Factoids

• The Newton (N)

  One newton is (approximately) the force exerted by one apple when acted on by gravity
  Strictly speaking, 1 N = 1 kg·m/s²
  i.e. One Newton is the force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram at a rate of one metre per second per second
  But, as gravity (on earth) = just under 10 m/s² and the mass of an apple is just over 0.1 kg, the definition of the newton ties in beautifully with the story that Isaac Newton was prompted to consider gravity when an apple fell on him as he sat under an apple tree.

• To lose weight, move to the equator

  Gravity is about 0.5% stronger at the North and South poles than at the equator - so, if you weigh 80kg (about 176 pounds) at the pole, you would lose 0.4kg (about 14 oz) by moving to the equator.

• To lose weight, climb Everest

  OK, yes, you'd lose weight doing that much exercise - but let's assume that you didn't? If you weighed 80kg when you set off, and your mass didn't change during the climb, you'd still weigh less (79.778kg, to be precise) when you reached the summit. This is because you are further from the centre of the earth, so the gravitational attraction of the earth would be lower. The Earth's radius is 6371km. Everest is 8.85km high. The ratio of your weight at the two distances from the centre of the earth is (6371/6379.85)squared. Of course, there are easier ways to lose 222 grams.... (Oh yes, and if you're being picky, you'd take a bit more weight off, resulting from increased centrifugal force effects, and add a bit on to allow for reduced buoyancy at lower air pressure.)

• The Earth's magnetic South pole is at the North Pole

  (actually it is near, but not at, the North Pole.)

• Concrete, an ancient invention

  Concrete was widely used, and probably invented, by the Romans. They used it in building from about 200 BC. The best example is the dome of the Pantheon, built as a temple in 126 AD. The dome of the Pantheon is 43.3 metres (142 feet) in diameter. It remains the largest unsupported dome of non-reinforced concrete in the world today.

• Flies

  "Nothing seems to please a fly so much as to be taken for a currant, and if it can be baked in a cake and palmed off on the unwary, it dies happy" - Mark Twain

• Euler's identity: e^iΠ + 1 = 0

  Or: e to the power of i times pi, plus one, equals zero.
  This is really cool, because the numbers represented by these symbols are not directly linked:
  e is the base of natural logarithms, it is the unique number such that the derivative of e^x at x=0 equals 1 (see the wikipedia page on e for a detailed explanation.
  i is the imaginary number, the square root of -1.
  Π (pi) is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter (diameter x pi = circumference).
  

• If in trouble or in doubt,
  run in circles, scream and shout.

• Religious festivals

  Most major Christian festivals bear more than a little similarity to pre-existing Pagan ones:
  • Yule, the winter solstice (which fell on 25th December in the Roman calendar). 25th December was designated by Pope Julius I as the birthday of Christ.
  • Imbolc (1st February), the start of the spring quarter of the year, associated with the Celtic virgin goddess Brid. Later adopted (on 2nd February) as Candlemas, the feast of the purification of the virgin. Brid was renamed as Saint Bridget, this remained her feast day.
  • Lupercalia (14th February), a celebration of fertility. Later adopted as the feast day of St Valentine.
  • Eostre's day (The first full moon after the Spring equinox). The symbols of the fertility goddess Eostre include the egg and the rabbit. Easter is the first sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.
  • Beltane (1st May) The start of the summer quarter, celebrated by lighting fires and by maypole dancing. Roodmas associates this day with the Cross (the Rood), rather than a maypole).
  • Litha, the summer solstice (approx 21st June)
  • Lughnassadh (1st August) the "grain festival" at which bread from the first harvested corn was eaten. The Christian Lammas ("loaf-mass" service has a tradition of blessing the first loaf of bread).
  • Mabon, the Autumn equinox (approx 21st September).
  • Samhain (1st November), the start of the winter quarter, the Celtic feast of the dead. All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (1st and 2nd November) remember the souls of dead saints and non-canonized dead respectively.

• The moon is smaller than the earth, but it is further away

• A kangaroo is just a mouse seen up close

• 2^nd July, American Declaration of Independence

  2^nd July (not the 4^th) marks the date on which the American Congress first (unanimously, but secretly) voted for independence from Great Britain. The declaration was reworded and the same twelve colonies voted for adoption of the final text on 4th July. New York State abstained from both votes.

