Useless Facts

Fukuoka Airport is the principal airport on the island of Kyushu and is the fourth busiest passenger airport in Japan. Its airport code is FUK.

 

The code for Irakleion in Crete is HER. The code for Hingurakgoda in Sri Lanka is HIM. Either would make for an interesting flight plan from Fukuka.

 

Public employees in the US are exempt from federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.

The Freedom of Information Act, passed by Congress in 1966, specifically exempts the Legislative Branch, which includes, well, Congress.

 

Sucks

 

Question:
This is the video directed by Russell Mulcahy. That was my own little trivia (though I wonder if someone beat me to it.
I used to listen to the Teen Wolf podcasts and he or someone else mentioned that he was the director of the first MTV music video. So I figured I should check wiki to see if your random fact supports my random fact, and it did.

 

An even more useless fact: I was born so long ago I don't recall the event at all.

 

In at least 80 cultures worldwide, people have developed whistled versions of the local language when the circumstances call for it.

 

You get Smithsonian's email updates? That article caught my eye, too.

 

Nope. Slashdot quoting the Smithsonian.

I used to live in a place where the neighborhood kids had invented or appropriated a whistling form of communication. Very annoying.

 

It's an interesting article. I've seen herders communicate complicated instructions to their herding dogs via whistles but never had read about languages being translated into whistles. Won't work with tonal languages, but there was a demonstration of whistled Spanish included in the story that was fascinating.

 

The town clock at the start of The Revenge of Frankenstein chimes 46 times. However, it accompanies Peter Cushing’s Baron Frankenstein being taken from jail to the guillotine, so maybe it was typical in those days to ring the town clock bell throughout an execution.

 

A clipped left ear is a sign that a feral cat has already been trapped, neutered, vaccinated, and returned to the wild.

 

In Istanbul they get blue collars. It is a city of cats, not so much strays or feral as a shared resource like a public park or water fountain.

 

In 2018, approximately 61% of 18-year-olds in the U.S. had a driver’s license, down from 80% percent in 1983. The number of 16-year-olds with licenses decreased from 46% to 25% in the same period.

Hard to imagine.

 

I do not get the reluctance to drive. My step grandson was in his early twenties before he got his license and then it was at the insistence of his mother. Driving meant independence and a job to me. Hmm. New thought. Maybe that's what it means to today's non-drivers and that's why they don't want to drive?

 

One of the non-drivers mentioned in the article is Michael Andretti's 21-year-old son (!). I wonder what all these folks are going to do when Uber and Lyft finally collapse from the weight of their own impossible-to-sustain business models. Might be a good time to start a driving school.

 

Speaking for myself, that's exactly why I don't drive anymore. Cars are expensive, and I've tried to arrange my life so that I can live as cheaply as possible and work as little as I can. Fortunately, I live in a city with a good public transit system, so I can manage it. No debt, minimal expenses—that's freedom to me.

 

Not many birds there, I take it.

 

Why would kitteh hunt when she can just look cute at a sidewalk cafe and live on charity? There is a belief that the lines in the fur of cats' foreheads are the result of the Prophet Muhammad having stroked his cat's head. Not something I buy into, but cats are very well regarded in Islam.

 

Another tabby cat legend: Mary and Joseph fell deeply asleep after the birth of Jesus. Like any baby, he kicked around and dislodged his covers, leaving himself open to the cold. In the stable was a cat who'd just given birth to kittens. Hearing the cold baby whimper, she transferred her kittens and herself to his manger bed, and kept him warm through the night. When Mary awoke and found what Mama Cat had done, Mary stroked her head, marking the cat with an M as a sign of her gratitude.

 

Good on ya! Long may you feel happy and free.

People's concepts freedom are interesting. The very idea of being confined in a city is enough to send me screaming into the hills. Having a vehicle and a bit of disposable income for gas gives me the freedom of backcountry roads, byways, and places that I couldn't reach any other way.

 

Thank you! And may you and your automobile of choice never run out of interesting roads to explore.

 

Like this:

 

Well, cats do occasionally kill birds or rodents for sort of sport, or out of instinct. They can be pretty destructive for local ecosystems when let outside regularly. Keep your cats indoors except in controlled circumstances (e.g. on a cat leash).

 

And never out of gas, either. Did that once on my motorcycle because it is a long way between towns here and I failed to carry an extra pint or two in a STP bottle on that trip.