Useless Facts

Useless fact: I miss reading the posts in this threat.

Useless fact: Jumping spiders have hydraulic powered legs.

 

A lot of sci-fi exposition talks about a super-character using 100% of their brain, but that's not just science-fiction, there's actually a word for when a person's brain does that in the real world.

It's called a grand mal seizure.

 

Also the "only use 20%" bit is untrue as well. We use all parts of our brain, just at different times, and average activities amount is like 50% or something.

 

"The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare." I love the infinite monkey theorem.

 

The best analogy I've heard is of a piano. Just because you can create magnificent music using a few of the keys at a time doesn't mean that you want to smash ALL of the keys simultaneously for an hour.

And besides, every neuron that's responsible for thinking is a neuron that can't be used for motor function or life support. If humans wanted super-powers, we would want to reduce the 10% that we waste on cognition

 

Their are two escalators in the whole state of Wyoming

In a 1917 letter to Winston Churchill, Admiral John Fisher used the phrase "O.M.G."

 

Arthur Conan Doyle frequently used the phrase "ejaculate" in reference to Watson shouting about Holmes' startling skills.

 

A finger print can have as many as 70 distinct points of identification. Some states require as few as six for a finger print match. Some are upwards of 15-20, but nobody reqires a complete point for point comparison for a 'match'.

 

Leap years do not occur every 4 years. They don't occur in years that are divisible by 100 and not by 400. So 2100, 2200, and 2300 will not have leap years, but 2400 will.

 

And when people say "The Mayan calendar was more accurate than ours" they're talking about the Mayans' more complicated cycles of leap years

 

Tomatoes are actually fruit.

 

William McMahon, the 20th Prime Minister of Australia, was rumoured to be gay because he waited until he was 57 before he got married, and this was in the sixties.

 

A Soviet experiment to domesticate foxes had litters start to show the same traits as dogs: friendliness to humans, playfulness, floppy ears, and unusual coloring, in a few generations.

 

Well, canines are canines.

 

Don't let this thread die, guys!
This is what the country would look like if every proposed state was accepted.

It's very hard to see, so here's the link:
http://andrewshears.com/2011/12/08/the-united-states-that-couldve-been/

 

I hate fetta.
To masticate is another word for chew.
Eyes evolved before backbones.
Your gut bacteria population is one of the factors involved in love.
Your mouth is less bacteria-free than a dogs. Because they're saliva has stronger anti-bacterial qualities precisely because they're more dirty with their mouths. Which is why we have the saying "lick your wounds" 'cause carnivora like dogs and cats actually do it.
Einstein day-dreamed about laser beams when he was at school.
There's a small spot between your eyes where neither can see that is filled in by subconscious imagination based on predictions.

 

Some people find thing with small holes as stressing, anxiety causing. It is a proposed phobia and called Trypophobia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trypophobia

 

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/qi-50-amazing-facts-from-10-1544434.

 

Alex the parrot was the first non-human to ask an existential question, "What color am I?" He learned that he was gray.

 

Koko the gorilla sometimes makes jokes.

 

Did I already post here that favism (an intolerance to fava beans found in some people) may be a protection against malaria?

 

Holy crap, I should stop eating Mexican food!

 

My Pavlovian reaction:

th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th

Fun fact: The most common psychiatric prescription at the time that Silence of the Lambs was written required that patients not consume liver, beans, or red wine lest they suffer nasty interactions with the drugs (I believe SSRIs were what was referred to). Hannibal Lector, being a serial killing psychiatrist, was making a medical joke about being a serial killer off his meds

 

Keep the thread alive guys! Forever!