random fact

WTF Fun Fact 12622 – Air Conditioning Trees

There’s no arguing with the fact that trees keep the planet alive. And we all know they help keep the Earth cool, though we may not know the exact mechanism by which they do it.

But the amount of influence trees can have over the climates in their immediate areas is still pretty stunning.

Even when trees grow in cities (relatively far apart and under conditions that are probably less ideal than, say, a forest), they can have a large cooling impact.

According to the EPA, cities sometimes create “heat islands”:

“An urban heat island (UHI) is an urban area or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent when winds are weak.”

Tl; dr – Cities are hotter because of all the stuff we do there.

But what’s cool about trees (see what we did there?) is that they can lower both surface and air temperatures. We all know it’s cooler in the shade (sometimes by as much as 20-45 degrees F!), so that’s part of it. But there’s also something called evapotranspiration that plays a role. That’s the method by which water moves from the earth’s surface (the soil) up into the atmosphere. So, later, when we get precipitation, it can cool off our buildings and sidewalks.

Evapotranspiration (along with shading, in most cases) can reduce peak temperatures on a summer day by 2-9 degrees F.

And chances are that if you have a thoughtful city planning department, the trees planted around your nearest city are planted in very strategic locations to take advantage of this process. (For example, you may find more trees planted to the west of buildings to take advantage of maximum shade.)

There’s a very long list of the benefits of trees, but we’ll add a few that are less obvious about city trees:

  • They reduce energy usage by lowering the demand for air conditioning
  • They help with stormwater management after big storms by absorbing and filtering rainwater
  • They can reduce the need for constant pavement maintenance by keeping sidewalks, roads, and parking lots cool
  • They improve our quality of life, in part, by reducing noise pollution in cities.

Sometimes trees get in the way, but it’s critical to have them around (or replant them when we need to remove them). – WTF fun facts

Source: “Using Trees and Vegetation to Reduce Heat Islands” — US EPA

WTF Fun Fact 12621 – No Two Sunsets Are Ever the Same

It sounds like a cliche, and some people use this fact that way, but it’s true. It would be impossible for any two sunsets to look exactly alike.

Between the tilt of the Earth and changes in the atmosphere, the conditions between us and the sun are slightly different each day and can result in major changes.

If you’ve seen some beautiful sunsets, you probably understand. Heck, even if you’ve seen two amazing, blazing, pink and blue sunsets, you’ve probably noticed that they’re still a bit different. Even the clouds are in different places.

But the biggest difference is the particles and molecules in the air. That’s what gives sunsets their color. After all, the sun doesn’t emit pink, orange, or blue light. It doesn’t even emit yellow light!

In space, the sun’s light is white.

The colors we see are the sun’s rays are just the light refracting off molecules and particles. And sometimes those particles are pollutants that we add to the air (not for sunset purposes, of course).

So if you share a sunset with someone, it’ll be special no matter what, because you’re never going to see the same thing again. While that makes us want to put down the phone and appreciate it, we’d probably be tempted to snap at least one moment real quick as well.

– WTF fun facts

Source: The Weather Channel – via Twitter

WTF Fun Fact 12620 – Home Alone’s Spider Guest Star

There have been some famous and controversial guest stars in the Home Alone movies, but this one takes the cake.

We know it came out a long time ago (1990, to be exact), but perhaps you’ve seen the original Home Alone movie recently. And if you have, you likely remember the scene when bad-guy Marv, played by Daniel Stern, gets caught up in Kevin McAllister’s (Macauley Caulkin) set of booby traps. In one particularly cringe-worthy scene, he ends up with a tarantula on his face.

Now, tarantulas are venomous, but that venom doesn’t do humans any real harm. The worst that can happen is that they bite you and it hurts. Still, most of us want to avoid that.

Normally, a life-like tarantula would be created by a props department for use in a movie. And Home Alone’s propmasters did, indeed, make a spider for the scene. It’s just not the one that ended up on David Stern’s face. That one was real. And his name was Barry.

Stern told the story in a long Facebook post that read:

“I’ve talked about the stunt guys doing crazy things, I’ve talked about my love of doing physical comedy, but one of the most surreal moments of the film was the scene with the tarantula crawling across my face. People who meet me are always curious if the tarantula was real, if my scream was real, and if I was scared, crazy or both. The answer to all three of those questions is “Yes.”

