Well, I never knew that! Share your interesting info...

[lady_disdain]

While crossing the Rubicon with an army is associated with Julius Cesar, he was, in fact, following the example of Lucius Silla (who marched on Rome twice).

And was married to one of his aunts or great aunts, if I recall correctly!

Julia Cesaria, Cesar's cousin actually. But a generation older, because of all the weird stuff that happens to family trees when girls marry at 16 and men at 30. Sulla also forced Julius Cesar to abandon Rome during his purge (Julius Cesar was Gaius Marius's nephew and married to Cinna's daughter). When he allowed Cesar to return, he said that he was bound to regret this, since he saw in him "many a Marius."

[Dr. F.]

Early on in the movie Jurassic Park, they show scientists removing blood from the stomach of a mosquito trapped in amber in order to get dinosaur DNA.

However, the mosquito they used in the movie is of the genus Toxorhynchitinae, which is the only genus of mosquitoes that do not blood feed as adults: they only eat sugar water from plants.

and in the book they give the DNA sequence of the presumed dinosaur DNA.  If you run that sequence through GenBank (this is what nerds do) it comes out as pBR322 a bacterial plasmid!  They could have at least put in a bird sequence to make it a little more authentic.

Dolly,  Supreme Nerd

I believe it's actually pUC18 sequence (how do I know?  I ran it through myself....)

drzim, Ultimate Nerd

Oh well.  I guess my memory of a BLAST search I did 22 years ago ain't what it used to be! I did remember it was a cloning vector though.

Which is the most common sequence in GenBank because people can't be bothered to TRIM THEIR VECTORS!! Argh! Probably not as common anymore, but still!

This probably belongs in the  "Little Things That Drive You Crazy" thread. Actually, all of GenBank, especially the submission requirements, belongs there.

[mbbored]

Early on in the movie Jurassic Park, they show scientists removing blood from the stomach of a mosquito trapped in amber in order to get dinosaur DNA.

However, the mosquito they used in the movie is of the genus Toxorhynchitinae, which is the only genus of mosquitoes that do not blood feed as adults: they only eat sugar water from plants.

and in the book they give the DNA sequence of the presumed dinosaur DNA.  If you run that sequence through GenBank (this is what nerds do) it comes out as pBR322 a bacterial plasmid!  They could have at least put in a bird sequence to make it a little more authentic.

Dolly,  Supreme Nerd

I believe it's actually pUC18 sequence (how do I know?  I ran it through myself....)

drzim, Ultimate Nerd

Oh well.  I guess my memory of a BLAST search I did 22 years ago ain't what it used to be! I did remember it was a cloning vector though.

Which is the most common sequence in GenBank because people can't be bothered to TRIM THEIR VECTORS!! Argh! Probably not as common anymore, but still!

This probably belongs in the  "Little Things That Drive You Crazy" thread. Actually, all of GenBank, especially the submission requirements, belongs there.

Oh man, I haven't touched GenBank in years and now y'all are bringing back all kinds of frightening memories.

[Shalamar]

When eating a banana, it's best not to pull the "tab" part of it.  You should open it from the bottom - pinch it, and you can easily pull it open.  I think that's how other primates do it.

I should tell my parents this - they have argued SO MANY TIMES about the "right" way to open a banana.  Dad says pull the tab (so do I); Mum says to open it from the bottom.

... then again, maybe I won't tell them.  My dad doesn't need to hear Mum crowing "Nyeah, nyeah". 

[m2kbug]

When eating a banana, it's best not to pull the "tab" part of it.  You should open it from the bottom - pinch it, and you can easily pull it open.  I think that's how other primates do it.

I should tell my parents this - they have argued SO MANY TIMES about the "right" way to open a banana.  Dad says pull the tab (so do I); Mum says to open it from the bottom.

... then again, maybe I won't tell them.  My dad doesn't need to hear Mum crowing "Nyeah, nyeah". 

Opening it from the bottom results in less squishing of the banana inside and is actually easier.  I learned this tidbit a few years ago and tried it - it's true!  That tab can be stubborn to open.

[RebeccainGA]

When eating a banana, it's best not to pull the "tab" part of it.  You should open it from the bottom - pinch it, and you can easily pull it open.  I think that's how other primates do it.

I should tell my parents this - they have argued SO MANY TIMES about the "right" way to open a banana.  Dad says pull the tab (so do I); Mum says to open it from the bottom.

... then again, maybe I won't tell them.  My dad doesn't need to hear Mum crowing "Nyeah, nyeah". 

