Groucho's Fact Hunt

Hellerad · September 23, 2015

edge said:
they reckon are sun isn't big enough to create a black hole.

Definitely. I think the smallest star that can cause a black hole is 3-4 times the mass of the Sun.

summerisle · September 23, 2015

The word bride comes from an old German word meaning 'to cook'.

marnie · September 23, 2015

COYBL25 said:
The term Hypnosis, comes from the Greek god of sleep - Hypnos.

The term " hypnosis " was first used by the Scottish surgeon James Braid in 1843.

He used this term to describe a sleeplike state of both acute awareness and great receptiveness .

Which he robbed from Franz Anton Mesmer lol.......... Which is where we get the word mesmerized from in the English language.

marnie · September 23, 2015

COYBL25 said:
The term Hypnosis, comes from the Greek god of sleep - Hypnos.

The term " hypnosis " was first used by the Scottish surgeon James Braid in 1843.

He used this term to describe a sleeplike state of both acute awareness and great receptiveness .

Only new my fact and your fact post because I am a hypnotist lol

COYBL25 · September 23, 2015

marnie said:
Only new my fact and your fact post because I am a hypnotist lol

Wow, could you do a thread on it, fascinating !

marnie · September 23, 2015

COYBL25 said:
Wow, could you do a thread on it, fascinating !

I think someone already has (was it you ?) Will finish my seasonal work in 5 weeks...... so not to detract from this great thread will do something then.

COYBL25 · September 23, 2015

marnie said:
I think someone already has (was it you ?) Will finish my seasonal work in 5 weeks...... so not to detract from this great thread will do something then.

Not me mate, but I think it would be worth doing

degsy · September 24, 2015

The Oxford English Dictionary has recently removed the hyphens from 15000 words, due to nobody using them any more...Academia going with the flow eh, who'da thunk it.

My sources tell me this avant-garde behaviour is being closely monitored by the Apostropher Royal Sir D'Anville O'M'Darlin'

Huyton Layne · September 24, 2015

deipnosophist · September 24, 2015

The most westerly US state is Alaska...it is also the most easterly.

deipnosophist · September 24, 2015

( Assuming you could) drill a hole right through the (centre of) the Earth and jumped in it, you would not fall out the other side

deipnosophist · September 24, 2015

summerisle said:
A day on Venus lasts longer than a year on Venus.
http://www.universetoday.com/47900/length-of-year-on-venus/

That is interesting...so it's rate of rotation on its axis is incredibly slow?

Titus Bramble · September 24, 2015

The length of a day is almost never exactly 24 hours. It is sometimes a little faster or a little slower and the exact length of every day is measured by 2 telescopes which detect radiation from a relatively nearby quasar. Anything from the tides to the strength of the wind blowing against mountainsides determine how long a day is.

deipnosophist · September 24, 2015

WA Toffee said:
About 10% of all the people who have ever lived, are currently alive

yes, I read this recently. They calculate about 105bio people have ever lived...so about 1 in 15 are currently still alive. Compare this to other mammals where it is more-like 1 in a 1000

deipnosophist · September 24, 2015

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