The Thread of Stupid Yet Neat Things

[metadigital]

Then that's perfectly alright! And you're always a doofus in my eyes!

[Master_Vrook]

Why did the Mod copy-paste the argument here? He just derailed a threat single handidly. <_<

[metadigital]

The thread is about stupid, yet neat things.

 

You are derailing our discussion on the stupid, yet neat syntactical devices of diphthongs and digraphs.

 

You should be reported. "

[kumquatq3]

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).

 

I don't think thats true

 

http://www.sonic.net/bristlecone/intro.html

 

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/listseason/28.html#2817

 

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/West/10/10....clone.pine.ap/

 

It's a tree on a mountain, but it doesn't take up the mountain, and it's in California

 

 

Your "tree" is actaully a shrub, and isn't so much the oldest living thing, as the oldest living "clone", if you will.

 

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0601.htm#oldest

[metadigital]

No.

 

It's a tree.

 

A male conifer.

 

A Huon Pine Tree.

 

And it is twelve thousand years old.

Huon pine species

ABC doco on Huon

Huon Pine email

 

oldest plant is 43k year old Lomatia tasmanica

 

crackpot creationist website disputing the age of anything older than 6000 years based on the bible which, by the way, is incorrect in its assertion that genetic testing has not been done and core sampling not been taken.

 

The tree sits on top of a hill, and in concentric rings around the original root. Some of the dead bits have been carbon dated, that's why there is a minimum guess of 10-12k years (and why the first link mentions 20k years old).

[Cantousent]

I guess I should have created a new thread, but I thought that this thread was a great place to discuss weird little tid bits of information, just as meta mentioned.

 

However, there's still room for all sorts of discussions about strange ideas or facts. I've heard about a stange aquatic plant that has a lifespan of several thousand years, but I can't find information on it. It's supposed to dwell in the deepest parts of the ocean and unable to survive being transplanted. I really don't know much about it, though.

 

To think that something could live for 20-30 thousand years. It boggles the mind.

[metadigital]

It's not like you can have a conversation with it, though. "Living" is just a metaphor for existing, in this case.

 

Another interesting factoid is the behaviour of colonies (e.g. ants, bees, etc): the group displays "intelligent" balancing; there are common thresholds, above which more of a particular member type will be born, and below which (if there is a reduction in the size of the colony, e.g. war, famine, disaster) the surplus members will be killed / not replaced.

 

Hence there is an optimum number of drones, soldiers and princes / princesses for colony sizes, and the colony keeps to these.

[Atomic Space Vixen]

People, people. Please calm down and remember that Daedalus was a real scoundrel and would love this ruckus!

 

And in case everyone forgets who we're talking about here...

 

[metadigital]

He was Icarus's father, and he built the labyrinth.

 

linkie

[Atomic Space Vixen]

And he was Hercules' greatest foe.

 

 

But this is getting off track.

 

Here's a little known fact... John Edwards of "Crossing Over" fame is a big, fat fraud.

[kumquatq3]

Tree Fight!

 

First, lets be clear, you said oldest living organism, not specifically tree (which would still be incorrect)

 

No.

 

It's a tree.

 

A male conifer.

 

A Huon Pine Tree.

 

And it is twelve thousand years old.

Huon pine species

ABC doco on Huon

Huon Pine email

 

The first link: All it says is that the trees are over 2,000 years old. Not 12,000. All the info I can find only indicates 2,000 years old, about half of the record. The site you link also only calls it "one of the oldest". Not "THE" oldest.

 

The second link: All it says is that the tree is the Oldest Living Tasmanian tree.

 

The third link: You got that email form this site:

 

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/julian/treetalk.html

 

The thing is, that very site as a link debunking the "12,000" year old tree idea:

 

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/julian/oldestliving.html

 

So the tree ISN'T the oldest or even close to being 12,000 years old. What is old, is it's root system, which works by "cloning".

 

So the single oldest organism, minus those that "clone" to stay alive, is the "Methuselah" at 4,767 years a bristlecone pine.

 

but if you want to include cloning than your tree is FAR from the oldest thing, which you touched on, and I touched on in my 3rd link of my original post:

..........................................

 

oldest plant is 43k year old Lomatia tasmanica

 

Not sure why you posted the 4th link, as that is a different plant (shrub, actaully) entirely from the one you called the oldest (remember you said "The oldest living organism", not tree or plant) and is what I origianlly assumed you accidently meant, but it isn't really the oldest.

 

Even your link calls it just "the Oldest Plant Clone in the World"

 

I actually already posted about this in my third link tho, that link incidently also meantions the huon pine as at least 2,000 years old, but ranks it below the 4,767 year old bristlecone pine.

 

 

 

Tho all this might be for nothing as crustose rock lichens may in fact be many thousands of years old. Without "cloning"

[metadigital]

No, the links I posted were talking about the Huon Pine species; there are a number of trees over 2000 years old. There was a specific tree that had been tested and it was at least 10k years old.

 

All that I could dig up at the time to validate my assertion of the specific Huon pine being the oldest tree (you're right, I did say organism, but I was referring to "animal and plant life").

 

Since you have pressed me, here is another source. (There are a plethora of US sites loudly proclaiming their oldest tree. Data polution.)

 

I threw the cloned organism in for free, I found it whilst I was surfing for the Huon Pine.

 

Someone who supports your pov: tree fight 2500yo versus 10kyo clone

 

And maybe we're all wrong:

...

Baobab Adansonia gregorii

The explorer Dr David Livingstone described the Baobab

A. digitata tree as "that of a giant upturned carrot," for it

defoliates in dry conditions, and seems to be growing upside

down!

The largest African Baobab has a circumference of 46.8

metres (152 feet). If 9m wide trees are carbon dated to 4000

years old, this one could be 20,000 years old, making it the

oldest living tree. Hollow trunks are huge storage vessels, but

when hollowed out have been used as jails, toilets or bars.

This colossus, like the elephant, dominates its landscape,

seemingly ageless, amused yet eternal. White fl owers are

pollinated by fruit bats. Our seeds were collected by Tessa

Blazey whilst holidaying in Broome, so we propagated them

and can offer this bizarre colossus for the fi rst time!

...

 

PDF: http://www.diggers.com.au/RNLW05/Trees.pdf

HTML: source

[kumquatq3]

I'm going to cut your tree down

[metadigital]

You'll need a few chimps and chainsaws ...

[kumquatq3]

You'll need a few chimps and chainsaws ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

::looks at his "orangutans with axes" task force and curses his lack of forsight::

 

back on topic tho:

 

 

Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. president to have been born in a hospital

 

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)

 

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously

[metadigital]

Nutmeg was the spice that the Dutch and English fought over in the 17th century (it was used as a food preservative); it can also be eaten in large quantities for a mind-altering effect ... (but it will make you sick, probably too sick too quickly to get any effect ...)

[Cantousent]

Here's a little something:

 

"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States." Article II section 1 of the constitution.

[metadigital]

When does Arnie qualify?

[julianw]

Never.

 

Unless we get a Constitutional Amendment, which hasn't happened for 30 years.

[kumquatq3]

When does Arnie qualify?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Never, without something major happeming

[Cantousent]

Arnie could qualify if he proved that he was a foreign born but became a citizen before the adoption of the constitution. If you know of anyone that old, then he has a chance.

[metadigital]

... He'll be back ...

[Carnage]

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}>

That is the worst spelling I,ve seen in a long while

[EnderAndrew]

Spellmar is having a heart attack.