WTF • Fun • Fact    ( /dʌb(ə)lˌju/  /ti/   /ef/ • /fʌn/ • /fækt/ )

     1. noun  A random, interesting, and overall fun fact that makes you scratch your head and think what the...

WTF Fun Fact 12924 – The NASA Artemis I Mission

The NASA Artemis 1 mission is scheduled for September 3, 2022. But even if it’s scrubbed due to weather or technical issues, whenever it does launch it will be history-making.

What’s significant about NASA’s Artemis I mission?

For starters, Artemis I is the most powerful rocket ever built. NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS), as well as the Orion spacecraft (which is also being tested), are integral parts of NASA’s plan to send people back to the Moon and further into space than ever before. If the technology is successful, it will show that we can build a sophisticated spacecraft capable of carrying humans back to the Moon.

And if Artemis I goes out without a hitch, it will carry the first woman and the first person of color to ever set foot on the moon in a few years.

This mission was supposed to happen a few years ago, but politics and the pandemic got in the way.

the NASA Artemis 1 mission is set to last 6 weeks. After reaching orbit, it will perform a trans-lunar injection and deploy 10 satellites plus the Orion spacecraft, which will enter retrograde orbit for 6 days. The hope is that the Orion will return to Earth after its mission and splash down in the Pacific Ocean without burning up on re-entry.

NASA tried to launch the mission on August 17, 2022, but had to scrap it after a series of delays during pre-flight testing. On August 29, the second try was capped after an issue with the core stage. Hopefully, the third time is the charm.

How can you watch the NASA Artemis I launch?

If you’re reading this before Saturday, September 3, 2022, at 2:17 EST, you can watch the launch for free online. NASA’s live streams (and pre-launch briefings are linked here).

According to IFL Science (cited below): “The rocket will launch from the historic Launch Pad 39B (Apollo and Skylab both launched from here) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday, September 3. The launch window opens at 2:17 pm EDT (7:17 pm UTC) and will stay open for two hours, though it’s likely the launch will take place as soon as the window opens.”

If all goes well on the NASA Artemis 1 mission, Artemis 2 is set to carry a crew for a lunar flyby in the future, and Artemis 3 will carry astronauts back to the moon five decades after the last Apollo mission. — WTF fun facts

Source: “NASA’s Artemis I Will Make History This Weekend – Here’s How To Watch Live” — IFL Science

WTF Fun Fact 12923 – Grief After Pet Loss is Profound

If you have a beloved pet, chances are you will suffer the grief of losing them someday. While it’s hard to think about, it’s important to know that studies have shown the grief from pet loss is much like our grief after human death, but the support systems that help us get through it aren’t always there. It’s crucial to our mental health to grieve pet loss properly.

Grieving the loss of unconditional love

We often have and receive feelings of unconditional love from our pets, and that’s something that’s very rare in the human world (and perhaps it should be since it’s important for people to have boundaries). It helps explain why losing a pet is so devastating and why a pet that has passed on is so irreplaceable.

It’s normal to feel guilt over just about every part of the process, and a lost pet that never returns means pet owners don’t even get the closure the rest of us do.

No matter how you lose your pet, the enormous grief you may feel is common and shouldn’t be treated as silly or inappropriate. Studies show that when we bury our grief, it can have effects on our mental and physical health. People have even been diagnosed with “broken heart syndrome” (which mimics the symptoms of a heart attack) after losing a pet.

Support is crucial to grief after pet loss

According to Scientific American (cited below), a support system can be a crucial part of healing, especially when a person feels otherwise alone in their grief. Feeling alone may be common even if many family members were part of a pet’s life because each individual person has their own relationship with an animal.

Without support, “we are not only robbed of invaluable support systems when our pet dies, but our own perceptions of our emotional responses are likely to add an extra layer of distress. We may feel embarrassed and even ashamed about the severity of the heartbreak we feel and, consequently, hesitate to disclose our feelings to our loved ones. That additional shame complicates the process of recovery by making it more lengthy and complex than it should be.”

Losing a pet disrupts the rhythms of our daily lives, makes our homes feel quiet and lonely and robs us of the healing effects of interacting with an animal. Requests for us to replace our pet too early feel cruel and don’t do any favors to a new “replacement” animal either (since there’s no way they can act exactly like our old pet).

