Daily random tidbit.

[Tao]

Thought it could be fun to have a thread with some of the fun little facts we pick up each day.

Like today I was reading about Vanatühi, the Estonian god of the underworld. Often represented as a giant, dim-witted farmer, his name means "old empty one"

[Emiliana]

Great idea, Tao!

Today I read up on hedgehogs, because one of my neighbors recently found and adopted one. We discussed today over lunch whether they ought to attempt to find a friend for it, but apparently they do better as solitary animals: http://www.hedgehogcentral.com/introduction.shtml. Also, I wrongly assumed that hedgehogs were rodents, but it seems they are not.

[Whistler]

Samhain is the pagan root of Halloween in Celtic cultures. They made jack-o-lanterns out of turnips.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

[thebigcheese]

Maybe I'm just slow on this one...but today I learned how a candle works. Previously, I'd always thought it was the wick that burned and the wax just slowed down the process (which makes no sense at all, now that I think about it). Came to find out that I was totally backwards. The wax soaks up though the wick and gets vaporized with the heat of the flame. Then the wax vapor burns and melts more wax, so it's self-perpetuating. The reason it takes so long to burn out a whole candle is because it only burns a tiny amount of wax vapor at once. Brilliant!

[NerdGirl]

I actually only learned that candle thing a year or two ago, and I still think it's really cool.

[Craig Jessop]

In other, non-drama related news, I learned today that Edward VIII (who is famous for his abdication to marry a divorcee...) had Nazi sympathies! Looks like Europe dodged a bullet with that one!

[Emiliana]

Regarding wax and candles, most matches where I live are made of stiff, waxed paper instead of wood. I didn't like them at first because I thought they were harder to light, but they stay lit a lot longer because wax burns so slowly. So I can light a candle, the stove, and the lantern all with one match! Our electricity has been out a lot lately, so I've spent a lot of time analyzing these things...

[mic0]

If you post something in the forums, but as you are writing someone else posts something, then before you can post your message you will get this notice:

"At least one new post has been made to this topic. You may wish to review your post in light of this."

Which is pretty cool, and helped me not sound totally ridiculous on the free association thread.

[vorpal blade]

I learned something yesterday, thanks to Tao. The source is http://www.nononsenseselfdefense.com/monkey_dance.htm Among other insights I learned that we have at least three components to our brains. With one part of our brain we think rational thoughts, like a human. With another part of our brain we think on an emotional level. You could call that our monkey brain. And another part of our brain controls movement and action. That is something that some writers call the lizard brain.

The interesting thing is that sometimes the monkey brain is in control, but the human brain doesn't realize it. The human brain gives rational reasons for what the emotional part is doing. We think we are being perfectly rational, but in reality we are just acting on emotion. There is a lot more and I invite you to read it.

I'd like to add that I was reminded of an interesting study. In a classroom a student was hypnotized by the instructor. During the hypnosis the subject was told that after he awoke he would not remember anything that was said while he was hypnotized. Then he was told that afterward, when he was awake, the instructor would snap his fingers. At that time the student would get up and go open a window, not knowing why he did it.

The student was awakened, and said he remembered nothing. The instructor had the student go back to his chair and the instructor continued his lecture. After a while the instructor snapped his fingers. The student got up and opened the window.

Now, the most interesting thing to me was that the instructor then asked the student why he opened the window. The student said that he was hot, and just then his body began to sweat and show signs that he was really hot. The rational part of his brain supplied an answer for his post hypnotic behavior (kind of like the monkey brain), and the lizard part reacted to the human part.

[thebigcheese]

Ah, that takes me back to my behavioral neurobiology class...that's a rather simplified version of the story, but it works I guess.

[Emiliana]

Did you know that lizards don't urinate? Their liquid waste is excreted along with their solid waste.

[Darth Fedora]

Did you know that lizards don't urinate? Their liquid waste is excreted along with their solid waste.

Birds are uricotelic too!

Most animals have to convert their nitrogen wastes into uric acid or urea to avoid toxic ammonia buildup, but fish are super awesome because they can just excrete ammonia as it's formed and it diffuses away into the ocean. Love biochem x1000000

[Emiliana]

Did you know that lizards don't urinate? Their liquid waste is excreted along with their solid waste.

Birds are uricotelic too!

Most animals have to convert their nitrogen wastes into uric acid or urea to avoid toxic ammonia buildup, but fish are super awesome because they can just excrete ammonia as it's formed and it diffuses away into the ocean. Love biochem x1000000

Interesting! Science has never been my area of expertise, but I love knowing random pieces of information like that.

[vorpal blade]

Did you know that lizards don't urinate? Their liquid waste is excreted along with their solid waste.

I understand that many desert lizards don't drink any water at all. They get all the water they need from food they eat.

[thebigcheese]

Today I learned that blue lobsters are the result of a rare genetic defect. Aside from the color, they are basically the same as regular lobsters and can be cooked and eaten normally. Now you know.

[Dead Cat]

"Six Out of Seven Dwarves Not Happy"

I stumbled on this article a while ago, but I had forgotten about it until now.

[mic0]

A previously unknown-outside-a-ten-mile-radius language was recorded for the first time recently. That's awesome!

[Whistler]

English-speaking South Africans sometimes answer the phone by saying "Howzit."

[habiba]

This is more than a tidbit, but is especially useful if you want to see a number of Nobel Laureates with bra masks on their faces

http://improbable.com/ig/winners/

[Craig Jessop]

This is more than a tidbit, but is especially useful if you want to see a number of Nobel Laureates with bra masks on their faces

http://improbable.com/ig/winners/

I would never wear one of those. I'd rather die of poison gas than put a bra on my face.