My memory might be off and I will happily stand corrected if anybody has better info but here is how I remember it:

When I first read the script and talked to Chris Columbus, I thought the tarantula in the scene was going to be a mechanical one and when I showed up on set, sure enough the incredible crew in the prop department had made a very life-like spider replica which could move a bit, as well as a version that didn’t move. I told them I thought I could help sell it, with my great acting abilities and all… They were polite but not convinced. To insure that the “gag” was going to work, they brought in a different crew member, this one from the animal wrangling department. He had a cage and in this cage was an exact replica of the replica that the prop department had made. But you could definitely see by the way it moved that this was no fake, but a creature of royalty in the natural world. I was a little intimidated for the first time in the movie. The wrangler introduced me to “Barry the Tarantula” (possibly mis-remembering his name, apologies). They had Barry crawl around on my hand and head. I asked if Barry was trained and was told they had been working with him for a few days but tarantulas are kind of tough to train. I asked if his poison had been removed, and was told that if the poison was removed, Barry would die. I said, “Right, but if the poison isn’t removed, then I’m gonna die. See where I’m going here?!” “Just don’t make any sudden, threatening moves and you’ll be fine.” “But I’m going to be screaming in Barry’s face. Do you think he’ll feel threatened by that?!” “Barry doesn’t have ears. He can’t hear. Relax. “

I think I made one last feeble attempt to honor the hard work of the prop department and use the replica, but once the director saw Barry in action, the Barry Action Figure was put on the sidelines. I remember Barry crawling around my face. I remember trying not to piss off Barry. Once I got used to him and what he was doing, he turned out to be a great scene partner. I think I felt comfortable enough to have let out that scream right at him in the scene, but there’s another legend that says I only mimed it and added in the scream later. (I would love for the powers-that-be at 20th Century Fox to release the original footage to see if I screamed or mimed, so we can settle this “controversy” once and for all – and the world can finally be at peace.) Either way, the scream came out pretty good and was an homage to the shower scene in “Psycho”. I then had to beat Joe Pesci with a crowbar. And we all know that even though it was pretend and funny and a fake crowbar, it’s a thousand times more dangerous pissing off Joe Pesci than pissing off a venomous spider that’s crawling on your face.

Here’s to Barry! The greatest tarantula I have ever acted with!”

Want to revisit the scene now that you know that’s a real spider? Here you go:

– WTF fun facts

Source: “The Famous ‘Home Alone’ Tarantula Scene Included a Real, Venomous Spider Named Barry, Says Daniel Stern” — CheatSheet

WTF Fun Fact 12619 – The Official Bird of Madison

It all started off with a college prank.

Back in 1979, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison decided to prank their dean. We’re guessing they had seen Animal House with John Belushi a few too many times.

It was a relatively innocent prank concocted and executed by a group of students known as the Pail & Shovel Party, who already had a reputation for their campus antics involving $10,000 toga parties and buying toys for students waiting to register for classes. Then there was that time they stuck a Statue of Liberty replica in a lake, but we digress.

To welcome back students in 1979, they decided to go as tacky as possible and decorate a lawn near the dean’s residence with pink plastic flamingos. One thousand and eight of them, to be exact.

It wasn’t until years later, when a newspaper columnist named Doug Moe wanted to commemorate the incident, that the idea of having an official bird came about. He lobbied to make it happen, despite the plastic flamingo not being an actual animal. In his defense, he said the city already had 5 “official” songs, so the bar seemed pretty low for making things official in the city. The move would be just another way for Madison to show it had a sense of humor about itself.

The city council agreed. Councilwoman Marsha Rummel, who voted in favor of the motion to adopt the plastic flamingo as the city’s official bird, said: “If you don’t have a little fun, [life]’s not worth living.” Fourteen other council members agreed, and only 4 opposed the motion.

Of course, not every city has an official bird.

According to Mental Floss,

“Most states have an official state bird, but it’s less common for a city to declare an official bird. About 28 American cities have proclaimed a fowl of choice: Chicago’s is the peregrine falcon and Key West, Florida’s is the chicken—and then there’s Madison, Wisconsin.”

– WTF fun facts

Source: “Why the Plastic Flamingo is the Official Bird of Madison, Wisconsin” — Mental Floss

WTF Fun Fact 12618 – Pauline, The Presidential Cow

Until the late 19th century, presidents brought their own cows to the White House to provide milk. There was no dairy delivery in Washington DC at the time.

When President William Howard Taft’s cow Mooly Wooly died in 1909, it was replaced by Pauline Wayne, a 1500-pound Holstein-Friesian. She was a gift to the Taft family from the farm of Senator Isaac Stephenson of Wisconsin.

The 4-year-old black and white bovine was the last presidential cow, but by far the most famous. The media appears to have been obsessed with her. Her arrival was covered by The New York Times, and her exploits appeared in publications from The Evening Independent in St. Petersburg, Florida, to The Milwaukee Sentinel.