The truth is, we have to feel and process our grief in order to get better, and to do that we need to feel some sense of support around us. That’s why there are now in-person and online support groups for people experiencing pet loss. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Why We Need to Take Pet Loss Seriously” — Scientific American

WTF Fun Fact 12922 – The Canary Islands Are Named for Dogs

The Canary Islands usually make us think of the little yellow bird. But Canary doesn’t come from the bird’s name, rather, it comes from the Latin word Canaria (as in canine). The ancient Romans called the islands Insula Canaria, or “Island of the Dogs.”

The Canary Islands

The Canary Islands is a Spanish autonomous region near Morocco composed of 7 large islands and many more smaller islands. You may have heard of the second largest island – Tenerife – which is home to early 1 million people.

There is volcanic activity on some of the islands, which also house the world’s third largest volcano – Mount Teide on Tenerife.

While there is a dog breed popular on the Canary Islands – the Presa Canario – they are not native to the islands and were introduced by the Spanish. They are a type of mastiff used for guarding and herding. They were also used in dogfighting until it was outlawed by Spain in the 20th century.

How are the Canary Islands related to dogs?

Just look at the coat of arms of the Canary Islands, and you’ll see dogs instead of birds.

According to World Atlas (cited below): “The archipelago’s Spanish name Islas Canarias is derived from the Latin phrase Canariae Insulae which means the “island of dogs.” King Juba II of Mauretania, an ancient Kingdom in the Maghreb, is thought to have named the island of Grand Canaria named the island Canaria due to the presence of many large dogs on the island. Eventually, the entire archipelago became referred to as the Canary Islands.”

However, some believe the Roman name comes not from the presence of dogs but the worship of the creatures on the island. The original inhabitants of the islands were the Guanches, who mummified dogs (perhaps related to the Egyptian practice and the dog-headed god Anubis). It’s unknown how dog worship may have worked or if the animals were just considered holy creatures.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Did You Know That The Canary Islands Are Named After Dogs?” — World Atlas

WTF Fun Fact 12921 – The Airplane “Boneyard” in Tucson

If you like airplanes (or are just mystified by the thought of seeing thousands of them), The Boneyard in Tucson, AZ – known more formally as the 309th AMARG Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base – may be just the place for you.

What is Tucson’s airplane “graveyard”?

According to Arizona Journey, a site for Tucson tourists (cited below): “AMARG is the world’s largest salvage yard, minus the snarling dogs. The aircraft are lined up in rows set up with military precision, stacked so closely together that from above their wings look like they are holding hands with each other, a sharp contrast to their former roles. It’s a starkly beautiful setting as, throughout the day, the silver fuselages reflect changing colors of the Rincon Mountains to the east.”

Since the planes are no longer fully operational, they’re just in permanent outdoor storage in the middle of the desert. The Sonoran Desert is apparently as good a place as any to place what is largely a giant airplane junkyard for defunct military aircraft since the dry air prevents rust.

Why prevent rust on planes that no one technically needs anymore? Well, some can be resurrected and others used for spare parts. In fact: “Despite its moniker, the Boneyard is not a place merely to stockpile airplanes in eternal rest. Some have been mothballed for spare parts and potential future activation. In 2015 a B-52 bomber old enough to qualify for AARP membership was restored and returned to flying condition. Though the Cold War may have ended, the men and women deployed at the Boneyard in Tucson are on constant alert for any future chills in relations between the superpowers.”

Visiting Tucson’s airplane Boneyard

Despite its location on a military base, you can visit the airplane Boneyard in Tucson while touring the adjacent Pima Air & Space Museum.

But security is tight, so don’t expect to climb all over them. You can only catch a glimpse of F-14 fighter planes, for example, since they’re still flown by the Iranian Air Force “which is desperate for spare parts to maintain their fleet.”

Visitors can take a Tram Tour for $8 or Private Walking Tours for $75. — WTF fun facts

Source: “A fun visit to the massive Tucson airplane graveyard AKA “The Boneyard” (over 3000 planes)” — Arizona Journey

WTF Fun Fact 12920 – Art Bell’s Vietnam Rescue

Art Bell was an American broadcaster who hosted a popular paranormal radio show called “Coast to Coast AM,” among others. But while people may know his voice, they likely don’t know about Art Bell’s Vietnam rescue mission while he was an Air Force medic during the Vietnam War.

Who is Art Bell?

Art Bell came from a military family and went on to serve in the US Air Force in the Vietnam War. It was there that took up a childhood passion for radio by operating a pirate station he indulged his childhood passion for radio by operating a pirate station that played anti-war music for American servicemen.

