The Strange Facts You Know thread....

[adkkev]

Sliced bread was banned in 1943 as a wartime conservation effort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread).

who knew?

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Hmm, my useless fact is not Dis friendly.

So since I can't use my first fact I will give you another.

The plural of platypus is platypi. Only the uneducated say platypusses (per my Aussie co-worker).

My useless facts are all about animals, and mostly not Dis-friendly. Continuing in this theme, the male platypus is one of the few venemous mammals. Platypi, by the way, are mammals, but they are members of a very small subgroup known as monotremes.

 

[legalsea]

Tomatoes were considered poisonous until the late 1800s.

Peel a banana: do you peel from the top down (i.e., from the long stem-end)? Most adults do. However, chimps will peel from the bottom up.

I do not know if the chimp/banana thing is true. However, a friend of my father used to cite this 'fact' to anyone who would listen, and often would produce a banana and proceed to peel from the bottom up.

I also tried from the bottom up; it can indeed work, but I decided that the reason we humans peel from the top down is because we are slightly more advanced than the ordinary chimp. I have no doubt that if, the next time I go to the zoo, I peel a banana in front of the chimps going from the top down, the chimps would slap their foreheads in unisome and say (in Chimpaneze) "What dolts we have been! Of course! From the top down!".

 

[mickeymedic]

A dust buster left in the hands of a child can and will suck up the tail of a very scared cat.

Similarly, a Dyson truly never loses suction - even when you have accidently sucked a 9-foot tinsel garland off the Christmas Tree.

 

[amy4bruce]

The famous Vulcan Salute is derived from the Kohanim (prest's) blessing in orthodox Judaism.

One of the last remaining duties of the kohain is the blessing, where underneath the talis (prayer shall) he holds is hands out with the fingers separated in the middle. When Star Trek was looking for a Vulcan salute, for the episode Journey to Babel, Leonard Nimoy, raised an orthodox Jew, suggested the kohain hand motion.

Like only being able to raise one eyebrow, or roll your tongue, it's totally genetic if a person can do this. Not all people can. An example of that is Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in last summer's movie. In fact, in order for him to do it, he had to have his ring finger and pinky glued together.

 

[FireDancer]

Yreka Bakery is a palindrome.

(There is town in northern California named Yreka, but last I heard they don't actually have a bakery.)

Who doesn't love palindromes.

My favorite two:

dammit, I'm mad
go hang a salami I'm a lasagna hog

I also find it ironic that palindrome itself isn't a palindrome.

 

[tinkgurl]

I googled 'useless facts'..here's some interesting ones I found. I don't know if they're all true.:

Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

Fourteen years before the Titanic sank, novelist Morgan Robertson published a novel called "Futility". The story was about an ocean liner that struck an iceberg on an April night. The name of the ship in his novel - The Titan.

George Washington was deathly afraid of being buried alive. After he died, he wanted to be laid out for three days just to make sure he was dead.

The longest Monopoly game ever played was 1,680 hours long, that's 70 straight days!

 

[mrsklamc]

Jack Black's parents are rocket scientists. No, really, actual rocket scientists.

 

[Piecey]

The famous Vulcan Salute is derived from the Kohanim (prest's) blessing in orthodox Judaism.

One of the last remaining duties of the kohain is the blessing, where underneath the talis (prayer shall) he holds is hands out with the fingers separated in the middle. When Star Trek was looking for a Vulcan salute, for the episode Journey to Babel, Leonard Nimoy, raised an orthodox Jew, suggested the kohain hand motion.

Like only being able to raise one eyebrow, or roll your tongue, it's totally genetic if a person can do this. Not all people can. An example of that is Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in last summer's movie. In fact, in order for him to do it, he had to have his ring finger and pinky glued together.

So we're talking pinky and ring finger together... gap, then the others together?

I can do it. Interesting that it is genetic.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

Similarly, a Dyson truly never loses suction - even when you have accidently sucked a 9-foot tinsel garland off the Christmas Tree.

Tinsel is NOT digestiable by a cat (yet another thing I leared a couple christmas ago)

 

[pixiewings71]

Please tell me I am not the only one that had to pull out a ruler and check this one out?

