Did you know, by Spontex.org

Starlight

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 23:08:57 +0100

Summary:
Stars on Brazil flag are arranged as they were on November, 15th. 1889 at 8:30 AM, proclamation of the Republic of Brazil.

Details:
Like the American flag, each star represents each of the 26 states and the federal capital, Brasília. If you are familiar with the stars, you may identify : Southern Cross Canis Minor Canis Major Virgo(constellation) Carina(constellation) Octans Scorpius Triangulum Australe Hydra(constellation) If you're not that familiar with stars, this will help :

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Monster Emblem

Fri, 30 Nov 2018 18:08:57 +0100

Summary:
The Alfa Romeo logo pictures a giant snake eating a kid.

Details:
While people (most ?) think that the red part coming out of the snake on the Alfa Romeo logo is its tong, truth is quite not that cute. The actual origin is the coat of arms of Visconti of Milan, depicting a snake (the Biscione) swallowing a child. The cross you see on the left is Milan's symbol.

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Raspoutincrevable!

Mon, 18 Apr 2016 22:12:17 +0200

Summary:
Rasputin, Russian mystic healer, was killed by cyanide poisoning, beating, execution blank range, and finally thrown into an icy river. His autopsy revealed that it was the river that killed him.

Details:
In the evening when the murder was committed, he was first served cake and wine poisoned with cyanide. The only effect was to make him feel tired & gloomy. He was then shot point blank and thrown into the frozen Neva river. Four days later, the autopsy of the body showed that he was shot three times. In the neck, heart and head,and had water in the lungs! This means that he was still breathing at the time of being thrown into the river. Several legends still remain about this mysterious character.

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Eureka

Mon, 27 Jan 2014 06:50:21 +0100

Summary:
Frank Epperson invented the popsicle in 1905, at the age of 11.

Details:
Young Frank Epperson left a glass of soda water powder and water outside in his back porch with a wooden mixing stick in it. That night the temperature dropped below freezing, and when Epperson returned to the drink the next morning, he found that the soda water had frozen inside the glass. He then ate what is the first recorded ice pop. This is actually a case of serendipity (or fortuitous discovery). Seventeen years later, Epperson became the first to put “frozen ice on a stick” on the market.

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Kindergate

Sat, 27 Jul 2013 04:48:47 +0200

Summary:
Kinder Surprises are banned in the USA.

Details:
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission determined years ago the product to be a choking and aspiration hazard for young kids and thus are seized and destructed at customs. In 2009, about 25,000 of these chocolate eggs have been seized by US customs.

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Better a rhino than an ass!

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 23:48:47 +0200

Summary:
In 1958, a five-year-old female rhinoceros named Cacareco won Sao Paulo’s council elections.

Details:
Cacareco, a rhinoceros at the São Paulo zoo, was a candidate for the 1958 city council elections with the intention of protesting against political corruption. Electoral officials, of course, did not accept Cacareco’s candidacy, but she eventually won 100,000 votes, more than any other party. Cacareco’s candidacy was traced back to a group of students who had printed up 200,000 ballots with her name on them, but the ballots were all legitimately cast by voters, one of whom commented: “Better to elect a rhino than an ass.” Cacareco died in 1962, but her legacy lives on through the Canadian Rhinoceros Party, led by the rhinoceros Cornelius the First, and in the phrase ‘voto Cacareco’ (Cacareco vote) which to this day is often used to describe protest votes in Brazil.

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Let's twist again

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:43:19 +0100

Summary:
Earth's rotation speed, for something located on the equator, is 1,040 mph.

Details:
This speed is quite stable with time since Earth takes 23h56m4s to make a full rotation but is varying by latitude and altitude. For instance, speed is 707 mph for Seattle and 940 mph for Miami. Have in mind that Earth travels thrue space within 67,108 mph, around the Sun. Formula? 2.π.R.cos(ϕ)/t R = radius (20,903,000 feets) ϕ = latitude t = 86,464 seconds Physicists and mathematicians will be quite astonished to see us calculate linear speed to evaluate this rotational speed (expressed in radians per second ). Note that we are talking about linear speed, which is expressed in mph and more intuitive for most people. (Astro)physicists will rather use angular velocity, expressed in radians per seconds.

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Alice in PapuaLand

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:04:26 +0200

Summary:
Baruya people venerate sperm, so much that women have as much intercourse (marital or extramarital) as possible when they're pregnant, in order to give birth to a strong baby.

Details:
This people from Papua New Guinea (Oceania) believes that « Penis Water » provides them with strength and living energy. French anthropologist Maurice Godelier says they are the world's most phallocratic society. According to Godelier's reference study, Baruyas thinks that breast milk comes from sperm. As a consequence, oral sex is highly encouraged. On the other hand, menstrual blood is seen as being very negative, which leads women to be pulled aside when they are having their periods. Etoros, another Papuan people close to Baruyas, also consider male semen to be very important. They feed their children with sperm during their whole childhood. Then when young males want to become men, they are expected to undergo various religious rituals, including homosexual practices with their elders.

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Video vs Radio

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:56:53 +0200

Summary:
The first music video ever broadcast on MTV was the Buggles' “Video Killed The Radio Star”.

