Official Random Fact/Random Thought Thread!

[Knotorious]

@stig You didn't correct me. I used the phrase "mind blown," which is the past tense of "mind blowing," correctly. I was pointing how how your mind is likely blown. Then I asked for confirmation with a "right?"

More completely, I could have asked: "Your mind is blown, right?"

My mother was an English teacher. You won't get one over me, Stig. I used to diagram sentences for fun.

 

[stig]

My father was a Danish teacher, so you won't get one over me in Danish, either.

 

[Burnham]

Now, children...

 

[Knotorious]

Random Fact: Dead skin cells actually reduce indoor air pollution...

"WASHINGTON, May 9, 2011 — Flakes of skin that people shed at the rate of 500 million cells every day are not just a nuisance — the source of dandruff, for instance, and a major contributor to house dust. They actually can be beneficial. A new study, published in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Environmental Science & Technology, concludes that oil in those skin cells makes a small contribution to reducing indoor air pollution.

Charles Weschler and colleagues explain that humans shed their entire outer layer of skin every 2-4 weeks at the rate of 0.001 – 0.003 ounces of skin flakes every hour. Those flakes contain skin oils, including cholesterol and “squalene,” and are a major constituent of the dust that accumulates on tables and other surfaces in homes and offices. Past research suggested that squalene from passengers’ skin had a role in reducing levels of ozone — a pollutant that can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and worsen asthma symptoms — from the air in airplane cabins.

“It is only within the last five years that we’ve grown to appreciate the central role that squalene (from human skin oil) plays in oxidation chemistry within indoor environments,” the report notes. “More than half of the ozone removal measured in a simulated aircraft cabin was found to be a consequence of ozone reacting with exposed, skin, hair, and clothing of passengers.”"

SOURCE: The skinny on how shed skin reduces indoor air pollution - American Chemical Society - https://www.acs.org/pressroom/newsreleases/2011/may/the-skinny-on-how-shed-skin-reduces-indoor-air-pollution.html#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20May%209%2C%202011%20%E2%80%94,They%20actually%20can%20be%20beneficial.

 

[Knotorious]

Random Fact: Can trees explode? Apparently, yes. Cold weather will cause some trees to explode by freezing the sap, because it contains water, which expands as it freezes, creating a sound like a gunshot. The sound is produced as the tree bark splits, with the wood contracting as the sap expands.

 

[stig]

Random , with the wood contracting as the sap expands.

So the sap expanding causes the wood to shrink?
Back before this cycle of Global warming, when we had winters in Denmark, one would sometimes hear a sound like a rifle shot in the woods.
Ash tree splitting from the cold.

 

[Knotorious]

So the sap expanding causes the wood to shrink?
Back before this cycle of Global warming, when we had winters in Denmark, one would sometimes hear a sound like a rifle shot in the woods.
Ash tree splitting from the cold.

I'm not completely sure about those dynamics. I know many conifers have the equivalent of an antifreeze in them (and for deciduous trees, not having this antifreeze doesn't preclude them from being vulnerable to the explosions), which is why they can survive being doused with liquid nitrogen and not break apart like most organic material would. This may mean that, while the wood is contracting, or even simply failing to expand to any extent, the sap is indeed expanding rapidly, creating something akin to two tectonic plates getting stuck at their edges due to a zone of high friction. When the stress at one end overcomes the friction, all of the potential energy stored at the high friction zone is released instantly and rapidly, resulting in an earth quake AKA resulting in a shockwave forming as the wood of the tree buckles in the blink of an eye. The woody portions of any tree are going to exhibit different behaviors after being subjected to sub zero centigrade (freezing) temperatures compared to a much more water dense substance such as sap, which will see a much heavier solidification and expansion amount and be less likely to thaw out as rapidly as the fleshy wood.

That's my breakdown.

 

[Knotorious]

Random Fact: Carrots used to be purple. You read that right. Originally, purple carrots were the norm, but there were some offshoots. Yellow and white ones appeared in the wild. Over time, 17th-century Dutch carrot growers managed to cultivate these yellow and white carrots into the orange ones we're familiar with today.

Random Fact: Many of the carrots (as well as other vegetables) sold at US supermarkets have been supersaturated with an unnatural amount of sugars. Why, you ask? Well, first you need to understand something: sugar is the most addictive drug on the planet...and yes, it is absolutely a drug. Carrot sellers know that if they marinate their carrots in a supersaturation (an ultra dense solution) of sugar, when consumers buy their carrots and eat them, there will be a subconscious degree of dependence that might form, quite literally causing many buyers to become addicted. Now, this is obviously not the fiendish dependence you'd see in a crack or heroin addict, but do not underestimate the power of sugar and what it does to the brain. It is one of the ultimate means for triggering our reward pathways; one that you may overlook, but one that your brain does not. Before long, you're buying sugar carrots on the regular because you like them, completely unaware that they are packed with a drug. How is this legal? F\/ck if I know. Be sure to go organic if you can; you may pay more, but you won't getting unwittingly dosed with glucose. Compare labels on the products. You'll see what I mean.

EDIT: I'm not a diet nazi. This wasn't me preaching about eating organic. I don't even eat organic. It's just something random and interesting.

 

[Knotorious]

Random Fact: Which US state was first to declare Christmas an official holiday? In 1836, Alabama (no surprises here) was the first state in the United States to declare Christmas a legal holiday. Christmas wasn't declared an official holiday in the United States until June 26, 1870.

Random Fact: Ever wonder how old Mozart was when he wrote his first song? Neither have I, but here's the answer: By the time he was five years old, Mozart had complete mastery of keyboards and violin, and had written his first five compositions. At six, he toured Europe as a child prodigy; by 16, he'd already written three operas and 25 symphonies.


Random Thought (more like a RANT): I encourage my fellow TreeHousers to engage with me in the dissemination of delightfully random knowledge! Although random, any and all knowledge is indisputably valuable because ignorance is only bliss if you accept that you want to be uninformed and are content forgoing the equal opportunities that most people in second and third world countries have to freely and thoroughly educate themselves with minimal to zero restrictions.

This thread is more than just the regurgitation of factual information, it is an attempt at ensuring that everyone on this forum, if they follow this thread, will learn something new every day (I've tried to post daily, but sometimes life happens). A lot of us have our routines and we do approximately the same things every day and predictably go to the same places on a predictable basis; most of us would be easy targets for a hitman.

It's easy to go days, even weeks without learning anything truly unique and new. This is especially true for learning something new that doesn't pertain to either your occupation, religion, finances, hobbies or general new information about friends and family members. There's a difference between learning that you have burned your pizza in the oven and learning the mathematics of fractals. However, both forms of information will help you improve yourself going forward.

Learning something new about literally anything that is out of your day to day element will not only expand your understanding of our planet and the plants, animals, people, chemistry, history, geology, biology, etc. ad infinitum involved with it, but you'll become more aware, more alert, more cultured, and more engaged with the full extent of the human experience...not just your experience as one person living in one town, working one job, with one family, doing roughly the same things on a predictable basis.

You may think that posting random facts everyday is pretty unassuming and disinteresting, but it actually helps to promote neuroplasticity within the brain. If you want to have an educated view of the world, you have to understand as much as you can about everything outside of your normal existence, and if you want your brain to operate at its peak potential, you have to challenge it. Bottom line: Have an eclectic learning menu. Don't limit your intake of knowledge to what is already around you. It has been demonstrated that the more knowledge you take in that is out of your element, the more alert and in tune your brain will be because you're training it to expect the unexpected.

Studies have shown that having a routine is not always to our benefit. Most of us will remain inside of a routine because it is familiar to us, and humans like the comfort that comes from living a predictable lifestyle...even if that routine may not be in our long-term best interest. It's known as the status-quo bias; humans have a bias for living predictably, predominantly because it reduces "decision fatigue," which is a depletion of mental energy which arises from decision making. By circumventing this decision fatigue through a predictable lifestyle, you save on mental energy and willpower...but this comes at a cost of attention, focus, memory and creativity.

Some of you might be wondering, "why and how is he still talking about this?" Others may be thinking, "this sounds like a stretch." It's not a stretch, I promise you. It may contribute to only a small amount of the "unpredictability" and spontaneity required to improve your cognitive abilities, but learning something new every day is a quick and easy way to make your routine and knowledge more robust and diverse.

"But how can someone be unpredictable if they have to make plans to be unpredictable?" That's the paradox. In order to be unpredictable, you'll have to put a good amount of forethought into it, even often predicting what you'll do in order to become more unpredictable. This doesn't negate any of the benefits already described. It's more about your life experiences changing (to any extent) on a regular basis than about you actually being surprised by what you're experiencing.

If you read all of this, go buy a bakery item...any item...except the one you would normally buy and don't eat it. Give it to someone you love (except yourself). I'll refund the cost in Bitcoin, just give me your wallet address. *joking* If you didn't read all of this, then...well...you're definitely not reading this right now, sooooooooooooo...

Initiating rant termination sequence...
*Presses various keys on a keyboard*
*beep, boop, bee-boop, bleep, boop...*
*decrypting...*
*boooop, bleeep, bee-boop, bleep bleep, boooop...*
Rant termination complete.
*shutting down...*

 

[Nutball]

By the time he was five years old, Mozart had complete mastery of keyboards and violin, and had written his first five compositions. At six, he toured Europe as a child prodigy; by 16, he'd already written three operas and 25 symphonies.

It wouldn't have happened if he had a smart phone.

 

[Burnham]

Random Fact: Which US state was first to declare Christmas an official holiday? In 1836, Alabama (no surprises here) was the first state in the United States to declare Christmas a legal holiday. Christmas wasn't declared an official holiday in the United States until June 26, 1870.

Random Fact: Ever wonder how old Mozart was when he wrote his first song? Neither have I, but here's the answer: By the time he was five years old, Mozart had complete mastery of keyboards and violin, and had written his first five compositions. At six, he toured Europe as a child prodigy; by 16, he'd already written three operas and 25 symphonies.


Random Thought (more like a RANT): I encourage my fellow TreeHousers to engage with me in the dissemination of delightfully random knowledge! Although random, any and all knowledge is indisputably valuable because ignorance is only bliss if you accept that you want to be uninformed and are content forgoing the equal opportunities that most people in second and third world countries have to freely and thoroughly educate themselves with minimal to zero restrictions.

This thread is more than just the regurgitation of factual information, it is an attempt at ensuring that everyone on this forum, if they follow this thread, will learn something new every day (I've tried to post daily, but sometimes life happens). A lot of us have our routines and we do approximately the same things every day and predictably go to the same places on a predictable basis; most of us would be easy targets for a hitman.

It's easy to go days, even weeks without learning anything truly unique and new. This is especially true for learning something new that doesn't pertain to either your occupation, religion, finances, hobbies or general new information about friends and family members. There's a difference between learning that you have burned your pizza in the oven and learning the mathematics of fractals. However, both forms of information will help you improve yourself going forward.

Learning something new about literally anything that is out of your day to day element will not only expand your understanding of our planet and the plants, animals, people, chemistry, history, geology, biology, etc. ad infinitum involved with it, but you'll become more aware, more alert, more cultured, and more engaged with the full extent of the human experience...not just your experience as one person living in one town, working one job, with one family, doing roughly the same things on a predictable basis.

You may think that posting random facts everyday is pretty unassuming and disinteresting, but it actually helps to promote neuroplasticity within the brain. If you want to have an educated view of the world, you have to understand as much as you can about everything outside of your normal existence, and if you want your brain to operate at its peak potential, you have to challenge it. Bottom line: Have an eclectic learning menu. Don't limit your intake of knowledge to what is already around you. It has been demonstrated that the more knowledge you take in that is out of your element, the more alert and in tune your brain will be because you're training it to expect the unexpected.

Studies have shown that having a routine is not always to our benefit. Most of us will remain inside of a routine because it is familiar to us, and humans like to comfort that comes from living a predictable lifestyle...even if that routine may not be in our long-term best interest. It's known as the status-quo bias; humans have a bias for living predictably, predominantly because it reduces "decision fatigue," which is a depletion of mental energy which arises from decision making. By circumventing this decision fatigue through a predictable lifestyle, you save on mental energy and willpower...but this comes at a cost of attention, focus, memory and creativity.

Some of you might be wondering, "why and how is he still talking about this?" Others may be thinking, "this sounds like a stretch." It's not a stretch, I promise you. It may contribute to only a small amount of the "unpredictability" and spontaneity required to improve your cognitive abilities, but learning something new every day is a quick and easy way to make your routine and knowledge more robust and diverse.

"But how can someone be unpredictable if they have to make plans to be unpredictable?" That's the paradox. In order to be unpredictable, you'll have to put a good amount of forethought into it, even often predicting what you'll do in order to become more unpredictable. This doesn't negate any of the benefits already described. It's more about your life experiences changing (to any extent) on a regular basis than about you actually being surprised by what you're experiencing.

If you read all of this, go buy a bakery item...any item...except the one you would normally buy and don't eat it. Give it to someone you love (except yourself). I'll refund the cost in Bitcoin, just give me your wallet address. *joking* If you didn't read all of this, then...well...you're definitely not reading this right now, sooooooooooooo...

Initiating rant termination sequence...
*Presses various keys on a keyboard*
*beep, boop, bee-boop, bleep, boop...*
*decrypting...*
*boooop, bleeep, bee-boop, bleep bleep, boooop...*
Rant termination complete.
*shutting down...*

What?

 

[Knotorious]

In case you genuinely couldn't understand what I was saying, here's the summary...

I was encouraging everyone to consider adding more unpredictability to their lives by changes to their day to day routines. I explained how routines are a source of comfort for us as humans because, by living a predictable lifestyle, you don't have to exert as much mental energy as you would if you exposed yourself to new, interesting experiences on a regular, planned basis. I mentioned how the point of this thread is to introduce a small dose of unpredictability into everyone's lives on this forum, which aids in generating neuroplasticity; which is our brain's ability to reorganize synaptic connections following learning and new experiences. By doing this, your brain will begin to expect the unexpected more than before, which promotes many positive effects on focus, attention, mood, memory, energy level, etc. Of course simply reading some fun facts every day is just a solid starting point. Truly noticeable improvemen to your cognition will require that you continuously make an effort to do things you don't normally do, go places you don't normally go, meet new people, try new food, change your running route every other day, etc. This isn't pseudoscience. It's something that I have found to have had an impact on my quality of life and so I thought I would impart my experiences onto the forum.

I'm not telling anyone what to do. The main takeaway is simply: I created this thread to help everyone stay mentally sharp. I don't want an award or recognition. It's what triggered my rant. That's all.

Hopefully I have now successfully elucidated you, @Burnham Being understood is something I take seriously, hence why I've taken the time to summarize and reword my rant for you.

 

[Burnham]

Um...did you see the smilie? Do you understand what that emoji means?

 

[Nutball]

In case you genuinely couldn't understand what I was saying, here's the summary...

I was encouraging everyone to consider adding more unpredictability to their lives by changes to their day to day routines. I explained how routines are a source of comfort for us as humans because, by living a predictable lifestyle, you don't have to exert as much mental energy as you would if you exposed yourself to new, interesting experiences on a regular, planned basis. I mentioned how the point of this thread is to introduce a small dose of unpredictability into everyone's lives on this forum, which aids in generating neuroplasticity; which is our brain's ability to reorganize synaptic connections following learning and new experiences. By doing this, your brain will begin to expect the unexpected more than before, which promotes many positive effects on focus, attention, mood, memory, energy level, etc. Of course simply reading some fun facts every day is just a solid starting point. Truly noticeable improvemen to your cognition will require that you continuously make an effort to do things you don't normally do, go places you don't normally go, meet new people, try new food, change your running route every other day, etc. This isn't pseudoscience. It's something that I have found to have had an impact on my quality of life and so I thought I would impart my experiences onto the forum.

I'm not telling anyone what to do. The main takeaway is simply: I created this thread to help everyone stay mentally sharp. I don't want an award or recognition. It's what triggered my rant. That's all.

Hopefully I have now successfully elucidated you, @Burnham Being understood is something I take seriously, hence why I've taken the time to summarize and reword my rant for you.

Chaos is unpredictable. It's not good in most cases. Things are what they are because of stability and certain unchanging characteristics. Nature is predictable: the same old seasons, the same old plants and animals. Being predictable is easy and efficient. VARIETY is what I think you mean to say. As predictable as nature is, variety is what keeps it fresh and interesting. 4 seasons, and not exactly the same each year.

 

[Knotorious]

Um...did you see the smilie? Do you understand what that emoji means?

You're expecting me to correctly deduce what your artificially generated smile meant. You still haven't shared with me what you think I should have understood from your emoji smile. You asked the question, "what?" which was followed by a large grin. My interpretation of that was that you were asking for clarification. Why? Because the word's most common response (in English) to a confusing statement is "what?" I wasn't belittling you, I was hoping to make myself more clear to you because you appeared to have trouble seeing my message as anything but general confusion. I think it's important for communication to be clear and concise. That's why, when you seemed puzzled by what I said, I took extra time out of my life to summarize it for you. That wasn't a jab at you, that was me caring enough about you to want to ensure that you understood what I had to say. In other words, it was more about me than you and so I don't know why you seem so off put by my willingness to help you out. The emoji could have been you just asking for clarification in a friendly manner.

Expecting me to understand exactly what you meant by virtue of the fact that you posted a grinning emoji is a bit silly. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to use your words next time or, if you are unwilling to use your words, perhaps don't expect people to understand exactly what you meant because, although nearly 80% of language is body language, an emoji is a poor substitute for an actual human face and body (as there is no fully body) and so, as one would expect, it was ambiguous and so I was forced to make the best interpretation that I could.

Chaos is unpredictable. It's not good in most cases. Things are what they are because of stability and certain unchanging characteristics. Nature is predictable: the same old seasons, the same old plants and animals. Being predictable is easy and efficient. VARIETY is what I think you mean to say. As predictable as nature is, variety is what keeps it fresh and interesting. 4 seasons, and not exactly the same each year.

No, I meant predictability. All we have to do is change the camera angle from viewing ourselves making changes to other people viewing us making changes and we'll see that the average person who isn't you who views you living the same life you live all the time, consistently, with minimal spontaneity will better be able to predict your behavior reliably than the viewer who isn't you who has to figure out the version of you who keeps it "fresh and interesting" on a regular basis. I also don't mean to say that routine is bad. It is absolutely good. But too much is also bad.

 

[Burnham]

Yes Knotorious, I was expecting you to deduce that my "what?" accompanied by a wide grin was not a serious question. The closed mouth smile would mean a question posed in a friendly manner. These are normal text interactions, in my experience. That you are not able to do so is not my fault.

I am afraid that I was making a joke at your expense, and perhaps that's not a good idea. Fair warning now...very lengthy posts will not encourage folks to read you. Many, after seeing this as a pattern, will just tune you out without even starting. I have learned this from my own tendency towards wordiness, so don't feel like you are the only one .

