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Showing posts from January, 2023

Fact 116: What is Mars the Roman god of?

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Fact 116: What is Mars the Roman god of? Mars is not the god of a caramel and nougat coated milk chocolate, chocolate bar! Mars is the ancient Romans god of war and the spirit's of war. The Romans chose to name the planet after their gods which is why they is a planet called Mars. Interestingly the Greeks named the planet Mars first and they called it\named it Ares who is the Greek god of war.

Fact 115: How do crickets make that annoying chirping noise?

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 Fact 115: How do crickets make that annoying chirping noise? crickets ( Grylloidea ) firstly I would just like to point out that I was immensely surprised when I found out that crickets don't make the chirping noise with their back legs in fact they make the noise by rubbing their wings together, this action is called  stridulation, they carry out this action by putting their wings at a  45-degree and only rubbing the top bit of there wing which is called the scraper,  against the bottom side of the wing, the  bottom side of the wing  is called the file and by rubbing their scraper and file (wings) together they create the noise, it is most the male crickets how create this sound to attract a female cricket.

Fact 114: What passenger transport did George Francis Train first introduce in the UK?

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Fact 114: What passenger transport did George Francis Train first introduce in the UK? If you are thinking his name is a clue then unfortunately you would be wrong the first passenger, train service was introduced by, Robert Stephenson in 1830 the train went to Whitstable (a seaside town) from Canterbury (the train started at Canterbury has a cathedral that was built in 597 AD) The root was only 6 miles. The train (locomotive) was called the rocket and was first built in 1829. George Francis Train introduced and create the first passenger tram system in the uk. The tram started at Birkenhead park (North West England near Liverpool) and went to Woodside, ferry (Merseyside) (also North West England).The tram travelled on railway tracks above the road (to day the tram tracks are below the road). Both Birkenhead and Merseyside are separated by the river Mersey.

Fact 113: Where did the name Winnie the Pooh come from?

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Fact 113: Where did the name Winnie the Pooh come from?  The Name came from a Bear at London and, a Swan A.A Milne wrote about in a book (When We Were Very Young by A. A. Milne).  The original name for the Bear the that A.A Milne (Alan Alexander Milne) brought Christopher Robin Milne was called Mr Edward Bear, A.A Milne also wrote a poem called teddy bear about a Bear called Edward Bear and the poem appeared in a, for mentioned book called, We Were Very Young. The reason for the Winni was because of a real Bear at London zoo called Winni because the soldier Lieutenant Harry D. Colebourn who gave the Bear to London Zoo had brought the Bear cub for $20 (£12) from a hunter who had already killed the bears mother and Lt. Colebourn brought the bear back to England and the Bear was a pet and a mascot for name winnie was because Lt. Colebourn home town was winnipeg. The brown Bear Winnie was officially  donated after Lt. Colebourn came back from France because Lt. Colebourn appre

Fact 112: How many moons could fit inside Earth (hypothetically)?

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 Fact 121: How many moons could fit inside the Earth (hypothetically)? First, we must find out the Moon's volume and the Earth's volume. The moon's volume is  about 21.9 billion cubic  kilometres. The Earth's volume is about  260 billion cubic miles and then we need to convert that into cubic kilometres which is 1083727274614.4  cubic  kilometres, also known as  one trillion eighty-three billion seven hundred twenty-seven million two hundred seventy-four thousand six hundred fourteen and four-tenths (this is unsurprisingly very big number) . Then we calculate; 1083727274614.4  cubic  kilometres  divided by 21.9 billion cubic kilometers=  49.4852637, so  technically we could fit 49 Moons inside Earth. I found out and personally marked on a picture of the moon where the Apollo 11 landed on the moon! The red arrow (->) is covering where the Apollo 11 landed it is not pointing to it!

Fact 111: What is the largest planet in our solar system?

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Fact 111: What is the largest planet in our solar system? The largest planet in our solar system has a circumference of 439,264 km and is called Jupiter.

fact 110: What is the smallest plant in our solar system?

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fact 110: What is the smallest plant in our solar system? First of all I would like to clarify that I am not talking about dwarf plants ( Pluto) I am only referring (proper) plants according to NASA'S classification of plants, so with that in mind the answer is the planet Mercury. Mercury has a circumference of 15,329 km.

Fact 109: Can Elephants sneeze?

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Fact 109: Can Elephants sneeze? Yes they can and they sneeze though there trunk because that is there (slightly long) nose. On average an Elephants trunk can grow to around 6 feet (this is roughly the same size as a slightly tall adult male in the uk) however it can even grow to around 7 feet long.

Fact 108: Who invented the word lonely?

