Post random facts you know here.

[Neoma]

Example:

The first credit card was issued by American Express in 1951.

Do any topic :)

[SheepyMcSheepster]

1. the highest lake in the world is Lake Titicaca!

[baldguy]

112. Heh! heh! You said "Titicaca"!

[SheepyMcSheepster]

137. are you theatening me!?

I need Ti Ti for my Ca Ca!

[Jamastiene]

186. AND...

It has a toad indigenous to the area whose name is roughly translated to "aquatic scrotum" because that is what it looks like. Seriously. I used to want to start a rock band and call it Lake Titicaca and the Aquatic Scrotums, but I couldn't get any guys to back me, :P. Wonder why?

[DrDebug]

2. No word in the English language rhymes with Month n/t

[tridim]

7. That's a good one..

It seems untrue, but I can't think of any. Weird.

[Neoma]

21. Lunch?

[DrDebug]

24. Only if you have a speech defect

l nch and m nth

I'm getting the munchies now

[Neoma]

90. oh right....

Hunch?


Wait..i doubt that will work too.

[AllegroRondo]

34. Or 'Orange'

[Worst Username Ever]

72. Or purple. Or silver.

[Neoma]

91. Oh i dunno.

Orange and the 2 words Door hinge rhymes i suppose.

[ghostsofgiants]

3. When people would be burned at the stake...

Their mouths would be covered so that they actually burned to death rather than dying of smoke inhalation.

[HEyHEY]

38. oops wrong spot

[swag]

4. "Ontology recapitulates phylogeny" is a fucking lie.

[JimmyJazz]

Olga Korbut took the SILVER medal at the 1972 Olympic Games

in Munich.

[swag]

Yeah but that backflip on the uneven parallel bars took the Gold Medal

of America's ABC TV-watching heart.

[VelmaD]

55. Actually she won several medals in 1972 including...

a gold in the team competition, gold on floor exercise and gold on balance beam. She took silver in the uneven bars.

She came back in 1976 and won team gold again and took a silver on the beam.

[JimmyJazz]

56. She took the silver in the individual all around.

[VelmaD]

58. No...she finished 7th...

She was leading after 2 rotations but then it went haywire after a bizarre incident on the bars where she scraped her feet on the mat at the beginning of the routine. It was all downhill from there and she ended up scoring a 7.5. Dropped her out of the running for an all-around medal.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

5. Mopery

A fourth-class misdemeanor, still on the books in certain jurisdictions, about as bad as spitting on the sidewalk.

I've sworn to defend, without fee, anyone ever charged with mopery.

It's the offense of exhibiting your naked genitalia to a blind person.

[ucmike]

99. is that related to "moping around"

which i always took to mean "standing around" or "loafing"

[OldLeftieLawyer]

100. I think not

But, the truth is, I've never researched the origin of the word "mopery."

Tomorrow, though, I will. If I remember ..............

[tuvor]

6. When you sneeze...

...it comes out of your nose at a hundred miles an hour!

[radwriter0555]

87. Your eyeballs don't grow. They're the same size when you're born as

when you die.

[slackmaster]

8. Ravens have wedge-shaped tails, crows have fan-shaped tails

[skypilot]

9. I think I heard somewhere...

...that in every language the word for mother begins with the letter m.

[Lavender Brown]

10. Lilies of the Valley are poisonous

Pansies are not.

[pagerbear]

60. But....

You don't know some of the pansies I know!

[DS1]

82. Pager! You're back!

:hi: !

[hfojvt]

11. horses don't have knees, they can't breathe through their mouths

and they can't throw up.

[neweurope]

46. Um - they do have knees. They are just not where one'd expect

them :)

----------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[hfojvt]

54. dang it all, that means I know less than I thought

but there is no other easy way to say it is there? It looks like a knee, and bends like a knee, but it is not a knee.

[neweurope]

75. Yup - in German it's the "Vorderfußwurzelgelenk" *g*

While the real knee is pretty much hidden. Good night! *yawn*

------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Neoma]

148. They don't have knees?

So they use their ankles?

[hfojvt]

150. wrists, since it is the fore-leg n/t

[billyskank]

12. It is impossible to kill yourself by holding your breath.

[hfojvt]

19. what if you were doing it

on top of the Empire State Building?
True, the fall will kill you, but holding your breath could cause the fall.

