The big 'did you know' thread!

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i may not know how long they survive for but i know that cells can only divide around 30 times, because each time they divide the "caps" on the end of the chromosones (called telomeres) shorten everythime the strand of DNA splits during self replication, and thats (or so they think) why cloning causes problems, and the reason why Dolly the sheep developed arthritesi etc.. at her age, it was caused by the DNA break apart after there was no telomere left to stop the DNA from doing this

 

@ Dalveen
That would pretty much fit in with the lifetime of our species - 120 years (4 x 30). It was said that thats the max life expectancy of a human.

 

good good, means that my bio teacher wasnt making it up to sound impressive

 

Goldfish have a better memory in warm water than in cold water.

 

Did you know that you can use your microwave oven to calculate the speed of light?

How? Here's how:

Take a large square dish (one that won't rotate when you put it in the oven) and fill it with something squidgy that will melt when heated. Marshmallows are an excellent choice. Put it in your microwave oven and turn it on full power for a few seconds. Measure the distance between the melted areas and double it. This gives you the wavelength of the microwave light. You need to double it, BTW, because your marshmallows indicate the peaks of intensity of the light rather than the peaks of amplitude. Look on the back of your microwave oven and it should tell you the frequency of the microwave radiation. Multiply the frequency by the wavelength and you get the speed of light.

Did you know that the highest mountain in the Solar System is on Mars and is called Olympus Mons? It is around 80,000 feet high and there are sheer cliffs at its base 30,000 feet high.

Did you know that each world has a maximum mountain height determined by the force due to gravity at its surface? This maximum is reached when the weight due to gravity of the mountain exceeds the force that the rocks at its base can withstand. Mount Everest is close to the maximum height of a terrestial mountain.

Did you know that there are four volcanically active worlds in out Solar System? They are: Venus, The Earth, Io (one of Jupiter's moons) and Triton (one of Neptune's moons). Although Olympus Mons, mentioned earlier, is a huge shield volcano (like Hawaii, but bigger), most volcanic activity on Mars ceased billions of years ago. The youngest lava flows on Olympus Mons are a comparitively recent 20 million-or-so years old, but it is thought that this was the absolute last gasp of Martian volcanic activity.

 

No word in Japanese can end with a consonant other than "n."

The sounds "f," "th," and "l (maybe)" don't exist in either kanji, katakana, or hiragana (the three "dialects" of Japanese writing)

 

The driest land mass on the face of the earth is actually Antarctica

 

Indeed, more snow falls in London than at the South Pole. Strange but true.

Here are a few more climactic extremes for you:

Calama in northern Chile has had no rain in four hundred years. The cold Humboldt current just off the Pacific coast acts a colossal dehumidifier. It is so dry that buried corpses barely rot and are mummified with no human intervention.

By contrast, Cherrapunji in north east India had 26.47 metres of rain fall in the year August 1860 - August 1861. July 1861 alone saw 2.93 metres of rain. The inhabitants of this region have to wear plastic shoes - leather footwear simply rots. Presumably, they have to learn to swim at an early age too. The terrific rainfall is caused by monsoon clouds breaking over high mountains. It kinda puts the crappy weather we're currently experiencing into perspective.

Between 23 October 1923 and 7 April 1924, Marble Bar in Western Australia experienced 162 continuous days with temperatures in excess of 38°C (100°F), the longest heatwave on record. I would guess that being a weather forecaster here is not the most taxing job in the world.

The met station on top of Mt. Washington, New Hampshire, recorded a wind speed of 371 kmh (231 mph) on 12 April, 1934. In Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica, wind speeds frequently exceed 320 kmh. By way of comparison a wind speed in excess of 118 kmh is considered to be "hurricane force".

While the world's lowest temperatures have been recorded at the Vostok research station in Antarctica, Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon, both in N.E. Siberia, vie for the unenviable title of the coldest permanently inhabited place. Both towns have official recorded low air temperatures of around -68°C (-90°F) with unofficial records close to -100°F. Neither town is particularly far north - Verkhoyansk lies just above the Arctic circle while Oymyakon lies some way below - but two factors contribute to their extreme coldness. The first is winter-long high pressure which means no wind to blow away cold air. The second is that both towns lie in river valleys surrounded by mountains. The coldest air sinks to the valley bottom and settles. Indeed, both towns experience a temperature inversion: the air gets colder as you descend rather than vice-versa. Verkhoyansk also hold the perverse record for greatest annual temperature range, -70°C to 37°C.

