ok, I'm in work and very bored, does anyone have any interesting facts that we're unlikely to know?

Keep them short and sharp.

Phanerthyme, I'm expecting some gems from you!

Well you try this thread for starters...
http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5388

Nomme

This is one of my favourites.

Holland isn't a country, people in the UK mistake the regions of Holland for a country.

Another favourite.

When Charlemane died his land was divide between his three sons, as was the practice at the time. Because he controlled much of Western Europe the land was divide in what is now France, Germany and the Benelux countries.

Colour cant exist without, light.

'Crabsticks don't actually contain any crab'.

Alan Partridge, King of Anglia

Carrying a severed rabbit's foot around isn't lucky ......

"Rabbit's Foot" is the old folk name for a lucky plant called Field Clover. Over the years, people have confused the folk name with the poor animal's limbs, and now carry around a manky old foot instead of the actual plant.

He he he!!!

Originally posted by dylan_61
This is one of my favourites.

Holland isn't a country, people in the UK mistake the region of Holland for a country.


Yep.

What is the capital of Holland? Amsterdam.

What is the capital of The Netherlands? Den Haag.

What are all 7?
Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel, Friesland and Groningen

Half of these are below sea level

Cannabis is not legal in The Netherlands

All living organisms contain n,n dimethyltryptamine - an extremely potent, if not the quintessential, psychedelic.

Mushrooms are only the fruiting bodies (reproductive organs) of a much larger organism beneath the surface.

Slime molds are the largest unicellular organisms.

about 60% of shark species will die from asphyxiation if rendered immobile

The worlds oldest nuclear reactor is in Gabon, West Africa. It predates 'Fermi's Baby' by, oh, about 2000 million years.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
about 60% of shark species will die from asphyxiation if rendered immobile
Have you ever tried stopping a shark from wriggling? :D

There are two moons in orbit around the earth.

The moon and the other moon

Originally posted by dylan_61
There are two moons in orbit around the earth.

The moon and the other moon

hmm dylan, you may need to get your bins fixed as they would appear to be out of alignment

Or maybe see your ophthalmologist about a possible case of strabismus?

FACT: there is no name for the back of the knee (thanks to Sir Henry at Rawlinson end for that one - so it may not be a fact, but if it aint, it should be)

FACT: It is 27.7 deg c in my office right now.

A couple of years back I heard on the TV that Great Britain exports more pizzas to Italy than they do to us! :)

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
FACT: there is no name for the back of the knee (thanks to Sir Henry at Rawlinson end for that one - so it may not be a fact, but if it aint, it should be)



Back of the knee is called the popliteal fossa.

eg. http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/hubio553/atlas/220.html

Nomme

Originally posted by nomme
Back of the knee is called the popliteal fossa.

eg. http://eduserv.hscer.washington.edu/hubio553/atlas/220.html

Nomme

Well obviously they have never heard of Sir Henry :)

FILTH HOUNDS OF HADES!

I've only just got back to this thread. Thank you all so far, especially phan who we can always rely on. I was especially interested in the dimethyltryptamine fact. Incidentally, could someone just clarify the holland/netherlands situation? Which bit is a country and what’s the rest of it. I got confused at that point. I've been getting generally confused all day. I think all started when I fell up the stairs this morning and then ran into a locked door.

Fact: It's 39 minutes after home time, and i'm still in work. I have no idea why i am still here as everyone else has gone home. :confused:

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.(Hardly seems worth it.)

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (O.M.G.!)

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.) (I'm still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Do not try this at home...... maybe at work.)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. ("Honey, I'm home. What the....?!")

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. For a human, that would be equivalent to jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes...lucky pig... can you imagine??)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (I still want to be a pig in my next life...quality over quantity)

Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue. (Hmmmmmm........won't go there.)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)

A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out.)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed. (If they switch, they'll live a lot longer.)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about that pig??)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

a list of classics there snook!

Originally posted by Snook
Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)

I can't imagine that giraffes are particularly good at jumping either or hippos come to think of it.

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Well obviously they have never heard of Sir Henry :)

... or Old Scrotum - the wrinkled Retainer. :P

Nomme

Just twenty seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.

Every year the sun loses 360 million tons.

It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.

