# Useless Facts thread



## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 14, 2011)

The short-term memory capacity for most people is between five and nine items or digits. This is one reason that phone numbers were kept to seven digits for so long.The first United States coast to coast airplane flight occurred in 1911 and took 49 days.


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## Bruno Spatola (Dec 14, 2011)

Adolf Hitler lived in Liverpool for a while, apparently, just before WW1.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 14, 2011)

Richard Milhouse Nixon was the first US President whose name contains all the letters from the word "criminal". William Jefferson Clinton is the 2nd.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 15, 2011)

In 1970, "MCI" stood for "Microwave Communications, Inc." No longer used as an acronym, it now stands alone.


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## Italy (Dec 15, 2011)

Rats cannot hold fear for more than 20 minutes.

McDonald's Chicken McNuggets are made of mechanically separated chicken. (Look it up- it's gross)


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## Bloggsworth (Dec 15, 2011)

Bruno Spatola said:


> Adolf Hitler lived in Liverpool for a while, apparently, just before WW1.




Total codswallop...


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## Bloggsworth (Dec 15, 2011)

Alexander Graham Bell _*did not*_ invent the telephone.


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## Offeiriad (Dec 15, 2011)

Sternutation is the scientific word for the act of sneezing.


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## felix (Dec 15, 2011)

A duck's quack _does_ echo, contrary to popular internet-lore.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 15, 2011)

The surface area of the Earth is 197,000,000 square miles. The exact geographic center of the United States is near Lebanon, Kansas.


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## beanlord56 (Dec 15, 2011)

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is, quite ironically, the fear of long words.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 16, 2011)

The first ever televised murder case appeared on TV in 1955, Dec. 5-9. The accused was Harry Washburn.


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## The Backward OX (Dec 17, 2011)

Rookwood Cemetry is the dead centre of Sydney, Australia.:rofl:


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## The Backward OX (Dec 17, 2011)

Bruno Spatola said:


> Adolf Hitler lived in Liverpool for a while, apparently, just before WW1.





Bloggsworth said:


> Total codswallop...



Actually, it was his brother, Alois. He married an Irish woman, Biddy, and their son, William Patrick Hitler, emigrated to the United States. There's more, but you can look it up yourselves.


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## Bloggsworth (Dec 17, 2011)

beanlord56 said:


> Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is, quite ironically, the fear of long words.



And there was I think it was the irrational fear of hippopotomuses...


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## Bloggsworth (Dec 17, 2011)

Dennis Healey never said "Silly billy".


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 17, 2011)

Mageiricophobia is the intense fear of having to cook. Trivia is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and the crossroads.


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## Jon M (Dec 18, 2011)

Having a lot of borborygmus today.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 18, 2011)

In 1976 Rodrigo's 'Guitar Concierto de Aranjuez' was No 1 in the UK for only three hours because of a computer error.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 18, 2011)

You were born with 300 bones, but by the time you are an adult you will only have 206. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit. Larry Lewis ran the 100-yard dash in 17.8 seconds in 1969, thereby setting a new world's record for runners in the 100-years-or-older class. He was 101.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 19, 2011)

Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.
In Lehigh, Nebraska it's against the law to sell donut holes.
Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment: Prohibition.
In Breton, Alabama, there is a law on the town's books against riding down the street in a motorboat.


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## Jon M (Dec 20, 2011)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> In Lehigh, Nebraska it's against the law to sell donut holes.


This depresses me.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 21, 2011)

An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.


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## Bloggsworth (Dec 21, 2011)

Frogs can't play the piano...


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## Kyle R (Dec 21, 2011)

The State Fish of Hawaii is the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (Hawaiian for "triggerfish with a snout like a pig"). Contrary to popular belief, there is another fish with an even longer Hawaiian name, and that is the Lauwiliwilinukunukuʻoiʻoi (Hawaiian for "long- snouted fish shaped like a wiliwili leaf").

The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a is difficult to skin and scale, so early Hawaiians used to simply throw the fish into the fire until the skin was charred, then they would peel off the burnt skin to eat the cooked flesh. Somehow the reasoning behind tossing the fish into the fire got misinterpreted, and many people now believe Humuhumu's to be a good substitute for firewood.


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## felix (Dec 21, 2011)

Do those fish have stutters by any chance? 

Atoms are 99.9999999999999% empty space. Yes, the 13 zeros are intentional.


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## The Backward OX (Dec 22, 2011)

In the middle of the 17th Century, Oliver Cromwell's Parliament banned Christmas for 15 years. Claiming it was "a feast giving liberty to sensual delights", it was banned from 1645 to 1660.

So what else is new?


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## Walkio (Dec 22, 2011)

felix said:


> Do those fish have stutters by any chance?
> 
> Atoms are 99.9999999999999% empty space. Yes, the 13 zeros are intentional.



I'm guessing you saw A Night With The Stars the other day!? Great show! And you mean 13 nines, not 13 zeros


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 22, 2011)

Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand while drawing with the other


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## Sunny (Dec 22, 2011)

Strange Canadian laws that are still in affect:
- It is illegal for clear or non-dark sodas to contain caffeine.
- Citizens may not publicly remove bandages.
- It is illegal to set fire to the wooden leg of a wooden legged man.

Cobourg Ontario: If you have a water trough in your front yard it must be filled by 5am.
Guelp Ontario: The city is classified as a no-pee zone.
Oshawa Ontario: It’s illegal to climb trees.
Toronto: You can’t drag a dead horse down Yonge St. on a Sunday.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 23, 2011)

Seattle?s Fremont Bridge rises up and down more than any drawbridge in the world.


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## Our_Pneuma (Dec 27, 2011)

Human birth control pills work on gorillas.


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## Dramatism (Dec 27, 2011)

Gold fish don't have a 3 second memory, contrary to popular belief.  It's 3 months.
There are such things as blue and white lobsters, and there was another but I forget.  Blue lobsters are about 1 in 20 million and white 1 in 100 million.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 27, 2011)

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.


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## Sunny (Dec 27, 2011)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.




Ha ha. That made me laugh. :0)


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## Our_Pneuma (Dec 28, 2011)

Pandiculation is the act of yawning while stretching at the same time.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 29, 2011)

101 Dalmatians, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Mulan are the only Disney cartoons where both parents are present and don't die throughout the movie.A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.


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## Nacian (Dec 29, 2011)

Keol is another similar name for a similar bird to the cuckoo.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Dec 29, 2011)

An eighteenth-century German named Matthew Birchinger, known as "the little man of Nuremberg," played four musical instruments including the bagpipes, was an expert calligrapher, and was the most famous stage magician of his day. He performed tricks with the cup and balls that have never been explained. Yet Birchinger had no hands, legs, or thighs, and was less than 29 inches tall.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 4, 2012)

Count the number of cricket chirps in a 15-second period, add 37 to the total, and your result will be very close to the actual outdoor Fahrenheit temperature.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 12, 2012)

The word "samba" means "to rub navels together." More people are killed annually by donkeys than airplane crashes.


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## bazz cargo (Jan 13, 2012)

Centipedes don't have a hundred legs. Centurions did not have a hundred soldiers.


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## IanMGSmith (Jan 13, 2012)

Contrary to popular belief Sir Frank Whittle did not get his inspiration for inventing the jet engine by witnessing spontaneous pyroflatulence in birds.


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## philistine (Jan 13, 2012)

Robert Browning, the poet, lived with his parents until he was thirty-two years old.

That may explain why his poetry, was, at least in my opinion, utter rubbish. He didn't suffer enough. To write good poetry, a lifetime of hardships is just the entry requirement.


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## Rustgold (Jan 13, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> Larry Lewis ran the 100-yard dash in 17.8 seconds in 1969, thereby setting a new world's record for runners in the 100-years-or-older class. He was 101.


That's fast.  I wonder if his age was correct.