One particular bit of drama was covered far and wide. Pauline was visiting the International Dairymen’s Exposition in Milwaukee in 1911 (with her milk sold in souvenir bottles for 50 cents each). But on the trip home, she went missing.

We always figured it would be hard to lose a cow, especially the President’s cow. But it happened.

It turned out Pauline’s private car was accidentally hooked up to a train carrying cows to slaughter at the Chicago stockyards. Can you imagine the scandal?!

Luckily, after a series of frantic telegraphs from the dairy show, train attendants ended up locating Pauline’s car as newspapers reported how she “narrowly escaped death.” – WTF fun facts

Source: “Pauline Wayne, President Taft’s Famous Cow” — Presidential Pet Museum

WTF Fun Fact 12617 – “Flame Grilled” Cologne

It wasn’t an April Fool’s joke, but it did happen in Japan on April 1st. In 2015, Burger King Japan released a limited edition cologne made so men could smell like meat. Because who wouldn’t love that?

It was called “Flame Grilled,” and it was specifically designed to smell just like the fast-food chain’s famous Whopper. It cost $41 and was sold for just one day.

You may recall the shenanigans of Burger King Japan from 2013 when, according to Forbes, “the chain offered a “BiKing” (pronounced like ‘Viking’) an all-you-can-eat Whopper promotion in which customers could eat as many Whoopers as they wanted for 30 minutes after placing their first order for the set. The same year they offered a “Black Ninja” burger, a Whopper patty with a piece of hash brown and a long slab of bacon that resembled a tongue, all sandwiched between two black buns.”

Forbes continued: “The most notable offering by the chain so far has been their Kuro (black) burgers, a culinary oddity that was sold for a limited time last year. The burgers were made with black buns, black cheese, and even a garlic sauce made black by actual powdered squid ink.”

But don’t blame Burger King Japan. The chain has some worldwide weirdness going on. We would have written off the whole fragrance thing as a quick joke, except it wasn’t Burger King’s first fragrance release. In 2008, the chain released “Flame” cologne, and it was available through Ricky’s in NYC. Apparently, it was supposed to be alluring to wear “the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.” We’re just not so sure that the second part fits. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Burger King’s Flame-Grilled Beef Scented Cologne: Perfect For Japanese Men Seeking Carnivore Women?” — Forbes

WTF Fun Fact 12616 – How to Snail Mail An Alien

State Route 375 is a roughly 100-mile-long state highway in southern Nevada. If you decide to drive down it, you’ll find a pair of mailboxes on the side of the road between the towns of Alamo. The top mailbox bears the name “Steve Medlin.” The one underneath is marked “Alien.” So choose carefully depending on where you want your letter to go.

Is Steve real? Does he have a pet alien? Is Steve a conduit to alien life? Or is he just the alien’s innocent neighbor?

Actually, Steve is a nearby rancher who is just tired of having his mail stolen.

The other thing you’ll find there besides Steve’s bills and inevitable junk mail is a lot of UFO aficionados. That’s because the so-called “Black Mailbox” is quite close to Area 51.

It’s doubtful anyone would have paid much attention to the mailbox had conspiracy theorist Bob Lazar not decided to use it as a meet-up point a couple of decades ago when he claimed he’d show folks how to reverse engineer an alien aircraft. Bob claims to know how to do this because his “employers” at Area 51 showed him how. (But it bears mentioning that every school and employer Bob claims to have been affiliated with has no records of him. And he’s now a convicted criminal thanks to his involvement in a prostitution ring and the sale of some illegal chemicals.)

But enough about Bob. We feel pretty bad for Steve, who has now had to put up with so many UFO “believers” that he’s had his mailbox shot at and stolen multiple times. It’s now made of bulletproof materials and covered in padlocks just so he can get his mail.

So why is there a mailbox labeled “Alien”? Well, it turns out Steve was also getting a lot of mail meant for extraterrestrials. So he made them their own mailbox. Sometimes people put dollar bills in there, which we’re sure hardly covers the trouble tourists have caused over the years.

But if you tend to believe in this sort of thing and you’ve got a pen and some paper, you know where to drop off your letter to the little green men. – WTF fun facts

Source: “E.T. Post Home: The Alien Mailbox of Area 51” — Slate

WTF Fun Fact 12615 – The Invention of Roller Skates

For most intents and purposes, the idea of the roller skate can be traced all the way back to the 1760s and a man named John Joseph Merlin. But it may also be the case that he was just the first to make a spectacle of himself wearing them.

Merlin was a Belgian inventor working in Paris and London in the 18th century. He made clocks, mathematical devices, and even musical instruments. But his creativity didn’t stop there. He built wheelchairs and robots and even created his own museum dedicated to his designs in 1800, Merlin’s Mechanical Museum.