[billyskank]

20. The fall wouldn't kill you

No-one ever died by falling. Hitting the ground, on the other hand...

[hfojvt]

28. "it ain't the fall that gets you, it's the sudden stop that does"

actually I hear that some people have heart attacks before they hit the ground. Spider-man saved one person from falling to find that he/she died anyway. Stan Lee says it - I believe it.

[micrometer_50]

13. Screw thread forms

Of the various screw thread forms which have been developed, the most
used are those having symmetrical sides inclined at equal angles with
a vertical center line through the thread apex.

[bertha katzenengel]

14. One actor has won an Oscar for portraying a member of the opposite sex.

Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan in "The Year of Living Dangerously." She was awesome.

Her performance in "Silverado" makes that film worth watching, too. Loved her in that.

[AllegroRondo]

31. Not Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie?

[bertha katzenengel]

39. He was nominated but didn't get it. However, that wouldn't have qualified

as portraying a member of the opposite sex. He was a man in drag. Hunt -- a woman -- portrayed a man.

But Dustin Hoffman was fantastic!!

[AllegroRondo]

42. Ah - like Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan.

[swag]

48. Linda Hunt?

oh, duh.

You already posted it.

[bertha katzenengel]

53. Good swag, swag.

;)

[Left_Winger]

15. New Zealand was the first country to give women the vote.

[HEyHEY]

And the swiss didn't until 1963

[Neoma]

188. Thats awesome.

[oneighty]

16. Horseshoe Crabs

are often used to bait Conch traps.

Why? Because the Conch like them as food.

180

[Shoeempress]

27. And they have copper based blood.

[baldguy]

118. Like Vulcans?

Live long and prosper, horseshoe crab

[evlbstrd]

17. Bears don't have dewclaws.

[Goldeneye]

18. The nucleotide

Gaunine is so named because it was first found in bat gauno.

[steely]

197. I actually wondered about that one

eom

[SnowGoose]

22. penguins keep their feet warm with unusual hemoglobin.

As our hemoglobin gives off oxygen, it takes up heat (remember 'endothermic' reactions?). Well, as the hemoglobin from penguins gives off its oxygen, it *produces* heat, thus helping to keep the extremities a little warmer.

[derby378]

23. The American Institute of Homeopathy

It's the oldest national association of medical practitioners in the United States - a year or two older than the American Medical Association.

It was also established in Philadelphia on Samuel Hahnemann's birthday. (Hahnemann's the German-born physician who came up with homeopathy to begin with.)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

71. homeopathy works

I used it after trying other things for persistant bladder infections. Haven't had an infection now in years. My MD prescribes homeopathic remedies to some of her patients, and many got the homeopathic remedy for flu when the shots were scarce. Haven't heard of any of them getting sick.

[nytemare]

25. Carl Sagan never said "Billions and Billions" as he was thought to

It was the imitation of him by Johnny Carson that gave him that reputation. Because of being asked to say it frequently, Sagan decided to just use the phrase as a book title. It was his last book.

[DS1]

26. Kyle's mom is a big fat bitch

[madinmaryland]

29. Oh my god, they killed Kenny.

Those Bastards!

[5thGenDemocrat]

30. Since this was the Indy 500 qualifying week, here's a good one

This will be the 89th running of the Indy 500. In all those races, the field has NEVER included a driver named "Smith." Doesn't this year, either.
John
It is now 24 days, 18 hours and 44 minutes to FUNDAY. We'll have a few Smiths here.

[AllegroRondo]

32. Elephants are the only mammal that cannot jump

[ashling]

153. Wrong

white men can't jump :bounce:

[trackfan]

33. Only 3 survivors ot the Titanic disaster remain.

Two were infants, one was about five years old.

[Neoma]

36. Wow.

Thats interesting to know.

[crispini]

35. The macaroni penguin

has cool yellow feathers on its head that make it look sort of like it's wearing a hat. However, they really look more like spaghetti, not like macaroni.

Also, the Thai language has 44 consonants.

[Lisa]

37. sedges are triangular in cross-section -- grasses tend to be round

...

