The interesting fact thread

papajohn56

New member
Jun 16, 2008
7,256
211
0
SC
Just post something neat you learned or don't think other people will know.

The unit "decibel" was named for Alexander Graham Bell, and developed by Bell Labs. 1 dB = 1/10 of one Bel.
 


When people say they did something, "off my own back," they're incorrect. The saying is: "off my own bat." It comes from playing cricket and scoring points off one's bat.
 
Nothing is worth giving a damn. You can be switched off any time. You are a joke, a video game character for someone or perhaps an illusion
 
Beer

Beer is one of the world's oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC, when cereal was first farmed, and is recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The earliest known chemical evidence of beer dates to circa 3500-3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran.

Historical documentation shows that around 5,000 years ago, ancient Chinese civilizations were brewing a beer-like substance known as kui.

Beer was part of the daily diet of Egyptian Pharaohs over 5,000 years ago. Then, it was made from baked barley bread, and was also used in religious practices.

(according to wikipedia)


superstock_1746-1622.jpg
glover-beer_egyptian-serving-girl-pouring-beer.jpg
 
In Pennsylvania, it is illegal for a man to purchase alcohol without written consent from his wife.

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
 
In Pennsylvania, it is illegal for a man to purchase alcohol without written consent from his wife.

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure.

A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.

Animal sexual behaviour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It is a common myth that animals do not (as a rule) have sex for pleasure, or alternatively that humans, pigs (and perhaps cats, dolphins and one or two species of primate) are the only species which do. This is sometimes formulated "animals mate only for reproduction".

Science cannot say at present conclusively what animals do or do not find "pleasurable", a question considered in more depth under Emotion in animals. The urban myth website Snopes.com considers this particular view in depth. Its conclusions are broadly that the statement is true, but only using a very specific definition of "sex for pleasure" [italics in original], in which sexual acts tied to a reproductive cycle or for which an alternative explanation can be asserted, are ignored, as is all sexual activity that does not involve penetration. Animals put themselves at risk to engage in sex, and as a result, most species have evolved sexual signals (usually scent and behaviour) to indicate the presence of receptive periods. During these, sex is sought, and outside these it is usually not sought (or is sought but not permitted). Snopes comments that this is not in fact a reflection of whether sex is pleasurable or not, but rather a reflection of whether individuals have sex at arbitrary times. They conclude:[27]

"Of course, we have to make many seemingly artificial distinctions to arrive at our conclusion. Animals other than humans have no awareness that their sexual activities are connected with reproduction: They engage in sex because they're biologically driven to do so, and if the fulfillment of their urges produces a physical sensation we might appropriately call 'pleasure,' it isn't the least bit affected by the possibility (or impossibility) of producing offspring. We are also discounting cases in which animals do engage in sex even though reproduction is an impossibility because we claim there are other 'purposes' (of which the animals themselves are unaware) at play. (For example, the females of some species of birds will invite males to mate with them even after they have laid their eggs, but we ascribe a purpose to this behaviour: this is a biological "trick" to fool males into caring for hatchlings they didn't father.) We also employ subjective terms such as 'willingly' and 'regularly' in claiming that bonobos and dolphins are the only other animals who "willingly (and regularly) engage in sex with each other" ... and even then it may be the case that these species have some other 'purpose' for doing so that we haven't yet discovered..." A 2006 Danish Animal Ethics Council report[28] which examined current knowledge of animal sexuality in the context of legal queries concerning sexual acts by humans, has the following comments, primarily related to domestically common animals:
Even though the evolution-related purpose of mating can be said to be reproduction, it is not actually the creating of offspring which originally causes them to mate. It is probable that they mate because they are motivated for the actual copulation, and because this is connected with a positive experience. It is therefore reasonable to assume that there is some form of pleasure or satisfaction connected with the act. This assumption is confirmed by the behaviour of males, who in the case of many species are prepared to work to get access to female animals, especially if the female animal is in oestrus, and males who for breeding purposes are used to having sperm collected become very eager, when the equipment they associate with the collection is taken out.
[29]
There is nothing in female mammals’ anatomy or physiology, that contradicts that stimulation of the sexual organs and mating is able to be a positive experience. For instance, the clitoris acts in the same way as with women, and scientific studies have shown that the success of reproduction is improved by stimulation of clitoris on (among other species) cows and mares in connection with insemination, because it improves the transportation of the sperm due to contractions of the inner genitalia. This probably also concerns female animals of other animal species, and contractions in the inner genitals are seen e.g. also during orgasm for women. It is therefore reasonable to assume that sexual intercourse may be linked with a positive experience for female animals.
 
Gustave Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower, enjoyed a successful career as an architect despite having dyslexia and a paralyzing fear of heights.
 
Beer

Beer is one of the world's oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC, when cereal was first farmed, and is recorded in the written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

The earliest known chemical evidence of beer dates to circa 3500-3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran.

Historical documentation shows that around 5,000 years ago, ancient Chinese civilizations were brewing a beer-like substance known as kui.

Beer was part of the daily diet of Egyptian Pharaohs over 5,000 years ago. Then, it was made from baked barley bread, and was also used in religious practices.

(according to wikipedia)

God forbid me from being wrong here, but from what little history I've done, and can recall, it came from a means of trying to make water clean enough to drink. In the west we used malt, barley, hops and yeast and in the east they boiled it. (Doh.)

The trouble was this produced alcohol, which is toxic. Westerners slowly over came the side effects and became quite tolerant, whilst in the east, they never met alcohol in quite the same way or quantity. Hence why the west can drink well and the east react to it's toxicity to a far greater extent.
 
God forbid me from being wrong here, but from what little history I've done, and can recall, it came from a means of trying to make water clean enough to drink. In the west we used malt, barley, hops and yeast and in the east they boiled it. (Doh.)

The trouble was this produced alcohol, which is toxic. Westerners slowly over came the side effects and became quite tolerant, whilst in the east, they never met alcohol in quite the same way or quantity. Hence why the west can drink well and the east react to it's toxicity to a far greater extent.

Pretty sure this is complete bullshit. People have been intentionally getting drunk since the beginning of time in the East, West, North and South.
 
In Pennsylvania, it is illegal for a man to purchase alcohol without written consent from his wife.
That one is actually not true, a local news station debunked a lot of those "odd laws." That was one of them.


- During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food. That's the weight of about 6 elephants.
 
The pyramids of Egypt, along with many of the regions architectural wonders, were built on the backs of slaves powered by vinegar. Not having the coin necessary to drink wine, as was the custom of the non slave population, they instead were fed "vine agar" or spoiled wine, multiple times a day for energy.