Interesting Facts Topic

[JAG18]

 

"The Exorcist", "The Amityville Horror", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "The Conjuring", and "The Blair Witch Trial" are films rumored or marketed as being based on true stories, but at least three have been proven to be purely fictional.

 

it's The Blair Witch Project, not The Blair Witch Trial.

 

also, just to elaborate so people know which films are fiction and which are supposedly based on fact: The Exorcist, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and The Blair Witch Project were indeed marketed as being based on true stories, but were pure works of fiction only taking bits and pieces of inspiration from various events and urban legends. The Amityville Horror and The Conjuring, however, were based on real people and adapted from reports of alleged hauntings.

 

incidentally, both films are based on hauntings investigated by Ed and Lorraine Warren, though only The Conjuring actually features them as characters.

 

Dang it, forgot the last part, thanks for that.

 

I actually meant withholding some of the info about the veracity of those films as a bit of a joke to keep people wondering, which were and weren't real, but hey if you want turn it into an educational moment that's great.

 

What I know about the "real" stories behind these films:

 

"Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is based on two real events, an actual murder by a serial killer and a fantasy that the writer/director had when he was waiting in a long line at Home Depot. He looked over at the chainsaws and thought to himself, "Hey I know how I can get out of here fast."

 

"The Amityville Horror", I think has been pretty well established as a movie that is very far removed from the facts (most of which it seems were pretty embellished to begin with).

 

"The Blair Witch Project" is almost purely fiction, without any basis in fact.

 

"The Exorcist" film is based on a book, which is based on another book, which is mostly just a collection of newspaper articles that covered the "real" story as it happened.

 

"The Conjuring" I have absolutely nothing to say about, other than what you mentioned.

Edited April 9, 2014 by JAG18

[Makuta of Time]

Poveglia Island, off of Italy is being sold at auction. Reason: The island is rumored to be haunted by the voices of the dead that died there. No one has dared stay for more than a night, for a voice in the hospital with bell tower says, "Leave and don't come back."

[Mr. Lightning Bolt]

 

 

The human soul weighs about 21 grams.

that's not a fact.

you're right. But he's citing a misinterpreted and poorly reasoned experiment. A human body after death is laid out for a few days. The initial weight and the weight taken after the few days had a median of about 21 grams. Forgetting the fact that some of the material within us evaporates or decomposes, the experimenter assumed it was the "soul".

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Why is it that the word "bass" (long 'a') when referring to music is pronounced differently than a "bass" (short 'a') fish?

 

Well, the long 'a' "bass" comes from the Latin 'basus', meaning 'low' or 'down'. The short 'a' bass comes from some Italian word. They have totally different roots, but when they were incorporated into English, some letters were dropped, leaving only 'bass' in both words.

[Dapper-Sama]

In 1964, Bob Dylan was asked by a reporter what product might entice him to sell out. He replied, "Ladies' undergarments". Forty years later, in 2004, he made an appearance in a Victoria's Secret advertisement.

[JAG18]

At the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House--which began 150 years ago today--Union General John Sedgwick was killed by a sniper, while trying to bolster his frightened troops. Sedgwick's last words were, "They couldn't shoot an elephant at this distance!"

Edited May 8, 2014 by JAG18

[Dapper-Sama]

You can write 231 (give or take like a dozen or something) 200-page novels from the words the average American uses in a year.

[Elissa]

 

At least four popes were the sons of priests, and at least two were the sons of other popes.

 

Correct.

 

Four Popes were of the Medici Family, the most powerful family during the Renaissance. The most famous Medici Popes were Pope Leo X and Clement the VII. Leo X had an illegitimate son named Alessandro who went on to become the Duke of Tuscany.

 

One of the most famous and most recognizable logos, the I Love New York logo, was done pro bono by designer Milton Glaser and is the most borrowed design in the world.

[Dapper-Sama]

Japan doesn't normally change the names of game shows they import. One of the few exceptions is Family Feud, which is titled We Asked 100 People... because the Japanese version doesn't use families as the contestants.

[Toa Of Virtues]

Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, a Russian Physicist, was the only person to have a particle accelerator fire a beam of high-energy protons through his head. The beam struck and burned face, bone, and brain tissue. He survived, but half of his face swelled up and became paralyzed. He claimed he saw a light "brighter than a thousand suns," but didn't feel any pain.

