Thread: Weird True Facts

PERHAPS IT'S THE "DRAG" CAUSED BY THE SWIM TRUNKS?

During the August 2008 Olympics in China, USA swimmer Jason Lezak broke the world record in the 100-meter Olympic swimming freestyle, completing the distance in 46.06 seconds. Compare that, however, to the fastest fish in the sea, the sailfish. At top speed, 110 kph (68 mph), it can cover 100-meters in 3.27 seconds.


IS THIS WHY LINCOLN DIDN'T HAVE A PRAYER?

Despite warnings from many, in 1861, John Thompson Ford purchased and remodeled the First Baptist Church of Washington, making it into a popular theatre. A couple of years later, it was destroyed by fire and then rebuilt. On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was assassinated there. Then, in 1893, part of that same theatre's upper story fell onto the floors below, crushing to death 22, injuring 68.


MARIJUANA TODAY, WHERE BOOZE WAS DURING PROHIBITION?

U.S. Prohibition, went into effect beginning January 16, 1920, forbidding the sale of alcohol for human consumption, closing 15,000 New York City bars. Of course, before long, those bars were replaced with 30,000 speakeasies, serving basically the same market of consumers. All the while, liquor Czar Al Capone was grossing over $50 million a year.


DON'T LAUGH. SOME EXPERIMENTS WITH LSD SHOW PROMISE

In the 1960's, Timothy Leary (1920-1996), a former Harvard psychology professor, believed in the power of drugs such as LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), and openly used them. Despite all that, he still had some pretty clear thoughts. An example: "We have this incredible brain, 120 billion neurons, the complexity is beyond our ability to conceive. The challenge of the human species is to learn how to operate this wonderful equipment."


DON'T GO THERE EXPECTING A TAN

Bet you thought the wettest place on earth is the South American rain forest? Wrong. The wettest place on earth is located on Mt. Wai'ale'ale (pronounced wai uh-lay uh-lay) on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where it rains on average 335 days a year, leaving some 460 inches (11,685 mm). In 1982, 683 inches (17,340 mm) of rain fell, making it a world record of the most rain ever recorded in the history of meteorology.


FOR THOSE WHO THINK ONE PERSON CAN'T DO MUCH

Between 1929 and 1953, Stalin's Gulag prison labor camps, scattered through out the U.S.S.R., caused the deaths of some 20 million people. Stalin controlled all media news, making sure not a word of these conditions escaped to the West. But the world did finally learn, after reading two of Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn's books, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1970.

All these Vinigrettes have been supplied to B-A by Andrew J. Hewett
www.chewednews.com

GUESS THIS NEWS HAD HER PLAYING A DIFFERENT TUNE?

Melanie Stevens, 29, a nurse in Los Angeles, was on her way to see a patient when she noticed a cello lying on the sidewalk near a trash bin. Taking it home, she asked her cabinetmaker boyfriend to convert it into a CD holder. Good thing he was still busy on another job. A few days later Ms. Stevens read a 320-year-old, $3.5 million Stradivarius cello had been stolen about a mile from where she had found it.



HE WAS BORED, SO SHE WAS GORED

Josef Meschede, a 44-year-old German farmer, taught his bull Maxi to charge on command. Next, he lured his 40-year-old wife, Karolina, into Maxi's pen, where the bull gored her to death. And, Meschede would probably have gotten away with it, except for the half-million Euro life insurance policy he had on his wife, and evidence proving he was already using a dating service.



OUR REMAINING UMBILICAL CORD TO THE SEA

Common table salt is made of two elements, sodium and chlorine. Sodium alone could burn the mouth, and chlorine by itself is a poison. But mixed together, the human body needs to contain about eight ounces of salt to live and move. It regulates heartbeat, digestion, nerve impulse and bowels. Too little salt will cause the body to shut down and become totally paralyzed, with death to follow.

