Tell Me Something I Don't Know

[sharetolearn]

Hi there,

 

This thread is similar to one that's been posted already in that I have a website, and am currently looking to fill it with content. The goal behind the site is to allow people to share the knowledge they've gained through their experiences with the world. Most of them are a couple sentences long, and they describe some phenomenon, fallacy, misconception, etymology, or otherwise rare, interesting piece of knowledge. Here's an example from the site:

 

You may have been taught that airplane wings create lift because the air both above and below the wing has to travel the same time to get to the tail end, and that because the wing is curved on the top, the air above has to travel faster. This is called the equal transit time theory and is FALSE. The air above does travel faster than the air below, but so fast that it gets to the tail of the wing in less time. What actually happens is pretty complicated, and most people are taught the simplified version that, when you think about it, doesn't even make that much sense.

 

So, I'd like you to post any of yours here. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. If you're having trouble thinking of good examples, just try to think of something that would blow someone's mind - someone who doesn't know anything about the field you study or work with. A biologically immortal jellyfish, for example.

 

I'll try to post ones you come up with on the site, unless you request not to. I'll also paste the website address if we get a lot of responses (otherwise I'll just PM the responders - I don't want to have unwanted advertising).

 

So by all means - tell me something I don't know!

 

Sean

[hermanntrude]

the plural of octopus is octopodes. NOT octopusses or octopussies or octopi.

[Lan(r)12]

Sand Tiger sharks' eggs hatch inside the mother and then proceed to kill one another until there's only TWO left standing, one per uterus...and those two are the ones that are birthed.

 

 

 

Edit: Thanks Mokele

Edit 2: Thanks iNow

Edited May 4, 2009 by Lan(r)12

[Mokele]

Tiger Shark's eggs hatch inside the mother and then proceed to kill one another until there's only one left standing...and it's the one that is birthed.

 

Actually, that's the sand tiger, different species.

 

 

Boas and pythons cannot adjust the lens of their eyes to focus light - their eyes are effectively "fixed focus".

[Severian]

The red supergiant star Antares is so big, that you could fit half a million copies of our Sun into its vloume.

[iNow]

Sand Tiger sharks' eggs hatch inside the mother and then proceed to kill one another until there's only one left standing...and it's the one that is birthed.

 

Actually, that's the sand tiger, different species.

Another slight correction... there will be two left "standing," one per uterus.

 

 

http://www.sharkinfo.ch/SI1_00e/ctaurus.html

The sand tiger shark has an unusual method of reproduction. During its embryonal phase, the more developed embryos eat up their less developed siblings. In this way

only the two

strongest young - one per uterus - survive and are born.

[Lan(r)12]

Should I just erase my whole comment and leave it you all?

But thanks for the correction iNow.

[sharetolearn]

Wow, these are all great! I'd like to ask that you do explain yourself, though.. for example, Severian, where is this supergiant Antares? Is our sun particularly smaller than most other stars, or is that one just so massive? Keep 'em coming!

[hermanntrude]

Wow, these are all great! I'd like to ask that you do explain yourself, though.. for example, Severian, where is this supergiant Antares? Is our sun particularly smaller than most other stars, or is that one just so massive? Keep 'em coming!

 

here's a good link

[Pangloss]

There are 159 counties in the US state of Georgia. It's second only to Texas, which has the most with 254.

 

Here's an interesting essay on how that came to be:

http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/countyhistory.htm

 

 

Next up: A discussion on the use of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium modeling in massively multiplayer online games, applied for the purpose of studying real-world macroeconomics, excerpted from a 2008 IEEE conference workshop on Advanced Information Networking and Applications.

 

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fiel5%2F4482830%2F4482831%2F04482928.pdf%3Farnumber%3D4482928&authDecision=-203

[Shadow]

Talking about comparisons, the USA Enterprise class ship is apparently larger than the USS Enterprise captained by J.T. Kirk.

 

http://www.loganotron.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/comparison.gif

[hermanntrude]

there is a dwarf planet called makemake (snigger)

[Baby Astronaut]

In a hydrogen atom, the distance between a proton and its electron is about 11 miles using a scale of pixels. It's all just empty space, presumably.

 

The 11 miles of scrolling doesn't function in all web browsers. Normally you're able to scroll from the left (where the proton is) all the way to the right, a distance of eleven virtual miles until you reach the electron -- a tiny dot at the end.

 

Wow, these are all great! I'd like to ask that you do explain yourself, though.. for example, Severian, where is this supergiant Antares? Is our sun particularly smaller than most other stars, or is that one just so massive? Keep 'em coming!

here's a good link

Nice! There are slideshow vids on YouTube too.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I34FNr_peUk

 

The first vid progresses from smallest to largest, one at a time. And the second vid has them grouped (at the end our sun is placed directly next to the largest star for comparison), but with a noticeable discrepancy: Sirius is much larger than portrayed in your link and other vids. So it might not be to proper scale.

[hermanntrude]

burning parsley smells EXACTLY like burning marijuana

[Baby Astronaut]

burning parsley smells exactly like burning marijuana

 

o

 

o

 

o

 

O

 

O

 

O

 

* the ideas *

---

Merged post follows:

Consecutive posts merged

Derechos. Pretty much: a long wall of thunderstorms.

 

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=13319103&ch=4226713

 

Another rare phenomenon: heat bursts. A very quick rise in temperature, gusty winds, and drop in air moisture.

[sharetolearn]

Wow, that tidbit about parsley is pretty interesting, I wonder why that is? Anyway, we have a lot of good ones here, so I'm going to go ahead and post the link. I put a couple up on there that I found interesting enough to research more - if I didn't put yours up, don't hesitate to submit it, but be sure to fully explain what you're talking about. At this moment we don't have very many features (browsing and searching are needed), but we should get those working soon. The URL is: http://www.sharetolearn.net

 

You can submit new ones there or keep posting them in this thread... or both!

[GutZ]

burning parsley smells EXACTLY like burning marijuana

 

Good excuse I can use....I ma just a bad cook.

[iNow]

I find that claim highly suspect, for the mere fact that different strains of bud smell entirely different when burned. It logically follows that a completely unrelated plant will smell differently as well.

[hermanntrude]

well OK but last night I accidentally burned some parsley and wondered where the hell that weed smell was coming from

[mrsemmapeel]

Accidently burnt some parsley, mmm, sounds suspicious to me

[hermanntrude]

Accidently burnt some parsley, mmm, sounds suspicious to me

OK but i was desperate. I had to smoke something!