Random Fact of the Day

[Scheherazade]

Please share the random facts you discover with us!

- One fact per day.
- Please indicate for which day you are posting for.
- Please indicate your sources clearly.


May 14th

Est ubi glorai nunc Babyloiae? Where are the snows of yesteryear? The earth is dancing the dance of Macabre; at times it seems to be that the Danube is crowded with ships loaded with fools going towards a dark place.

'Where are the snows of yesteryear?' question reminded me of Yossarian's question from Catch-22: "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?"

When I searched, I found out that the line was a reference to a poem by François Villon, a famous mediaeval poet:


Ballad Of The Ladies Of Yore

Tell me where, in what country,
Is Flora the beautiful Roman,
Archipiada or Thais
Who was first cousin to her once,
Echo who speaks when there's a sound
On a pond or a river
Whose beauty was more than human?
But where are the snows of yesteryear?
Where is the leamed Heloise
For whom they castrated Pierre Abelard
And made him a monk at Saint-Denis,
For his love he took this pain,
Likewise where is the queen
Who commanded that Buridan
Be thrown in a sack into the Seine?
But where are the snows of yesteryear?

The queen white as a lily
Who sang with a siren's voice,
Big-footed Bertha, Beatrice, Alice,
Haremburgis who held Maine
And Jeanne the good maid of Lorraine
Whom the English bumt at Rouen, where,
Where are they, sovereign Virgin?
But where are the snows of yesteryear?

Prince, don't ask me in a week
or in a year what place they are;
I can only give you this refrain:
Where are the snows of yesteryear?

http://www.projetbrassens.eclipse.co...nsballade.html

http://www.poetryconnection.net/poet...is_Villon/2079

[Pensive]

May 15

Mother said "You should take your studies seriously"
Father said "You should have done each and every question"
Brother said "You---are you mad? YOU are worried about 7th's exams. Who cares?"

I said "Bah, stop yourself from living in Neverland because that's a place that does not fit anyone unless you don't give a damn to your result"

And here is Pensive trying to leave Neverland behind and being unable to do so. Please Pray that she passes her Math's exam! And behind this the fact is:

"Living in Neverland is dangerous but one (especially people like me) can't help it"

(sad)

[Scheherazade]

Thank you very much for sharing that, Pensive but when I started the thread I had more tangible facts in mind, rather than personal issues.

[Pensive]

"Living in an imaginary world without seeing realities infront of you has its problems" Isn't it a fact, Scher? That was all I wanted to say.

[papayahed]

May 16

In 1997, as part of a Japanese "food as art" exhibition, Tadhiko Okawa copied the great artwork, entirely in toast. The picture was first etched onto tin foil, then each section was transferred to a slice of bread, which was toasted in an upright toaster. The masterpiece contained 1,426 slices.

s10cr

[Scheherazade]

That is amazing! Do you think those toasts were buttered???

[Scheherazade]

Read this passage from The shipping News by Annie Proulx last night:

In theold days a love-sick sailor might send the object of his affection a length of fishline loosely tied in a true-lover's knot. If the know was sent back as it came, the relationship was static. If the know returned home snugly drawn up, the passion was reciprocated. But if the knot was capsized -tacit advice to ship out.

Which made me curious about this particular knot. A search on the net came up with this:

The true lover's knot is the name for several knots, including the Middleman's knot, Fisherman's knot and Shamrock knot. The most popular version, the Middleman's knot, is actually a bend created by interlacing the loops from opposing overhand knots with the opposite line.


Legend has it that the Dutch sailors tied this knot to remind them of their loved ones during their ocean voyages in the 16th century. The two intertwining overhand knots symbolize two intertwined lovers. The knot is sometimes used by goldsmiths to make a romantic piece of jewelry.

Like true love, the simplicity is deceptive, this knot is difficult to tie correctly.

[papayahed]

“The Star-Spangled Banner” was made when a poem was set to an old British drinking song, called “Anacreon in Heaven.” Likewise, “Hail to the Chief,” the ditty played whenever the president makes a public appearance, also has roots across the pond.

“The Lady of the Lake,” a Sir Walter Scott poem published in 1810, told of a clan in the Scottish Highlands that lost their land to an imperialist invader. The poem was a hit in its original form, and received even more acclaim a few years later when it was used as the basis for a stage production. London conductor James Sanderson set Stanza XIX of the Second Canto of “Lady of the Lake” to music, renaming it “Hail to the Chief.” (The Chief in this case was Roderick Dhu, a Scottish folk hero.)

When the play opened in Philadelphia in 1812, “Hail to the Chief” struck a chord with Americans, who were embroiled in a war with Britain at that time. In February 1815, the song was played both to honor the late George Washington and to mark the end of the War of 1812. The song then began its long association with the Commander-in-Chief, even though the Department of Defense didn’t officially recognize it as the presidential tribute song until 1954.

[papayahed]

When you buy liquor that is labeled 100 proof, that indicates that it contains 50% alcohol. But why is it called “proof” in the first place?

Modern distillers use a hydrometer to measure the alcohol in their spirits, but in the days before such a device was available, a simpler method was used. In England, equal parts of liquor and gunpowder were mixed together, and then lit with a flame. Careful experimentation had taught the Brits that the perfect amount of alcohol content (57.1% at the time) produced a steady blue flame. If the flame burned too yellow, it was “proof” that there was too much alcohol in the spirit.

Folks in the American Old West, on the other hand, employed a slightly different method: they poured a small amount of hootch onto a tiny pile of gunpowder, then lit it on fire. Once the liquor burned off, it would set off a small explosion as “proof” that the alcohol content was right on. If the booze was too watery, the fire would simply fizzle out.

[papayahed]

The average toilet is flushed 2.56 times every day

[Virgil]

The average toilet is flushed 2.56 times every day

Is that even if you have the runs?

And what about work toilets. We have a couple of hundred people in our building and a limited number of toilets.

[papayahed]

Is that even if you have the runs?

And what about work toilets. We have a couple of hundred people in our building and a limited number of toilets.

What's the toilet to person ratio?

We could do an informal work poll to determine how many times people use the bathroom on a daily basis?

[Virgil]

What's the toilet to person ratio?

We could do an informal work poll to determine how many times people use the bathroom on a daily basis?

I don't know the ratio. I could ask but that would look odd. I could count, but I don't think I want to go into the Ladies Room.

[papayahed]

I don't know the ratio. I could ask but that would look odd. I could count, but I don't think I want to go into the Ladies Room.

Come on Virgie!!! This is for science and the betterment of all mankind!

[Taliesin]

Two of the classical three problems that are unsolvable with straightedge and compass (those three being trisecting an angle, doubling the cube and squaring the cube) are solvable with origami (paper folding). The unsolvable one is of course squaring the circle.
While using compass-and-straightedge, only second degree equations are solvable, but origami allows to solve third degree equations, thus making origami a more powerful construction method.