Groucho's Fact Hunt

[deipnosophist]

The milky way contains approximately 400 billion stars

There are an estimated 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe.

Therefore it is estimated that there are more than 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars...

There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on earth.

 

[d34noj]

Every 4th year is a leap year except every 100th year which is not a leap year except when it is the 400th year (ie 1600 was a leap year, 1700,1800 and 1900 weren't...2000 was)
So the adjustment to 365 days over a 400 year cycle is:
365 +1/4 -1/100+1/400 = 365.2425

Say what?

 

[deipnosophist]

If every person on the planet continuously shuffled a standard 52 card deck, to arrive at a pre-defined 52 card order/sequence would take about
2.5 thousand trillion trillion trillion trillion years

 

[deipnosophist]

Say what?

Every 4th year is a leap year except every 100th year which is not a leap year except when it is the 400th year (ie 1600 was a leap year, 1700,1800 and 1900 weren't...2000 was)
So the adjustment to 365 days over a 400 year cycle is:
365 +1/4 -1/100+1/400 = 365.2425

 

[d34noj]

Every 4th year is a leap year except every 100th year which is not a leap year except when it is the 400th year (ie 1600 was a leap year, 1700,1800 and 1900 weren't...2000 was)
So the adjustment to 365 days over a 400 year cycle is:
365 +1/4 -1/100+1/400 = 365.2425

Ahh I get it now.

 

[deipnosophist]

The second millennium (AD) actually concluded at midnight Dec 31 2000. This is because 1BC was followd by AD1 (ie there was no year 0). JC was crucified about AD32 ...Tiberius was the Roman emperor at that time. NB when JC was born Augustus was emperor.

 

[hibbo'sclass]

The Financial Times' co-founder, Horatio Bottomley was a frequent defendant for various swindles involving shares.
He also was an MP but thrown out after being made bankrupt, was finally convicted for fraud in the early 1920's, and founded the John Bull newspaper.

 

[a bell maul]

There are more atoms in a single glass of water, than glasses of water in all the oceans of the Earth.

that is amazing

 

[summerisle]

The Financial Times' co-founder, Horatio Bottomley was a frequent defendant for various swindles involving shares.
He also was an MP but thrown out after being made bankrupt, was finally convicted for fraud in the early 1920's, and founded the John Bull newspaper.

There was a dramatisation of his life on Radio 4 extra a couple of weeks ago : Allen Sadler - man of the people. Still on the IPlayer, it was a very interesting programme.
The soldiers at the Front despised John Bull for its jingoistic stance towards the War.

 

[hibbo'sclass]

There was a dramatisation of his life on Radio 4 extra a couple of weeks ago : Allen Sadler - man of the people. Still on the IPlayer, it was a very interesting programme.
The soldiers at the Front despised John Bull for its jingoistic stance towards the War.

Cheers mate, I'll see if I can find it. Sounds like an interesting life.

 

[summerisle]

Cheers mate, I'll see if I can find it. Sounds like an interesting life.

For him it was, not for the defrauded thousands

 

[deipnosophist]

Re the glass of water atoms vs glasses in all the oceans:
Never mind atoms, there are more molecules of H2O in a standard glass of water than there are standard glasses of water in all the worlds oceans. And each molecule of H2O contains 3 atoms.
There are more molecules than glasses by a factor of about 4x10^5

 

[summerisle]

Nearly 1 in 10 soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were African-American.

 

[summerisle]

if you die in Amsterdam without any friends or family left to attend your funeral, a poet will write a poem for you and recite it at your funeral.
http://www.theblackribbonblog.com/2012/03/dying-in-amsterdam-what-lovely-idea.html

 

[PITA]

During the 1960's only The Beatles outsold Ken Dodd in the UK charts.

Just wow!