Total Trivia

[CCaprice]

A post Academy Awards night tidbit:

In 1942, at the height of her Hollywood career, Hedy Lamarr patented a frequency-switching system for torpedo guidance that was two decades ahead of its time. It never made her any money but the concept was taken up by engineers in 1957 and it became the basic tool for secure military communications. It was installed on the ships sent to block Cuba in 1962, about three years after the patent expired.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

No word in the English language rhymes with depth, month, orange, silver or purple.

The silver sliver
Of the herbal purple gerbil

 

[CCaprice]

The silver sliver
Of the herbal purple gerbil

Lovely...who needs to rhyme?

 

[CCaprice]

The two most common surgeries are biopsies and cesarean sections.

 

[CCaprice]

If you go blind in one eye, you'll only lose about one-fifth of your vision but all of your depth perception.

 

[Daizie]

96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

 

[CCaprice]

96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Is there any other way???

 

[Daizie]

Ever since 1944, the town of Bunol, which is near Valencia, Spain has a festival called "Tomatina." The festival occurs once a year on the last Wednesday of the month of August. People have a huge food fight and throw tomatoes at each other, and this festival is considered the world's largest food fight.

 

[CCaprice]

Ever since 1944, the town of Bunol, which is near Valencia, Spain has a festival called "Tomatina." The festival occurs once a year on the last Wednesday of the month of August. People have a huge food fight and throw tomatoes at each other, and this festival is considered the world's largest food fight.

Sunlight laundry detergent used it in a commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N59MOnrd7o0

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

A leap year occurs every four years to help synchronize the calendar year with the solar year, or the length of time it takes the earth to complete its orbit about the sun, which is about 365¼ days.

The length of the solar year, however, is slightly less than 365¼ days—by about 11 minutes. To compensate for this discrepancy, the leap year is omitted three times every four hundred years.

In other words, a century year cannot be a leap year unless it is divisible by 400. Thus 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not leap years, but 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The probability of being born on leap day is approximately 1 in 1500.

 

[fire_breeze]

FEBRUARY 29th is also known as Sadie Hawkins Day.

Rules of courtship were slightly strict in years past. Women who were hoping to marry their beaus had to wait for a proposal; tradition dictated that they were not allowed to pop the question themselves... except on one day, every four years. You guessed it, on Feb 29!

Sadie Hawkins Day, developed out of the popular cartoon strip "Li' Abner" by Al Capp. In her article in the Baltimore Sun on Feb 29, 1992, writer Sandra Crockett writes- "a female character named 'Sadie Hawkins' who lived in the fictional town Dogpatch was having a tough time getting a man to propose to her. Her father, the mayor of said fictional town, declared one day, 'Sadie Hawkin's' day. The unmarried women in Dogpatch ran -- literally -- after unmarried men to propose that day."

The tradition seemed to have started with legends of St. Patrick and St. Bridget (5th Century) in Ireland. St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick that the sisters in her nunnery were in despair because the prevailing tradition at the time -- that women had to wait for a proposal of marriage from a man. St.Patrick agreed that women could propose to men every four years, during Leap Year. According to some legend, Bridget proposed to Patrick only to be turned down!

Hmmm..

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

We are returning to the moon!

NASA has announced a launch this year (2008) and each subsequent year to ascertain whether humans can establish a viable base there.
It is planned less for pure science and more for supporting future human spaceflight.

An orbiter will generate the first digital map. It will be a reconnaissance craft designed to help prepare for a return of astronauts as early as 2015 and no later than 2020.

The second new lunar foray, in 2009, will be with a robotic lander whose goals are not yet clear.

The initial robotic journey back to the Moon will nonetheless yield "a lot of science," Weiler said, but "we are going to the Moon to prepare to go to Mars, where we will do the real science."

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Some lunar trivia...

Moon dust is toxic to humans.

Solar radiation and cosmic rays are a threat to anyone living there.

The effect upon the human body of cosmic rays (the background radiation of the Big Bang) are unknown as we are protected on Earth by our atmosphere.

 

[fire_breeze]

A full moon always rises at sunset.

 

[fire_breeze]

A day on the planet Mercury is twice as long as its year. Mercury rotates very slowly but revolves around the sun in slightly less than 88 days.

 

[mrtnmoon]

Moon dust is toxic to humans.

ouch. kind of puts a damper on my romantic prospects.

 

[fire_breeze]

A cosmic year, which is the amount of time it takes the sun to revolve around the center of the Milky Way, is only about 225 million years.

 

[Daizie]

In space, astronauts cannot cry properly, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow down their faces.

 

[steelersfan]

96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Is there any other way???

Actually, yes, there is. I learned from my grandmother to pre mix the peanut butter and jelly on a plate before adding the mixture to the bread. I like it a lot better and so does my daughter, with whom I've continued the tradition.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Before NASA was formed, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) was started by President Woodrow Wilson to supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight. The NACA determined which problems should be experimentally worked on and discussed their solutions and their application to practical questions. The NACA also directed and conducted research and experiments in aeronautics.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Missouri and Tennessee are the only two states that border onto eight others.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

ouch. kind of puts a damper on my romantic prospects.

Sorry hon I never wanted to dampen your style... keep up the romance

 

[fire_breeze]

The first man to distill bourbon whiskey in the United States was a Baptist preacher, in 1789.

 

[CCaprice]

Actually, yes, there is. I learned from my grandmother to pre mix the peanut butter and jelly on a plate before adding the mixture to the bread. I like it a lot better and so does my daughter, with whom I've continued the tradition.

Now I'm hungry!! Thanks for the tip. I'll try that the next time I have PB&J