He was also briefly a DJ for an English-language radio station in Okinawa. And it was there that he set a Guinness World Record for broadcasting before moving back to the U.S. to become a paranormal DJ.

According to his NYTs obituary (cited below): “His ‘Coast to Coast’ show was syndicated and broadcast from 1989 to 2003, followed by episodic returns on satellite radio and online with a program called ‘Midnight in the Desert,’ which he canceled in 2015 after he said shots had been fired at his home.”

The obit also notes that “While some critics accused him of laying the foundation for right-wing conspiracists on talk radio, Mr. Bell’s politics were not easily pigeonholed. He described himself as a libertarian, but his passion was directed less at politicians or ideology than at debunking scientific doctrine and preaching apocalyptic prophecy.”

Eventually, he dropped the political angle in favor of paranormal topics.

Art Bell’s Vietnam rescue mission

While the proof is unclear and Art Bell’s Vietnam rescue mission is often referred to as something he simply told people about, it has come to be accepted (and it is likely provable if someone wanted to look into it) that he set his broadcasting marathon record in order to raise money for war orphans in Vietnam.

Over 100 children had been rendered orphans by the war with no one to care for them. Bell chartered a plane with the money and brought them to the U.S., where it’s said they were adopted by American families. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Art Bell, Radio Host Who Tuned In to the Dark Side, Dies at 72” — The New York Times

WTF Fun Fact 12919 – Hockey’s Emergency Backup Goalie

A few years ago, the NHL revisited rules surrounding the emergency backup goalie rules, but decided they were fine as is. While most of us probably have Disney movie-type visions of people being called out of the crowd to fill in, the rule is actually a little more mundane. That said, even an accountant has been called in to stop some pucks.

What is the emergency backup goalie in hockey?

NHL emergency backup goalies (EBUG) have been in the news recently because of COVID and the increasing need to call on them.

According to the NHL: “Under Rule 5.3, if both goalies are unable to continue, a team can dress and play any available goalie who’s eligible. If both goalies are injured in quick succession, the EBUG gets enough time to get dressed and then a two-minute warmup (unless he’s facing a penalty shot). If the EBUG is already on the bench when the second goalie is injured, the EBUG comes in and plays immediately.”

But the EBUGs don’t come from anywhere, they have goalie experience, which is pretty specialized (otherwise teams could just ask a bench player to suit up in goalie pads).

An article by the NHL on the role of emergency backup goalies (cited below) notes that: “Since the 2016-17 season, the NHL has required teams to have a list of local emergency goalie options for themselves and visiting teams. They’ve been used each season outside of 2020-21, when, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHL required teams to have taxi squads (four to six players per team, including at least one goalie).”

There’s very little money in it, but the EBUG does get to swoop in and save the day.

Heroic backups

Scott Foster and David Ayres are often cited as two examples of great EBUGs. Foster was employed as an accountant when he suited up as backup goalie in 2018 for the Chicago Blackhawks-Winnipeg Jets game and saved all 7 shots that came his way to win the game. Ayers was a building operator for the Toronto Maple Leafs when he came in and saved 8 out of 10 shots to help win the game.

While neither had ever played in the NHL, they did both have goalie experience in another league. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Emergency goalies stay ready to fulfill NHL dreams at moment’s notice” — NHL.com

WTF Fun Fact 12918 – The First Dental Filling

You’ve probably always wondered when dental fillings started to be a thing. Because everyone loves to think about the dentist, right?

Interestingly, some people have called dentistry “the oldest profession” since archeological evidence shows people trying to treat cavities many thousands of years ago. We’re not sure about that label, but it does make us wonder why humans weren’t built with better teeth.

Dental archaeology and the first filling

The oldest dental filling dates back to at least the Neolithic period. An international team of researchers largely based in Italy published a paper in 2012 noting that they found evidence of prehistoric dentistry in the form of a 6500-year-old mandible in Slovenia with a crown made of beeswax.

Whoever this poor chap was, he was clearly in enough pain to try and find a way to lessen it by getting his chipped enamel treated.

The researchers described how they assessed the mandible (in a paper cited below): “The use of different analytical techniques, including synchrotron radiation computed micro-tomography (micro-CT), Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), has shown that the exposed area of dentine resulting from occlusal wear and the upper part of a vertical crack affecting enamel and dentin tissues were filled with beeswax shortly before or after the individual’s death.”