THAT DOGGONE CAT GOT THREE PEOPLE KILLED

Yiannis Karayannopoulos, an 87-year-old farmer from Oropedio, in northern Greece, was so convinced his neighbor, Thomas Koletsos, had stolen his cat, he caught him outside and shot him dead. Hearing the shot, Koletsos's wife, Chrysanthi, came to investigate, and she was also killed. Karayannopoulos then committed suicide with the same gun...........and, before dark, the cat returned home.


SHE CAME OUT AHEAD $13,998.01

Jean Smith, a 64-year old resident of Fort Myers, Florida, was shopping one day in 1998 at a secondhand store, when she was taken by a picture frame containing a water color drawing of a dancer. Figuring the frame was worth the $1.99 price, she took it home, where it sat for months.....until. Until she heard the Oprah Winfrey Show was doing a program on Hidden Treasures. She E-mailed the image of her small drawing, which had a signature at the bottom: A. Rodin. For this, Ms. Smith was invited to appear on the show, and the drawing was determined to be the work of Auguste Rodin (French artist known for the sculpture The Thinker-1904), and was worth $14,000.


BIG BIRD GONE BAD

Abraham Hendriks, 65, and his wife Anna, 63, made a bad mistake taking a short cut to their farm in Joostenbergvlakte, about 20 miles outside Cape Town, South Africa. As the older couple trudged along, an ostrich attacked, stomping Mrs. Hendriks, while her husband stood helpless, unable to distract the bird. Eventually rescued by a passing motorist, they were taken to hospital, where Anna died a few hours later.

IT TOOK POWERFUL VANITY TO GO THROUGH THIS

In the late 1880's, German physiologist A.E. Fick was the first person to successfully construct and fit contact lens. However, the contact lenses were made of heavy glass, covered up tear glands and did not conform to the actual shape of the eye, which caused tremendous discomfort. (It wasn't until 1929 that Dr. Joseph Dallos, from Hungary, perfected a way to make molds from living eyes. And, in 1936, optometrist William Feinbloom introduced lighter and more convenient plastic lenses, paving the way for modern day contacts.)


BUT THESE "LISTENERS" COULDN'T CHANGE THE STATION

At least three hundred years before radio and television, it was the town criers who marched about the markets, squares and streets to "give the latest." Their job was to literally shout the news of the day, including births, deaths, scheduled executions, and any word of their soldiers' conquests in other lands. Their "uniforms" were generally a red and gold robe, white breeches, black boots and a tricorne hat.


GREAT WAY TO DIET WHILE PIGGING-OUT? SWALLOW A TAPEWORM

Tapeworms enter the body through undercooked beef, pork and fish. Once one arrives in the intestines, it may remain there for up to 25-years, growing to a length 30 feet (9 m). There, it eats a larger and larger share of food swallowed by that digestive tract's owner. (Symptoms of the tapeworm's presence include extra hunger and weight loss. Foods such as steak tartar and sushi are common carriers of these worms.)



HIS HONOR, MY A**


In 1999, while California state authorities investigated San Bernardino County Judge Fred Heene's conduct in court, he announced he would not run for reelection. One example of his poor judging: A woman convicted of a traffic violation asked His Honor for more time to complete her community service because, on doctor's orders, she had to remain in bed during her final weeks of pregnancy. The judge denied her request, sentencing her to 44 days in jail. She then protested, explaining she now had a week-old baby at home, to which the judge declared, "You should have thought about that a long time ago."



ANOTHER CATASTROPHIC DISEASE THANKS TO THE MOSQUITO

Elephantiasis (Lymphatic Filariasis), is a rare disorder of the lymphatic system, caused by thread-like parasitic filarial worms (Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and B. timori). The larvae, transmitted by mosquitoes, transforms inside a human host to four-inch worms, which causes legs, arms and genitalia to grotesquely puff and swell. Even though medication kills the worm, the damage to the body is permanent. This disease of the tropics (Africa, China, India, Indonesia) effects nearly 20 million humans.

Artwork just for the near-dead


If you ever have a near-death experience, make sure to remember the artwork you see while you float over your body - or no one will believe you.
To try to prove whether some heart attack victims really do have an out-of-body episode, images will be placed in resuscitation rooms in 25 hospitals.
The pictures will be put at such a height that only flatliners whose consciousness is hovering above will see them.

