Curious Mind Blowing Facts - 29
Shut the Front Door...
Before we start today, a friend and fellow Substacker - Jim Geschke - suffered a stroke last week. He will be OK! But he’ll be out of commission for a few weeks, so get better fast! Let’s please show Jim some love. His newsletter:
A list of popular robots in pop culture:
Linguo (Simpsons)
Curiosity rover (Mars)
Metal Gear Rex (Playstation)
Intergalactic (Beastie Boys)
R2-D2 (Star Wars)
C-3PO (Star Wars)
T-1000 (Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
Maschinenmensch (Machine Human) in German
NS-5 (Sonny in I, Robot movie)
Number Six (Battlestar Galactica)
HAL (2001 Space Odyssey)
Optimus Prime (Transformers)
Gerty (moon)
Kryten (Red Dwarf)
WALL-E
Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Rosie (Jetsons)
Robby (Forbidden Planet)
AWESOM-O (South Park)
Robot B-9 (Lost in Space)
Terminator (Terminator)
Johnny 5 (Short Circuit)
Marvin (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)
Bishop (Aliens)
Bender (Futurama)
Ann Droid (Dr. Who)
Astro Boy (Known as Atom in Japan)
KITT (Knight Rider)
In Australia, redheads are often nicknamed Bluey.
The United States purchased Alaska from Russia.
On March 30, 1867, the two parties agreed that the United States would pay Russia $7.2 million for the territory of Alaska. For less than 2 cents an acre.
New Zealanders are called "Kiwis" because the kiwi bird, native to New Zealand, has become a national symbol. The kiwi is a flightless bird unique to the country, and its name has come to represent New Zealanders in an everyday sense. The term "Kiwi" was first used to refer to New Zealanders in the early 20th century and has since become a widely accepted and embraced national nickname.
And…
Originally known as Chinese Gooseberries, these fruits were renamed Kiwifruit by New Zealanders, even though they are native to China. At the turn of the 20th Century, it arrived on New Zealand shores, when a New Zealand school principal, Isabel Fraser, brought some kiwifruit seeds back from her travels.
Singer Willie Nelson has a 5th-degree black belt in the Korean martial art Gongkwon Yusul. Nelson has also studied Taekwondo, for which he holds a 2nd-degree black belt, and has been studying martial arts for over 20 years. His interest in self-defense started when he ordered some manuals that he saw advertised in Batman and Superman comic books.
Due to a staffing shortage of air traffic controllers, there are a surprising number of aircraft near misses and close calls every week in the U.S. Data showed that the rate of so-called runway incursions - such as when planes get too close to one another at airports - was nearly 25 percent higher now than a decade ago, though the rate has improved since 2018.
https://www.archivebuttons.com/articles?article=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/21/business/airline-safety-close-calls.html
The United States became the first country to gain freedom from European powers in the year 1783.
These Are the Most Popular Costco Products in EveryState
Alabama: Kirkland Premium Paper Towels
Alaska: Kirkland Premium Paper Towels
Arizona: Kirkland Prosecco
Arkansas: N/A
California: Kirkland Prosecco
Colorado: Kirkland Maple Syrup
Connecticut: Woozoo Globe Fan
Delaware: Kirkland French Vodka
Florida: Kirkland Three Berry Blend
Georgia: Goodles Cheddy Mac White Cheddar Shells
Hawaii: Woozoo Globe Fan
Idaho: Kirkland Italian Style Beef meatballs
Illinois: Kirkland Prosecco
Indiana: Kirkland Signature Stretch Tite Plastic Food Wrap
Iowa: Sanders Small Batch Wonders Sea Salt Caramel
Kansas: N/A
Kentucky: Reese's Dipped Animal Crackers
Louisiana: N/A
Maine: Kirkland Premium Bath Tissue
Maryland: Kirkland Three Berry Blend
Massachusetts: Trident Fish Sticks
Michigan: Kirkland French Vodka
Minnesota: Sutton Place Cooling Throw
Mississippi: Goodles Cheddy Mac White Cheddar Shells
Missouri: General Mills Morning Summit Cereal
Montana: Reese’s Dipped Animal Crackers
Nebraska: Reese's Dipped Animal Crackers
Nevada: Kirkland Organic No Salt Seasoning
New Hampshire: Costco Fresh Berries
New Jersey: Kirkland Signature Stretch Tite Plastic Food Wrap
New Mexico: Kirkland Leggings
New York: Goodles Cheddy Mac White Cheddar Shells
North Carolina: N/A
North Dakota: Food Court Hotdog/Soda Combo
Ohio: Goodles Cheddy Mac White Cheddar Shells
Oklahoma: N/A
Oregon: Bibigo Cooked Sticky Rice
Pennsylvania: General Mills Morning Summit Cereal
Rhode Island: N/A
South Carolina: Kirkland Maple Syrup
South Dakota: Kirkland Italian Style Beef meatballs
Tennessee: La Terra Fina Spinach Artichoke & Parmesan Dip & Spread
Texas: General Mills Morning Summit Cereal
Utah: Kirkland Diapers
Vermont: Costco Fresh Berries
Virginia: Trident Fish Sticks
Washington: Trident Fish Sticks
West Virginia: N/A
Wisconsin: Sutton Place Cooling Throw
Wyoming: N/A
https://www.foodandwine.com/what-to-buy-costco-8636545
“Cameo is where you connect with your favorite stars. Access thousands of celebrities and request a personalized video message for any occasion.”
