# Random Stuff You Know



## DustyInfinity (Nov 2, 2019)

I was wondering if anyone has come across any interesting trivia lately.  It can be anything from history to the definitions of words.  Anything.  Recently I was asking a neighbor from Mexico about the Mayans.  I was curious why the Native Americans in the area didn't have more of a history of Mayan Culture.  She told me that while the Mayans had advanced science and math, that it was limited to a very few priests, and that the most of the society was a crushed underclass.  She told me a bit about native people in the Americas.  She said in Latin America, they did not import African slaves because the Spanish enslaved the native peoples who survived. Cities weren't even built by rivers, because of massive operations of enslaved people.  I was mistaken to think that more Native Americans survived in Latin America.  It turns out that disease wiped out just as many natives as in North America.  More than 80%.  

If I was rich, I always thought about driving from Texas to Argentina. That would be an adventure.

I also watched some youtube on Africa.  I had no idea how different the continent developed.  Without mountains, the weather patterns were completely unstable, which meant you needed a flexible society that take advantage of resources in multiple areas.  This led to disaster when Europeans tried to create agriculturely fixed territories.  I never thought about random weather systems.  That would be a huge challenge.

Finally, some vulgar useless trivia.  The male version of a camel toe is referred to as a moose knuckle.  I heard that on Bob and Tom Radio.  Anybody out there come across anything interesting, no matter how trivial?


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## Compost (Nov 2, 2019)

When I think camel toe, I think figure skating.  Now I know another definition.  Thanks!  LOL

I recently learned that opossums don't get rabies because their body temperature is too low for the virus to survive.  Another fun opossum fact is that they eat ticks.


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## Damaged Eagle (Nov 2, 2019)

Metal spheres recovered from deposits estimated at 2.8 billion year old.

2.8 Billion Year Old Metallic Sphere Found in Transvaal

*****CHUCKLE*****


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## Damaged Eagle (Nov 2, 2019)

Poverty Point - Wikipedia

*****SMILE*****


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## Damaged Eagle (Nov 2, 2019)

Cuban underwater city - Wikipedia

*****SMILE*****


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## Damaged Eagle (Nov 2, 2019)

Marine archaeology in the Gulf of Cambay - Wikipedia

*****SMILE*****


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 2, 2019)

Damaged Eagle said:


> Metal spheres recovered from deposits estimated at 2.8 billion year old.
> 
> 2.8 Billion Year Old Metallic Sphere Found in Transvaal
> 
> *****CHUCKLE*****



Do you believe in previous advanced civilization theories?  Once they found out the Pyramids were built with a kind of concrete, I became much more skeptical of impossible technology theories.  I went to an old grain mill once, and I was shocked at all the interlocking metal gears in a grain mill.  The pre-electric structures were incredible.  Old timers will always tell you that things are built like garbage now days.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 2, 2019)

Compost said:


> When I think camel toe, I think figure skating.  Now I know another definition.  Thanks!  LOL
> 
> I recently learned that opossums don't get rabies because their body temperature is too low for the virus to survive.  Another fun opossum fact is that they eat ticks.



I watched Sarah Hughes win the gold, and I was amazed.  It was one of the most perfect, spell-binding performances I ever saw.  She is kind of forgotten and underrated.  You can't have too much possum trivia.


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## percysunshine (Nov 2, 2019)

Not many people know this, but Elvis was a CIA agent


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## Damaged Eagle (Nov 2, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> Damaged Eagle said:
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> > Metal spheres recovered from deposits estimated at 2.8 billion year old.
> ...








I don't know what to think about the spheres. I say spheres because they've found more than one. Do amoeboids have civilizations?

I do agree with the old timers about things being made like garbage today though.

*****SMILE*****


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## Compost (Nov 2, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> Compost said:
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> 
> > When I think camel toe, I think figure skating.  Now I know another definition.  Thanks!  LOL
> ...


I watched Hughes win the gold too.  What a performance.  She was the underdog and nobody expected her to even place.  

Here's another possum fun fact!  They are immune to snake venom.


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## Gracie (Nov 2, 2019)

I feed two possums. Mama and her now grown up baby. SO CUTE! But Mama broke her leg and now walks all lopsided but at least she knows where to get food without having to travel far. They are afraid of me...but still come get their dinner .

I didn't know Floki, the viking, was real OR was the settler/discoverer of Iceland until I watched the show on Netflix.

And...I knew the actors name was familiar. Skarsgard. So...Floki the vikings bro is Pennywise the clown, lol. For reals.


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## Gracie (Nov 3, 2019)

A group of jellyfish is called a smack.

Learned that on Twitter today, compliments of National Geo.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 3, 2019)

Gracie said:


> A group of jellyfish is called a smack.
> 
> Learned that on Twitter today, compliments of National Geo.



