"I didn't know that..."
Its a strange and interwoven world we live in. Sometimes you find out something that totally blows your
mind, that turns the world on its head yet was there all the time. Here is a whole bunch of those
moments I've found.
Did you know...
... that some people, on top of using Microsoft Word (already not the wisest of ideas), also buy a little program called EndNotes to manage references for their essays and papers. Ok, maybe that doesn't sound crazy at first. But its targetted at academics and students, it looks suspiciously like some free bibliography tools for LaTeX and it costs $150!!!. That's after you've paid some arbitrary sum for the privelage of using Word in the first place. So please, please, anyone even considering buying this thing, look into LaTeX. It may seem hard at first, but its free and surely its worth saving at least $300.
Did you know...
... that in Vancouver, BC, it rains 40cm more a year on UBC campus than over city hall. No wonder I'm so depressed, I gotta move!.
Did you know...
...that Fanta was developed by Coca-cola Germany during WWII because export restrictions didn't allow them to ship syrup from America. Coca-cola USA later bought the rights to use it everywhere. So it was Coke's way of selling to the Nazis. Yep. Nazi-cola.
Did you know...
...that you are born with more bones than you have now. No really, look here. A human baby is born with about 300 bones. Many are connected by cartilage so they can expand and grow and be very flexible. Over time the bones grow and the cartilage is replaced. Eventually they fuse together totally leaving the average adult with 206 bones. Did I just miss this in biology class? Because I did not know this.Did you know...
...that an Irish Arbishop James Ussher came up with a widely popular agefor the Earth based on Bible passages and other ancient scripture. The date of creation? October 23, 4004 BC. Which makes the world 6011 years old in "2007". Which means we all missed a good party last year.Did you know...
...that streets in Vancouver are named with themes in mind. The tree roads (oak, larch, elm) are pretty obvious. But did you know that the streets just west of them, from Trafalgar to Alma, are all linked by the theme of war.To wit:
- Trafalgar (Battle of) -Oct 21, 1805. Britian's pivotal defeat of the French-Spanish fleet led by the revered Admiral Lord Nelson.
- Macdonald - working on this, maybe not war related. Most obvious source first Prime Minister of Canada John A. Macdonald.
- Mackenzie - Second Canadian Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie.
- Carnavon - The best we can figure out is a sea battle off the coast of Carnavon, Australia in 1941. It was a disguised german boat that sunks an australian cruiser two weeks before Pearl Harbour.
- Balaclava (Battle of) - Oct 25, 1854 during the Crimean War was the origin of such famous phrases as 'The thin red line' and 'The charge of the light brigade'. It also included the more successful but less remembered 'charge of the heavy brigade'.
- Trutch - Ok, so this definetly isn't war related. Sir Joseph Trutch was an engineer who help build the cariboo trail in BC and many other things, a big man in 19th Century Victoria.
- Blenheim (Battle of) - during the War of the Spanish Succession. This was the first major defeat of King Louis XIV and the Bavarians by the English-Austrian alliance.
- Waterloo (Battle of) - You know...where Nepolean lost, everybody sing! Waterlooo! Waterloo baby you're my Waterloo...!
- Collingwood - Lord Collingwood was the right hand man to Horatio Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar
- Dunbar (Battle of) - Sept 3 1650 during the Third English Civil War. This ill-fated battle was instigated by Charles II being crowned in Edinburgh as King of Britian in defiance of Cromwell's revolution. Though the Scots started out with a significant advantage they were eventually defeated at dunbar and 10,000 Scottish soldiers either died or were shipped off to the colonies.
- Alma (Battle of) - Sept 24, 1854 during the Crimean War. This time, unlike Balaclava, the British won.