state a random obscure fact thread

[Peach]

1 attosecond is to 1 second as 1 second is 32 billion billion years.

You know, that's not very much time....

But that can be proven...

Celery contains trace amounts of opiates.

 

[Vandalshandle]

When Lindbergh first took flying lessons, he found out that he was afraid of heights. He took up parachuting to get over it. It worked.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

You know, that's not very much time....

You're right. Was off by a billion.

"An attosecond is an SI unit of time equal to 10−18 of a second (one quintillionth of a second).[1] For context, an attosecond is to a second what a second is to about 31.71 billion years."

 

[Peach]

The capitol of Liberia is named after James Monroe: MONROVIA.

 

[shart_attack]

There is actually a color called Hooker's green.

Shades of green - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Was gonna look up how many colors there are, but it turns out it's not so easy a question.

My random fact then, goldfish can see in the ultraviolet spectrum (see in total 'darkness.')

 

[Liffy]

More oncolors I heard white is actually every color combined!

 

[Vandalshandle]

Amelia Earhart was a lousy pilot, who crashed her plane while still preparing for her flight around the world. She could not navigate, so she took along a navigator she knew who was an alcoholic, and consistently unreliable. She was supposed to be flying with a wire radio antenna trailing behind the plane, about 100 feet long, but left it, because she wanted to save weight. She was married, but had an open marriage. She was probably bisexual.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

It takes tens of thousands of years for a photon to get from the core to the surface of the Sun, but only eight minutes to get from the Sun to the Earth.

If you want the gory details heh,
Q Why does it take thousands of years for light to escape the Sun Ask a Mathematician Ask a Physicist

 

[Mertex]

The Goliath Bird Eating Spider - officially discovered in 2006 in Guyana. Eats small mammals, lizards and venomous snakes. Weighs 6 oz fully grown and is a specie of Tarantula. Has weak venom.

But the thing that poses the biggest threat to us humans is the goliath’s ability to expel urticating hairs from its body. These tiny, nearly invisible hairs float through the air – and have an awful tendency to stick in the eyes. 



Yuck!

 

[Vandalshandle]

Back in the 1920's tarantula hairs were sold as "itching powder" which was intended to be used as a practical joke. The tarantula rubs his hind legs over it's body, when threatened, and releases them. If they get into the eyes, they can not be manually removed, and cause severe pain that can last for weeks, until they work their way out of the eyes.