[Oroki]

Ok, here goes:

Humans and elephants are the only creatures that have a chin.
 

Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, a Russian Physicist, was the only person to have a particle accelerator fire a beam of high-energy protons through his head. The beam struck and burned face, bone, and brain tissue. He survived, but half of his face swelled up and became paralyzed. He claimed he saw a light "brighter than a thousand suns," but didn't feel any pain.

Woah, trippy...
 

 

 

The human soul weighs about 21 grams.

 
that's not a fact.

 

you're right. But he's citing a misinterpreted and poorly reasoned experiment. A human body after death is laid out for a few days. The initial weight and the weight taken after the few days had a median of about 21 grams. Forgetting the fact that some of the material within us evaporates or decomposes, the experimenter assumed it was the "soul".

 

Oh. My. God. What the- ? Since when is an "experimenter" a legit source of knowledge anyway? Aww, darn just found out it was a docter. What docter... I don't even.

Edited June 25, 2014 by Oroki

[Laughing Man]

 

 

The human soul weighs about 21 grams.

that's not a fact.

 

you're right. But he's citing a misinterpreted and poorly reasoned experiment. A human body after death is laid out for a few days. The initial weight and the weight taken after the few days had a median of about 21 grams. Forgetting the fact that some of the material within us evaporates or decomposes, the experimenter assumed it was the "soul".

 

not only was it misinterpreted and poorly-reasoned, but it was also just a failure of an experiment - he only did six tests which isn't nearly enough to prove anything, and out of those six tests two of them had to be discarded and the other four showed wildly inconsistent results. two showed gradual weight loss over time, another showed immediate loss of weight, and still another showed loss of weight followed by gaining it back and then losing it again.

 

also, Dr. Duncan MacDougall, who performed the experiment, wasn't even sure of the exact time of death in every instance which makes his results even less credible, as if they weren't already ridiculous enough.

 

it was a farce of an experiment that didn't even come close to meeting scientific standards and it's shocking how many people have taken it at face value and accepted it to be true.

[Bfahome]

Leaving the refrigerator open is very inefficient for heating your house.

[Toa Of Virtues]

Schrödinger's cat is an experiment where a random event (the decay of an atom) can trigger the death of a cat in a box. Since we have no idea if the atom decays or not, we can not tell if the cat is either dead or alive. Events like this happen all the time on the quantum level, called superpositioning, meaning that both events happen simultaneously. If the cat is in a superposition, it can be said to be both dead and alive at the same time, until you open the box. There is many interpretations of this, but personally I believe that quantum decoherence would decide the fate of the cat long before the box is opened.

 

If you can't tell, I have a bunch of weird science facts.

[JAG18]

In 1930, the average American woman owned nine outfits. Today, the average woman buys 60 pieces of new clothing every year.

[Mr. Lightning Bolt]

Ok, here goes:

 

Humans and elephants are the only creatures that have a chin.

 

Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, a Russian Physicist, was the only person to have a particle accelerator fire a beam of high-energy protons through his head. The beam struck and burned face, bone, and brain tissue. He survived, but half of his face swelled up and became paralyzed. He claimed he saw a light "brighter than a thousand suns," but didn't feel any pain.

Woah, trippy...

 

 

 

The human soul weighs about 21 grams.

that's not a fact.

 

you're right. But he's citing a misinterpreted and poorly reasoned experiment. A human body after death is laid out for a few days. The initial weight and the weight taken after the few days had a median of about 21 grams. Forgetting the fact that some of the material within us evaporates or decomposes, the experimenter assumed it was the "soul".

 

Oh. My. God. What the- ? Since when is an "experimenter" a legit source of knowledge anyway? Aww, *@!# just found out it was a docter. What docter... I don't even.

 

Experimentation is the foundation of science. also, *doctor.

[Spiderus Prime]

Godzilla's first version was Brown,not Green that was mis-colored of the American Poster than Toho changed it to Charcoal Grey for his skin,and the rest was history beside 2 costum were ACTUALLY Green.

[DNZe]

The average person has an above average number of legs.

