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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 11-11-2005 07:39 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - When and where did people first start hiring lawyers and suing each other? Lawsuits are recorded as existing in ancient times. If you take the old testament of the bible as an accurate history of Israel, then you'll see that lawsuits were quite a problem that the leaders had to deal with. In ancient times it the parties involved were brought before the judge, and they pleaded their own cases. The judge then ruled, and the ruling was final. It's hard to tell when lawyers, as we know them today, originated, but it can be deduced from historic texts that 'Experts of the Law' existed in ancient times as well. An example of this are the Pharisees of Israel. They were called 'Teachers of the Law', and were fully versed in the laws of that culture (in this particular case, the 'Law of Moses'). They may have acted as advisors to judges, or even interceded on behalf of the innocent as a defender or prosecutor. Other cultures would no doubt have had 'Wise Men' or other experts in their law. The frequent and excessive lawsuites here in this country exellerated sometime in the 80's. That was about the time we had many more law school graduates than we needed. Also, greed has become rampant since the 80's. Lawyers are actually a necessary evil because without one, there is not much to be done to get out of trouble even if you never did the deed in the first place. People sue now for things they didn't even thirty years ago. People are in debt up to their ears, and will use anything to get money, and there is a glut of attorneys ready and willing to urge them on. Lawyers years ago were usually defending against serious issues, or for recompense of stolen or destroyed property. Now, they can sue even if what happened to them was their own fault.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-12-2005 10:48 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - If they were never cut, how long would one's fingernails grow in a lifetime? The rate fingernails grow depends greatly on the health and diet of a person and also on which finger (the longer the finger the faster the nail grows.) However, it is said that healthy fingernails grow an average of .5 millimeters per week. If you lived to, say, 85-years-old and never had a nail break you would have fingernails around 7 feet long. Back in July 1998, Shridhar Chillal of Poona, India had his record-breaking fingernails measured on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime. The combined length of the five nails of his left hand were found to be a staggering 6.15 m (20 ft 2.25 in). Shridhar does not grow the nails on his right hand.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-13-2005 09:31 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Is it okay to drink coffee that's been sitting out all day? If you can stand the taste! If you are asking if coffee "goes bad", consider the following: Brewed coffee will deteriorate, though not all at the same rate. If you take a commercial coffee like Maxwell House or Folgers and let it get cold, it will be nasty. It will turn bitter. If you take specialty coffee and let it get cold, it is still pretty good tasting. Even specialty coffee will fade and get unpleasant if left in the open air long enough. Coffee oxidizes. It gives off aroma (flavor leaves the liquid coffee). It absorbs ambient aromas (leave coffee next to a counter-top compost bin and in time, your coffee will pick up some interesting new organic esters). It won't hurt you, but coffee is best fresh brewed - there is just so much more going on in a fresh cup. And at 10 cents for an 8 oz. cup, why be cheap?  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-14-2005 12:58 PM                        RATED G Useless fact - What does it mean when someone pleads "no contest"? A plea of No Contest is a defendant’s court plea that he/she will not dispute the charge of a particular crime, also called nolo contendere. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt for the crime’s commission, but the judge will treat the plea as such and proceed to find the defendant guilty as charged. In cases that involve a potential lawsuit for damages by someone who was injured by criminal conduct, a no contest plea will be issued because it cannot be used as an admission of fault in the civil lawsuit. In situations where a "plea bargain" has been reached, a no contest plea will be entered because the defendant does not want to admit guilt but agrees to the sentence that the prosecutor recommended in exchange for not disputing the charge. As a result, the charge is often reduced to a lesser crime. In some Municipal or Traffic courts, a plea of "no contest" to minor infractions is often taken as a plea of "guilty, but with an explanation." It's a way of saying that yes, the law was technically broken, but that you feel there were extenuating circumstances. In that case it will generally cause the court to inquire as to the circumstances and possibly result in reduced fines. Or, as someone put it, a plea of "no contest" means "your honor, I didn't do it, and what's more, I'll never do it again!"  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-15-2005 11:19 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why do people put blinders on horses? linders are usually used to keep the horse focused on what is in front of it. Since the horse can't see everything in it's peripheral vision, it keeps the horse from becoming distracted or scared. You will notice that blinders are used in situations where there may a lot of distractions, such as public places. And the site of most frequent use: race tracks, because some horses don't react well to the sight of horses beside or just behind them. Incidentally, it's supposedly true that if they're blindfolded, horses can be managed in situations that would otherwise panic them, like stable fires, a one-time standby of Western movies. Blindfolds are sometimes put on horses as a method of restraint. It stops the horse seeing what is going on, including sight of the worming syringe, or syringe for injecting into muscle. It is sometimes combined with other restraints, such as knee hobbles, and a twitch. For treatments that require the horse to stay still, restraints are often necessary. It means both horse and handlers stay safe.