Anyway...


Did you know that half of the population has below average intelligence?


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## philistine (Jan 13, 2012)

Rustgold said:


> That's fast.  I wonder if his age was correct.
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> ...



I did not know this.


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## Rustgold (Jan 13, 2012)

...


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 14, 2012)

Reindeer like to eat bananas.

Sarah, Duchess of York hates to be called 'Fergie'!


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## Olly Buckle (Jan 15, 2012)

Rustgold said:


> Did you know that half of the population has below average intelligence?



In line with this, 80% of drivers think they drive better than the average


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 15, 2012)

More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money throughout the world.


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## philistine (Jan 15, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money throughout the world.



So what you're saying is that my stash is worth nothing. Bubkiss?


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 15, 2012)

Not nessisarily, Phil.

An eighteenth-century German named Matthew Birchinger, known as "the little man of Nuremberg," played four musical instruments including the bagpipes, was an expert calligrapher, and was the most famous stage magician of his day. He performed tricks with the cup and balls that have never been explained. Yet Birchinger had no hands, legs, or thighs, and was less than 29 inches tall.


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## luckyscars (Jan 16, 2012)

Rustgold said:


> That's fast.  I wonder if his age was correct.
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> ...




that statement confuses me a little. i'm not disputing it, just asking for clarification. what do you mean by average? mean? median? mode?


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 16, 2012)

The electric chair was invented by a dentist.


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## RomanticRose (Jan 16, 2012)

Bloggsworth said:


> Frogs can't play the piano...



Neither can earthworms.


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## Rustgold (Jan 16, 2012)

luckyscars said:


> that statement confuses me a little. i'm not disputing it, just asking for clarification. what do you mean by average? mean? median? mode?



You're seriously overthinking it.


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## JosephB (Jan 16, 2012)

Some people should try to over-think things. They might fall short and hit the mark for a change.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 16, 2012)

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 17, 2012)

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

A person cannot taste food unless it is mixed with saliva. For example, if a strong-tasting substance like salt is placed on a dry tongue, the taste buds will not be able to taste it. As soon as a drop of saliva is added and the salt is dissolved, however, a definite taste sensation results. This is true for all foods.


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## theorphan (Jan 18, 2012)

In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, "Well, are you there?". It wasn't until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase "number please?"


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## DuKane (Jan 19, 2012)

German submarine U-1206 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 19, 2012)

One-fourth of the world's population lives on less than $200 a year.* Ninety million people survive on less than $75 a year.

In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes.


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## Rustgold (Jan 21, 2012)

JosephB said:


> Some people should try to over-think things. They might fall short and hit the mark for a change.



Or thinking could be like kicking a football; where most people kick further if they imagine a target not so far away.


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## luckyscars (Jan 21, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> In the United States, a pound of potato chips costs two hundred times more than a pound of potatoes.



makes me wonder about the price differential between a pound of ground sugar and a pound of spun sugar, aka cotton-candy...


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## Olly Buckle (Jan 21, 2012)

Tea costs around two pounds for forty tea bags, a cup of tea to take away costs around a pound. Mind you the cup, milk, water, and sometimes sugar must cost something. I could still live with selling tea all day if I could find a big enough crowd.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 21, 2012)

In 1986 Congress & President Ronald Reagan signed Public Law 99-359, which changed Daylight Saving Time from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April.* It was estimated to save the nation about 300,000 barrels of oil each year by adding most of the month April to D.S.T.

The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA'


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## Olly Buckle (Jan 21, 2012)

In 1906 there were 260 specialist tripe shops in Manchester. By 1994 there were none.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 21, 2012)

Tom Sawyer was the first novel written on a typewriter.

There are 1 million ants for every human in the world.


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## DuKane (Jan 25, 2012)

Up to 1939 the 45th Infantry division of the US Army had the swastika as there shoulder insignia.


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## Courtjester (Jan 25, 2012)

beanlord56 said:


> Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is, quite ironically, the fear of long words.



