Fun Facts
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
The medical term for a runny nose is "rhinorrhea".
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
Wikipedia's "List of Hoaxes on Wikipedia" page is pretty amazing.
The sheer variety is one thing. It's sure interesting to wonder about the motivations behind some of them. But of course many are just plain hilarious.
Comedy value seems to be inversely proportional to hoax age, but the very top of the list features the admission that it took Wikipedia's editors FOURTEEN YEARS to realize that 'Sheik Urbuti' is not a real person.
The shortest entry is pretty great too though:
The sheer variety is one thing. It's sure interesting to wonder about the motivations behind some of them. But of course many are just plain hilarious.
Comedy value seems to be inversely proportional to hoax age, but the very top of the list features the admission that it took Wikipedia's editors FOURTEEN YEARS to realize that 'Sheik Urbuti' is not a real person.
The shortest entry is pretty great too though:
MESSENGER (NASA probe)
Destination of interplanetary probe changed from Mercury (planet) to Canada.
Re: Fun Facts
There's also Vandalism on Wikipedia, Wikipedia:Silly Things, and Bad Jokes and Other Deleted Nonsense.
There was a user called "Willy on Wheels" who moved thousands of pages "on wheels". Wikipedia now has a block on creating accounts ending on "on Wheels".
I seem to recall there was also a really well done article on a completely made-up renaissance-era former European nation which went unnoticed for years.
There was a user called "Willy on Wheels" who moved thousands of pages "on wheels". Wikipedia now has a block on creating accounts ending on "on Wheels".
I seem to recall there was also a really well done article on a completely made-up renaissance-era former European nation which went unnoticed for years.
Re: Fun Facts
These things make me wonder how many accepted facts in history books and encyclopedias have a similar foundation in truth but no-one knows because they all reference each other. There's one wild haired little tenured professor in a university basement somewhere who won't talk about anything else but no-one's actually listened to a word he says in forty years.
Re: Fun Facts
mharr wrote:These things make me wonder how many accepted facts in history books and encyclopedias have a similar foundation in truth but no-one knows because they all reference each other. There's one wild haired little tenured professor in a university basement somewhere who won't talk about anything else but no-one's actually listened to a word he says in forty years.
When in college, I was doing an art history course and one of the papers I read was on Francisco de Goya's commissioned painting of the family of King Charles IV, a painting that was commonly taught as subversive and anti-monarchist. The writer of the paper, however, decided to look up the origins of this interpretation only to find that it started in the early 20th century and had no basis in the actual work that Goya did. Some random critic just said it was an anti-Charles IV painting and then art history just accepted that.
signature
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
mharr wrote:These things make me wonder how many accepted facts in history books and encyclopedias have a similar foundation in truth but no-one knows because they all reference each other. There's one wild haired little tenured professor in a university basement somewhere who won't talk about anything else but no-one's actually listened to a word he says in forty years.
What's that line? History is the agreed-upon lies?
Re: Fun Facts
There's a concept where a man is reading a newspaper and comes across a description of a basketball game. The description is hugely flawed to the point where the man, who was a basketball player himself, can easily tell that the person covering this game is an idiot and is just making random crap up. But he admits that perhaps to the layperson who didn't know the rules of basketball intimately like he does, it would perhaps appear convincing.
He then turns the page and reads another article on another subject. He accepts it as true.
He then turns the page and reads another article on another subject. He accepts it as true.
Re: Fun Facts
There's a list of minor planets numbered in the order they were discovered. It includes asteroids, dwarf planets, and basically any stellar object smaller than a planet or star.
Pluto's designation is 134340.This is because it was only added to the list in 2006 when it was downgraded to a dwarf planet. Had it been added when it was discovered in 1930, it would have been designated 1164.
Pluto's designation is 134340.This is because it was only added to the list in 2006 when it was downgraded to a dwarf planet. Had it been added when it was discovered in 1930, it would have been designated 1164.
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
On every 8th of July, at 11:15 UTC, 99% of the world's population is experiencing daylight.
(I was not, personally, experiencing daylight at that time, lol)
(yes, I know that's not that the factoid means)
(I was not, personally, experiencing daylight at that time, lol)
(yes, I know that's not that the factoid means)
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
The literal translation of the Chinese Hanzi for "penguin" is "business goose".
Re: Fun Facts
amazing
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
Aw. Apparently this is not correct. https://www.chineseboost.com/blog/chine ... toe-goose/
Though the actual translation isn't half-bad: “standing goose” / “tip-toeing goose”
That said, given how close the two are and how fond of puns the Chinese are, it wouldn't surprise me at all if "business goose" was a common pun or term of endearment (e.g. "trash panda") and this factoid went wild after a non-native reader read a Chinese post or something without realizing it was a gag. Or, if it isn't, it may become one now!
Though the actual translation isn't half-bad: “standing goose” / “tip-toeing goose”
That said, given how close the two are and how fond of puns the Chinese are, it wouldn't surprise me at all if "business goose" was a common pun or term of endearment (e.g. "trash panda") and this factoid went wild after a non-native reader read a Chinese post or something without realizing it was a gag. Or, if it isn't, it may become one now!
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
Saw this and immediately thought of Thad talking about old transparent cases. LOL
The green spheres are actually its eyes (they mostly look upwards); the things that look like its eyes are in fact, nostrils.
The green spheres are actually its eyes (they mostly look upwards); the things that look like its eyes are in fact, nostrils.
Re: Fun Facts
Gotta love it when nature makes things you'd dismiss as cartoonish and implausible in fantasy / sf cover art.
Re: Fun Facts
What kind of fish has nostrils? Are its gills internal too?
- Mongrel
- Posts: 21336
- Joined: Mon Jan 20, 2014 6:28 pm
- Location: There's winners and there's losers // And I'm south of that line
Re: Fun Facts
Caithness wrote:What kind of fish has nostrils?
Most, if not all of them?
Re: Fun Facts
Afaik fish nostrils are purely sensory and cannot pass water through to the mouth or gills. Kinda like that pokey airspeed thingy on the front of planes. But for smells.
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests