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Some Interesting Facts

Entry 2195, on 2022-01-02 at 21:38:09 (Rating 1, Comments)

I spend a lot of time on the internet, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and many other sites. While there I often find many little gems of wisdom; at least, they seem that way at the time! I'm sure you know the sort of things I mean; they usually involve a graphic with some text overlay revealing the message.

Yeah, I know a lot of these are superficial nonsense, and designed just to grab the reader's attention and maybe trick them into viewing an ad or something equally annoying, but some have a deeper meaning, or at least they make a good point.

And it is these ones which I add to my "collection" of interesting facts, quotes, and comments. At last count I had 289 of these stored, and many still seem to make sense to me. So I thought I might list a few of the better examples here, and comment on them of course, because that's just what I do!

Fact: It's been estimated that there are more stars in the Universe than there are grains of sand on earth, but there are more atoms in one grain of sand than there are stars in the Universe.

Comment: Maybe the best comment I can make here is a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy quote: Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts compared to space.

Fact: In 1988, the final history exams for more than 53 million Soviet school children were canceled because the government concluded that much of the history they had been taught was lies.

Comment: I'm not sure whether the "lies" favoured the communist government or not. Presumably history taught there would be friendly to the USSR, but then why would they shut down the exams? I think we would have to concede though, that there is an element of this in all teaching. For example, the proposed new history curriculum for here in New Zealand is at risk of containing a lot of misinformation, for reasons of political correctness.

Fact: British India tried to get rid of cobras by offering a reward for captured snakes. Locals started breeding cobras and giving them to the government to collect the reward. The British found out and stopped the program. The breeders then released their snakes causing the population to increase.

Comment: This is the famous "Cobra Effect" which states that any intervention which isn't carefully considered can easily result in the opposite of what was intended. It is an example of the law of unintended consequences, as well as the law that the people making the decisions are usually the last people who should be doing so. OK, I admit it: that's a new law I just made up!

Fact: Superstitions about black cats helped spread the Black Death. In the middle ages, people associated cats with witches and thought the Devil could turn into a black cat. Masses of cats were killed, and the uncontrolled rodent population increased the spread of plague-infected fleas.

Comment: Another example of the law of unintended consequences.

Fact: There are only seven countries where alcohol is illegal: Afghanistan, Maldives, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

Comment: Some valuable information there, noted for future reference. If I ever get to travel again, I won't visit those countries. I mean, I'm highly unlikely to anyway, except maybe Maldives, that looks pretty nice!

Fact: In 1518, a "dancing plague" struck Strasbourg, Alsace, whereby hundreds of people danced fervently in the streets over the period of a month. Some suffered heart attacks or strokes, and many others died from sheer exhaustion.

Comment: There have been many examples of this sort of phenomenon over the years. It does show that people are susceptible to irrational behaviour, and that just because a lot of people do or believe something, it doesn't add any credibility to that activity. Mindless hysteria is everywhere. Does that remind you of any current political trends?

Fact: Being able to instantly respond with sarcasm within seconds of a stupid question is a sign of a healthy brain.

Comment: I was so reassured when I first read this, because sarcasm is often my first response to stupidity. In fact, when I am debating on-line I often erase my first sarcastic response, and change it to something more reasonable.

Fact: Adele turned down the chance to sing at William and Kate's royal wedding because she had already made plans to attend a BBQ.

Comment: I think Adele is highly over-rated as a singer (I mean she's OK, but not great), but after reading this she went up greatly in my opinion. Any example of the royal snobs being out-snobbed is OK with me. By the way, I know William and Kate are probably the nicest royals, but I still disapprove of the basic concept of royalty.

Fact: A pig in Australia stole 18 beers from a campsite, got drunk, and then tried to fight a cow.

Comment: I think they mean a literal pig here, as opposed to a slobbish Australian person (no disrespect Australians; just a joke). It could be either though!

Final fact: Martine Rothblatt, the highest paid female CEO in the US was born as a male.

Comment: In other words the female was actually a male. I guess this is another example of how women are repressed. To be treated fairly they have to really be a man! Hey, I'm just making controversial comments here; I don't really believe that.

Anyway, there's a few interesting facts. I did check a few, and they seem true. I would be surprised if some weren't fake news, or at least significantly distorted, but when it comes to more lightweight material like this, I think accuracy is of only secondary importance.

Comment 1 (7084) by Anonymous on 2022-01-29 at 10:23:24:

Your unintended consequences examples are very relevant. I like that sort of thing.

Comment 2 (7085) by OJB on 2022-01-29 at 12:37:57:

Yes, I think it illustrates how the consequences of actions are often ignored just because people want to create an easy solution and pretend there are no possible disadvantages. Also, people often become committed to an idea and refuse to acknowledge its problems. Basically, it's the old "it works in theory, so it must work in practice too" and "this is my idea, it must be good" phenomenon which we see so often.

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