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Random stuff you learned as an author...
While researching Irish slang words for a book, I learned that rasher can mean bacon or sex. I had to make sure the context in which I was using the word was made very, very clear.
Jalapeno poppers were sold at Sonic Drive-In in 1984.
The Soviets had nuclear capability in Eisenhower's time.
The saying, "revenge is a dish best served cold" is not an original Star Trek invention; it is over two hundred years old, and a phrase coined in Europe.
Nautical speed of a ship in "knots" had to do with casting a ships "log" behind the ship with a knotted rope running through it. How many knots you were going had to do with how many knots passed by on the rope in a given time. This was also where the ships "log" came from.
The Soviets had nuclear capability in Eisenhower's time.
The saying, "revenge is a dish best served cold" is not an original Star Trek invention; it is over two hundred years old, and a phrase coined in Europe.
Nautical speed of a ship in "knots" had to do with casting a ships "log" behind the ship with a knotted rope running through it. How many knots you were going had to do with how many knots passed by on the rope in a given time. This was also where the ships "log" came from.
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Right. Yes. That could make for an - um - interesting scene.
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I had no idea, but that makes perfect sense. The one about Sonic is the kind of stuff I seem to look up far, far too often.
Never stick your fingers where you wouldn't stick your face.
That there really is such place as dead house where bodies are stored until the ground thaws before they can get buried.
That "your highness" is actually reserved for princes and princesses, and the king and/or queen is always referred to as "your majesty." You see so many shows, movies, and such where they mess this up or use the terms interchangeably.
I LOVE research!If a woman slept with an apple near her body in the 17th Century she could give it to a man the next day and he would fall in love with her.
Babies were dipped in the Babtismal Font three times, but around the reformation they began to just pour water over the heads and shoulders. Because of the new ritual the Babtismal Font got a metal insert to make it more shallow and they could save water.
Ooh, I have so much random stuff, I could fill books! A burial box and a casket are two different things. A casket's lid opens lengthwise from the side, whereas a burial box opens partway from the middle.
A creep joint is a gambling establishment that changes location each night.
A flivver is any old jalopy of a car, not necessarily a janky Ford.
Reaching the earth's stratosphere will freeze water.
If your space suit fails in space, your organs will swell (due to the gas bubbles) and rupture (but your body won't explode).
Decapitation and forced suicide isn't the only form of punishment a criminal could get in feudal japan - depending on the crime, one could be tied up 'like a lobster' and made to sit on a tri-cornered plank for days until they confessed. then sign a document confirming that confession.
Chloroform's smell varies between kind of sweet and rotten depending on how much is used.
F.A.R. wrote: "Chloroform's smell varies between kind of sweet and rotten depending on how much is used."I've research this for days. I never found anything else but that it smelled sweet. I wished I had known that a few years back. :P
You can drive snowmobiles across water.Because most of its mountains are along the coast, if all the ice on Greenland melted away, the island would be left with an inland sea larger than all the Great Lakes put together.
Surprisingly: You can research the following items on the same day, from the same browser, and not only won't the feds come kick in your door, but you will not end up on a TSA watchlist:-Government agencies under the Dept of Homeland Security
-Average size and speed of a cross bow bolt
-Can the safety be removed from an automatic weapon?
-Number of unsolved missing persons cases in Louisiana
good to know. I research military stuff all the time--hope it doesn't get me noticed.
Apparently lots of people survive shootings; it's not the best method of killing someone. I find this very hard to believe given recent headlines, but apparently that's the facts. :-/ And despite many organisations/charities being set up for survivors of child abuse they still struggle to keep up with demand :-(
The overseeing homeland authorities will see your browsing history, but will cross reference with payments coming in from sites such as Amazon before dismissing you as an author.
I earned an honorary degree in EMP technology and fusion generators. (Not really). Oh, and I know how it feels to be shot in the stomach. don't ask
T.L. "The overseeing homeland authorities will see your browsing history, but will cross reference with payments coming in from sites such as Amazon before dismissing you as an author."
I'm relieved.
I'm relieved.
Morris wrote: "T.L. "The overseeing homeland authorities will see your browsing history, but will cross reference with payments coming in from sites such as Amazon before dismissing you as an author."I'm relieved."
Yeah, I was too.
What with researching how to shoot people, BDSM and then paedophile sentencing I started to get a little paranoid. ;-P
Research?Most of my research isn't for my writing. It's just my wandering curiosity.
Lately I've been on a WWI research kick. One thing that stood out as interesting to me was how German Stahlhelme (steel helmets) were made. They were the product of advanced manufacturing techniques unavailable to other nations, involving up to a 12 step process that ensured the helmets retained an even thickness all over.
If you tried to make a helmet in the shape of a Stahlhelm using British manufacturing techniques of the day, the top of the helmet would be so thin as to be totally useless.
Some scholars now believe the protection these helmets provided was at least one reason why German casualties from the extreme pre-attack artillery bombardment by the British at the Somme were so low.
Human remains follow only tropical fish as Tampa International Airport's leading cargo.
I learned that in Vietnam, the MRE's Meals, Ready To Eat were called the triple lie. The weren't meals, they weren't ready, and and you couldn't eat them.
Morris wrote: "I learned that in Vietnam, the MRE's Meals, Ready To Eat were called the triple lie. The weren't meals, they weren't ready, and and you couldn't eat them."In Nam, we had MCI Rations (Meal Combat Individual) and LRP Rations (Long Range Patrol). MRE's didn't come on the scene until '81.
That said, the first several versions were exactly as you described and even today, though better, will still plug you up BIG TIME.
