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Saturday, December 19th, 2009
useless_facts
[ lafinjack ]
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2:38p
The human genome is about 3.4 billion nucleotides long. (source)
Each nucleotide can be 1 of 4 chemicals (A, T, C, or G), and takes 2 bits to encode each nucleotide.
One sperm holds half of a copy of the human genome.
Thus one human sperm contains 3.4 billion bits (3.4x109 nucleotides * 0.5 genomes * 2 bits) of information.
3 billion bits is 405.3 MiB. (source)
Normal sperm count in one ejaculation is about 40 million. (source)
That converts to about 16.2 PiB, or 16,212 TiB, or 16,212,000 GiB, in one ejaculation. (source)
For comparison, a standard CD holds 670 MiB, and a one-layer one-sided DVD holds 4.4 GiB.
Source: some guy on Tumblr
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(3 comments | comment on this) Friday, December 18th, 2009
useless_facts
[ night_owl13 ]
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9:00p
holla at me
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, hello is an alteration of hallo, hollo, which came from Old High German "halâ, holâ, emphatic imper[ative] of halôn, holôn to fetch, used esp[ecially] in hailing a ferryman." It also connects the development of hello to the influence of an earlier form, holla, whose origin is in the French holà (roughly, 'whoa there!', from French là 'there'). -- Wikipedia
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(comment on this)
useless_facts
[ glowing_dragon ]
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1:53a
Poo facts for December 12-18, 2009
Poo nugget for this weekend: Rectal High - Enemas are used in contemporary medicine to cleanse the colon or as a mode of delivering drugs into the system. Traditional medicine has long employed enemas for the latter reason, and some Native American and Mayan tribes continue to administer peyote and other hallucinogenic drugs in this manner.
Poo nugget for Monday, December 14: Dr. Stool Says - Constipation - More than just hard stool, constipation is defined by any one of the following: infrequent bowel movements (less than three a week), difficulty during defecation (straining during more than 25 percent of bowel movements or a subjective sensation of hard stools), and sensation of incomplete bowel evacuation.
Poo nugget for Tuesday, December 15: The Working Title Was Taming of the Stool - The first appearance of the word diaper was in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew: "Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper."
Poo nugget for Wednesday, December 16: Doo You Know? - How Many Toilets Do You Think There Are In The United States? - According to the EPA, there are an estimated 222 million residential toilets in the U.S., with ten million new toilets sold each year. The annual flush total? Three billion gallons.
Poo nugget for Thursday, December 17: Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo - On this date in 1997, Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo, first appeared on the television show South Park. He emerged from the toilet bowl in the tenth episode of South Park's first season, wearing a Santa hat and bearing gifts for little girls and boys whose diets are high in fiber.
Poo nugget for Friday, December 18: You're Avoiding Poo For Two - Pregnant women should refrain from cleaning cat litter, as it could expose the fetus to toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can cause complications or even miscarriage. To further reduce the risk, the litter should be cleaned daily - by someone else. Daddy, get to work.
current mood:  amused
current music: GWAR, "Surf of Syn"
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(comment on this) Monday, December 14th, 2009
(comment on this) Sunday, December 13th, 2009
useless_facts
[ endless_reader ]
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9:23p
Cake, Pie and Cookie Food Facts
- Pies and tarts are the most popular desserts with people whose dinner check is under 15.00-dollars.
- Try brushing the bottom crust of fruit pies with egg whites to prevent the fruit juices from soaking in.
- Make sure your oven has been pre-heated for 15 to 20 minutes before placing a cake in.
- Always bake on a middle shelf in the oven; the heat will circulate more evenly.
- To keep a cake from drying out, attach slices of bread with toothpicks to any exposed cut edges of cakes.
- To ice a many-layered cake, try attaching all the layers with a few pieces of dry spaghetti.
( Read more... )
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(2 comments | comment on this)
useless_facts
[ endless_reader ]
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12:49p
Apple Facts
- The crabapple is the only apple native to North America.
- Apples come in all shades of reds, greens, and yellows.
- Two pounds of apples make one 9-inch pie.
- Apple blossom is the state flower of Michigan.
- 2,500 varieties of apples are grown in the United States.
- 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world.
- 100 varieties of apples are grown commercially in the United States.
- Apples are grown commercially in 36 states.
- Apples are grown in all 50 states.
- Apples are fat, sodium, and cholesterol free.
- A medium apple is about 80 calories.
- Apples are a great source of the fiber pectin. One apple has five grams of fiber.
- The pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
- The science of apple growing is called pomology.
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( Read more... )
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(3 comments | comment on this) Friday, December 11th, 2009
useless_facts
[ glowing_dragon ]
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12:07a
Poo facts for December 5-11, 2009
Poo nugget for this weekend: Sour Milk - The early twentieth-century observation by Russian scientist and Nobel Prize winner Elie Metchnikoff, that rural Bulgarians who consumed fermented milk lived long lives has led to the widespread consumption of sour milk. Metchnikoff hypothesized that the lactic acid bacteria present in fermented milk conferred health benefits. Soon after this observation, doctors across Europe began prescribing sour milk to their patients. One hundred years later, healthful bacteria are still found in many dairy products, including fermented milk like kefir.
Poo nugget for Monday, December 7: Doo You Know? - When A Penny Saved Is Not A Penny Earned - The British saying "to spend a penny" is a euphemism for using the toilet. This saying comes from the British practice of paying to use public toilets. Although pay toilets fell out of favor in the United States in the 1970s, the United Kingdom still uses these facilities for Number Two.
Poo nugget for Tuesday, December 8: Worms Suck - This day in 1813 marks the birth date of Angelo Dubini, the Italian physician who discovered the hookworm, a parasite that causes iron deficiency anemia. He found the worm, Anchylostoma duodenale, in 1843, when conducting an autopsy on a peasant woman. This worm literally sucks blood from the intestinal tract, and its spread amongst workers gave rise to such conditions as "miner's anemia" and "bricklayer's anemia."
Poo nugget for Wednesday, December 9: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words... - The Bristol Stool Scale is a tool used by gastroenterologists to help standardize the discourse on poo. Utilizing pictures and descriptions such as "like a sausage but with cracks," the scale breaks down poo into seven types. British physicians first published this poo pictorial in 1990, and found that the appearance of poo correlated with the amount of time it spends in the colon. The harder and more lumpy the stool, the longer the travel time.
Poo nugget for Thursday, December 10: Always Shake With Your Right Hand - Post-poo cleanup in countries such as India and Pakistan occurs with the use of water and the left hand. For this reason, extending one's left hand in greeting is considered impolite and offensive, and maybe a little gross.
Poo nugget for Friday, December 11: The Worst Case of Constipation - The world's largest preserved colon once contained over forty pounds of stool, and was stretched to many times its original size. On display at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia, the colon's owner suffered from Hirschprung's disease, a thankfully rare disorder that results in the inability to empty one's bowels.
current mood: cheerful
current music: Fugazi, "And The Same"
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(10 comments | comment on this) Thursday, December 10th, 2009
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