[AllegroRondo]

40. The last person to be killed for Witchcraft

was in 1986 in Mexico.

[neweurope]

41. Arkle was the most successful and revered Irish thoroughbred.

-----------------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[HEyHEY]

43. A pack of grey wolves will actually attack, kill and eat a grizzly bear

[kwassa]

44. A squid in a a polyethylene bag is fast and bulbous

Dr. Beefheart told me so.

[Mnemosyne]

45. Lightening can strike on a clear day.

[kwassa]

47. Someone left my cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it,
'Cause it took so long to bake it,
And I'll never have that recipe again.

[YankeyMCC]

49. Uncle Sam

Was born in Arlington, MA

[Neoma]

57. I thought he was just a cartoon character....

:shrug:

[YankeyMCC]

88. The character was inspired

by an actual person.

http://www.town.arlington.ma.us/Public_Documents/ArlingtonMA_WebDocs/about

Uncle Sam: Uncle Sam was born in Menotomy. Samuel Wilson was almost nine years old when the Battle of Menotomy took place. He started a meat-packing business in Troy, N.Y., where he became known as Uncle Sam. People say that the U.S. stamped on boxes of meat for the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 stood for Uncle Sam.

[xmas74]

50. The phrase "A dog is a man's best friend"

was inspired by a speech given by George Graham Vest in ref to a dog named Old Drum. Old Drum was a farmdog who was poisoned by a neighbor. Old Drum's owner sued the neighbor in court.
Why do I know this? Because he is the most famous thing to ever come out of my town.

link to "Eulogy of The Dog"

http://www.webcircle.com/dogs/eulogy.html

[Raiden]

101. What a great show!

I love Rocko's Modern Life

[Maddy McCall]

51. On Rocko's Modern Life

Heifer is really a bull. Wonder why the fundies never attacked Rocko's Modern Life? :shrug:

[SarahB]

94. LOL!

I love Mrs. Bighead. Reminds me of Harvey Fierstein.

[Lisa]

52. for most raptors (hawks, falcons, eagles, etc.), females are bigger ...

... than males, much of the time.

[yellowcanine]

59. Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy. Kennedy's sec. was named Lincoln.

Lincoln was shot in a theater and the assassin was captured in a warehouse (barn). Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and the assassin was captured in a theater.

[Bunny]

61. Interesting take on this from snopes.com:

SNIP
Lincoln's secretary, Kennedy, warned him not to go to Ford's Theatre.

Kennedy's secretary, Lincoln, warned him not to go to Dallas.
This is one of those coincidences that isn't a coincidence at all -- it's simply wrong. John Kennedy did have a secretary named Evelyn Lincoln (who may or may not have warned him about going to Dallas), but one searches in vain to find a Lincoln secretary named Kennedy. (Lincoln's White House secretaries were John G. Nicolay and John Hay.)

Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.
Another "coincidence" that is both inaccurate and superficial.

Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre of the type where live stage shows are held, then fled across state lines before being trapped and killed in a barn used for storage several days later.

Oswald shot Kennedy from (not in) a textbook warehouse, then remained in Dallas and was caught and taken alive in a movie theater a little over an hour later.
SNIP

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/linckenn.htm

[48pan]

62. Mel Schacher, Grand Funk Railroad bass player...

Played with ? and the Mysterians (96 tears), both Flint Michigan bands.

[5thGenDemocrat]

113. Rudy Martinez (QMark) grew up on Howard Street in Saginaw

Yes, the band got its break on WTAC in Flint -- but they were from Saginaw (my buddy Polly went to Saginaw High with them and another bud, Mike B, got chased out of Martinez' yard when he tried to listen in on their jam sessions).
John
Stevie Wonder is from Saginaw, too. So was jazz saxophonist Sonny Stitt.
It is now 24 days, 13 hours and 44 minutes to FUNDAY. Question Mark and the Mysterians are on the playlist.

[Catchawave]

63. The closest living relative of the T-Rex is the...

...chicken.

[Beware the Beast Man]

64. Cantaloupes sold in the US aren't really cantaloupes.

They're musk melons.

Learned that on last night's "Good Eats."

[Beware the Beast Man]

65. The only Beach Boy who knew how to surf, drowned.

Ironic...

