The fun facts thread.

[bliebblob]

Narwals have a vestigial pelvic bone. This means that at some point, Narwals walked on land. Therefore, Unicorns.

that literally just made my day. Favorite animals are narwhals.

Fun fact: It is possible to make a real life Nyan Cat... well out of cardboard. See! http://www.youtube.com/user/Fallinguptogether#grid/user/2A09146284F5BF34

Sadly, no. A species does not evolve into just one new species. They evolve into multiple new species resulting in a group. Narwhals belong to the Cetacea group along with whales and dolphins. Which means the narwhal's ancestor is the same as that of dolphins, orcas, ...
What exactly this ancestor is has been a mystery for ages (Darwin himself once hypothesized it was a bear, lol) but recent-ish fossils like Rhodocetus sp. and Basilosaurus sp. look promising. (I'm too lazy to post images you can google for yourself)
So that leaves 2 options: either the Cetacea's common ancestor had a horn (which is actually just a giant tooth) and all Cetacea but the narwhal lost it. Or the common ancestor did not have a horn and the narhwal gained it on it's own. The second option seems way more likely though especially if you look at the fossils I mentioned.

Anyway the point is: narwhals evolved from the same ancestor as whales and dolphins, which likely wasn't a unicorn.

 

[GrimTuesday]

Narwals have a vestigial pelvic bone. This means that at some point, Narwals walked on land. Therefore, Unicorns.

that literally just made my day. Favorite animals are narwhals.

Fun fact: It is possible to make a real life Nyan Cat... well out of cardboard. See! http://www.youtube.com/user/Fallinguptogether#grid/user/2A09146284F5BF34

Sadly, no. A species does not evolve into just one new species. They evolve into multiple new species resulting in a group. Narwhals belong to the Cetacea group along with whales and dolphins. Which means the narwhal's ancestor is the same as that of dolphins, orcas, ...
What exactly this ancestor is has been a mystery for ages (Darwin himself once hypothesized it was a bear, lol) but recent-ish fossils like Rhodocetus sp. and Basilosaurus sp. look promising. (I'm too lazy to post images you can google for yourself)
So that leaves 2 options: either the Cetacea's common ancestor had a horn (which is actually just a giant tooth) and all Cetacea but the narwhal lost it. Or the common ancestor did not have a horn and the narhwal gained it on it's own. The second option seems way more likely though especially if you look at the fossils I mentioned.

Anyway the point is: narwhals evolved from the same ancestor as whales and dolphins, which likely wasn't a unicorn.

Shut up, you're words of logic and scientific understanding are ruining all of our fun. I'll just be in this tank with the former unicorn, because you can't see my tears if I'm under water.

during the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis, Jason Momoa who played Ronon Dex, shaved off his dreadlocks however, the folks at Scifi channel demanded that Ronon retain his signature dreads, so the costume department had to attach Momoa's old dreads to his head every day of shooting.

 

[Nackl of Gilmed]

Narwals have a vestigial pelvic bone. This means that at some point, Narwals walked on land. Therefore, Unicorns.

that literally just made my day. Favorite animals are narwhals.

Fun fact: It is possible to make a real life Nyan Cat... well out of cardboard. See! http://www.youtube.com/user/Fallinguptogether#grid/user/2A09146284F5BF34

Sadly, no. A species does not evolve into just one new species. They evolve into multiple new species resulting in a group. Narwhals belong to the Cetacea group along with whales and dolphins. Which means the narwhal's ancestor is the same as that of dolphins, orcas, ...
What exactly this ancestor is has been a mystery for ages (Darwin himself once hypothesized it was a bear, lol) but recent-ish fossils like Rhodocetus sp. and Basilosaurus sp. look promising. (I'm too lazy to post images you can google for yourself)
So that leaves 2 options: either the Cetacea's common ancestor had a horn (which is actually just a giant tooth) and all Cetacea but the narwhal lost it. Or the common ancestor did not have a horn and the narhwal gained it on it's own. The second option seems way more likely though especially if you look at the fossils I mentioned.

Anyway the point is: narwhals evolved from the same ancestor as whales and dolphins, which likely wasn't a unicorn.

Shut up, you're words of logic and scientific understanding are ruining all of our fun. I'll just be in this tank with the former unicorn, because you can't see my tears if I'm under water.

during the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis, Jason Momoa who played Ronon Dex, shaved off his dreadlocks however, the folks at Scifi channel demanded that Ronon retain his signature dreads, so the costume department had to attach Momoa's old dreads to his head every day of shooting.

You are not Satedan!

