The Fact of the Day Thread!! Post a fact that you find useful here :)

[theotherside]

Fun fact:
Coca-cola would be green if colouring weren't added to it! Would make a great St. Patricks day drink

 

[Cerebral]

There are no poisonous snakes in Maine.

 

[theotherside]

This thread is in need of big 'ol fat BUMP!!

 

[Vader]

^As am I!

"Cannabis" is derived from the Dutch for "canvas", as canvas was historically made of hemp.

 

[theotherside]

This day in 1876(March 7)..
Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone.

 

[amapola]

Water is blue.

edit:
no seriously a lot of people think it is clear Not just colourblind people either!

 

[dermeister]

A snail can sleep for 3 years. I wonder how long a nap is to them?

 

[theotherside]

^^^What I would give for a three day nap I think 3 years might be a bit long for me! The life of a snail must be great.

 

[amapola]

Doesn't the cicada sleep for 17 years underground then hatch and mate for a few days before laying eggs and dying or something?

 

[theotherside]

I'm not sure, let me ask Dr. Google He is like Dr. Know without the great voice of Robin Williams.

 

[amapola]

Ask Jeeves!!!!!!!

 

[theotherside]

Boris Karloff(played Frankenstein) survived a lightning strike in real life.

 

[ektamine]

Doesn't the cicada sleep for 17 years underground then hatch and mate for a few days before laying eggs and dying or something?

god damn, now thats a smart species.

 

[amapola]

Okay here's a fucking good one and my apologies for not finding the sources at the moment.

So most people have heard of the "fact" that the average human eats seven spiders a year in their sleep or something along those lines right?

Well that fact has never been substantiated and furthermore the piece of trivia is often considered to have been completely fabricated by a reporter who wanted to do a study on how fast information can spread without sources etc. etc.

Even more interesting however is the whole sociological experiment theory is attributed to a certain female reporter in a magazine that no one else has ever been able to find since.

Damn the internet!

edit:
source: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/spiders.asp
So it was apparently Lisa Holst in PC Professional in 1993 who started this rumor.
See if you can find the article

 

[Vader]

Aw, sorry amapola, I did that one way back in post #30. You'll have to try harder.

 

[amapola]

83% of all posters don't bother reading anything but the current page of a thread.

 

[Swerlz]

60% of the time it works every time

 

[Budisti]

When the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts a big part of the US will be screwed. Its like 35 by 45miles big and is thought to have attributed to the mass extinction in the ancient days.
And recently I read an article about volcanoes possibly being able to become fully active in a matter of months(not centuries as previously thought). Not a fun fact but 8(

 

[Vader]

90% of statistics are just invented on the spot.

 

[JG0007]

Cool thread. Glad I found it. Now to find some useless facts.