Fun Fact Friday

[Hasmonean1]

The human eye can distinguish more shades oF GREEN than any other color.


Although oxygen gas is colorless, the solid and liquid forms of oxygen are blue.

[nessalynn77]

Didn't know either of those facts.  I is smerter now...

[malthumb]

There are two possible sources for police being called "cops"....

In NYC, the first patrolmen wore civilian clothes and badges made of copper.  They were called coppers, which was colloquialized to cop.

At the same time, in London, England, there were patrolmen called "Constables On Patrol"

Both are true.  Pick the one you like best.

[nessalynn77]

But... it's not Friday... 

[malthumb]

But... it's not Friday... 

I was procrastinating.

[Hasmonean1]

There are two possible sources for police being called "cops"....

In NYC, the first patrolmen wore civilian clothes and badges made of copper.  They were called coppers, which was colloquialized to cop.

At the same time, in London, England, there were patrolmen called "Constables On Patrol"

Both are true.  Pick the one you like best.

I'll take the American version cause we keep it one hundead.

[phbrown]

I was procrastinating.

or maybe you were just early?!

[Hasmonean1]

The lion used in the original MGM movie logo killed its trainer and two assistants the day after the logo was filmed.

[malthumb]

Walter P. Chrysler was employed at Buick Motor Division from 1911 - 1916.  He took over leadership of Buick from Charles Nash.

Nash went on to found Nash Motors (eventually renamed American Motors)

Chrysler went on to found.....you guessed it...Chrysler Motors in 1925.  Chrysler (the company) eventually absorbed American Motors in 1987.

Bonus Fun Fact....

The same man that founded Cadillac also founded Lincoln.  Henry M. Leland founded Cadillac in 1902 and sold it to General Motors in 1909.  He continued to run it until 1917. He left and founded Lincoln.  Before founding Cadillac, he designed engines for Oldsmobile.

[funkStrat_97]

Walter P. Chrysler was employed at Buick Motor Division from 1911 - 1916.  He took over leadership of Buick from Charles Nash.

Nash went on to found Nash Motors (eventually renamed American Motors)

Chrysler went on to found.....you guessed it...Chrysler Motors in 1925.  Chrysler (the company) eventually absorbed American Motors in 1987.

Bonus Fun Fact....

The same man that founded Cadillac also founded Lincoln.  Henry M. Leland founded Cadillac in 1902 and sold it to General Motors in 1909.  He continued to run it until 1917. He left and founded Lincoln.  Before founding Cadillac, he designed engines for Oldsmobile.

Meanwhile in Japan; Honda was the  supplier of piston rings for Toyota during the 40's.

[malthumb]

Gustave Eiffel, the architect responsible for the tower that bears his name, was also the architect for the inner structure of the Statue of Liberty.  There is a scaled down replica of the SoL on a small island on the Seine in Paris.

One last fun fact.....during construction of the Eiffel Tower, Eiffel had an apartment in the structure.

[Hasmonean1]

The site where the Parthenon was built had to be cleared of hundreds of dinosaur bones (then called giants' bones) before construction could begin.



In the same fashion as the the finger print,  everyone has a unique tongue print.

[malthumb]

A herd of bison (incorrectly called buffalo by us 'Muricans) lives on the front lawn of Domino's Pizza Headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

[malthumb]

Do you like Italian food?  Especially pasta with tomato-based sauces?  Then you have Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus to thank.  Marco Polo brought pasta to Europe from China.  Columbus brought the first tomato plants to Europe from the Americas. 

[phbrown]

From 1973 to 1999 the most common birthday was Sept 16




Sept. is a pretty popular month ... excellent Christmas presents

[nessalynn77]

LOL  Interesting. 

FALSE!  LOL!

One of Louis Vitton's former residences on the Champs-Elysse in Paris is now a Marriott hotel and is practically across the street from the Louis Vitton store, also on the Champs-Élysées.

I'll disclose soon exactly why I know this particular nugget of trivia.

You never did disclose...

[malthumb]

You never did disclose...

I was in Paris when I was posting all the French trivia stuff.  We were originally going to stay in the Marriott that used to be Louis Vitton's Paris Residence.

[malthumb]

Ever hear the term "Jumping the shark"?  Do you know what it means or where it comes from?

It started out meaning that moment when an idea is so far beyond it's moment that it has to result in a gimmick to try to hang on a little longer.

Where it came from was an episode of "Happy Days".  The series was getting long in the tooth and had started leaning to being all about Fonzy.  Fonzy was originally supposed to be a minor character but soon came to dominate the story writing (Steve Urkel?).

As the writing team was running out of ideas for Fonzy's character, they actually had him jump over a shark on water skis.  What  the heck does that have to do with a tough biker dude living in Milwaukee in the '50s?

[Hasmonean1]

Ever hear the term "Jumping the shark"?  Do you know what it means or where it comes from?

It started out meaning that moment when an idea is so far beyond it's moment that it has to result in a gimmick to try to hang on a little longer.

Where it came from was an episode of "Happy Days".  The series was getting long in the tooth and had started leaning to being all about Fonzy.  Fonzy was originally supposed to be a minor character but soon came to dominate the story writing (Steve Urkel?).

As the writing team was running out of ideas for Fonzy's character, they actually had him jump over a shark on water skis.  What  the heck does that have to do with a tough biker dude living in Milwaukee in the '50s?

Yeah, I've seen quite a few shows over the years that strayed away from the course.  You can tell the writers are reaching when they "jump the shark". 

[malthumb]

So you have a male mule and a female mule and you've decided to go into the mule breeding business.  Too bad.  You'll probably lose your ***.  You will not be seeing any baby mules because mules cannot reproduce (except for a handful of documented exceptions).

A mule is the product of a male donkey and a female horse.  But since donkeys and horses have different numbers of chromosomes, the offspring mule has an odd number of chromosomes.  For whatever reason, that makes them incapable of reproducing.

And for the record, the product of a male horse and a female donkey is called a hinny.  They are typically smaller than mules and also incapable of direct breeding.