Escape" roller coaster at Magic Mountain in Valencia, California.The first roller coaster to break the 100 mph barrier,it is currently the world's fastest roller coaster.This high-speed ride launches 15-passenger cars from a standstill to 100 mph in 7 seconds with a force of 4.5 Gs as it heads skyward. At the top,which is 42 stories high, riders experience 6.5 seconds of weightlessness and free-fall backward for the return trip.The fastest inverted roller coaster is the "Raptor" at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky,Ohio.This gut-wrenching ride features a "cobra roll" that flips passengers over, spirals them upside down into a ISO-degree roll, and then repeats these twisting movements in the reverse order, all at speeds of almost 60 mph. Cedar Point also has one of the fastest and steepest stand-up roller coasters. Riders speed over part of a lagoon and, among other thrills,experience four upside-down inversions at 60 mph while standing up. The Cedar Point amusement park has more roller coasters than any other amusement park. The park's 12 roller coasters are in "The Guinness Book of Records" and the park is known as the roller coaster capital of the world. Before the advent of the roller coaster,people paid to drive their cars over an undulating track. Many weddings are performed on roller coasters, and one minister specializes in such weddings. Modern roller coasters take two to three years to design and cost $8 million on up. There is a market for used roller coasters.It is cheaper to take one apart,move it,and reassemble it than to build a new one. The longest roller coaster in the United States is the 1.4- mile "Beast" at Kings Island, Ohio. The oldest operating roller coaster in the United States is the "Zippin Pippin" at Libertyland amusement park in Memphis, Tennessee.It was built in 1915. The origin of the roller coaster dates back to the 1700s when Russians created "ice slides" at country fairs. The slide was a steep drop made entirely of ice with a series of small bumps at the end. Riders sat on a straw patch on top of a block of ice and hung on to a rope tied to the ice block. A French businessman who liked the idea decided to build an ice slide in France. Unfortunately, the ice melted and he ended up with a "slush slide." He then tried an all-weather version by using a waxed wooden slope and a wooden sled with rollers on the bottom. Because it took skill to use these sleds, there were many accidents. As a result, a crude track was built to ensure that the rider would descend in a straight line. The beginnings of the American roller coaster come from the Mauch Chunk Railway, originally devised as a transportation system for coal mines.The mine was at the top of a mountain and the Mauch Chunk port was 18 miles away, all downhill. The miners simplyloaded the coal cars and then pushed them off the top of the mountain. Gravity did the rest and the cars eventually ended up at the port. Used for coal mining during the day, the Mauch Chunk Railway became a pleasure ride at night. People paid one dollar to ride a car down the main track. This "ride" exceeded today's roller coasters,being an 18-mile ride at a speed of 100 mph. The railway operated from 1870 until the 1930s with an exemplary safety record. Roller-coaster designs continued to evolve. Today's innovations include corkscrews, loop-me-loops, suspended cars, inverted cars,and stand-up coasters. ~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 08-28-2003 09:49 AM                        Useless fact - Why are sunsets red? When the sun is low on the horizon, its rays must pass through more of the earth's atmosphere to reach an observer.This means that the rays pass through more molecules and particles in the air that are capable of deflecting and scattering them.It is this scattering that causes a red sunset. The sun's white light is actually a mixture of violet,blue, green,yellow, orange,and red light.When this light passes through the atmosphere,the light on the violet end of the spectrum is scattered much more easily than that on the red end. Therefore,by the time the light from a sun that is low on the horizon reaches an observer, all the colors except red have been scattered and filtered out. ~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 09-01-2003 03:59 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Was the White House always white? Not Always.Back when it was called the "Presidential Palace," it was made of brownstone.However,in 1814 the British captured Washington,D.C., and burned many government buildings,including the Palace and the Capitol.So much of its shell was charred from fire that painting the building became necessary. White covered the burn marks well and brightened the place up.It had never looked much like a palace anyway,and even less so with bright white paint,so people stopped calling it the Palace and started calling it "the white house." Teddy Roosevelt made the popular name official when he had "Theodore Roosevelt, The White House" printed on his presidential stationery. ~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 09-02-2003 06:02 