LOL The random fact of the day thread

That thing must've been huge...

Again, IIRC, the reason a pneumatic system was abandoned was due to rats eating the seals.

 

In my head I am imagining a large leopard seal trying to run away from a pack of rats.


Certain types of seal show unihemispheric sleep, where half their brain remains asleep even while they surface to breath. Once on land they return to "normal" sleep.

 

Apparently, an item at the Cheezburger takes THREE YEARS for moderation.

 

Originally Windows was named Interface Manager

 

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

 

Speaking of energy...

The human body is incredibly inefficient. 2000kcal (GDA for energy intake) is 8,000,000 Joules of energy. Per day.

Usain Bolt, at 94kg, travelling at the fastest speed a human has ever ran (28mph) only has 7400 Joules of kinetic energy, so we use more than 1000 times that per day, not including any exercise.

The human body in phenomenally wasteful. Just wanted to share that.

 

It should be noted that he may have 7400J KE at his fastest speed, but he will have used more than 7400J to get up to that speed, and again lots more to maintain this speed.

I didnt do any maths, but i'm guessing it wouldnt be unreasonable to say in those 10 seconds he uses 100,000 J.

So it's incorrect to say we use 1000 times that per day excluding exercise.

It may be incorrect to say it's inefficient, as we generally need this heat that our bodies produce from eating those 8million J... but I have no proof or thoughts on that in general, except to say that most things are inefficient.

 

Brunel's pneumatic railway did have many issues with rats - it was though the fish based lubricant used to seal the tubes and keep the leather flaps flexible attracted then...

 

Compared to other animals' bodies, the human body is indeed more wasteful. We have no fur or thick skin so we lose heat quickly, we need two or three sizable meals a day to remain healthy and the reason for that is evolution.

The reason we lost our fur is because having minimal hair allows us a lot more flexibilty with climate adaptation. More specifically, it allows us to keep cool. Pre-civilisation man would have to go hunting, and a way to wear down your target is to chase it over long distance. A warm blooded, fur covered mammal would overheat quickly because of its inability to cool off, and this is one of the factors that put us at the top of the food chain. Our intelligence means that we can also have those three meals a day as we can store our food effectively.

So yes, the human body may well be wasteful, but it's evolved in such a way that it's a huge advantage to us as a species.

 

The largest toy distributor in the world is McDonald's.

 

racecar is the same read from both directions ..

 

lame I know but I am not feeling 100% factfinder fabulous today just wanted to contribute a bit of useless info

 

David Purley, The race driver who received a George Medal for trying to save Roger Williamson in 1973, was for a while thought to have experienced the highest G-forces of all humans. He survived an estimated 179.8g when he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to 0 in a distance of 66 cm (26 inches) after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall.

Thank you, Wikipedia...

 

having replaced all four corner brake pads the other week I know how that guy felt ..

 

It's called a Palindrome. Very cool things.

 

The human brain is 80% water.

 

The Information Sphere is not corrupt; technically, he is constantly giving out informative information.

 

There are 50% more males that are left handed compared to females

Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce. Ironically his name means "apple sauce" in Japanese

 

John Lennon was asked is Ringo Starr the best drummer you have ever played with, he replied "he isnt even the best drummer in our band"

 

ReBoot was the first fully CG animated series, work started on it in 1991 but it took so long to make each episode the first season didn't air until 1994