Very odd, very enlightening.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 3, 2019)

Gracie said:


> I feed two possums. Mama and her now grown up baby. SO CUTE! But Mama broke her leg and now walks all lopsided but at least she knows where to get food without having to travel far. They are afraid of me...but still come get their dinner .
> 
> I didn't know Floki, the viking, was real OR was the settler/discoverer of Iceland until I watched the show on Netflix.
> 
> And...I knew the actors name was familiar. Skarsgard. So...Floki the vikings bro is Pennywise the clown, lol. For reals.



You know that saying only a mother could love.  I'm not sure cute is a term I'd use to desrcibe possums.


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## Gracie (Nov 3, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> Gracie said:
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> > I feed two possums. Mama and her now grown up baby. SO CUTE! But Mama broke her leg and now walks all lopsided but at least she knows where to get food without having to travel far. They are afraid of me...but still come get their dinner .
> ...


Mama Possum is adorable. Her child..not so much. But mama's face is round and poofy. SO CUTE.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 3, 2019)

Damaged Eagle said:


> DustyInfinity said:
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My apologies for not being able to come up with a good reply.  I have no speakers or headphones.  I'm visual only.  I am currently in a history phase, so I'm all eyes for the info.


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## Ringel05 (Nov 3, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> I was wondering if anyone has come across any interesting trivia lately.  It can be anything from history to the definitions of words.  Anything.  Recently I was asking a neighbor from Mexico about the Mayans.  I was curious why the Native Americans in the area didn't have more of a history of Mayan Culture.  She told me that while the Mayans had advanced science and math, that it was limited to a very few priests, and that the most of the society was a crushed underclass.  She told me a bit about native people in the Americas.  She said in Latin America, they did not import African slaves because the Spanish enslaved the native peoples who survived. Cities weren't even built by rivers, because of massive operations of enslaved people.  I was mistaken to think that more Native Americans survived in Latin America.  It turns out that disease wiped out just as many natives as in North America.  More than 80%.
> 
> If I was rich, I always thought about driving from Texas to Argentina. That would be an adventure.
> 
> ...


Admiral David Farragut, Civil War, "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" was adopted by Captain (later Commodore Porter)  at the age of 9 where his naval career began.  He was born James Glasgow Farragut, his father was Jorge Antonio Farragut-Mesquida (Spanish), his mother Elizabeth Shine Farragut was Scotch-Irish.  He was born and raised in South Carolina. 
By age 12 he was a Prize Master in charge of captured ships.  He was made a Captain during the Mexican-American War then was promoted to the newly created rank of Vice Admiral when as a Flag Officer he took the city and port of New Orleans.   He was promoted to full Admiral in 1866 after the war.


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## Muhammed (Nov 3, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> I was wondering if anyone has come across any interesting trivia lately.  It can be anything from history to the definitions of words.  Anything.  Recently I was asking a neighbor from Mexico about the Mayans.  I was curious why the Native Americans in the area didn't have more of a history of Mayan Culture.  She told me that while the Mayans had advanced science and math, that it was limited to a very few priests, and that the most of the society was a crushed underclass.


That's one reason. Another is good ol' fashioned book burning. The Catholic priests deemed them to be heretical (even though they certainly couldn't read Mayan hieroglyphs) and nearly all of their books were destroyed in the 16th century. Very few Mayan codices still exist.


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## Ringel05 (Nov 3, 2019)

Before Cotton was King in the relatively new United States flax was king.  As colonies we were forbidden to grow cotton by the Crown so as not to compete with the East India Company's monopoly so it took a while for the new states to start producing cotton in enough quantity to replace the expensive finished cotton fabrics from England.  
Until then flax linen was the staple, everything from undergarments to tents to sailcloth was made from it, only the wealthy could afford cotton back then.


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## Ringel05 (Nov 4, 2019)

Damaged Eagle said:


> Poverty Point - Wikipedia
> 
> *****SMILE*****


Poverty Point had around 5 thousand inhabitants at it peak, Cahokia (1050-1350) in Illinois is estimated to have held from 20 to 40 thousand inhabitants at it's peak.


