The Thread of Stupid Yet Neat Things

[Shadowstrider]

A bit bored, thought it'd be cool to start a thread where you post stupid factoids that you find interesting.

 

For example... Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[LoneWolf16]

Wow...it's true. Got taht etnrie tinhg, no prboelm.

[KOTORFanactic]

Astronimers (and I use the term loosely) found Victor Meldrew's face in the night sky.

http://www.megastar.co.uk/meganews/news/20...zY2NzA3NDE.html

 

I thought, 'WOW'

then I thought 'There's about billions of stars up there. You could connect up any stars, and find the outline of any person if you wanted to'.

 

The silly season of tabloids...

[Atreides]

For example... Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One of the speedreading dudes said that the reason we can't normally read fast is that we've been trained to read words one by one. Basically we're first taught the alphabet then taught to read them in groups - a word. However we're not encouraged to "expand" to read more than one word at a time when going the further step wouldn't be as hard as it would be now that we're used to reading single words.

[Cantousent]

While the vast majority of English words are derived from Latin or Greek, English remains a Germanic language. That's because the core vocabulary in English, the most common words in the language, are Germanic.

 

Also, did you know that much of English grammar is intentionally patterned off of Latin grammar? That's why we have silly rules such as the prohibition against split infinitives. In Latin (and Greek) an infinitive is one word and cannot be split. To boldly go or to go boldly, that is the question.

[Walsingham]

I couldn't read at all until the age of five, then came across a copy of the Hobbit, and taught myself to read it! Maybe this is why I read so fast now?

[metadigital]

A bit bored, thought it'd be cool to start a thread where you post stupid factoids that you find interesting.

 

For example... Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I like that, I didn't know that!

 

I wonder if there is some connection with dyslexia and some people's inability to write letters in the correct order ...

[GhostofAnakin]

I always thought it was weird that no one can lick their elbow.

[Darkside]

I always thought it was weird that no one can lick their elbow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wha du ya 'o? ith's twu!

[Dark Moth]

I always thought it was weird that no one can lick their elbow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wha du ya 'o? ith's twu!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Actually, I know a guy who can do that! And I didn't even believe him until he actually showed me.

[Shryke]

I always thought it was weird that no one can lick their elbow.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Wha du ya 'o? ith's twu!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Actually, I know a guy who can do that! And I didn't even believe him until he actually showed me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

but can he lick his eyebrows?

[Calax]

I would think some of these would be fun

Not for the children

[metadigital]

You just can't pass up a chance to use those weird letters, can you?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just don't mention Aeon Flux to him. :ph34r:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No. Ligatures are your friend.

What about

[metadigital]

...

I have the same problem.  I see Meta as whatever that freaky guy is ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

D

[Kaftan Barlast]

Pheh. We Swedes just put two dots over the A to get our sweet

[Cantousent]

Doofus, Daedalus is Greek. The Romans use the word Daedalus, but Latin, especially as written today, uses a distinct A and E. Don't take it from a classicist. I see what you're saying, but my point is that you're not writing it in the original Greek anyhow, so what difference does it make?

 

So, Daedalus is generally the way one sees the name written in modern works. Even modern works written in Latin, such the Aeneid.

 

What all this has to do with brunettes is beyond me, except that Daedalus probably preferred brunettes also.

 

EDIT: heh heh. "Modern works written in Latin" Okay, that is to say a modern publication of a Latin work.

[Master_Vrook]

A crocodile's sex is determined by the temperature, hot is a female, cold is male and a medium temperature can sometimes hatch a litter of hermaphrodites(so I'm told, don't hold me to that one).

 

Clown Fish change their gender depending on the amount of males or females present in the area at a certain age.

 

Sharks can throw up their own stomachs when frightened.

 

Some species of Sharks like the Sand Tiger(Grey Nurse to all you aussies) cannibalize one another in the womb.

 

Snakes and sharks do not have eyelids, but infact have something called a nictating membrane that slides over the eye in order to protect it.