What a beauty and how about paraskevidekatriaphobia - fear of Friday the 13th? Not as long, but quite good, too.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 25, 2012)

Freezer burns aren't going to happen in a heated oven!


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## Cesar (Jan 25, 2012)

Capsaicin is the quemical that causes hot peppers to be spicy. Although using water to reduce the effect of the chemical is the first impulse because it feels "hot", what water actually does is spraying the chemical without removing it. Dairy products like milk or yogurt counter the chemical and reduces the "hot" feeling.


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## DuKane (Jan 26, 2012)

Hitler had a train called Amerika.


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## felix (Jan 26, 2012)

The bird is the word.


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## Terry D (Jan 26, 2012)

The average length of a gorilla penis is 3/4 of an inch.

No wonder they seldom smile.


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## felix (Jan 26, 2012)

Terry D said:


> The average length of a gorilla penis is 3/4 of an inch.
> 
> No wonder they seldom smile.



Oh yeah, but the _girth! _Boy, do those guys have fun.


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## Olly Buckle (Jan 26, 2012)

felix said:


> Oh yeah, but the _girth! _Boy, do those guys have fun.


Or maybe average refers to a temporal measurement, for most of the time it is only a quarter inch, but for about half an hour once a month ...


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## Ol' Fartsy (Jan 27, 2012)

(Since we're now talking about a certin organ)

A whale's penis is called a dork.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 2, 2012)

Most Egyptians died by the time they were 30 about 300 years ago,


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 2, 2012)

Valentine Tapley from Pike County, Missouri* grew chin whiskers attaining a length of twelve feet six inches from 1860 until his death 1910, protesting Abraham Lincoln's election to the presidency.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 2, 2012)

THE MOST UNUSUAL CANNONBALL: On two occasions, Miss 'Rita Thunderbird' remained inside the cannon despite a lot of gunpowder encouragement to do otherwise. She performed in a gold lamé bikini and on one of the two occasions (1977) Miss Thunderbird remained lodged in the cannon, while her bra was shot across the Thames River.


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## Stealth (Feb 3, 2012)

It costs more to buy a new car today in the United States than it cost Christopher Columbus to equip and undertake three voyages to and from the New World.
The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language.
TYPEWRITER, is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 3, 2012)

101 Dalmatians, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, and Mulan are the only Disney cartoons where both parents are present and don't die throughout the movie.


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## Stealth (Feb 3, 2012)

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:    Spades - King David    Hearts - Charlemagne    Clubs -Alexander, the Great    Diamonds - Julius Caesar
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both frontlegs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one frontleg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of naturalcauses.


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## MistressM (Feb 5, 2012)

Rustgold said:


> Did you know that half of the population has below average intelligence?


For the fact on page 3: that's only natural. If all the population was above "average intelligence", then the average intelligence would be higher, then half the population would still be below. The point of "average" is so that approx. half is above and half is below.
Sorry to be a party pooper.
Anyhow:
A small indentation on a horse's skin, usually neck or shoulder, is considered to be good luck.


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## Olly Buckle (Feb 5, 2012)

Stealth said:


> The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language.



Also "My jackdaw loves a big sphynx of quartz."


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## The Backward OX (Feb 5, 2012)

Stealth said:


> If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both frontlegs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one frontleg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of naturalcauses.


If the horse has all four legs in the air, the person died of smothering.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 7, 2012)

Every time you lick a stamp, you consume 1/10 of a calorie.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 7, 2012)

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 7, 2012)

Most American car horns honk in the key of F.


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## Rustgold (Feb 7, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> THE MOST UNUSUAL CANNONBALL: On two occasions, Miss 'Rita Thunderbird' remained inside the cannon despite a lot of gunpowder encouragement to do otherwise. She performed in a gold lamé bikini and on one of the two occasions (1977) Miss Thunderbird remained lodged in the cannon, while her bra was shot across the Thames River.



Now that's a more interesting fact than anything to do with whales or apes.


