OT: Interesting Facts (history, geography, science, etc.)

[prankster]

Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in US.

It's all about the fractals!

You guys haven't seen my neighborhood after one of those "intermittent afternoon thunderstorms" we have in Florida.

Add up all the shorelines of all those transient ponds... who knows how many thousands of miles we would be talking about.

And, BTW, this little sub-discussion is trembling on the verge of absorbing this thread into that dark place that claims so many Boneyard threads.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

Either there is an end to the universe or there’s not. If there is, what’s on the other side (which means it’s not the end)? If there isn’t, how do I wrap my brain around that?!

brilliant statement. or, the reason sooo many folks, including me, have faith.
having looked at the subject at hand, starting with ol al's writings on physics from the very early 1900s, an honest person could only conclude 'and then what?'
whether highly 'educated' or not, many folks from both perspectives invariably agree 'and then what?'
string theory is a worthwhile pursuit, yet remains today as undefined as when first contemplated. nicky tesla holistically understood many natural truths that defied conventional attempts to prove out. we need more tools. i really, really like Snap-On, cuz their stuff never breaks.
tool :

 

[WestHartHusk]

We are all just some else's simulation.

 

[UCLJ0211]

That doesn't change the results in the list, since it expressly includes Michigan at # 9.

It does - because most of the ones ahead of it are saltwater coastlines

Michigan superlatives: 21 ways our state is the biggest, best and only

What makes the Mitten State stand out? We all know that we can claim the American auto industry, Motown and Sleeping Bear Dunes, but we've got more than a few other points of pride. We've pulled together this list of times and ways that the state of Michigan is a leader and best; everything from...

www.mlive.com

 

[UconnU]

Leonardo Di Vinci conceptualized and sketched out a helicopter 420 years before the first one was every built. They used his 420 year old concept and renders, in part, to build the first helicopter.

 

[Adios]

Alexander the Great's personal horse used for most of his conquests is buried in Punjab.

Some historians believe Alexander died as a result of a mortal wound sustained after crossing the Indus River.

 

[temery]

Big Red is also a chewing gum.

 

[Husky Alien]

Big Red is also a chewing gum.

The drink is popular in the Southern United States, known for its unique taste and red color. Though often thought to be bubble gum, its flavor is a combination of lemon and orange oils, topped off by a pure vanilla that offers a creamy aftertaste.

 

[ColchVEGAS]

~.5% of the world's male population in 2003 could be traced back directly to Gengis Khan. That is 1 in every 200 males share the same Y chromosome from the 13th century Mongol ruler. Talk about a breeder.

 

[UconnU]

~.5% of the world's male population in 2003 could be traced back directly to Gengis Khan. That is 1 in every 200 males share the same Y chromosome from the 13th century Mongol ruler. Talk about a breeder.

Nice. Elon Musk is also a proponent of mass breeding, is constantly talking about how we need to fix the fertility rates in the west. I believe he has 7 children now.

 

[CL82]

It does - because most of the ones ahead of it are saltwater coastlines

Michigan superlatives: 21 ways our state is the biggest, best and only

What makes the Mitten State stand out? We all know that we can claim the American auto industry, Motown and Sleeping Bear Dunes, but we've got more than a few other points of pride. We've pulled together this list of times and ways that the state of Michigan is a leader and best; everything from...

www.mlive.com

Um, no.

 

[CL82]

The drink is popular in the Southern United States, known for its unique taste and red color. Though often thought to be bubble gum, its flavor is a combination of lemon and orange oils, topped off by a pure vanilla that offers a creamy aftertaste.

Things I don’t need to know:
Big Red leaves a creamy after taste.

 

[Palatine]

It it possible for the universe to be both finite and infinite.

Imagine the universe as the surface of a balloon. As the balloon expands every point on the surface of the balloon gets further away from every other point. The surface can expand forever meaning that it is infinite. But at any given point in time. It is finite.

 

[Palatine]

The larger question is can God make a rock so big that he can't pick it up?

 

[husky429]

Nice. Elon Musk is also a proponent of mass breeding, is constantly talking about how we need to fix the fertility rates in the west. I believe he has 7 children now.

My fun fact is that Elon Musk is moron.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

My maternal side of the family goes back many generations to the town in American that geographically closest to Africa: Eastport, Maine.

Close 2nd, yet the town of Lubec objects and Quoddy Head State Park/peninsula is even closer

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

“Detroit is east of Atlanta” always messes me up

Much of Windsor, ON lies south of Detroit

 

[Chin Diesel]

Much of Windsor, ON lies south of Detroit

Jacksonville, FL is west of Pittsburgh.

 

[Chin Diesel]

The only way a game of Monopoly can end officially is when one player flips the board and everything on it over.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

In any of the United States, the furthest points both west and east are in Alaska. The easterly site’s higher latitude makes it further from Africa than Quoddy Head State Park peninsula in Maine.

 

[UconnU]

My fun fact is that Elon Musk is moron.

I mean, he’s right. Take Japan’s 1.4% fertility rate. Extrapolate that over just a handful of generations and you end up with almost no people. US seems to be the only western country with fertility rates even near replacement level. I don’t think importing massive amounts of people from undeveloped countries is a reasonable solution.

 

[husky429]

I mean, he’s right. Take Japan’s 1.4% fertility rate. Extrapolate that over just a handful of generations and you end up with almost no people. US seems to be the only western country with fertility rates even near replacement level. I don’t think importing massive amounts of people from undeveloped countries is a reasonable solution.

Are we ignoring the rest of the planet's fertility rates now? It doesn't take a genius to notice western countries have low fertility rates. It takes less of a genius to bother to look at third-world countries on Wikipedia too. Starting mass breeding programs is potentially the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. And I am a public school teacher--I hear stupid ideas every single day. There are 100+ countries with replacement level fertility on this planet man. Including India, with what, close to 20% of the world's population already?

Musk fanboys are repulsive all over every corner of the internet. The JJ Starling stanning is a more enjoyable schtick for you. He's a hell of a player

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Jacksonville, FL is west of Pittsburgh.

 

[storrsroars]

Never doubt the influence of natonalism on language development...

In England, as the influence of the Classical world was revived in the 15th century, scholars of English desired to remind their readers that most of the words in the language originated in Latin and Greek.

To show off their knowledge that ‘doubt’, then spelled 'dout' because it came into medieval English via French doute, was derived originally from Latin dubitare, they added the b — and it stuck. In its way, it was a nationalistic gesture, reasserting the (more prestigious) Classical origins of English over Dutch, French, German, and Norse influences of the intervening millennium since Roman influence waned in Britain from the fifth century and Anglo-Saxon languages began to infiltrate.

So, those in positions of power (read: printing presses) added in extra letters to words just because they could. In a time when language was far from standardized, this was a fairly easy feat to accomplish.

This can also be seen with "sign", which came from the same root word as "signature", so they kept the "g". Of course they also went rogue on occasion, as with "knife", of Germanic origin, where the "k" was indeed pronounced.

 

[MCNPA]

Sharks have been on earth longer than trees.