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Off Topic Astounding Facts and Amazing Stories

Discussion in 'Queens Park Rangers' started by sb_73, Apr 8, 2015.

  1. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    Morbid Knowledge
    @Morbidful


    In 1991, a woman named Patricia Stallings was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering her son through antifreeze poisoning. While in prison, Stallings gave birth to another child that was placed in foster care. Later, that child developed the same symptoms that killed Stallings' first child. It turned out, both of her children were born with a rare genetic disorder that mimics antifreeze poisoning.


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  2. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    17-year-old Juliane Koepcke was sucked out of an airplane after it was struck by lightning in 1971. She fell 2 miles to the ground, was strapped to her seat, and survived 10 days in the Amazon Jungle.


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    #562
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  3. Hammersmith bookie

    Hammersmith bookie Well-Known Member

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    Amazing, but who took that pic ?
     
    #563
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  4. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    Pale Blue Dot is a photo of Earth that was taken by the Voyager 1 space probe in 1990 from a distance of about 6 billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) as it was leaving our solar system. This is what Carl Sagan said about the photo: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor, and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there — on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”


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  5. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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  6. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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  7. LandOfHoopsAndGlory

    LandOfHoopsAndGlory Well-Known Member

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    I've often thought about how many people (and other beings) have been alive on this "mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam". Billions of people and trillions, maybe even quadrillions, or more, insects and other once living beings had once inhabited our planet. All now dissolved, dispersed into the Earth's crust from which life is replenished. Renewed, but for what reason? To once again re-organise into the soil after bearing new life? Or to annihilate each other because we crave more of everything for ourselves and others like 'us'?
    Cue Eric Idle and the Galaxy Song.

    Have a happy day everyone! :emoticon-0157-sun:
    RIP Carl Sagan and Terry Jones.
     
    #567
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  8. Uber_Hoop

    Uber_Hoop Well-Known Member

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  9. LandOfHoopsAndGlory

    LandOfHoopsAndGlory Well-Known Member

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    Looks more like sophisticated Japanese CGI.
    How do they tell the age of the species? And are there any other individuals?
    Really think it's fake. Eyes are cloudy (at least the right one) and living, by the looks, in a remote, desolate region of the ocean in fairly shallow waters, going by the light level.
    Maybe the poor thing is lost, 'cause there's bugger all around.
    If it's real, why has it taken so long to discover? It's not as though it's in vastly deep waters or in dark caverns or so minute so as not to be perceived.
    Or maybe, just ..maybe, I'm just placing too much significance on this post! o_O
     
    #569
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  10. LandOfHoopsAndGlory

    LandOfHoopsAndGlory Well-Known Member

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    I was going to say something flippant like 'that would be a bulimic's delight', but having looked up the disease, it's a real ****turd of an illness.

    "Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are both eating disorders, but they differ in the following ways:
    • Anorexia nervosa is a syndrome of self-starvation involving significant weight loss of 15 percent or more of ideal body weight, whereas patients with bulimia nervosa are, by definition, at normal weight or above."
    And now I've just learnt of a third eating disorder, Orthorexia nervosa.
    'If you won’t eat unless the food is organic, GMO-free and has no carbs, additives, preservatives, artificial sugar or sodium – to the point of affecting your relationships and social life – you’re not just being picky.' How complicated is the human mind?!

    And then you come across this,

    God help Cami Grundy and her family.
    Makes you wonder how many 'effin diseases/disorders are out there?
    And how lucky you are to have better health, yourself and your family.
    Reckon I should stop complaining about how unfit I am, get out and do some excercise and thank God I'm not in their situation.
     
    #570
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  11. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    of all the marriages that took place in portugal in 2021 91 % ended in divorce
     
    #571
  12. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    Humans now only make up 38.5% of internet traffic.

    The other 61.5% is non-human (bots, hacking tools, etc).
     
    #572
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  13. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    Scary ****! Skynet getting ready for the fall of man. The terminator will be here soon - as long as it's not before Christmas (125 to go....)
     
    #573
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  14. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    0.3% of solar energy from the Sahara is enough to power the whole of Europe.
     
    #574
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  15. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    % of the population that speaks fluent English:

    Brazil - 5%
    Russia - 12%
    Turkey - 18%
    India - 20%
    Spain - 22%
    South Africa - 31%
    Italy - 34%
    France - 40%
    Greece - 50%
    Germany - 56%
    Pakistan - 58%
    Philippines - 58%
    Nigeria - 60%
    Belgium - 60%
    Finland - 70%
    Austria - 73%
    Canada - 83%
    Denmark - 86%
    Sweden - 88%
    Norway - 90%
    Australia - 92%
    USA - 95%
    Singapore - 96%
    New Zealand - 98%
    UK - 98.3%
    Ireland - 98.37%
    Gibraltar - 100%
     
    #575
  16. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    1 hour minimum wage vs Big Mac price in the US :

    1980: $3.10 vs $0.50

    2022: $7.25 vs $8.00
     
    #576
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  17. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    Source? Struggling to process this...91% of marriages lasted less than 2 years? Now, I know a lot of Portuguese people and they're a stubborn lot, so I'd be suprised that this figure is true....
     
    #577
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  18. kiwiqpr

    kiwiqpr Barnsie Mod

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    Readers added context they thought people might want to know
    The numbers are respecting a specific year so this tweet can be misleading. For instance in 2021 there were few marriages in Portugal but from those 91% ended in divorce. This stat does not mean that 91% of all time marriage end in divorce. Source: pordata.pt/portugal/numer…
     
    #578
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  19. Steelmonkey

    Steelmonkey Well-Known Member

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    Your link suggests just under 60%....still a massive number, but nowhere near 90%

    Screenshot_20230821_195150.jpg
     
    #579
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  20. MickMack

    MickMack Well-Known Member

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    That would still be saying 91% of 2021's marraiges have lasted less than 2 years.

    I think there maybe a bit of loss in translation, I suspect the quote is actually saying for every 100 marraiges in 2021 there were 91 divorces.

    Given lockdowns of 2020 you may have seen a rise in divorces in 2021,
     
    #580
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