If you go within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, you need to be moving fast to achieve orbit. Otherwise the intense gravity of the sun you pull you down. The speed is to stop the probe cascading down to the surface of the sun.
Welcome to the Daily Facts digital magazine. A free brochure of interesting facts and statistics about everything. This site will never try to sell you anything, it is just there for leisurely reading. Although the topics are heavily researched, the author of this content is not liable for incorrect information, you are free to Fact check all the info available here. Alan Booth, The author's ✖️ is @alspresso
Sunday, 29 December 2024
Fastest Spacecraft
According to NASA, the fastest spacecraft ever made is the Parker solar probe going very close around the sun on a highly elliptical orbit. It is traveling 430,000 miles per hour, over a million kilometres per hour. There is a shield on it made of carbon foam that is stopping the spacecraft from melting in the sun's intense heat, but it is very close to the star.
Friday, 27 December 2024
London Underground
The Metro rail system in London is largest in the world when the overground network is also considered.
The standard tube network alone consists is of 402 km of railroad. This makes it the 3rd largest in the world.
There is also a large overground network throughout London.
There are many instances when a street will have two train stations on it with a 5 to 10 minutes walk between them; Places like frogmore and Eastcoat.
Plus there are trams and lite robotic trains(DLR). London is so crammed with trains that there is always a station nearby.
Monday, 23 December 2024
Draw on Command
Google's Gemini artificial intelligence system can now draw on command. I asked it myself to draw and octopus playing pool.
Just like many other ai systems it will read your command and draw a unique image in seconds. It is hard to tell what is more amazing, the ai understanding what you're asking of it, or the speed of it creating something for you.
Google's Gemini ai is free to download and use and can replace your Google assistant. You can then say "hey Google draw a tree in space" or something like that.
Saturday, 21 December 2024
Earth Perspective
If Earth was an Orange the atmosphere would be the peel. The maximum extent of the Earth's atmosphere is 96km, but the earth is 12,000 km wide. Most large jet airliners cruise at about 11 to 12 km above sea level, a small fraction of the earth's atmosphere.
If you thought there is more than 1% composition of carbon dioxide you would be wrong. Carbon dioxide comprises less than half a percent. There is more Argon in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide at roughly 1%.
Source
~ NASA website atmosphere
Labels:
atmosphere,
science
Friday, 20 December 2024
Birthday Paradox
It is possible to be born before someone but still be younger than they are.
If you were born in London England at 1:00 AM and your friend in America was born 2 hours after you, their records would show they're a day older than you. This is because they live in a previous time zone that is in the previous day. At 1:00 Am it is still 7 or 8 pm the previous day, even at 3:00 am UK time it is still the evening the previous day in America.
This paradox gets worse if your born on the 1st of January at 1:00 am because your American friend's records would show they're born a different year to you as well.
Sunday, 15 December 2024
Neutrinos
Billions of particles are passing through your body at this moment and throughout your life. They're called Neutrinos and they have almost no mass and don't interact much with matter.
They're thought to be created by the nuclear fusion reactions inside stars and cosmic events. They can be detected but only a small number of them and the detector needs to be very large.
~Book: Neutrino by Frank Close
Labels:
neutrinos
Tuesday, 10 December 2024
British Flag
It you mixed all the colours of the United Kingdom of Great Britain's flag together, you would get a bright purple colour.
A similar affect could be achieved if the flag was spun around at a curtain speed, a red circle would still be left in the middle.
Labels:
British flag,
purple
Saturday, 7 December 2024
Premonition of Disaster
Man called Tom Horn claimed to have received a vision of the future, a disaster that would cause the death of millions of people. He claimed the flyby of asteroid apophysis in the year 2029 would actually be a strike from the asteroid.
According to media interviews, he has a significant track record of accurate visions. He correctly predicted the resignation of pope Benedict. He wrote down the correct date of the popes resignation long before it happened.
Have a look a the video yourself and think about it.
Labels:
appophis,
disaster,
premonition
Tuesday, 3 December 2024
Art
A banana duct-taped to a wall has recently sold as a valuble art installment for five million dollars.
I don't get it myself, perhaps they're selling a story or something like that. It makes me feel better about my pen sketches, I'm not good at drawing but when I see modern abstract art, I feel like my images have more clarity about their message and story.
