Quite true, in the NORTHERN hemisphere. In the Southern hemisphere, it’s the reverse.
On the equator, the shadows are invisible.
Except during an eclipse.
A chicken once solved a Sudoku puzzle.
The intelligent fowl beat a computer’s best time by 3.4 seconds.
Except during an eclipse
(I wonder just how many things that phrase could be added to).
The magnetised end of a compass needle points to the nearest magnetic pole - in other words, a compass made in either hemisphere will point south when taken across the Equator.
Since the English Civil War, it has been Parliament’s legal right to execute any monarch provided a majority of both Houses are in agreement. Edward VIII’s abdication was partly in response to a veiled threat to invoke this.
The Wright Brothers were familiar with the operating principles behind the turbojet engine, but rejected it for the Flyer because it is an inefficient propulsive means for a slow biplane.
The Wright Bros. made two attempts at turbojet engine flight; the first try resulted in the engine racing down the strand at Kitty Hawk leaving the rest of the plane behind with an engine-shaped chunk of the Flyer torn out of the structure.
For endeavor number two, the plane was reinforced extensively, the engine mounted as before. The Flyer flew for 50 feet, then executed a series of forward loop-the-loops, before crashing into the ocean a few yards from shore.
Wilbur was heard to say, “Why don’t I just strap myself to the engine and forget the rest of the plane?” Orville replied, “Who do you think you are, Jules Verne?”
When Ben Franklin flew his kite in a storm to test the theory of lightning as a form of electricity, he was in fact electrocuted, though not so badly as he might have been if the string had not been made of hemp, which is particularly nonconductive. The only long-term result of the shock was priapism, which accounted for his popularity with the ladies.
When Glenn Hammond Curtiss–president of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company-- got word of the Wright Brothers’ turbojet experiments, he and an aide made their way, under cover of darkness, to the North Carolina town of Point Harbor, just across Albemarle Sound from Kitty Hawk. At sunrise the next day, they set up powerful telescopes to witness the event. When the jet engine blasted its way across the strand, Curtiss said to his aide, “I could fly across the ocean in no time at all with one of those.” The aide responded, “Who do you think you are, H. G. Wells?” The aide was fired later that afternoon.
Speaking of priapism: before performing in fertility rites, the ancient Celtic Druids would stab their penises with needles coated with diluted puff adder venom. This produced enormously swollen long-lasting erections that were painful and made sex completely unenjoyable but were nonetheless extremely impressive looking.
When Reichsminister of Aviation Hermann Goering acquired film of Robert Goddard’s rocketry experiments, he, with his aide, approached Hitler to discuss the possibility of expanding their arsenal for future aggression. After viewing the film, Hitler said, “I could bring the world to its knees with just a few dozen of those.” The aide chuckled, “Who do you think you are, Robert Heinlein?” The aide was executed by firing squad later that afternoon.
Robert Goddard lived in Roswell, New Mexico in the 1930s (he really did!) and performed many tests there. One of his rockets, launched in 1936, was never found. He had acquired a small amount of unobtainium and mixed it with the fuel. It was a spectacular launch but Goddard and his assistants soon lost sight of the rocket.
It kept accelerating and when it escaped Earth’s atmosphere it nearly reached the speed of light. Five years later it arrived at Alpha Centauri B. The inhabitants of Alpha Centauri Bb, a planet slightly larger than Earth, found the rocket and were thrilled to discover evidence of extra-centaurian life. After a year of extensive study they determined that the rocket came from Fnyarplx (their word for Earth).
They organized an expedition and set out in their fastest space ship. Five years later, in 1947, they arrived. They located Roswell and were preparing to land when the co-pilot said “You told me I could do the landing!”
The pilot said “Never mind, I got this” to which the co-pilot replied “No! You said I could!” and attempted to take control. In the ensuing struggle the space ship crashed and the rest is history.
When “chief designer” for the Russian space program Sergey Korolyov observed television footage of Wernher von Braun’s work with rocketry at Redstone Arsenal, he met with Khrushchev to “blue-sky” the future direction of their aeronautic research and development. While contemplating the cathode with his first lieutenant, Khrushchev barked, “We need to reach the moon first and then ransom lunar rights to the rest of the planet, letting our rockets do the talking.” The first lieutenant sneered (but not quite under his breath), “Who do you think you are, Arthur C. Clarke?” Siberia had a new resident, later that afternoon.
In 1937, German scientists and historians, reviewing old manuscripts, discovered a copying error. The original experiment revealed that the correct formula for water was actually H3O, not H2O. This was confirmed by new experiments, but due to political tensions, it was decided to suppress the German findings. To this day, students continue to be taught the incorrect H2O formula.
The last living phoenix, gallus incindia, was shot and killed by Ernest Hemingway in 1953 while on safari. When describing the taste he claims that it tasted like “a farty chicken”.
It’s a little known fact that Zachary Taylor, 12th President of the United States (1849-50), invented the Slinky.
In 1967, MGM released “Don’t Knock On That Door,” a comedy starring David Niven and Jill St. John.
Veterinary scientists have made an interesting discovery: a dog’s visual processing center in its brain is wired to perceive humans as canids; when your golden retriever looks at you, s/he is seeing a human-sized GR, and is thus more inclined to assimilate into the “pack.”
Likewise, cats also visually perceive humans as dogs, making us totally ignorable. Like you didn’t know that, already.
In medieval French, the phrase “horse’s ass” was a compliment, implying strong, well-formed muscles.