'If you can demonstrate consciousness continues after the brain switches off, it allows for the possibility that consciousness is a separate entity,' said Dr Sam Parnia, the leader of the Aware experiment.
'And if no one sees the pictures, it shows these experiences are illusions or false memories.'
The mystery of cardiac arrest patients who remember seeing a tunnel or themselves being worked on by doctors has never been fully understood.
This three-year study in Britain and the US hopes to explain the relationship between mind and body - which has bewildered philosophers for thousands of years. About 1,500 survivors who claim to have had an out-of-body experience will be interviewed to find out whether they saw the pictures or merely remembered their surroundings.
Dr Parnia, from Southampton University, added: 'It is unlikely we will find many cases where this happens but we have to be open-minded. This is a mystery we can subject to scientific study.'

From Ananova:

Spanish Robin Hood borrows from the rich

A man claiming to be a Spanish Robin Hood says he has tricked banks into lending him nearly half a million euros.
Enric Duran, 32, says he has given much of the money to social activists opposed to the financial system, reports the Daily Telegraph.
He also used it to circulate 200,000 copies of a single-issue free newspaper called Crisis showing how he had spent the past two years fooling the banks into lending him the money, which he is refusing to pay back.
He said: "If we include interest on arrears the present amount of debt is over 500,000 euros (£395,000), which I will not pay.
"What could be better than robbing the ones who rob us and distributing the money among the groups which are denouncing this situation and building alternatives?
"It has been an individual disobedience action against banking that I have carried out to denounce the banking system."
Mr Duran, from Barcelona, provided a list of 39 banks which he took loans from, including one bank that gave him five loans.
He had started out by getting personal loans but eventually used a company name to avoid being placed on a list of bad debtors.
The local police said they would not start looking for Mr Duran until one of the banks made a formal request. The activist could face a jail sentence of up to six years if convicted but said he was prepared for the possibility.
Jordi Mestre, director general of the Caixa Sabadell savings bank, said: "It is not permissible for someone to laugh at the system like this."

From Ananova:

Myna talent for mimicry

A myna bird managed to shut up two noisy parrots in China - by learning to miaow like a cat.
Bird owner Mr Jiang, of Nanjing, bought the myna and taught it to speak in order to attract business.
All went well - until he bought two parrots and put them in a cage next to the myna, reports the Yangtse Evening Post.
Jiang said the two parrots were very talkative, and their chattering made the myna upset and angry.
"It began jumping frenetically in its cage after the two parrots arrived. Then the myna noticed that when a neighbouring cat came and miaowed, the parrots suddenly got very quiet," he explained.
"Afterwards I was amazed to hear the myna bird had learnt to imitate cats miaowing, and did it many times a day. It seems he has forgotten all the Chinese I taught him!
"Whenever the parrots get too noisy, the myna calls their bluff by mimicking the cat, and the parrots hush up right away."

Chicken pot is ancient treasure


A Chinese farmer is ecstatic after discovering a chicken feed pot he bought from a neighbour for a few pennies is a 1,000-year-old treasure.



Liu Shuxuan, of Chongqing, purchased the pot from his neighbour five years ago, reports Chongqing Business Daily.
"It was broken into pieces then, but I thought the flower pattern looked very ancient, so I bought it from him for about 10 yuan (80p)," he said.
Liu glued the pieces together and took it to the Henan Provincial Cultural Relics Research Centre to determine its value.
He hoped it was worth more than he paid for it - but was amazed to discover that it was a rare treasure from the Song Dynasty, dating back more than 1,000 years.
Zhao Qingyun, an expert at the centre, said there are only three such pots in existence - two in the Shanghai Museum and one in a private collection.
Liu decided to sell the treasure pot after learning its true value, and has taken it by train to Beijing to show it to auction houses. He says he won't sell it for less than 10 million yuan (approx £800,000).