No, you aren't the only one, but I didn't use a ruler, I just put my foot on my arm.....

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

No, you aren't the only one, but I didn't use a ruler, I just put my foot on my arm.....

I'm at work so I used a ruler.

 

[MuskratSusie]

• a dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
• a cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
• a crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
• a dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
• a goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
• a "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
• a shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
• a snail can sleep for three years.
• al capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
• all 50 states are listed across the top of the lincoln memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
• almonds are a member of the peach family.
• an ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
• babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
• butterflies taste with their feet.
• cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.
• "dreamt" is the only english word that ends in the letters "mt".
• february 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• in the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
• if the population of china walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
• if you are an average american, in your whole life, you will spend an
• average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
• it's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
• leonardo da vinci invented the scissors.
• maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
• no word in the english language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
• on a canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the parliament building is an american flag.
• our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
• rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• "stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and
• "lollipop" with your right.
• the average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• the cruise liner, qe2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
• the microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• the sentence: "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
• the winter of 1932 was so cold that niagara falls froze completely solid.
• the words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read
• left to right or right to left (palindromes).
• there are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• there are more chickens than people in the world.
• cockroaches have teeth in their stomachs.
• there are only four words in the english language which end in "dous":
• tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
• there are two words in the english language that have all five vowels in
• order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
• there's no betty rubble in the flintstones chewables vitamins.
• tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
• typewriter is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
• winston churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• women blink nearly twice as much as men.
• your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise
• it will digest itself.
• gummy bears are made out of pigs feet.
• jello is made out of bone marrow from horses.
• Did you know 70 out of 100 people admit to picking their nose?
• Out of 70 people 3 admit to eating them. (I knew a girl in my class that used to do that O_O)
• A baby will drool thirty-eight gallons of spittle in its first year of life
• The dirtiest spots in the kitchen are dishcloths, cutting boards, sponges, and sink handles. Surprisingly, the floor is often cleaner than the sink!
• "Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
• It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
• Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
• No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
• "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
• The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
• There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
• There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
• All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill
• A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
• A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
• A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
• A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
• A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
• A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
• A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
• A snail can sleep for three years.
• Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
• Almonds are a member of the peach family.
• An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
• Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.
• February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
• If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
• If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
• Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
• On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is
• an American flag.
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.
• There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewable Vitamins.
• Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
• Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.
• No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 8 times.
• All the swans in England are property of the Queen.
• If you flip a coin ten times, the odds against its coming up with the same side showing each time are 1,023 to 1.
• A queen bee uses her stinger only to sting another queen bee.
• Spiders have transparent blood.
• The Yo-Yo originated as a weapon in the Philippine Islands during the sixteenth century.
• German chemists made a replica of a trophy the size of one molecule.
• Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
• On average women can hear better than men.
• The moon is actually moving away from Earth at a rate of 1.5 inches per year.
• In Australia, Burger King is called Hungry Jack's.
• Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue twice as much as any other color.
• Contrary to popular belief, lightning travels from the ground upwards not from the sky downwards.
• When young and impoverished, Pablo Picasso kept warm by burning his own paintings.
• SONY was originally called 'Totsuken'.
• Polar bear fur is not white, it's clear.
• The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.
• No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 8 times.
• The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.
• A small airplane can fly backwards.
• identify a fake: The second hand on an authentic Rolex watch doesn't tick, it moves smoothly.
• Even a small amount of alcohol placed on a scorpion will make it go crazy and sting itself to death.
• Tipping at a restaurant in Iceland is considered an insult.
• Forest fires move faster uphill than downhill.
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients in dynamite.
• In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch or clock is usually 10:10.
• In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
• The Wild Turkey is the only bird with a beard.
• More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world.

 

[pixiewings71]

I'm at work so I used a ruler.

LOL I was at home and barefoot, I'd just finished my Yoga so I just stuck my foot on my arm, otherwise I would have used a ruler too! LOL

 

[Jenvenza]

You cannot lick your elbow.

Jello is not a vegetarian food.