Totally Useless (or not) Fact of the Day

by JackRabbit Sat Feb 20, 2010 8:42 pm

First topic message reminder :

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Since 1950, neither winners

nor heirs may sell their Oscar statuette
without offering to sell it back

to the Academy first for $1.

by JackRabbit Wed Sep 29, 2010 3:42 pm

During World War II, sales of the soft drink 7 UP
(or 7-Up) rose to new heights. Bottlers focused on 7 UP because it required less sugar than other soft drinks, and sugar was being rationed for the war effort.
pepsi

by roxanna Thu Sep 30, 2010 2:44 am

clever dolphins !! i wonder if their right and left sides of the brain function lke ours, left> logic , right > intuition.
and how does it affect them when one is asleep ? $don\'t know$

by JackRabbit Thu Sep 30, 2010 3:50 pm

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On September 30, 1882, the world's first hydroelectric power plant began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin. The plant, later named the Appleton Edison Light Company, was initiated by Appleton paper manufacturer H.F. Rogers, who had been inspired by Thomas Edison's plans for an electricity-producing station in New York. The Appleton plant used the energy of the Fox River and when it opened, it produced enough electricity to light Rogers' home, the plant itself, and a nearby building.
wave

by JackRabbit Sun Oct 03, 2010 6:14 pm

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Mel Blanc - the voice of Bugs Bunny - was allergic to carrots. After a near-fatal auto accident in 1961, Blanc did his cartoon voices, including the first 65 episodes of The Flintstones, flat on his back, with the microphone hanging over his bed.
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Good thing I don't have THAT problem
... being a bunny and all ... giggle

by JackRabbit Mon Oct 04, 2010 5:16 pm

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October 4-10 is World Space Week, established by the United Nations "to celebrate each year at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition." The celebration of World Space Week is under the guidance of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs based in Vienna, Austria.
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by JackRabbit Mon Oct 04, 2010 5:20 pm

October 4 is World Animal Day.
The website explains: World Animal Day was started in 1931 at a convention of ecologists in Florence as a way of highlighting the plight of endangered species. Since then it has grown to encompass all kinds of animal life and is widely celebrated in countries throughout the world. October 4 was chosen as World Animal Day as it is the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.
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by JackRabbit Mon Oct 04, 2010 5:23 pm

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"Ocean water is not uniform but varies in several physical attributes, including temperature, salinity, pressure, and density. These vary vertically, dividing the ocean into layers, horizontally — between tropical and temperate regions, for example — and seasonally."— American Museum of Natural History

by JackRabbit Tue Oct 05, 2010 1:35 pm

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Look at your zipper. ... See the initials YKK?
It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha,
the world's largest zipper manufacturer.

by Tater Salad Tue Oct 05, 2010 1:58 pm

Now how did you know that?

by JackRabbit Tue Oct 05, 2010 4:59 pm

Tater Salad wrote:Now how did you know that?

... Because I'm a psycho bunny ... no, wait ... make that, "psychic bunny" ... no, wait ... maybe I was right the first time! rollonfloor

You be the judge of that ... no ... wait ...

by JackRabbit Thu Oct 07, 2010 11:07 am

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An interesting fact about October 2010:
This October has
5 Fridays,
5 Saturdays and
5 Sundays, all in 1 month.
It happens once in 823 years. dancing bunny

by JackRabbit Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:35 am

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Sources list October 6, 1893, as the creation date of the breakfast cereal "Cream of Wheat". Company history describes how North Dakota wheat millers, struggling to keep their company going in an economic downturn, agreed to try one partner's idea for a breakfast porridge. When the first hand-packaged boxes were received in New York, the millers received a telegram: Never mind shipping us any more of your flour, but send a carload of "Cream of Wheat."

by JackRabbit Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:38 am

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On October 7, 1959, the first-ever views of the far side of the Moon were transmitted to Earth by the Luna 3 spacecraft. Because of the nature of the Moon's rotation, only one side can be observed from Earth. "But from lunar orbit," NASA says, "Apollo astronauts also grew to know the Moon's far side."

by JackRabbit Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:41 am

The three most valuable brand names on earth:
Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.
And they all use red and white as their colors.
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by JackRabbit Fri Oct 08, 2010 11:46 am