Opening it from the bottom results in less squishing of the banana inside and is actually easier.  I learned this tidbit a few years ago and tried it - it's true!  That tab can be stubborn to open.

I do it because my DP is picky and hates squashed bananas (and likes them almost green, when they are REALLY hard to peel). From the end, instead of the stem, no squashed banana. Bonus - the stringy bits do tend to stay on the peel better from that end. Just watch any primate on National Geographic - after all, they are the experts on the process!

[Slartibartfast]

You know those "mystery flavor" candies like lollipops and Laffy Taffy?  Those are from when they're swapping the machines over between one flavor/color to another.  The "mystery flavor" is actually a combination of the two flavors, and usually either has no color at all or has a combination of the other two colors.

[JenJay]

You know those "mystery flavor" candies like lollipops and Laffy Taffy?  Those are from when they're swapping the machines over between one flavor/color to another.  The "mystery flavor" is actually a combination of the two flavors, and usually either has no color at all or has a combination of the other two colors.

Thank you! I wondered why they did that. Now I can make a game of trying to figure out which flavors are mingled.

[Seraphia]

Learned this one this weekend - if you wrap plastic wrap around a banana's stem, they stay fresh longer. Awesome when I buy that GIANT bunch from Sam's.

Also, one I've gotten a lot of mileage out of lately - if you pour regular table salt and a little Dawn (it works best, but I suppose others may work as well) into a cast iron skillet, use a plastic scraper (I got mine for $1 at a kitchen store) you can get all the burnt on stuff in a cast iron pan out without hurting the seasoning of the pan. I have been cooking a lot more the last few weeks, and my cast iron is getting a workout!

You can also use regular Dawn dishsoap to fade a hairdye job that's come in too dark. Because it's meant to clean pots and pans, it doesn't have the gentler buffer agents that shampoo does, and will pull some of the hair color back out more easily.

[wolfie]

The average domestic cat can run faster than Usain Bolt.

(1,227 QI Facts to blow your socks off)

Except my cat, who is not interested in anything other than sleeping or eating.

You might be surprised. My cat Leo is a big cat, Grace is not his middle name and he is lazy as all heck. My mom brought the dog over. Leo saw my mom and went to say hello. Then he saw the dog. I have never seen him run that fast and I didn't realize he could climb a tree that high before. The dog was just unhappy because Leo wouldn't play with her.

[Redsoil]

Loving the tidbits of info this is eliciting!

[MariaE]

Paint can freeze and looks like solid putty. When it starts to unthaw, it goes to the consitancy of cottage cheese.

Same goes for pasteurized egg yolks. I found that out the hard way. Don't know if they're still usable though - I just threw mine out.

[siamesecat2965]

Ok mine is really only interesting to me, but here goes. I have to start out by saying I have issues with numbers. Math was always hard for me, and I just don't get them.   In my company, we work 37.5 hours a week, 7.5 hours a day.

Yet in our timekeeping system, it shows as 7.3 for a full day, and 3.45 for a half, if you take one. We've had this system for, oh, a number of years now, and I can never remmeber what to put in when I take a half a day. to me, 7.5 is a full day, and 3.75 is a half.  All of a sudden, last week, it hit me!  7.3 is seven hours, and thirty minutes aka 7.5 hours. and 3.45 is 3 hours and forty five minutes, aka a half a day. Now that i've figured this out, its perfectly clear.

[ica171]

When eating a banana, it's best not to pull the "tab" part of it.  You should open it from the bottom - pinch it, and you can easily pull it open.  I think that's how other primates do it.

I like doing it this way, because it's less stringy, I don't have to worry about the "tab" breaking off, and I don't have the problem of not being able to open it if it's not ripe enough.

I can't actually get a banana to open that way. It just mushes it. So I stick with opening it from the stem end.

[m2kbug]

Ok mine is really only interesting to me, but here goes. I have to start out by saying I have issues with numbers. Math was always hard for me, and I just don't get them.   In my company, we work 37.5 hours a week, 7.5 hours a day.

Yet in our timekeeping system, it shows as 7.3 for a full day, and 3.45 for a half, if you take one. We've had this system for, oh, a number of years now, and I can never remmeber what to put in when I take a half a day. to me, 7.5 is a full day, and 3.75 is a half.  All of a sudden, last week, it hit me!  7.3 is seven hours, and thirty minutes aka 7.5 hours. and 3.45 is 3 hours and forty five minutes, aka a half a day. Now that i've figured this out, its perfectly clear.

Hahaha!  The use of the decimal point would throw me off as well.      Good ah-ha moment!