I recalled Harris' work a couple of days ago when I found myself down the rabbit hole of the internet, finding interesting fact after interesting fact, forgetting why I was surfing to start with. I realized that I should emulate Harris and start keeping track of these things. So I did, and here we are.
With that, I present to you Serendipitous Factoids, Part I.
- Serendipity...may as well start with that word and its etymology. Horace Walpole made up the word based on an erroneously recalled story called, "The Three Princes of Serendip" to describe finding valuable or interesting things unintentionally.
- My alma mater was taken over so it would appear I have, in addition to the alma mater, an alma step-patrem.
- Space Fever is a real thing. Being in low gravity causes the human body to have thermoregulatory issues. These can be life-threatening, especially in the long term.
- Which is better: PS4 or Xbox One? PS4 is the better gaming system...if you're a roach. The PS4 is warmer, roomier and more readily roach-accessible than Xbox One.
- Huge clouds of dust from the Sahara desert - to the tune of 28 million tons each year - blow from east to west across the Atlantic Ocean, dropping onto the jungles of the Amazon. It's not the problem one would automatically think. The dust is loaded with phosphorous, a fertilizer. This means one of the planet's most desolate places feeds one of the most fertile.
- This leads us into World Soil Day, celebrated by somebody, somewhere, every December 5th.
- An interesting method of storing energy: converting potential energy into usable energy by sending a train loaded with rocks down a long hill when energy is needed, and back up the hill when energy is abundant. The Economist called it "Sisyphus’s train set." Pretty clever (the idea and the title).
- Krampus is a thing. Specifically, it's a Christmastime thing. Krampus is a half-goat, half-demon acting as the anti-Santa, punishing bad children. It's a product of Alpine peoples from the pre-Christian era. Krampus never went away but the internet is allowing the idea to spread outside the Alps.
- Finally, in the 12 Days of Christmas, what are calling birds and turtle doves? Well, calling birds are simply any songbirds, and there are of over 5,000 species of them. Turtle doves are a bit more specific, but still can be any one of 19 types of collared doves.
