Interesting factoids?

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

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Joined
17 Aug 2009
Posts
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Location
Finchley, London
Does anyone have any interesting tidbits to share? I have some. :)

There are over 7 billion people in the world. If you met each person for just one second, it would take you over 200 years to meet them all.

The Natural History Museum in London has 22,000 draws filled with beetles.

Iron increases in weight as it rusts.

A pigeon's feathers weigh more than its bones.

85% of the world will think this thread is crap.

Dolly Parton once lost a Dolly Parton lookalike contest.

Disney World is bigger than the world's 5 smallest countries.

The first person and last person to reply to this topic will 99% be an obese bespectacled male virgin.
 
What's the difference between a factoid and a fact?

Is a factoid a small fact [so actually, just a daft word for a fact].

Like the difference between guesstimate and estimate. They seem exactly the same.
 
Lysander said:
I kind of wanted your understanding of the term and its proper usage since you're the one employing it, rather than dropping in a Wikipedia link.
Click to expand...

Ok, well to me, a factoid is just a one line piece of information about something that makes me go "hah, I didn't know that, pretty interesting" that I assume is basically true. Steve Wright on BBC radio has a factoid session each afternoon.
 
Lysander said:
Like the difference between guesstimate and estimate. They seem exactly the same.
Click to expand...

I'd say an estimate is a non-exact but reasonably researched figure whereas the portmanteau word 'guesstimate' is more of a partially educated guess on the spot.

So a bloke takes a thorough look over your car, seeing the issues and quoting you a price is an estimate, but ringing your mechanic mate up and just describing the symptoms of your problem with your car and him giving a ball park figure based on what you'd expect to pay based on the possible causes would be his "guesstimate".
 
Honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life. What about milk you say? A cow has to eat grass to produce milk and grass is living.
 
A polar bears fur isn't actually white. It is transparent.

The hair of a polar bear looks white because the air spaces in each hair scatter light.

The color white becomes visible to our eyes when all visible wavelengths of light are reflected back rather than some of the wavelengths being absorbed.

Complementary picture of a polar bear.
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Last edited:
How many ****'s given by Lysander about the "The first person and last person to reply to this topic will 99% be an obese bespectacled male virgin." part is zero. ;)
 
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