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Random Facts


GeneralHZRD

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This is a topic for random facts! Post your random facts here. If you want you can even include sources for them.

I'll start, Did you know when hippos are upset their sweat turns red.

Also, did you know that if you look at a complete stranger, that you've never met before and know nothing about, you still have a better than random chance at guessing their name correctly.

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Did you know that there is a species of parasite in the continental United States that make infected humans exhibit aggressive behavior? Also, did you know that 1/2 of the united states is northern and the other half is southern, 1/2 of America is eastern and 1/2 is western? Therefore America is double its own land mass. :D

 

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2 hours ago, Idealistic said:

The only thing that can go faster than light is light itself.

The explanation is that gravity affect time and in a intense gravity field you can measure a speed of light greater than the local speed of light.

Circular logic. By definition, light cannot go faster than itself. If speed of light is locally greater than speed of light in vacuum it does not mean that light is faster than itself.

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8 hours ago, Oversleep said:

Circular logic. By definition, light cannot go faster than itself. If speed of light is locally greater than speed of light in vacuum it does not mean that light is faster than itself.

You are right. Sorry. What i meant is that we are told that the maximum speed limit in our universe is the speed of light in vacuum, c, while truth is you can measure a speed of light greater than c.

My teacher used a similar sentence to bait me and it caused me a great impact.I was trying to do the same. I apologize for explaining it like that.

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6 hours ago, Idealistic said:

You are right. Sorry. What i meant is that we are told that the maximum speed limit in our universe is the speed of light in vacuum, c, while truth is you can measure a speed of light greater than c.

My teacher used a similar sentence to bait me and it caused me a great impact.I was trying to do the same. I apologize for explaining it like that.

Gravitic time dilation creates some weird effects. The light isn't actually going faster than the speed of light, but from an observer's point of view it can look like it is.

There are a number of different accepted terms to describe a group of puffins. My favorite: "an improbability of puffins"

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I have so much random bird and other nature trivia in my brain... Here are some of my favorites.

1. Fireflies use their flashing rear ends to attract mates. Each species has its own specific glow meant for others of its kind, but certain predatory species of fireflies mimic the signals of other species, luring in unsuspecting would-be lovers and then eating them.

2. Rattlesnakes' rattles get longer as they age: Every time the snake sheds its skin, another segment is added. Baby rattlesnakes are born with only a single"button" on their tail.

3. When berries freeze and thaw repeatedly in winter, they can ferment, produce alcohol, and intoxicate birds that eat them.

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  • 1 month later...

Neither orange the colour or orange the fruit came first:

The colour orange was named after the fruit, which was named after the tree which bore it. The fruit was actually originally called "geoluread" which is "Yellow-red" in old english whereas the word orange comes from the Sanskrit word "Naranga" which would have meant "orange tree".

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GPS technology required the use of Einstein's relativity equations to make it work. The times used to triangulate your location have to be so precise that miniscule variations due to relativity are enough to make GPS systematically inaccurate.

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On 2/15/2018 at 10:41 PM, Sunbird said:

I have so much random bird and other nature trivia in my brain... Here are some of my favorites.

1. Fireflies use their flashing rear ends to attract mates. Each species has its own specific glow meant for others of its kind, but certain predatory species of fireflies mimic the signals of other species, luring in unsuspecting would-be lovers and then eating them.

2. Rattlesnakes' rattles get longer as they age: Every time the snake sheds its skin, another segment is added. Baby rattlesnakes are born with only a single"button" on their tail.

3. When berries freeze and thaw repeatedly in winter, they can ferment, produce alcohol, and intoxicate birds that eat them.

Number 3 is hilarious,

On 4/2/2018 at 4:31 AM, Darkness_ said:

Neither orange the colour or orange the fruit came first:

The colour orange was named after the fruit, which was named after the tree which bore it. The fruit was actually originally called "geoluread" which is "Yellow-red" in old english whereas the word orange comes from the Sanskrit word "Naranga" which would have meant "orange tree".

That is really interesting, I had wondered this before. Thanks for clearing it up for me.

Now for my facts:

1: Apparently, babies cry in an accent. In one study they found that one could differentiate babies born in different countries purely by their cry.

2: You can build up an immunity to mosquitos, The only problem is that there are more than 3500 different species, so building up an immunity to one of them would be kind of pointless.

3: If all living humans were to hold hands around the equator of the earth, a significant portion would drown.