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## MistressM (Feb 7, 2012)

Did you know that cigarette lighters were actually invented before matches?
Cigarette lighters - 1986, JW Dobereiner
Matches - 1805, Jean Chancel


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## DuKane (Feb 8, 2012)

Brontophobia is the fear of thunder.

Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 8, 2012)

Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface don't have eyes.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

13% of Americans actually believe that some parts of the moon are made of cheese.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 8, 2012)

Fish that live more than 800 meters below the ocean surface don't have eyes.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

13% of Americans actually believe that some parts of the moon are made of cheese.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 12, 2012)

Most collect calls are made on father's day.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 12, 2012)

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 12, 2012)

The average person spends 6 months of their life sitting at red lights.


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## Katie D (Feb 13, 2012)

This one is from my 4 year old who is obsessed with turtles (tortoises being second best) and will correct anyone who will or will not listen.
Turtles have flippers and tortoises have feet


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 13, 2012)

It has NEVER rained in Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile.

Because of the rotation of the earth, an object can be thrown farther if it is thrown west.

A 'jiffy' is a unit of time for 1/100th of a second.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 16, 2012)

Bees have 5 eyes. There are 3 small eyes on the top of a bee's head and 2 larger ones in front.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 16, 2012)

A rainbow can be seen only in the morning or late afternoon. It can occur only when the sun is 40 degrees or less above the horizon.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 16, 2012)

Ninety percent of all species that have become extinct have been birds.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 16, 2012)

There is approximately one chicken for every human being in the world.


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## DuKane (Feb 16, 2012)

More people are bitten by New Yorkers than by sharks.


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## Olly Buckle (Feb 17, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> A rainbow can be seen only in the morning or late afternoon. It can occur only when the sun is 40 degrees or less above the horizon.


Surely this would depend on the lattitude/time of year.


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## Potty (Feb 17, 2012)

MistressM said:


> Did you know that cigarette lighters were actually invented before matches?
> Cigarette lighters - 1986, JW Dobereiner
> Matches - 1805, Jean Chancel



Can anyone else spot the mistake here?


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## Rustgold (Feb 17, 2012)

It was a useless fact anyway


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## Olly Buckle (Feb 18, 2012)

Makes you wonder about some of the other "Facts", for example, 





> The average person spends 6 months of their life sitting at red lights.


 which average? Mean, median or that other one, and do most people in the world even get in a car?


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## The Backward OX (Feb 18, 2012)

MistressM said:


> Did you know that cigarette lighters were actually invented before matches?
> Cigarette lighters - 1986, JW Dobereiner
> Matches - 1805, Jean Chancel





Potty said:


> Can anyone else spot the mistake here?



Probably not a mistake. Everyone knows those inscrutable Orientals count sideways. :icon_compress:


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## Bloggsworth (Feb 18, 2012)

Colorado beetles are rubbish at trigonometry.


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## The Backward OX (Feb 18, 2012)

A cockroach can live 9 days without its head before it starves to death.


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## Rustgold (Feb 18, 2012)

The Backward OX said:


> Probably not a mistake. Everyone knows those inscrutable Orientals count sideways. :icon_compress:


So year 6891......
Hey, get your technology from the future today.  Nice compact fire contained in a box the size of your thumb, appears on command, only $500 per item.  Let the ladies know you're not a Neanderthal, rather that you're tomorrow's man today.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 19, 2012)

In 1912 a law passed in Nebraska where drivers in the country at night were required to stop every 150 yards, send up a skyrocket, wait eight minutes for the road to clear before proceeding cautiously, all the while blowing their horn and shooting off flares.


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## Jeko (Feb 20, 2012)

Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink."


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 20, 2012)

Butterflies taste with their hind feet.

Women manage the money and pay the bills in* 75% of all Americans households.


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## Ditch (Feb 23, 2012)

Sperm Whales can dive up to 10,000 feet and in pitch black, locate their prey through echolocation, giant squid that grow to 30 feet by emanating the loudest sound made by any predator. This sound is louder than a clap of thunder.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 23, 2012)

Bees have 5 eyes. There are 3 small eyes on the top of a bee's head and 2 larger ones in front.

