Factoid Friday Version 1.1

Happy Friday! I hope your weekend is off to a good start! This particular entry is called Factoid Friday Version 1.1 because this is actually my second go at Factoid Friday. I had an earlier entry that I wrote, posted and then later deleted because I wasn't happy with how it turned out. It was short on facts and had some scary pics in it (of spiders! What was I thinking posting that? Who would want to read this blog afterwards?) so I thought I would start fresh and take a second crack at it.

I adore reading books about trivia. I try to fit in some fiction, because it's a nice getaway from my real life (although, I'm re-reading the Shopaholic series at the moment. I'm pretty sure that's just my bio.) I like to read trivia and random fact books because I love things that just make me go "Wow! That's really cool!" and then I can mis-quote all the random tidbits I learned while I'm out at parties (so I sound really smart even though I'm little off on my stats, oopsie!)

One that I finished recently that I highly recommend is called "The First Book of Seconds" by a father/son team named Matthew and Steve Murrie.

 

Things I Learned From This Book

When they say "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" it basically is referring to how close you got to the alien(s.) For some reason, I always thought the "third kind" always referred to the aliens being something not of this planet. Like, there are animals on this planet (they could be the first kind) then there are plants (they could be the second kind) and I thought aliens were the third kind because they were other worldly. However, it basically refers to how much alien action you got. Close Encounters of the first kind is a sighting of a UFO within 500 feet. Second kind requires a UFO spotting, plus some zapping or radiation of land, animals or humans. Crop circles count in this category too. Close encounters of the third kind means you've had first hand contact or been abducted (or lost your mind.) Close encounters of the fourth kind (that exists!) means they've had sexual relations with you. So glad I got this straight!

Every 26 seconds, a car is stolen in America. In my circles, I don't know anyone with cars getting stolen, but everyday someone's bike is getting stolen. I'm very happy my legs are my only mode of transportation! Try to take these from me, people!

Wondering why so much of your jewelry is just gold-plated rather than solid gold? If all the gold ever mined were gathered together, it would fill only 2 Olympic size swimming pools! (And I would dive right in, muhahaha.)

And now my favourite - some word trivia (some of these will make your head spin. How did they even figure some of these out or even come across them?)

The longest word with all the vowels in order - pancreaticoduodenostomy

The longest word where all the letters appear twice - esophagographers
The word with the longest run of vowels - queuing
The word with the longest run of consonants - latchstring
The longest word with just one vowel - strengths
The longest word to alternate consonants and vowels honorificabilitudinitatibus
The longest word in alphabetical order - aegilops
The longest word without repeating letter - uncopyrightable and dermatoglyphics

Fun fact - my spell check thought most of these were spelt wrong.

It Happened This Day

In 1522, the Victoria, the only surviving ship of it's fleet (from Ferdinand Magellan's expedition) returns to port in Spain and becomes the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. I find it so interesting that it used to take months to travel the world, with such danger, and now we just hop on a plane (and complain the entire time about the boredom we suffer with tons of technology at our disposal.) Crazy what explorers of the past had to endure!
In 1944 at the tail end of World War II, the city of Ypres, Belgium is liberated by allied forces.
Canada gets it's first television station in 1952 (compared to the US in 1941.)
In 1991, the name Saint Petersburg is restored to Russia's second largest city, which had been renamed Leningrad in 1924. (I find this interesting because I bet this will be a Jeopardy answer one day.)
The funeral of Princess Diana takes place in London in 1997. Over a million people lined the streets and 2.5 billion watched around the world on television. I didn't personally watch the funeral (although I'm sure my mom did. She's been a follower of the royal family for some time.) Does anyone else clearly remember when Princess Di died? I remember I was online, chatting on some crappy internet site where you talk to total strangers. I remember the background was black and the text was in red. I found out from some obnoxious 12 year old boy that she had died and I didn't believe him.

On a brighter note (and also on a royal note!) it's Pippa Middleton's birthday today! In honor of her 29th birthday, I've made a board of Pippa style items.

1) Steel My Kisses Dress - Modcloth - $50
2) Full Course Load Bag in Yellow - Modcloth - $75
3) Plentiful Paths Dress - Modcloth - $70
4) Foggy Marina Double Breasted Trench - Tulle Clothing - $98
5) Single Breasted Blazer - Tulle Clothing - $55
6) Full Course Load Bag in Charcoal - Modcloth - $75
7) Stroke of Genius Dress in Birds - Modcloth - $77

And here are some of the images that inspired them:

One last piece of interesting trivia. One day and 315 years ago, Russian Tsar, Peter the Great (who founded St. Petersburg) decided Western fashion was favourable after taking a grand tour of Europe, where men were typically clean shaven. Upon returning home to Russia, he took scissors to the beards of all the men in his court, and imposed a tax of 100 roubles annually (a small fortune at the time.) Those who opted to pay the fee had to keep a copper token with an image of a mustache and beard on it as proof of their payment. The tax was overturn in 1772. If only everybody who participated in Movember actually raised money towards prostrate cancer! Maybe that would be the equivalent?

Hope the rest of your weekend is amazing folks! Talk soon!