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The name for Oz in the “Wizard of Oz” was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence “Oz.”

Like fingerprints, everyone’s tongue print is different.

All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.

Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F.

Scarab Sages

Christianity reached China in 635 CE. Then it died out and was re-introduced by the Mongols.


Q is the only letter that is not in the name of any of the 50 states.

Grand Lodge

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Before prohibition, Shlitz brewery owned more land in Chicago than anyone else, except the Catholic Church.


In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.


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khazan wrote:

In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.

I fondly remember Erector Sets, except for the time that my brother jabbed me in the head with a piece of one. Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

Scarab Sages

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Bill Lumberg wrote:
Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

Memories light the corners of my mind.

Misty, water-colored memories, of the way we were.


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Aberzombie wrote:
Bill Lumberg wrote:
Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

Memories light the corners of my mind.

Misty, water-colored memories, of the way we were.

Zombie Cat's

Scarab Sages

You burn more calories eating celery than it contains.


Irontruth wrote:
Q is the only letter that is not in the name of any of the 50 states.

Qualifornia! Ha!

Silver Crusade

Bill Lumberg wrote:
khazan wrote:

In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.

I fondly remember Erector Sets, except for the time that my brother jabbed me in the head with a piece of one. Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

Reminds me of the old SNL sketch where Dan Aykroyd is marketing a bag of broken glass as a toy...

Edit: That was a free association, by the way, not a commentary on erector sets, which were the bee's knees.


Celestial Healer wrote:
Bill Lumberg wrote:
khazan wrote:

In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.

I fondly remember Erector Sets, except for the time that my brother jabbed me in the head with a piece of one. Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

Reminds me of the old SNL sketch where Dan Aykroyd is marketing a bag of broken glass as a toy...

"Bag o Glass"

I want to make a PC based on that character, Irwin Mainway.

Also, a certain hobby uses chemicals that can be repackaged as explosives. Years ago it was shipped by mail to anyone who ordered it.

Scarab Sages

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a reference to Superman.

Scarab Sages

The Internet was originally called ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) designed by the US department of defense.


Despite "Tungsten" being a Swedish word, the metal's Swedish name is Volfram.


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The Mad Badger wrote:
Trolls are hurt by acid and fire.

Trolls are hurt by broadswords. You just need acid or fire to make sure they stay that way.

Grand Lodge

A 10-gallon hat barely holds 6 pints.


Cow sharks are considered to be the most primitive of all living sharks. Most modern sharks only have 5 gill slits, while cow sharks may have as many as seven. Also, their digestive and excretory systems are extremely unspecialized, unlike other species of sharks.


Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

In the book "The Wizard of Oz", The Emerald City is only green (other than the city walls) because everyone is required to wear green lensed glasses while within the city walls.

Scarab Sages

Sound travels almost 5 times faster underwater than in air.

Grand Lodge

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A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

Scarab Sages

Toilets use 35% of indoor water use.

The Exchange

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Aberzombie wrote:
Toilets use 35% of indoor water use.

Duh, that's why you #1 in the shower.

The Exchange

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Then it's golden.


Crimson Jester wrote:
Aberzombie wrote:
Toilets use 35% of indoor water use.
Duh, that's why you #1 in the shower.

*sniffles*

Scarab Sages

The fortune cookie was invented in San Francisco.


Before his 12 years in the NFL, playing for Dallas (where he became the so far only Austrian to win the Super Bowl), San Diego, Houston, and New Orleans, Toni Fritsch had a successful career as a soccer player, thrice winning the Austrian league with Rapid Wien, and twice winning the Austrian Cup, as well as representing his country nine times between 1965 and 1968 and scoring two goals for them (both against England, at Wembley Stadium, giving him the nickname "Wembley Toni") .

The Exchange

Aberzombie wrote:
The fortune cookie was invented in San Francisco.

In china, they were first refered as "The American Fortune Cookie"

Grand Lodge

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According to a British law passed in 1845, attempting to commit suicide was a capital offense. Offenders could be hanged for trying.


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-A sizeable amount of Mongols were actually Christians. Specifically, Nestorian Christians.

-There are 2 popes per square mile in the Vatican.

-When Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brasil, swicthed capitals, and effectively turned the colony into the metropoli and viceversa.

-During the XIX century, egyptian tombs were often raided in search of mummies, that were later shipped to England or the US and used in grotesque parties that consisted in slowly peeling them off to see what was inside. Also, powdered mummy fingers were sold as a remedy almost into the XX century in several points of London and Paris.

-The Catholic Church manages about 30% of the world's healthcare services.

-Napoleon had plans to invade Great Britain by using a fleet of hot-air balloons filled with troops.

-The first fully functional steam-powered ship was built in the 1600's in Barcelona, Spain, but could not be replicated since the local authorities thought it pointless to invest in such a contraption.


