Groucho's Fact Hunt

[DualityNSNO]

Astana is the capital of Kazakhstan

The word Astana in Kazak means capital.

Makes sense i suppose.

That's because it was chosen as a capital in 1997/8 by the then President of the country for possible security reasons. The region, which was and still is vastly empty, was an old gulag prison located next to a river! Can't remember the names of any of the people/places as I find them very hard to remember, however, sorry about that...

 

[Dario Terracotta]

Has cuddly old Rafael contributed to this thread yet groucho?!!got an ear infection and can't sleep,its almost worthwhile having stumbled on this thread,cheers mate!!

 

[degsy]

Samuel Arbesman states 'Facts have a half life'

So half the facts on this thread, will, after a certain amount of time, be incorrect

Though it must be said that different types of facts have different half lives

*sits, waiting to be vaulted when this fact is proved wrong.

 

[tonyhorne]

Samuel Arbesman states 'Facts have a half life'

So half the facts on this thread, will, after a certain amount of time, be incorrect

Though it must be said that different types of facts have different half lives

*sits, waiting to be vaulted when this fact is proved wrong.

As they have a half life and not an expiry date it will mean that after the half life period of time, rather than being completely wrong, facts are only half as true as they used to be. After the same period of time elapses they will be a quarter as true as they used to be etc. By this assertion, truth decays exponentially. There is some merit to it.

Examples are:

Liverpool FC are a good team.
I'm looking for a buyer 24/7
We're all in this together
Jose is my friend

(Equally the veracity of the half life fact will decline over time as well. Things will start to be truer for longer, apparently)

 

[Tramps_mate]

An area of Southport (Churchtown) was the first place in England to grow potatoes.

Er.... Really?

 

[Groucho]

Er.... Really?

Apparently so.

 

[Tramps_mate]

Apparently so.

I will investigate further!

 

[Groucho]

I will investigate further!

I'm not lying.

In 1575 a shipwreck occurred off the Churchtown coast, the cargo of which contained potatoes, was washed ashore. Subsequently, the village became the first place in England where they were grown.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchtown,_Merseyside#History

 

[summerisle]

The Anglo-Saxon word for a boy growing his first beard is Frumbyrdling.

 

[WA Toffee]

Less than 1% of people will bother checking any of the facts posted on here and just assume that they are correct

 

[ToffeeDoug]

Less than 1% of people will bother checking any of the facts posted on here and just assume that they are correct

This one I will have to check.

 

[Groucho]

Less than 1% of people will bother checking any of the facts posted on here and just assume that they are correct

This one I will have to check.

Just to be clear lads, I'm not asking for Harvard referencing, but I do at least google something before posting it to verify.

I'd hope others do also.

 

[degsy]

As they have a half life and not an expiry date it will mean that after the half life period of time, rather than being completely wrong, facts are only half as true as they used to be. After the same period of time elapses they will be a quarter as true as they used to be etc. By this assertion, truth decays exponentially. There is some merit to it.

Examples are:

Liverpool FC are a good team.
I'm looking for a buyer 24/7
We're all in this together
Jose is my friend

(Equally the veracity of the half life fact will decline over time as well. Things will start to be truer for longer, apparently)

So according to that;

The r.s are only halfway to a good team ( no surprises there )
Bill is now only looking 12/3.5 ( or here )
Half of us are only in it 50% of the time ( never believed it anyway )
and Jose used to be my friend...sometimes ( who gave a flyin 'K if he was, he's a blert )

 

[admirschleck]

The largest star known to exist is UY Scuti, 9,500 light years away. It's 5 billion times the mass of the Sun. To give you an idea;

*Huge picture of it I purposely left out of this quote*

Mindblowing. My question would be, how did they find it?

 

[Groucho]

Mindblowing. My question would be, how did they find it?

Looked up mate.

Literally, it's the obvious one here;