Cameo gives you access via a private message - like a birthday greeting to a spouse, or to promote your newsletter - from people like Kevin O’Leary ($+2000), Fran Drescher ($+1000), to Ted Nugent ($+400), Dog the Bounty Hunter ($+500), or Tom Arnold ($+100) for a one-minute personal video.
There are more than 1000 actors, musicians, and TV personalities who charge between $75 - $100.
Cool idea? “The app Cameo, once a unicorn and a pandemic-era distraction, has seen much of its valuation evaporate. At its peak in 2021, Cameo's valuation reached $1 billion before plummeting 90% early this year.
The pedestal that The Statue of Liberty stands on is taller (154 feet) than the statue itself (151 feet).
"The Flintstones" were originally named “The Flagstones" in their 1960 pilot film.
Benjamin Franklin became the first Postmaster General in 1775. The first mailbox in North America was a hollowed-out oak tree in East Quogue, New York, set up in 1787. Back then, mail was delivered by horseback riders known as Post Riders. Before people had their own mailboxes, they picked up their mail at the General Store. Small letter boxes for mailing letters first appeared on the streets of American cities in the late 1850s.
Height, pointy shape, and isolation are the dominant factors controlling where a lightning bolt will strike. The presence of metal makes absolutely no difference in where lightning strikes. If you lie on the ground to make yourself lower, you are maximizing the area to be struck by lightning.
64 percent of Canadians live south of Seattle.
In about 175 million years an earth day will be 25 hours long. Can’t wait!
You may think to yourself, this time Paul didn’t click around to see if this was true. He’s getting lax with his research. No, It’s true. With a few caveats…(https://www.forbes.com/sites/lanceeliot/2020/02/08/those-three-clever-dogs-trained-to-drive-a-car-provide-valuable-lessons-for-ai-self-driving-cars/)
“Meet Porter & Monty, the world’s first Driving Dogs.
The dogs, drive cars, specifically altered for them, there are special handles fitted on the steering wheel, dashboard, gearstick, brakes, and accelerator pedals, to allow them to access them easily, and most importantly a speed limiter, to make sure the car doesn’t go above a walking pace.
The dogs were all rescued by the SPCA which is the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Auckland, New Zealand. The dogs were chosen from the shelter and then taught how to drive, to show the public, how intelligent and capable shelter dogs are, and above all, deserving of a loving and nurturing home.
SPCA Auckland chief executive Christine Kalin said: ‘I think sometimes people think because they’re getting an animal that’s been abandoned, that somehow it’s a second-class animal. Which is not the case.”
‘Ultimately the aim with the driving dog’s demonstration, is that get people talking about the dogs and hopefully making an SPCA rescue dog their top choice, for people thinking of adopting a pet.’
Thanks for watching”
It is generally recommended to breathe out through the nose as well as in through the nose. Here’s why nose breathing is best according to ~ James Nestor's book Breath.