The first ever recorded labor strike happened in Egypt during the reign of Ramesses III. One of the demands of the workers, they wanted more makeup.

Related factoid: Ancient Egyptians wore makeup under their eyes to reduce Sun glare.


Klaus van der Kroft wrote:
-The first fully functional steam-powered ship was built in the 1600's in Barcelona, Spain, but could not be replicated since the local authorities thought it pointless to invest in such a contraption.

You mean this, from more than a thousand years earlier? (Sorry, I had to.)


Hitdice wrote:
Klaus van der Kroft wrote:
-The first fully functional steam-powered ship was built in the 1600's in Barcelona, Spain, but could not be replicated since the local authorities thought it pointless to invest in such a contraption.
You mean this, from more than a thousand years earlier? (Sorry, I had to.)

Notice that I specified "first functional steam-powered ship". While steam engines are indeed older, the first known seafaring vessel that was propelled by steampower -and was documented to work- was built in XVII century Barcelona.


The bumblebee bat is the world's smallest mammal. It weighs less than a penny.


the abbreviation "o.k." is actually Steampunk lolspeak.

The Exchange

Spanky the Leprechaun wrote:
the abbreviation "o.k." is actually Steampunk lolspeak.

And did you know that Andrew Jackson started that?

Scarab Sages

Koalas sleep around 18 hours a day.


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Aberzombie wrote:
Koalas sleep around 18 hours a day.

As do Quebec students. The remaining six hours are spent demolishing the greater Montreal downtown area.

lol

Ultradan

Liberty's Edge

Ultradan wrote:
Aberzombie wrote:
Koalas sleep around 18 hours a day.

As do Quebec students. The remaining six hours are spent demolishing the greater Montreal downtown area.

lol

Ultradan

...While Quebec senior citizens spend their six hours riding their motorcycles across the border into New York to harass gas station clerks.

Sorry about that. Couldn't resist.

Liberty's Edge

Spanky the Leprechaun wrote:
the abbreviation "o.k." is actually Steampunk lolspeak.

Coming off a different section of the same article...

Cog hog to rog and wemm pave a bumy tig.

Liberty's Edge

When a piece of tape is placed on a cat, the cat will try to walk in the opposite direction of the tape.

Scarab Sages

The average speed of a skydiver is 200kph (124mph).

Silver Crusade

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Aberzombie wrote:
The average speed of a skydiver is 200kph (124mph).

Even while walking.


The Scots thristle, for ordinar Onopordum Acanthium, is the naitional flouer o Scotland, but bein Scots, fowk canna gree whither that's richt flouer or ane o the ithers abuin.


-There are 12 breweries underwater in the surroundings of the chilean city of Valdivia, left there after the 9.5 Great Earthquake that hit the region in 1960 -the strongest ever recorded- sank almost half the city under the waves. All of them had been built during the XIXth Century by german immigrants, and from time to time, sealed barrels and bottles with their content unspilled are rescued.

-That same eartquake accounted for nearly 25% of all the seismic energy released worlwide during the entire XXth Century.

-Several members of the Von Frankenstein family are buried in the Von Frankenstein Mausoleum within the General Cemetery of Santiago, Chile. So far, no flesh golems have been seen in the area.

-A subterranean river running the whole length of the Amazonas river was discovered some years ago, with a flow several times greater than that of the surface course itself.

-Damascus, in modern Syria, is the oldest known continously inhabited urban area in the world, with reccords showing that people have lived there without interruption since at least 7,000 BC.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Orthos wrote:
Xabulba wrote:
Aberzombie wrote:
Each time you see a full moon you always see the same side.
That's because the same side of the moon always faces the Earth.
Wouldn't it be more accurate to say "the same side is always facing the earth during a particular lunar phase"? Because IIRC the "dark side of the moon" does face the Earth... but only during the New Moon phase, so we can't see it anyway.

Even more interesting. Venus always "shows" the same portion of her surface at closest approach.


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LazarX wrote:
Orthos wrote:
Xabulba wrote:
Aberzombie wrote:
Each time you see a full moon you always see the same side.
That's because the same side of the moon always faces the Earth.
Wouldn't it be more accurate to say "the same side is always facing the earth during a particular lunar phase"? Because IIRC the "dark side of the moon" does face the Earth... but only during the New Moon phase, so we can't see it anyway.
Even more interesting. Venus always "shows" the same portion of her surface at closest approach.

The boobs or the booty?

Scarab Sages

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Apparently, when you include <redacted> in a thread title, it will, literally <redact> itself.

Grand Lodge

Butter was the first food product allowed by law to have artificial coloring. It is completely white in its natural state.


The center of Jupiter is 6 times hotter than the surface of the sun.

That Venus' day is 17 earth days longer than the Venusian year.

In order to create a map with every single alley, street, and road would require a globe ~85 feet in diameter.

That Kleenex tissues were originally used as gas mask filters in WWI.

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