stealing forthright's meme

[xatalantax]

Comment to tell me some interesting fact, trivia, or other bit of knowledge you've learned in the past week or two.

Comments

[synaesthesia.livejournal.com]

In the United States, if you quality-stamp a newly-made piece of jewelry (I.E. 14K, 925) you are also required to stamp the hallmark or name of the maker. However you can elect to not stamp at all.

Also, the US is not very good at policing its stamping standards. In Europe they are much more strict and active in this regard.

You are much more likely to find an electroplated piece of jewelry with a false karat stamp than a gold filled piece.

[sheepzeit.livejournal.com]

More women do the 5-second rule food thing than men do.

[pyrric.livejournal.com]

Giving human albumin (a component of blood) to a person with third spacing (a collection of fluid in a part of the body where fluid doens't belong) will help to pull that fluid back into the bloodstream where the kidneys can dispose of it.

[egofood.livejournal.com]

The in-game NWN book "The Adventures of Grin, Richard, and Wu-Wei" was an account of one of the designers' pen-and-paper D&D sessions (http://www.planetneverwinter.com/features/articles/dndsessions/) from when they were creating the game. Also Tomi 'Grin' Undergallow was originally a sorceror named Tom rather than a rogue (that was his cousin Tess Undergallow), though it seems his personality was unchanged going from the tabletop to the desktop.

[tigermilkdrunk.livejournal.com]

The history of the Flatiron building:

"The building's cultural legacy is a little more interesting and has passed into the local social consciousness as a fable. It is said that the building created unusual eddies in the wind which would cause women's skirts to fly around as they walked on 23rd street. This attracted throngs of young men who gathered to view the barelegged spectacle. Police would try to disperse these knots of heavy-breathers by calling to them, "23 Skidoo." This phrase has passed out of common usage, but its descendant, the word "scram" remains in a back corner of the American lexicon."

Sounds totally apocryphal to me, but still...

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

I've heard that one but apparently it's not the case ..

http://www.barrypopik.com/article/70/twenty-three-skidoo-myth

http://www.word-detective.com/020798.html
According to this site the phrase was around in the 1890s too ..
'The late etymologist Eric Partridge reported that one of his correspondents felt that the phrase might have had its roots in old telegraphers' code, where common phrases were replaced by numbers. In this code, "30" sent in Morse code meant "end of transmission" (a notation still used by journalists to signal the end of a story), "73" meant "best regards" (still very much in use by amateur radio operators), and "23" meant "away with you!" This seems a far more likely explanation of the phrase.'

[starless.livejournal.com]

Hydro chains can become slack, therefore allowing the lift to sink below the stage deck, which will in turn cause the Hydro to fall into an error state which will stop all 6 stage lifts from moving at all.

[forthright.livejournal.com]

There is a fair body of experimental evidence (mostly Australian) showing that, at least in the short term, wines age better when capped with special breathable screw-tops rather than natural or artificial cork.

[capngrind666.livejournal.com]

the term redneck, in the explanation i tend to believe, comes from unionized west virginia miners on strikes who would conceal their identities by wearing red bandanas. at the time, it described working class southerners and now...well...i guess it still does. but in a derogatory sense.

[atalanta.livejournal.com]

I always thought it was from people who worked out in the sun, getting reddened necks ... huh. maybe they're both possible theories of the word's origin ..?

[capngrind666.livejournal.com]

the one you mentioned is actually one of a few i've found (etymology is one of my favorite fields of recreational study), along with about 9 or 10 for the term "cracker". while the one you put forth is extremely likely, maybe even moreso than mine...i like how mine's a little less mundane. arbitrary? of course. does it bother me? not really...heh heh.