It's a Little Known Fact...

[Garneta]

Heh...Been watching Cheers lately, so I thought that Cliff's infamous phrase would be a perfect title for this thread.

Anyway, this shall serve as our educational thread. For interesting facts that you know, or are looking up, etc. (Not the same as the 'What have you learned today' thread...that's for stuff you 'accidentally' learn, after all... ) Just stuff you think's neat. Got the idea from the combination of myself posting scientific information in the random thread, and hearing Cliff spout off with some of his 'facts' on TV.

New research suggests that how often Old Faithful and other Yellowstone geysers erupt may depend on annual rainfall patterns. USGS scientist Shaul Hurwitz along with colleagues at Stanford and Yellowstone National Park have discovered that changes of water supply to a geyser's underground plumbing may have a large influence on eruption intervals; that is, the time between eruptions. For example, geysers appear to lengthen and shorten their intervals on cycles that mimic annual dry and wet periods. The study results were published in the article, Climate-induced variations of geyser periodicity in Yellowstone National Park, USA, in the June issue of the journal Geology.

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/yvo/

This is one of those things that stemmed from looking up things volcanic (as I do from time to time; volcanology fascinates me, especially the supervolcano [like Yellowstone or Lake Toba]). I ended up this time at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory site, and that was on there.

[Ciararavenblaze]

I like the idea of this thread.

I'm gonna do a bit on flying fish here:

The Exocoetidae or flying fish are a marine fish family comprising about 50 species grouped in 7 to 9 genera. Flying fish are found in all of the major oceans, particularly in the warm tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. Their most striking feature is their pectoral fins, which are unusually large, and enable the fish to take short gliding flights through air, above the surface of the water, in order to escape from predators.

this is from Wikpedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_fish

[Garneta]

Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz often used as an ornamental stone in jewelry. The name comes from the Ancient Greek a- ("not") and methustos ("intoxicated"), a reference to the belief that the stone protected its owner from drunkenness; the ancient Greeks and Romans wore amethyst and made drinking vessels of it in the belief that it would prevent intoxication.

Heh...never knew that about the name. I can say for absolute certainty that it's not true though....I don't know how many times I've been drunk while wearing my amethyst pendant. Hm...wonder where that is?

[Ciararavenblaze]

The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War, also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to October 26, 1973 by a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria against Israel. The war began with a surprise joint attack by Egypt and Syria on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. Egypt and Syria crossed the cease-fire lines in the Sinai and Golan Heights, respectively, which had been captured by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War.

I dunno about you, but that's pretty low--attacking a country during its holiest day of the year.

[Garneta]

Tennessee Williams died at the age of 72 after he choked on an eyedrop bottle cap in his room at the Hotel Elysee in New York. He would routinely place the cap in his mouth, lean back, and place his eyedrops in each eye.[4] His brother Dakin and some friends believed he was murdered. The police report, however, suggested his use of drugs and alcohol contributed to his death. Many prescription drugs were found in the room. Williams' gag response may have been diminished by the effects of drugs and alcohol.

Thought something on him was appropriate since I'm wanting to be in Glass Menagerie. (And Our Town, but I'd rather quote stuff about Tennessee Williams than about Thornton Wilder.)

[Ciararavenblaze]

Rather than using family names as is the custom in all mainland European nations, the Icelanders use patronymics. The patronymic follows the person's given name, e.g. Ólafur Jónsson ("Ólafur, son of Jón") or Katrín Karlsdóttir ("Katrín, daughter of Karl").

this one came from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland