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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 05-19-2006 01:30 PM
Rated G ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Useless fact - Is it true that nice guys finish last? If so, why?
Not true at all, unless you are in middle school or maybe high school. I was able to meet, hang out with and date some incredibly beautiful women in college using this principle: as long as you treat all women with respect, you will do fine.
In other words, if you find a friend or coworker undesirable for any reason, do not shun her or be rude. Remember that she has friends, and chances are that she will have good looking single friends. Chances are she will be willing to put in a good word for you if you ask.
Girls tend to like the bad boy qualities at certain stages of their lives, but come to realize that is just an empty fantasy sooner or later. Unfortunately, we have to wait patiently until they figure this out.
The one problem with this rationale: some "nice guys" fall into the perpetual trap of feeling sorry for themselves and letting all women know that they are nice guys and can never get the girl of their dreams. This guy will sit at a bar and say to a girl, after buying her a drink, "I just don't get it. I never get any dates. I am a nice guy with a good job and come from a good family. Life is so unfair." At that point, the girl thinks, "what a loser, I'm outta here." Girls don't want to hear guys whine about their horrible dating adventures. Then the guy will have even less self confidence the next time he talks to a new acquaintance. Go out, be yourself, and let your actions do the talking for you!
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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 05-23-2006 10:31 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - Can you train a rabbit to come when you call it?
These techniques have been used by my family and my friends who have had bunnies of their own:
Rabbits can be trained to come when you call them, provided that you always give them a good reward when they do what you ask.
The best way to get a rabbit to come when you call her is to find out what her favorite treat is. Whether it's a piece of tomato or a chunk of melon, use this as your lure.
These easy steps will get your rabbit to come when called:
1. Get down on the floor close to your rabbit.
2. Offer the treat.
3. "[Say your rabbit's name], come!"
Your rabbit will see or smell the treat and will come toward you to get it. She doesn't know that you called her because she hasn't figured out this part yet, but if you repeat this routine over and over, she'll start to associate hearing you call her name and "Come!" with getting her favorite treat.
4. After your bunny consistently comes to you from this close distance, start to work from farther away.
Instead of being so close, squat several feet away from your pet. Offer out the food and call your rabbit's name and "Come!"
Some rabbits catch on more quickly than others, but within a few weeks, your rabbit should come to you just about every time that you call her. You may even be able to get her to come to you from another room.
[ 05-24-2006, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Bob Maar ]
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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 05-24-2006 09:34 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - I'm about to propose to my girlfriend but I can't afford a diamond. Will she be disappointed if I propose without a diamond ring?
I would make two comments on this question. First of all, if you are having trouble coming up with the money for a diamond ring, then maybe you need to look at your financial situation. Do you have the money to support a family? I don't know just what your financial circumstances are, but it does take money to support a family. Are you at least in a position where you are on your way into a career that will allow you to do this? You need to be honest with yourself on this question. Finances are one of the biggest reasons for divorces.
The second thing that I would write is that if both of you agree that you are in a financial position to get married, then, if she rejects you simply because you can't afford a diamond ring, I would say that she is a very shallow, self-centered person and/or not good at budgeting money. Either way, she would not strike me as a good candidate for marriage.
If she accepts the limitations imposed by your budget, then she would be showing a level of maturity that would be conducive to a good marriage. Of course, not knowing either of you I can't be the one that judges whether you two are a match. Ultimately, that is something that each of you must decide. Will she be disappointed if you don't have a ring? Quite possibly. However, the better question is how she deals with the disappointment.
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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 05-25-2006 10:00 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - Is it possible to get worms from a dog if it licks you?
There are few things a young child likes more than to be licked in the face by a friendly dog. But this lick of affection might also be a kiss of death - it could infect the child with hydatids, a nasty and potentially fatal disease.
What is hydatid disease and where does it occur? Hydatid disease is a parasite infection of humans and animals. In Australia and in America, hydatid disease is caused by a tiny tapeworm, Echinococcus granulosus. Scientists estimate that there are approximately 500 people currently being treated and monitored for hydatid infection and that about 50 new cases of infection arise each year. Direct contact with infected dogs is perhaps the most common way by which people become infected by the parasite. As explained, E. granulosus eggs are passed into the environment in dog feces.