[Neoma]

68. LOL!!!

[bridgit]

66. if you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days...

you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee :shrug:

[fleabert]

67. golf balls have 336 dimples

unless they are made in britain, then it's 330.

[Neoma]

70. What about the basketball?

[fleabert]

76. 6,870

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

69. Part of Illinois is west of the Mississippi River

namely Kaskaskia, which was the first state capitol. During a flood in the 1880s, the Mississippi took over the channel of the Kaskaskia River, cutting off the peninsula where the town once stood, taking most of the buildings, including the first State Capitol, with it.

An intersting fact: Kaskaskia was the site of an American Revolution battle-well, sort of. George Rogers Clark had come down the Ohio and then up the Mississippi to take the town from the British who were garrisoned there. The French and Native American inhabitants helped out by throwing a humongous party for the Brits, who went to sleep sozzled, only to wake the following morning to find themselves captured. This took place on July 4, 1778, and was the only successful engagement by the Americans that year. Makes you think that if they'd gotten the Brits to party more, the war would've been over sooner....

[GOPisEvil]

77. I used to go to Fort Kaskaskia on picnics when I was a kid.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

78. Ever see the Popeye statue

by the Chester Bridge? Or visit Pierre Menard's house that was right below where the old fort stood?

[GOPisEvil]

80. Hmmm...I don't recall the Popeye statue.

I remember there was a house at the top of the hill, and then about 100 or so wooden stairs down to the river. I haven't been there since 1976 or so. My memory might be a bit faulty.

Oh yeah, I almost got run over by a train on the tracks that run right along the river.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

81. Popeye Statue erected in the 1980s

which is why you don't remember it. It's a nifty bronze statue, right by the Chester Bridge.

[GOPisEvil]

86. Next time I'm in the area, I'll look for it.

I still have family in the area.

[Wapsie B]

109. Part of Iowa is west of the Missouri River.

The City of Carter Lake, Iowa is near Eppley Field (Omaha Int'l Airport)


In 1853, Edmond Jefferies filed a claim on 30 acres of land, which today is known as Carter Lake, Iowa. During the next 14 years, the Missouri River slowly shifted its channel, enlarging Mr. Jefferies' original 30 acres into 78 acres.

In 1877, flooding and shifting of the Missouri River created an oxbow lake, originally called Cut-Off lake and later Lake Nakomis, and left about 2,000 acres belonging to the State of Iowa, bounded on three sides by the State of Nebraska.

[Cyndee_Lou_Who]

73. Betty Rubble was left out ouf Flintstone's vitamins until 1995.

Reason: Her neck was too thin and kids were left with headless-Betty's.

They added a stone necklace in 1995 and brought Betty back, head and all.

Bonus: The Flinstone's car was the additional chewable replaced with and by Betty during her years out of production.

[IChing]

74. 1,+ 1,+ 2, +3,+ 5,+ 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, ...FIBONACCI NUMBERS

[MrScorpio]

79. Only a crazy person can eat his or her own flesh

[Neoma]

95. Thats gross.

:puke:

[petronius]

132. Do scabs count?

:shrug:

[fleabert]

154. and cuticles too?

[VOX]

83. Baseball Hall-of-Famer Joe Sewell struck out 144 times. In his career!!!!!

Today, potential HOFers can easily whiff more than 144 times in a *season*.

Over 14 seasons, Cleveland Indian (1920-30) and NYY (1931-33) Joe Sewell struck out only 114 times, a remarkable statistic in any era. He used a 40-oz. bat (heavy!) and was the hardest batter to strike out in ML history. His lifetime BA is .312, which isn't too shabby either!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/s/seweljo01.shtml

[rocktivity]

84. Eric Alterman, author of "What Liberal Media?" and "When Presidents Lie"

bears an astounding resemblance to a guy who I really ought to stop thinking about.


:headbang:
rocknation

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

85. Before the transistor, most radios used 5 vacuum tubes.

[ucmike]

89. at the top of the gw bridge (nyc) new york tower.....

facing north up the valley, is one of those coin operated binoculars for tourists. its bolted to the roof of the tower.

quite a view.

[Mizmoon]

130. How do you get up there?

Where on earth would you park?

I'm very curious!