But if you’ve heard of Joseph Merlin before, it’s likely from an anecdote that he debuted the rollerskate at a festive gathering at a rather grand salon. Not content to just roll in, he rolled in playing the violin…because, well, why not?

The problem wasn’t that he had a penchant for the dramatic, it was that he didn’t seem to have practiced his entrance beforehand. At least not enough to recognize that he’d need a way to stop rolling. There were no brakes on the skates.

As the story goes, Merlin rolled in, got everyone’s attention, and then immediately crashed into a mirror. Of course, it’s not like we have video proof, but you can find the story in Thomas Busby’s 1805 Concert Room and Orchestra Anecdotes:

“One of his ingenious novelties was a pair of skaites contrived to run on wheels. Supplied with these and a violin, he mixed in the motley group of one of Mrs Cowleys’ masquerades at Carlisle House; when not having provided the means of retarding his velocity, or commanding its direction, he impelled himself against a mirror of more than five hundred pounds value, dashed it to atoms, broke his instrument to pieces and wounded himself most severely.”

Perhaps the best takeaway from this is that an inventor should always invent something to stop his invention from hurting people – especially him or herself.

Merlin’s skates appeared to have been in-line skates, however. Encyclopedia Britannica provides a fuller story of the invention of the roller skate:

“The invention of roller skates has been traditionally credited to a Belgian, Joseph Merlin, in the 1760s, although there are many reports of wheels attached to ice skates and shoes in the early years of that century. Early models were derived from the ice skate and typically had an “in-line” arrangement of wheels (the wheels formed a single straight line along the bottom of the skate). In 1819 M. Petibled of Paris received the first patent for a roller skate. Like previous models, Petibled’s skate had an in-line wheel arrangement, using three wooden or metal wheels. The wheels were connected to a wooden block that in turn could be strapped to a boot. These early roller skates enjoyed limited popularity. The ride was rough, and stopping and turning were nearly impossible. The first practical roller skate was designed in 1863 by James Plimpton of Medford, Massachusetts, who broke from the in-line construction and used two parallel pairs of wheels, one set near the heel of the boot and the other near the front.” – WTF fun facts

Source: “The Characters of Kenwood: John Joseph Merlin” — The Museum of Fine Arts – Houston

WTF Fun Fact 12614 – The Fear of Cooking

Plenty of people don’t like to cook. Or maybe you might enjoy it if it weren’t such a chore. After all, for most of us, cooking is something we have to do day in and day out, mostly for other people who may not even appreciate the effort (parents, we’re looking at you).

But there are a group of people who are genuinely afraid of cooking. So much so that it gives them severe anxiety (and we all know the kind of health problems stress and anxiety can cause). These people are known as mageirocophobics.

Mageirocophobia is the extreme fear of having to cook, and it’s typically classified as a social anxiety disorder because it can have a lot to do with a fear of judgment.

According to the Cleveland Clinic: “Mageirocophobia occurs when you’re fearful of cooking or the idea of cooking. You may experience intense anxiety or go out of your way to avoid cooking. For many people, this phobia stems from not wanting to make mistakes.”

Mageirocophobics may have other mental health issues, such as OCD, but not always. Sometimes, the fear results from extreme perfectionism and concern about the consequences of doing things wrong. (And to be fair, a lot can go wrong in the kitchen, from a lousy casserole to a missing finger or a kitchen fire.)

People who fear cooking may also suffer from PTSD after a bad kitchen or cooking incident. It can be a singular incident that caused them (or someone else) harm or even years of being criticized for their cooking.

The kitchen can be stressful for many people, even those who once found it relaxing. Sometimes it depends on your most recent experiences. For example, a chef who gets a bad burn in a kitchen fire might suddenly become mageirocophobic.

This particular phobia may not get in the way of everyday life (as long as sufferers can find a way to eat). In that case, it may not ever be treated. Treatment for the phobia is typically reserved for those who need to get over the fear because it keeps them from enjoying life or eating properly (or caring for those they have a responsibility to feed, like children).

There can even be more mild mageirocophobia. In this case, you won’t enjoy cooking, but severe anxiety arises when trying a new recipe, cooking for others, or needing to use a new kitchen tool.

Of course, more severe cases result in a person being unable to think much about food or developing a fear of watching other people cook.

It’s common to experience a little anxiety when trying new things, but a phobia is a whole different category of fear. Luckily, some treatments can help reduce the effects of mageirocophobia. – WTF fun facts

Source: “Mageirocophobia (Fear of Cooking)” – The Cleveland Clinic