More Inconsequential Trivia from “The Order of Things…”

Precipitation types from warmest air to coldest:

drizzle
rain
freezing drizzle
freezing rain
sleet
hail
snow

(Go ahead! Impress your party guests!)

What Does the US Debt Clock Look like Right Now?

“As of June 18, 2009, the total U.S. federal debt was $11,342,734,351,973, or about $36,989 per capita. Of this amount, debt held by the public was roughly $7.098 trillion. As of 2007, the debt of the United States ranked as the 22nd-largest in the world as a percentage of GDP.As of June 2009 the debt was 82.5 percent of GDP based on current GDP. This level of debt has not been seen since 1951, with the nominal value the largest in recorded history.”   (from wikipedia)

See the realtime Debt Clock ticking away

BB Piercing a Bubble

found at gifbin

Poo Reveals ~30% More Colonies of Emperor Penguins

“BONN, Germany (Reuters) – Ten new colonies of emperor penguins have been found in Antarctica after satellite photos showing brownish stains on the ice turned out to be the excrement of thousands of birds.

The findings, revealed by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) on Tuesday, will help understand penguin populations and the vulnerability to global warming of the breeding colonies which are on sea ice.

“We now reckon there are 38 colonies in Antarctica, 10 of them previously unknown,” Phil Trathan, a BAS penguin ecologist, told Reuters of the study in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography…”That’s potentially a massive change in the population.”    Full Story

Facts from the Reference Desk: World’s Fastest Animals

According to THE ORDER OF THINGS by Barbara Anna Kipfer [REF 031.02 KIPFER], they are:

1. peregrine falcon (225 mph)
2. golden eagle (150+ mph)
3. cheetah (70 mph)
4. pronghorn antelope (55+ mph)
5. Grant’s gazelle (47 mph)
6. yellowfin tuna (46.61 mph)
7. ostrich (45 mph)
8. race horse (43.26 mph)
9. greyhound (41.72 mph)
10. eastern grey kangaroo (40 mph)

smallest readable bitmap font? 3×3

From Wikipedia:.

“3×3 is a typeface based on a 3×3 bitmap matrix. It was created by type designer Anders de Flon, who long refused to release the typeface, due to the large type foundries’ demand of only complete typefaces, which means upper and lower case characters, exclamation marks, etc.
3×3 is the smallest readable bitmap font, with the major exceptions of ‘2′ being indistinguishable from ‘z’, ‘0′ from ‘o’, ‘9′ from ‘q’, and ‘5′ from ’s’.”

World’s Most Influential Person?

“In a stunning result, the winner of the third annual TIME 100 poll, and new owner of the title world’s most influential person, is Moot. The 21-year-old college student and founder of the online community 4chan.org, whose real name is Christopher Poole, received 16,794,368 votes and an average influence rating of 90 (out of a possible 100) to handily beat the likes of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Oprah Winfrey. To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it’s worth noting that everyone Moot beat out actually has a job.”   Full Story

Biggest Food Product Duds

“Thousands of new food products are introduced to American grocery shoppers every year, which makes us wonder: Which items are so wild that they’ve been removed from shelves permanently? We examined some of the biggest food flops over the last 40+ years. ”   Full List

Ed. – Which of your favs are gone or MIA? The McDLT, Tab, Zima?

Nixon’s Undelivered Moon Disaster Speech

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. The following speech, was prepared by Nixon’s speechwriter, William Safire, to be used in the event of a disaster that would maroon the astronauts:

“Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.”    Full Speech

Original ‘Schindler’s List’ found in Sydney Library

“SYDNEY (AFP) – A list of Jews saved by Oskar Schindler that inspired the novel and Oscar-winning film “Schindler’s List” has been found in a Sydney library, its co-curator said.

Workers at the New South Wales State Library found the list, containing the names of 801 Jews saved from the Holocaust by the businessman, as they sifted through boxes of Australian author Thomas Keneally’s manuscript material.”    Full Story