I won't get the full details of the purchase because I don't want to face legal issues.
Friday, 29 November 2024
That's Nuts
One of the Main reasons nut allergies are more common than the other types is because the proteins in nuts are remarkably resilient, they can persist even after passing through stomach acid and they spend much more time in the body. The more time a protein persists in the body the more likely your immune system will recognise it as a threat.
Many nuts contain proteins called 'ARA H1', 'ARA H2', and 'ARA H3' and other proteins with a similar tough structure. These proteins are remarkably though compared to other proteins and can persist in the human body for a very long time.
Source
~ Book, Food Allergies A complete guide By DR Scott H. Sicherer
Tuesday, 26 November 2024
AI Can Profile You
You can ask chatGPT to write a personality profile about you based on what you like. If you mention lots of things it can give you a detailed report.
Even if you list one like or interest, it can give you a comprehensive report. All for free. I told chatGPT I like the movie 'the thing' from 1982 and asked it to write a report about my personality, this is what it wrote.
Here is an example of a personality report.
Liking The Thing (1982) suggests a few intriguing things about your personality and interests:
1. Appreciation for Suspense and Atmosphere: You probably enjoy stories that are rich in tension and atmosphere. The Thing excels in creating a sense of paranoia and dread, which indicates you value psychological depth in horror over simple jump scares.
2. Taste for Practical Effects and Classic Filmmaking: The groundbreaking practical effects in the movie might mean you admire craftsmanship in filmmaking and have a soft spot for movies from the "golden era" of practical effects in the 1980s.
3. Interest in Ambiguity and Complexity: The movie's open-ended conclusion and exploration of themes like trust and human nature suggest you’re drawn to narratives that challenge you to think and interpret rather than providing clear-cut answers.
4. Love of Sci-Fi Horror: The blend of science fiction and horror likely appeals to you. This could mean you enjoy speculative stories that examine humanity's relationship with the unknown.
Labels:
AI,
artificial intelligence,
chatGPT
Saturday, 23 November 2024
Wobble
Our world, the Earth isn't going around the sun smoothly on its axis, it actually wobbles.
The reason the Earth wobbles is because the centre of gravity between the Earth and the moon isn't in the centre of the Earth, it is a shifting point below the Earth's surface called the Barycentre. The Earth and the moon both orbit the Barycentre, a common center of gravity between the two objects.
Labels:
Barycentre
Monday, 18 November 2024
Smart Phone Quirk
If you connect a blue tooth mouse to your android phone, a cursor will appear on the screen just like it would if it were a desk top computer.
The feature even works if you use a combo blue tooth keyboard and touchpad. Not to mention you can cast your screen to a Chromecast device.
Labels:
phone,
smart phone,
technology
Monday, 4 November 2024
Instant Metronome
If you want to use a use a metronome you can summon one from Google by clicking this link instant Metronome or typing Metronome in the Google search bar.
Saturday, 2 November 2024
Game on A page
There is a website that lets you play old computer games directly through the page, it literally boots up an emulator and runs the game ROM on the web page.
That game site is called Freebie Games.
The link is https://freebie.games/
They keep the ROM with them so they don't break any copyright laws where they are located. You don't need to install anything to play the games, you just need a working web browser that supports their technology.
I found it also generates the controllers needed to run the game. I managed to find my favourite dos game on there and play it on my smartphone using the little controllers that it provided.
Saturday, 26 October 2024
Kirby Origins
According to Nintendo, the video game called Kirby was named after a lawyer that defended them against a lawsuit from universal.
Labels:
Kirby lawyer
Monday, 21 October 2024
Instant Tuner
If you're worried your guitar strings are not playing the right note or your piano is off a bit, you don't need to buy a tuner, you can summon an instant tuner that doesn't need an app on your smart phone
All you need to do is go to Google and type 'tuner google' or click on this link... Google tuner.
The tuner works with all sounds, you can even sing notes to see if your voice can reach the right notes.
Labels:
life hack,
technology,
tuner
Instant Spirit Level
If you need a spirit level tool but don't have one with you, you can use your phone as an instant Spirit level.
You don't need to install an app, just click on this link Spirit Level
If you don't want to click on the link, you could just type spirit level on the Google search bar.
The instant spirit level will use your phone's gravity sensors to move the virtual bubble.