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The State of Nevada first legalized gambling in 1931. At that same time, the Hoover Dam was being built and the federal government did not want its workers(who earned 50 cents an hour) to be involved with such diversions, so they built the town of Boulder City to house the dam workers. To this day, Boulder City is the only city in Nevada where gambling is illegal. Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall and 660 feet thick at its base. Enough rock was excavated in its construction to build the Great Wall of China. Contrary to old wives' tales, no workers were buried in the dam's concrete.
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by Tater Salad Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:16 pm

Were all the dam workers tempted to spend all their dam money in the dam casinos?

by JackRabbit Fri Oct 08, 2010 12:41 pm

Tater Salad wrote:Were all the dam workers tempted to spend all their dam money in the dam casinos?

Hi Tater!
Well ... $don\'t know$ ... rollonfloor

by JackRabbit Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:00 pm

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August 27, 1859 -- Colonel Edwin Drake found oil.
The well was soon pumping out 20 barrels of crude oil a day - and Titusville, Pennsylvania became the home of the first oil well.

by JackRabbit Sun Oct 10, 2010 3:05 pm

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The Egyptian pyramids were once faced
completely with marble.

by JackRabbit Mon Oct 11, 2010 4:25 pm

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James Buchanan was the only president of the United States never to marry. During his term in office, his niece Harriet Lane played the role of the First Lady.

by JackRabbit Tue Oct 12, 2010 1:21 pm

How many reasons are there for an entertainer to change his or her name? Here's an uncommon one: when your name is that of the father of relativity. Actor and director Albert Brooks started out in life named Albert Einstein. His brother, David Einstein, also changed his name to become a celebrated daredevil -- to "Super Dave" Osborne.
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by Tater Salad Tue Oct 12, 2010 2:02 pm

I had no idea they were brothers!

by JackRabbit Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:05 pm

Neither did I, Tater! dancing bunny

"Learn sumpin' new every day!"

by JackRabbit Tue Oct 12, 2010 7:07 pm

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A sailor on board the Pinta, one of Christopher Columbus's three-ship fleet, sighted land early in the morning of October 12, 1492. The first recorded celebration of Columbus Day in the United States took place on October 12, 1792. Organized by The Society of St. Tammany, also known as the Columbian Order, it commemorated the 300th anniversary of Columbus's landing.

by JackRabbit Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:15 pm

Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams have the same colors: black and gold.
dancing bunny

Hey! ... Those were the colors
of my old high school:
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by JackRabbit Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:18 pm

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The television show "Seinfeld" was set in New York City; however, the exterior that was used for Jerry Seinfeld's apartment house is actually in Los Angeles, California.

by JackRabbit Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:20 pm

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According to the company website, the founders chose the name Google for their search engine as "a play on the word 'googol,' a mathematical term for the number represented by the numeral 1 followed by 100 zeros. The use of the term reflects their mission to organize a seemingly infinite amount of information on the web."

by JackRabbit Thu Oct 14, 2010 7:50 pm

The most common town names in the U.S.:
1. Fairview
2. Midway
3. Oak Grove
4. Franklin
5. Riverside
6. Centerville
7. Mount Pleasant
8. Georgetown
9. Salem
10. Greenwood

dancing bunny

What?! ... No "Rabbitville?"

by Tater Salad Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:16 am

I'm a little surprised that Springfield isn't on that list.

by JackRabbit Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:46 pm

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Philadelphia, York, Lancaster, Baltimore, Annapolis, Princeton, Trenton, and New York City were the cities serving as the seat of government for the fledgling United States of America before Washington, D.C. became the nation's permanent capital in December 1800.

by JackRabbit Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:49 pm

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So-called white chocolate isn't chocolate in the technical sense -- it is comprised of cocoa butter, sugar and milk, but no actual chocolate.

by JackRabbit Sat Oct 16, 2010 12:52 pm

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The world's first commercial nuclear power plant, located in Seascale, England, was first connected to the power distribution grid on August 27, 1956. The Calder Hall Nuclear Power Plant operated until 2003 and was demolished in 2007.

by JackRabbit Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:20 pm

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The Bactrian camel is the only land mammal on Earth that can survive on salt water.

