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The Official DP Interesting Fact Thread

All US dairy cows are descended from two bulls.

A tapeworm can live 25 years.

A mushroom (and other fungi) are genetically more similar to humans than to plants.

Mosquitos have killed half of all humans who have ever lived.

All nuclear power plants operating today were engineered using slide rules.
 
I read just recently that Amanda Blake, Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke, died of AIDS and not of cancer, as originally reported, at the age of 60, in 1989...
 
Threegoofs said:
John Tyler, the US President (born 1790) who was elected in 1840 (on the Wm. Henry Harrison ticket) has two living grandsons who to this day give tours of the Tyler estate.

Access Denied

Also, there is a woman who is the daughter of a Civil War veteran who, to this day, still receives a $74/mo pension from the US government.

Veterans' Benefits Live On Long After Bullets Stop - WSJ
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I've heard that before and find it absolutely incredible. Imagine having a grandpa who was born in 1790.
 
Rising Sun said:
It's often been said that Bob Dylan is an example of a mediocre singer who is one of the most accomplished talents of our time. There are many great songs in the 60s and 70s, including later, but not as many, made famous by other singers which had Bob Dylan as the songwriter. Dylan was a Jewish kid from Duluth, Minnesota who idolized the folk-music singer Woody Guthrie so much that at age 19, Dylan traveled to visit the extremely sick Guthrie who had Huntington's Disease. They became good friends and it's obvious from Dylan's earlier works how much Guthrie influenced him. Dylan's talent as a writer and a poet was inspired by Guthrie, but the talent was all Dylan's own. Despite a mediocre singing voice, his songs had resonance and not only invited hundreds of covers, but requests for his songwriting talents.

Even though Dylan sang several of his own songs, they were picked up by other artists and turned into classics. One of my favorites is Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower"...a Dylan song which he recorded and released 6 months before the Hendrix version. All Along the Watchtower - Wikipedia

"Forever Young" is usually known by other singers than Dylan even though it's his song and he recorded it first. I remember the Joan Baez version best, but it's been covered by a lot of people/bands. Forever Young (Bob Dylan song) - Wikipedia

"Make You Feel My Love" is a 1997 song covered in 1998 by Garth Brooks (and reached #1 on the CW charts) and also by Adele in 2008.

Songfacts - Songs written by Bob Dylan
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Madonna has proven you don't have to have any musical talent to succeed as a singer.
 
Josie said:
Katy Perry's real name is Kate Hudson. She changed it for obvious reasons.
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Katy is so beautiful. It's a shame she dyes her hair green or purple, and acts like an ass.
 
Elvira said:
I read just recently that Amanda Blake, Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke, died of AIDS and not of cancer, as originally reported, at the age of 60, in 1989...
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I’ve actually known that for years and years, and had never heard the cancer diagnosis. My father was a big fan of Gunsmoke.
 
bluesmoke said:
He was a big star on his own, apart from the BGs. First male solo artist to have three consecutive number one singles. Freddie Mercury worked with him on a song and said he was amazed at his voice. Oh well.
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My bedroom walls were plastered with posters of Andy Gibb when I was a teenager. I was sooooooo in love with him.
 
Cats, like humans and their hands, have a dominant paw.
 
bluesmoke said:
I don't know if it was a drug overdose that was the direct cause of his death, but, yeah, he was pretty much absent from life his last few yrs., on drugs.
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He was addicted to cocaine, went through rehab and got clean. Died clean, but of a heart attack at 30, possibly brought on by damage to his heart when he was using.
 
Superfly said:
My bedroom walls were plastered with posters of Andy Gibb when I was a teenager. I was sooooooo in love with him.
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Yeah, my wife said he was the "hot one."
 
The melody for Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World was lifted from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, as written by Carl Sagan. Okay, maybe NOT written by Carl Sagan, but still...
 
I have searched high and low for an old interview tape of a very old John Ford.

John Ford - Wikipedia

Ford very often worked with John Wayne and directed some of the best early western films.

