Monday, January 30, 2012

I'M THE EYE-MAN OF TV, WITH MY OCULAR TB: Inspired by last week's spasm of coverage regarding Pres. John Tyler's living grandchildren (which, ahem, some of us could have told you over three years ago), the folks at Mental Floss couldn't help but wonder: what's your favorite all-time amazing fact?

25 comments:

  1. 2. If you had to add a non-traditional pet to your life — no cats, dogs, fish, birds, rabbits, hamsters, or anything you’ve ever owned before — what would you choose, and what would you name it?

    Read the full text here: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/115182#ixzz1kwyEVrEC
    --brought to you by mental_floss! I have no fun facts, but the answer to this is a pigmy hedgehog.  I think I would name it Squishy and he would be my Squishy.  Hello Squisy!  Ouch! Bad Squishy!(kudos to anyone who actually gets the quote)

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  2. Discovered around the age of 13-14 that females are fun and occasionally stimulating. This was world-changing and I've never tired of this fact.

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  3. Genevieve9:44 AM

    So if you get one of these (I've seen two people with them at home since December), would you name them all Squishy?
    http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Deep-Jellyfish-Aquarium/dp/B000MT3R5E

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  4. The Pathetic Earthling9:48 AM

    In the Non-Blue Oyster Cult/Abe Fortas Division*:  Simple math, I know, but endlessly fun at parties:  Take a rope, run it around the world.  Now, lift that same rope three feet off the ground.  How much more rope do you need to make the ends connect?  10 feet.  (Okay 3<span>π feet).</span>

    * N.B.: I have always claimed this was the most *useless* fact I know, not the most amazing.

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  5. Adlai9:55 AM

    Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. knew both John Quincy Adams and Alger Hiss.

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  6. Marsha10:33 AM

    The multiplying by elevens rule. Tickles me to this day.

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  7. Favorite geographic quirks: the southernmost point in Canada is further south than both the northern border of California and Rome, Italy.

    Reno is further west than LA.  El Paso is closer to LA than Texarkana, TX.

    The existence of the Southwick Jog, the Delaware Wedge, and Northwest Angle, MN.  That library which sits on the VT/Quebec border.

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  8. A new one (for me): American Lane in Greenwich, CT, can only be reached via New York State.

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  9. Not Bridge related, but this reminded of the "Rule of 9." If you twice add a column of numbers and get a different answer, and that difference between the two answers is divisible by 9 then you transposed one of the numbers.

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  10. BeeFan11:21 AM

    For old-time NHL fans:  Gordie Howe never scored an overtime playoff goal.

    (Note about John Tyler:  his grandson claims he was elected to the Confederate Congess but died before he could serve.  Not exactly.  He served in the Provisional Confederate Congress that preceded the first Confederate elections.  So he did serve in the Confederate Congress.)

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  11. If the Titanic had hit the iceberg head-on - instead of trying to miss it - about 100 or so people would have died, but the ship would have stayed afloat.

    (I was a minor Titanic buff in high school. I'm pretty sure I got that from Walter Lord's "A Night to Remember.")

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  12. InertiaGirl2:21 PM

    You might like this one, Adam. Due to the Tetons, Alta, WY can only be reached from Idaho.

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  13. Anonymous2:27 PM

    Here you go Adam, a piece of Michigan you can only reach from Toledo. No bridge.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=41.735582,-83.456812&spn=0.1,0.1&t=m&q=41.735582,-83.456812

    --bd

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  14. Benner3:12 PM

    Detroit is east of atlanta and north of windsor, ont.

    Dont forget the kentucky bend!

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  15. Genevieve3:15 PM

    Holy cow.

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  16. Isn't it actually 6pi feet?

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  17. Sue, I am not a Titanic buff, but really enjoyed this book last year: How to Survive the Titanic or The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay.

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  18. The Pathetic Earthling6:03 PM

    Oops, yes.

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  19. pfrduke8:14 PM

    Similarly, Point Roberts, WA.

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  20. Jessica10:19 PM

    Would Patrick Crawley also have survived, thus rendering moot the question of Matthew Crawley, Manchester Solicitor?

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  21. I'm not up on my math, so I'm sure I'm missing something, but wouldn't it be 6π (or 19-20 feet) rather than 3π (or about 10 feet)? If circumference is π*d, isn't the calculation here [(π*(N+6)) - (π*N)] (because the rope is lifted 3 feet at both ends of the diameter, making the total diameter 6 feet longer)? If so, the we get [Nπ+6π-Nπ], or 6π, right?

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  22. Just to specify -- in my equations, N=diameter of the earth.

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  23. That awkward moment you realize you just responded to a two-year-old comment, and that someone else made the same point two years earlier.

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