EDIT: On topic, anyone else ever notice how much the guy who plays Rodney McKay looks like Quentin Tarantino? That's like a fact.

 

[bliebblob]

Narwals have a vestigial pelvic bone. This means that at some point, Narwals walked on land. Therefore, Unicorns.

that literally just made my day. Favorite animals are narwhals.

Fun fact: It is possible to make a real life Nyan Cat... well out of cardboard. See! http://www.youtube.com/user/Fallinguptogether#grid/user/2A09146284F5BF34

Sadly, no. A species does not evolve into just one new species. They evolve into multiple new species resulting in a group. Narwhals belong to the Cetacea group along with whales and dolphins. Which means the narwhal's ancestor is the same as that of dolphins, orcas, ...
What exactly this ancestor is has been a mystery for ages (Darwin himself once hypothesized it was a bear, lol) but recent-ish fossils like Rhodocetus sp. and Basilosaurus sp. look promising. (I'm too lazy to post images you can google for yourself)
So that leaves 2 options: either the Cetacea's common ancestor had a horn (which is actually just a giant tooth) and all Cetacea but the narwhal lost it. Or the common ancestor did not have a horn and the narhwal gained it on it's own. The second option seems way more likely though especially if you look at the fossils I mentioned.

Anyway the point is: narwhals evolved from the same ancestor as whales and dolphins, which likely wasn't a unicorn.

Shut up, you're words of logic and scientific understanding are ruining all of our fun. I'll just be in this tank with the former unicorn, because you can't see my tears if I'm under water.

during the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis, Jason Momoa who played Ronon Dex, shaved off his dreadlocks however, the folks at Scifi channel demanded that Ronon retain his signature dreads, so the costume department had to attach Momoa's old dreads to his head every day of shooting.

I can't help it my mutant superpower is sucking the fun out of things D: I didn't ask for this /sob

Lemme see if I can fix this.
Did you know there are these little creatures out there called Tardigrada that can live for hundreds of years and survive in space? So they'r pretty much nature's timelords.

 

[Apprentice1994]

The temperature -40 degrees Celsius is equal to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. It's the only temperature that the scales are equal at.

 

[GrimTuesday]

Narwals have a vestigial pelvic bone. This means that at some point, Narwals walked on land. Therefore, Unicorns.

that literally just made my day. Favorite animals are narwhals.

Fun fact: It is possible to make a real life Nyan Cat... well out of cardboard. See! http://www.youtube.com/user/Fallinguptogether#grid/user/2A09146284F5BF34

Sadly, no. A species does not evolve into just one new species. They evolve into multiple new species resulting in a group. Narwhals belong to the Cetacea group along with whales and dolphins. Which means the narwhal's ancestor is the same as that of dolphins, orcas, ...
What exactly this ancestor is has been a mystery for ages (Darwin himself once hypothesized it was a bear, lol) but recent-ish fossils like Rhodocetus sp. and Basilosaurus sp. look promising. (I'm too lazy to post images you can google for yourself)
So that leaves 2 options: either the Cetacea's common ancestor had a horn (which is actually just a giant tooth) and all Cetacea but the narwhal lost it. Or the common ancestor did not have a horn and the narhwal gained it on it's own. The second option seems way more likely though especially if you look at the fossils I mentioned.

Anyway the point is: narwhals evolved from the same ancestor as whales and dolphins, which likely wasn't a unicorn.

Shut up, you're words of logic and scientific understanding are ruining all of our fun. I'll just be in this tank with the former unicorn, because you can't see my tears if I'm under water.

during the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis, Jason Momoa who played Ronon Dex, shaved off his dreadlocks however, the folks at Scifi channel demanded that Ronon retain his signature dreads, so the costume department had to attach Momoa's old dreads to his head every day of shooting.

I can't help it my mutant superpower is sucking the fun out of things D: I didn't ask for this /sob

Lemme see if I can fix this.
Did you know there are these little creatures out there called Tardigrada that can live for hundreds of years and survive in space? So they'r pretty much nature's timelords.

That fact has totally made up for you shattering my world.

 

[Melon Hunter]

Mantis shrimps have twelve colour receptors in each eye (compared to human eyes having 3), allowing them to see colours we cannot even comprehend. Also, each eye has three optical hemispheres, allowing them to comprehend 3 dimensions with one eye better than we can with two eyes.

 

[Zekkykins]

If you squeeze your dominant hand, it cuts off your gag reflex entirely, so long as it's squeezed.

This is obviously fantastic for... A multitude of acts.

Like brushing your teeth.

:3

 

[Rhaff]

There is not time before the big bang, as the theory goes time and space were created in the big bang so it is incorrect to say "before the big bang there was nothing in space" because there was neither space nor time.