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why is the National Hockey League Championship Trophy called the Stanley Cup? The Stanley Cup is the oldest professional sports trophy in North America. The cup was purchased by Canada's then Governor-General, Lord Stanley of Preston, in 1892, for $48.67. The trophy was awarded to the top Canadian amateur hockey teams. In 1910, the National Hockey Association obtained the Stanley Cup as its championship trophy. The league later became the NHL and the trophy has continued to be its top prize. ~source used: "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 09-02-2003 08:09 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - What does "deseret" mean? Not always a misprint for "desert," as Mormons or those who have lived in Mormon country know. "Deseret" is a word occurring in the Book of Mormon, where it is said to mean "honeybee." A beehive, Utah's state emblem, appears on the state seal, and Utah's nickname is "Beehive State." In fact, the name under which Mormons, who still comprise almost three fourths of the population of Utah, wanted the state admitted to the Union was "Deseret." But their efforts failed, and "Utah," after a Shoshone Indian tribe, was chosen—or, as some Mormons think, inflicted upon them. Salt Lake City's leading evening newspaper,published under the same auspices as the leading morning paper the "Salt Lake Tribune",is called the "Deseret News". ~source used: "More Misinformation" by Tom Burnam~  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-03-2003 07:32 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Whenever I hike for a long time, my hands get numb. What's wrong? Fear not—this is a common vexation that's both simply caused and simply alleviated.When you walk with your arms dangling at your sides for long periods,the steady pendulum-like motion creates just enough centrifugal force to drive the blood downward toward your hands—and keep it there.Because your muscles aren't contracting enough to offset this pressure,the blood in your fingers has to fight gravity to make its way back to your heart. (Notice that runners seldom report this problem because their stride requires more movement of the arms and greater flexion of the elbows.) As the blood pools in your hands, it causes your fingers to become swollen and ruddy. Eventually you get that weird tingling sensation, caused by a lack of oxygen in the blood and also by the swelling itself (which slightly compresses the nerve endings of your fingers). The problem can be greatly exacerbated if you're wearing a backpack with shoulder straps that are too tightly adjusted. The remedy for hiker's hands? Force yourself to flex your hand muscles as you walk,and occasionally bend your elbows or even raise your arms over your head. "Better yet," suggests Northland College Wilderness specialist Grant White, "just carry a walking stick." ~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 09-04-2003 06:39 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why Does Grease Turn White When It Cools? You finish frying some chicken. You reach for the used coffee can to discard the hot oil. You open the lid of the coffee can and the congealed grease is thick, not thin, and not the yellowish-gold color of the frying oil you put in before, but whitish, the color of glazed doughnut frosting. Why is the fat more transparent when it is an oil than when it is grease? When the oil cools, it changes its physical state, just as transparent water changes into more opaque ice when it freezes. When the grease cools, it changes from a liquid to a solid. Because of its molecular structure, it cannot quite form a crystalline structure. Instead, it forms "amorphous regions" and"partial crystals." These irregular areas scatter white light andmake the grease appear cloudy. If grease were to solidify into a pure crystal, it would be much clearer, maybe like glass. Incidentally, paraffins like candle wax behave just like grease: They are clear in the liquid form and cloudy in the solid form. ~source used: "Do Penguins Have Knees?"  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-05-2003 07:26 AM                        Rated G Useless fact(s) - The Great Conquerors: Which conqueror captured the most land in history? Genghis Kahn wins,hands down,with an estimated total of 4,860,000 square miles.That's twice as much land as conquered by the runner up,Alexander the Great. Did Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun ever fight each other? Not in this world. Although both were considered ruthless scourges of civilization and so had much in common,they were separated by thousands of miles.That,and more than seven centuries.Attila terrorized Europe in the fifth century;Genghis terrorized China in the 12th and 13th. How much land did Napoleon conquer? 