 

a small percentage of people have less than two legs, making the average number something like 1.99999999999999999999.... Making 2 legs above average

 

Think about it...

[bls999]

Haha. That's pretty interesting.

Turtles do something called cloacal breathing, where they intake water and extract the air from it in their cloaca. Scary stuff. Haha

[Oroki]

 

Ok, here goes:

 

Humans and elephants are the only creatures that have a chin.

 

Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, a Russian Physicist, was the only person to have a particle accelerator fire a beam of high-energy protons through his head. The beam struck and burned face, bone, and brain tissue. He survived, but half of his face swelled up and became paralyzed. He claimed he saw a light "brighter than a thousand suns," but didn't feel any pain.

Woah, trippy...

 

 

 

The human soul weighs about 21 grams.

 

that's not a fact.

 

you're right. But he's citing a misinterpreted and poorly reasoned experiment. A human body after death is laid out for a few days. The initial weight and the weight taken after the few days had a median of about 21 grams. Forgetting the fact that some of the material within us evaporates or decomposes, the experimenter assumed it was the "soul".

 

Oh. My. God. What the- ? Since when is an "experimenter" a legit source of knowledge anyway? Aww, darn just found out it was a docter. What docter... I don't even.

 

Experimentation is the foundation of science. also, *doctor.

 

Not just experimentation, but experimentation and drawing valid conclusions. But the fact that he's an actual doctor makes it worse

 

This is a warped way of drawing conlusions that somehow slipped into science: I have a spider. When I screaam near it, it always runs away. Now I tear off its legs (sorry, animal lovers). I scream near it again. It won't run away. Therefore a spider's ears must be on it's legs.

 

Obviously, the spider just couldn't run away because it needs its legs to run away.

 

... So to stay on topic, the fun fact: even scientists of today draw lousy conclusions. It's a serious problem, right now, so watch out for that.

[Sybre]

 

 

Ok, here goes:

 

Humans and elephants are the only creatures that have a chin.

 

Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, a Russian Physicist, was the only person to have a particle accelerator fire a beam of high-energy protons through his head. The beam struck and burned face, bone, and brain tissue. He survived, but half of his face swelled up and became paralyzed. He claimed he saw a light "brighter than a thousand suns," but didn't feel any pain.

Woah, trippy...

 

 

 

The human soul weighs about 21 grams.

 

that's not a fact.

 

you're right. But he's citing a misinterpreted and poorly reasoned experiment. A human body after death is laid out for a few days. The initial weight and the weight taken after the few days had a median of about 21 grams. Forgetting the fact that some of the material within us evaporates or decomposes, the experimenter assumed it was the "soul".

 

Oh. My. God. What the- ? Since when is an "experimenter" a legit source of knowledge anyway? Aww, darn just found out it was a docter. What docter... I don't even.

 

Experimentation is the foundation of science. also, *doctor.

 

Not just experimentation, but experimentation and drawing valid conclusions. But the fact that he's an actual doctor makes it worse

 

This is a warped way of drawing conlusions that somehow slipped into science: I have a spider. When I screaam near it, it always runs away. Now I tear off its legs (sorry, animal lovers). I scream near it again. It won't run away. Therefore a spider's ears must be on it's legs.

 

Obviously, the spider just couldn't run away because it needs its legs to run away.

 

... So to stay on topic, the fun fact: even scientists of today draw lousy conclusions. It's a serious problem, right now, so watch out for that.

 

Okay, I'm sorry I mentioned that soul thing back there!

[Oroki]

Oh, I think I got one:

 

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is a lung disease caused by breathing in fine ash and sand dust. (srsly!)

[Dapper-Sama]

The survival-horror shooter Left 4 Dead was surprisingly well-received in Japan; thus, this:

 

 

The Japanese arcade version is somewhat different from its western console counterpart, with a different setting and protagonists, but the gameplay is exactly the same.

[Oroki]

That sure looks fanciful.

 

Bzpower doesn't have a Wikipedia page. (I learnt this today and I was shocked.)

[Klak]

Aiden Gillen, who played the CIA Agent in "The Dark Knight Rises", is actually taller than Tom Hardy, who played Bane. Still, he calls Bane a "big guy".

