Facts that greatly interest you but bore everyone else?

[Vrex360]

Right I think we can all agree that there are certain things in life that we find facinating but that other people are less impressed by. Things that simply wow and amaze us and make us think but to which someone else would respond with 'man that's boring, let's talk about Pink Floyd instead'. So I decided that I would make this thread so that the people of the Escapist can share the odd facts that they've learned or picked up over the past that offer no value except for useless information and seem to only facinate them. I thought that doing so would allow us all to share and discuss various facts of various topics from biology to popular culture to literature to history... leave no stone unturned really.

So I'll give my piece of useless information that amazes me but bores everyone else:
The Megalosaurus has a special distinction among dinosaurs as it was the first ever species of dinosaur to be scientifically named and identified. Megalosaurus meant simply 'great lizard' and it was the mould from which all dinosaur related theories and ideas arrived. It was also the first dinosaur to be featured in popular fictional media, in the Charles Dickens novel Bleak House there is an opening scene that begins with a description of Megalosaurus. The first reconstruction of the Megalosaurus was inacurrate, making it resemble a large predatory lizard that moved on four legs even though now we know it was a bipedal active predator, not a sluggish scavanger (in fact the discovery of this fact was one of the things that would later give rise to the idea of dinosaurs being much more energetic). The incorrect construction of the Megalosaurus however made it into many scientific text books and even made into large display models in the Crystal Palace Gardens. The Crystal Palace itself however burned down but the garden and models remained and to this day exist as a testament to how far Evolutionary Biology has come and indeed our understanding of the world today.

So that's my useless fact that amazes me and no one else.... what's yours?

 

[Gerazzi]

I can recite Yellow Submarine.
Of course no one cares.

 

[Curtmiester]

Male praying-mantis(es, i?) can get their head cut off by females during sex (for food) BUT they can keep going for days.

 

[Neonbob]

Nothing. I am the most interesting person in the world.
At least, that's what most of the people I hear talking to me at night say.
You...you all think I'm interesting...right?

I suppose my love for programming and the facts about it are boring to most other people.

 

[wolfy098]

I can recite Yellow Submarine.
Of course no one cares.

No we don't
Of course we do

OT: That aliens won't bother come here even if they can

(people convinently "forget" that fact)

 

[Last of the Chinchillas]

Alvin C. Copeland founded the Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits franchise in Louisianna in 1972. Born in 1944 and died in 2008 from complications brought on by a malignant tumour in his salivary glands.

I find it a little funny that someone who made a career out of restaurants and good food died of a salivary gland tumour. Sad, but still funny.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

'man that's boring, let's talk about Pink Floyd instead'

Seriously? When has that ever happened? I would probably be more bored by Pink Floyd than I would by whatever other topic was at hand.

 

[fer-sure]

I'm sure there's someone else out there who finds this interesting, but so far no-one I know besides my former maths teacher who's now re-applied to uni to be a brain surgeon, he already knew but he found it just as fascinating as me. Anyway...

The sky is not actually blue, the colour actually comes from the way light reflects off particles in the air that create the colours in the sky.
=) gotta love discovery channel.

 

[Gabanuka]

No matter how much porn they find, my friends still think im gay.

 

[ScarlettRage]

in the russian royal family, the Romanov's line, the original line was probably wiped out by Catherine the great, because she was unfaithful and her son Paul was most likely the son of her lover and not her husband.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Any of the intricate details of World War Two, especially the fact that I can recite most of the names of famous (perhaps not even that) Soviet leaders and commanders during that period of time.

 

[QuirkyTambourine]

The microphone in cell phones is a very small condenser mic, that's why they sound so shitty after awhile, especially if you like to yell into your phone

 

[ace_of_something]

talking about video games or table top games definitly can put most people to sleep. I find the justice system to be very interesting but few people can talk about it long.

 

[fer-sure]

I know some people care about this but I read this

Alvin C. Copeland founded the Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits franchise in Louisianna in 1972. Born in 1944 and died in 2008 from complications brought on by a malignant tumour in his salivary glands.

I find it a little funny that someone who made a career out of restaurants and good food died of a salivary gland tumour. Sad, but still funny.

so I thought I might add it.

The main mean girl in the 80's film 'Heathers' became famous for some of her cruel and snipey one liners, one of which was "Did you have a brain tumor for breakfast?" On March 6, 2001 she died of a brain tumour. Another character in the film prays that he will never commit suicide, on March 3, 2000 he committed suicide with a shotgun.

Anyone who trawls through wiki tropes knows that there's a trope name for the uneasy feeling one gets when thinking about this, and no, its not dramatic irony =P, but I don't remember what it is off the top of my head.

 

[plastic_window]

The Peacock Mantis Shrimp has the most advanced eyesight of any living creature as yet found by scientists. It's also one of the most powerful, intelligent, beautiful and dangerous reef animals to keep in an aquarium.

Of course if you really want to up the ante in your aquarium, buy an octopus. Those things don't mess around. Speaking of which, female pacific octopi only give birth once. They do this in a sheltered area of a reef, laying their eggs on the ceiling and letting all 100,000 of them hang down. She sweeps water over them regularly to provide the eggs with oxygen, and stays with them in the sheltered reef for 6 months, starving herself to keep them safe. After the 6 months have passed and all the eggs have hatched, the octopus will have died.

That last bit of info was on Attenborough's latest TV documentary, Life. The same guys who made Planet Earth and Blue Planet made it, and it's amazing if you like to watch that kind of thing.

 

[Bat Vader]

Luke Skywalker's first lightsaber was lilac.

My fact that bores many people.