• The speed of light = 1.8026175 × 10¹² furlongs per fortnight

• Light travels about one foot in one nanosecond

  (actually, it travels 29.9792458 centimetres; one foot = 30.48 centimetres)

• Beans

  • Hippocrates taught that beans should be avoided. Curiously, beans are one of the protein sources included in the trendy "Hippocrates diet".
  • The disciples of Pythagoras were forbidden to eat beans (or to touch white cockerels, or to look into a mirror beside a light).
  • Runner bean plants are a tropical perennial - but they are not frost hardy, so usually grown in most temperate climates as an annual.
  • Beans produce 162 kilograms of protein per hectare of crop land; beef cattle produce just 9 kilograms per hectare.

  Good health is simply the slowest possible form of death

• Every silver lining has a cloud

• Beauty

  • The eye of the beholder is only skin deep
  • One millihelen = the amount of beauty needed to launch one ship. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_strange_units_of_measurement.

• Rules for writers

  [I originally saw these as output from the Unix "fortune" (fortune cookie) program. Many sources on the web refer to them as being from William Safire, but I can't find an original source.]
  Remember to never split an infinitive. The passive voice should never be used. Do not put statements in the negative form. Verbs has to agree with their subjects. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. If you reread your work, you can find on rereading a great deal of repetition can be avoided by rereading and editing. A writer must not shift your point of view. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction. (Remember, too, a preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.) Don't overuse exclamation marks!! Place pronouns as close as possible, especially in long sentences, as of 10 or more words, to their antecedents. Writing carefully, dangling participles must be avoided. If any word is improper at the end of a sentence, a linking verb is. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky. Everyone should be careful to use a singular pronoun with singular nouns in their writing. Always pick on the correct idiom. The adverb always follows the verb. Last but not least, avoid clichés like the plague; seek viable alternatives.

• The fraction 16/64 can be simplified (to 1/4) by cancelling the sixes in numerator and denominator

  This method also works for 19/95 = 1/5, 26/65 = 2/5 and 49/98 = 4/8

• Genealogy

  "An account of one's descent from an ancestor who did not particularly care to trace his own" - Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

• The Earth orbits the Sun - Official

  - but Galileo was tried for heresy in 1663 for promoting this idea, rather than that all other bodies orbit the Earth. He was initially imprisoned, then subjected to house arrest for the rest of his life. The Catholic Church officially accepted that the Earth orbits the Sun on 31 October 1992.

• The Earth rotates more than once each day

  One rotation of the earth takes 23hours 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds but, because it has moved along its orbit around the sun during that time, it takes about another four minutes before the sun reaches the same point in the sky.

• Have you ever listened to the things newsreaders say?

  Lots of people, not just newsreaders, say the oddest things:
  • "They searched through the debris with a fine toothcomb"
  • "They worked round the clock"
  • "He painted with a camel hairbrush"
  • "I feel like a cheese sandwich"

  You have more than the average number of legs (probably...)

  Most people have two legs, some have one, some have zero. The average number is therefore slightly less than two. If you have two legs, you have more than the average number.

• You are blind ten percent of the time

  Whenever your eyes move from looking at one point to another, your brain "switches off" any input from your eyes. This may be to stop you getting motion sickness from the way the scenery keeps sloshing around - but it means that you are effectively blind during that time. (Stand close to a mirror and look at your reflection. Focus on your left pupil. Now shift your focus to your right pupil. Did you see your eyes move? No? You must have been blind.)

• Early to rise, early to bed - makes a man healthy, wealthy and dead.

• Famous last words

  • "Go away, I'm alright" - H.G.Wells
  • "Either that wallpaper goes - or I do!" - Oscar Wilde
  • "Die, my dear doctor? That is the last thing I shall do!" - Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston

• Negatives

  • gruntled - happy
  • cle - the state of not being a parent's brother
  • gusting - jolly nice
  • ert - moving
  • der - over

• The fuel efficiency of my car is 0.063058 mm²

  It would normally be expressed as 44.8 miles per gallon (that's 4.546 litre sized imperial gallons, not 3.785 litre U.S. gallons), but it's a bit silly to use units like that which are a length divided by a volume. Think of it first as volume per distance (e.g. gallons used per mile travelled), then simplify the units (volume divided by length equals area) and convert to metric units. You can think of the 0.063058 mm² as being the cross sectional size of the thread of fuel along which the engine of the car travels, sucking it up as it goes.