The interview was near the end of Ford’ life and I cannot remember who the interviewer was; my favorite part wnt something like this,”Mr. Ford, when you made “Stagecoach,” what artistic message were you trying to achieve?” John Ford was a pipe smoker and mostly had a pipe lit or unlit clenched between his teeth. He also was blind in one eye, by then, and one lens of his glasses was taped up. Ford removed the pipe, thought for a moment and then replied, “young man, when I made “Stagecoach,” I was trying to achieve a check!”



Edit: found another interesting link re the above: John Ford and John Wayne | Pappy and the Duke | American Masters | PBS
 
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The name of the tamper-evident caps on water jugs, juice bottles, and etc. is ratchet cap, to be distinguished from the beverage cap used on soft drinks.
 
humbolt said:
The melody for Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World was lifted from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, as written by Carl Sagan. Okay, maybe NOT written by Carl Sagan, but still...
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I was taught the myth that Mozart wrote "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." He did use the melody*, but he didn't compose it.

*Also the melody of "The ABC Song" and "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep."
 
Lutherf said:
For this thread I decided to search the internet for something I never knew because, y'know, I need to know more useless stuff. Well, as luck would have it I found something in a LOT less time than I thought it would take.

There is a song on Jefferson Airplane's 1967 album "Surrealistic Pillow" titled "3/5 of a Mile In 10 Seconds". Not surprisingly people have done the math and that translates to 216mph. That was nice to know but the real kicker is that someone else did some more math and figured out that 216=6^3 or 6*6*6 which we all know as the mark of the beast in Revelations.

Granted, the lyrics do reference prayer at one point but it's hardly a religious song.
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Maybe it’s the speed the grooves travel under the phonograph needle!
 
humbolt said:
The melody for Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World was lifted from Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, as written by Carl Sagan. Okay, maybe NOT written by Carl Sagan, but still...
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Louis Armstrong introduced Bing Crosby to a lot of things, including marijuana.
 
Rising Sun said:
It's often been said that Bob Dylan is an example of a mediocre singer who is one of the most accomplished talents of our time. There are many great songs in the 60s and 70s, including later, but not as many, made famous by other singers which had Bob Dylan as the songwriter. Dylan was a Jewish kid from Duluth, Minnesota who idolized the folk-music singer Woody Guthrie so much that at age 19, Dylan traveled to visit the extremely sick Guthrie who had Huntington's Disease. They became good friends and it's obvious from Dylan's earlier works how much Guthrie influenced him. Dylan's talent as a writer and a poet was inspired by Guthrie, but the talent was all Dylan's own. Despite a mediocre singing voice, his songs had resonance and not only invited hundreds of covers, but requests for his songwriting talents.

Even though Dylan sang several of his own songs, they were picked up by other artists and turned into classics. One of my favorites is Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower"...a Dylan song which he recorded and released 6 months before the Hendrix version. All Along the Watchtower - Wikipedia

"Forever Young" is usually known by other singers than Dylan even though it's his song and he recorded it first. I remember the Joan Baez version best, but it's been covered by a lot of people/bands. Forever Young (Bob Dylan song) - Wikipedia

"Make You Feel My Love" is a 1997 song covered in 1998 by Garth Brooks (and reached #1 on the CW charts) and also by Adele in 2008.

Songfacts - Songs written by Bob Dylan
Click to expand...

The thing about Dylan’s lyrics is that nobody can understand them.
 
beefheart said:
Keith Moon and Mama Cass died in the same bedroom a few years apart. Harry Nilsson's apartment in London.
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Big band leader Harry James married 20th Century pinup, Betty Grable. They were exactly alike. When they had money, they blew it, and then fought like cats and dogs.

They divorced, of course, but both carried the flame. Both of them died on the same day, apart from one another. It was their wedding anniversary.
 
The Empire State Building stands on the site of the original Waldorf Astoria.
 
TomFitz said:
Big band leader Harry James married 20th Century pinup, Betty Grable. They were exactly alike. When they had money, they blew it, and then fought like cats and dogs.

They divorced, of course, but both carried the flame. Both of them died on the same day, apart from one another. It was their wedding anniversary.
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These Hollywood stars are so messed up.
 
Elvira said:
I always thought Barry was...
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Why no love for Robin?

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