Sunday, 20 October 2024
Super Mario Facts
In the game super mario brothers and the sequels, mario doesn't hit his head on the item blocks, he actually hits it with his hand. If you look closely you'll see he actually puts his hand above his head and that is what is hitt the blocks when he jumps.
The Name Mario Comes from a man that was renting warehouses to Nintendo, he was called Mario.
Monday, 14 October 2024
Penny a Minute
If you were given 1 pence (cent) every minute, after one day you would have £14.40 because there is 1440 minutes in a day.
After a week you would have £100.80, not bad for a gift.
If you were given 1 pence per minute for a whole year, you would have £5256, enough to buy a low mileage second hand car. It would be enough to buy a decent overseas family holiday and have change left over for a top of the range electric bike or £2,500 spending money on your holiday.
If you divide £5,256 by 12, you would have a monthly sum of £438. Not bad if it was a second income.
If you received 2p per minute, you would get £876 per month.
If you received 3p per minute, you would get £1314 per month.
If you received 4p per minute, you would get £1752
That would be enough to live on for most people at the time of writing this.
Getting 5p per minute would give you a monthly income of £2190. Enough to live of comfortably at the time this post was written.
Wednesday, 9 October 2024
Too Fast
One of the reasons why NASA don't send probes to land on the surface of Mercury is because the planet is moving too fast. Mercury is traveling at 48 kilometres per second. It is the fastest moving planet in the solar system. The closer you are to the sun the faster you have to move to stop yourself cascading into the star. It is very hard to get probes to travel at close to 48 kilometres per second
Earth is traveling slower than mercury but it is still moving fast, 30 kilometres per second. It is possible to meet the planet in it's path but the sun's gravity would interfere in the rendezvous. Mercury is 3 times closer to the sun than Earth although it has a highly elliptical orbit and can be as far as 70 million kilometres from the sun.
Sources :
Book: The Planets by Professor Brian Cox
Website: https://science.nasa.gov/mercury/
Website: Wikipedia
Friday, 4 October 2024
Astronomical Unit
The distance between the Earth and the sun is used as a measurement of large distances of space. The earth is roughly 150 million km from sun on average, that distance is called an astronomical Unit, AU. They did it this way to reduce the size of the numbers that represent the distances so humans can begin to imagine the scale of the solar system and deep space.
Distances from the sun
Earth is 1 AU astronomical Unit (150 million km)
Mercury is about ⅓ of an AU.
Venus is 0.72 AU.
Mars is 1.5 AU, about 50% further than Earth.
Jupiter is 5.2 AU, 5.2 times further from the sun than Earth.
Saturn is 9.4 AU, nearly 10 times further from the sun than Earth.
Uranus is 19.22 AU .
Neptune is 30.06 AU, nearly twice as far from the sun as Uranus, that is why you need a telescope to see it.
Pluto is 39.53 AU
Sources
Nasa Website: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/
Book: The Planets By Professor Brian Cox, ISBN 9780007488841
Wednesday, 2 October 2024
True when you think about it
A street light in a computer game is using electricity because the the pixels that show the lamp require electricity and to keep the memory of the street lamp, a constant flow of current is needed.
Night time is a shadow ; it is literally the shadow of the earth.
If you had offspring with your auntie, you would be your own uncle.
Source: My own common sense.
Sunday, 29 September 2024
Bloody Mary
You may think the term bloody Mary comes from a cocktail drink made with tomato juice and vodka but it actually comes from the First English female Queen to have full regency of a male king, Queen Mary Tudor or Queen Mary I.
The reason she got the nickname bloody Mary was because she had many of her protestant opponents put to death along with her cousin, Lady Jane Grey, the Queen Hand picked by her brother before he died from tuberculosis and the Father of Jane Grey. She tried very hard to return England into the Catholic realm until she passed away from suspected stomach cancer.
Source : Elizabeth, the forgotten Years by John Guy, ISBN 978-0-241-96365
Source : wikipedia.com
Source Britanica.com
Thursday, 26 September 2024
Biggest Train Crash
The Biggest Train disaster in the united kingdom wasn't reported because it happened during world war 1 and there was a curfew on news reporting that would expose our weaknesses to the enemy.