Every year, the Moon moves a further 3.82cm from the Earth.

Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music.

A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately 2 teeth every 10 yrs.

40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year.

The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute.

Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem.

If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Originally posted by Snook
Just twenty seconds worth of fuel remained when Apollo 11's lunar module landed on the moon.
...

If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

FACT: The longest available list of spurious assertions masquerading as useless but correct knowledge is this one:
Usseless Facts
1.. For every human being on earth, there are about 200 million insects.
2.. The harmonica is the world's most popular instrument.
3.. By the time they are 65 years old, most Americans have watched more than nine years worth of television.
4.. The puck in ice hockey can travel at up to 118 mph (190 km/h).
5.. If you stretched all the nerves in the body from end to end, they would be about 47 miles long.
6.. Humans have more than 600 muscles in their bodies.
7.. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
8.. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
9.. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
10.. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
11.. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
12.. There are more chickens than people in the world.
13.. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
14.. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
15.. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
16.. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
17.. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt."
...
119.. The average American eats 2 donuts a day.
120.. The longest word in the Old Testament is Malhershalahashbaz.
121.. The longest time a person has been in a coma is 37 years.
122.. Every minute in the U.S 6 people turn 17.
123.. It takes the Where's Waldo artist one month to complete a drawing.
124.. 2500 lefties die each year using products designed for righties.
125.. A baby is born every 7 seconds.
126.. 10 tons of space dust fall on the Earth everyday.
127.. On average, a 4 year old child asks 437 questions a day.
128.. Blue and white are the most common school colors.
129.. Swimming pools in Phoenix, Arizona, pick up 20 pounds of dust a year.
130.. The first message tapped by Samuel Morse over his invention the telegraph was: What hath God wrought?.
131.. The first words spoken by over Alexander Bell over the telephone were: Watson, please come here. I want you.
132.. The first words spoken by Thomas Edison over the phonograph were: Mary had a little lamb
133.. The three words in the English language with the letters uu are: vacuum, residuum and continuum.
134.. A baby in Florida was named: Truewilllaughinglifebuckyboomermanifestdestiny. His middle name is George James.
135.. It is illegal to ride a street car on Sunday if you have been eating garlic in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
136.. In a normal life time an American will eat 200 pounds of peanuts and 10,000 pounds of meat.
137.. A new book is published every 13 minutes in America.
138.. America's best selling ice-cream flavour is vanilla.
139.. Americans eat 18 billion hot dogs a year.
140.. Americans eat 134 pounds of sugar a year.
141.. Every year the sun loses 360 million tons.
142.. Because of Animal Crackers, many kids until they reach the age of ten, believe a bear is as tall as a giraffe.
143.. You can tell if a skunk is about if you smell only .000 000 000 000 071 ounce of its spray.
144.. Animal breeders in Russia once claimed to have bred sheep with blue wool.
145.. Penguins are the only bird that can leap into the air like porpoises.
146.. India has 50 million monkeys.
147.. By some unknown means, an iguana can end its own life.
148.. Americans spend around $3 billion for cat and dog food a year.
149.. Pigs can cover a mile in 7.5 minutes when running at top speed.
150.. You breathe about 10 million times a year.
...contd,

151.. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you'll have a bad dream.
152.. The first non-human to win an Oscar was Mickey Mouse.
153.. Lee Harvey Oswald was booked with mugshot number 54018.
154.. The Gulf Stream could carry a message in a bottle at an average of 4 miles per hour.
155.. The bullseye on a dartboard must be 5 feet 8 inches off the ground.
...

295.. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
296.. You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.
297.. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
298.. In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked every hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
299.. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

300.. Butterflies taste with their feet.
301.. A cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
302.. The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
303.. The Ten Commandments contain 297 words.
304.. The Bill of Rights is stated in 463 words.
305.. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words.
306.. A recent federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911 words.
307.. There are more collect calls made on Father's Day than on any other day.
...

366.. If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall.
367.. The average fart travels over 16 feet when released.
368.. An ant can live underwater for over 14 days.
369.. Camels have a straight spine despite their hump.
370.. In some places in Egypt it is free to use the restroom but you must bring/buy your own toilet paper.

holy mother of crap! that was some list matey.

