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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 12-25-2006 08:07 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What is a quasar? And do quasars pose any danger to us on Earth? The cool name "quasar" comes from the phrase "quasi-stellar radio source." Quasars are very bright centers of young galaxies that are incredibly far away. The light they generate takes billions of years to reach us, so that looking at a quasar is like viewing the birth of a galaxy long, long ago. The good news is that they're not dangerous. Though they emit an enormous amount of energy (probably as a result of black holes), the total energy collected by radio astronomers over the history of radio astronomy amounts to about the energy required for a mosquito to make one push-up. They're also very far away. We're never going to hit one.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-26-2006 08:59 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - In the stock market, why are "blue chip" stocks called blue chip? A blue chip stock is the stock of a well-established company having stable earnings and no extensive liabilities. Most blue chip stocks pay regular dividends, even when business is faring worse than usual. They are valued by investors seeking relative safety and stability, though prices per share are usually high. Typically, such stocks are perceived to offer reliable returns, low yield, and low risk. Many blue chips are components of popular indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. Alternately, blue chip stocks are sometimes defined as companies whose stocks have large market capitalization values (for example, over $1 billion.) The term comes from blue-coloured poker chips, which are typically the most valuable. Examples are Royal Dutch Shell (petroleum), The Coca-Cola Company (food) and IBM (information technology). Before its total collapse in 2001, Enron was considered to be a blue chip stock. The term "blue chip" is also commonly used to describe collegiate athletes who are being targeted for recruitment (drafting) by professional sports teams. "Blue chip" players have proven themselves to be amongst the best at their respective positions in their sports and are more sought after by professional teams than other players.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-27-2006 06:07 AM                        Rated G What is the biggest country in the world? Not sure if you meant largest by size or by number of people, I decided to see if I could find the largest in both, since I suspect that there may be two different answers. According to our Countries by Population category, Canada came in at number 35. In first place was China, with almost 1.3 billion people, then came India with just over 1 billion. Next, our Countries by Area category shows the largest countries in the world based on area. Here, Canada was in the number-two spot, with nearly 10 million square kilometers of area, just ahead of the United States, but still well behind Russia's 17-million-square-kilometer spread. Area includes dry land, icesheets, and bodies of water like the Great Lakes and Russia's vast Lake Baikal.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-28-2006 06:27 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What's the difference between African and Asian elephants and what are their average weights? According to our Elephant category, the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the largest living land animal, weighing up to 10,000 kg (22,000 lbs) and standing 3 to 4 meters (10 to 13 feet) at the shoulder. The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) weighs about 5,000 kg (11,000 lbs) with a shoulder height of 3 meters (10 feet). The Asian elephant's ears are smaller than those of the African elephant. The Asian elephant (also known as the Indian Elephant) is native to the Indian subcontinent and southeastern Asia, while the African elephant is found in sub-Saharan Africa. Both species live in habitats ranging from thick jungle to savanna. They live in small family groups, although most bulls live in bachelor herds apart from the females (cows). The Indian elephant is considered an endangered species, and the African elephant is classified as threatened.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-28-2006 06:45 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What are the health benefits of using a sauna, and how often should you use it? Health benefits of sauna mainly have to do with the physiology of perspiration: sweating helps rid the body of wastes, regulates body temperature, and invigorates our largest organ, the skin. It is also believed that exposure of the skin to heat stimulates the production of white blood cells and strengthens the immune system. A word of cautionary advice. Pregnant women, as well as bathers with high or low blood pressure, heart disease, or other special conditions, are advised to consult a physician before breaking a sweat. Saunas are also hazardous to individuals under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The president of the Finnish Sauna Society suggests that, "The idea is not to have the best sauna on the block, but to get the entire block in the sauna." Frankly, we're not too sure if this will catch on in our part of the world.