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....)