Just Want To Share The Website QI.Com/Quite Interesting!

Lenticular Psaloid · Mar 27, 2015

Hello my friends,
I don't know if anyone has enjoined this yet, but while researching further information upon Dr. Johnson I stumbled upon an erudite web site called, qi.com which stands for quite interesting.

From a cursory glance it seems to be filled with nuggets that would seed story ideas.

Here's a sampling:
Blue Mammals:
Somebody mentioned that there were no green mammals.
There is one, although it's a bit of a cheat as the green comes from external algae. I mean a sloth.

I have a couple of candidates for blue mammals.
You have the 'Golden Snub Nosed Monkeys' which have blue faces.

And there's also the humble baboon, more specifically the Mandrill.

I'd already mentioned the Green Possum which actually "are" green.

Lenticular Psaloid · Mar 27, 2015

Great story idea!
When reading that link, it was interesting to read those monkeys live primarily off lichen. Which makes me think of flamingoes...... Is it the food source contributing to colour?

Nevertheless, they are still only partially blue.

The quest continues......

Gerald Durrell collected some green squirrels in Cameroon, as mentioned in A Zoo in My Luggage.

neandermagnon · Mar 27, 2015

A blue whale. Dolphins look quite blue to me too.

Lenticular Psaloid · Mar 27, 2015

neandermagnon said:
A blue whale. Dolphins look quite blue to me too.

I don't know about the blue whale, I've always wished to look at one up close.
But in the case of dolphins isn't that usually a spectral effect from light?

Sword&Shield · Mar 27, 2015

What a neat site. I clicked a random topic and came across this:

Life After Decapitation?

Experiments designed to find the most humane way of killing lab rats indicate that brain functions can continue for 10-20 seconds after decapitation. A famous doctor's report from 1905 relates how the doctor (Beaurieux) yelled at the head of a guillotine victim (Languille) and seemed to get a response until 30 seconds after decapitation. However, the question of consciousness after decapitation remains unresolved.

In theory it might be possible to keep a severed head alive by attaching a cardiac pump to it, but this has never been attempted in practice.

That might make for a creepy story idea for someone.

Lenticular Psaloid · Mar 27, 2015

Sword&Shield said:
What a neat site. I clicked a random topic and came across this:

That might make for a creepy story idea for someone.

The endless possibilities with this website smacked me immediately above the temple.

neandermagnon · Mar 27, 2015

Lenticular Psaloid said:
I don't know about the blue whale, I've always wished to look at one up close.
But in the case of dolphins isn't that usually a spectral effect from light?

If you mean rayleigh scattering, then the human blue eyes, the blue colour of many birds and butterflies and the sky are not really blue. You could say any colour is just an optical effect though, seeing as everything we see comes from light that bounces off objects and it's only made into images in the visual cortex of the brain.

All pale colours of human eyes (blue, green, or grey) are because of rayleigh scattering, and if they're just the right amount of pigment (like mine are) they change colour in different light conditions (anything from grey, blue, green or a brownish-grey colour).

Lenticular Psaloid · Mar 27, 2015

neandermagnon said:
If you mean rayleigh scattering, then the human blue eyes, the blue colour of many birds and butterflies and the sky are not really blue. You could say any colour is just an optical effect though, seeing as everything we see comes from light that bounces off objects and it's only made into images in the visual cortex of the brain.

All pale colours of human eyes (blue, green, or grey) are because of rayleigh scattering, and if they're just the right amount of pigment (like mine are) they change colour in different light conditions (anything from grey, blue, green or a brownish-grey colour).

Thanks for the clarification. Good info for my files collection.

Lenticular Psaloid · Mar 27, 2015

I have to confess that if even a quarter of this website is as piquant as this, (see below) this site deserves to be immortalized.

The funny thing is, Jack, that in America they don't call it a roundabout, they call it a rotary.

Here's a factoid for you that I've only just read - apparently all walruses are right-handed and all polar bears are left-handed. But how would they test it? I thought walruses had flippers anyway? If you throw each of them a fish, wouldn't the walrus be more likely to catch it in its mouth rather than reach up with a flipper?

I'm thinking too much about this one, aren't I? Particularly since the source was an online celeb gossip sheet called 'Popbitch'. Not, I hasten to add, that I'm interested in celebs as such, but somebody sent me a link to it the other day and I couldn't resist the name so I went to have a look at it. Here's another little bit of celeb gossip for you - Britney Spears said in an interview with Newsweek the other day: "I've been into a lot of Indian spiritual religions."
Newsweek "Might Hinduism be one of them?"
Britney: "What's that? Is it like Kaballah?"