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-28-2006 07:56 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - How do I get rid of a pesky bat that's living on my front porch? Bats are not aggressive but will bite if grabbed. To exclude colonies from nesting in buildings, cover chimneys, vents, and other potential access points with 1/2 inch hardware cloth, or use netting to keep unwanted bats out of more open areas. Bright lights sometimes deter bats from roosting. Although most bats are not dangerous, they can be carry rabies. Histoplasmosis, a flu-like fungal disease, may be contracted from inhaling the dust of bat or bird guano. Do not release sick or injured bats back outdoors; contact your local animal control or health authorities. On the brighter side, bats are great consumers of bothersome insects - we're talking 600 mosquitos per hour -- so some folks spend a lot of time and effort building bat houses to attract these warm-blooded bug-eaters to their backyards.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-30-2006 01:06 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - What is castor oil used for? The greenish extract of a large tropical plant, castor oil has been used for many years to ease constipation and induce vomiting. Basically, it's WD40 for the gastro-intestinal tract. castor oil is a notoriously ghastly tasting liquid. Doctors recommend chilling castor oil in the fridge and mixing with cold orange juice before ingesting to make it more palatable. The mind (and tummy) reels. But castor oil isn't just for breakfast anymore. This once dreaded substance is now used in plastics, textiles, paints, cosmetics, and a number of inks and industrial adhesives. The current popularity of castor oil is due to the fact that its numerous chemical derivatives are "renewable sources, bio- degradable and eco-friendly. That said, I still hope you never have to drink it.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 12-30-2006 03:57 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - Do ostriches really bury their heads in the sand? In popular mythology, the ostrich is famous for hiding its head in the sand at the first sign of danger. There have been no recorded observations of this behaviour. The myth may have resulted from the fact that, from a distance, when ostriches feed they appear to be burying their head in the sand because they deliberately swallow sand/pebbles to help grind up their food. When lying down and hiding from predators, the birds are known to lay their head and neck flat on the ground. When threatened, ostriches run away, but they can also seriously injure with kicks from their powerful legs. I was also amazed to find out that ostriches can live up to 70 years and their eggs are the largest of all eggs.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-05-2007 03:08 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - How does carbon dating work? Radiocarbon dating, also known as Carbon-14 (or C-14) dating, is a type of absolute dating technique used to determine the age of organic material. Introduced in 1947 by Willard F. Libby, C-14 dating was a real breakthrough for scientists. Basically, all living things are mostly made of carbon. A small portion of this carbon is in the form of Carbon-14, an unstable radioactive isotope. Once an organism dies, the C-14 in the organism begins to disintegrate. Because it disintegrates at a steady, known rate, scientists can measure the amount of C-14 remaining and use a scientific formula to determine the age of the sample. While C-14 dating has its limitations, it remains a significant scientific discovery and has been used to date some of the most important archaeological finds, including the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Iceman, and the controversial Shroud of Turin. According to British prehistorian Desmond Clark, without Carbon- 14 dating "we would still be foundering in a sea of imprecisions sometime bred of inspired guesswork but more often of imaginative speculation." Sounds pretty frightening, doesn't it?  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-06-2007 10:07 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Why is chocolate poisonous to dogs but not to humans? Chocolate contains theobromine, an alkaloid that dogs can't metabolize quickly. If a dog ingests a large amount of chocolate, the theobromine can build up and reach a toxic level of concentration, leading to cardiac arrest. Different types of chocolate are more harmful than others, and the effects will vary, depending upon the size and weight of the dog. However, it is potentially lethal. If you know your dog has ingested chocolate take him to a vet immediately. Some of the other household items can cause harm to your fuzzy friend. For instance, did you know common plants such as azaleas, rhododendron, and foxglove can all cause heart failure if ingested? But why isn't theobromine poisonous to humans? We humans can break down and excrete theobromine much more efficiently than dogs, rendering it effectively harmless. Just remember: Chocolate's a tasty treat for humans, but it can be fatal to our four-legged friends.