[ucmike]

193. you can't get up there, for the most part.

which is the cool part about there being tourist binocs up there. someone from the bridge maintenance crew must have installed it.

i did antenna work at my last job. i installed a microwave shot from there to PANYNJ buildings on both sides of the river.

i got to park at the base of the ny tower and ride the elevator most of the way up, then stairs from there.

[LordLQQK]

92. Other number facts

Until the middle of the 19th century the church believed that the number 0 (zero) was a device of the devil.

Most animals possess the ability to count up to 4 but after that get lost.

[maveric]

93. Highest wind velocity ever recorded was on Mt. Washington NH.

Highest temperature ever recorded was in Death Valley CA.

[qnr]

96. Eric II, King of Denmark, died in 1104. He was known as Eric the memorable

... but no one can remember why.

[SarahB]

97. Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska.

[Wapsie B]

110. So was the Godfather, Marlon Brando.

[ChoralScholar]

98. Random Facts

Not one adult has ever appeared in a Peanuts cartoon strip.

Wilt Chamberlain is 7'1" tall. His parents were 5'8".

In a 1990 preschool poll, Mr. Rogers was first choirce for President of the United States.

On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.

The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.

And finally,

The largest painting on earth is a 72,437-square-foot smiley face.

[Neoma]

106. Mr. Rogers?!

LOL!

[carpetbagger]

119. Is from Andy Warhol's Neighborhood.

Same part of Pittsburgh.

[Neoma]

120. Yeah i know who it is...

Its just mind blowing.

[AlienGirl]

102. Binturongs smell like Fritos. n/t

[LeftyMom]

103. If Barbie were life-sized she'd be a 44DD nt

[LeftyMom]

104. the record for keeping a Great White Shark in captivity is 198 days

held by the Monterey Bay Aquarium, for a female released April of this year. The previous record was 16 days, held by Sea World San Diego in 1981.

[mvd]

105. Here's one that I learned on my vacation in Williamsburg, VA

Before being named Williamsburg on behalf of the King of England, William III, the place was called Middle Plantation (colonial capital of Virginia was moved here in 1699.)

[lpbk2713]

107. I have it on very reliable information that there's

99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer.

Take one down and pass it around .... 98 bottles of beer on the wall.

[Neoma]

115. LOL!

[elshiva]

108. Senator Byrd liked or maybe still likes to eat

Spamwiches.

[swag]

139. But isn't Hormel headquartered in Minnesota?

And how much of spam really is pork after all?

[elshiva]

141. Dunno...

[baldguy]

111. A standard regulation golf ball has 388 dimples on it.

[giant_robot]

116. But fleabert says 336 in the US and 330 in Britian!

I'm so confused! I just don't know what to believe now!

[baldguy]

123. Trust me, I'm a liberal.

[AlienGirl]

114. Velociraptors probably had feathers.

[jim3775]

117. Making water cool and hot,

if you add zeolite to water it cools down. If you take limestone and cook it for a long time you create quicklime, if you mix the quicklime with water the water will rapidly heat up. Also the lime-water you have just created will absorb carbon dioxide.

[bamacrat]

121. An iceberg contains more heat than a lit match..........

If Wal-Mart were a country it would be the 24th most productive.
It costs three cents to make a dollar bill.
The Iraqi army uses donkeys to launch their rockets.
Until 1920, Canada was planning on invading the US.
Most tropical fish can survive in a tank filled with human blood.
In 1992 5,840 people checked into the emergency room with pillow related injuries.
Bill Gates house was created using a MAC.

[baldguy]

136. I don't think Wal-Mart actually produces anything.

They're just a marketing agency for Chinese slave-labor factories.

[AllegroRondo]

174. 1/4 of all Chinese exports are sold through Wal-Mart

[giant_robot]

122. Birds don't produce blue pigment in their feathers

blue feathers appear that way due to a prismatic effect rather than pigment.

[baldguy]

124. The chemical composition of chlorophyll and hemoglobin are the same.

But the structure is different.

[nuxvomica]

125. The hero of "Catcher in the Rye" got his name from a movie's credits

I woke up one lazy Saturday morning and tumbled downstairs, clicked on the TV, tuned the night before to AMC, and saw opening credits for "Dear Ruth", a 1947 movie. The credits looked like this:

William    Joan
HOLDEN   CAULFIELD

[Mizmoon]

128. Very interesting

I wonder if that's really where JD got it.