Four trains were involved, a signalman was leaving his shift and forgot to inform the replacement that there was a train waiting at the junction. Two trains eventually crashed into the train that was waiting and a 4th train that was waiting in a nearby railway layby was also hit by derailed train parts. It's like something out of Thomas the tank engine.
The incident happened at Quintin'shill near Carlisle in 1915.
Source : Amazing and Extraordinary Railway Facts by Julian Holland, ISBN 978-0-7153-25827-7
Monday, 23 September 2024
Chat GPT Draws
You can now ask the free version of chat GPT ai language system to draw pictures. https://chatgpt.com/
Thursday, 19 September 2024
Yorkshire Ripper
There is significant evidence that Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper killed people across the whole of Britain, not just in the Greater Manchester area and northern England.
Image generated by artificial intelligence (wonder)
It is believed he used his company van to commit deadly assaults while he was delivering goods.
To this day we still don't know how many people he killed.
source: Inside the Mind of the Yorkshire Ripper, by Chris Clark and Tim Hicks (book)
Saturday, 14 September 2024
England Gregorian
England didn't embrace the Gregorian Calendar until the 17th century, over 100 years after it was invented by the Catholic church.
This means throughout the Tudor Dynasty and before, they used the Julian calendar. New year was observed on the 25th of March and the dates were inaccurate by today's standards.
Source , 'Elisabeth The forgotten Years', By John Guy, ISBN 978-0-241- 96365-4
Labels:
Gregorian Calendar,
history
Wednesday, 4 September 2024
Privatisation of Space
NASA has been privatising space travel, they have been reaching out to private companies to make spaceships for them.
They have so far given out two contracts, one to SpaceX and one to Boeing. The two companies make space vehicles that bring astronauts to the international space station.
They believe that private companies would deliver space vehicles more efficiently and with a smaller budget.
Recently the Boeing Star liner space capsule has had some serious faults and has been forced to return to earth without the astronauts.
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Thursday, 25 July 2024
Tuesday, 4 June 2024
AM And PM
When you're reading the time AM stands for Anti Meridian, this means before Meridian because the sun hasn't reached the meridian line in the sky from your perspective.
PM stands for post meridian because the sun has apparently gone past the meridian line.
Tuesday, 28 May 2024
Gliese 12
According to the NASA blogs, they have recently discovered a planet going around the red dwarf star Gliese 12. The planet is believed get more light from it's star than Earth but less than Venus.
Tuesday, 14 May 2024
Yellow Phone
When you look at yellow colours on your smart phone display you're probably not actually looking at yellow. Most handsets mix red and green light together to create an imitation of yellow but it's not true yellow like a lemon. The receptors in most people's eyes can't tell the difference.
image generated by AI (wonder)
Sunday, 14 April 2024
Thin Air
According to astronaut 'Tim Peake', the air quality on the international space station is the same as Earth at sea level.
However on commercial airlines the air is usually pressurised to 1,830 - 2,400 meters. The air on a plane is akin to the air on the top of a small mountain, thin and dry. The air on the international space station is better than the air on an airplane.
Source : Ask an Astronaut by Tim Peake, ISBN : 978 -1 - 784 - 75948 - 3
Labels:
international space station,
iss,
science,
space
Thursday, 11 April 2024
Titan The Moon
Titan, Saturn's Largest moon is only 80% bigger than our own moon but it has a thick atmosphere, lakes made of methane, dunes, mountains and even coastlines.
Methane, Propane and Butane are usually gassed on earth, but on Titan they exist as a liquid because the moon is very cold.
Source : Wikipedia
Friday, 5 April 2024
Cashew Apples
Cashew nuts come attached to an accessory fruit known as a Cashew apple. However the fruit doesn't travel very well, it only stays fresh for a short time and bruises very easily.
Image generated by artificial intelligence (wonder)
Cashew apple is used to make all sorts of sweets and puddings. It is even used to make alcoholic drinks.
Source Wikipedia
Labels:
cashew apple
Thursday, 4 April 2024
Berry Good
According to the botanical definition of a berry, Raspberries, Strawberries and Blackberries are not berries because they don't come from the single ovary of a single flower.
Tomatoes, Cucumbers blue berries and melons are actually berries because they come from single flowers with one ovary.
Source : Wikipedia
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
Bamboo
Bamboo can grow bigger than most trees and has a very hard outer layer yet it is in the Poaceae family; it is a type of grass. It is related to the grass that grows on lawns.
