Friday, January 16, 2004

List: strange, curious, partial

Now that I know another strange and surprising thing, I’m motivated to unburden myself of a short list of strange and surprising things that have presented themselves to me over time.  You all probably know all this stuff already, but I thought it was pretty cool. 

* Potassium has the atomic symbol “K” because it’s named after the latin word Kalium, though authorities have been unable thus far to explain how that word was derived.  On the other hand, Lead has the atomic symbol Pb, for Plumbum, as our wise correspondent advises us - an element named after its relationship to the Roman plumbing industry, in which pipes and fixtures were made out of lead.  The word itself is a reference to a trait of the plumbing profession predating even the use of lead - the prominent display of the upper transgluteal crevasse by individuals engaged in work on pipes and drains. 

Okay, no more jokes.  Other things I, at one time or another, found surprising:

* The best kielbasa I ever ate was made out of roadkill.

* Berlin is north of London.  Lake Tahoe is west of Los Angeles.

* Eighty percent of all structures ever built in the US have been built within the last fifty years.

* Electric streetcars are connected to overhead wires with long arms that pivot and swivel.  These are called “trollers,” after trolling for fish by dragging a hook behind a slowly moving boat.  Coaches powered with trollers are called trolleys. 

* A pound of feathers actually does weigh more than a pound of gold.

Well I’m spent.  It seems incomplete, though.  Feel free to pitch any other surprising facts to include in this list.  Thanking you in advance; I remain, etc etc.  (unintelligible mumbling slowly fading into the rustling of ever-increading numbers of papers....)

The lyrics to the Flinstones song read “They’re a modern stoneage family” rather than “They’re a monostonic family"> And no, don’t ask me what monistonic is. I simply thought it was one of those big words I didn’t know. Until I was twenty-five.

The words “horse” and “of course” rhyme in Arabic as well as English, so you can sing the Mr. Ed theme song in Arabic and it rhymes. 

‘Splain me the feathers/gold thing, please?

Nikita I’d be happy to but I’ll defer to an unquestionable authority, Mr. Keller, who sells toy airplanes on-line , and who provides the first answer google offered me when I queried:

“Why does a pound of feathers weigh more than a pound of gold if an ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers?

“Ok, it’s like this, the weight of Gold is based on the Troy System...the weight of Feathers, on the other hand, is based on the Avoirdupois system. Sooooooo, since a Troy pound weighs 12 ounces, and an Avoirdupois pound weighs 16 ounces...the pound of feathers weighs more.

“When we measure ounces, a Troy ounce weighs 31 odd grams, and an Avoirdupois ounce weighs in at 28 odd grams. Sooooooo, the heaviness is reversed, and the Gold weighs more.

“What does this have to do with scale model airplanes?

“Not a darn thing, but you can never learn too much. :)”

Kinda makes me choke up.  In a wholesome way. 

And while we’re at it: “Monostonic” is the new “cromulent.” It is my mission to introduce that word into every conversation in america and its affiliates.  My monostonic mission.

Um, Lake Tahoe is north of Los Angeles.

The spot where the nevada and california borders meet and change direction in the middle of lake tahoe is at 120w longitude and 39n latitude.  Los Angeles is at 118W, 34n.  Hawaii is at 155w; the higher the number, the further west a place is.  So yes, tahoe is north of LA by five degrees of latitude, and west of LA by two degrees of longitude.  Doesn’t seem right, but it is.

Another unknown fact: Dan is big fat liar.  BLASPHEMER!!

Actually Reno is farther west than Los Angeles as well. Yes, I am trying to find the trivia spot where I found this factoid if challeneged.

Jo

Your foot is as long as your arm from your elbow to your wrist. Courtesy of Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.”

i liked the list (and i knew about berlin and tahoe), but have to admit i got stuck on the kielbasa/roadkill thing.  you actually ATE that?

I could point out that thing about Iceland and Greenland, but I won’t.  I’m wondering about human spontaneous involuntary invisibility.