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LOTS OF THINGS BBB DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT

 
 
Reply Sun 12 Feb, 2012 01:53 pm
Environment / Earth Science
20 Things You Didn't Know About... Clouds

Some are visible only after sunset, none are created by seeding, and one chewed on a fighter pilot for half an hour before spitting him out, alive.
by Rebecca Coffey

From the January-February special issue; published online January 30, 2012

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A lenticular cloud over the Tararua Mountains in the North Island of New Zealand

Courtesy: NASA

1 When moist, warm air rises to a cooler elevation, water condenses onto microscopic “seeds” like dust, ash, or bacteria. Water + seeds + updraft = clouds.

2 If there’s more water vapor than places for it to condense, already-formed ice crystals can also serve as seeds. As the crystals take on moisture, they may become too heavy for updrafts to support. Time for the umbrella.

3 It makes sense, then, that adding seeds to thin clouds should make them rain out. Believing the theory, 37,000 Chinese peasants shot rockets filled with silver iodide (a widely used seeding agent) into clouds.

4 So much for People Power. After reviewing 40 years of cloud-seeding efforts in an area north of Israel, researchers at Tel Aviv University have concluded that seeding doesn’t actually produce additional precipitation (pdf).

5 Super-seeding: A team led by Stephen Salter of the University of Edinburgh has proposed using 1,500 oceangoing ships to spray saltwater into stratocumulus clouds in order to increase our planet’s cloud cover.

6 They want to accomplish goals set out in 1990 by John Latham of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. He suggested that saturating the air with salt crystal seeds would create a haze of water droplets so small that they would never rain out. The intended result: A permanent, low-hanging cloud cover that would deflect sunlight and, in theory, reverse global warming.

7 But excess cloud cover might actually warm the planet by trapping heat.

8 In fact, a 2009 Stanford University study claims that clouds created by aircraft emissions triggered an overall rise in surface temperatures of 0.03 to 0.06 degree Celsius worldwide. That would account for 4 to 8 percent of the warming that has occurred since record keeping began in 1850.

9 Nacreous clouds, or “mother of pearl” clouds, appear iridescent because of their ultrafine ice crystals, which form 10 to 15 miles up in the stratosphere.

10 Unfortunately, nacreous clouds also support chemical reactions that convert benign chlorine-containing molecules into a form that destroys Earth’s ozone layer.

11 Roll clouds form when updrafts and downdrafts churn clouds into a long, spinning cylinder. They look spectacular, but they often herald an approaching storm front.

12 Highest of them all: 50 miles up, noctilucent, or “night shining,” clouds glow an eerie bluish white. They are invisible by day, but after sunset they catch solar rays shining from far below the horizon.

13 Noctilucent clouds seemed to first appear after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa and are now a common sight.

14 A June 2010 hailstorm in South Dakota dropped the largest hailstone in U.S. history. It was nearly as large as a soccer ball and weighed two pounds.

15 Bad weather likes workdays. An Israeli-American team correlated 15 years of pollution records with the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center’s records on storms. They found that hailstorms over the eastern United States peak in the middle of the week, when summertime air pollution is at its worst.

16 Cumulonimbus clouds are the ones that make your flight late. Their winds are so intense and unpredictable that pilots never go through them.

17 Not “through” but sometimes over.

18 In 1959 Lt. Col. William Rankin was flying his F-8 fighter jet over a cumulonimbus when the engine failed. He parachuted out and spent the next 30 minutes bounced around inside the storm. Amazingly, he survived.

19 In 2007 German paragliding champion Ewa Wisnierska experienced “cloud suck.” While gliding under a cumulonimbus, she was pulled upward to 32,000 feet. She blacked out due to lack of oxygen but regained consciousness at roughly 23,000 feet.

20 Referring to the dark clouds on the horizon, Wisnierska said, “Usually there is no problem.”

MORE THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW:

Rebecca Coffey's blog, The Excuses I'm Going With, is at rebeccacoffey.blogspot.com

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20 Things You Didn't Know AND photo

http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jan-feb/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-clouds
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BumbleBeeBoogie
 
  1  
Reply Sun 12 Feb, 2012 02:01 pm
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
Strange Things You Likely Didn't Know ???

A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.

The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and
down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".

During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur," a small red car can be seen
in the distance (and Heston's wearing a watch).

On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily!
(That explains a few mysteries....)

Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson."

Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per
side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.

There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange,
purple and silver.

Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space
because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

Weatherman Willard Scott was the first Ronald McDonald.

If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will
instantly go mad and sting itself to death. (Who was the sadist who
discovered this??)

Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down
so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.

The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in
the USA."

The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which
stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player
for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.

By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot
sink into quicksand.

Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a
piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin
look-alike contest.

An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman
to take more than three steps backwards while dancing!

The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book
most often stolen from public libraries.

The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.

Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!

Thanks to Deborah for submitting this!!

And another via email --this comes by Suzie T....

In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb"

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Men can read smaller print then women can; women can hear better.

It is impossible to lick your elbow.

The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:

Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, the Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?

A. Their birthplace.

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?

A. One thousand

Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?
A. All invented by women.

Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey

In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... "goodnight, sleep tight."

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the "honeymoon".

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them, "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down."

It's where we get the phrase "mind your P's and Q's"

Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your whistle" is the phrase inspired by this practice.

~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~

At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

Do NOT email if you disagree with
the 'facts' on this page.
They came submitted to me by email
and are all in good fun!
0 Replies
 
BumbleBeeBoogie
 
  1  
Reply Sun 12 Feb, 2012 02:04 pm
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
10 things you didn't know about you.

http://www.livescience.com/11348-10.html
BumbleBeeBoogie
 
  1  
Reply Sun 12 Feb, 2012 02:07 pm
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
Nine Things You Didn’t Know About Twitter
By PAUL BOUTIN - New York Times
Published: January 18, 2012

Twitter, the minimalist-format social network that claims to have 100 million users, has built its reputation around its simplicity. Members can post to the service only in text messages of 140 characters or less. They can include a link to another site, or to a photo or video. They can repost other users’ messages on their own pages. They can send each other equally spartan private messages. That’s about it — or so it seems.

