This is a thread idea I’ve tossed around in the past, and I may well have done it, but I don’t recall and I’m not going to try to search, so deal…
Background - once upon a time in my far, far past, when I was absorbing knowledge from my Navy electronics training… ahem. Anyway, in one class, there was a guy who’d come in on the morning of a test and go to every individual and say “Tell me a fact.” Everyone would mention something we’d been studying - a definition, an equation, an application - and inevitably, several of them would be on the test. It was like a last-second mini-review.
Since most of us are past (some looooooong past) the test-taking stage of our lives, I thought it would be fun to just toss out a fact - any random thought on any random topic. Well, except, I don’t think anyone cares about “My left toenail grows an inch a week.” That’s just weird. Just share something that’d make a good conversation starter. Or something to make people stare in awe… or in concern… It can be about an area of personal study, a hobby, something about the town where you live or just something random you find worth repeating.
And I’ll start us off: St. Mary’s county, where I live, is home to the first settlement in Maryland (St. Clements Island) and this year, the county and the state is celebrating its 375th anniversary. More interesting stuff hereif you’re a history buff.
Another fact is that it’s been raining here most of the night and my back yard is squishy. Not as squishy as Rebo’s area, fortunately, and we do need the rain. The corn has already been planted and I’ve driven past several fields where it’s 4-5" tall. I loves me some fresh-from-the-field corn on the cob.
Fact: I just got a phone call re. a possible short term job near Brussels.
Fact: the (french as first language, and heavily accented) agent laughed when I answered “do youuu speak Fgench?” with “like a Spanish cow, I’m afraid”
Fact: my hometown is celebrating “la exaltación de la verdura,” which translates to something like “a couple months of doing cool stuff with veggies”, you can see the local government’s webpage about it in English here. The English version calls it a week because that’s how long it lasted the first few years, it’s over a month now. Bars create new tapas based on veggies, there’s a veggies sculpture in the main square, etc.
Fact: there is a species of bacteria, when they sense that enough members of their species (this number is called a quorum) have formed a community (called a biofilm), glow with bioluminescence as they coordinate their metabolism. This type of behavior (coordinating metabolism after reaching a critical mass) is not that uncommon, and I believe is the evolutionary start to what ended up as multicellular creatures, like us.
I don’t know if that would be a good conversation starter, but in my world it’s pretty cool!
Fact: Merchant’s Millpond State Park sits smack in the middle of Cottonfield County, and is known as the northernmost point of the natural habitat of the North American Alligator. Cite.
**Soapy **- that’s really cool. Of course, unless the person tossing out that bit of info continued to discuss it, I woudn’t have a lot to come back with - biology is not one of my strong points.
I’m all showered and more or less dressed in appropriate attire to go out in public. But I’ve still got more than 2 hours to kill before my appointment. I think I may find something not too horrid on TV and assume the knitting position to pass the time. I’m making a blanket for Project Linus, I think. My mom’s AARP group does a lot of knitting for a variety of causes, and I’m just going to give her the stuff I make and let them distribute it, whether to kids or nursing homes.
I don’t know that this is a particularly amazing factoid, but I find it fascinating that I can make a blanket big enough to cover a king-size bed with a single strand of yarn. It’s a *LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG *strand of yarn, but still. Pics will be posted before I send it on its way.
Fact: Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.
Fact: Puggy is left-handed.
Howdy, all. Anybody volunteer to tell the usurper the MMP is already up??
Nice weekend. It’s HOT! Mr. Anachi went in the pool on Saturday. I’m not quite there yet.
Made some Shish Kabobs for dinner on Saturday and they got all nommed. Turkey tit last night with smashed N.O.T.s and peas.
Possibly-infected-with-swine-flu-cow-orker is back at work this morning. He SAYS he’s not sick. :dubious: We now have one known case in Central Florida…a tourist from Mexico who wandered all over the parks before she went to the hospital. :rolleyes:
Fact: Internet-surfing is allowed at work when the system is down for our month-end closing.
