The Ultimate Trivia Thread

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by kacir

... and zero on a freezing temperature of brine - salty water with maximum concentration of salt in water.
By the way ... 100F isn't body temperature anymore.

-40°C = -40F

Response to above post:

Although 100°F was based on human body temperature, the human body temperature was later adjusted to 98.6°F (it was supposed to be 98.5°F but thermometers only had 1/5° markings so it was rounded to 98.6°F) without altering the original Fahrenheit scale. From what I understand, the reason for brine being used to establish 0°F is that the temperature of the combination would naturally settle at that temperature.

Now for new piece of trivia for this post:

Carole King sang "Oh! Neil" as an answer song to Neil Sedaka's "Oh! Carol"

[trichobezoar]

According to The Word Museum,

An aphiocem is a composition of flour and buds of hemp.

Hmm... Sounds interesting. >.>

[Luffy]

The shortest war ever fought was between Britain and Zanzibar on August 27, 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

[Solitaire1]

Roman numerals were not used for calculation, but were used to record the results of calculations.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Roman numerals were not used for calculation, but were used to record the results of calculations.

Romans - the citizens of ancient Rome - did not use Roman numerals in form IX or IV. They would have used VIIII and IIII. The more elegant form started to be used in medieval Europe.

[Luffy]

Under Chairman Mao, every Chinese family was obliged to kill a sparrow a week to stop them eating all the rice. The project was ineffective because sparrows don’t eat rice.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Under Chairman Mao, every Chinese family was obliged to kill a sparrow a week to stop them eating all the rice. The project was ineffective because sparrows don’t eat rice.

ROFL!

[trichobezoar]

According to The Word Museum,

To baffound is to stun and perplex.

I don't know why I find that funny... I guess 'cause it sounds like buffoon. *thinking of brother's profile on Netflix--Brainy Buffoon*

[crich70]

Originally Posted by trichobezoar

According to The Word Museum,

To baffound is to stun and perplex.

I don't know why I find that funny... I guess 'cause it sounds like buffoon. *thinking of brother's profile on Netflix--Brainy Buffoon*

It puts me in mind of the name of the French scientist in last month's offering from the University of Chicago.

[Solitaire1]

Mel Blanc was the voice of the cat in Disney's Pinocchio.

[Maggie May]

There are ten times more sheep than people in Australia.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by Luffy

Under Chairman Mao, every Chinese family was obliged to kill a sparrow a week to stop them eating all the rice. The project was ineffective because sparrows don’t eat rice.

According to Wikipedia, it was even worse: The sparrows did indeed eat some rice, but they ate even more rice-eating insects, like locusts. So killing off the sparrows led to locust plagues -> no rice -> starvation. The things you learn here...

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

According to Wikipedia, it was even worse: The sparrows did indeed eat some rice, but they ate even more rice-eating insects, like locusts. So killing off the sparrows led to locust plagues -> no rice -> starvation. The things you learn here...

Thanks for the expanded trivia.

In 1915, the lock millionaire Cecil Chubb bought his wife Stonehenge. She didn’t like it, so in 1918 he gave it to the nation.

[Solitaire1]

Per Wikipedia, the word "robot" was introduced into the English language from the play R. U. R. by Karel Čapek.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Solitaire1

Per Wikipedia, the word "robot" was introduced into the English language from the play R. U. R. by Karel Čapek.

The word robot comes from the word "robota" and means serf labor. Isaac Asimov coined the term 'Robotics' in one of his early Robot stories. He thought he'd read it somewhere else at the time, but he is officially credited with the creation of the term.