Fun Facts and Trivia Thread !!!

[Ray Sison]

"The Good Samaritan"

"The Good Samaritan" is one of the most beloved parables. The particularly dramatic significance of using a Samaritan in the story, however, has been mostly lost with ancient history to us in the modern world.

Samaritans were a people that were hated by the target audience of this parable, the Jews. And the Samaritans hated them back. So the significance is that the person who showed mercy, the Samaritan, was of a hated race. Thus, the story takes on another dimension, with a message of brotherhood that was alluded to in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech.

I referenced Wikipedia for this...

 

[Ray Sison]

Biggest Celeb Divorce Settlements, Continued...

Well, the latest (from what I heard on the radio) is that Elin Nordegren is probably not going to get a settlement in the $750 million range, partly as they assess Tiger Woods' true financial worth. Poor girl! It may end up more like in the $100 million range--still more than Harrison Ford, Kevin Costner, James Cameron, and Michael Douglas, and Madonna had to shell out to their ex-spouses...

Biggest Celeb Divorce Settlements

Tiger Woods’ estranged wife, Elin Nordegren, is getting $750 million in their divorce settlement, according to a British tabloid. From James Cameron and Linda Hamilton’s $50 million Titanic split to Rupert and Anna Murdoch’s $1.7 billion breakup, here is the Top Ten list for Costliest Separations, in ascending order:

1. Michael and Diandra Douglas: $45 million
2. James Cameron and Linda Hamilton: $50 million
3. Madonna and Guy Ritchie: $76 million
4. Kevin Costner and Cindy Silva: $80 million
5. Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison: $90 million
6. Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving: $100 million
7. Neil Diamond and Marcia Murphey: $150 million
8. Michael and Juanita Jordan: $168 million
9. Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren: $750 million
10. Rupert and Anna Murdoch: $1.7 billion

So “Elin Nordegren is not quite the queen of divorce settlements”; Anna Murdoch is!
I got this info from http: // www . thedailybeast . com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-01/tiger-woods-divorce-settlement-and-other-massive-payouts/

 

[Laurie]

More than 10% of the world's salt is used to de-ice American roads.

Crocodile babies don't have sex chromosomes: the temperature at which the egg develops determines gender.

The male praying mantis cannot 'make out' while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates 'making out' by ripping the male's head off!!! :twisted:

 

[Ray Sison]

Fun Facts Questions:

Can you cry under water?​

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?​

If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?​

Since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?​

Why do you have to "put your two cents in"...but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?​

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?​

What did cured ham actually have?​

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?​

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?​

If you drink Pepsi at work in the Coke factory, will they fire you?​

Why are you IN a movie, but you are ON TV?​

If a 911 operator has a heart attack, whom does he/she call?
​

From http: // www . cleanjoke . com / humor/Did-You-Ever-Wonder.html​

 

[Laurie]

Malaysians protect their babies from disease by bathing them in beer.

 

[Ray Sison]

"The Hot Word" explains where the expression "dog days of summer" comes from:

"The dog days of summer, the sultriest time of the year, have undoubtedly arrived.

Some believe that the wicked, mid-summer heat drives dogs mad, hence the expression. But as every pet owner knows, prolonged heat waves do just the opposite. The poor pups pant listlessly in the darkest corners of our homes, hardly lifting a paw.

In fact, the expression has little to do with our canine friends. The dog days (or the dog days of summer) correspond with the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. In mythology, Sirius was the dog of Orion, a mighty hunter with a tragic end. (The star Betelgeuse is part of his constellation.)

In ancient times, the Dog Star rose almost simultaneously with the sun, a heliacal rising, and corresponded roughly with the summer solstice. But this is no longer the case. In the northern hemisphere, the dog days now fall from July 3 to August 11. In the southern hemisphere, they occur between January and early March.

The star Sirius, which means “scorching,” is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major (Large Dog). The ancients believed that Sirius contributed heat to the sun, thus making it the most blistering time of the year. They denounced the many undesirable effects — such as droughts and plagues — that they believed were caused by this star.