A high air temperature of 58°C (136.4°F) was recorded at Al Azizyah in Libya on 13 September, 1922. However, the hottest inhabited place on average is Dallol in N.E. Ethiopia, which between 1960 and 1966 showed a mean annual temperature of 34.4°C (94°F). Many of the world's hottest places lie below sea level and Dallol is situated in the Danakil Depression. Higher average temperatures are experienced elsewhere in the area but it's mostly uninhabited. However, hundreds trek into the Depression daily to dig for salt in the blistering heat.

 

Agent Smith was on 6 of the biggest movies of our time. Matrix and Lord of the Rings.

[ November 15, 2003, 21:28: Message edited by: teekc ]

 

Did you know that in another hundred years, we will experience another ice age, due to (wait for it ) Global Warming.

Also did you know that the reason 22percent(?) of americans are obese because they buy peanut butter and the like in bloody buckets, not jars like everyone else (or at least brits).

In Britain, you can buy bags of crisps about the size of your outspread hand, in America, all the bags are the size of my f****ng arse (and no jokes about that!).

You know those Jerry cans that you fill with petrol, you get those things filled with orange juice at your average supermarket there. You might realise that this is the bleedin' reason why Americans are Obese.

Sorry about my rant just there, but I visited America only recently, and was suprised by how large the containers for everything was (as seen from above )

 

Did you know...

That rabbits that are born in winter have shorter ears than rabbits born in summer?

Amazing, but very true nonetheless!

 

quote:
** Indeed, more snow falls in London than at the South Pole. Strange but true. **

That has nothing really to do with being the driest land mass IIRC, it's because it never actually rains in Antarctica

But back from being

Leonard DiCaprio almost landed the role of Hobie Buchannon on Baywatch. He was considered a bit too old though.

 

The Bonobo (also rather incorrectly called 'Pigmy Chimpanzees) can also have sex for the fun of it.

In fact, there culture is almost completely based on sex and sexual favors.

Rather icky, but true.

 

DID you know that the mouth of a human is not as clean and bacilus-free as that of a dog? *eeewww*

 

And yet no one can remember the actor's name!

(just for the record, it's Hugo Weaving)

Did you know that two actors of the esteemed Elf lords in the LotR movies, namely Hugo Weaving (Elrond) and Marton Csokas (Celeborn) have both played a character named "Smith"?

(Agent Smith in Matrix and Mr. Smith in Kangaroo Jack... )

 

Did you know that in South Africa, we have 11 official languages and about 20 unofficial languages. Half of the time we can't even understand each other and then people still wonder why we're trying to kill each other?

 

If you listen to the theories of a certain Austrian psychologist, so is ours. In fact, he says that one of the first urges that newborn infants experience is the desire for sexual gratification and that every action taken by a person from that point forward is either derived from aggressive feelings or sexual drive.

 

Did you know that astronauts who remain in zero-gravity for long periods of time actually grow slightly taller than their height on earth, and that when they return to earth, their heights go back down to normal?

Did you know that the term opera is the plural form of the word opus?

Oh, and for the record, Hitler didn't really have 1 testicle. That's just a popular myth. He had 2, just like 98% of the male population.

One of the many useless facts I know due to a very extensive history project on the nazi party.

 

The myth comes from the following wartime ditty, sung to the tune of "Colonel Bogey":

Hitler has only got one ball
Goering has two but very small
Heinrich Himmler
Is somewhat similar
While poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.


To create the proper comic effect you must pronounce "Goebbels" as "Go-balls".

 

In a 1981 BBC radio broadcast of The Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins was voiced by Ian Holm.

Yeah, well that's pretty obvious with most guys - they spend the first 9 months of their lives trying to get out of there and the rest of their lives trying to get back in.