 

One of the longest creatures in the world is a Sciphonophore, it lives in deep oceans and specimens up to 88 meters in length have been found. They are in fact a colony of jellyfiish-like organisms that form a much larger functional organism with a stomach, muscles and even primitive eyes.

 

In Sweden there's a forest of pine trees that all share the same root and has been disputed to be one of largest living organisms.

[metadigital]

The oldest living organism is a tree in Tasmania. It takes up an entire mountain, and has been alive since the last ice age (c. 10-12k years).

 

Barramundi, a type of fish, starts off as a male freshwater (river) fish, then grows up and out, to become a female saltwater fish. (Not sure how they end up mating; probably through a turnstile).

[Cantousent]

Hey, you know the real reason I don't use a cool digraph is becaue I don't know how to make one!

 

heh heh

 

Anyhow, I find the idea of a living organim living for thousands of years fascinating. It's amazing to think that it has lived through every known kingdom of mankind. It is humbling, I think, to know that our lifespans are so short by comparison.

[SteveThaiBinh]

Hey, you know the real reason I don't use a cool digraph is becaue I don't know how to make one! 

Just copy and paste from one of Meta's posts.

 

(a ligature, I think it is - a digraph is any two letters which represent a single sound, like sh or ch)

[metadigital]

Doofus, Daedalus is Greek.  The Romans use the word Daedalus, but Latin, especially as written today, uses a distinct A and E.  Don't take it from a classicist.  I see what you're saying, but my point is that you're not writing it in the original Greek anyhow, so what difference does it make?

 

So, Daedalus is generally the way one sees the name written in modern works.  Even modern works written in Latin, such the Aeneid.

 

What all this has to do with brunettes is beyond me, except that Daedalus probably preferred brunettes also.

 

EDIT:  heh heh.  "Modern works written in Latin"  Okay, that is to say a modern publication of a Latin work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm not sure which bit of my post you failed to understand:

[*]Daedalus comes to English from the Greek myth (Icarus's Father), via the Latin (as with all classics): [Latin daedalus, from Greek daidalos.].

[*]the

[metadigital]

Hey, you know the real reason I don't use a cool digraph is becaue I don't know how to make one! 

 

heh heh

 

Anyhow, I find the idea of a living organim living for thousands of years fascinating.  It's amazing to think that it has lived through every known kingdom of mankind.  It is humbling, I think, to know that our lifespans are so short by comparison.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's easy, just publish a text file (i.e. load it into your favourite browser) with the html codes:

Æ æ Œ œ

 

to get:

 

[Cantousent]

What I'm saying is that, while you can use one character for the sound, Latin and Greek does not. Daedalus is a Greek word in which two vowels combine to make a diphthong. Same with Latin.

 

The funny thing is, in academic settings, Daedalus is pronounced like Day delus, Dead alus, or deed alus. That's even among folks in the field who all know very well it was originally pronounced DIE-delos.

 

So, to get away from the interesting but superfluous information, my point is that Daedelus is the most common spelling of the name. That's just a fact. Of course, I'm probably looking at it from a different perspective. On the other hand, it's not like folks don't recognize the name in either form.

[metadigital]

Without going into the thorny area of pronunciation (i.e. whether the ae is a digraph or a diphthong, even though the three pronunciations you quoted are all digraphs ); there is little agreement between scholars with more letters after their names than in the Greek, Latin and English alphabets combined; I would just like to point out two things:

1. Just because something is common, does not grant it correctness.

2. You did not say "'Daedalus' is the most common spelling", or anything like it; you said I was wrong to use the

[Cantousent]

First of all, I refuse to issue myself a warning. It's simply un-American.

 

Second of all, I the letter combination creates a diphthong. It's ah ee. At least it is in Greek. A digraph is a single sound.

 

Anyhow, I didn't say you were wrong. I said, "[ b]y the way, it really is D A E D A L U S, unless you're using Greek script. Unfortunately, we can't use the Greek font on this board." HA! So there!

 

Finally, I mean the word doofus only with the utmost respect. :D