• Your thermometer is travelling at nearly the speed of light

  Well, not the entire thermometer, but the electrons in the mercury. Mercury ought to be a solid at room temperature (it is a metal, after all) but is actually a liquid because the electrons in atoms of mercury whizz around the nucleus at almost the speed of light. This makes the electrons heavier, which makes them orbit closer to the nucleus, which means that they can't interact with the electrons of nearby atoms as easily, which is why mercury stays liquid. Simple!

• An AA cell battery equals 147 jellybabies

  Duracell AA cells are reported to provide 3.432 Watt hours of electric power. This is the same as 12355 Joules or 2953 kcal.
  Jelly babies contain approx 20 kcal each, so 147.65 Jelly babies deliver the same energy as an AA cell (as do 20.65 bananas, or 10 Mars bars).

• Computers never make misteaks

• Solar eclipses as seen on earth are a very unusual (and temporary) phenomenon

  The Sun is 400 times the diameter of the Moon, and is also 400 times further away than the Moon, so the Moon exactly covers the sun's disc as seen from Earth, but leaves the solar corona visible. The Moon is, however, moving further away from the Earth by 4.8 centimetres per year. This means that, at some time in the future, the moon will no longer completely cover the Sun's disc during an eclipse.

• 8th September 1752 never happened

  The day after Wednesday 2nd September 1752 was Thursday 14th September 1752 (at least in Britain and the British Empire, which included most of the Eastern States of America). This was because of the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. This change took place at different times in different countries, starting in 1582 and ending in 1923 (in Greece) - so, for 341 years, different parts of Europe had different dates.

• February 1751 never happened

  Actually, January, February and most of March 1751 went missing, at least in Britain. This is because, until 1st January 1752, the year was always considered to start on 25th March. Dates therefore ran (for example) 23 March 1748, 24 March 1748, 25 March 1749. Because of the change to the "modern" system in 1752, 1751 therefore started on 25 March but ended on 31 December.

• Time Immemorial

  In English law, "time immemorial" means any date prior to 3rd September 1189, the date when King Richard I was crowned.

• Disgusting food

  Completely plausible, but totally offputting:
  • Kidney fudge
  • oysters with custard
  • sausage milkshake
  • liver meringue pie
  • savoury chocolate omelette

• The popular story of Christmas is (probably) wrong

  The original text of the bible makes no mention of a donkey; it does not say that Mary gave birth on the night that she arrived in Bethlehem, it makes no mention of an inn or an innkeeper; it does not say that Christ was born in a stable and no mention is made of wise men visiting him at the place of his birth. It is almost certain that Christ was not born in December (or even in the winter), as shepherds would not have been abiding in the fields with their flocks in the winter.

• A balanced diet

  It is important to ensure that you maintain a balance in your diet between different groups of nutrients. The four main types of nutrient are sugar, grease, starch and burnt crunchy bits.
  Terry Pratchett, The Fifth Elephant

• Mnemonics

  • Pi - the length of each word in this rhyme represents a digit of pi, up to 21 digits:
    Now, I wish I could recollect pi.
    "Eureka," cried the great inventor.
    Christmas Pudding; Christmas Pie
    Is the problem's very center.
  • Stalagmites and stalactites: mites grow up and tights come down.
  • A litre of water's a pint and three quarters (1.76, actually - but N.B. this only works for imperial pints, not US pints)
  • How to spell separate correctly: Separate is a rat of a word to spell
  • The cranial nerves: On Old Olympus' Towering Tops, A Fat Aged German Viewed Some Hops (Olfactory, Optic, Oculomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducent, Facial, Auditory, Glossopharyngeal, Vagar, Spinal Accessory, Hypoglossal)
  • The order of the planets from the sun: Mother Very Thoughtfully Made A Jelly Sandwich Under No Protest (Mercury, Venus, Terra (Earth), Mars, Asteroids, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto)
    Update! As of 2006, Pluto is no longer a planet, but a "dwarf planet". A suitable mnemonic that only includes the true planets is: Men Very Easily Make Jugs Serve Useful Needs. However, there is now a need for a mnemonic which covers the full set of planets and dwarf planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Eris.
  • Thirty days hath September, April June an No Wonder, all the rest have peanut butter, Except for Grandma 'cos she rides a bicycle.
  