The dog days were also believed to influence people’s behavior. Those who suffered under the spell of the Dog Star were said to be astroboletos, or star-struck. The star was believed to cause lethargy, indolence, and a general lack of progress, symptoms we still attribute to the dog days.
Do the dog days have you dragging your feet? Are the plants in your garden wilting? Do as the ancients did. Wait for nightfall and then shake your fist at Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky."

from http: // hotword . dictionary.com/?p=671

 

[Amanda Coyle]

fun facts questions:

can you cry under water?​

how important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?​

if money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?​

since bread is square, then why is sandwich meat round?​

why do you have to "put your two cents in"...but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"? Where's that extra penny going to?​

why does a round pizza come in a square box?​

what did cured ham actually have?​

how is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?​

why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?​

if you drink pepsi at work in the coke factory, will they fire you?​

why are you in a movie, but you are on tv?​

if a 911 operator has a heart attack, whom does he/she call?​

lol!

 

[Ray Sison]

In the aftermath of the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848, how much of Mexico's territory did the United States gain?

.
.
.

55%. The U.S. gained an area about the size of Western Europe: the territory is now the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The war was a controversial affair and had a complex buildup leading up to it, including the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico still saw as a part of its territory even after the Texas Revolution of 1836...

Many Civil War soldiers (such as Grant and Lee) served in the Mexican-American War as young officers...

 

[Ray Sison]

In modern literary criticism, what is a "Mary Sue"?

Wikipedia explains, "A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".

I heard about this concept of a Mary Sue from reading an online comment about Bella of the Twilight series, and why she (an ordinary human girl) is the center of the Twilight universe. Traits associated with Mary Sues include: They are " 'special' by having a gratuitously tragic past, unrealistic skills, or a seeming inability for the character to do wrong."

"Various tests, commonly known as "Mary Sue litmus tests", have been written to help writers (especially inexperienced ones) gauge whether or not their character is a Mary Sue, as well as bring the "Mary Sue" concept to writers' attention."

Wikipedia explains the origin of the term "Mary Sue": "It is taken from a character created by Paula Smith in 1973 for her parody story "A Trekkie's Tale," published in her fanzine Menagerie #2. The character in question was Lieutenant Mary Sue ("the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet — only fifteen and a half years old"). Smith's story poked fun at unrealistic and adolescent wish-fantasy characters in Star Trek fan fiction."

 

[Ray Sison]

Just read this on Yahoo: "How Do You Keep Food from Sticking to the Grill?"

Here are some tips for preventing food from sticking to the grill grate:

• Preheat the grill grate, brush with a stiff-bristled wire grill brush, and oil well before cooking. Repeat at the end of the grill session while the grate is still hot.
  
• Resist the urge to turn the food prematurely, i.e., before the proteins have firmed up and are ready to release easily.
  
• Turn food only once with a thin-bladed spatula.
  
• Limit your use of sauces and marinades with a high sugar content; they will cause food to stick as they caramelize.
  
• Adopt my mantra for the grill grate: "Keep it hot, keep it clean, keep it lubricated."

From Steve Raichlen, http: // shine.yahoo . com /channel/food/ask-a-grillmaster-how-do-you-kee p-food-from-sticking-to-the-grill-2037963/

 

[Ray Sison]

In Belarus (formerly part of the USSR), 72% of the population speaks Russian and only 11.9% of the population speaks Belarusian (the other official language of the country)--even though ethnic Belarusians comprise 81.2% of Belarus's total population...

 

[flashdance]

I remember reading that having sex burnt about the same amount of calories as 30 minutes of shopping....this is absolute top-secret information that should NEVER reach the ears of your girlfriend or wife

 

[Spitfire]

I recently read about this. It's well known that in the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J. P. Richardson aka the Big Bopper, Waylon Jennings who was one of Buddy Holly's Crickets gave up his seat on the plane to the Big Bopper.

Just before they took off in the plane Buddy jokes with Waylon by saying "I hope your ol' bus freezes up" to which Waylon replied "I hope your ol' plane crashes." Needless to say Waylon Jennings was haunted for many years by that remark.

 

[Ray Sison]

Which actress has earned the nickname "Queen of Remakes"?

Naomi Watts, who grew up in the UK and Australia, and is best friends with Nicole Kidman.

Her credits includes several remakes, among them The Ring, King Kong, and The Painted Veil (in which she co-starred with Edward Norton). And she will be starring in the upcoming remake of The Birds...

 

[bordertangoman]

Surinam toads have a unique spawning ritual and reproduction method. Following an extraordinary mating dance, where the female lays her eggs on the male's belly, the male then fertilises the eggs and rolls them into pouches on her back. After bypassing the larval stage completely, fully developed froglet miniatures pop out of the holes in the mother's skin. Large flippered feet and greatly flattened bodies make these amphibians well suited to life in South America's murky ponds and swamps.