 

[Knotorious]

Yes Knotorious, I was expecting you to deduce that my "what?" accompanied by a wide grin was not a serious question. The closed mouth smile would mean a question posed in a friendly manner. These are normal text interactions, in my experience. That you are not able to do so is not my fault.

I am afraid that I was making a joke at your expense, and perhaps that's not a good idea. Fair warning now...very lengthy posts will not encourage folks to read you. Many, after seeing this as a pattern, will just tune you out without even starting. I have learned this from my own tendency towards wordiness, so don't feel like you are the only one .

I appreciate what you're saying, however to accuse me of being unable to have a normal text interaction is a bit unfair. Especially since my messages contain actual text and yours just said "what?"

I totally respect your perspective on lengthy messages and I had no expectation that anyone would read mine unless they actually wanted to. See, I don't care if people read my messages or not, but it's statistically unlikely that nobody will at least attempt to skim what I'm saying and you're also assuming that very few people will care what I have to say if I write at length....which I find to be improbable. Even if most people on here don't care about what I have to say at length (not saying that's s true or false), let's not forget that the vast majority of the people who read this forum don't actively participate. So just because if nobody responds to what I had to say doesn't mean that it wasn't read or appreciated by someone somewhere. All I care about is being myself and sharing every bit of useful information that I can with this forum. If I have enough to write to where the post is fifteen paragraphs long, and if I think even one person will benefit from it, I'm going to write it out. I'll take the gamble on being ignored for large format writing on this forum. You'll also notice that I almost only ever write at true length in threads that I created and I think, as the thread starter, I shouldn't be deterred from taking my thread in the direction I want it to go. I appreciate and respect your perspective of course. That isn't to say I'm thread dictator, it just means I'm in a unique position to have some control over what is discussed in order to fulfill the threads intended purpose.

 

[Burnham]

I appreciate what you're saying, however to accuse me of being unable to have a normal text interaction is a bit unfair. Especially since my messages contain actual text and yours just said "what?"

It's not an accusation, it's an observation of fact as I interpret your inability to perceive my post. And 10,000 written words or a single one, both are "actual" text, each as legitimate as the other.

I'm sorry to take up forum space over this. I'll just shut up now.

 

[Knotorious]

Random Fact: How long is an actual football game? An average professional football game lasts 3 hours and 12 minutes, but if you tally up the time when the ball is actually in play, the action amounts to a mere 11 minutes. Talk about drawn out!

Random Fact: When did the automatic transmission come out? The first automatic transmission using hydraulic fluid was developed in 1932 by two Brazilian engineers, José Braz Araripe and Fernando Lehly Lemos and subsequently the prototype and plans were sold off to General Motors who introduced it in the 1940 Oldsmobile as the "Hydra-Matic" transmission.

 

[Knotorious]

Random Fact: How long does it take for our DNA to break down? Scientists studying bird bones have estimated that under ideal conditions, DNA has a half-life of approximately 521 years, meaning that it would be broken down so much as to be useless after about 1 million years. This also means that we cannot detect any known life beyond that milestone.

Random Fact: Which president spoke English as a second language? Only one president, Martin Van Buren (in office 1837–1841), did not speak English as his first language. Growing up in the Dutch community of Kinderhook, New York, he spoke Dutch as a child and learned English as a second language while attending the local schoolhouse.

Dutch Tribute: "Haste makes waste" or as our Dutch counterparts would say, "Haastige spoed is zelden goed!"

 

[Nutball]

Fig tree sap can cause hypersensitivity to sunlight causing severe sunburn in a short amount of time, though it takes a few days for the burn to really show.

 

[lxskllr]

Brandolini's law...

"The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it."

Brandolini's law - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bermy]

Fig tree sap can cause hypersensitivity to sunlight causing severe sunburn in a short amount of time, though it takes a few days for the burn to really show.

So does parsnip sap...ask me how I know. 😳

 

[Knotorious]

...ask me how I know. 😳

How do you know?

Edit: You probably meant don't ask you how you know why, right?

 

[Knotorious]

Bahaha!