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Fact 108: Who invented the word lonely? The word first originates from the 1600  It was created by dropping the A at the front of the word alone and adding an ly. It was created by someone who is known around the globe the answer is William Shakespeare and the word lonely first appeared in his play called Coriolanus. 

Fact 107 What is the difference between a Rabbit and a Hare?

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Fact 107 What is the difference between a rabbit and a hare? The main visual differences are that hares are slightly larger and have long front legs and longer ears and most of the ears are also narrowor than a rabbits ears. Hares have slightly bigger tails than rabbits and a hares tail is slightly pointy. Rabbits are Sociable creatures and often live in groups of up to 20 in underground. Hares tend to live above ground in nests and groups of up to two. Jackrabbit  

Fact 106: What is the Jackrabbit?

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Fact 106: What is the Jackrabbit? The jackrabbits known are from America and i think there are only 2 types the White-tailed jackrabbit and Black-tailed jackrabbit both of which are actually not rabbits in fact they are hares. The Black-tailed jackrabbit is also known as the desert hare and the White-tailed jackrabbit is also known as the prairie hare. 

Fact 105: Is Tooting near a volcano?

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Fact 105: Is Tooting near a volcano? Yes it is, however I am not only talking about Tooting in London uk I am also talking about the Mars crater also called Tooting because the crater is named helpfully after surprise, surprise, Tooting Village in London. This is because the crater is less than 60km in diameter and in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's rules for planetary nomenclature (nomenclature is Latin and basically means choosing of names for thing), which specify that craters on Mars less than 60 km in diameter can be named after villages with a population less than 100,000 so because the crater is 27.2km or 28km they disided to name the crater Tooting. The Tooting crater is 1,300km due West (270 degrees) Westward of a volcano on Mars called the Olympus Mons, Olympus Mons is estimated to still be an active volcano and could erupted sometime in the future. Tooting Village is however about only 670.3km away from an Extinct volcano in Edinburgh, the Extinct

Fact 104: How many teeth do octopus have?

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Fact 104: How many teeth do octopus have? This will probably surprise you to know that the amount of teeth an octopus has is a considerably low number because they don't have teeth instead they have a extremely sharp beaks, which they use to open things like clams, crabs, mussels and lobsters shells in order to eat them.   Octopus fact

Fact 103: Which country has the largest wild herd of Camels in the world?

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Fact 103: Which country has the largest wild herd of Camels in the world?  This answer will probably surprise you to know that the country with the largest herd of Camels is not Egypt or India. In fact, it is about 12,440 km away from Egypt, interestingly the country with the largest herd of Camels is more commonly known as the country with the kangaroos, Australia there are about 750,000 roaming wild in the outback. This means Australia has the largest population of wild camels in the world.

Fact 102: What was Billy the Kid's actual name?

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Fact 102: What was Billy the Kid's actual name? Billy the kid is famous for killing Bison (not buffaloes there are no buffaloes in North America only bison) he was born in New York City and spoiler alert his real name wasn't Billy it was infact Henry McCarty.   

Fact 101: Where was the oldest boomerang found?

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Fact 101: Where was the oldest boomerang found? The oldest boomerang was surprisingly not found in Australia, infact it was found about 13,851 km away in 1986, and was roughly 23035 years old and made from a mammoth tusk that was carved into a similar looking design as an Australian boomerang. The boomerang was found in Poland in a cave and is older than the oldest Australian boomerang which was about 10,035.  The article I read was talking about the resent discover (last Wednesday) and the was article was published 35 years ago so I have added 35 to the years.

Fact 100: Scientifically speaking what is the study of berries called?

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Fact 100: Scientificallyspeaking what is the study of berries called? The scientific study of berries is called batology and interestingly the scientific study of bats is called chiropterology.

Fact 99: How many mammals have chins?

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Fact 99: How many mammals have chins? Surprisingly only 2 mammals have chins one I obviously humans (us) the other is isn't now this surprised me because I thought it would be something closely related to a humans (apes, monkey, gorillas)but it isn't infact it is very big and has a trunk the answer is an Elephants. Interestingly nobody knows entirely why we have chins there are many hypothesise and theories, this is the real meaning of theory not the scientific meaning, because there are multiple reasons rather than just one obvious reason. .

Fact 98: where does the name Dodo come from?

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Fact 98: where does the name Dodo come from? The Dodo is from the island of Mauritius and is an extinct flightless bird that is related to the pigeon more pacifically the Nicobar pigeon this is also extinct. The name Dodo comes from the from the Portuguese word 'doudo', meaning silly, stupid, simpleton this is because of the reputation for the bird being stupid.  The Dodo was considered (to some) a  delicacy despite the fact that the meat of the Dodo was described by many as inedible because it tasted bad.  The the most likely reason the Dodo went extinct is probably not because of humans eating them but it is because of humans, and all the animals that sailors brought with them on ship like pigs, goats and also deer (Rusa deer), these animals were for food, the ship also had Ship-Rats and apparently the ship also had monkeys.  The Dodo was flightless beit had no predators (other animals that eat it) so it didn't need to fly away from any predators. Unfortunately for the Do

Fact 97: Did Albert Einstein like wearing socks?

