What new fact broke your brain today?

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

The Charleston mill thanks you!

i guess if the earth is flat the core is dangling on the other side like a nut sac

alfadriver said:

Don't forget to add the movement of the Milky Way through space.   We are going to "hit" another galaxy is a few billion years.

Good point...the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will collide in 4.5 billion years and will be called Milkdromeda when it happens.

RX Reven' said:

alfadriver said:

Don't forget to add the movement of the Milky Way through space.   We are going to "hit" another galaxy is a few billion years.

Good point...the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies will collide in 4.5 billion years and will be called Milkdromeda when it happens.

Here's my mindblowing thing about that- we know it's going to happen, and at the same time, we know the Earth won't be around to see it.  By then, the sun will have started to get into it's end of life form, and engulf the earth.

To be an astrophysicist predicting things happening in a time frame where you know Earth won't be around... that would be hard to imagine.

alfadriver said: To be an astrophysicist predicting things happening in a time frame where you know Earth won't be around... that would be hard to imagine.

Astrophysicists usually get the giggles over that sort of thing. 

Mndsm said:

An obvious one- the number of people older than you will never increase. 

I consider this a good thing, but the older I get I am changing my perspective. 

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Only problem I see with that is before our common age people had children much earlier in life and possibly more kids than modern times. So it could fluctuate wildly based on the world conditions at the time. 

In reply to Junghole :

True, but having a baby at age 16 would only add 2.67 mothers per century.  

While on duty, a Queens guard in the UK can get fined by a superior officer if caught while smiling on duty.

In reply to Countingcrowbars :

However, as evidenced by the first world War, the percentage of people older than you can increase...

dxman92 said:

While on duty, a Queens guard in the UK can get fined by a superior officer if caught while smiling on duty.

You should see what happens when tourists don't get out of the way during the changing of the guard.

I was born in 1962 and am 59.

Graduated HS in 1980.

I remember thinking  back then that the Ford Model A was really one of the coolest cars but it was a terribly old design.  Model As were built from 1927 to 1931, roughly 50 years before my HS graduation.   

My first car was a 1972 240Z.  I had a paper route from age 12-16 and then worked at a gas station 16-18.  Bought it just before I was 18 for $2,800.

That 1972 240Z is the same age right now as that 1930 Model A was in 1980...

I consider myself pretty much a master of knowing completely useless crap.  But TIL...

Soap Operas are named because of the Soap industry.  I always thought it was some play on words about being a "clean" show, or something bubbly and campy.

Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, no one used soap except for laundry or cleaning something.  With the discovery of microorganisms, doctors started going nuts about washing your skin with soap to prevent illness.  The soap industry dominated for decades as a result kind of like Tobacco and Oil.  Since old-time radio shows and early TV shows were always sponsored directly by one or two products, it was easy for Ivory soap to flip the script and invent a Radio (and subsequently TV) show instead of just sponsoring an existing show.

Guiding Light was created, produced, and written by Ivory Soap, and even sometimes starred their employees in the cast.  The early radio soap operas were targeted toward women's afternoons.  The target audience was likely done with breakfast, lunch, and laundry and had a little bit of time to relax before making dinner, so they made a show about romance and plugged their own soap brand to a highly targeted audience.  It was a hit, so it continued on to TV.