[nuxvomica]

135. I looked for some validation and now I'm not sure

According to Wikipedia, Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951 but the character originally appeared in a New Yorker short story on December 22, 1946 and, according to IMDB, the movie Dear Ruth was not released till 1947. :shrug: It was still pretty weird seeing that credit screen, though. :-)

[Jean Louise Finch]

126. "Posh" started as an acronym

It used to stand for Port Out, Starboard Home, which was the shady side on the way across and back (respectively) from the UK to India back in the day. The seats were reserved for "first class" only, so only those very rich swankaroos could afford them -- hence, they were awfully POSH indeed.

[A HERETIC I AM]

151. The other thing about "Port out, Starboard Home" from England to India is

that those accomodations gave you something to look at other than the ocean. Namely, the coast of Africa all the way around.

[Dukkha]

127. Dolphins have oral sex

Mr. Rogers was a Concert Pianist, Jesuit Priest, & vegetarian

"I" is the most popular word in the English language

Gerald Ford was an orphan

The average bra size today is 36C. Ten years ago it was 34B.

[Mizmoon]

129. ambergris, a perfume ingredient, is made of whale puke and poop

No really.

The whales eat the squid.

The squid beaks (you DID know squid had beaks, didn't you?) irritate the lining of the whale's stomach.

The whales vomits or poops out a waxy substance that is considered the most ideal perfume ingredient.

http://www.boatpoint.co.nz/portal/alias__boatpointnz/tabID__201003/ArticleID__119626/Default.aspx

[A HERETIC I AM]

152. Ambergris isnt used as a base for perfumes anymore.

It is produced specifically by sperm whales and there are synthetic substitutes that work better in fragrances than Ambergris.

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

[Piltdown13]

131. Bonobos may not have oral sex...

But they do copulate face to face on occasion...and sometimes males exhibit a behavior called "penis fencing." (Yep, it's just what it sounds like.)

[Neoma]

140. Aye

[tjwmason]

171. The EpistLe of Barnabas nearLy made it into the BibLe

It states that some rodents (I can't remember which off hand) reproduce using oraL sex. Just think what the bioLogy books wouLd be saying in Kansas if it had been part of the BibLe.

[Piltdown13]

133. Blondes have more hair than brunettes, etc.

More hair follicles per square inch...must be why I can shed so much and not be bald! :-)

[Skittles]

146. true with me too

plus, I can't see my hair in the sink/shower. BLONDES RULE!!!!!!!!!!!

[Swamp Rat]

167. Archaeologist?

Or are you the yet unknown, but soon to become infamous Piltdown Woman? :D

[Seabiscuit]

134. Rhinoceruses piss backwards through their legs.

Really - I saw one do it at the Munich zoo in 1970.

[SKKY]

172. I wish I could do that.

You could really have some fun standing in line.

[SKKY]

173. The town of Cadiz, Spain in the southern province of Andalucia...

...is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe. It was discovered and settled by the Phoenicians.

[opiate69]

138. Lightning can reach 50,000 degrees Farenheit

The largest octopus ever observed lives under the Tacoma NArrows Bridge in Tacoma, Washington.

[JackDragna]

142. Here's some fun facts.

- The English king Edward II was killed by having a red-hot poker shoved into his rectum. The screaming he made could be heard for miles. The reason for his brutal execution in such a manner was to give his killers a way of getting out of being punished by claiming the king had not a mark on him.

- The drink known as the Manhattan was invented by the mother of Winston Churchill.

- The mantis shrimp, more properly known as the stomatopod, can shoot its claws forward with the force of a .22 caliber bullet. It uses this force to crack open the shells of crabs, clams and oysters. Mantis shrimp also mate for life and have the best color vision of any invertebrate species, including the ability to see UV light.

- Female humans are the only female mammals who orgasm.

- Octopi are intelligent enough to open a jar and retrieve food inside if you show them how. Octopi can also learn this ability from observing other octopi opening jars.