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-16-2005 10:30 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Where did the peace sign originate? Since we're not quite sure if you refer to the actual peace sign or the peace symbol (we know people who use 'peace sign' interchangeably), we're including answers for both. The peace sign: U.S. President Richard Nixon used the 'victory sign' (a hand gesture in which the first and second fingers are raised and parted, whilst the remaining fingers are clenched) during the Vietnam War to connotate victory, an act which became one of his best-known trademarks. The victory sign was appropriated by the anti-war protesters as a peace gesture, thus becoming the 'peace sign.' The peace symbol: The peace symbol was designed and completed February 21, 1958 by Gerald Holtom, a commercial designer and artist in Britain. He had been commissioned by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to design a symbol for use at an Easter march to Canterbury Cathedral in protest against the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in England. The symbol itself is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters "N" and "D", standing for Nuclear Disarmament. In semaphore the letter "N" is formed by a person holding two flags in an upside-down "V", and the letter "D" is formed by holding one flag pointed straight up and the other pointed straight down. These two signals imposed over each other form the shape of the peace symbol. In the original design the lines widened at the edge of the circle. A conscientious objector who had worked on a farm in Norfolk during the Second World War, Holtom later wrote to Hugh Brock, editor of Peace News, explaining the genesis of his idea in greater depth: "I was in despair. Deep despair. I drew myself: the representative of an individual in despair, with hands palm outstretched outwards and downwards in the manner of Goya’s peasant before the firing squad. I formalized the drawing into a line and put a circle round it." The fact that symbol resembles a bird's foot in a circle gave rise to alternative interpretations, ranging from plain mockery of "crow's foot" and "American Chicken" (a right wing hint that peace is for cowards) to a number of occult meanings from conspiracy theorists, since a crow or a raven is a gloomy bird in various mythologies. The far-right John Birch Society has referred to it as a "broken cross" – accusing the peace movement of repudiating Christ. It has also been called a relative of the Nazi swastika – or the rune algiz inverted, said to mean "hidden danger". It resembles the rune calc.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-17-2005 11:48 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - How can a bullet be traced to a particular gun? We visited the links in the Forensics category to answer your question. In mass-produced guns, different makes and models have standardizing characteristics. Since the 18th century, guns have been made with internal helical grooves cut into the barrels that are similar to the threads of a screw. They form "lands," or metal ridges between the grooves. The lands grip the bullet and give it accuracy, range and spin. The interior part of a gun barrel is the bore, and the caliber of a bullet is determined by the bore's diameter, expressed in hundredths of an inch or in millimeters. As already noted above, when a bullet travels through a gun barrel, the bullet's metal gets worn in a unique pattern by the harder metal of the barrel. Any bullet fired from a specific gun will show the same marks, unless there's been some intentional alteration between firings. So, when a suspect is found a his gun is analyzed, forensic technicians will fire some rounds of ammo against a body of water or gel (any soft resistance substance) that will not smash the bullet, and will let them compare the "tunnel engravings" on these lab- fired bullets with the ones found on a crime scene. You can say that this gun tunnel marks are like finger-prints.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-18-2005 02:41 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Is swallowing toothpaste harmful? It depends on the toothpaste. Some tooth pastes have additives to whiten teeth or others for sensitive teeth some have hydrogen peroxide. In these cases' and others, swallowing can be harmful. Most toothpastes have fluoride added which is good in one's diet in small quantities (such as in water supply) but constantly swallowed in levels that are in tooth pastes can have harmful effects (including increased tooth deterioration). Children’s tooth pastes often have lower levels of fluoride or other potentially harmful substances and therefore are not as much of a concern when swallowed. Overall, probably better to not eat your toothpaste, but a "pea-sized" amount swallowed every now and then shouldn't cost you any shut eye.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-21-2005 06:33 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Who wrote the Star Wars series originally, and when? Star Wars-based fiction predates the release of the first movie, with the novelization of "A New Hope" (by Alan Dean Foster but credited to George Lucas) released some months before the film itself. In 1978, Foster wrote the first original Star Wars novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, inaugurating a very successful literary spin-off franchise. The six Star Wars movies offer the basis for which dozens of books have been written. The books have been officially authorized by LucasFilm, and were previously published by Bantam Books (with a few early titles published by Ballantine), though Del Rey now holds the contract again. The stories told by these books extend from a time long before The Phantom Menace, to a time long after Return of the Jedi. Books authorized by Lucas are written by fans of the films, and are part of a collection known as Expanded Universe. The first books considered to be part of the Expanded Universe began to appear in the late 1970s. The Expanded Universe has been making its way through a revolution as of late in the New Jedi Order (NJO) series, which recently was wrapped up in The Unifying Force. The NJO has told the story of the galaxy's horrific invasion by the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong, and has seen the passing of many heroic characters. Some fans of the original Star Wars movies reject the literary works of the Expanded Universe, and insist only the films or statements George Lucas has made interpreting his own works, can be accepted as canonical. In spite of this viewpoint, there are very few continuity errors in the Star Wars sage, increasingly less since the release of the prequel trilogy of movies. Expanded Universe fiction is the officially-sanctioned continuation of George Lucas's six-film saga. Other books include such titles as The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide, which detail things about the Star Wars universe and the films in a "non-fiction" style. Perhaps the most widely acclaimed contribution was Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, which covered what many fans had hoped would constitute Episodes 7, 8 , and 9. These books are considered to have captured the story and flavor of the original movie trilogy very well and drew upon existing published works from other previous Star Wars-based fiction writers. Check out the links in our Star Wars category for more.