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## Ringel05 (Nov 4, 2019)

Levi Strauss did not invent blue jeans, they were the brain child of Jacob Davis in response to demands from miners in Utah for trousers that could withstand the rigors of mining.   Double sewn seams and copper rivets were his answer and it worked.  The only complaint was that the brown canvas sailcloth fabric chaffed in delicate areas.  That's where Strauss came in, he was a fabric wholesaler who partnered with Davis and eventually found the fabric he was looking for, Serge de Nimes made in France, what we call denim today. 
The nom de guerre "Jeans" comes from Geno Italy where a similar fabric (Cotton Corduroy) had been made and sold throughout Europe at the time.  Denim was an attempt by the fabric manufacturers in Nimes France to unsuccessfully copy the Italian fabric, however it fit the bill for Stauss. 
Blue Jeans, previously only worn by working men and women were made popular by James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and were soon banned in schools, theaters and restaurants.  It wasn't until the 60s that they finally found their way into more widespread acceptance.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 6, 2019)

Ringel05 said:


> DustyInfinity said:
> 
> 
> > I was wondering if anyone has come across any interesting trivia lately.  It can be anything from history to the definitions of words.  Anything.  Recently I was asking a neighbor from Mexico about the Mayans.  I was curious why the Native Americans in the area didn't have more of a history of Mayan Culture.  She told me that while the Mayans had advanced science and math, that it was limited to a very few priests, and that the most of the society was a crushed underclass.  She told me a bit about native people in the Americas.  She said in Latin America, they did not import African slaves because the Spanish enslaved the native peoples who survived. Cities weren't even built by rivers, because of massive operations of enslaved people.  I was mistaken to think that more Native Americans survived in Latin America.  It turns out that disease wiped out just as many natives as in North America.  More than 80%.
> ...



I watched a video on the history of our Navy, and it is amazing the changes caused by the Civil War.  My dad took me to a memorial of the battle between the Ironclads.  Iron warships caused a ripple effect thought the world.  I find it fitting that the Brits created the first modern Aircraft Carrier.  You've got to respect the Royal Navy.  I was curious how they solved the U-boat problem in WWII.  At first the U-boats were causing havoc, but by the end of the war, the subs were almost helpless to the British depth charges.  How could they be hunted and destroyed so effectively?


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## Ringel05 (Nov 6, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> Ringel05 said:
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There were numerous factors that eventually brought about the demise of the vaunted U-Boats, first was armed convoys, then there was sonar which kept getting better throughout the war worked on and perfected by both Great Britain and the US.  Another was the capture of Enigma and it's subsequent decoding, our entry into the war eventually helped greatly.  Finally allied sub chasing became quite advanced and anti sub aircraft played a key role, the wolf packs were broken up and it literally became suicide for a U-Boat to go hunting prey.  
It was a combined effort not just the Brits alone.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 6, 2019)

Ringel05 said:


> DustyInfinity said:
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Sonar, Enigma, and anti-sub aircraft would do the trick.  It makes me appreciate the movie Das Boot even more.


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## hjmick (Nov 6, 2019)

percysunshine said:


> Not many people know this, but Elvis was a CIA agent



FBI


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## hjmick (Nov 6, 2019)

Three Musketeers Bars originally came three in a pack, each a different flavor: chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. Thus the name, Three Musketeers...


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## percysunshine (Nov 6, 2019)

The Almond Joy bar was named after a Kama Sutra position.


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## Compost (Nov 8, 2019)

I came across this little video containing some random trivia.  Here's one. Did you know that most female cats are right handed and most male cats are left handed?


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## Natural Citizen (Nov 8, 2019)

A single cloud weighs over a million pounds.


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## Muhammed (Nov 9, 2019)

hjmick said:


> percysunshine said:
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> > Not many people know this, but Elvis was a CIA agent
> ...


DoJ Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Elvis gifted Nixon a Colt .45






And Nixon gave Elvis a badge.







Hmmm.... Quid pro quo?


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## Ringel05 (Nov 9, 2019)

Up until the 1830s tea was the preferred caffeine drink in the US, the change over to coffee began with the War of 1812 as tea was very English in both usage and trade and Americans needed a replacement for economic and political reasons.


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## G.T. (Nov 9, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> I was wondering if anyone has come across any interesting trivia lately.  It can be anything from history to the definitions of words.  Anything.  Recently I was asking a neighbor from Mexico about the Mayans.  I was curious why the Native Americans in the area didn't have more of a history of Mayan Culture.  She told me that while the Mayans had advanced science and math, that it was limited to a very few priests, and that the most of the society was a crushed underclass.  She told me a bit about native people in the Americas.  She said in Latin America, they did not import African slaves because the Spanish enslaved the native peoples who survived. Cities weren't even built by rivers, because of massive operations of enslaved people.  I was mistaken to think that more Native Americans survived in Latin America.  It turns out that disease wiped out just as many natives as in North America.  More than 80%.
> 
> If I was rich, I always thought about driving from Texas to Argentina. That would be an adventure.
> 
> ...


I learned about Mayans from a Mayan. They still live in little huts right outside tourist excursions to their ruins, basically ruined Cities. 

The cities were abandoned to survive the Spanish. The cosmology was not all lost, we've even still got their calendar ~ however, in regard to the specifics of architecture, more in-depth astronomy, etc...its that too many generations have passed since the Cities were ruined.