- The phrase "the real McCoy" came from a bootlegger named McCoy who operated a fleet of boats off the coast of New York during Prohbition. McCoy smuggled in only pure, undiluted spirits from Europe and insisted they not be cut further by gangsters. Hence, the "real McCoy" referred to a genuine, first-class drink.

- The oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant in the United States are within walking distance of each other in the French Quarter in New Orleans.

- 1 liter of the toxin produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum would be enough to kill every human on the planet.

- Most of the dust found in human homes is comprised of dead skin.

- Technological advances made during Roman times included running hot and cold water in homes, in addition to flush toilets.

- The Incan civilization successfully performed brain surgery.

[Neoma]

144. I think the first fact you put up ...

I'm sure it was better not to know.

:scared:

[tjwmason]

170. It is true

The method was used on severaL other occasions too - it was thought to be the most appropriate manner of kiLLing gays (I'LL Let you figure out why), which is why the King was kiLLed (the whoLe Piers Gaveston business).

[Neoma]

181. *gag*

[AlienGirl]

147. The orgasm thing's a canard

Female mammals of many species have the same physiologic response to sex that humans do; it's simply not called "orgasm" because that would imply pleasure, and ascribing subjective experience to animals is unscientific.

Tucker

[Tikki]

143. The Mayan Long Count Calendar....

...ends December 21st 2012. After that, there are no more days and no more calendar.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

145. I used to be married to Russell Crowe

well that's not entirely true. But the part about I used to be married is very true. In fact I still am. But not to Russell Crowe. But after twenty years, we are still very happy. Sigh.

[mikelewis]

149. The theoretical definition of a meter is 1,650,763.73 wavelenths of the...

orange-red line spectrum of the element Krypton-86.

That is the only thing I remember from high school chemistry. I'm pretty sure that when I go senile, that will be the only thing I remember.

[Carla in Ca]

155. All Interstate highways running east to west

are even-numbered.

[Neoma]

156. Are south to east odd numbers then?

[scarpa43]

175. I think....

Interstate highways have a mile long straight section for every six miles of highway in case a plane nees to make an emergency landing. I think....

[Neoma]

189. Makes sense

[Carla in Ca]

184. Yes, like Interstate 5...

the only one that goes from Mexican Border to the Canadian Border.
All intersecting highways are even-numbered.

Number of Miles- 1375.62
California- 792 miles
Oregon- 307 miles
Washington- 276.62 miles
Southern End- San Diego, CA at the Mexican border.
Northern End- Blaine, WA at the Canadian Border
Major Cities Along the Route-
San Diego, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Sacramento, CA
Portland, OR
Seattle, WA
Intersections with other Interstates
I-8 in San Diego, CA
I-10 in Los Angeles, CA
I-80 in Sacramento, CA
The Western I-84 in Portland, OR
I-90 in Seattle, WA

[SmileyBoy]

157. Las Vegas is the largest US city that doesn't have a major sports team.

[SmileyBoy]

158. The only US city/town/settlement on the Canadian border where...

You have to drive south to get into Canada is Detroit.

[SmileyBoy]

159. Turkey is the richest Middle Eastern country that has absolutely no oil.

[SmileyBoy]

160. Manitobans spend more money at 7-11 per-capita than anywhere else

In the world.

Winnipeg is known as the "Slurpee Capital of the World".

[illbill]

162. lol..

GO WINNIPEG!
Woot.

[ironflange]

178. I've wondered about that

Is 7-11 the only convenience store in Winnipeg? Here in Calgary, there are just as many Mac's stores as 7-11's, selling Frosters, plus nearly every gas station in town has some sort of soda-pop frozen drinks for sale.

PS. Notice I was too nice to say "Winterpeg." :evilgrin:

[SmileyBoy]

161. If you took the entire population of North Dakota...

And spread out everyone equally distributed across a flat square of land of equivalent size of the state, no one person would be able to see anybody else.

[SmileyBoy]

163. If everybody in the world lived in one giant, concentrated city...

That city would be the size of Texas. (Assuming the city is as dense as Tokyo)

[Neoma]

164. wow...

:wow:

[Ladyhawk]

165. If you took every fundy in America and laid them end to end on Jupiter,

it would be a damn good thing!

