Really TRUE odd factoids

[Yellow Fang]

The feminine for doctor is doctrix. At least it would be in Latin.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Two-fifths of Ashkenadzi Jews can trace their ancestry to four women.

 

[Drago]

Two-fifths of Ashkenadzi Jews can trace their ancestry to four women.

A bit like every teenager in Bedford.

 

[classic33]

On This Day – 23rd March 1847: The Choctaw Nation Offers Aid to Ireland.

In a remarkable act of compassion, the Choctaw Nation gathered a donation of $170 (equivalent to thousands today) on this day in 1847 to help victims of the Great Irish Famine.

Only 16 years after enduring their own forced removal during the Trail of Tears, the Choctaw people recognised the suffering of the Irish and gave what little they could to ease the hunger across the Atlantic.

 

[Drago]

A mole can tunnel 18 feet in an hour.

 

[Seevio]

A mole can tunnel 18 feet in an hour.

This means that if you had 5542400 of them working side by side for 8 hours a day, they could have dug the channel tunnel in approximately half the time that it actually took. This doesn't account for the resulting molehills though.

 

[Chris S]

<aside> I used to have an online friend who lived in a small Algerian village. He'd converted to Islam when he married his Muslim wife and made a living as an architect designing mosques. Anyway, he was writing a book about his experiences building a house in the village over a year and sent me chapters to proofread. He talked about Ramadan and how the men ate more than usual because they'd sit around all day whining that they couldn't do anything because they were weak with hunger but then expect their wives to lay on feasts at sunset. The women worked a lot harder during Ramadan preparing all these huge evening meals on top of the usual chores of cleaning, shopping etc plus anything their lazy-arsed husbands couldn't do because they were "fasting". He wasn't impressed.

An Iranian colleague told me that the original idea of Ramadan was to go without your midday meal and then to give the food to somebody who didn't have any. There was nothing about feasting at sunset.

 

[DaveReading]

An Iranian colleague told me that the original idea of Ramadan was to go without your midday meal and then to give the food to somebody who didn't have any. There was nothing about feasting at sunset.

Feasting at sunset doesn't prevent most Moslems from losing weight during Ramadan.

 

[Chris S]

Feasting at sunset doesn't prevent most Moslems from losing weight during Ramadan.

No, it causes them to put it on!

 

[Andy in Germany]

An Iranian colleague told me that the original idea of Ramadan was to go without your midday meal and then to give the food to somebody who didn't have any. There was nothing about feasting at sunset.

Quite possible, although to be fair I'm told Christmas celebrations may have changed a little since the original as well...

 

[lazybloke]

This means that if you had 5542400 of them working side by side for 8 hours a day, they could have dug the channel tunnel in approximately half the time that it actually took. This doesn't account for the resulting molehills though.

But the channel tunnel has three separate bores, and each with a significantly wider diameter than one mole-width (sorry not to use SI units).

Also, how quickly can a mole dig through chalk/marl?

PS Moles don't have passports

 

[T4tomo]

But the channel tunnel has three separate bores, and each with a significantly wider diameter than one mole-width (sorry not to use SI units).

Also, how quickly can a mole dig through chalk/marl?

PS Moles don't have passports

may have also been an issue as they "surface" every few feet to clear the tunnel of loose soil. I'm not an engineer but I imagine a perforated mole sized tunnel roof a few inches below the surface wasnt the original tunnel spec...

 

[classic33]

But the channel tunnel has three separate bores, and each with a significantly wider diameter than one mole-width (sorry not to use SI units).

Also, how quickly can a mole dig through chalk/marl?

PS Moles don't have passports

You're using them, just the wrong ones.
https://www.bipm.org/en/si-base-units/mole

 

[lazybloke]

You're using them, just the wrong ones.
https://www.bipm.org/en/si-base-units/mole

I deliberately said "mole-width" !

 

[classic33]

Rumpology, the art of divination through examining your cheeks.

The left is the/your past, the right is the/your future.
Invented by Sylvester Stallone's mother.
Readings cost $300, per cheek.