That's amazing ! Post incredible facts here.

[Tero]

Sounds like a few hundred of us survived some disaster. I’ve read it before.

[Rum]

In a typical group of 50 African monkeys, there are more genetic variations than in the entire human race. This means that the entire human race is the descendant of a small group of people from prehistoric times. This scientific phenomenon is also referred to as a »bottleneck«. The phenomenon is probably the consequence/result of unfavourable weather conditions which lead to the death of most of the prehistoric people. The entire human race developed from a small group of survivors.

That explains the genetic retards that are conservatives.[/quote

It also points out the amazingly high odds we must have overcome to survive near extinction and then exploded to become the dominant species on the planet - for better or ill.

Either that or Genesis was right after all!

[DRSB]

The name Oxygen was coined only in 1777 and the element itself had been „discovered“ only several years earlier.

[Hermit]

More recently,

[DRSB]

Yeah, the element without which we'd be dead in a matter of minutes, is of no big interest even to otherwise very knowledgeable people.
I found this text on the personal development industry amusing:

We must now chart our progress, count our steps, log our sleep rhythms, tweak our diets, record our negative thoughts—then analyze the data, recalibrate, and repeat."

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018 ... s-to-death?

[DRSB]

More recently,

The element of surprise is up there with the sensitivity chip (Jennifer Aniston).

[Rum]

...as well as a sense of the absurd - absurdium.

[mistermack]

It was discovered in 2016 that red squirrels carry leprosy. But no case has been recorded of them transmitting it to humans for hundreds of years.
I wouldn't want one as a pet though.

Globally in 2012, the number of chronic cases of leprosy was 189,000, down from some 5.2 million in the 1980s.[3][8][9] The number of new cases was 230,000.[3] Most new cases occur in 16 countries, with India accounting for more than half.[3][2]

Oddly, the other animal that can carry leprosy is the Armadillo.

[Brian Peacock]

Well that's armadillo off he menu.

[pErvinalia]

It was discovered in 2016 that red squirrels carry leprosy. But no case has been recorded of them transmitting it to humans for hundreds of years.
I wouldn't want one as a pet though.

Globally in 2012, the number of chronic cases of leprosy was 189,000, down from some 5.2 million in the 1980s.[3][8][9] The number of new cases was 230,000.[3] Most new cases occur in 16 countries, with India accounting for more than half.[3][2]

Oddly, the other animal that can carry leprosy is the Armadillo.

I'm going to post a "That's amazing! Post incredible coincidences here" post. I was watching some show with the kids the other day about the 72 deadliest animals in Latin America. I'm not sure if the Armadillo was supposed to be part of the 72 or not, but they covered it and talked about how they transmit leprosy. Before that point I knew essentially nothing about leprosy. And here armadillos and leprosy are mentioned again.

[Brian Peacock]

The Deepak is strong in you.

[DRSB]

Tell me about Stonehenge!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... aCFppygoCw

[Brian Peacock]

1611, John Speed



1820,George Engleheart



1902 print



The henge underwent systematic bouts of 'restoration' between c.1900-1960. Including the resitting of trilithonic lintels, the straightening of leaning stones and the setting of fallen uprights, the removal of some items considered insignificant or of low aesthetically value, along with extensive landscaping of the wider site. But the array was definitely not built in the 1950s.

[Brian Peacock]

World's longest underwater cave system discovered in Mexico by divers.

A group of divers has connected two underwater caverns in eastern Mexico to reveal what is believed to be the world's largest flooded cave, a discovery that could shed light on the ancient Maya civilisation. The Yucatán peninsula is studded with monumental relics of the Maya people, whose cities drew on an extensive network of sinkholes known as cenotes. Some cenotes had religious significance to the Maya, whose descendants remain in the region.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/ ... ifero-maya

[Rum]

Tell me about Stonehenge!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... aCFppygoCw

There are many stone circles in Britain. The one in the picture below is Castlerigg, near Keswick where I go now and again - that's meeee!. Here's a link: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visi ... ne-circle/

Not a lot is known about Stonehenge, the most famous of them. There are over 1200 stone circles in the British Isles. And though there are plenty of theories about their purpose, most are speculative. Castlerigg overlooks a deep valley that runs north to south in the Lake District, for example, and would have made a great place from where to see possible invaders. or to place a tax station. Many stone circles though not all, appear to align with equinox star positions and the like too. It is of course naturally assumed many - perhaps all - had religious uses.

There is so much history in Britain that layer upon layer of myth and tales have accumulated. My favourite is about Long Meg and Her Daughters, a stone circle about 15 miles from here. There's a legend that the stones are magical and that they are impossible to count. If you do though the magic spell is broken. And it is actually surprisingly hard to count them!

More here (and worth a read if the subject is of interest), not least for Wordsworth's poem about the site: https://www.visitcumbria.com/evnp/long- ... daughters/

castlerigg.jpg (46.3 KiB) Viewed 1503 times