We all know that dogs have a habit of sniffing each other’s rear ends, and licking their own.
In this way, eggs can be transferred to the dog’s muzzle, tongue and fur. The eggs can then be transferred to people when they pat the dog or are licked by it.
People who live on farms are most commonly infected with hydatids, but not exclusively. Any cat or dog that is infected with worms can and do transfer the parasite to their owners in a number of different ways, including being licked in the face by their pet, for the reasons mentioned (above) in this article.
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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 06-03-2006 04:46 PM
Rated G Hank in Simi
IT IS ALL TRUE
Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.
A pessimist's blood type is always b-negative.
Practice safe eating - always use condiments.
Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.
I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.
Marriage is the mourning after the knot before.
A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines.
Sea captains don't like crew cuts.
A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.
Without geometry, life is pointless.
When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well-red.
A man's home is his castle, in a manor of speaking.
When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.
What's the definition of a will? (Come on, it's a dead giveaway!)
A backwards poet writes inverse.
A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist,you get repossessed.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
The man who fell into an upholstery machine is fully recovered.
You feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted. It t'aint yours and it t'aint mine.
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
He had a photographic memory that was never developed.
The short fortuneteller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
Once you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
Those who jump off a Paris bridge are in Seine.
When an actress saw her first strands of gray hair,she thought she'd dye.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead-to-know basis.Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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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 08-07-2006 09:15 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - Who was the Mona Lisa?
Art historians have been debating this one for centuries. While we can't definitively solve the riddle in 250 words or less, we can summarize the most popular theories. The majority of experts contend that the model was a woman named Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine merchant. The official site of the Louvre, where the Mona Lisa resides, says the painting is thought to be of Gherardini, but that the exact identity of the sitter remains unclear. If Gherardini was the model, it's still a mystery as to why Da Vinci took the painting to France rather than giving it to the family who commissioned it.
Some experts believe the model is really Leonardo Da Vinci himself. They claim that the Mona Lisa's features align perfectly with Da Vinci's self-portrait. While the two pieces of art do match up well, other critics believe this isn't because they're of the same person, but because they were painted by the same person.
The book "Mysteries of the Mona Lisa" argues that the model was Da Vinci's mother. Another theory asserts that the painting depicts Isabella of Aragon, the Duchess of Milan, whose portaits bear more than a passing resemblance to the Mona Lisa.
Many theories, but none strong enough to end the debate. However, if we had to go with one, we'd stick with the first. After all, it's endorsed by the Louvre, and we figure the owner ought to know.
Whoever is depicted as Mona Lisa, the painting was Leonardo's own favorite work. Few people know that he never sold it, moving the painting with him everywhere he traveled, constantly altering/perfecting the painting for over 20 years. Leonardo kept Mona Lisa right next to his deathbed in his very last moments. Check out the links in the Mona Lisa category for more.
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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 08-11-2006 12:17 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - What's the point of leap year?
Leap years contain an extra day in February: 29 days instead of the usual 28. Every year divisible by four is a leap year -- unless it's divisible by 100, in which case it's not, unless it's also divisible by 400, in which case it is. Got it? The purpose of a leap year is to align the calendar year with the astronomical year. While the calendar year holds 365 days, it actually takes the earth 365.2422 days to revolve around the sun. This extra six hours a year can add up -- if we didn't have leap years, we'd be out of sync by 28 days every 100 years.
So summer would eventually creep into fall, and eventually winter, and so on. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, it would be very strange to have short, frigid days in July. The Romans realized this, which is why they decreed the first leap year in 46 B.C.
However, adding an extra day every four years is actually too much of a correction (hence the need for the rules about being divisible by 400 versus 100). No calendar is perfect, but the Gregorian seems to work fairly 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 08-22-2006 11:51 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - How is coffee decaffeinated?
For most coffee beans, it begins with a nice, long soak. This submersion draws the caffeine from its beans, leaving us with a bushel of decaffeinated java seeds ready to be roasted, brewed, and slurped down. But hold that cup of joe. This tastes like sludge!
