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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 03-27-2005 06:34 AM
Rated G ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Useless fact - How did the term "eighty-six" come to refer to cutting an item?
There are well over 86 possible origins for the phrase "eighty- six." The term, used to describe anything that's been cut or cancelled, has been traced to American restaurants and bars in the late 1920s and early '30s. The Word Origins category offers the follwing explanations:
* 86 Bedford Street was the street address for Chumley's, a rowdy New York speakeasy that often forcibly ejected, or "eighty- sixed," drunk and disorderly patrons.
* While most bars served 100-proof alcohol, troublesome clients were often served the "watered down" 86-proof booze.
* A popular menu item was number 86, and so was often out.
* A very popular New York restaurant only had 85 tables.
* An early New York streetcar line ran from 14th street to -- you guessed it -- 86th Street. Conductors would call out "Eighty six! End of the line!"
* In the British merchant marines, crews were held to 85, so the 86th man was left behind.
The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that "eighty-six" is rhyming slang for "nix."
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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 03-29-2005 09:56 AM
Rated G
useless fact - Was Marilyn Monroe's famous beauty mark real or painted on? I don't remember her having it when she was Norma Jean Baker.
You were right to observe that the beauty mark arrived with the transformation of chirpy, brunette Norma Jean to the blond, sultry Marilyn. The early modeling shots from the 1940s show no beauty mark. If it was artificial, however, Marilyn was nothing if not consistent. It always appeared just above her lip, along her dimple line. The sites in the Marilyn Monroe category feature a gallery of stills that attests to this.
Fortunately, the issue was resolved at Skinema, a fantastic site created by a dermatologist that's devoted to movie stars and their facial abnormalities. Marilyn's beauty mark was a facial mole, and was probably erased with make-up in her early career. Other famous celebrities with prominent facial moles include Robert DeNiro, Sherilyn Fenn, and Cindy Crawford.
We also learned that in piercing circles, a "Monroe" refers to a stud inserted above the lip. And as to whether Marilyn had an extra toe on her left foot, as an early publicity still seemed to indicate, the answer is no.
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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 04-01-2005 09:35 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - What world city attracts the most tourists?
According to the Travel Tips category, Paris, France, is the world's most popular tourist destination. Over 80 million foreigners visited France in 2004 and over 16 million of those foreigners visited Paris.
Paris and its surrounding suburbs, known as the Ile-de-France, boast a population of roughly 10.5 million people. Just over two million of those live in Paris proper. The three most popular tourist attractions are Disneyland Paris (12 million visitors last year), the Eiffel Tower (5.5 million), and the Louvre (5 million).
The top five travel destinations (in order) are France, Spain, the United States, Italy, and China. For American visitors, the top five destinations are Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
Finally, the World Tourism Organization presents some cautiously optimistic statistics - for the first time in history, the number of travelers last year exceeded 750 million people. While Europe remains in first place, Asia claimed the number two spot over the Americas.
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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 04-07-2005 01:54 PM
Rated G
Who's the guy on the NBA logo?
As we learned from the Basketball History category, the fabled Jerry West, otherwise known as "Mr.Clutch," is the player in profile on the official NBA logo. As his biography on NBA.com points out, West is widely regarded as one of the greatest guards in the history of the game. Not especially gifted by height or athleticism, he was a notoriously driven player who broke his nose nine times and often had to be carried off the court.
Jerry West grew up in a blue-collar family in Cheylan, West Virginia. After a stellar career at West Virginia University, he was recruited by the Minneapolis Lakers in 1960. The team moved down to Los Angeles that year, and over the next 14 years, West's career with the Lakers proved the stuff of legends.
West was elected to the All Star Team 14 times but only won one championship. He was the third player to score more than 25,000 points, and averaged 27 points per game. His most famous shot, a 60-footer with no time left, sent a 1970 Laker-Knick championship game into overtime.
In 1997, West was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. For the casual basketball fan, the list features some fairly obvious names (Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), but you'll also find some more scholarly choices like Dolph Schayes and Dave Bing.
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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 04-07-2005 01:55 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - When were jeans invented and by whom?
We went to Invention and Innovation category to answer your question. From cowboys to catwalks, blue jeans are big business. Whether you are a celeb with sass, or an average Joe seeking a relaxed look, the style, cut, color, and fit of your favorite pair of jeans say a lot about you. And this year marks the 152th anniversary of the indispensable bottoms. So whom do we have to thank for this most treasured piece of clothing? None other than Levi Strauss, the Bavarian-born American icon who clothed rugged cowboys in their signature work pants. The young immigrant made his way to San Francisco with his siblings in tow and dreams of success filling his head. In 1866, he established a dry-goods store on Battery Street, where it remained for 40 years.