Details:
On August 1, 1981, MTV launched with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,” spoken by John Lack. Then a jingle played over a montage of the Apollo 11 moon landing, followed by the video clip. According to the network, it was a random choice…

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Paris Hill Town

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:13:02 +0200

Summary:
The construction of a shadow Paris intended to lure the Germans had been initiated during WWI.

Details:
Radars didn't exist back then and pilots flew and dropped their bombs on sight. The plan was to build a shadow Capital City, North West from Paris (near Maison Laffitte), on a bend of the Seine similar to the one crossing Paris. The fake city was to include streets, train stations, plants and the project even started but was stopped with the signing of the Armistice with Germany in 1918.

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How I met your mother

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 14:38:48 +0100

Summary:
Mill Ends Park (Portland, US-OR) is the world-smallest park and covers a total area of 452 sq in (0.292 m2).

Details:
The park covers a two feet large circled area, located along the Willamette River, in Portland. It was built on St Patrick's day to “the only leprechaun colony west of Ireland”, according to its creator. Over the years, the park has been providing a swimming pool for butterflies, a tiny horseshoe, etc.

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Bite me !

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 13:24:14 +0100

Summary:
A bite from the banana spider results in hours-long erections.

Details:
The Brazilian wandering spiders or Phoneutria are also known as banana spiders as they can often be found in banana plants. Their venom contains a toxin, Tx2–6, which causes symptoms of priapism in male victims and can induce erectile dysfunction because of penis thrombus. These spiders are considered dangerous for humans as they also produce a potent neurotoxin (several cases of death have been reported) but their venom properties could offer new ways of treatment of erectile dysfunction.

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Saint Patience bless us !

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:25:00 +0100

Summary:
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris Montmartre has been the host of a continuous prayer since 1885.

Details:
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre in Paris has been having perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament for more than 120 years. Since August 1st 1885 fidels have been taking turns days and night to ensure the continuous blessing, even during WWII's bombardments and German occupation.

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Keyboards

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:50:25 +0100

Summary:
Qwerty keyboards were created to slow down the typing (and to split apart the letters often used consecutively).

Details:
Christopher Latham Sholes designed the QWERTY in 1868. He arranged the letters to slow the typists down and to prevent typebars from clashing and thus jamming the typewriter. Keys were laid out this way in order to prevent the most used letters from being typed with the middle fingers and to force common pairs of letters to be typed with different fingers or hands. According to the language of the user, the layout and both finger and hand uses were accounted for to prevent the jamming of the typebars. Keyboards are the only computer component that remained the same since 1878.

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Wind of change

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:11:10 +0200

Summary:
A decrease in atmospheric pressure increases flatulences.

Details:
A lowering in external pressure induces a dilatation of bodily gases. To reach an equilibrium, it is necessary to pass gas now and then. This phenomenon is mostly observed at high altitude (mountains e.g.). Jet pilots, who are concerned by this too as they experience sudden changes in atmospheric pressure, contributed to the study of this effect.

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God is great

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:48:21 +0200

Summary:
In the 19th century, Dr. Faustroll calculated the surface of God!

Details:
This pataphysicist invented by Alfred Jarry concluded that “God is the tangential point between zero and infinity.” Other researches on the subject were performed by Boris Vian and René Daumal as well.

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Saucers are not welcome

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:53:36 +0200

Summary:
A municipal decree forbids flying saucers to fly over and to park in Chateauneuf-du-Pape (France).

Details:
In october 1954, Lucien Jeune, Mayor of Chateauneuf-du-Pape (France) forbided by-law flying saucers to land on the city territory. Article 2 acts: “Any flying saucer landing on the territory, from any nationality, will be held in custody.”

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Horses on ice

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:27:35 +0200

Summary:
Almost a thousand horses died in the Lake Ladoga when the water suddenly froze.

Details:
This story that took place in 1942, during the siege of Leningrad, was told by Curzio Malaparte in his book Kaputt. While attempting to escape a wildfire, the horses tried to swim across the Lake Ladoga. But their entrance in the water, which was in the supercooled state1, caused the sudden freeze of the lake. The astrophysicist Hubert Reeves was the first one to suggest the hypothesis of supercooling to explain this phenomenon. 1 Supercooling: under certain conditions, and in particular when it contains dissolved gases, water can remain liquid at temperatures below its normal freezing point. Liquid water can then be found at almost −43.6°F (around -40°C), at standard pressure. This state is unstable and the slightest impurity or disturbance may lead to the instant solidification of the water.

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Living tongue

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:41:47 +0200

Summary:
There is a shellfish which does not only parasite a fish but literally replace its tongue. This is the only known case of complete replacement of an organ.

Details:
The Cymothoa exigua (not easy to come out with at a party) gets inside the mouth of the Red Snapper through the gills. It sticks to the tongue and drains the blood out of it as it grows, causing the tongue to slowly atrophy. The parasite finally replaces completely (physically and functionally) the missing organ. The fish is then capable of using its “new tongue” normally. From this point on, the parasite does not cause any more harm to the host, and feeds only on the mucus the fish exudes.

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Blue Suede Bike

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:51:06 +0200

Summary:
Elvis Presley's first guitar cost 12.95 $.

Details:
For his eleventh birthday, Elvis wanted a bicycle. Yet his parents couldn’t afford one, so they prefered to settle for a guitar.

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