# useless facts **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 1999, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930 "1999-11-20T15:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/21 "1999-11-22T00:12:00Z")
12: Who figures out stuff like this? They’re not using taxpayer funds, are they? 15: good idea (Why are 22 and 23 seperate entries?) 35: This is only true if you count “America” as one continent. Which most people don’t. 47: It is probably a word that was specifically coined with this goal in mind, and thus contains all kinds of unnecessary, redundant, and meaningless prefixes and suffixes. 50: Yet more BS pseudo-science. You have to ask yourself: How can they know this? * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/22 "1999-11-22T00:24:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. If the population of China walked past you in single file, > the line > \>\> would never end because of the rate of reproduction Now I understand the expression, “Well, f\*\*\* me runnin’!” > [@](#): > > Not any answers here, just a simple observation: > I would have to agree with BigRoryG here in that GasDr is the laziest SOB to ever type a thread. It’s pretty obvious (the \>\>s) that he just cut and paste from some e-mail he received. ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/23 "1999-11-22T07:37:00Z")
\>\>31. Marilyn Monroe had six toes. Big deal! I have ten. ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/24 "1999-11-22T11:23:00Z")
the interstate highway system came into existance after WWII , cause Ike was so impressed with the AutoBahnsystem. Congress approved because the backers stressed the defense aspects zooming troops and material across country. In fact i think it was called the Interstate Highway and Defense bill. There may have been some political BS about using it for landing strips back then just to get it passed.As for the Harvest mite bein deadly. 'taint. My biggest fear is death from a spider bite. * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/25 "1999-11-22T12:27:00Z")
Somewhere up there Europe, Asia and Eurasia are discussed. And the spelling. Is Australia a continent? Antarctica? Aside from that, why was Europe ever considered a continent?It’s not! ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/26 "1999-11-22T14:16:00Z")
Europe was a continent because Europeans (Greeks?) said it was–a long time before they knew about plate tectonics. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/27 "1999-11-22T15:05:00Z")
Oh, come on. There’s more to a continent than not being connected to any other landmass. It that were the only criteria, there would only be four continents: Old World, New World, Australia, and Antarctica. The fact is, Europe and Asia are usually considered seperate continents because they are _very_different places. * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/28 "1999-11-22T15:35:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Polar Bears don’t have hands. Do you mean that they have paws, as opposed to hands, or that they don’t even have paws? I can’t imagine that those arms end in stumps! More info please! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/29 "1999-11-22T17:14:00Z")
There is no universal concensus on continent naming. Most people consider Australia a continent, but others include the many large and small islands around Australia and call it Oceana. Likewise, Europe and Asia are often combined into Eurasia. But North and South America have always been treated as separate continents, I believe. Anyway, the question is wrong no matter which method you use. If you are going to demand that contiguous land masses are continents in order to justify “America”, then you have to use “Eurasia”. If you separate them so you can have Europe and Asia, then you have to have North and South America and the question is still wrong. As for the polar bear question, I was just making a joke. “Handedness” is a concept that doesn’t require hands. It just means a favoring of one side of the body. I have no idea if all Polar Bears are left-handed. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/30 "1999-11-22T19:17:00Z")
Dunno about polar bears, but they say most cats display handedness/pawedness/whaterver. My parents have one right-pawed cat and one lefty. * * * “I had a feeling that in Hell there would be mushrooms.” -The Secret of Monkey Island ---
**Author:** ![sixseatport](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sixseatport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sixseatport)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/31 "1999-11-22T22:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 47- sorry, the longest word in the English Language is superfragilisticexpialodocious (or however you spell it) Besides the fact that that is a meaningless word, I thought the longest word with meaning was “antidisestablishmentarianistically”. Polar Bear fur is clear and hollow. The hollowness means that it reflects light in a way which makes it appear white. The hollowness helps hold heat in better – polar bear fur is extraordinarily warm. The skin is also dark colored, but not necessarily black. ---
**Author:** ![AzRaek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/azraek/32/16739_2.png) [@AzRaek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AzRaek)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/32 "1999-11-23T00:14:00Z")
Polar bears hairs are clear like fibre optic cables. The fur appears whitish, because that’s the color around them. Re 101 Dalamatians: the “parents” in that cartoon did not have children, just dogs. Re Lethologica: this can also be described as “Aphasia” * * * I’ll be there Where I’ll teach what I’ve been taught And I’ve been taught… ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/33 "1999-11-23T01:05:00Z")
Who said anything about _human_ parents. Do one of the adult dogs die? (Been a looong time since I’ve seen it, so I dunno, but I don’t remember that happening…) ---