Gotcha. ;)

[Neoma]

168. I TOTALLY agree with that one.

[Ladyhawk]

166. The term "Brydes whale" is actually pronounced "Brutus whale." n/t

[Swamp Rat]

169. Dufay composed "Nuper Rosarum Flores" according to the proportions of a

Brunelleschi dome in Florence.

More info:

Guillaume Dufay's motet Nuper rosarum flores holds an important place in history. It was performed on 25 March 1436, at the consecration of the Florence Cathedral by Pope Eugenius IV. The cupola of the cathedral, which became one of the masterpieces of Renaissance architecture, was engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The cupola's design, a great technical feat, took inspiration from the past - the Roman pantheon.

In a similar fashion Nuper rosarum flores is also a technical masterpiece. The piece is an isorhythmic motet designed so that it's repeats are continually in different meters. Like Brunelleschi, Dufay reaches to the past for inspiration. Dufay looks to both the Ars Nova of 14th century France and to the Greek ideal of music's emotional powers. It is precisely Dufay's ability to synthesize the traditions of the Middle Ages with ideas of the Renaissance and ancient Greece that allows this motet to straddle both eras. It is this progressive sense, rather than the formal structure, that is the greatest accomplishment of the piece.

(snip)

http://www.haverford.edu/musc/multimedia/music230/voellmy/dufay2.html

[scarpa43]

176. Baseball facts

Some interesting things about baseball as compared to the other major pro sports (football, basketball, soccer, hockey)

It is the only sport not regulated by a clock.
It is the only sport where the fields of play are not the same size (ie. the size of the outfields)
It is the only sport where the team on offense does not have possesion of the ball.

[UrbScotty]

177. Atlanta is the name of the county seat of Montmorency County, Michigan.

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

179. The UK has over 3 million incontinent people -n/t

[Dora]

180. The production costs for a hardcover book

are no higher than for a paperbound book.

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

182. MVTR stands for Moisture Vapor Transmission Rate. n/t

[Lisa]

183. beets and swiss chard are actually the same species

Over time, farmers encouraged some varieties to produce greens, and others to have bigger roots.

[alfredo]

185. Stairway To Heaven borrowed heavily from

the song O'Carolan's Dream

[Guy Fawkes]

187. The 1980's is called...

the "Golden Age" due to a book by Mark Twain, where he called it that (in reference to greed).

[yellowdogintexas]

190. Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were both born in Kentucky.

The longest cave in the world is Mammoth Cave currently at 350+ mapped miles of passage; located in Kentucky

If you chew wintergreen LifeSavers in total darkness, they will spark.

Jack Daniels Whiskey is actually manufactured in a dry county.

The New Madrid earthquake in 1812(?) reversed the flow of the Mississippi River, created an oxbow and formed Reelfoot Lake in upper west Tennessee. If an earthquake of that size and intensity occurred in that same location now, it would flood and probably destroy St Louis, Memphis, Cape Girardeau MO and other smaller river towns.

[fortyfeetunder]

191. House flies hum in the key of F

It's true, I've tested it!

[Lorien]

192. The word "Carnival" means

"goodbye to meat".

[MrScorpio]

194. While watching "LOST" last night, I already knew that dynamite sweats

Nitroglycerin.

I knew that it wasn't gonna be pretty

[NMMNG]

195. Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" was the 1st mass produced CD

[steely]

196. JJ Thompson discovered the electron in 1897

thanks JJ

[KamaAina]

198. The name "tabby" for a striped cat comes from an area in Baghdad

http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/dictionaries/animals/data/m0041180.html

The name is derived from the striped watered silk, known in Britain as tabbi silk, produced by the weavers of the Attabiya district of Baghdad.

Come to think of it, wasn't that cat the soldiers brought back from Iraq a tabby?

[charlyvi]

199. Pandas eat bamboo.

That's all, pandas eat bamboo.

[UrbScotty]

200. Vice President William King died six weeks after taking office in 1853.

He was sworn in in Cuba on March 4, 1853, where he was getting rehab for his alcoholism. He returned home to Alabama, where he died in April.

[UrbScotty]

201. Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.

[11 Bravo]

202. If, for purposes of orientation, we call Earth's North Pole "north"

then Uranus is the only planet with an axis running east-west.