Really TRUE odd factoids

[Blue Hills]

Incidents involving elevators and escalators kill about 30 and seriously injure about 17,000 people each year in the United States, according to data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

can't help but think most of those figures relate to escalators - hard to think of anything life threatening in a lift, unless you are stuck in one with some of the NACAs bunch.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Today is the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riots, June 1st 1921 - https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandh...e-massacre-newspaper-complicity-and-coverage/

 

[rikki]

Today is the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riots, June 1st 1921 - https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandh...e-massacre-newspaper-complicity-and-coverage/

The 100th anniversary.

 

[classic33]

Canadian neurosurgeon DR. Wilder Penfield, while operating on epilepsy patients, discovered the “toast centre” of the human brain, which is wholly dedicated to detecting when toast is burning.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

One of the Volkswagen factories was built in quite a remote location, so they decided to make their own food for the factory workers.

Their currywurst sausages were so popular, they ended up being sold commercially and they bring in more revenue than their cars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_currywurst#:~:text=Volkswagen currywurst is a brand,Volkswagen car maker since 1973.&text=The product has been described,produced more sausages than cars.

 

[Blue Hills]

One of the Volkswagen factories was built in quite a remote location, so they decided to make their own food for the factory workers.

Their currywurst sausages were so popular, they ended up being sold commercially and they bring in more revenue than their cars.

any reliable emissions data?

 

[Beebo]

Their currywurst sausages were so popular, they ended up being sold commercially and they bring in more revenue than their cars.

I can’t believe that. They sell over €150billion of cars. That’s a lot of bangers. (Pun intended)
The wiki article only says they make more sausages than cars.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I can’t believe that. They sell over €150billion of cars. That’s a lot of bangers. (Pun intended)
The wiki article only says they make more sausages than cars.

I agree. I meant to change the bit about revenue but forgot. It was a claim made on the first site I found, so I checked several others as it seemed dubious. Quite a few made the claim, but none included any figures, which is why I linked the wiki one, as it had more information. I forgot to edit the comment accordingly though.

 

[classic33]

In ancient China, the solar and lunar eclipses were regarded as heavenly signs that foretell the future of the Emperor and so predicting eclipses was of high importance for the state. Over four millennia ago, legend has it that two astrologers, Hsi and Ho, were executed for failing to predict a solar eclipse.

The solar eclipse that occurred on the 2nd August 1133 shortly before King Henry I died, prompted the spread of the superstition that eclipses are bad omens for rulers.

 

[classic33]

In both common and leap years, no other month begins on the same day of the week as June.

June is the month with the longest daylight hours of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and conversely, June has the shortest daylight hours of the year in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

[Seevio]

One of the earliest practical uses of microwaves was thawing deep frozen hamsters.

 

[classic33]

Microwaves were put to a little heard of use throughout the 1950s: microwaving dead hamsters in an attempt to reanimate them back to life.

Reanimation of rats from body temperatures between 0 and 1° C by microwave diathermy

 

[classic33]

C.W. McCall had a surprise No. 1 hit in 1976 with the novelty trucker song "Convoy."*

Most surprising, though, was that McCall never existed. He was, in fact, a character from a series of local bread commercials, invented by a pair of Nebraska ad men named Bill Fries and Chip Davis.

*The song is referenced in Chapter 5 of the textbook Infrared Detectors and Systems by Dereniak and Boreman. In the same way a journal article or textbook is referenced, the authors point to the song as proof that semitrailer trucks travel in convoys to draw an analogy to how photons, or light quanta, tend to bunch up as they are emitted.

 

[classic33]

The first bacon factory opened in 1770.
In the late 18th century, a businessman named John Harris opened the first bacon processing plant in the county of Wiltshire, where he developed a special brining solution for finishing the meat.

The "Wiltshire Cure" method is still used today, and is a favorite of bacon lovers who prefer a sweeter, less salty taste.

 

[Dave7]

The first bacon factory opened in 1770.
In the late 18th century, a businessman named John Harris opened the first bacon processing plant in the county of Wiltshire, where he developed a special brining solution for finishing the meat.

The "Wiltshire Cure" method is still used today, and is a favorite of bacon lovers who prefer a sweeter, less salty taste.

And I thought it meant the ham came from Wiltshire .
You live and learn.