The Thread for Useless, but Interesting Facts

[Azeem]

On 24/06/2022 at 17:51, Spike said:

What’s the difference 

In Federal system province/states have more autonomy and independent of central govt. Federal generates money and states are free how they spend their share. 

In unitary not so much autonomy for second tiers of govt and what power they have is exercised under instruction of centre.

 

[Azeem]

50% of murder of women involve their current or ex partners, an average observed world wide.

[Panflute]

- Mammoths were still alive when the Great Pyramids were built, as a small enclave of dwarf mammoths on a Russian island survived into antiquity.

- The idea of a personal carbon footprint as we know it was popularized by fossil fuel company BP.

- The notion that the typical serial killer is a clever psychopath who effortlessly outwits authorities is a Hollywood myth. On average, serial killers have below-average IQs.

- Although attempts have been made to train monkeys/apes in sign language, none of them has ever been confirmed to ask a question. The only non-human being to thus far ever ask a question was Alex the grey parrot, who saw himself in the mirror and asked "what color?" 

- It is widely known that Leif Eriksson reached the coast of America centuries before Columbus reached Hispaniola in 1492, but the first-ever European to have reached America might have been the Irish saint Brendan of Clonfert. The navigator's tales are recounted in Irish myth, and contain strong indications that his quest to find the 'Isle of the Blessed' made him actually reach what is now North America as early as the 6th century. Historical evidence of this is thin, but British explorer Tim Severin proved in 1978 that it would indeed have been possible to reach the Americas with 6th century naval technology, recreating and documenting the journey in what he called 'The Brendan Voyage'.

Edited June 28, 2022 by Panflute

[Azeem]

Spain found massive tons of platinum in Ecuador but they thought it was just unripe gold and useless, dumped it all in the ocean

[Azeem]

U.S. consumes 75% of pharmaceuticals of the world. It is also one of two countries that allows pharmas to directly advertise to citizens.

[Azeem]

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has more members than 100+ countries population

Edited July 1, 2022 by Aladdin

[Bluewolf]

[Tommy]

Icelandic women's last name is based on their fathers first name. 

For example if the woman's father is named Thorvald, her last name is Thorvaldsdottir, or if her fathers name is Gunnar, her last name is Gunnarsdottir. Dottir = Daughter.

I was looking at the line-up of Iceland's women for their match against Belgium, and was wondering why they all have dottir at the end of their name. The more you know. 

[MUFC]

 

[Tommy]

2 minutes ago, MUFC said:

 

NOBODY is going to watch the youtube videos you post. NOBODY. 

[DeadLinesman]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

NOBODY is going to watch the youtube videos you post. NOBODY. 

What about black men that wear condoms?

[CaaC (John)+]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

NOBODY is going to watch the youtube videos you post. NOBODY. 

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

If you were swallowed whole by a very large animal, how long would you remain alive for – and what would you die of?

It's unlikely you'd be able to crawl out...

In 2014, Discovery Channel aired a controversial documentary where the presenter attempted to get eaten alive by a six-metre anaconda, while wearing a protective suit. The snake attacked, but the stunt was halted before the man was swallowed, since he was in danger of having his arm broken by the anaconda’s constricting coils. Anacondas will always suffocate their prey to death first before swallowing it, since it would be dangerous to have a live deer or tapir kicking in the stomach.

Even when their prey is dead, swallowing something this large is quite risky for these snakes and they can sometimes die in the attempt. Other large animals such as crocodiles would certainly bite you into smaller chunks first. A large whale could theoretically manage it, although blue whales have a surprisingly narrow oesophagus and can’t swallow anything larger than a melon.

In reality, the only animal large enough to swallow you whole without killing you first, or in the process, is a sperm whale. But even if you manage to dodge its teeth, your death certificate would still say ‘chomped to death’. Sperm whales use their teeth to catch and hold large prey, but they don’t chew with their mouths. This job is delegated to the first of their four stomach chambers. The stomach walls are very thick and muscular, to grind up fish and giant squid, before they pass to the other chambers and digest in the gastric juices.

There is no breathable air in a whale’s stomach, so you would have at most three minutes before you asphyxiated. But before that, you would have been crushed to death in a scene reminiscent of the trash compactor sequence of Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV).

https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/what-would-happen-if-you-were-swallowed-by-an-animal/

 

 

Edited July 17, 2022 by CaaC (John)
Spacing correction

[Bluewolf]

[Bluewolf]

[MUFC]

 

[Bluewolf]

[Tommy]

I didn't know where else to post this, but it kind of fits? 

700 year old house in Iran.  

[Azeem]

Yeah ! there is whole village of those that looks like dwarfs lived in those houses

[Tommy]

10 minutes ago, Aladdin said:

Yeah ! there is whole village of those that looks like dwarfs lived in those houses

Looks like Tatooine.

[Waylander]

A story I heard was that in WWII in Burma the Brits had massive condoms made to protect mortars and other military equipment from the damp conditions in the jungles, it also had the effect of unsettling the Japanese troops that found them thinking what type of man wore a condom that big!

[CaaC (John)+]

4 hours ago, Tommy said:

I didn't know where else to post this, but it kind of fits? 

700 year old house in Iran.  

46 minutes ago, Aladdin said:

Yeah ! there is whole village of those that looks like dwarfs lived in those houses

Quote

Iran’s ancient village of little people

Up until a century ago, residents of Makhunik were half a metre shorter than the average Iranian.

In the first part of Jonathan Swift’s book Gulliver’s Travels, Lemuel Gulliver washes ashore on the island country of Lilliput, where he encounters the Lilliputians, who stand barely taller than 15cm.

While Swift’s Lilliput is merely a fantasy, a comparable village exists in the eastern extremities of Iran. Up until around a century ago, some of the residents of Makhunik, a 1,500-year-old village roughly 75km west of the Afghan border, measured a mere metre in height – approximately 50cm shorter than the average height at the time.

In 2005, a mummified body measuring 25cm in length was found in the region. The discovery fuelled the belief that this remote corner of Iran, which consists of 13 villages, including Makhunik, was once home to an ancient ‘City of Dwarfs’. Although experts have determined that the mummy was actually a premature baby who died roughly 400 years ago, they contend that previous generations of Makhunik residents were indeed shorter than usual.

Malnutrition significantly contributed to Makhunik residents’ height deficiency. Raising animals was difficult in this dry, desolate region, and turnips, grain, barley and a date-like fruit called jujube constituted the only farming. Makhunik residents subsisted on simple vegetarian dishes such as kashk-beneh (made from whey and a type of pistachio that is grown in the mountains), and pokhteek (a mixture of dried whey and turnip).

Arguably the most astonishing dietary anomaly was a disdain for tea – one of the hallmarks of Iranian cuisine and hospitality.

“When I was a kid no-one drank tea. If someone drank tea, they’d joke and say he was an addict,” recalled Ahmad Rahnama, referring the stereotype that opium addicts drink a lot of tea. The 61-year-old Makhunik resident runs a museum dedicated to Makhunik’s historic architecture and traditional lifestyle.

In the mid-20th Century, the construction of roads and the proliferation of vehicles allowed Makhunik residents access to ingredients found in other parts of Iran, such as rice and chicken.

“When the vehicles came, people could bring food from nearby towns so there was more to eat than just kashk-beneh and bread,” Rahnam said................

FULL REPORT

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by CaaC (John)
Spacing correction

[Tommy]

Those little people?

[Azeem]

- Switzerland is not part of UN

- Deers are not found in Africa

[Tommy]