I remember Bob Hope joking about the rations mot having an exit strategy.
Gut injuries are the worst injuries a person can get. It involves a long, slow, painful death. Should the victim survive, they'll still have septicemia to deal with, which could also result in a long, slow, painful death. It is possible to dislocate a rib.
Katana are sharpened using choji oil, which is essentially clove oil. Seeds can remain viable for thousands of years if frozen in a glacier or similar.
Antarctica is covered in a series of fairly large mountain ranges beneath the ice and snow that covers it.
The Flagstaff High School swim team has meets against teams from as far away as Phoenix. (That may be the most useless fact I've picked up in my research.)
I learned what an Alcubierre Drive is.
Melissa wrote: "Gut injuries are the worst injuries a person can get. It involves a long, slow, painful death. Should the victim survive, they'll still have septicemia to deal with, which could also result in a lo..."Oh. I did not need to read either of those things right before bed!!!
I learned who Genrikh Yagoda was. (I could've lived happily not knowing that.)I learned there is a such a thing as a double-crown wall knot.
I learnt that horse-drawn vehicles are faster, can go further for longer and use less fodder than ox carts.
Charles wrote: "I learned what an Alcubierre Drive is."Haha, I just had to look that one up.
I'm sort of disappointed now. I thought it was at least a gangster term. lol
Sailing from Hawaii to the US requires you to first sail northwest to the Japanese current.Some gray whales live year round off the coast of Oregon.
Food doesn't stay in the stomach longer than two hours.
In the 16th and 17th Century, comets were considered slimy and disgusting.
Charles wrote: "I learned what an Alcubierre Drive is."Stuff like that always cracks me up. "If we can just create anti-matter, we can travel faster than light." Commence breath-holding in 3...2...1...
Charles wrote: "I learned what an Alcubierre Drive is."I learned they may be EXTREMELY dangerous.
T.L. wrote: "Charles wrote: "I learned what an Alcubierre Drive is."Haha, I just had to look that one up.
I'm sort of disappointed now. I thought it was at least a gangster term. lol"
Sounds more like some kind of car for tuna.
Joe wrote: "Charles wrote: "I learned what an Alcubierre Drive is."Stuff like that always cracks me up. "If we can just create anti-matter, we can travel faster than light." Commence breath-holding in 3......"
We already "create" anti-matter (in small quantities). What you need for one of these is "exotic" matter, or more specifically "negative mass" matter, which is completely theoretical but mathematically "consistent and introduces no violation of conservation of momentum or energy." [Wikipedia on exotic matter.]
So, yeah, don't hold your breath. These drives are the same thing essentially as Star Trek's warp drives. And some mathematicians fairly recently said models show they would basically blow up everything nearby once a ship dropped out of warp drive. Great weapons of mass destruction...lousy traveling companions.
Prior to the advent of motorized vehicles, county governments maintained roads (essentially dirt trails) within their borders, and cities maintained streets within city limits. Most employed ‘road patrols’ which were gangs of men with mule-pulled equipment that worked a monthly route that covered all of the county roads. They fixed problems as they came upon them, and in northern regions, they used mule-pulled snowplows to keep the roads passable. Road conditions varied considerably from county to county depending on the financing by local governments. The 'Good Roads Movement' in the 1920s to 1930s brought about reforms that included state and federal responsibility for roads.Needed this for a crime drama describing how the killers escaped.
Automobiles were originally pushed for because they were...environmentally friendly!Large urban cities were overrun by (pun) horses and horse drawn vehicles. The amount of poo that was produced daily was an enormous environmental hazard. Added to that, the lack of traffic regulations led to a large number of accidents and injuries to people and animals. Automobiles were seen as an answer to all that. Cars didn't leave biohazards all over the roads. They saved injury and abuse to animals. And new traffic systems were easier to manage because...well, horses don't know what a stop sign is.
And now we're basically reaching that same tipping point where privately owned vehicles are putting a strain on the environment and safety of large urban cities. The next stop...emission neutral engines and driverless cars.
Micah wrote: "And new traffic systems were easier to manage because...well, horses don't know what a stop sign is..."Well...Cars don't know either. Quite honestly, neither do some drivers. :P
And a red light most often means 4-5 more cars can go.
cool factoids gang! keep up the good work!
I learnt how to assassinate someone in more ways than I care to know. I must just add here that I was not searching for assassination tips. I was trying to find out how long my character would have until he bled out from a nick to the brachial nerve. Needless to say I have also learnt how to define my google searches.
I learned that the fictional Bat Boy didn't appear in print until 1992.
I learnt that you're more likely to illicit a confession if you allow a suspect to expand and get tangled up in their own lies than if you confront them the moment you realise they are lying... A policeman mate told me that one...
That also ties into something I realized about writing fiction. Fiction is not truth, so it is a lie, by definition. I know, people accept it is not true, so it's okay. Try keeping you "lie" straight for 100k words without an outline!
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I know, right? I'm feeling so educated now!
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It's true. I use that technique in my other job once in a while.
Bob wrote: "I learned that the fictional Bat Boy didn't appear in print until 1992."Weekly World News, all the news that IS the news.
S.J. wrote: "I was trying to find out how long my character would have until he bled out from a nick to the brachial nerve..."So, how long DOES a character have?
I learned that you can die from hanging upside down too long (something like 12-20 hours).
* There is no official time zone at the North Pole.
* The Greyhound bus station in Boise, Idaho has no public rest room.
* There is a golf course very close to the Great Pyramid in Egypt.
What about you? What useless information have you learned while researching your books? (No bookwhacking, please).