Fact O' The Day

[Krandall]

fact.

2.

[Krandall]

'The first economic bubble was due to a sudden infatuation with tulips.'
Tulips were entirely new to Europe in the 16th century, and having only recently been brought from Turkey, they retained their status as an expensive luxury in the Dutch Republic. Between 1636 and 1637, the price of tulip bulbs exploded by 1,000%, and historical accounts are full of anecdotes stressing their absurd worth -- particularly valuable single bulbs were literally selling for 10 times the yearly salary of a common laborer. The abrupt crash of tulip prices is chronicled in 19th-century journalist Charles Mackay's aptly titled Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

[Spartan]

Fact...we need more bannings around here.

[russ-russ]

Fact...we need more bannings around here.

Volunteering?

[Colorado700R]

Fact: russ-russ should have left me his truck  

[Spartan]

Fact...we need more bannings around here.

Volunteering?

I've been banned by bigger sites before...bring it on bitches

[russ-russ]

Fact: russ-russ should have left me his truck  

Fact: That would have been a long ride home on the rappy...

[Krandall]

'Video games have overtaken movie theaters in popularity.'


A survey by market researcher NPD determined that 64% of respondents had played a video game in the past 6 months, while only 53% had gone to see a movie. This figure is bolstered by the continuing rise of online gaming in all its forms (including both hugely popular social networking games and more standard multiplayer online games). On a related note, a purchasable digital horse in World of Warcraft -- whose subscriber base is the size of a small country -- recently netted the company $2 million in sales within four hours.

[Colorado700R]

[Krandall]

I don't even know if I can post any more facts.....

that one is the fact of all facts.

[Krandall]

'The United States Constitution is the shortest of its kind.'


Drafted in 1787, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in effect. At 4,000 words long, it is also the shortest, with a mere 400 words dedicated to the Judicial Branch. By comparison, the 1950 Constitution of India runs well over 100,000 words in its English translation. The Constitution of the State of Alabama is over three times that length, at 350,000 words, although much of that is attributable to its amendments (not included in the length of the original U.S. document).

[Colorado700R]

'The United States Constitution is the shortest of its kind.'


Drafted in 1787, the U.S. Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in effect. At 4,000 words long, it is also the shortest, with a mere 400 words dedicated to the Judicial Branch. By comparison, the 1950 Constitution of India runs well over 100,000 words in its English translation. The Constitution of the State of Alabama is over three times that length, at 350,000 words, although much of that is attributable to its amendments (not included in the length of the original U.S. document).

To me that's part of the Genius of it all.  Our constitution was designed to empower the states under a united front, so the individual constitutions and ammendments of each state could more throughly document the rights and wrongs for it's population......atleast orginally.

[Krandall]

'In 1999, a millionaire former CEO switched careers to work at McDonald's.'


Scott Heiferman, who was then in charge of Internet ad agency i-traffic, sold the business for millions in 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom, and began another job -- working the counter at McDonald's. He explains on his Web site that he'd spent a lot of time working with lawyers, bankers, "and other people living strange lives... I got a job at McDonald's to help get back in touch with the real world." Heiferman also founded Fotolog, and is now the CEO of Meetup.com.

[Krandall]

'One of the originators of the American flag asked to be paid in wine.'


As with many poorly recorded episodes in history, the issue of whom to credit with the invention of the American flag is a matter of debate (although it was probably not Betsy Ross, whose story only came into the public consciousness a hundred years after the flag did). One candidate is Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of independence and a New Jersey congressman, who worked on several designs and requested a "Quarter Cask of the Public Wine" for his services. He was never paid

[Krandall]

'Sweden is home to a 10,000-year-old tree.'


To put it in perspective, when most civilizations were entering the Bronze Age -- thousands of years before the birth of Christ -- this particular tree in Sweden had already been around for several thousand years. The tree, in the mountainous region of Dalarna, has been carbon-dated at 9,550 years old, making it the oldest known tree (the previous oldest had been North American pine trees roughly half that age).