by JackRabbit Sun Oct 17, 2010 4:24 pm

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James Madison
5 feet, 4 inches tall, was the shortest president of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was the tallest at 6 feet, 4 inches.

by JackRabbit Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:32 pm

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Charles Lindbergh was named Time magazine's first "Man of the Year" in 1927. But what turned into an annual tradition for the publication actually started as an apology: Time had embarrassingly left Lindbergh off the cover after his landmark solo flight and "Man of the Year" was their apology.

by JackRabbit Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:36 pm

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State Flag of Alaska
October 18 is Alaska Day, the anniversary of the formal transfer of the territory from Russia to the United States. The state flag is blue for the sky and for the forget-me-not, the state flower. The North Star is for the future of the state of Alaska, the most northerly of the Union. The dipper is for the Great Bear, symbolizing strength.

by JackRabbit Mon Oct 18, 2010 3:42 pm

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On October 18, 1954, Texas Instruments introduced the first commercial, mass-produced transistor product — a transistor radio. More than 100,000 pocket radios were eventually sold.

by Tater Salad Mon Oct 18, 2010 6:16 pm

Too bad it didn't have FM! But then, I don't believe FM radio was commercially viable until some years later...

by JackRabbit Tue Oct 19, 2010 1:50 pm

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The state fish of Hawaii is the humuhumunukunukuapua'a. The Hawaiian name roughly translates to "the fish with a pig-like nose". It's English name is the Reef Triggerfish.
( wave

Aloha Ron ... you're still in our hearts!)

by Tater Salad Tue Oct 19, 2010 2:04 pm

I remember Ron telling us about them....

by JackRabbit Thu Oct 21, 2010 5:25 pm

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October 21 is Apple Day in the United Kingdom.
It is described as "encouraging the celebration of trees in city and country, in the street, village green — anywhere in the public domain. Tree dressing highlights our responsibility for looking after trees and reminds us of their enormous cultural and environmental importance."

by JackRabbit Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:07 pm

Let's flip ... for your Halloween candy ... I'll call it ...
If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.
TAILS!
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by JackRabbit Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:12 pm

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Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Australia's Sydney Opera House on October 20, 1973. While its construction was fraught with many conflicts and setbacks, it has become an internationally known example of late modern architecture. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007: "Sydney Opera House is a great architectural work of the 20th century. It represents multiple strands of creativity, both in architectural form and structural design, a great urban sculpture carefully set in a remarkable waterscape and a world famous iconic building."

by JackRabbit Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:15 pm

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The first TV show to use "open captions," that is, captioning for the hearing-impaired available on all TVs, was PBS' The French Chef.

by Breezey Breezey Tue Nov 02, 2010 12:10 pm

JackRabbit wrote:Let's flip ... for your Halloween candy ... I'll call it ...
If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.
TAILS!
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Ya give us the facts.. and then want to cheat?! lol

by JackRabbit Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:55 pm

Ohhh ... so you got that one ... huh?
Can't pull the wool over your eyes![You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by JackRabbit Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:23 pm

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In writing his own tombstone, Thomas Jefferson penned a lengthy memorial listing many of his great accomplishments, from "author of the Declaration of Independence" to "founder of the University of Virginia." However, he did forget one small achievement-- the tombstone fails to mention that Jefferson was once president of the United States.
OOPS!

by JackRabbit Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:28 pm

Chocolate magnate Milton Hershey had reservations on the Titanic. ... He ended up taking an earlier ship.
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by JackRabbit Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:36 pm

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John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, a British politician in the eighteenth century, was so fond of gambling that he spent the whole day playing, while devouring slices of bread with a filling between them. Little did he know that his name would become eponymous with that food.
* How's that for a "new word of the day?" ...
One who is referred to as eponymous is someone who gives his or her name to something, e.g. Julian, the eponymous owner of the famous restaurant "Julian's Castle." Something eponymous is named after a particular person, e.g. Julian's eponymous restaurant.

by JackRabbit Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:39 pm

Speaking of sandwiches ... Ohhhh ... by the way ...
Have you learned to play this game yet? ...
I'm still waiting ... rollonfloor

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by Tater Salad Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:51 pm

Wonder why we didn't end up eating Montagus?

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