1. Air Filtration and Humidification: Just as inhaling through the nose filters and humidifies the air, exhaling through the nose helps regulate the moisture and temperature of the air leaving the body. This can prevent the nasal passages from drying out.
2. Nitric Oxide Production: Breathing through the nose, both in and out, helps maintain higher levels of nitric oxide in the nasal passages. Nitric oxide is a molecule that improves blood flow and has antimicrobial properties, contributing to overall respiratory health.
3. Controlled Breathing: Exhaling through the nose tends to be slower and more controlled compared to exhaling through the mouth. This slower exhalation can help reduce stress, lower heart rate, and improve oxygen exchange in the lungs.
4. Maintaining CO2 Levels: Exhaling through the nose helps maintain optimal levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood. Proper CO2 levels are essential for efficient oxygen delivery to tissues and organs.
5. Supporting the Diaphragm: Nasal exhalation encourages the use of the diaphragm and other core muscles, which helps to support proper posture and core stability.
In a movie I watched recently, the main character built an app for your smartphone that can become a mirror. So you can use it to put on your makeup, check your hair, and so on. Well, his friend pointed out that this already exists on every smartphone as a front-facing camera. Just because you can build something, doesn’t mean you should build it. Here are some recent failed tech gadgets over the years:
Humanes Ai Pin,
Rabbit R1,
Motorola Backflip,
The Fire Phone,
Sony Xperia Play,
Nokia Lumia,
BlackBerry Z10,
HTC First (the Facebook Phone),
Amazon Fire Phone,
Samsung Galaxy Note 7,
RED Hydrogen One,
Samsung Galaxy Fold.
Why? A team of food scientists at the West Pomeranian University of Technology, in Poland, has found that using horse milk instead of cow milk to make ice cream is a viable food choice. Are we suddenly running out of cow milk? Turns out that horse milk has beneficial enzymes and proteins not found in cow milk, and it is lower in fat. I refuse…
Matthew Solan, the executive editor of Harvard Men’s Health Watch, says that the fluoride in our water is not bad for our health. However, fluoride can be dangerous only if a person drinks “5,000 to 10,000 glasses of fluoridated water in a single day”.
Hidden deep inside a mountain on a remote island in the Svalbard Archipelago, between mainland Norway and the North Pole, the Global Seed Vault is a secure facility designed to protect plant seeds for emergencies. It can store around 4.5 million seed samples and currently holds about 1 million.
Chipmaker Nvidia, the graphics processing unit (GPU) giant, continues its meteoric rise and its market cap is worth more than Canada's entire stock market. (the Toronto Stock Exchange).
That’s more than this number: $3,000,000,000,000.00 👀
London may be one of the largest metropolises in the world but when it comes to actual population, only 9,000 folks reside in the City of London. The City is a small area surrounded by the Greater London region—which has almost 9 million people. New York City has 8.4 million.
The NFL’s Dallas Cowboys are the first sports team in history to be worth more than $10 billion. To put that into context, its value of $10.32 billion could get you the Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull F1 racing teams, and still leave millions to spare.
As seen in some of these factoids: Double quotation marks are used to enclose direct quotations and titles of works like books, plays, movies, songs, lectures, and TV shows. They can also indicate irony or introduce a new term or nickname. Single quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.
When a comma or period is needed after a quotation, the final period or comma goes inside the quotation marks.
Thanks to a few of my readers who alert me to my literary blunders. I truly appreciate it. As someone must have said once - “If you’re not learning, you’re [something prolific sounding here].” Or I could use a closing sentence like ex Substacker, Ryan Broderick, that says “***Any typos in this email are on purpose actually***.“
Chuck Norris can hear sign language.
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Don’t worry about criticism of your punctuation. You were obviously ‘doing it like a Brit’.
We teach British English learners almost the opposite of what you said – i.e.
‘Single quotation marks are used to enclose direct quotations and titles of works like books, plays, movies, songs, lectures, and TV shows. They can also indicate irony or introduce a new term or nickname. Double quotation marks are used for quotes within quotes.
‘When a comma or full stop is needed after a quotation, the final full stop or comma goes outside the quotation marks’.
I say ‘almost’ the opposite because the print publishing world tends to use a hybrid, anyway.
Long story….
…best wishes and recovery to your friend…