# Things you know **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-know/286938 "2005-01-27T16:12:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-know/286938/1 "2005-01-27T16:12:29Z")
**Traction Budget** - A car’s tires have a contact patch that allows them to accelerate, decelerate, and corner. The ability to do any or all of these things in combination is called your _Traction Budget_. Exceed that amount, and you’ll find yourself spinning into the weeds, rear ending the car in front of you, or standing in place turning your tires into little black rubber bits. This value is diminished greatly with sand or ice. So. What’s something YOU know that 99.9% of the population doesn’t? ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-know/286938/2 "2005-01-27T16:23:48Z")
This is from the Time Magazine Almanac from a couple of years ago. It’s not mentioned specifically, but I discovered it by looking at the all-time high and low temperatures for each US state: Only 2 US states have never had a recorded temperature higher than 100 degrees F. They are Alaska and… Hawaii! Interestingly, they both have had a recorded temperature of exactly 100 F. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-know/286938/3 "2005-01-27T16:33:24Z")
The first genuine chess playing robot was invented in? 1890. :eek: It plays the ending of King + Rook v King and consists of pulleys, weights + wires. It can be seen in the Polytechnic Museum in Madrid. Source: The Complete Chess Addictby Fox + James ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-know/286938/4 "2005-01-27T20:58:53Z")
Humm, Guess i’d better prime the pump a little further. When a young child is VERY dehydrated due to diharrea and vomiting, the home remedy to stop this process is this: Give the child no more than a table spoon of liquid every five minutes for an hour, at the end of that hour, double the amount. This continues, every five minutes until he/she hasn’t thrown up in 4 hours. At this point you can switch over slowly to a BRAT died: Bread, Rice, Apple sauce, and toast. This is VERY difficult to do when the child is really thirsty, and you can’t tell them why they can’t have more to drink. The Rotavirus has been running rampant around here…both of my boys got it - one bad enough to spend 4 day in the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-know/286938/5 "2005-01-27T22:09:02Z")
One of my favorite trivia questions. Who is the only person to serve as a U. S. Senator after having been the Chief Executive of a foreign country? Sam Houston - President of the Republic of Texas, later Senator from the state of Texas.