Well, I don’t know if that’s true, but it should be.
Good morning, all! I have nothing terribly interesting to say. My life is boring. le sigh But I am at work and caffeinating, so I suppose that’s something.
FCM, how big is that skein of yarn?? I have about five blankets that are supposed to be big enough for my bed (eventually) started, but I can’t bring myself to finish because I get bored too easily. So I just have a pile of scrap-yarn granny squares that may someday be the most horrid blanket ever made.
Fact: The average person’s arm span from fingertip to fingertip is the same as their height from head to toe. This means I have an arm span of 5’5".
Fact: I have just two weeks to go before my vacation. HURRAY!
Spent most of yesterday puttering around in the garden. Peach trees have been sulfured, in the hopes of warding off blight. Three beds have been re-bordered, weeded, aerated, fertilized, mulched and filled in with new plants. Creeping juniper got traded in at the garden centre - the poor little guy died over the winter because the gas company were kind enough to uproot him and leave him sitting aboveground overnight in subzero conditions (the garden centre were very gracious about doing a trade-in, but that’s to be expected considering how much we’ve spent there in the past two years).
Also met up for a late lunch with Little Sis, who was passing through on her way back from a conference in Chicago. She’s scored a position with a small university just outside of Austin, Texas… I think what sealed the deal for her wasn’t so much the fact that it’s tenure-track or that the pay was good, but rather that she’ll soon be able to wear sandals pretty much year-round.
Wanted to for a while, never really have much to say, thought today was as good as any other maybe better because it’s finally getting warmer in Iowa.
Started my first knitting project a while ago and I got over halfway done when I realised I had no clue how to cast-off. My sister-in-law came to my rescue but it should still be interesting when I actually get to the end.
Fact 1: HRH loves playing with dirt
Fact 2: HRH loves having a bath
Fact 3: An organised mother would let her child do 1 first, then 2
Fact 4: I am not an organised mother
Genuine Fact: It’s Mother’s Day in Australia on Sunday 10th May, and this time I remembered to order the flowers in advance (tulips, actually). Yayyyy me!
The first Russian players to have their names inscribed on the Stanley Cup played for the 1994 New York Rangers (Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Zubov, Sergei Nemchinov, and Alexander Karpovtsev).
Dodge/Chrysler “Hemi” engines are not the only “hemi” engines around. There are many engines with hemispherical combustion chambers from various companies. So, “Hemi” engines are not unique or special. It’s just that Dodge/Chrysler has protected the name “Hemi”.
Fact: Mother’s Day is celebrated the second Sunday in May in the U.S. and many other countries. In Mexico, Mother’s Day is always celebrated on May 10th. This year they just happened to coincide.
Fact about California schools: This week and next there will be standardized testing for grades 2 and up. I just dropped the Princess off at school with juice boxes and granola bars to share with her class - apparently, it’s now protocol to bring snacks for the class to consume as they do their tests, as it keeps the kids awake and alert, which presumably improves their scores. I saw more juice and fruit already on the table where I dropped the stuff off.
Fact about me: I am going to have a mammogram today. I’m 38, and shouldn’t be having one till I’m 40, but on my last physical, the Dr. noticed a lump that I’ve had for at least 18 years. It’s benign, but they just wanted to make sure. Also, I am getting another ultrasound to look at the nerf ball (aka fibroid) in my uterus. If it’s gotten too big I will probably have it removed this year. Wish me luck y’all!
Fact: today is the one year anniversary for me being smoke free! Go me.
That’s all I’ve got so far, though but it’s a very good topic for the MMP, FCM. I’ll tell you, though, I did NOT need to know the fact about the alligator, Bbbbobbio! LOL
I’m still trying to figure out why I dreamed of a guy I had a crush on 35 years ago. Any thoughts from amateur analysts are welcome … well, hopefully they’re welcome.
