Random Facts

[Keanumoreira]

Earth's oceans were once green due to an excess amount of iron in the water millions of years ago.

 

Britain was the first nation to pass health laws.

 

The French gave us child support.

 

It is a popular debate among the Spanish and the Portugese on who really discovered America first. Documents from both countries detail they were the first in the world to do so. The question remains: Who was right?

 

Black is not a color because it is quite the opposite, where white is all diverging colors into one concentrated space, black being the complete absence of light.

[MikeRyan]

only facts i can think of right now

 

Sweden and Denmark holds the record for most wars fought betwen eachother

 

there is a danish law that allows danes to hit swedes with a stick if the swede walks over the ice betwen Denmark and Sweden

 

 

we sure have some problems here :P

[kevkiev]

Although "flammable" isn't really the proper term for something that can start on fire, the US safety authorities mandated its use on labelling because of a concern that the more correct "inflammable" can be taken to mean something that's fire-proof.

[Vindekarr]

I saw a genuine, Ford GT-40 today, brought back some nostalgia I can tell you.

 

Like guns, books, movies, and virtualy everything else, old cars tend to accrue their own histories. A few cars however could only be described as living legends, vehicles either so famous, so desireable, or so innovative and game-changing that the legacy of their existance can still be felt even half a century after they ceased to be built.

 

An example of a true legendary car, and one you'll likely be familiar with is the Mclaren F-1. Produced from 1993 to 1997, the F-1 was destined for greatness, it could not be, anything less would be failure. It's chief designer set the bold mission statement: built the ultimate sports car. period. No matter the cost, nothing less than the best will do. And the F-1 was very much the ultimate car of it's generation. Blitzing every road car ever built to that point both off the line, in the corners, and at top speed, it is, amazingly considering the pace of technolgical growth, still more than a match for most racing cars half it's age. The F-1 had another ace up it's sleeve: no car maker since has ever come close to the F-1's total number of wins and championships with a single unaltered pattern of car. The F-1 however, was, like the proverbial rock band that makes one heartsirringly good album then dies in a plane crash, was short lived. Production ran to asproximately 100 in all. At the time, they cost one million pounds each, and were custom built by hand for each owner. Now, they're worth usualy five to eight million and higher. Mclaren closed it's doors in 1998 and went dormant, dead in the water and out of funds. Koenigsegg then Bugatti took the F-1's world speed record, but the F-1 is still, for many, particlarly of gen-Y, the greatest road car ever built, and probably always will be.

 

The Ford GT-40 is perhaps however, quite simply the most legendary of them all. In the early 1960s Ferrari of Iraly were the supreme superpower of all sports cars. Unbeatable on the track, and lead by the lagrer than life, and by all accounts acidiocly hard to work with, Enzo Ferrari, they were an unbeatable force, the apex predator that has no true equal. Ford motor co of America chose the early '60s to propose to buy a stake in Ferrari. Enzo however, a legend in his own right a as prima-donna and for being a bit rude, snubbed Ford's offer in such a way that Ford took great offence.

 

To this date Ford had limited experience building any sort of sports car, the Mustang was only 2 years old, and Ferrari had no idea what a mistake he'd made or what a sleeping giant he'd awoken. Ford decided Ferrari deserved a lesson, if they could not have Ferrari then Ferrari would pay dearly for it's offence of Ford's honour. Ferrari had one true stomping ground, Le Mans, and it was here that Ford decided to strike. Ford threw the soon to be legendary Ford GT-40 into production, and the enxt year lined up next to the then unstoppable Ferrari GTO on the start grid.

 

It was not so much a victory as massacre, Ferrari had lost before, but this went beyond mere winning, Ford, Americans with no experience of enduro racing, humiliated them, with a race win so dominating that Ferrari has never lost so badly before or since. The GT40 gained almost instant legendary status. Nobody had ever expected to see Ferrari lose so badly, let alone at the event they essentialy owned. Ford tought everyone that Ferrari weren't invincible, but the GT40 was such a success, despite being hideously impracticle as a road car, that it's still in production in 2010.

 

http://i1228.photobucket.com/albums/ee454/Vindekarr/800px-APS_underwater_rifle_REMOV-1.jpg

A legend by anyone's reckoning.

Edited April 24, 2011 by Vindekarr

[GETbacon]

How about this:

 

A Bugatti Royale displaces 12.7 liters of fuel, too put that in perspective, the Bugatti Veyron displaces 8.0 liters of fuel.

 

Only one car (the DAF 33) has been able to go backwards as fast as it can forwards due to it's unique centrifugal clutch.

 

The peel p50 (Made famous again by Top gear) hold the record for being the worlds smallest car and in France is legal for a 15 year old to drive due to it's small displacement.

[Vindekarr]

If you slammed the door hard enough, a Ford GT's door could decapitate the driver, due to it's unusual shape.

 

The title for World's Fastest Car has been traded more times in the last ten years than in the previous thirty, simply because swedish elite brand Koenigsegg held it in 2000, taking it from the all conquering but short lived Mclaren F-1. Bugatti took it in 2007, and Koenigsegg made it a point of personal rivalry to take the title back, they suceeded, but Bugatti took it back the next year, the title has changed hands between the two companies an estimated five times.

 

Koenigsegg was founded by a Swedish Baron in 1999. They are now one of the most well known and well loved car makers in the world, yet they only produce one model, and have sold less than a thousand vehicles. I

 

In Australia it is illegal to own a Ferrari Enzo, these are not street legal, while other, faster, and arguably less safe vehicles such as the Bugatti Veyron(very dificult to drive within the speedlimit, extremelytt over-responsive engine), Pagani Zonda(no airbags) and Koenigsegg(terrible wet weather handling) are, and will be impounded by the police. I cant think why.

 

The Nissan GT-R (R-35) is the dream car of many, but it's becoming a legend in it's own right due to a controversy about it's performance. Japan has very strict laws about the car industry. Nissan claims the sleek, lythe, agressively styled and famously giant killing GT-R can put out 300 horsepower. An American magazine however, suspicious after a road test, famously put theirs on a dynometre, a device that measures the power an engine produces, which stated the GT-R was turning out just a hair under 550 horsepower. Nissan studiously denies all claims that their Godzilla of a car produces anything more than the standard 300 BHP, however, they do admit, with a sly smile, that "due to the hand-made nature of the engines and gearboxes, performance may vary from vehicle to vehicle" It clearly does, most exported GT-Rs have weighed in around the 490 horsepower mark, with the lowest sitting at 434, Nissan, however claims the measurements are a hoax.

Edited April 25, 2011 by Vindekarr

[Retribution]

[ub3rman123]

I'm amazed that they included more dialogue than you could even fit into the boss fight timer.

[Retribution]

I'm amazed that they included more dialogue than you could even fit into the boss fight timer.

Yeah, Portal 2 has a ton of dialogue.

 

89% of magic tricks are not magic. Technically, they are sorcery.

[The_Vyper]

Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney sang under the alias Apollo C. Vermouth.

 

The monarch butterfly can discern tastes 12,000 times more subtle than those perceivable by human taste buds.

 

The typical kangaroo is 40 percent brighter than the smartest dog or cat.

 

Dolphins have killed sharks by ramming them with their snouts.

 

The smallest monkey is the pygmy marmoset, which weighs around 5 ounces (150 grams).

 

A two-day-old gazelle can outrun a full-grown horse.

 

In the US, you can cover any possible amount of change for one transaction if you have: 3 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 nickel and 4 pennies.