The Thread for Useless, but Interesting Facts

[nudge]

The person who bought the land and ordered the monument to be built in 1980 used a pseudonym, and then later transferred the land rights to the state, so nobody knows who that person was.

These were the 10 guidelines inscribed in the monument in 8 languages (English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian):

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.
3. Unite humanity with a living new language.
4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason
5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
8. Balance personal rights with social duties.
9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.
10. Be not a cancer on the earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

The center column featured a hole drilled at an angle from one side to the other, through which the North Star could be seen. The same pillar had a slot carved through it which was aligned with the Sun's solstices and equinoxes. An aperture in the capstone allowed a ray of sun to pass through at noon each day, shining a beam on the center stone indicating the day of the year.

The monument doesn't exist anymore, as last year, someone blew part of it up with an explosive device, and then the rest was also demolished. There were previous attacks with paint etc, as some people apparently believed that it's a demonic Satanist plot or the 10 Commandments of Antichrist. 

[Bandito Burrito]

Cocaine Bear is an upcoming American dark comedy thriller film directed and co-produced by Elizabeth Banks from a screenplay by Jimmy Warden. It is inspired by the true story of the "Cocaine Bear", an American black bear that ingested a duffel bag full of cocaine in 1985.

There's actually a movie about it coming out soon

[nudge]

[Azeem]

Universe 25 was an experiment on a rat colony which was given abundant food and water.

The population density of rats increased leading to violence. The majority females became aggressive to protect themselves from the violence not caring about the young ones and the majority males developed abnormal habits. 

The study is seminal in studying urban human population behaviours. 

[MUFC]

 

[Bluewolf]

[Tommy]

1 minute ago, Bluewolf said:

Sounds like something @CaaC (John) would do. 

[CaaC (John)+]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

Sounds like something @CaaC (John) would do. 

Funny enough I still have 2 old VCRs in the hallway cupboard still workable plus a load of tapes with Man United football matches (BBC 1 MOTD etc) in boxes. 

[Azeem]

Belgium is known as the cockpit of Europe because of the number of decisive military battles fought over there. 

[MUFC]

 

[Carnivore Chris]

Today we know her as that crazy woman who calls herself @nudge....

[Azeem]

Kennedy wrote in his memories of official visits that when Indian PM Nehru came to White House he was constantly cutting him off to talk to his wife, getting between him and his wife which piqued him. Nehru's political opponents in India claim he died of STDs.

[CaaC (John)+]

[nudge]

Not a fact, but rather an amazing infographic - Viet Cong tunnel systems during the Vietnam War.

[Tommy]

5 minutes ago, nudge said:

Not a fact, but rather an amazing infographic - Viet Cong tunnel systems during the Vietnam War.

Those traps. Wow. Even a snake tied to the ceiling. 

[nudge]

17 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Those traps. Wow. Even a snake tied to the ceiling. 

Very crafty... Those tunnels in general are the stuff that nightmares are made of. I went to the ones that are already adapted to the tourists, and the experience was still claustrophobic af

[Tommy]

2 minutes ago, nudge said:

Very crafty... Those tunnels in general are the stuff that nightmares are made of. I went to the ones that are already adapted to the tourists, and the experience was still claustrophobic af

Oooh that must have been interesting! But yea, I can imagine. 

But all of these traps somehow reminded me of Home Alone. 

[nudge]

36 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Oooh that must have been interesting! But yea, I can imagine. 

But all of these traps somehow reminded me of Home Alone. 

It's definitely interesting, but as you can imagine, it's also pretty touristy with souvenir shops and whatnot and so they kinda rush you through it all. The guide was pretty proud to demonstrate all the traps though, at that moment I was glad I'm not American, tbh  I enjoyed it though, and going into the tunnel was something I wanted to do, so it was still worth a trip for me! Just completely mind-blowing and sobering when you realise that people actually lived there, cooked food, slept, had children, hospitals, etc. Must have been extremely tough... 

[CaaC (John)+]

1 hour ago, nudge said:

Not a fact, but rather an amazing infographic - Viet Cong tunnel systems during the Vietnam War.

 

 

Bloody hell, I don't think I would have liked to sit down for a meal and smell all the decaying dead bodies 

[nudge]

27 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

 

 

Bloody hell, I don't think I would have liked to sit down for a meal and smell all the decaying dead bodies 

I don't think they had much choice back then  

Also the blur in that screenshotted image made me think I lost my contact lens...  

[CaaC (John)+]

4 minutes ago, nudge said:

Also the blur in that screenshotted image made me think I lost my contact lens...  

It was bad enough for me even with my glasses on!! 

[MUFC]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64635446

[Tommy]

Just now, MUFC said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-64635446

How is that a useless fact? 

[Azeem]

Completely agree that modern technology is designed to be replaceable but not fix able. 

I remember reading about an article that Honda in Pakistan did a research around 2008 why their new car models weren't selling as much as the target market is present. They concluded that the mechanics here were adroit in fixing old cars so people didn't just go for new cars. So they started making cars whose spare parts you couldn't get.

[Azeem]

Seigniorage is the difference between the cost of printing money and its face value.

Lock and Co. Hatters is the oldest hat shop in the world and still family owned since 1600s. They made personalised hats for Charlie Chaplin, Churchill, James Bond and the Royal Family.

Mamluks was a term for emancipated slaves turned nobles in the Muslamic world. There was a time when major dynasties from Egypt to India were all of Mamluks.

Most of the world's foreign ministers, heads of states, major bankers between late 1800s to early 1930s were Freemasons. 

Contronyms are words that have multiple meanings that contradict each other. Left can also mean to leave or to remain. 

Reuben Sturman is known as the Walt Disney of porn.

Dr. Crippins, a homeopathic doctor who murdered his wife and was fleeing to United States was the first person to be captured by wireless telegraphy. There is a hospital named after him in GTA San Andreas.

A country can give an application to UN to increase its maritime boundaries by proving that its coastal line has increased over time. Pakistan's maritime boundary was increased in 2015 after an application was given in 2009.