Factoid FAQ's

Hawaiian Moments

2007-06-05T16:05:00.001-07:00

Some of the best, highest quality pictures of Hawaii. Experience what it's like.

How much is a shipwreck worth?

2007-05-27T18:37:00.001-07:00

According to the IMO, there are an estimated 1,300 potentially hazardous shipwrecks on coastlines around the world, which have been abandoned by owners trying to avoid responsibility for removing them. International Maritime rules are basically finders keepers.

The richest shipwreck in the world, so far, rang in around $500 million and some change. Don't quit your day job yet. A find like this comes only in many life times. This particular find was perpetrated by Tampa based Odyssey Marine Exploration early May 2007.

Shipwreck yields historic riches -- $500M worth
• 17 tons of colonial-era coins netting roughly $500 million
• Salvage project dubbed "Black Swan" in Atlantic Ocean (covert mission)
• Court records show coins might be from a 400-year-old ship found off England

However, under the terms of a historic law, Odyssey will have to share any finds with the British government. The company will get 80 percent of the first $45 million and about 50 percent of the proceeds thereafter.

So far, the richest shipwreck find in history was yielded by the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622. Treasure hunting pioneer Mel Fisher made this find in 1985 and retrieved a reported $400 million in loot.

Untold riches amounting in the hundreds of billions lie beneath the sea. This find will definitely entice some treasure hunting fold into quitting day jobs and taking up this hobby / career.

Conserve gas. Windows down or AC on?

2007-05-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

We all simply guesstimate the most fuel efficient way to drive our cars. But do we really know the most efficient method during the hot summer months to drive? We ask ourselves; Windows up and AC on or windows down and enjoy a bit of a forced breeze. Well the question is now answered with two tests completed.

The first test required two new vehicles of the same year, make, and model. A simulation using computer models which monitored airflow through the engine to estimate fuel consumption; similar to how most factory installed, on board computers estimate fuel consumption. The results were amazing. The vehicle that had the windows down and AC off got an average of 11.4 to 11.3mpg. The vehicle with the windows up and AC on got an average of 11.7 to 11.8mpg. The car with the AC on got better fuel consumption in this test. The difference can be logically thought to be due to wind drag coming through the car, but this wasn't good enough. Another, more primitive test would need to be done.

The second test required two vehicles just as before. This test required each car having exactly 5 gallons of gas, starting the engine and driving the car at exactly the same speed at exactly the same time until each car ran out of gas. Pretty ingenious right? Right. Well the test showed that the car with the windows down was able to go 15 miles more than the car with the windows up and AC on. So which method do you believe; the computerized guesstimate or the hands on real time test?

How many balloons does it take to lift a 47 pound kid?

2007-05-08T13:19:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering how many party balloons it takes to lift a child off the ground...similar to what you may have seen on some TV shows. The parent very nicely purchases their child a string of balloons to please her. But to the amazement of the parent, the balloons end up carrying their child far far away. Yeah; only in the movies. But is it possible?

How much weight can a balloon lift? How many balloons would it take to carry a child away if the child weighed about 47 pounds? Well calculation says that a single party balloon can lift about 10 grams. To lift a child of 47 pounds, about 3500 Helium filled party balloons would need to be filled.

Kids don't try this at home as serious injury could occur!

With a bit a algebra we can use the below formulas to figure out the exact number of balloons used for lift.
First we know that one balloon can life ten grams, so...
grams X 0.0022 = pounds

10 x 0.0022 = .022 Lbs

So now we know that a balloon can lift about .022 Lbs. So for the balloons to lift a child weighing 47 pounds it will take about 3500 party balloons.

Education is first step to educating. Wait..... what?