720,000 square miles. Did Attila the Hun die in battle? No,in bed on his wedding night.After a night of passion,he died of a fatal nosebleed. ~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 09-05-2003 01:05 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - How many coins drop out of circulation every year? Coins disappear from circulation at an alarming rate,especially those worth the least.Within two years,70% of all pennies made today will have disappeared into drawers,piggy banks,or sofas. As the value rises,the disappearance rate goes down:only 14% of nickels,10% of dimes,and 8% of quarters drop out in the same period of time.Ironically,the lower the denomination,the higher the proportionate cost to replace them.Pennies cost about half a cent to manufacture;nickels,about two and a half cents; dimes only a penny;quarters,three cents;and fifty-cent pieces, five cents. ~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 09-07-2003 07:11 AM                        Rated G Useless Fact - Where does the flu come from and why are there different strains every year? Every summer the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta,Georgia, tries to determine which strains of the influenza virus will be appearing in the United States in the coming winter.By watching worldwide trends,they adjust the influenza vaccine to fight the strains most likely to appear that winter. The vaccine is different every year and protects us from several, but not all, flu viruses.Yearly flu variations are usually minor,involving subtle changes in the viruses' outer coat that don't present a big problem to most people's immune systems. However,every decade or two, major changes have occurred in the viruses' spiny protein coat,which most human immune systems cannot recognize and fight off,triggering worldwide epidemics. Major outbreaks in the recent past include the Great Pandemic of 1918 (which killed over 21 million people worldwide),the 1957 Asian flu,the 1968 Hong Kong flu,and the recent SARS epidemics in 2003.Why these major flus originate in China and Southeast Asia is being studied. One theory,presented by two British researchers,zoologist Earnest Naylor and German virologist Christoph Scholtissek, implicate the farming practices common there.In countries like China,they may raise hens,pigs,and fish in one integrated operation.The theory goes that the droppings and leftover food from the pigs feeds the hens.The hen droppings help fertilize the fish ponds. Sounds like a perfect system,raising three different animals with no waste.All three species,however, may be exchanging viruses among themselves via feces. The birds can pass avian flu viruses to the pigs.In the pigs,the two viruses commingle and form into new varieties that are then passed back to the farmers,whose immune system cannot fight the new virus.It has been proven that the viruses that caused the 1968 Hong Kong flu came from ducks. ~source used: "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 09-08-2003 08:14 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What is the difference between green and blue mailboxes? Blue mailboxes are for customers to deposit mail.Green mailboxes are used only by U.S. Postal Service employees and are called "relay boxes."(If you ever try to put a letter in a "green" box, you'll quickly discover there's no opening.) The post office leaves mail in a green box for the postal em-ployee responsible for that route.In this way, postal employees who deliver mail on foot aren't burdened with a heavy mailbag; they take mail from the relay boxes as needed. It's efficiencies like this that help make the Postal Service profitable.In fact,it has been self-supporting since 1982 and receives no government subsidies of any kind. Since 1982,the Postal Service has depended exclusively on postage and fees rather than taxpayer revenue for its operations. Green mailboxes are only one of the many tools used by the Postal Service to maintain an efficient operation that processes 177 billion pieces of mail annually or about 580 million pieces of mail a day.The national delivery network now reaches 125 million addresses. With successful and efficient automation programs,Postal Service employees are 500 percent more productive than those in Germany, 250 percent more productive than those in France and the United Kingdom,and 33 percent more productive than those in Japan. The U.S. Postal Service handles 40 percent of the world's mail volume while Japan,the second largest carrier of cards and letters,handles only 8 percent. The zip code (which is an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan) was created in 1963 by then postmaster general James Edward Day. The Postal Service delivers more mail in 1 day than Federal Express does in a year,and more mail in 3 days than the United Parcel Service (UPS) does in a year. A postal museum,established at the Smithsonian in 1886,houses a collection of more than 16 million mail-related items. ~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 09-09-2003 08:25 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why don't beeswax candles drip? Although beeswax resembles other waxes,its molecular structure is unique.Typical paraffin candles consist of hydrocarbon molecules that react with oxygen in the candle flame and are transformed into water and carbon dioxide,which are then vaporized.Because paraffin molecules are large, not all of them are vaporized and many simply melt in the flame and drip down the side of