 

 

Why is it that the word "bass" (long 'a') when referring to music is pronounced differently than a "bass" (short 'a') fish?

 

Well, the long 'a' "bass" comes from the Latin 'basus', meaning 'low' or 'down'. The short 'a' bass comes from some Italian word. They have totally different roots, but when they were incorporated into English, some letters were dropped, leaving only 'bass' in both words.

 

Dang, finally explained.

[Pupwa21]

Super Sentai started out as just Sentai, with Gorenger and J.A.K.Q

 

J.A.K.Q failed, due to its serious nature when compared to the popular Gorenger.

 

Later on, Spider man (1987, I believe) had giant robots in it, inspiring Battle Fever J, which rebooted the Sentai series as Super sentai.

[Oroki]

Building the Titanic costs 7 million dollars. Making a movie about it costs 200 million dollars.

[JAG18]

Building the Titanic costs 7 million dollars. Making a movie about it costs 200 million dollars.

Adjusted for inflation, it cost about 400 million dollars to build the Titanic.  

[P~M]

Schrödinger's cat is an experiment where a random event (the decay of an atom) can trigger the death of a cat in a box. Since we have no idea if the atom decays or not, we can not tell if the cat is either dead or alive. Events like this happen all the time on the quantum level, called superpositioning, meaning that both events happen simultaneously. If the cat is in a superposition, it can be said to be both dead and alive at the same time, until you open the box. There is many interpretations of this, but personally I believe that quantum decoherence would decide the fate of the cat long before the box is opened.

 

If you can't tell, I have a bunch of weird science facts.

The Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment was actually intended to showcase the absurdity of quantum superposition, but ironically ended up being the most well-known analogy for it.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Cadmium Kyogre P~M

[Jonathan Crane]

No known oath exists for the White Lantern Corps.

The Creeper was actually created by a designing error in making a pig.

Final Fantasy was called so because it was going to be the developer's last game.

There is now an oath for them, but it still isn't as cool as the Black Lantern's or Blue Lantern's in my opinion.

 

Anyway, before going with the name "Bionicle", Lego used the names Dooheads, Voodooheads, and even Boneheads of Voodoo island

[Timelady Gallade]

The Audio play Doctor and the Pirates was originally supposed to be release no.42, but got bumped up to 43. It could've been the meaning of life... ;_;

[avmatoran]

Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Marvel, Lucasarts, part of Hulu and A&E, and used to own or partially own lots of other stuff and divisions of stuff. Also, by that logic, Princess Leia is now a Disney princess.

[BioGio]

Disney owns ABC, ESPN, Marvel, Lucasarts, part of Hulu and A&E, and used to own or partially own lots of other stuff and divisions of stuff. Also, by that logic, Princess Leia is now a Disney princess.

 

ESPN is actually Disney's largest source of revenue (including all of their TV channels, the magazine, website and other media).

 

(Source:  Met the managing editor of ESPN.com about a year ago, and he liked bragging about this.)

 

- BioGio

[Scanty Demon]

The first usage of the term "hacking" in regards to computer came from a group of remote control model train users. The group wanted remote control equipment for their trains but couldn't get any and instead received old radio parts. So they modified them into actual remote control parts and thus the term was born.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Sundowner

[Jonathan Crane]

the largest map in a videogame belongs to the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

[Dapper-Sama]

^Definitely not the case, actually. That title belongs to either Grand Theft Auto V or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

[avmatoran]

Actually, I thought it was the second Elder Scrolls.

 

Every single "discrepancy" conspiracy theorists find in moon landing photos is explainable, they just don't listen to logic.

[Dapper-Sama]

Including procedurally generated maps, Minecraft would definitely win.

[avmatoran]

Nah, it's referring to finite maps completely built by the devs.

 

In terms of maps that have the least stuff in them, Space Engineers probably wins, since one scenario starts with one small ship, a few asteroids, and bunches and bunches of empty space.

[Scanty Demon]

The loading bar that fills up as the webpage loads or the computer finishes a task means absolutely nothing. You could remove them and your computer would still work perfectly fine. These were added after numerous computer tests were cut short due to a scientist rebooting computer because it didn't seem to work. In order to fix this the bars were added so that people would know something was happening on the computer.