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-07-2007 09:42 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - Are the trees immortal? As far as I can tell, the trees are just as mortal as we humans, although their lifespans tend to be somewhat longer than ours. While it's a far cry from immortality, a Ancient Bristlecone Pine named "Methuselah" is said to be 4,766 years old. Trees are dated by their rings, and there's a whole branch of science dedicated to that, called dendrochronology. Methuselah lost its crown as "oldest living thing" to a 9,000- year-old cluster of bushes in the Mojave desert, which was eventually dethroned by "40-million-year-old bacteria found in the stomach of an insect encased in amber." But don't feel bad for Methuselah. In 1999 the 40-million-year- old germ was shown up by a 250-million-year-old bacteria found in ancient sea salt beneath Carlsbad, New Mexico. Now if that's not immortality, it's pretty darn close...  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-08-2007 09:19 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - How much blood does the human body contain? Blood is definitely a vital issue. The human body contains approximately 6 quarts (or 5.6 liters) of blood. Some other interesting blood facts are: * In one day, your blood travels nearly 12,000 miles. * Your heart beats around 35 million times per year. * Your heart pumps a million barrels of blood during the average lifetime -- enough to fill three supertankers. That's a lot of mileage for six little quarts!  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-08-2007 02:34 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - How was aspirin first discovered and marketed as a pain reliever? In 1897, Felix Hoffmann, a German chemist employed by Bayer, came across an earlier recipe for a gentle analgesic. Seeking to relieve his father's arthritis pain, Hoffmann used French chemist Charles Frederic Gerhardt's 1853 research to synthesize acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), a compound less acidic and easier on the stomach than its predecessor, sodium salicylate. In 1899, the product was named aspirin and, after extensive testing, Bayer began marketing it successfully in powder form. The active ingredient of aspirin, salicin, has been prescribed since the 5th century B.C., when Greek physician Hippocrates treated aches and pains, fevers, and inflammations with a bitter powder extracted from willow bark. It wasn't until the 1970s that British researcher John Vane described the precise way aspirin works -- by blocking the production of hormone-like substances known as prostoglandins, which are released in response to human tissue injury. Aspirin (with a capital A) and Heroin (with a capital H) were actually trademarks of Bayer up through the end of World War I. However, following Germany's defeat, Bayer was forced to give up both trademarks as part of the country's war reparations. Believe it or not, the trademarks were given up at the Treaty of Versailles to France, England, Russia, and the United States in 1919. They never mentioned that in history class in high school!  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-09-2007 09:02 AM                        Rated G Useless fact - What's the difference between white eggs and brown eggs? According to the Egg Nutrition Center there is no nutritional difference between brown eggs and white eggs. Contrary to popular belief, brown eggs aren't a healthier alternative to white eggs. The color difference is due to the specific breed of hen. Hens with white feathers and white earlobes will lay white eggs, whereas hens with red feathers and matching-colored earlobes give us brown eggs. Note that chicken eggs aren't limited to just brown or white. They also come in blue or even a nice speckled finish (though you may have to make a special request at your local supermarket for these). So, there you have it: The difference between brown eggs and white eggs is purely cosmetic; it's just a matter of a baby taking after its mom.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-09-2007 12:34 PM                        Rated G Useless fact - How do they lay cable across the ocean? Is it laid on the very bottom? Very carefully ... and, yes, the cable is laid on the bottom of the ocean. The answer to this fascinating question is perhaps quite dull: "they" use submarines to lay cable across the ocean floor. Simple as that. A submarine communications cable is a cable laid beneath the sea to carry telecommunications between countries. The first submarine communications cables carried telegraphy traffic. Subsequent generations of cables carried first telephony traffic, then data communications traffic. All modern cables use fiber optic technology to carry digital payloads, which are then used to carry telephone traffic as well as Internet and private data traffic. As of 2006, submarine cables link all the world's continents except Antarctica.  |  IP: Logged

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