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Fact 97: Did Albert Einstein like wearing socks? No because when he was a boy his big toe kept making a hole in his socks which Einstein found uncomfortable so Einstein disided to not wear socks however he did keep wearing shoes and unsurprisingly seemed to prefer shoes which didn't show his lack of socks. We know this because Einstein wrote in a letter to his wife Elsa while on trip to Oxford,  Einstein wrote, "I got away without wearing socks, and hid the lack of civilisation in high boots." In Albert Einstein's biography written by Robinson and Walter Isaacson stated "He also once told a neighbour, "I have reached an age when, if someone tells me to wear socks, I don't have to." in the Oxford Science Museum (The Museum of the History of Science), still has on of the chalkboard that Albert Einstein wrote on. Infact I have actually seen it, it is a small chalkboard however the science on it is about, expansion in the universe, which is expressed b

Fact 96: What was Napoleon's embarrassing attack in 1807?

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Fact 96: What was Napoleon's embarrassing attack in 1807? The answer will definitely surprise you to know that Napoleon Bonaparte was attacked by rabbits, not wild rabbit,  but tame rabbits, the Oxford English dictionary states that tame means "not dangerous or frightened of people.  This happened in 1807 just after the the treaties of Tilsit was signed which was a peace treaties signed by Napoleon and  Alexander I of Russia.  Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia signed the peace treaty on 7th July and the 9th July, 1807 which marked the end of a battle between the French Empire (Napoleon) and Imperial Russia (Alexander I).  To celebrate the signing of the treaties Napoleon decided to host a rabbit hunt for the Imperial Court. Napoleon decided to choose  Alexandre Berther, Napoleon chief of staff to organise the rabbit hunt, so Alexandre Berther keen to make a good impression,  and make Napoleon look good. Alexandre Berther went to a local farm and purchased 3,000 rabbits becaus

Fact 95: Did MI5 ever investigate Agatha Christie for knowing about top-secret government information?

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Fact 95: Did MI5 ever investigate Agatha Christie of knowing about top-secret government information? Surprisingly yes, one of the greatest detective writers of all time was questioned about her knowledge of code breaking because one of the names of her characters coincidentally had a link to an MI5's secret code-breaking at BletchleyPark. Agatha Christie had a conversation with an MI5 agent\code breaker Dilly Knox who happened to be one of her friends who worked at Bletchley Park all about her knowledge about code breaking because of what was happening at Bletchley Park. He basically asked her where did the name Major Bletchley (the character) had come from Agatha Christie then told him all about how she was actually stuck on a train near Bletchley (Agatha Christie was going from Oxford to London) and so as her revenge for the train delay she named her "least loveable character" after the place.  I would imagine that MI5 breathed a well-deserved sigh of relief as they th

Fact 94: What are pencils made of?

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Fact 94: What are pencils made of? Now, as anyone who has ever been to the (in my opinion the amazing)  Derwent Pencil Museum (in Keswick UK) will proudly tell you, they are not made of lead (toxic) despite the fact that some pencils are labeled as lead pencils they are in fact made and have aways been made from a slightly,  similar looking thing called, graphite (nontoxic) some pencils also have more or less clay in order to change the gradient tone or the pencil the more clay that is added to the graphite stronger and smoother and means the graphite will not brake or snap in side the wooden caseing and the the clay having more clay added to the graphite makes the pencil create a lighter mark on the paper. The less clay makes the pencil less the les strong the pencil is ( more breakable) however the mark is darker.

Fact 93: Does eating cheese before going to bed give you nightmares?

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Fact 93: Does eating cheese before going to bed give you nightmares? No it doesn't infact research done by British cheese Board (Association) showed that it infact helped people remember there dreams and in some cases have better dreams or even no dreams depending on what what type of cheese they had, infact none of the people had a single nightmare.  Sorry that the fact is short today I just left it slightly to late today do any additional information.

Fact 92: Does counting sheep actually work as a helpful way to get to sleep?