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5 hours ago, TheVillageIdiot said:

2: You can build up an immunity to mosquitos, The only problem is that there are more than 3500 different species, so building up an immunity to one of them would be kind of pointless.

Because the other species still have points?

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Animal noises are written vastly different in different languages. (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201211/how-dogs-bark-in-different-languages)

The Rainbow Gum Tree has bark that peels in strips that turn vastly different colors while aging, making it look spray painted.

The Lyre bird is an excellent mimic and will even accurately mimic human noises like car alarms and chainsaws.

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Moar random nature trivia!

4. Experiments have shown that while dung beetles don't see particularly well, they can see the Milky Way in the night sky and use it to navigate when the Moon is not visible.

5. The Sidewinder, a rattlesnake that lives in the desert, uses its characteristic sidewinding motion to move quickly across the scorching sand while keeping most of its body from touching the ground.

6. Although the bite of a Komodo Dragon is not venomous, most people who get bitten still die from the deadly bacteria in the dragon's saliva.

7. The pattern of stripes on a Monarch caterpillar is unique to the individual, like a person's fingerprint.

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I know lots of cat trivia...

1. There is no such thing as a saber-toothed tiger, as tigers are members of the conical-toothed cat subfamily. All saber-toothed cats (there are several on record) belong to the other feline subfamily, the saber-toothed felids.

2. Siberian tigers, the largest subspecies of tigers and therefore the largest extant felines, are not the same as white tigers. White tigers have been recorded in different subspecies.

3. There is no such thing as a black panther. There are black jaguars, though, which also have black spots like a normal jaguar. These spots are visible under the right light conditions. Black leopards have also been recorded.

4. There used to be lions and cheetahs in North America.

5. Black cats do not bring and/or cause bad luck. They do, however, possess the ability to turn invisible at will.

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The national animal of Scotland is the majestic unicorn. A certain character from Rithmatist would be proud.

In Power Rangers yellow is female majority but in Super Sentai it's male majority.

France has a problem letting go of their overseas territories 

Toy Story 2 was almost lost forever because of a glitch and was saved because one employee was working at home because of maternity leave

Most British shows are lost forever because the Beeb assumed no one would watch old episodes. Because of this policy almost all of season one of The Avengers is gone and about 100 episodes from the Hartnell and Troughton eras of Doctor Who are potentially gone forever, despite how many of the episodes were shipped overseas and still can't be found. Also one recent find became lost after being found by the Beeb because the company in Nigeria sold the episode to someone else meaning that one serial is still incomplete.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I need to talk to you about ablaut reduplication.

It's the natural order that English speakers put words into based on vowels and adjective categories, but apparently it's an intuitive part of the language learning for native speakers so it's something you know even though you're never taught it.

Read more here! http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160908-the-language-rules-we-know-but-dont-know-we-know

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1 hour ago, Zellyia said:

I need to talk to you about ablaut reduplication.

It's the natural order that English speakers put words into based on vowels and adjective categories, but apparently it's an intuitive part of the language learning for native speakers so it's something you know even though you're never taught it.

Read more here! http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160908-the-language-rules-we-know-but-dont-know-we-know

That article is vastly exaggerating how hard it is to learn all of that for a non-native English speaker.

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21 hours ago, Oversleep said:

That article is vastly exaggerating how hard it is to learn all of that for a non-native English speaker.

It probably is (as a native speaker, I dunno).  I just thought it was neat that there's a certain rhyme and reason to to word placement that I've never really thought of, unlike something we use regularly in English (such as having the subject be first) or something that requires a certain about of learning, such as odd past tenses or the rules of different plural suffixes.

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4 hours ago, Zellyia said:

It probably is (as a native speaker, I dunno).  I just thought it was neat that there's a certain rhyme and reason to to word placement that I've never really thought of, unlike something we use regularly in English (such as having the subject be first) or something that requires a certain about of learning, such as odd past tenses or the rules of different plural suffixes.

After a while you internalize those rules and do all of that instinctively. At least, I do.

Although I never really had reason to use more than two or three adjectives at once so maybe I'm not as good as it as I'd like to think I am.

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  • 4 months later...
  • 3 weeks later...

The more you know.....

  • More people die each year from falling coconuts than sharks.
  • Apparently Walmart has a lower acceptance rate than Harvard.  Walmart employs only 2.6% of applicants, while Harvard accepts 8.9%.
  • Hunting unicorns is legal in Michigan.
  • Cookie Monster's real name is Sid.

 

 

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