Look more closely, and you’ll find that Twitter has been augmented, by the company and by other Internet toolmakers, with a virtual appliance store of simple, utilitarian features, widgets and services that let users find interesting posts, create photo albums or search Twitter more efficiently. Yet unlike, say, Facebook or Microsoft Office, Twitter’s power tools are easy to find and easy to figure out.

UPLOAD PHOTOS If you post a link to a photo from one of a long list of other sites, Twitter can display the photo right under your post when someone clicks the “View photo” link. These sites have a post-to-Twitter option on their image upload pages. There are 16 supported sites: DailyBooth, DeviantArt, Etsy, Flickr, Justin.tv, Kickstarter, Kiva, Photozou, Plixi, Twitgoo, TwitPic, Twitvid, Ustream, Vimeo, Yfrog and YouTube.

MAKE A GALLERY Moreover, Twitter creates a photo gallery page that displays each user’s last 100 uploaded images. (There’s no similar feature for video.) An independent site, Hashalbum, automatically groups Twitter users’ images into separate albums based on any hashtags included in the post to Twitter. For example, hashalbum.com/aquapets displays all the images whose URLs were posted to Twitter with the hashtag #aquapets.

SAVE YOUR FAVORITE TWEETS Everyone seems to know that you can retweet another user’s Twitter post on your own account’s feed. But many users have never tried the star-shaped Favorite button next to Twitter’s Retweet button. Clicking on Favorite below a Twitter status update adds it to your personal Favorites list, much like bookmarking a Web page in your browser. To see your Favorites, click Profile at the top of Twitter’s Web interface, then click the Favorites tab on the left-hand side of your profile page.

The Favorites list is more useful than it seems at first. Unlike a Web page you found on Google, a Twitter status update may be impossible to find in a few days because of the nearly 300 million new entries posted to Twitter every day and the small odds of a unique search keyword match in the short text posts. Just try to find that cogent comment about Paula Deen from this week. Even finding your own posts from a few months ago can be tiring. If you post something you want to save for the ages, click Favorite on it yourself.

DO POWER SEARCHES Twitter’s default search box often returns too many results, mostly from the last few hours, for just about any popular keyword. To zero in on a specific entry, click Refine Results near the top center of Twitter’s search results page. That will take you to Twitter’s advanced search page. There, you can specify further search filters, like a specific Twitter username or hashtag.

The separate Web site Topsy goes even further, so much so that Twitter recommends Topsy in its official guide for journalists. Topsy indexes Twitter updates with additional information that can be searched, like a date range for finding older posts. On Topsy, you can also filter out specific keywords to find, for example, posts that include the word “lady” but not the word “gaga.”

USE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Instead of clicking around with your mouse, you can operate Twitter by using your keyboard. Type a question mark at Twitter’s Web interface to pop up a panel with a list of the available keyboard commands. There are nearly 20 listed, including “r” to retweet a post, or “/” to jump to the search box. Some of the commands require two keystrokes, like “g p” to go to your profile page.

There are two more commands not listed on that pop-up panel. Typing “s p” will pop up a box to search only posts that include links to photos, and “s v” will initiate a similar search for videos.

CROSS-POST TO FACEBOOK You have the option to cross-post a Twitter status update to your Wall on Facebook by logging into Facebook and installing the Selective Tweets app. The app will prompt you for your Twitter username. So anytime you end a Twitter update with #fb, that post will also be sent to your Facebook page as long as you’re logged into Twitter and Facebook in your browser.

USE TWITTER VIA TEXT MESSAGES Most smartphones have plenty of free Twitter apps that you can download to send and read Twitter updates on your phone. But you can also use Twitter through SMS messages. Send a photo, and Twitter will upload and link to it. Text users can also follow you without needing a Twitter account of their own by sending a text to 40404 with the message, say, “follow paulboutin.”

JUMP TO THE INTERESTING STUFF Twitter has created two new buttons that appear next to the Home button atop the page: Connect and Discover. Connect is a one-click way to see everyone who is interacting with you on the network. It displays a list of members who have recently followed you, mentioned you, retweeted one of your posts or added one to their Favorites list. Discover tries to figure out your personal interests based on your location, who you follow and what topics are hot, much the way Facebook’s Top Stories section tries to guess which status updates you most likely want to read. The company is still improving Discover, so it should gradually get better at picking the right posts.

FIND SOMETHING LONGER TO READ Does scrolling through one-line status updates feel like listening to dogs bark? For those wanting a more intellectual experience, Twitter users have created an ad hoc hashtag, #longreads, for posts that link to longer articles, engaging blog posts and unusually fascinating PDF documents. Sometimes you can find in-depth information on current events by, say, searching for #longreads or #longreads followed by a specific word.

With the time you’ll save with these tricks, you’ll be able to grab something a lot longer than 140 characters to read.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 4, 2012

An article on the Personal Tech pages on Jan. 19 about some lesser-known features of Twitter included outdated information for the way in which the site handles the link to a picture from another site. The photograph is displayed beneath a user’s post when a viewer clicks the “view photo” link; it is no longer shown in the “details” pane.
farmerman
 
  1  
Reply Sun 12 Feb, 2012 05:39 pm
@BumbleBeeBoogie,
Napoleon Bonaparte's own brother left France and came to live in a rooming house in New Jersey. Ive seen the historical marker
0 Replies
 
 

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