Better late than never, i was tagged or some non-sense like that. I'm really not one to go on and on about myself because I assume my infallibility is already accepted among the masses. Some of you who talk to me on a regular basis know that I'm chalk full of factoids. Here's the first 20 to enter my mind (probably the last twenty that I became aware of:
Words:
1) The word factoid does not imply truth. Quite the contrary, it generally implies falsehood. It is a tidbit that is BELIEVED to be true because of its appearence in print. I promise the rest of these are true, to the best of my knowledge.
2) A debacle is tumultuous breakup of ice.
Marine Mammals:
3) Don't let their casual backstroke fool you, sea otters are sexual deviants. Given the opportunity they will molest each others young.
4) Sea otters have the density hair in the animal kingdom, 600,000 per square inch! They are the only marine mammel without blubber and they stay warm by constantly grooming themselves to pack their dense hair with air bubbles. In the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, sea otters died of hypothermia when they were no longer able to groom themselves.
5) Because of their lack of blubber, sea otters have typically not been prayed upon. Recently, Orcas have start to pray more on sea otters. The reason, marine biologist think, is that the Orca's food supply has diminished drastically over the years.
6) It is no longer P.C. to refer to an Orca as a "killer whale." There has never been a recorded instance of an Orca attacking a human. "Orca", however, comes from the latin word "Orcinus" which means "from hell" so thats not a lot better.
7) A better reason not to refer to Orcas as "killer whales" is that their not whales. They're not dolphin either, nor porpoises. They're just Orcas, and there are several different kinds of them. Given the three options, their closest to porpoises.
C. Elegans:
8) A C. Elegan is a type of worm.
9) C. Elegans have roughly 900 cells, 300 of which are neurons (compare to the millions of neurons in the human body.) All but one of these neurons can be disconnected while the worm remains alive.
10) The vulva is the best studied organ in C. Elegans, which are one of best studied species in neuronal biology.
11) C. Elegans, as well as most worms, are
self-fertilizing hermaphradites. Under normal circumstances they lay eggs which develop in the soil. If the vulval muscle is turned off, via the one neuron that leads to it, eggs will develop naturally inside the mother until they eat their way out.
Barnacles:
12) Barnacles have the longest penises for their size of any animal in the animal kingdom. Bernacles are also hermaphradites and reach their penis out to their near neighbors to fertilize in somewhat of a U-shape.
13) They have HUGE barnacles in Chile, they eat them.
Fruits and Vegetables:
14) Botonically speaking, fruits are involved in fertilization and reproduction whereas vegetables or not. Specifically, anything that contains seeds are considered fruits. Tomatoes, greenbeans, cucumbers and peppers are all fruits, whereas rhubarb is a vegetable.
15) Eggplant is mildly toxic due to a substance the plant produces called solanine. It will upset your stomach even in small quantities and is the plants primary defense against fungi and pests.
Literature (Sort of)
16) The Stanley Kubrick movie "Full Metal Jacket" was based on a book called "The Short Timers" by Gustav Haasford. Gustav was arrested for having thousands of over-due library books.
17) Author Caleb Carr's father was one of the original figures in the Beat Generation. Carr's father, Lucien introduced Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg all to each other. Lucien Carr then murdered a man who was obsessed with him and rolled his body into the Hudson River.
18) William S. Burroughs shot his wife in the head, killing her, while aiming at an apple balanced on top of her head. For some reason, in an intoxicated state, they thought it would be a good idea to reenact William Tell.
The Solar System:
19) Pluto has recently been demoted and is no longer considered a Planet. There is good evidence that Pluto was not around during the initial forming of the solar system and is actually just a large rock (known as a Kuiper Object) that fell into orbit at a later time.
Factoid of the DAY!
20) Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade is actually named Norma McCorvey. She is now a pro-life activist and lives in texas.
Words:
1) The word factoid does not imply truth. Quite the contrary, it generally implies falsehood. It is a tidbit that is BELIEVED to be true because of its appearence in print. I promise the rest of these are true, to the best of my knowledge.
2) A debacle is tumultuous breakup of ice.
Marine Mammals:
3) Don't let their casual backstroke fool you, sea otters are sexual deviants. Given the opportunity they will molest each others young.
4) Sea otters have the density hair in the animal kingdom, 600,000 per square inch! They are the only marine mammel without blubber and they stay warm by constantly grooming themselves to pack their dense hair with air bubbles. In the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, sea otters died of hypothermia when they were no longer able to groom themselves.
5) Because of their lack of blubber, sea otters have typically not been prayed upon. Recently, Orcas have start to pray more on sea otters. The reason, marine biologist think, is that the Orca's food supply has diminished drastically over the years.
6) It is no longer P.C. to refer to an Orca as a "killer whale." There has never been a recorded instance of an Orca attacking a human. "Orca", however, comes from the latin word "Orcinus" which means "from hell" so thats not a lot better.
7) A better reason not to refer to Orcas as "killer whales" is that their not whales. They're not dolphin either, nor porpoises. They're just Orcas, and there are several different kinds of them. Given the three options, their closest to porpoises.
C. Elegans:
8) A C. Elegan is a type of worm.
9) C. Elegans have roughly 900 cells, 300 of which are neurons (compare to the millions of neurons in the human body.) All but one of these neurons can be disconnected while the worm remains alive.
10) The vulva is the best studied organ in C. Elegans, which are one of best studied species in neuronal biology.
11) C. Elegans, as well as most worms, are
self-fertilizing hermaphradites. Under normal circumstances they lay eggs which develop in the soil. If the vulval muscle is turned off, via the one neuron that leads to it, eggs will develop naturally inside the mother until they eat their way out.
Barnacles:
12) Barnacles have the longest penises for their size of any animal in the animal kingdom. Bernacles are also hermaphradites and reach their penis out to their near neighbors to fertilize in somewhat of a U-shape.
13) They have HUGE barnacles in Chile, they eat them.
Fruits and Vegetables:
14) Botonically speaking, fruits are involved in fertilization and reproduction whereas vegetables or not. Specifically, anything that contains seeds are considered fruits. Tomatoes, greenbeans, cucumbers and peppers are all fruits, whereas rhubarb is a vegetable.
15) Eggplant is mildly toxic due to a substance the plant produces called solanine. It will upset your stomach even in small quantities and is the plants primary defense against fungi and pests.
Literature (Sort of)
16) The Stanley Kubrick movie "Full Metal Jacket" was based on a book called "The Short Timers" by Gustav Haasford. Gustav was arrested for having thousands of over-due library books.
17) Author Caleb Carr's father was one of the original figures in the Beat Generation. Carr's father, Lucien introduced Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg all to each other. Lucien Carr then murdered a man who was obsessed with him and rolled his body into the Hudson River.
18) William S. Burroughs shot his wife in the head, killing her, while aiming at an apple balanced on top of her head. For some reason, in an intoxicated state, they thought it would be a good idea to reenact William Tell.
The Solar System:
19) Pluto has recently been demoted and is no longer considered a Planet. There is good evidence that Pluto was not around during the initial forming of the solar system and is actually just a large rock (known as a Kuiper Object) that fell into orbit at a later time.
Factoid of the DAY!
20) Jane Roe of Roe vs. Wade is actually named Norma McCorvey. She is now a pro-life activist and lives in texas.
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
lori_:
yeah i don't think i could really give it up all together...at least maybe be an ameture astronomer....I haven't gone so far that i can't take a leave of absence, but i have gone far enough that i'll never look at the sky the same way again 
lori_:
yeah the only problem with that is in the mean time i have a 3 year old little girl to take care of. that's really the most important thing, but it's all okay, it always is really.