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.


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## Bloggsworth (Feb 23, 2012)

Groats are no longer legal tender...


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## Ol' Fartsy (Feb 23, 2012)

The human tongue tastes bitter things with the taste buds toward the back. Salty and pungent flavors are tasted in the middle of the tongue, sweet flavors at the tip!
In eighteenth-century English gambling dens, there was an employee whose only job was to swallow the dice if there was a police raid.
It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona.


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## TheFuhrer02 (Mar 5, 2012)

Did you know that the lacrimal glands are supplied by three nerve sources, and that one of them, the ciliary ganglion, has no effect on the lacrimal glands whatsoever?


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## Jon M (Mar 5, 2012)

The medical term for bitch tits is gynecomastia.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Mar 5, 2012)

Male hearing goes when the male eats or the woman is calling for him to fix or wash stuff.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 15, 2012)

There are no circumstances where it is good to answer your wife's question: "Do I look my mother?" 
Just zip it, guys!


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## Deleted member 49710 (Oct 15, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> There are no circumstances where it is good to answer your wife's question: "Do I look my mother?"
> Just zip it, guys!


I will hereby save the husbands of the world a little angst by telling you the correct answer to this question and others like it: "Honey, you always look beautiful."

Of course sometimes women will choose to see through your pathetic lies, especially if they're not in the mood to be flattered like some dumbass teenager, and you will get your head bitten off. But this answer at least gives you a chance.

Now for a useless fact: I learned yesterday that there is a kind of soft-shelled turtle that urinates through its mouth.


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## Bruno Spatola (Oct 15, 2012)

Cows actually belch methane, they don't really release it via flatulence much.


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## Chaos (Oct 15, 2012)

The Vinegaroon is a spider-scorpion mix that has the ability to squirt "pure vinegar" from it's hind spike.


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## Bruno Spatola (Oct 24, 2012)

Bulldogs physically cannot be born (I didn't know this) due to the way humans have bred them. Their young have to be removed via Caesarean section -- their whole species is dependent on our survival.

Amazing.


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## The Backward OX (Oct 24, 2012)

The worm-drive differential used in Peugeot automobiles is derived from a water-raising device used by King Nebuchadnezzar 2500 years ago to irrigate the Hanging Gardens of Babylon


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 24, 2012)

Warp Drive in Holy Cow Mode!


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## dolphinlee (Oct 24, 2012)

Bremsstrahlung is electromagnetic radiation produced by the acceleration of charged particles.


Some science for a change. Scientists can have useless facts too.


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 25, 2012)

dolphinlee said:


> Bremsstrahlung is electromagnetic radiation produced by the acceleration of charged particles.
> 
> 
> Some science for a change. Scientists can have useless facts too.


It may be useless now, but knowing scientists someone will find a use for it.


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## Bloggsworth (Oct 25, 2012)

Brazilian butterflies avoid flapping their wings lest they start a hurricane in the Carribean...


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## Kevin (Oct 25, 2012)

Despite a pair of similarities which I won't go into, garlic does not work as a rattlesnake deterent, at least, as far as I know, and yes, I once had to argue this -  to a grown man.


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## Bruno Spatola (Oct 25, 2012)

I don't know about snakes, but aphids don't like garlic -- some people use it to repel them from their roses and stuff. Works quite well, I hear.


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## LaughinJim (Oct 25, 2012)

Interesting about the garlic and roses. Does the garlic have to be growing or just in proximity? Most plants do not like to grow around garlic, except for onions, leeks, shallots and that sort of thing.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 25, 2012)

Wombat faeces is cuboid

Why is wombat scat shaped like a cube?: Marsupials: Animal Planet


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## Bruno Spatola (Oct 25, 2012)

LaughinJim said:


> Interesting about the garlic and roses. Does the garlic have to be growing or just in proximity? Most plants do not like to grow around garlic, except for onions, leeks, shallots and that sort of thing.



