Who Knew? Some Fun Facts

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World's Oldest Person Dies
Maria Branyas Morera, the world's oldest known person, has died at the age of 117, her family announced yesterday. Born on March 4, 1907, in San Francisco, she moved to Catalonia, Spain, at age 8. Morera witnessed major historical events, including two world wars and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, and she became the oldest known survivor of COVID-19 at age 113. She was active on social media as "Super Àvia Catalana" (or Super Catalan Grandma), amassing nearly 19,000 followers.

There are approximately 722,000 centenarians—those aged 100 and older—globally, with 108,000 in the US. Supercentenarians—those aged 110 and older—are rare, with about 250-300 worldwide and roughly 60-70 known in the US. Morera credited her longevity to enjoying nature, good company, avoiding toxic people, luck, and genetics.

Some studies suggest the maximum human lifespan could be between 120 and 150 years. The oldest verified person to have ever lived died in 1997 at 122. The current oldest living person is now 116-year-old Tomiko Itooka from Japan.
 

Thousands of tarantulas will soon emerge across the US. Here’s what to expect​

For certain regions of America, things are about to get weird with an influx of tarantulas.
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It might sound like an ominous sign of the apocalypse or a good reason to look for a new place to live, but this is actually perfectly normal. A yearly event, thousands of spiders seek out mates, particularly in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

“Every year, male tarantulas come out in search of a mate. The females tend to stay in their burrows and emit pheromones to let males know where to find them,” Lauren Davidson, Associate Curator of Entomology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, told BBC Science Focus.

“So, if someone were out during this time of year and saw a tarantula roaming around, it most likely would be a male. The males emerge when the climate is just right, so it is very dependent on the area where you live.”

The male tarantulas are typically only alive for one mating season; only the reproductively mature males actually go out to search for a mate.

When they’ve tracked down a female’s pheromones, the male tarantula will ‘knock at the door’. This involves tapping near the entrance in a drum-like pattern. If the female is intrigued, she will emerge to greet him.

Alex Hughes
Published: August 22, 2024 at 2:00 am

See https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/tarantula-season
for more info





 
The biggest star in the universe (that we know of), UY Scuti is a variable hypergiant with a radius around 1,700 times larger than the radius of the sun.

To put that in perspective, the volume of almost 5 billion suns could fit inside a sphere the size of UY Scuti.

Our sun is enormous — more than a million Earths could fit inside of it. But on a stellar scale, it could be swallowed up by about half of all stars observed so far — especially stars like UY Scuti.
What Is the Biggest Star?
 

Thousands of tarantulas will soon emerge across the US. Here’s what to expect​

For certain regions of America, things are about to get weird with an influx of tarantulas.
Tarantulas.jpg

It might sound like an ominous sign of the apocalypse or a good reason to look for a new place to live, but this is actually perfectly normal. A yearly event, thousands of spiders seek out mates, particularly in Colorado, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

“Every year, male tarantulas come out in search of a mate. The females tend to stay in their burrows and emit pheromones to let males know where to find them,” Lauren Davidson, Associate Curator of Entomology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, told BBC Science Focus.

“So, if someone were out during this time of year and saw a tarantula roaming around, it most likely would be a male. The males emerge when the climate is just right, so it is very dependent on the area where you live.”

The male tarantulas are typically only alive for one mating season; only the reproductively mature males actually go out to search for a mate.

When they’ve tracked down a female’s pheromones, the male tarantula will ‘knock at the door’. This involves tapping near the entrance in a drum-like pattern. If the female is intrigued, she will emerge to greet him.

Alex Hughes
Published: August 22, 2024 at 2:00 am

See https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/tarantula-season
for more info





In the UK we have an expression for sexual activity, it's known as: "Getting your leg over." Thank goodness I wasn't born a male tarantula.
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I mean, with eight legs, where do you start?
 
In the UK we have an expression for sexual activity, it's known as: "Getting your leg over." Thank goodness I wasn't born a male tarantula.
View attachment 363014
I mean, with eight legs, where do you start?
In the U.S. 'getting a leg up' means gaining an advantage or getting a head start on a project.
An English lady here once said, 'Keep your pecker up'. She meant 'Keep your chin up'. Over here the word means something, although perfectly good and noble, not usually spoken of in polite company.
 
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Figs are technically not fruit– they're actually inverted flowers. They require a specific kind of pollination that can only come from fig wasps (1.5mm big) –wasps that have to DIE INSIDE the fruit in order for the fruit to mature, since figs cannot be pollinated by wind or normal bees.
Edit Per search: Contrary to popular belief, ripe figs are not full of dead wasps and the "crunchy bits" in the fruit are only seeds. The fig actually produces an enzyme called ficain (also known as ficin) which digests the dead wasp and the fig absorbs the nutrients to create the ripe fruits and seeds.
 
I just looked this up. There's no evidence it's true. Phew!
Just one source among many:
Radiation link to low phone battery lacks power
I don't know anything of the dangers of cell phones, but I have just one small problem with that, StarSong. Technologies like cell phones and wifi are not going away. If there is a danger, I worry that the powers that be are denying them, and teaching otherwise in science. We only know what we are taught, and bad things are happening to health and intelligence and longevity and fertility.

I can name terrible things that have been done in the name of progress, like lobotomies, like the deliberate introduction of deadly disease into third-world countries, like unnecessary drugs and surgeries being thrust upon us, like terrible crimes being committed upon our children.
 
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Yea, I thought this place I got the "fact" was a little spurious. I will avoid that place or do the research before I post anything. Such crap, it really makes things difficult sometimes.
@StarSong You looked up if the battery is low, just like the stupid thing I posted which should be if your reception is bad, like with only one bar active, then it does use more radiation.
 
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