Image generated by AI (wonder)
Some species of Bamboo have been known to grow over 90cm in one day. They're the fastest growing plant in the world. Bamboo is also one of the most useful plants in the world, it has a wood like stem and the plant fibers can be used to make different papers, toilet paper, packaging and things like that.
Source : Wikipedia
Saturday, 30 March 2024
Sainsbury's Train station
Sainsbury's Supermarket in Uxbridge used to be Uxbridge train station. The Sainsbury's in Uxbridge was originally Uxbridge train station but they later thought the train station should have direct access to the high street so they moved to another position nearby.
When the station was moved to the high street, there was a small shop there that remained. Later in 1985, Sainsbury's bought the disused station and shop and rebuilt the place as a supermarket.
Source My London News
Labels:
Sainsbury's,
station,
underground
Sunday, 24 March 2024
Cows are Lactose Intolerant
Cows are Lactose intolerant. Just like almost all other mammals in the world, cows stop producing the lactase enzyme when they're adults so they get irritated by Lactose. Even though their milk has lactose in it, it would make them sick if they drank it and give them diarrhoea.
Friday, 22 March 2024
Space Sickness
Living for long periods of time in space can cause a range of illnesses. One such illness is Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome. The sickness is caused by fluids flowing into the head because the lower portion of your body forces blood upward.
NASA was recently experimenting with cuff clothing you wear to help put pressure on your body and decrease the sickness.
Source NASA.gov
Wednesday, 20 March 2024
Big Ben
Many people think the giant clock attached to Westminster palace is called Big Ben but that was actually the name they gave to large 13 tonne bell inside the clock tower. The clock tower itself is called the Elizabeth tower.
Not only does the Elizabeth clock tower have a giant bell but 4 smaller bells that play the 16 notes before the clock chimes. There are actually 5 bells and the big bell is called Big Ben.
It's ok to call the giant clock Big Ben though. We all know what you mean.
Source : Parliament Website
Labels:
big Ben
Tuesday, 5 March 2024
European Countries
Ukraine and France are the biggest countries in Europe, most of Russia is in Asia. France is twice the size of the United Kingdom.
1. Russia - 17,098,242 square kilometers
2. Ukraine - 603,550 square kilometers
3. France - 551,695 square kilometers
4. Spain - 505,990 square kilometers
5. Sweden - 450,295 square kilometers
6. Norway - 385,207 square kilometers
7. Germany - 357,022 square kilometers
8. Finland - 338,455 square kilometers
9. Poland - 312,696 square kilometers
10. Italy - 301,340 square kilometers
11. United Kingdom - 242,495 square kilometers
12. Romania - 238,397 square kilometers
13. Belarus - 207,600 square kilometers
14. Greece - 131,957 square kilometers
15. Bulgaria - 110,879 square kilometers
16. Iceland - 103,000 square kilometers
17. Hungary - 93,030 square kilometers
18. Portugal - 92,090 square kilometers
19. Austria - 83,879 square kilometers
20. Czech Republic - 78,865 square kilometers
21. Serbia - 77,474 square kilometers
22. Ireland - 70,273 square kilometers
23. Lithuania - 65,300 square kilometers
24. Latvia - 64,589 square kilometers
25. Croatia - 56,594 square kilometers
26. Bosnia and Herzegovina - 51,209 square kilometers
27. Slovakia - 49,036 square kilometers
28. Estonia - 45,227 square kilometers
29. Denmark - 43,094 square kilometers
30. Switzerland - 41,290 square kilometers
31. Netherlands - 41,543 square kilometers
32. Moldova - 33,846 square kilometers
33. Belgium - 30,528 square kilometers
34. Albania - 28,748 square kilometers
35. North Macedonia - 25,713 square kilometers
36. Slovenia - 20,273 square kilometers
37. Montenegro - 13,812 square kilometers
38. Kosovo - 10,887 square kilometers
39. Cyprus - 9,251 square kilometers
40. Malta - 316 square kilometers
Source : Chat GPT 3.5
Labels:
Europe size
Monday, 4 March 2024
Lottery Face
The Logo for the British National Lottery has a face hidden in plain sight. It looks like a hand with the fingers crossed for good luck, but when you take a closer look you can see it also has a face.
The two curled up fingers are the eyes and the hand line is a mouth.
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