2007-04-24T11:24:00.000-07:00

Somehow I'm not quite sure America is going to get this message. Maybe it's because this message is supposed to grasp Americans and... Nah I'm sure these speeches are purely humor; 100% intentional. Just out of curiosity, is the Texas literacy rate near the national average? Well it seems as though there is a strong initiative to build a strong education system in Texas; would it be ficisous to assume Bush was born in Texas solely based on the fact that he really lacks the ability to speak publicly? Nah...

I think Bush is toung tied

2007-04-24T11:21:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. This is partly because I'm confused how Bush made it past the presidential primaries with this degree of public speaking under his belt. What caused us viewers to vote in the favor of a non speaker. I know there is some amount of intelligence within Bush somewhere, but wow. We all need to ask Bush how he was able to mask his speaking ability during the election some time ago. I'm sure that would greatly give us all an advantage over interviewing for scarce high paying jobs out there. We could literally go in, get the job, and then simply relax and collect a pay check with that ability.

I ahh. I. I. I, I'm not quite sure what's being said or asked for that matter! O. I don't know...

Fact: Donald Rumsfeld says he knows there are unknown unknown knowns. Wait a minute...

2007-04-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day:

Donald Rumsfeld once said - "There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know. So when we do the best we can and we pull all this information together, and we then say well that's basically what we see as the situation, that is really only the known knowns and the known unknowns. And each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns". O, Rummy is trying to do math in his head again.

Crazy Laws - Who thought of these?

2007-04-23T18:46:00.000-07:00

Who makes these laws? Not only that, but do we as voters really approve these?

Wilbur, Washington - It's illegal to ride an ugly horse down the street
Maine - It's illegal to jump out of an airplane while in mid-air
Texas - You can't walk barefoot without a $5 permit
Oregon - You can't wipe your dishes dry. You must let them drip dry
Lawrence, Kansas - You cannot carry bees in your hat on city streets
New Mexico - It's legal for couples to have sex in a parked vehicle during a lunch break from work
Massachusetts - goatees are illegal unless authorized by permit
Texas - it's legal for a chicken to have sex with you, but illegal the other way around
Washington - lollipops are banned
Toronto - you cannot wash your car or saw wood in the street
Idaho - if you give a box of chocolates as a romantic gesture, it must weigh more than 50 pounds
Massachusetts - it's illegal to put tomatoes in clam chowder
Arkansas - It's illegal to mispronounce Arkansas while in Arkansas
Alabama - You cannot have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time
New York - It's illegal to shoot a rabbit from a moving trolley
Oklahoma - It's illegal to make funny faces at a dog
Tennessee - It's illegal to catch a fish with a lasso
West Virginia - Children cannot attend school with their breath smelling like wild onions
Texas - You cannot have anything protruding from your bumper unless it is attached with a chain (bumper stickers seem to be rule out in Texas)
Illinois - You cannot pee in your neighbor's mouth
Hawaii - You can be fined if you do not own a boat

Where did the word SPA come from?

2007-04-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

When we think spa we either think of a small hot tub with jets and hot water, natural hot springs, or a day spa with manicures, pedicures, and back massages. Well the word actually isn't too far off from its connection to its true meaning. Somehow the world became to know the word spa because it is connected to the Belgium resort town of Spa; known for its healthful mineral springs. The word Spa became known and associated with mineral water.

Farting

2007-04-23T18:08:00.000-07:00

Fart comes from an Old English word foertan which means to explode. Foertan also has a correlation to to word petard which is an earthly type of bomb.

Why must we fart?
Flatulence is a result from many things such as swallowing air as you eat or, for those unfortunate individuates, lactose intolerance. Lactose is a sugar molecule in dairy products and many people have issues with the digestion process of these sugar molecules. Many people lack the right enzyme that is needed to break down the lactose sugar molecules.

The process
Fats, proteins and carbs that you eat all congregate in your stomach and it all becomes a gastric swamp. After your stomach, this swamp moves to your intestines where some of it is absorbed into your body thereby feeding your body. Unfortunately your small intestine cannot absorb everything, so what isn't absorbed is passed on through your intestine to your colon. In this moving process the gastric swamp is gaining potency while the bacteria is in your intestine is feeding off of the gastric swampy, fermenting brew. Once this swamp has reached the colon, the colon eventually reaches its maximum pressure threshold thereby releasing the gas causing a fart.