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-21-2005 10:56 AM                        Rated G useless fact - At a bar, what is a "well" dry "Well" drinks are made from the cheap house liquors on hand. [/b] Well drinks differ from 'call' or 'top shelf' in that if a guest doesn't specify their liquor, the bartender (unless they are exceptional, and 'upsells' or suggests a higher-tier liquor) normally the drink will be made with the well liquors. "I'd like a gin and tonic" vs. "I'd like a Bombay Sapphire and tonic" (with two limes!!)  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-26-2005 08:17 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - How did France get its name? The borders of modern France closely align with those of the ancient territory of Gaul, inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. Gaul was conquered by the Romans in the first century BC, and the Gauls eventually adopted Romance speech and culture. Gaul's eastern frontiers along the Rhine were overrun by Germanic tribes in the fourth century AD, principally the Franks, from which the ancient name of "Francie" derived. The modern name "France" derives from the name of the feudal domain of the Capetian Kings of Francia (France) around Paris  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-26-2005 01:04 PM                        Rated G Useless fact Should you exercise 7 days a week, or is taking a break important? Taking a break is important. Exercising builds muscle. Muscle needs rest to repair itself. Granted, weight training builds more muscle than cardio work (running, cycling, swimming, etc), and so rest is even more important. One should also keep in mind that if you aren't performing the same exercise every day, then the days you aren't performing it are days of rest. For example, if you run Monday, Wednesday and Friday and go rowing Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, then you are resting each muscle group for three days each week.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-27-2005 11:02 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - When a woman becomes President, what will her husband's title be? When a woman becomes President, there will be so many precedent setting events that we think that her husband's title will be one of the last things that the White House will be worried about. We like the suggestion of 'First Gentleman', but we suppose the official protocol folks will have the final word. No doubt the press and other media will coin their own title, as will the other political party or parties, the one(s) the President does not belong to. Will the First Gentleman host official dinners? Change the china? Host tea parties? Present televised tours? Come up with catchy slogans ( Just say YOH!) ? First partners have a very busy life. BTW, we suppose there would be a 'First Lady', if the first female President were half of a 'same gender' couple.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-28-2005 05:54 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Do some bees really die after they sting or is this a myth? Honeybees die after stinging. The "stinger" is an undeveloped sex organ. Worker bees are undeveloped females, who will develop no further. In the fully developed female or queen bee the stinger is the ovipositor (egg depositing tube) connected to her ovaries, it's just a smooth sharp tube. In the fully developed male, or drone, it's the equivalent of a penis, but it's not smooth it has barbs on it and after he mates the barbs hang up in the queen and it gets ripped out of his body, family jewels and all. He dies from the injury, the queen absorbs his "testicles" and they become part of her body, she never has to mate again. In the workers the tube is also barbed, it's connected to poison glands that would be ovaries if she was sexually matured. When she stings the barbs cause the stinger, glands and all, to be ripped from her body, she dies from the injury. That's why you never use tweezers to remove a bee stinger, that will squeeze the attached poison glands and inject more poison,. Try to "flick" it out with a finger nail or even a credit card. ( Then use the card to buy anti-histamines.) Some other bees also die after stinging. Wasps do not, and one of our friends assures us from experience that bumblebees do not: "I was laying shingles and angered a hive of bumble bees in my roof, my roof? I can link you to a bunch of sites that say bumble bees nest at or under ground level. I did not attempt to debate the apparent discrepancy, I slid down that ladder like butter on a hot skillet. In one direction was the front yard and the door into the house, in the other direction a dead end corner. Them bumbles done me up right good before I got out of that corner, they grabbed a holt of my socks and just crawled in circles around my ankles. Stinging and stinginging and stinginginging and not one expiring. You think your granny has swollen ankles? I had to get out my bell bottom Levis to get past my ankles, but I never did get them past my waist, they musta shrunk over the years since the age of Aquarius. For sure them bees never heard of the era of peace, love, and happiness. Bummer."  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-29-2005 01:57 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - What is autism, and what are its symptoms? The nature of autism is not well understood, and a subject of controversy. In psychiatry, autism is considered a neurodevelopmental disorder that causes marked problems with social relatedness, communication, interest, and behavior. It is considered to be one of the five types of pervasive developmental disorders (or autism spectrum disorders). Typical characteristics include great difficulty in communicating with others, inability to understand jokes or read between the lines, and a somewhat unintentional lack of consideration for those outside of their 'sensory independence'; their independent world. Typically, autism spectrum disorders appear during the first three years of life. It is estimated that it occurs in approximately 2 to 6 in 1,000 individuals, and is 4 times more prevalent in males than females. It is most prevalent in Caucasian males, although it occurs in both genders and every race. Many famous people had/have autism, including Bill Gates, Albert Einstein, and Michelangelo. While certain (inconclusive) treatments for autism exist, it is widely considered that absolute cure from autism is impossible since it involves aspects of neurological brain structure determined very early in development.  |  IP: Logged

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