As somebody famously once said of Mariah Carey (after she had said, upon looking at a picture of Africans with AIDS, 'I'd love to be skinny like that but without all the flies and death and stuff') - Britney Spears, voice of an angel, brain of a sausage roll.

CathleenT · Mar 27, 2015

On the decapitation thing that sword and shield was mentioning, I read a snippet once about a man who knew he was getting guillotined during the upheaval following the French Revolution. He was a scientist, and he told his friends he would blink for as long as he could afterward, and they could note it. They counted something like a dozen blinks before he stopped.

I wish I could source it, but I read it some time ago. It was some sort of history book, I believe. It was a source I trusted, anyway.

I'm not sure what you could do in the space of twelve blinks, but I could see it being an interesting premise for a story.

Lenticular Psaloid · Mar 27, 2015

CathleenT said:
On the decapitation thing that sword and shield was mentioning, I read a snippet once about a man who knew he was getting guillotined during the upheaval following the French Revolution. He was a scientist, and he told his friends he would blink for as long as he could afterward, and they could note it. They counted something like a dozen blinks before he stopped.

I wish I could source it, but I read it some time ago. It was some sort of history book, I believe. It was a source I trusted, anyway.

I'm not sure what you could do in the space of twelve blinks, but I could see it being an interesting premise for a story.

Mined from qi.com, how would you work this into a conversation?

Only one whelk in ten thousand is left-handed.

Mr Flibble · Mar 27, 2015

Do you guys not get QI over your side of the pond?

Over here it has led to the phrase "Stephen Fry said so, so it must be true" in many conversations

There are some truly gobsmacking things on the show/website

Once got my son in trouble for telling his teacher there were 5 moons

(Depending on how you define moon) This was later revised to two (and asked of Alan specifically to trip him up, after they'd done the same with 5 moons lol)

Sword&Shield · Mar 27, 2015

CathleenT said:
On the decapitation thing that sword and shield was mentioning, I read a snippet once about a man who knew he was getting guillotined during the upheaval following the French Revolution. He was a scientist, and he told his friends he would blink for as long as he could afterward, and they could note it. They counted something like a dozen blinks before he stopped.

I wish I could source it, but I read it some time ago. It was some sort of history book, I believe. It was a source I trusted, anyway.

I'm not sure what you could do in the space of twelve blinks, but I could see it being an interesting premise for a story.

Wow that is so cool, if you ever find the source I'd love to read about it.

KidCassandra · Mar 27, 2015

Mr Flibble said:
Do you guys not get QI over your side of the pond?

The only reason I know of it is from a British friend. I watch snippets occasionally online. If it is shown over here, it's not commonly advertised or known.

neandermagnon · Mar 27, 2015

CathleenT said:
On the decapitation thing that sword and shield was mentioning, I read a snippet once about a man who knew he was getting guillotined during the upheaval following the French Revolution. He was a scientist, and he told his friends he would blink for as long as he could afterward, and they could note it. They counted something like a dozen blinks before he stopped.

I wish I could source it, but I read it some time ago. It was some sort of history book, I believe. It was a source I trusted, anyway.

I'm not sure what you could do in the space of twelve blinks, but I could see it being an interesting premise for a story.

With no blood flow at all to the brain, I think he'd be unconscious before he could blink that many times. If someone's blood pressure drops drastically, they usually pass out within a couple of seconds. That's just a fall in blood pressure - if someone's decapitated, the blood pressure in the carotid artery would be pretty much non existant. It takes about 13 minutes without oxygen* before brain cells actually start dying, but without oxygen but when the heart's still pumping (e.g. suffocation) you'll usually pass out after about 30 seconds. Without any blood flow to the brain, I think you'd pass out instantly.

I could be wrong though... it's not exactly the kind of thing scientists are allowed to test.

*Mr Flibble knows about WOO

Mr Flibble · Mar 27, 2015

KidCassandra said:
The only reason I know of it is from a British friend. I watch snippets occasionally online. If it is shown over here, it's not commonly advertised or known.

Guys, you should be digging it out. It is a mine of trivia (gold dust to the writer!) and also bloody funny. Here, have its youtube channel

ETA Apologies, this is the official youtube channel

neandermagnon said:
*Mr Flibble knows about WOO

Tangentially related to Sprout Crumble and the King of the Potato People. *nods sagely*

eyeblink · Mar 27, 2015

Sword&Shield said:
Wow that is so cool, if you ever find the source I'd love to read about it.

