On a hopefully interesting note, I've used the cat penis factoid to deliberately end a conversation before.
Somebody had mentioned the factoid that dolphins are the only animals--besides humans--that have sex for pleasure.
A friend argued that all animals have sex for pleasure. They're not deciding to procreate.
Since my friend gets annoying when he gets argumentative, I told him that the male cat's penis has barbs that cause pain in bleeding in the female's vagina, which is a necessary part of the fertilization process and is the reason feline mating is such a noisy process. And because of this, they are clearly not mating for pleasure.
Strictly speaking, a Factoid is not a "little nugget of trivia", but instead a "spurious — unverified, incorrect, or fabricated — statement formed and asserted as a fact, but with no veracity." -- in other words, an Untruth!
Your first factoid is a bit off. I don't know whether that was intentional or not, but it was Alexander Graham Bell who supposedly invented "hello". I'll let myself out....
Well, if Wikipedia is always right.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid "A factoid is a spurious — unverified, incorrect, or fabricated — statement formed and asserted as a fact, but with no veracity." So, less a "random fact" and more of a "falsehood".
Factoids are, by definition, false. Just as planetoids aren't quite planets and spheroids are not quite spherical, factoids are not quite factual. The word first appeared in the famous article about how many people will believe any given statement, which introduced the factoid about people eating a large number of spiders each year while sleeping.
Jiggly McSickfingers says, your boss in the strip is a dork (too bad the whale had already been mentioned, otherwise I could have just crossed my arms and leaned against the wall looking all enigmatic and moral and flat).
You people arguing the definition of "factoid" miss the main point, that a 2003 poll showed that 93% of all Internet users believe factoids they read on the web.
Related Factoid: 87.5 % of published poll results are made up.
Ditto on loving the tesla joke. I've always been fascinated with him, but for some reason or another I've read a biography on him, watched a different one, and read stacks of articles and blogs about him. On the one hand, he's a really strange and brilliant inventor. On the other hand, he was prone to hallucinations, suffered synesthesia (sensory cross-overs), believed in paranormal phenomena, had a strong revulsion to physical contact with other people, and spent a lot of time in eastern philosophy and meditation. He's the perfect conspiracy myth, and one of two real historical figures that archtype the mad scientist.
January 15, 2009
Reader Comments (58)
...and yet birds seem so happy in the morning?
Scott, you are on a roll lately - brilliant!
Excellent!
At least you didn't mention prehensile porpoise penii.
And now that your wife is no longer Portia De Rossi, is she now being played by Tom Baker as Doctor Who? The scarf, I mean.
On a hopefully interesting note, I've used the cat penis factoid to deliberately end a conversation before.
Somebody had mentioned the factoid that dolphins are the only animals--besides humans--that have sex for pleasure.
A friend argued that all animals have sex for pleasure. They're not deciding to procreate.
Since my friend gets annoying when he gets argumentative, I told him that the male cat's penis has barbs that cause pain in bleeding in the female's vagina, which is a necessary part of the fertilization process and is the reason feline mating is such a noisy process. And because of this, they are clearly not mating for pleasure.
Conversation ended immediately.
That's not his wife, yo! How long have you been reading this "comic strip"!?
lmao love the line about Tesla and the government
Strictly speaking, a Factoid is not a "little nugget of trivia", but instead a "spurious — unverified, incorrect, or fabricated — statement formed and asserted as a fact, but with no veracity." -- in other words, an Untruth!
The secret is in the presentation! (yet another factoid).
Did you know that the blue whale has the second longest penis in the world? ...
Comparative to its size, the barnacle has the largest penis of all animals. Gotta love House's poker strategy. . .
I can use mine as a belt. Sometimes it shakes hands and stirs martinis.
At the same time?! What is it, bifurcated?
Your first factoid is a bit off. I don't know whether that was intentional or not, but it was Alexander Graham Bell who supposedly invented "hello". I'll let myself out....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello
P Thompson, I think Wikipedia will disagree. And we know that if it's on Wikipedia, it must be right. Okay then, I think I have to go to bed now.
The first panel alone had me cracked up. The reaction to the remaining panels was O_o. . .then laugh.
Re duck penises: They're orange, you know. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/09/03/
Sorry, someone had to bring it up.
I'm pretty sure a book called "Wild Wangs" would be a bestseller.
K.T. Slager, I might be wrong but I think P Thompson was joking, drawing a parallel with the invention of the telephone or something...
Well, if Wikipedia is always right....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factoid
"A factoid is a spurious — unverified, incorrect, or fabricated — statement formed and asserted as a fact, but with no veracity."
So, less a "random fact" and more of a "falsehood".
Am I helping? :-D
Factoids are, by definition, false. Just as planetoids aren't quite planets and spheroids are not quite spherical, factoids are not quite factual. The word first appeared in the famous article about how many people will believe any given statement, which introduced the factoid about people eating a large number of spiders each year while sleeping.
You took the "hello" thingie from QI, didn't you? Admit it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xXSw07zrio
So I see we're not bothering to fix the RSS icon updating?
Firefox needs to have more users than IE before it matters?
Dammit.
Jiggly McSickfingers says, your boss in the strip is a dork (too bad the whale had already been mentioned, otherwise I could have just crossed my arms and leaned against the wall looking all enigmatic and moral and flat).
dang...there's one for the tabloids! someone changed my email address so my avatar wouldn't work! must be moonmen...
*tries to get those factoids out of his mind for the rest of the day*
Wild Wangs - I'm appropriating that one for use later!
But did you know that the correct plural for penis is "penes" (although penises is perfectly acceptable).
1 thesis - 2 theses
1 penis - 2 penes
The fact that this strip gives me the opportunity to reveal that factoid is a perfect juxtaposition that makes me happy right now.
The strip implies that there's something wrong with having a barbed penis, which I'm choosing to take personally.
Duck fact: Mallards are gay necrophiliac rapists.
AND YOU GIVE THEM BREAD!
P Thompson - you're getting your factoids mixed up. Graham Bell supposedly preferred "Ahoy hoy" (which is how Mr Burns answers the phone).
Incidentally, that book pretty much exists (or at least, one about bizarre mating habits in nature). I got it for Christmas once. It's terrifying.
In re cats: No one said the _female_ cats were mating for pleasure.
In re penis size: Mine's so big, it's already sleeping with a girl next week.
Love love LOVED your Tesla joke!
You people arguing the definition of "factoid" miss the main point, that a 2003 poll showed that 93% of all Internet users believe factoids they read on the web.
Related Factoid: 87.5 % of published poll results are made up.
Ditto on loving the tesla joke. I've always been fascinated with him, but for some reason or another I've read a biography on him, watched a different one, and read stacks of articles and blogs about him. On the one hand, he's a really strange and brilliant inventor. On the other hand, he was prone to hallucinations, suffered synesthesia (sensory cross-overs), believed in paranormal phenomena, had a strong revulsion to physical contact with other people, and spent a lot of time in eastern philosophy and meditation. He's the perfect conspiracy myth, and one of two real historical figures that archtype the mad scientist.
... er meant that in the last month, for some reason, I'd read and watched stuff on him...
Scott, you had me at "Hello"....
Tesla joke = solid gold.
My dick's so big, it put Obama on hold.