Thread: Strange and Unusual Facts

2,800 year old "kiss" at the Teppe Hasanlu archaeological site.

Leucism in cougars is extremely rare. This is likely the only white cougar any of us will see in our lifetimes.

Leaning Tower of Pisa from a unique angle.

Originally Posted by tomcat

Leucism in cougars is extremely rare. This is likely the only white cougar any of us will see in our lifetimes.

False. I've seen loads of white cougars

Originally Posted by armstrong

False. I've seen loads of white cougars

of the second definition, right?

Definitions of cougar


1. a large American wild cat with a plain tawny to grayish coat, found from Canada to Patagonia.

2. an older woman seeking a sexual relationship with a younger man.

Thoreau was convinced that his neck-beard would make women find him irresistible. He died a bachelor.

It was probably the dandruff, not the beard.

If you've ever wondered how big the Great Pyramid of Giza really is, this photo puts it in perspective.

Long exposure shot of a thunderstorm in Benevento, Italy.

Originally Posted by tomcat

If you've ever wondered how big the Great Pyramid of Giza really is, this photo puts it in perspective.

Real perspective hits when standing at the bottom. In my adventurous days I reached about 14-15 stones before vertigo took over leaving me stranded like a cat in its tree, eventually relying on face to help me back down.

...no desire to climb the structure, but I did drive around the base (at night, under a full moon, sleeping guards) to better grasp its enormity...

Was there for the Millennium and around 3 or 4 other occasions iirc. Amazing country to explore. Slowly felucca'ing along the Nile by Luxor for 2 or 3 days as the red sun sets behind the sand dune banks of the Nile is certainly an interesting way to chill for a few days.

Originally Posted by Simon43

My parents were both born/raised in Alexandria, in the post-WW1 days

...Lawrence Durrell days...I visited the city after reading the Alexandria Quartet and found that poverty preserved many of his urban scenes...

Originally Posted by tomcat

Abu Simbel

Possible strange and interesting fact alert.

I'll let Lom or Nev google if true or not.

While moving the entire temple to higher ground during the construction of Lake Nasser, the ancient Egyptians had it perfectly aligned to allow the sun shine down the corridor twice a year, modern construction could only manage to make it happen once a year while reconstructing it.


Sounds like a bit o' bol-bol to me.

Originally Posted by Edmond

the ancient Egyptians had it perfectly aligned to allow the sun shine down the corridor twice a year

...possibly during the equinoxes?...

During a 2004 police training exercise in the Catacombs of Paris, they discovered a secret fully equipped cinema that could seat 20 viewers, a fully-stocked bar, a dining room, and a series of saloons along with professionally installed electricity.

Many airplanes crashed in South Pacific countries like the Philippines during World War II. They remain there to this day.

The eye of a daddy long legs spider from under a microscope.

Saturn Devouring His Son (1823) by Francisco Goya is considered one of the creepiest paintings in existence. It's one of 14 paintings he painted directly on his walls late in life. This is was in his dining room.

Originally Posted by tomcat

Saturn Devouring His Son (1823) by Francisco Goya is considered one of the creepiest paintings in existence.

Subjective, innit? Reubens painted exaclty the same theme, but his Satan is scarier and the son is a baby child.

Others, such as Dante and Virgil by William Bouguereau or The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli probably equal or top Goya in terms of creepy.

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

Subjective, innit? Reubens painted exaclty the same theme, but his Satan is scarier and the son is a baby child.

Others, such as Dante and Virgil by William Bouguereau or The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli probably equal or top Goya in terms of creepy.

...*cough*...pics?...

Only a semi-literate dweeb would describe the painting of satan devouring his son as 'creepy' in the first place.