That's a possibly apocryphal story about Antoine Lavoisier, a figure of some importance in chemistry, who was guillotined in 1794.

Another story I did hear (not from QI) is that you have to be careful if picking up severed heads immediately after an execution as they might try to bite you. Best to pick them up by the hair for that reason. Needless to say I can't verify this from experience!

I don't know if QI is shown in the USA but it is in Australia. When I was there in 2010 I caught an old episode - very old, as Linda Smith was on it and she died in 2006. Stephen Fry and Alan Davies did a stage tour of QI in Australia and New Zealand with local comedians taking part, some of them later recruited for the TV show.

Helix · Mar 27, 2015

Oh, god, was it ever in Australia. It was on twice a bloody day sometimes.

Back to green possums -- I had those on the rainforest block. Very cute things. They definitely look khaki or olive green, but the colour comes from a mixture of grey and yellow hair. Also, in the rainforest, the light contributes to the effect.

Blue, as neandermagnon has already mentioned, is a structural colour*. There's been a lot of research on photonic mechanisms in animals (butterflies esp., but also other animals). The same system creates iridescence.

* Rather than a pigment like melanin or turacin.

Mr Flibble · Mar 27, 2015

Helix said:
Oh, god, was it ever in Australia. It was on twice a bloody day sometimes.

ARE YOU DISSING THE FRY?!!?

Do not diss the Fry

Yeah, here too but always worth a watch if it's not an ep you've seen before (they show the longer uncut versions too. *snicker*)

Helix · Mar 27, 2015

Me diss the Fry? God, no! And there's no shortage of Stephen Fry on the ABC*.

But the ABC recycled the same old eps through peak time. I don't know how many times I've seen those QI eps. (I don't have a telly now.) (Not because of QI, I hasten to add.)

I particularly love what Fry referred to as David Mitchell's "angry logic".

* Shortage may not be an exact term.

Helix · Mar 27, 2015

Now I'm getting nostalgic for the days when national broadcasters (the Beeb in partic.) would not only take a chance on commissioning new radio and television progs, but would give creators room to fail.

Mr Flibble · Mar 28, 2015

Helix said:
Now I'm getting nostalgic for the days when national broadcasters (the Beeb in partic.) would not only take a chance on commissioning new radio and television progs, but would give creators room to fail.

Now you're showing your age

(Me too)

ink pen · Mar 28, 2015

Mr Flibble said:
Do you guys not get QI over your side of the pond?

Earlier this year, I heard that it is going to start on BBC America. To which I thought, 'You guys didn't have it yet?!'

eyeblink said:
I don't know if QI is shown in the USA but it is in Australia. When I was there in 2010 I caught an old episode - very old, as Linda Smith was on it and she died in 2006.

I'd forgotten Linda had been on it.

Helix said:
I particularly love what Fry referred to as David Mitchell's "angry logic".

I love that line too. And I love David's angry logic rants. I'm partial to having those myself, at times. But not as epic as his.

thepicpic · Mar 28, 2015

Mr Flibble said:
Do you guys not get QI over your side of the pond?

Over here it has led to the phrase "Stephen Fry said so, so it must be true" in many conversations

The truth of Fry is the truth of God. Or something.

ink pen said:
I love that line too. And I love David's angry logic rants. I'm partial to having those myself, at times. But not as epic as his.

Before and during chemo I was prone to ranting and raving in a similar manner. Sadly, I don't think I ever reached his level.

But yeah, QI is probably my favourite English programme. I'm sure a ridiculous amount of my brain is clogged with obscure trivia.

neandermagnon · Mar 29, 2015

The earlier posts about decapitation got me thinking. A chicken will carry on running for a while after it's been decapitated because control of the legs comes from the spinal cord and it still has blood circulating until it bleeds to death (which it will, severed carotid artery n all that).

Birds are descended from dinosaurs.

Does that mean if you decapitate a T-Rex or velociraptor, it'll carry on running after you until it bleeds to death? That would make one hell of a horror film sequence....

I also think that Jurassic Park would've been even more scary if the velociraptors had had feathers and looked like giant*, man-eating birds.

*maybe deinonychus would've been a better choice as velociraptors weren't that big, although being pack hunters they'd have easily taken down a human. But deinonychus was also a pack hunter, feathered and was bigger. There are bigger similar dinosaurs but I don't know if they were pack hunters or not. If they were, then one of them would be best.

Just Want To Share The Website QI.Com/Quite Interesting!

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