Ok, but the next question is, is it really a filling if you’re already dead? We don’t have an answer to that or a way of knowing if the person was dead or alive when it was inserted.

The researchers noted that “If the filling was done when the person was still alive, the intervention was likely aimed to relieve tooth sensitivity derived from either exposed dentine and/or the pain resulting from chewing on a cracked tooth: this would provide the earliest known direct evidence of therapeutic-palliative dental filling.”

Is dentistry the oldest profession?

Dentistry is certainly one of the oldest medical professions (even though the first dental school in the world was opened in the 1820s in Ohio) and the first formal dental text was written in the 1500s. There’s plenty of evidence (written and archaeological) to show that fixing teeth goes back a very long way.

Whether or not it’s the oldest profession (instead of, say, what we normally think of as holding that title) is something we’ll never know. But we kind of doubt it. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Beeswax as Dental Filling on a Neolithic Human Tooth” — PLoS One

WTF Fun Fact 12917 – The Science of Batman

A course called The Science of Batman was proposed at the University of Victoria in Canada back in 2012, and was offered for the first time a few years later in 2016.

The science of Batman

According to HuffPost (cited below) “the course will examine how the human body can be adapted and improved based on the metaphor of the caped crusader himself” and “Offered in “alternate years” the course would make up only part of a degree and is run by the School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education.”

EPHE 156 is described in the course catalog as such:

“The extreme range of adaptability of the human body
explored through the life of the Caped Crusader; examines
human potential using Batman as a metaphor for the
ultimate in human conditioning; evaluates the concepts of
adaptation to exercise and injury from the perspective of
science and exercise training; examines the multiple
sciences behind exercise adaptation, musculoskeletal injury
and concussion, and limitations of the human body and
mind.”

Frankly, it sounds pretty awesome. Just like Batman.

Why teach about superheroes?

It’s hard to get students interested in courses, so sometimes professors (or their administrators) resort to gimmicks. And while they might sound silly, there’s really nothing wrong with it if it helps students learn valuable concepts or skills. The Science of Batman wasn’t about taking away tuition dollars for something mindless, in fact, it was a course about how the human body could be improved.

In some ways, The Science of Batman was ahead of its time. People are only more and more interested in things like “biohacking” and adapting the human body to extreme conditions (like space). Physiology experts travel to high-altitude locations to study these sorts of things all the time. It may even help us improve our health and live longer. So if you have to lure in students with the promise of Batman, so what?

Parents, teachers, and, yes, even executives use references to things people are interested in all the time to explain tough concepts or motivate people.

— WTF fun facts

Source: “Science Of Batman: Canadian University Offers Physical Education Class In The Dark Knight” — HuffPost

WTF Fun Fact 12916 – Princess of Netherlands Born in Canada

It may not seem like a big deal for a princess to be born in another country, but some royal families (any families, really) find it important for their children to be citizens of just one country. So when Princess Magriet of the Netherlands was born in Ottowa in 1943 after her family fled from the Nazis, a Canadian hospital did something remarkable.

The Netherlands in Canada

Crown Princess Juliana was going to give birth to her child in Canada regardless since she couldn’t go back to the Netherlands during the war. If she had a boy, he would have been next in line for the Dutch throne after his mother, making it very important that he be a Dutch citizen. Being born in Canada meant that the child could be considered a British subject (since it’s part of the British Commonwealth).

To avoid any controversy, the maternity ward was temporarily declared extraterritorial by the Canadian government so the child would not be a sole Canadian citizen. This was the case even though the baby happened to be a girl – Princess Magriet.

The Canadian tulip tradition of Princess Margriet

Princess Margriet is indeed a citizen of the Netherlands thanks to Canada’s gesture, and the family remains grateful to the country as a result. When they returned to their home after the war in 1945, the royal family send 100,000 tulip bulbs to the Canadian people. This is the origin of Ottawa’s annual Tulip Festival.

To this day, the Netherlands sends 10,000 tulip bulbs to Canada every year in thanks.

Princess Magriet has returned to Canada many times over. the years and has also attended the tulip festival in Ottawa.

Another fun fact: There is a reference to Magriet’s mother Queen Juliana being pregnant in the Diary of Anne Frank. — WTF fun facts

Source: “Princess of Netherlands Born in Canada” — The Canadian Encyclopedia