Fact

Amazingly enough, about 99% of your farts gases, nitrogen, oxygen, hydrogen methane and carbon dioxide, are odorless. Sulfur is the main culprit in the smelly process causing evacuations and sending people to run in the opposite direction.
About 33% of Americans think they have serious issues with farting.

What do the acronyms A.M. and P.M. really mean?

2007-04-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

The 12-hour clock is a timekeeping convention in which the 24 hours of the day are divided into two periods called ante meridiem (a.m., Latin from most idiomatic to most literal "forenoon" "before noon", "before midday", "before the middle of the day", "before the meridian", and "before the middle day") and post meridiem (p.m., Latin for "afternoon", "after noon", etc.) Each period consists of 12 hours numbered 12 (acting as a zero), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. The a.m. period runs from midnight (inclusive) to just before noon (exclusive), while the p.m. period runs from noon (inclusive) to just before midnight (exclusive). The most common convention is to assign 12 a.m. to midnight and 12 p.m. to noon, defining both half days to have a closed (inclusive) beginning and open (exclusive) end.

History and usage
The 12-hour clock originated in Egypt. However, the lengths of their hours varied seasonally, always with 12 hours from sunrise to sunset and 12 hours from sunset to sunrise, the hour beginning and ending each half-day (four hours each day) being a twilight hour. An Egyptian sundial for daylight use[1] and an Egyptian water clock for nighttime use found in the tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep I,[2] both dating to c. 1500 BC, divided these periods into twelve hours each. The Romans also used a twelve-hour clock: the day was divided into twelve equal hours (of, thus, varying length throughout the year) and the night was divided into three watches.

The Romans numbered the morning hours originally in reverse: for example, "3 a.m.", or 3 hours ante meridiem meant "three hours before noon", compared to the modern meaning of "three hours after midnight".

Early medieval clock faces used the 12 hour numbering scheme (using Roman numerals), but showed both a.m. and p.m. sequences simultaneously. This is known as the Double-XII system, and can be seen on surviving medieval clock faces, such as those at Ottery St Mary, Wells, and Venice.

Today, most analog clocks use the 12-hour clock dial, where the hour hand (shorter and sometimes thicker) commonly rotates once every 12 hours. These are used even in cultures where the 24-hour notation is otherwise preferred. Some 12-hour dials show the numbers 13 to 23 written inside the primary 1 to 12 ring.

Although it has largely been replaced today by the 24-hour notation around the world, especially in written communication, the 12-hour notation with a.m./p.m. suffix is common in some parts of the world.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.m.

Why do we call it a restoom when no one in their right mind would rest in a restroom?

2007-04-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

FACT
Restroom is synonymous with washroom, public toilet, comfort room, toilet room, and bathroom. Some of these rooms also include a fully operational bathing facility such as a bathroom would have. But still the name restroom remains a bit confusing. More often now you will find, in North America anyway, restroom and bathroom used as the term for a public bathroom type facility.

Restroom and bathroom originated in the U.S. and they are the most prefered terms used in Canada and the U.S.. One Reason we have strayed away from saying bathroom in public areas is because bathrooms usually will have a bathtub as well. Public restrooms will not usually have a bathtub. If they did, I'd be slightly worried.

British folk have trouble with the word restroom simply because they remain hygienically confused; generally because people with quasi decent hygiene don't usually take a rest in a restroom. Hence the reason why it really shouldn't be dubbed "restroom". For the British folk, they still prefer bathroom as a general term for the poop-er. Still we all remain hygienically confused with the term restroom in the U.S. and Canada!

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2007-04-01T19:29:00.000-07:00