the candle. Beeswax molecules are small by comparisonm The wax is completely vaporized by the flame,leaving no ash or wax residue.In addition to the smokeless and dripless characteristics,beeswax candles have a higher melting point,burn longer and more cleanly,and give off more light than other wax candles. Honey bees consume 7 pounds of honey for each pound of wax they produce.The resultant wax is white,odorless,and tasteless.The so called natural yellow color and pleasant aroma come not from the wax itself but from the pollen and honey stored in the wax honeycomb. Beeswax was not used to make candles until around A.D. 300,when the Catholic Church mandated that for certain rituals candles had to contain at least 51 percent pure beeswax,the rest of the candle being either mineral wax or tallow.Some ritual candles today consist of 56 percent to 100 percent pure beeswax. Beeswax candles found in Egyptian tombs are still pliable,even though they are thousands of years old.Beeswax candles salvaged from sunken ships are still in good condition even though they have been underwater for hundreds of years. Beeswax is used in the manufacture of lipsticks,floor wax,and other products. So far, no one has been able to produce a good imitation of beeswax candles using other types of waxes. Beeswax candles remain unique to this day. In the Middle Ages,it was customary to give a child a candle during baptism. This is the origin of putting candles on a birthday cake. ~source used: "Do Fish Drink Water?" by Bill McLain~ [ 09-10-2003, 06:15 AM: Message edited by: Bob Maar ]  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 09-10-2003 06:12 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - When birds fly in the rain, why doesn't it hurt their eyes? Birds have a sort of thin extra eyelid called a nictitating membrane that protects their eyes and may do so in the rain. The membrane is not entirely transparent,so the birds may not see clearly,but they can probably see light and dark. As in cats, dogs and other animals,this membrane can flick over the eye very quickly to protect it.It guards against collisions when birds are crashing through brush,and in birds of prey like the peregrine falcon,it closes immediately before impact with victims,covering the eyes as the bird grabs its prey. ~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 09-11-2003 12:36 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why are bats associated with the occult? The Western world's wholesale demonization of this order of mammals dates back to the Old Testament's Book of Leviticus,in which God warned against eating bats and other "unclean fowls." Shakespeare ratcheted the noir atmospherics a notch with his famous" toe of frog,wool of bat" witch-talk in "Macbeth".And things only got worse when Bram Stoker's blood-slurping Count Dracula arrived on the scene in 1897. (In truth, vampire bats account for less than half of 1 percent of all chiropterans and prefer bovine blood over ours any day.) Of course, bats' veiny wings,ratlike body,and nocturnal habits never did much for their reputation."Until the invention of the lightbulb,we seldom went out at night,so bats were shrouded in mystery," explains University of Tennessee bat expert Gary F. McCracken. "But now that we've learned what they do through night vision and radio telemetry, it's helped their public image tremendously." Of late,the bat has been gaining favor for its ability todevour five thousand mosquitoes in a single night—reason,perhaps,why in parts of Asia,it's a symbol for happiness and good fortune. ~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 09-12-2003 10:02 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What is the funny bone,and where's the humor? It's a double misnomer,actually.The funny bone is not a bone, and as some regular sufferers who've ultimately required surgery will tell you,it's not at all funny. The important thing to understand is that the funny bone — also known as the crazy bone in some precincts — is a neurological problem,not an orthopedic one.That tingly,hot-acid sensation we sometimes feel when we bang the inside of our elbows is actually a nerve — the"ulnar nerve" — being struck or compressed. The ulnar is a very long sensory and motor nerve that runs from the shoulder down to our ring and pinky fingers. It's responsible for,among other things,grip and dexterity in the "intrinsic" muscles of the hand.The problem is,the ulnar runs painfully close to the skin at the elbow.Knock it just so and you'll squash the exposed nerve against hard bone, momentarily interrupting the nerve impulse and generating a kind of electric shock that shootsall the way to the fingertips — the physiological equivalent of striking a power main. Think of the funny bone as an anatomical design flaw suffered by some of us in the upper registers of the animal kingdom (other primates such as chimpanzees and orangutans apparently experience the same problem).It's nature's way of punishing us for the hubris of sprouting arms. ~source used: "Why Moths Hate Thomas Edison?" by Hampton Sides~  |  IP: Logged

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