That depends on what theory you believe in when it comes to the origin of the universe. I think its the freeze death or heat death that states, when the universe ends, another begins with a big bang.

 

[Amphoteric]

There is not time before the big bang, as the theory goes time and space were created in the big bang so it is incorrect to say "before the big bang there was nothing in space" because there was neither space nor time.

That depends on what theory you believe in when it comes to the origin of the universe. I think its the freeze death or heat death that states, when the universe ends, another begins with a big bang.

i'm pretty sure physicists think that the universe is going to infinately expand.

 

[Rhaff]

There is not time before the big bang, as the theory goes time and space were created in the big bang so it is incorrect to say "before the big bang there was nothing in space" because there was neither space nor time.

That depends on what theory you believe in when it comes to the origin of the universe. I think its the freeze death or heat death that states, when the universe ends, another begins with a big bang.

i'm pretty sure physicists think that the universe is going to infinately expand.

It varies widely on who you ask.

 

[Harry Mason]

Fun fact?
Catching HIV from kissing or sharing a drink with a person with HIV or AIDS is statistically impossible.
You would have to drink over a gallon of their spit before being in danger of catching the virus.

Also, it is perfectly legal for women to walk around topless in public in my home town, Asheville, NC.
Fun times.

 

[Rhaff]

Fun fact?
Catching HIV from kissing or sharing a drink with a person with HIV or AIDS is statistically impossible.
You would have to drink over a gallon of their spit before being in danger of catching the virus.

Or have an open sore or cut in your mouth.

 

[Logodaedalus]

On avarage Coconuts kill 50 times as many people a year as sharks do.

Grey hair doesn't exist, people with 'grey' hair actualy have a mix of black and white hairs.

In scotland it is illegal to deny a pregnant woman the use of your bathroom.

 

[ultrachicken]

There are also more humans in the world that donate with no thought of receiving, than people who give with a hope of receiving. This can apply to clothes, food, or blood. The fact remains, that more humans give without a thought of reward, than people who give because they think they get something in return.

That's not entirely true. As you said, most humans believe in a higher power, and the vast majority of the time, said higher power looks favorably on those who donate to charities, and therefore doing so increases your chance of getting into your version of heaven.

 

[Saxm13]

Dinosaurs were feathered......

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! MY CHILDHOOD!!!!!!!!!

/sob in corner

 

[Azaradel]

The velociraptors in Jurassic Park are too large to be velociraptors - they are based on deinonychus, a close relative to the velociraptors. This misconception has it's base in the fact that Crichton, when writing the book, used a reference which falsely classed deinonychus as a species of velociraptor. In the film, they were kept large for dramatic effect. Also, given the size of their brains in relation to their bodies, it is unlikely that velociraptors would have been nearly as intelligent as portrayed in the film.

Or something like that.

Why do I even care about biological inaccuracies in a work of fiction?

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfd39yLRLH1qc489fo1_500.png

 

[Harry Mason]

Fun fact?
Catching HIV from kissing or sharing a drink with a person with HIV or AIDS is statistically impossible.
You would have to drink over a gallon of their spit before being in danger of catching the virus.

Or have an open sore or cut in your mouth.

Or just bleeding from brushing with sensitive gums. I failed to mention that. Meant to say from spit, not kissing.

Another thing people don't know about AIDS is that it is perfect plausible, even common, for a woman currently infected with the HIV virus to have a healthy, non-HIV infected baby. The placenta actually functions as a filter that catches the HIV virus. It is so effective at filtering the HIV virus that it's being studied to possibly help with a cure. The way that babies of HIV infected mothers commonly get the virus is through exchanges of bodily fluids during birth, which with the right precautions can be avoided entirely.

Also, the HIV virus dies instantly when exposed to air.

Grey hair doesn't exist, people with 'grey' hair actualy have a mix of black and white hairs.

Then explain the pure grey hair I found on my head last week, still grey when plucked and isolated!
*sobs* AAARGH! I'M 21 AND GETTING OLD ALREADY!

 

[Wyes]

Black holes are not cosmic vacuum cleaners; they exert a gravitational force in the same way that any other massive object does. If the Sun were to somehow be compressed enough to become a black hole (without losing any of its mass), there would be almost no noticeable effect on the Solar System (in terms of orbits and the like, obviously suddenly there's no light etc.).

 

[FernandoV]

If fleas were human size they could jump over the empire state building

No. By comparison, the ability of a flea to jump would be like a human being able to jump over the empire state building. That doesn't mean that if you scaled them proportionally they could do it.