Many of his customers were miners and cowboys who needed rough- and-tumble work clothes. Due to its durable nature, canvas was already a staple of workwear, but it tended to chafe the wearer. Strauss searched around and found a new fabric from France called "serge de Nimes" (later shortened to denim).
One of Strauss' customers was Jacob Davis, a tailor who purchased bolts of cloth wholesale. Davis' clientele included one particularly demanding customer who continually ripped the pockets off his pants. Davis fashioned him a pair of denim pants strengthened with rivets that could withstand a great deal of strain and abuse. Davis' pants were a hit, and he quickly saw the potential for big business. Lacking the $68 to file a patent and protect his design, Davis approached Strauss. The two quickly became business partners and filed a patent for their "waist overalls" on May 20, 1873.
U.S. Patent 139,121 specifically covered the process of riveting men's work pants. Featuring a single back pocket with an arcuate stitching design (a double row of arched stitching -- one of the oldest apparel trademarks in existence), a "cinch" buckle strap on the waistband, and suspender buttons instead of belt loops, the first pair of jeans were officially born in the San Francisco fog.
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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 04-09-2005 12:11 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - What exactly is homeopathy? How accepted is it in the medical world?
A German doctor named Samuel Hahnemann created Homeopathy around 1800. He believed a substance that causes a symptom should also relieve it. This idea of "like cures like" became homeopathy's Law of Similars.
Vaccines work along the same lines by giving a weakened or dead version of a disease to person so his or her immune system will create antibodies to prevent the person from ever contracting the disease. However, in homeopathy, the substances used are not disease-causing germs. Instead, herbs and other natural materials are used in extremely diluted solutions.
The other main principle of homeopathy is the Law of Infinitesimals, which states the more diluted the medicine, the stronger the benefit. Hahnemann experimented with many plant, animal, and mineral substances to see what symptoms they caused and might cure. Because large dosages could be dangerous, Hahnemann tried smaller, more diluted doses. He concluded the best cure was a diluted one. Many homeopathic remedies contain a mere one part per million or less of the herb that is supposed to cure a problem.
Whether or not this works is a matter of debate. Little scientific research has been done on homeopathic remedies, and the studies that do exist are inconclusive. Homeopathy is popular in the U.K., and the British Medical Journal has published several contradictory studies on the subject. A widely cited research paper in August 2000 seemed to show homeopathy had a positive effect on allergic rhinitis.
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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 04-11-2005 01:27 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - How long is wine supposed to breathe before it is served?
This seemingly simple question is a subject of serious study among the sommelier set. With a sip of wine we went to the Wine category to answer your question. To let a wine "breathe" is to expose it to air. This may change the flavor of a wine, but not necessarily for the better. The theory is that air can mellow the tannic or astringent quality in some types of wines. Typically, age is what mellows these flavors.
The only wines that really need to breathe are dry reds that are meant to be aged for many years before serving. If you serve them too young, they'll need to breathe first to achieve some of the complex flavor that age would have given them. Letting a wine breathe is a poor substitute for aging the wine in the bottle, but it's the best you can do if you've already opened that classic red.
If you have a very fine bottle of red that might need to breathe, the safest thing to do is pour a glass and taste it. If the flavor isn't satisfactory, let it breathe in the glass for a short time -- such as while you eat dinner. A wine that tastes especially "tight" or tannic might need to breathe for an hour or two. The longest you might let a wine breathe would be about five hours, but be careful because exposing wine to air for too long may ruin it.
Wine won't get much breathing room if left in an uncorked bottle. To allow air to touch more of the wine's surface area, decant the wine by pouring the whole bottle into another container, such as a glass decanter with a wide body. The action of pouring the wine will expose it to a lot of air, so if you don't have a decanter, a simple carafe or jug will give the wine more room than its original bottle and work just as well.
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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 04-12-2005 01:58 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - When was the Loch Ness Monster first sighted?
According to Cryptozoology category, Nessie, that infamous serpentine monster that calls Scotland home, has reportedly been stirring up both controversy and the murky waters of Loch Ness since at least the sixth century A.D. The very first tale recounting a sighting of the beast was penned in 565 A.D. In the story, Saint Columba saves a swimmer from a mysterious lake monster, although even the Catholic Church has its doubts as to the veracity of the tale. Stone carvings from the area dating back about 1,500 years depict an unknown creature. And in 1868, a local newspaper reported a strange and mysterious fish, saying "neither the name or the species of the strange visitor could be satisfactorily explained."