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## percysunshine (Nov 9, 2019)

Ringel05 said:


> Up until the 1830s tea was the preferred caffeine drink in the US, the change over to coffee began with the War of 1812 as tea was very English in both usage and trade and Americans needed a replacement for economic and political reasons.


And the French drank coffee because that is the crop their colonies grew.


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## Ringel05 (Nov 9, 2019)

Speaking of tea in 1908 Thomas Sullivan a NYC tea merchant started sending out tea samples in small silk bags to his customers, customers who mistakenly put the bags containing the tea in the hot water to steep.  The tea bag was accidentally born.


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## Ringel05 (Nov 9, 2019)

On average we Americans toss out around four and a half pounds of trash daily...........  That's about 230 million tons of trash annually.


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## Ringel05 (Nov 9, 2019)

Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming have less people than they do cattle.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 9, 2019)

Ringel05 said:


> Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming have less people than they do cattle.



I'd say they have the demographics about right.  In Indiana, the squirrels are running wild.  Those mean little rodents are approaching rabbit in Australia numbers.  JK, they are not that prolific, but it just seems we have an extra healthy batch.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 9, 2019)

G.T. said:


> DustyInfinity said:
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> 
> > I was wondering if anyone has come across any interesting trivia lately.  It can be anything from history to the definitions of words.  Anything.  Recently I was asking a neighbor from Mexico about the Mayans.  I was curious why the Native Americans in the area didn't have more of a history of Mayan Culture.  She told me that while the Mayans had advanced science and math, that it was limited to a very few priests, and that the most of the society was a crushed underclass.  She told me a bit about native people in the Americas.  She said in Latin America, they did not import African slaves because the Spanish enslaved the native peoples who survived. Cities weren't even built by rivers, because of massive operations of enslaved people.  I was mistaken to think that more Native Americans survived in Latin America.  It turns out that disease wiped out just as many natives as in North America.  More than 80%.
> ...



I'd never heard they fled from the Spanish.  I thought they were long gone by then.  Where the Spanish there that early?


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## Ringel05 (Nov 9, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> G.T. said:
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Basically the Spanish got started "colonizing" the Yucatan Peninsula in 1517, took them almost two centuries to finally subdue the Mayans.  In Peru it only took 40 years to conquer the Aztecs, 1532 - 1572.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 9, 2019)

Thanks G.T. and Ringel.  I had no idea they were around at the same time.  For some reason, I thought the Mayan Civilization disappeared much earlier.  I'm a little embarrassed about being lured into the 'mysterious disappearance theories.'  I think I got suckered by the History Channel.


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## G.T. (Nov 9, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> Thanks G.T. and Ringel.  I had no idea they were around at the same time.  For some reason, I thought the Mayan Civilization disappeared much earlier.  I'm a little embarrassed about being lured into the 'mysterious disappearance theories.'  I think I got suckered by the History Channel.


The Mayan tour guide literally segwayed with the conspiracy theory.

He was like, "hey..you hear the news about the Maya disappearance? Look out your window. See all those huts? Mayans."


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## Roy Batty (Nov 24, 2019)

Ringel05 said:


> DustyInfinity said:
> 
> 
> > I was wondering if anyone has come across any interesting trivia lately.  It can be anything from history to the definitions of words.  Anything.  Recently I was asking a neighbor from Mexico about the Mayans.  I was curious why the Native Americans in the area didn't have more of a history of Mayan Culture.  She told me that while the Mayans had advanced science and math, that it was limited to a very few priests, and that the most of the society was a crushed underclass.  She told me a bit about native people in the Americas.  She said in Latin America, they did not import African slaves because the Spanish enslaved the native peoples who survived. Cities weren't even built by rivers, because of massive operations of enslaved people.  I was mistaken to think that more Native Americans survived in Latin America.  It turns out that disease wiped out just as many natives as in North America.  More than 80%.
> ...



Scotch is a drink.  His mother was Scots/Irish.

Scotland got its name from the Scotti tribe from Gaul.


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## DustyInfinity (Nov 25, 2019)

Roy Batty said:


> Ringel05 said:
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Great name Roy Batty.  I wonder if it was just the Blade Runner movie.  Is Roy Batty a famous outlaw name too?  It has a definite Texas Sound.


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## Roy Batty (Nov 25, 2019)

DustyInfinity said:


> Roy Batty said:
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> > Ringel05 said:
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I’m afraid not! 






29 Oct 2018 · Roy Batty, model number N6MAA10816, a Nexus-6 combat model replicant, was the leader of a renegade replicant group that hijacked a shuttle and traveled to Earth to demand a longer lifespan.

Died: November 2019

Hair color: White

Created by: Tyrell Corporation

Eye color: Blue


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