Interesting facts/stories/events/news etc. that MOST people may be unaware of

[Sprout]

Between April and July 1776, 90 separate versions of the Declaration of Independence were issued.

When George W. Bush became U.S. President, he discovered that every keyboard in the White House was lacking a 'W' key. The Clinton administration removed every single one of them.

Buckingham Palace stands on the site of an old brothel.

Henry VIII once enacted a 'beard tax' on society, though his own was exempt, obviously.

That's it off the top of my head, will dig out some old books and add more later.

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

If there is a "proof" that it is wrong, it's actually a fallacy. Because 0.999999 recurring really is equal to one, if there is truly an infinite number of digits in the fractional part.

Proof please

 

[Sammy G]

I know less than I did when I began reading this thread.

 

[JimmyW]

Hopefully explaining the 0.999... = 1 argument conclusively.
http://www.purplemath.com/modules/howcan1.htm

 

[THECATINTHEHAT]

I know less than I did when I began reading this thread.

There's no allowing for idiocy...

 

[JimmyW]

There's no allowing for idiocy...

There's no disputing that....

 

[Sammy G]

There's no allowing for idiocy...

Good job, because you not getting that particular joke would've scooped first prize.

Does this have to be of interest to anybody else? Not strictly?

Okay. I'm in love. Genuinely. It was the last thing I expected to do, but I was given no choice. It built up from chats and confiding in each other, to the occasional tipsy flirtation to what it is now.

I realise this is silly, but right now I'm far too caught up and I never, ever want it to stop.

 

[Vurtual]

I was just shocked to see how blatant the tactics were to downplay ron paul. Shows just how 'in on it all' the various news channels are and the voting errors/corruption show nefarious actions from another group of people. It seems to me democracy is an illusion. If voting made any real difference they wouldn't let us do it. Sure small things change, but the big issues remain... war, deception, greed, inequality, wealth gap etc. I think every US president who has ever held office, had the biggest campaign funding. Either that or every one for a long time. Yeah I don't remember it well, but well enough to make the point it's all a charade.

That's true enough, but compare ron paul to the ride that ralph nader had and he didn't do too badly. There are plenty of mega rich oligarchs who would love a bit of ron paul to dismantle the government and replace it with randian corporate power (rand paul having that name isn't a good sign); seemingly more oligarchs prefer sticking to the current using the government to fuck us method - and it's a buyers market as you said.

...

A fact... did you know...Only a tenth of the cells in your body are 'your' cells with your dna - the rest are bacteria that live symbiotically in/on you (and which you'd die without)

Did you know...Scientists can only detect roughly a tenth of the microbes that exist (i'm not sure how they work this out, or the previous one... or the percentage in those domestos adverts)

The combined weight of all the microbes in the earth is 25 times the weight of the multi-celled animals

(i probably remembered all the numbers wrong though)

EDIT - awww sam. Love is always an interesting fact (maybe the only one (ooh into the hippy dippy stuff again now)). i'm happy for you.

 

[Tangerine Dream]

Alcohol we drink (ethanol) the psychoactive component of pretty much all alcoholic beverages, is neurotoxic. It also has calories, like protein, fat and carbohydrates.

Ethanol within the human body is converted into acetaldehyde by alcohol dehydrogenase and then into the acetyl in acetyl CoA by acetaldehyde dehydrogenase. Acetyl CoA is the final product of both carbohydrate and fat metabolism, where the acetyl can be further used to produce energy or for biosynthesis. As such, ethanol can be compared to an energy-bearing macronutrient, yielding approximately 7 kcal per gram consumed. However, the product of the first step of this breakdown, acetaldehyde, is more toxic than ethanol. Acetaldehyde is linked to most of the clinical effects of alcohol. It has been shown to increase the risk of developing cirrhosis of the liver and multiple forms of cancer.

If we drank a tertiary alcohol instead of a primary alcohol like ethanol the neurotoxic element is removed.

Tertiary alcohols like TAA cannot be oxidised to aldehyde or carboxylic acid metabolites, which are often toxic; this makes them safer drugs than primary alcohols.[8] However, like other tertiary alcohol based anaesthetics (e.g. methylpentynol, ethchlorvynol) TAA was eventually superseded by safer and more effective agents. It is still occasionally used for the anaesthesia of rodents.

Alcoholic beverages, typically containing 3–40% ethanol by volume, have been produced and consumed by humans since pre-historic times. Other alcohols such as 2-methyl-2-butanol (found in beer) and γ-hydroxybutyric acid are also consumed by humans for their psychoactive effects.

So yeah, ethanol isn't necessarily the best alcohol to consume when there are many other options less toxic.

 

[Septonn]

^ Although quite a few people on BL seem to be aware of the neurotoxic properties of alcohol, it is ridiculous how in society at large alcohol is still seen as a much safer option than most other psychoactive substances.

I used to work for a certain enormous Dutch beer brewing company some years back and used to joke to my boss about us being part of one of the biggest drug issueing cartels on the planet. Such remarks didn't sit well with him at all