Did you know that...

[Opsa]

You'll be telling us sets at a different time on the moon next

An astronaut orbiting in space will experience sunrise and sunset many times in one orbit.  Some of the lower orbits took but 90 minutes to complete (if my memory serves), making their "day" only 90 minutes long...

...

But would they get their birthdays sooner, since they had all ready lived more days than the rest of us on Earth?

[Griffin NoName]

I thought astronauts aged more slowly, returning younger than their contempories.

[Opsa]

That's it. Sign me up for the space program! 

[Swatopluk]

Did you know that the term 'strike' for work stoppage got coined when sailors 'struck sails' to protest wage cutting in 18th century England?
Did you also know that said sailors (all from slave ships) in Liverpool used ship artillery to bombard the slave merchants' headquarters after the latter tried stalling tactics?

[Aphos]

The "scuttle butt" was a barrel of fresh water placed on the deck of a sailing ship.  The sailors would take a short break, get a drink of water from the scuttle butt, and pass along gossip.

[Opsa]

Y'arrrrggghhhh! Interesting and piratey at the same time!

[Bluenose]

Apologies for a little intra-thread necromancy...

Did you know that in a facility near Melbourne 40000 hand-knitted pullovers are stored...for penguins?

Yes I did, and Mrs Blue has knitted some of them.

Carry on...

[Opsa]

Did you know that Mrs. Blue is astounding?

[Bluenose]

Well, what can I say?  She had the good* sense to choose me!   


Did you know that Nova the lyrebird at Healesville Sanctuary can not only do a very good imitation a large number of other bird calls (generally better than the original) but can also imitate a car alarm and a camera shutter?


---
* As in "not very" good...

[Swatopluk]

I saw this bird (or his cousin) in a David Attenborough docu. 'Chainsaw' was also in the repertoire.

[Opsa]

I saw that one, too. It was fascinating.

So, what else ya got? 

[Aggie]

Did you know that Nova the lyrebird at Healesville Sanctuary can not only do a very good imitation a large number of other bird calls (generally better than the original) but can also imitate a car alarm and a camera shutter?

We had a pet starling that could talk (mimic simple phrases) but preferred to imitate more annoying sounds, like the squeaky bearing in the clothes dryer. I've little doubt that had he been kept in an office rather than the laundry room, fax machine would have been the preferred thing to mimic.

[Bluenose]

Did you know that near where I used to live in the UK there was a shop that had an Indian Mynor named Bill that used to wolf-whistle at any attractive young ladies that walked by the shop.  If such a young lady entered the shop accompanied by her boyfriend, Bill would say in a loud, oily voice "you dirty old man!"  The owner of the shop would then yell "Bill!" and Bill would hang his head and say in a pitiful voice "Bill sorry..."

Birds can be amazing!   

[Griffin NoName]

Wonder where Bill learnt these phrases.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The sorry part reminds me Alex the parrot, who apologized in what Mrs. Pepperberg calls an almost manipulative way.