**Author:** ![cgrayce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@cgrayce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cgrayce)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/34 "1999-11-23T05:10:00Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will not be heads 5,000 times, > but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the > bottom. Interesting assertion. First of all, let’s note that if you flip a perfectly balanced coin 10,000 times, the probability that you get exactly 5,000 heads is 0.007979, that is, you’ll get exactly 5000 heads roughly 8 out of every 1000 times you try the experiment. It’s true the average number of heads you get over time, after many experiments, will be 5000, and it’s also true that of all possible specific outcomes from 0H + 10000T through 5000H + 5000 T and on up to 10000H + 0T the outcome 5000H + 5000T is the most probable. We can interpret this statement as more reasonably asserting that the average number of heads will be 4950, which means the probability of getting a head on each flip is 0.4950 instead of 0.5000, or equivalently the ratio P\_light/P\_heavy, where P\_light is the probability of landing light side (tails) down, and P\_heavy is the probability of landing heavy side (heads) down, is 4950/5000 = 0.9900. What does this imply about the mass distribution? The question is not easy to answer. For the sake of argument we need to make many assumptions. First, neglect air resistance, since it depends in a complicated way on the precise shape of the coin. Thus the distribution of coin orientations at impact is uniform over the angle the coin plane makes with the ground. Assume further the ground is a perfect plane and the coin edge makes a perfect right angle to the coin plane, because otherwise we need to get into details of the surface and exact coin shape. Next we must make some assumption about the friction of the coin edge with the ground. The most complicated case is zero friction (slip) and the easiest is friction so high the coin edge cannot slip (stick) and the coin must rotate around the point of impact. Let’s assume stick conditions. Discard all events where the coin lands exactly on edge, since it will stay that way indefinitely. Now, all coins landing slightly off perpendicular will have a torque exerted about the point of contact by gravity, acting at the center of mass. If the center of mass is further towards the direction of lean than the point of contact, a torque will be exerted that increases the angle of lean. Otherwise, a torque will be exerted that decreases the angle of lean. Now we must consider with what angular momentum the coin arrives. If it is spinning rapidly, the torque exerted by the ground will have little effect on its angular momentum and the coin will bounce back and forth, undergoing some exceedingly complicated motion before friction destroys its angular momentum and it comes to rest. It seems unlikely that the position of the center of mass will have any discernable effect on the outcome. This is probably experimental reality, in general. Nevertheless, let us plow on by assuming the coin arrives with zero angular momentum, so that effect of the displaced center of mass has its maximum effect. If the coin is perfectly balanced, the center of mass will be further towards the direction of lean than the point of contact for lean angles a\>ArcTan(d/r), where d is half the thickness and r the radius of the coin. For a standard penny d = 0.5 mm and r = 9.5 mm, so lean angles must be greater than 3.0 degrees. For lean angles less than this, the coin will rock back and forth on its edge until friction brings it to the upright position. Hence we must actually discard all impacts with lean angles less than 3.0 degrees in either direction. Let us assume the center of mass is displaced from the center of the coin perpendicularly from the coin plain x millimeters towards the heavy face. Now the torque will produce falling if the lean angle a\>ArcTan((d+x)/r) toward the light side and a\>ArcTan((d-x)/r) toward the heavy side. For x=0.1 mm that would be, for example, a\>3.6 deg toward the light side, and a\>2.4 deg toward the heavy side. The ratio of probabilities P\_light/P\_heavy is given by the ratio of the ranges of acceptable lean angles, or (90-ArcTan((d+x)/r))/(90-ArcTan((d-x)/r)). This is essentially a straight line from P\_light/P\_heavy = 1.0 at x = 0 to P\_light/P\_heavy = 0.9666 at x = 0.5. The case P\_light/P\_heavy = 0.9900 occurs for x = 0.148 mm, or a 30% displacement of the center of mass towards the heads side. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/35 "1999-11-23T05:57:00Z")
## Ouch…I think my brain just exploded. Jeremy… Anyone who says they don’t like children obviously isn’t cooking them properly. ---
**Author:** ![White\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f19dbf/32.png) [@White\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/36 "1999-11-23T23:05:00Z")
If 101 Dalmatians counts, what about Lady and the Tramp? * * * **White Wolf** “Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.” ---
**Author:** ![J\_String](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@J\_String](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_String)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/37 "1999-11-23T23:25:00Z")
quote: “the interstate highway system came into existance after WWII , cause Ike was so impressed with the AutoBahnsystem.” (sic) Perhaps, but Ike probably got the idea when he volunteered for a US Army cross-country (Washington DC to San Francisco) journey in 1919. It took nearly two months and the Army had to reinforce, completely rebuild or otherwise modify no less than 65 bridges along the way. The operation illustrated the appalling condition of the nation’s roads at the time, which were almost entirely local and unpaved. Many simply ended abruptly at county or state lines. The US Highway system was not to come along for several years, and even in the 1950s it was never really a national highway, since it was manitained by 48 individual states. Eisenhower undoubtably recalled his earlier trip across the country when he argued in favor of the Interstate Highway System against an initially-reluctant Congress. * * * It’s a long way to heaven, but only three short steps to hell. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/38 "1999-11-24T06:32:00Z")
[quote] Polar bears hairs are clear like fibre optic cables. The fur appears whitish, because that’s the color around them.[/unquote]Not at the zoo, it’s not. Nor is it the color around them when it’s stuffed and set into a standing position in Col. Mustard’s study. Come to think of it, most polar bears I’ve seen are only white in the polite sense and are in actuality a yellowish color. * * * “I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930/39 "1999-11-25T17:31:00Z")
> [@](#): > > If 101 Dalmatians counts, what about Lady and the Tramp? Well, I supposed you could count it under the technicality that they have puppies for about 2 minutes at the end of the movie… * * * Your Official Cat Goddess since 10/20/99. “I get along well with everybody.” --I.M.F. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/useless-facts/4930.md?page=1)