However, what is considered to be the first modern Nessie sighting occurred on July 22, 1933, by one Mr. Spicer and his wife. Driving down the recently opened road that circled Loch Ness, the couple spotted a large animal crossing the road in front of them. In a letter, Mr. Spicer had this to say about the encounter:
Whatever it is, and it may be a land and water animal, I think it should be destroyed, as I am not sure whether I had been quite so close to it I should have cared to tackle it. It is difficult to give you a better description, as it moved so swiftly, and the whole thing was so sudden. There is no doubt it exists. Many skeptics of the day felt otherwise, writing off the beast as nothing more than an otter. To be sure, Mr. Spicer's story had some serious credibility issues, as the size of the monster changed considerably from retelling to retelling.
The very first photo of Nessie was taken in April of 1934 by Hugh Gray. The photo supposedly showed a long-necked monster parting the waters of the lake, but many are convinced it's simply a blurry shot of a dog with a stick in his mouth.
Since that time, numerous stories and photos have emerged, claiming to document sightings of the mysterious creature, but they have all been subject to intense speculation and skepticism.
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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 04-14-2005 04:46 PM
Rated G :
Useless fact - Why are you supposed to throw salt over your shoulder after you spill it?
Superstitions about salt date back to biblical times when salt was a highly prized commodity. It was expensive, crucial in preserving food, and was often used in lieu of currency. So spilling salt was considered an almost sacrilegious offence, and left one perilously exposed to the devil's machinations.
Throwing salt over your shoulder is akin to blessing someone after they've sneezed -- it's a way of keeping the devil at bay while you're in an especially vulnerable moment. Depending on your interpretation, the salt is either intended to blind the devil so he can't witness your error, or keep him from sneaking up on you while you're cleaning up your mess.
It's important to note that the superstition calls for the offender to throw salt over the left shoulder. As one web site notes, many ancient traditions place the devil to the left of the straight and narrow path. The classic image of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other often shows the sinister imp sitting on the left side.
And if you want to really follow the letter of the law, you're encouraged to throw the salt with your "good," or right hand. Throughout history, the association of right with good and left with bad caused a number of perfectly respectable left-handed people to be burned at the stake.
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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 04-14-2005 05:33 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - How do they make non-alcoholic beer?
According to the links in the Drinking category, the term "non-alcoholic beer" is actually a misnomer. There are trace amounts of alcohol in non-alcoholic beer. Then again, you can also find trace amounts of alcohol in orange juice and bread, as a result of the fermentation process. Commercial definitions of non-alcoholic beer (otherwise known as "malted beverage") vary between countries, but it usually contains a maximum of 0.1% to 0.5% alcohol.
Non-alcoholic beer, or "near beer," dates coincidentally enough to the advent of Prohibition in 1919. President Wilson initially tried to reduce the alcohol percentage of beer to around 2.5%, but the Temperance Society would have none of it. In a bizarre twist, non-alcoholic beer was often artificially "spiked" with grain alcohol and sold illegally.
Non-alcoholic beer is brewed as normal beer, but during the finishing stages of the brewing process the alcohol is removed by vacuum evaporation. This process takes advantage of the different boiling points of water and alcohol.
Since alcohol has a very low boiling point, it's relatively easy to evaporate most of the alcohol in a batch of home brew by simply heating it in an oven after it ferments. You can also try to shorten the fermenting process, but that tends to take more flavor away. While most non-alcoholic beers are lagers, there are also some non-alcoholic ales and bitters.
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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 04-15-2005 01:32 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - Who is D.B. Cooper, and what did he do?
We went to the Famous Criminals category to answer your question. On the evening of November 24, 1971, a smartly dressed middle-aged man jumped out of a Northwest Orient Airlines jet flying over Washington state with $200,000 in cash.
D.B. Cooper boarded a flight out of Portland, Oregon, and shortly after takeoff, handed a flight attendant a polite bomb-threat note requesting the money and four parachutes. The plane landed at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where Cooper's demands were met and the other passengers were evacuated. The plane took off again, bound for Mexico, and Cooper parachuted out along the way. He was never found, and the case remains the world's only unsolved skyjacking.
The name "D.B. Cooper" is actually a misidentification. The gentleman who stepped off the airplane at 10,000 feet bought a ticket under the name "Dan Cooper." He was mistakenly referred to as "D.B. Cooper" by an officer at a press conference, and the name stuck.
Cooper leapt out of the Boeing 727 (the only commercial airplane with a staircase in the rear) directly into American folklore. He inspired songs, books, and a 1981 film starring Robert Duvall. A massive manhunt in the woods north of Portland came up empty, although five years later a boy discovered a bag containing roughly $6,000 of Cooper's money along the banks of the Columbia River. The Mount Saint Helens eruption in 1980 covered most of Cooper's potential landing zone in ash.
Whatever happened to Cooper? He would have been exceedingly lucky to survive the jump -- the plane was traveling at 200 miles per hour in freezing rain. He would have landed in the wilderness at night, at the onset of winter, with no survival gear. But the article from U.S. News suggests that he may have wound up as an antique salesman in Florida. The case remains open.
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