The Random Facts Thread

[jeffbert]

Why only parts of episodes, Shiyonasan?

[Shiyonasan]

Why only parts of episodes, Shiyonasan?

I had been watching through the episodes with my family, but I wasn't entirely interested at first. We've been going through the episodes chronologically of when they debuted on TV, and as the series has gone on, it's gotten more interesting to me. The last episodes we watched were both parts of The Menagerie, which I thought were the best episodes so far. I thought it was interesting how they put the original pilot of Star Trek in those episodes.

So as not to derail the thread any longer, I'll put another random fact on here:

The first American president to be photographed was the 6th president and and son of one of the American Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams. The daguerreotype of him was taken in 1843, several years after he had already left his presidency. The daguerreotype can be seen in his Wikipedia article. The first American president to be photographed while in office was James K. Polk in 1849, the 11th president. It was the last year of Polk's presidency and the year he died. His daguerreotype can also be seen on his Wikipedia article.

Another random fact about American presidents: the 2nd president, John Adams (father of John Quincy Adams) and 3rd president, Thomas Jefferson, both died on the same day. Jefferson died five hours before Adams did. The day they died: the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which was July 4, 1826.

[dannavy85]

Navy fact....The USS Constitution remains the oldest US Warship in continuous commission since her construction. The USS Arizona is not still in commission as rumors persist. She was struck from the US navy registry in 1942.

It takes 30 seconds to load and fire a 16 inch gun from the USS Missouri.

[Anime Girl]

The South Park movie, Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, I found out the release date was June 30th 1999. That was my exact 4th birthday! LOL! What are the odds?

[Shiyonasan]

The last Walt Disney theatrical animated feature to be produced by Walt Disney himself was The Jungle Book. The last Walt Disney animated feature at all that was produced by him was Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Disney died while both were still in production.

Also, Yoda is the only main character in the Star Wars films to die of natural causes on-screen.

EDIT: Just found another random fact that I might as well add in here:

The sentence "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is grammatically correct in English. Paraphrased, it means "Bison from Buffalo, that bison from Buffalo bully, themselves bully bison from Buffalo."

Here's the Wikipedia article about it.

EDIT 2: Just found another random fact, but since I made the last post in this thread, I'll just edit this post.

The blackest substance (and also the blackest black) known to man is called "vantablack". As the Wikipedia article for it says: "When light strikes vantablack, instead of bouncing off, it becomes trapped and is continually deflected between the tubes before eventually becoming heat."

[MrsEclipse]

You could fit almost 500 Disnelyand parks into the entire Walt Disney World Resort.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was not the first animated feature film. That was an Argentinean film called "The Apostle." (1917, 70 minutes.) The oldest surviving animated feature film is a German one called "The Adventures of Prince Achmed." (1926, 65 minutes.) The first animated film made entirely in Canada was "Rock & Rule," in 1983 by Nelvana.

[jeffbert]

A simplified version of Prince Achmed was one of Atom's three dreams in B&W #81, Dreaming Machine (72, Dream Machine).

[Shiyonasan]

The same guy who voiced Tony the Tiger in the Frosted Flakes commercials from 1953 to 2005 also sung "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch" in the classic 1966 animated TV special, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

His name was Thurl Ravenscroft, which is one of the coolest names I have ever heard.

EDIT: Another random fact:

Viruses can get viruses.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

The Roku streaming player gets its name from being the sixth company created by its founder, roku means six in Japanese.

[Shiyonasan]

Scotland's national animal is a unicorn.

Also, the 10th president of the United States, John Tyler, who was born in 1790, has two grandsons that are still alive today.