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Fact 92: Does counting sheep actually work as a helpful way to get to sleep? The short answer is No! Also the NHS recommends you don't go on your phone (or other device) "1 hour" before you go to bed because the light from your phone can effect your sleep even with blue light turned on.  The slightly longer answer involving additional information is, no it doesn't help because your brain is affectively working more and actually this makes you stay awake for longer tying to work out the next number in the sequence and picture imaginary sheep at the same time and it is boring. The research was carried out by Oxford University, found out that counting sheep was to boring and so it was not a good distraction techniques for sleep the reasoning is if you think about sleep to much you will not fall asleep.  The Oxford University study was on people with insomnia and which distraction techniques work best(unfortunately I couldn't find any other distraction techniques.

Fact 91: How tall was Napoleon?

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Fact 91: How tall was Napoleon? Napoleon Bonaparte (1759-1821) is known for being very short however this is to do with British propaganda. His autopsy in 1821 by Francesco Autommarchi (Napoleon personal physician\Doctor for non-surgical treatment) recorded Napoleon  height as '5/2' (in British measuring system this is 5 feet 6 and a 1/2 inches).  The average height for a Frenchmen between 1800 and 1820 was 5 feet 4 1/2 inche so Napoleon was taller than most people in France at the time. Napoleon was also taller than most men in England at the same time, Napoleon was 1/2 an inch taller than the average height of an Englishmen in 1800 to 1820 which was 5 foot 6 inches.  He was also only 2 1/2   inches shorter than the Duke of Wellington (5 foot 9 inches) and also only  2  1/2 inches shorter than Horatio Nelson ( Horatio Nelson  fact)(a different  Horatio Nelson fact) (5 foot 4 inches). So Napoleon wasn't actually short for his time however today he would be considered as s

Fact 90: Is there actually a 50/50 chance that when you flip a coin it will land on heads or tails?

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Fact 90: Is there actually a 50/50 chance that when you flip a coin it will land on heads or tails? The answer is no, is not actually 50/50 it is actually closer to 51/49 this is because the way   most coins are made means that the head side is slightly heavier so there is more of a chance that it will land on tail. Also if you flip a coin there is also a 51% chance it will land on the side it started on (so if heads if facing up it will most likely land on heads and vice-a-versa. It   is also to do with compacted physics and how most people flip a coin and the force used by the person who flips the coin is normally the same as the falling force so it will most likely land on the side it started on. 49% is the chance it will land on the opposite side than the side it was flipped from (tails is the is flip and head side lands upright).  I would actually recommend that in the future you should shuffle a deck of cards and try to draw an ace (randomly) the chance of doing this is 1in13 als

Fact 89: Do people actually walk round and round in circles when they're lost?

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Fact 89: Do people actually walk round and round in circles when they're lost? The short answer is yes.  The slightly longer answer is that this only tends to happen in foggy or there is a storm or interestingly if people can't see the sun or moon and if there are no navigational clues or any markers trees or any building or fix point in which to work out where you are. The original reason which is not true do not read this and think it is true because it is not true, with that in mind the original reason for people walking around in circles when they're lost was, that one leg was stronger than the other so if your right leg is/was your stronger leg then over time you would start to walk in that direction, this is still not true don't forget that and has been proven to be false.  This is however true that research done by Max planck Institute for Biology Cybernetics  (Tübingen, Germany) in 2009 found that it is actually because of our brains this was proved by volunteer

Fact 88: What is the real name for a computer mouse?

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Fact 88: What is the real name for a computer mouse? The real name for the computer mouse is an, X–Y position indicator for a display system . This is the name chosen by the inventor (Douglas Engelbart) however when he were making it he released really quickly it looked like a mouse with a tail. One of the early computer mouse was a small rectangular box with a weel underneath and a wire coming out the back of the mouse (not the front like todays), and one small push-button on top (I think the button was on the right of the rectangular box however I am not sure).

Fact 87: Where does the word tissue come from?

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Fact 87: Where does the word tissue come from? The word tissue interestingly comes from the Old French word tissu, meaning, basically a ribbon, or belt of woven material but now means white thin sheet of soft paper used to blow ones nose or wrap something to protect it or decorat something for arts and craft if the paper is bright or colourful. It is not as I thought an onomatopoeia (a word that comes from a sound associated with the word in question, like bang is a bang and crash is a crash). Tissue is not called a tissue because it sounds like a sneeze!

Fact 86: Where does the word biscuit come from?

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Fact 86: Where does the word biscuit come from? This answer may surprise you to know that the word came to England from the French and is a Latin word basically meaning twice baked this comes from the french and Latin word panis biscoctus, panis means basically in the shape of a loaf\or just bread this is french and biscoctus means twice-cooked from the Latin word bis meaning twice again, and the Latin word coctus meaning cooked or baked. This is because the biscuit were originally baked/cooked twice, (my guess is that the biscuit were probably cooked on both sides by being flipped but honestly I don't know). The word biscuit dates back to the Middle Ages (some time in about the 14th century).