The caffeine isn't the only thing lured from the beans during their decaffeinating bath. The coffee's flavor also seizes that moment to beat a hasty escape. So brewers need to coax the coffee's good taste back. We'll lay out the three primary methods of maintaining taste while separating a bean from its caffeine...
In one practice, the beans' post-soak water is mixed with a solvent that separates the caffeine from the liquid. Alternatively, the caffeinated water can be forced through activated charcoal or carbon filters, which also separates the caffeine from the solution. After either method, the coffee beans are re-submerged in the now-totally-caffeine-free watery extract where (hopefully) they reabsorb their flavor.
Another method that immerses the beans in one heck of a strong steam bath, and then dunks them in carbon dioxide. The CO2 scares the caffeine away, but keeps the beans' taste intact.
So, how successful are these processes? To be called "decaffeinated," caffeine levels must remain below 2.5 percent. And that dictate has the long arm of the law behind it. So bring on the big mug of soy-mocha-latte-ccino -- and make it a decaf.
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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 08-25-2006 11:31 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - What's the most popular tattoo? And what's the most popular tattoo location?
Sources differ about the most popular tattoos. About.com page mentions dragons as the top choice, followed by butterflies. A 2001 article about tattoos in Asiaweek says, in Shanghai, "Dragons are by far the most requested..."
Checking search queries was our another approach. Vanishingtattoo.com claims the butterfly is "far and away the most popular tattoo design request" (mostly by women), followed by "tribal": designs worn by indigenous cultures.
Newsgroups list tribal at number one, dragon and butterfly at two and three. Over at the Lycos 50, tribal designs again finish first, followed by tinkerbell (don't ask us), angels, and then butterflies. But, hold that needle a sec. The following top five tattoo design searches on google are:
* tribal
* cross
* star
* butterfly
* fairy
So to summarize: Looks like tribal tattoos are definitely number one. But "tribal" encompasses many different designs, so we'll have to go with either the butterfly, cross, or dragon, depending on region. And the most popular tattoo location? Several sources say the arm and lower back.
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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 08-28-2006 08:38 AM
Rated G
Useless fact - Who was the last U.S. president who was neither a Democrat nor a Republican?
We had to set the Way Back Machine to "1850" to find an American president who was not a member of either of today's prominent political parties. Reaching back in time, we pulled up Millard Fillmore, Whig party member who served as the 13th president of the United States.
The Whigs were an American political party that took its name from an older English party. The first Whigs were opposed to the British monarchy. Similarly, the American Whigs were united against the kingly actions of President Andrew Jackson.
The Whigs elected a few presidents in their time. First was Zachary Taylor, who died in office. His vice president, John Tyler, took over. Tyler started as a Whig, but once he got the top job, he turned Democrat. Next, the Whigs elected William Harrison, who also died in office (not a great reflection on the party, huh?). That's how Millard Fillmore became president in 1850. Even though he'd been a Whig all his political life, he didn't receive his party's nod for reelection in 1852.
The Whigs didn't win another election, and the party fell apart before the Civil War. Many Whigs joined the new Republican party, which soon elected its first U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln. Americans have had elephants and donkeys as president ever since.
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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 08-29-2006 07:19 PM
Rated G
Useless fact - Why is the letter "E" on top of all eye charts?
The standard eye chart is called the Snellen Chart, after the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen (1834-1908). Snellen developed the chart in 1862; it measures visual acuity, or the ability to see from a fixed distance.
Why the big "E?" That's how Snellen designed the original, and having a standard letter on top helps to determine the chart's size and the distance it should be from the patient. However, we found several variations of the Snellen chart: the letter "A" on top, "K V D" on top, as well as the letter "F."
The size of the letters relative to each other is very important. Snellen letters, also known as optotypes, grow progressively smaller according to a constant ratio. The eighth row of letters is usually the 20/20 line. Someone with 20/20 vision has "normal" vision (though 61% of Americans wear corrective lenses), while someone with 20/40 vision can only see at twenty feet what a normal person can see from forty feet.
Some charts use a series of "Es" facing different directions; the objective is to identify the directions of the letters. This is a popular test for children or people who can't read.
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