Ok phan, explain the deletions

they took up too much space.

its on the snopes bulletin board

The Bombardier Beetle (Brachinus) is a beetle that has the ability to eject boiling chemicals at up to 100 degrees centigrade from two "guns" in its body at up to 1000 pulses per second. Each time it shoots out these chemicals, the beetle itself gets drenched, yet it manages to survive. At the slightest touch to its body, the guns start operating, except during mating. The Bombardier Beetle has chambers within its centimeter long body to store substitute hydroquinones, tolyhydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide. These chemicals mix peacefully unless high temperatures are applied. The chambers feed into a mixing reservoir which lets into a combustion chamber that sports two gun turrets. When danger approaches, the chemicals are squirted into a chamber where incredibly complex enzyme molecules encourage the chemicals to bond explosively out of the barrels.

The interesting part is how evolution explains this extremely complex creature.

The rarest naturally occuring metal on Earth, and probably in the universe is Francium.

It is estimated that there is approximately 25 grammes of Francium present in the whole of the Earths crust.

Originally posted by Snook

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)


What about Snails, can they jump?

Originally posted by Snook
Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (OK, so that would be a good thing....)


It's something to do with them being the only animals with four knees (ie their back legs bend the same way as their front legs, unlike just about all other 4 legged animals)

Originally posted by Phanerothyme
Well obviously they have never heard of Sir Henry :)

Opsimath and eremite, feudal-still reactionary, Rawlinson End.

I don't know what I want, but I want it now!

God bless Vivian Stanshall, a true English eccentric

Come on people, keep em coming. I'm greedy and want more!

Originally posted by Lickszz
What about Snails, can they jump?

I used to tran jumping snails for the National Snail Jumping Championship in Wales. :D

The nucleus of an atom is hundreds of millions of times smaller than the rest of the atom. The comparison goes like this: if the atom was enlarged to the size of a cathedral, then the nucleus would only be the size of a fly.

Originally posted by Snook
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

I'm having trouble believing this one.
No mention of peanuts here for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite

Can anyone back up this claim?

Nomme

Originally posted by nomme
I'm having trouble believing this one.
No mention of peanuts here for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamite

Can anyone back up this claim?

Nomme

Don't know if it's true or not, but this site disproves a lot of 'facts' that are on t'internet.

'Of the five unanswered claims, I would say some evidence supports peanuts being an ingredient of dynamite. Also it appears true that in an average American lifetime you will spend six months sitting at red lights, not to mention eight months opening junk mail and seven years in the bathroom.'

http://www.brokenenglish.com/archives/2004/06/google_knows_ev_1.html

Originally posted by Snook
Don't know if it's true or not, but this site disproves a lot of 'facts' that are on t'internet.

'Of the five unanswered claims, I would say some evidence supports peanuts being an ingredient of dynamite. Also it appears true that in an average American lifetime you will spend six months sitting at red lights, not to mention eight months opening junk mail and seven years in the bathroom.'

http://www.brokenenglish.com/archives/2004/06/google_knows_ev_1.html

Hm. The 'evidence' though is just 2 sites which just claim the fact.
I like the last one of this list though:


Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and white worms like fried pork rinds.

The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; “7” was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. “UP” indicated the direction of the bubbles.

The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

The 57 on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had.

The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squashing her hands in jelly.

Pearls melt in vinegar.

A fresh onion, when cut, releases a gas called propanethiol-S into the air. When this gas reaches your eyes, it mixes with the water in the eye to form a weak acid. This acid irritates the eye and causes the tear-producing glands to flood the eye with water in an attempt to wash away the irritant. These tears are what makes you look like you’re crying.

Two-thirds of the world’s eggplant is grown in New Jersey .

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum.

Betsy Ross is the only real person to ever have been the head on a Pez dispenser.

Almonds are a member of the peach family.

A man from Madrid set a world’s record for cracking 30 walnuts in 57 seconds. (The unusual thing about it - he did it with his buttocks!?!)

Originally posted by Lickszz
What about Snails, can they jump?
Does being fired from a catapult into a neighbours garden count?

ok, I'm in work and very bored, does anyone have any interesting facts that we're unlikely to know?

Keep them short and sharp.

Phanerthyme, I'm expecting some gems from you!

Pound for pound, lemons contain more sugar than strawberries