IT'S ALL ABOUT ENERGY

Quasars are among the most distant objects astronomers have found. But even at those great distances they are extremely bright. Scientists say these are not stars, but extremely violent galaxies. Their sizes are huge, as big as twice the distance between the Milky Way and our neighbor galaxy, Andromeda. That's about 4,000,000 million light years across.


WELL, THERE'S BIRDS, THERE'S BEES, THERE'S TEENAGERS

According to WFAA-TV Channel 8 Evening News September 9, 2008, DISD officials were at a loss to explain a recent increase in pregnancies among teenage girls. The announcer then finished the report with, "No one has any idea what is causing these increases." Duh!


CHILD LABOR LAWS WERE ALMOST NON-EXISTENT AT THE TIME

Academy Award-nominated American film actress and singer Judy Garland (1922-1969), best remembered for playing Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, began performing on stage with her sisters at age two, billed as The Gumm Sisters. (Judy's real name was Frances Ethel Gumm.)


THE VALUES OF THESE BIRDS ARE ALMOST HUMAN-LIKE

Gaggles of Geese fly together in their "V" formations to reduce drag, allowing them to fly up to 70% farther. And, since the front bird does not benefit from this position, the geese take turns, while the rest of the gaggle quack their support. And, they can fly high. Mountaineers in the Himalayas report seeing flocks of geese fly over their heads at 29,500 feet (almost 9,000 meters). Should one goose become ill enough to drop to the ground, two other geese will break ranks to "nurse" that one back to health, or until its death, before continuing. (Canada Geese mate for life and share parenting responsibilities.)


YUMMY! THIS'LL GET YOUR TASTE BUDS DROOLING

In 1979 Australia's Bronte Industries received the Australian Federation of Islamic Council's (AFIC) official seal of approval by offering Corned Beef and Corned Mutton exclusively as Halal (meaning permissible under Islamic law), using only cattle and sheep slaughtered by strict Muslim rites. They also offer "BRONTE" Tongue in Jelly, and "RENO" Liverspread.


YES, THE U.S. WAS BALLOON-BOMBED DURING WWII

On May 5, 1945, near the end of World War II, Oregonian Reverend Archie Mitchell took his pregnant wife Elsie, and five children from their Sunday school class to Gearhart Mountain, for a picnic. When they arrived, Reverend Mitchell parked the car, while his wife and the children selected a spot to spread their meal. That's when one of the six bent down to touch a shinny metal device, one the U.S. military had warned no one about. It was a Japanese balloon bomb, which exploded, killing Elsie and all five children. This gave them the distinction of being the only civilians inside the continental United States killed by the enemy during World War II.


MORE THAN YOU WISH TO KNOW ABOUT ELEPHANTS, EVER?

Female elephants, like humans, can reproduce from about age 11 years, to around 50. Thankfully, the likeness ends there. Their length of pregnancy is about 22 months, and the newborn calf will weigh over 200 pounds (91 kg). After that, the baby will nurse for up to 4 years. At maturity, the elephant's brain weighs around 12-pounds (5.4 kg), the very tough skin is 1-inch (2.54 cm) thick, the trunk 8- feet-long (2.4 m), and the waistline about 16 feet around.

Man sues doctors who cut off his penis....

A Tennessee man is suing doctors who amputed his penis without his consent.
Philip Seaton, 61, of Shelby County, was in hospital for a circumcision, reports WLKY.
But when he awoke from the operation, he realised his penis had been amputated.
Surgeons at the hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, said they had to take the drastic action after discovering a life-threatening cancer.
But, in his lawsuit, Mr Seaton says he has suffered mental anguish, pain, and lost the enjoyment of life.
The lawsuit was filed in Shelby County court against surgeon Dr John Patterson and anaesthetist Dr Oliver James.
Mr Seaton's lawyer Kevin George said: "Sometimes you have an emergency and you have to do this, but he could very easily closed him up and said, 'Here are your options. You have cancer,' and the family would have said, 'We want a second opinion. This is a big deal'."