  

• A King's home is his castle

• Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana

• Time flies - not!

  Time is meant to pass at one year every year, one minute per minute, and one second per second - right?
  Wrong! Although time usually passes at one second per second, it sometimes takes a break, at least officially. Because the spin of the earth is slowing down, the atomic clocks that rule our lives regularly get far enough ahead that a "leap second" is added, usually at midnight on 31 December. If it seems that time is passing faster, it really is because you're getting older. Sorry!

• Does eating asparagus make your pee smell? (and, if it does, can you tell?)

  Some people notice that, when they have eaten asparagus, their urine smells strongly - but many other people are unaffected. Apparently about 40% of the (UK) population produce the "smelly" chemicals after eating asparagus, but a large proportion of the population are unable to detect the smell of these chemicals. (See dmd.aspetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/29/4/539 for full details!)

• Stupid signs:

  • Sign seen on back of bitumen tanker truck: "Warning - Elevated Surface Temperature" (I think it meant "Hot!")
  • "Sheep Keep Dogs Under Control"
  • "Slow Mud On Road" (but where did the fast mud go?)
  • In a "Boots" store, a UK pharmacy chain which has diversified into other areas of healthcare: "Baby catalogue available here". (Catalogues may be fun, but surely not as much as the traditional method?!)

• You are (mostly) not human

  Your body contains about 100 trillion human cells - but it contains 10 to 20 times as many bacterial cells. Most of these are beneficial, and are essential to your health, but they are still not human. You are probably less than 10% human.

• You are not reading this now

  You actually read it as much as 1/10th of a second before you thought you did. It takes between 50 and 100 milliseconds (1/10 sec) between an image striking the retina of the eye and it registering in the brain, so you've probably already started reading the next factoid by now...

• Diarrhœa

  • Diarrhœa is hereditary - it runs in the jeans
  • Dire Rear
  • "She prepares herself to die, but before she dies she sings an aria. The so-called die-aria" (Victor Borge, in his album "caught in the act")
  • Spelling mnemonic: Diarrhœa Is A Really Runny Heap Of Endless Amounts

• Simplifying Spelling (and Grammar)

  Is it laziness, illiteracy, an attempt to be "different", or just common sense?
  The spellings of many words have changed, and are changing. English words derived from other languages (in whole or in part) become anglicized, then become further simplified. Words derived from a combination of other words gradually replace letters with apostrophes, then lose the apostrophes.
  Proponents argue that it makes words and spellings easier to learn - but, if taken to its logical conclusion, our language would lose much of the nuance, expression and beauty it now has. (owr langwij wud looz much of th newans, ekspreshun and byooty it now has.)
  • Diarrhœa, diarrhoea, diarrhea or dire-rear?
  • Formulæ, formulae or formulas?

• Weird British Laws

  It is illegal:
• to be drunk in charge of a cow (The Licensing Act, 1872)
• to eat mince pies or Christmas pudding on Christmas day (banned by Oliver Cromwell)
• for anyone to wear armour to Parliament (Royal Prerogative, 1279)
• to use any slide upon ice or snow (Town Police Clauses Act 1847)
• to shake out your doormat in the street after 8AM (Town Police Clauses Act 1847)
• to dispose of any whale washed up on the coast without first offering the it to the sovereign. The head belongs to the king and the tail to his consort " to furnish the Queen's wardrobe with whalebone". (From a statute of 1324)
• to die in Parliament. (Anyone who dies in a royal palace is eligible for a state funeral; Westminster is a royal palace; If you die there, your body will be removed to hospital before a death certificate is issued, to avoid the cost of a state funeral)
• to drive to church on Christmas day (the Holy Days and Fasting Days Act of 1551 requires everyone to attend church on Christmas day on foot)