After some Googling, I've found that it doesn't matter. Some of the articles I've just read suggest growing garlic plants alongside your roses or whatever, using garlic-based pesticides, or even garlic in raw form placed around your garden is pretty much equally effective against aphid attacks. No mention of plants not growing well around it, but I'm no gardener by any stretch .

Aphids also dislike: Petunias, mint, chives, and onions. They love nasturtiums for some reason. . .


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 25, 2012)

There are times when I think I might blow my brains out sneezing!


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 26, 2012)

A parsec is 30.8 times ten to the power of twelve kilometers. When I first found this out I sat down and worked out various personal data, such as the circumfrence of my head and the distance I travelled to work, in parsecs, and decided I am very small.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 26, 2012)

If all living matter disapeared leaving behind only nematodes we would still be able to see the shapes of trees, humans, and plants.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 26, 2012)

When I was a baby, I did not know a thing in the world. When I die, I will know nothing, NOTHING! (Comfoting thought, isn't it?)


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 26, 2012)

dolphinlee said:


> If all living matter disapeared leaving behind only nematodes we would still be able to see the shapes of trees, humans, and plants.



?? nematodes, as in worms?


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## Terry D (Oct 26, 2012)

There is a large cloud of gas near the center of our galaxy which would taste like raspberries and smell like rum.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 26, 2012)

*If all living matter disapeared leaving behind only nematodes we would still be able to see the shapes of trees, humans, and plants. 

Olly, Not quite worms as in earthworms, nematodes are roundworms.

At college a professor told the class the above fact and then said, "So all you vegetarians do eat animals after all."

Darn I've just written a way to use this fact which means it isn't a useless fact anymore. 

Some references below, although I would not recommend reading them.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nematode

http://www.vaxa.com/roundworms.cfm


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 26, 2012)

I know what nematodes are, but I must be missing something. The whole statement seems wrong, if everything else died so would the nematodes, animals need plants, and most of them are parasitic aren't they? Strictly speaking we wouldn't be here to see anything if everything was dead, but that aside, where would we see all these other things? Did you mean the nematodes and what they live on? Or that the other things can be implied from the existence of the nematodes? Sorry, it's beyond me.


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## Terry D (Oct 26, 2012)

I think he means that there are so many roundworms infesting almost every living this that if the 'things' themselves disappeared the worms would act as a shadow of that shape.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 26, 2012)

Olly, 

Terry has got it right. I actually said disappeared not dead.


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## Morkonan (Oct 27, 2012)

Ants have the largest biomass of any land animal. Among relatively medium sized land animals, humans have the second-largest biomass, preceded only by a certain species of Arctic seal.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 27, 2012)

Stewardesses is the longest word that can be typed with the left hand (assuming that you are using the keyboard as a trained typist would.)


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 27, 2012)

Too literal in some ways, not enough in others, thank you, Terry, now I see, interesting idea. I wonder what the world wouid look like if one only saw fungi, or clusters of bacteria.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 27, 2012)

Olly Buckle said:


> Too literal in some ways, not enough in others, thank you, Terry, now I see, interesting idea. I wonder what the world wouid look like if one only saw fungi, or clusters of bacteria.



Olly you would probably still see the shape of every living thing.
Typewriter is the longest word that can be made using the letters on the top row of the keyboard.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 27, 2012)

The original game of "Monopoly" was circular.

One-fourth of the world's population lives on less than $200 a year.

Did you know you share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 27, 2012)

A snail can sleep for three years.


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 27, 2012)

dolphinlee said:


> A snail can sleep for three years.


But what does it dream of?


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 27, 2012)

A snail dreams of a human sneezing its own brains out!


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## dolphinlee (Oct 27, 2012)

Olly Buckle said:


> But what does it dream of?



Olly - Do snails dream of slimy sheep?  Being able to afford a shoe? 



February 1865 is the only month in recorded history that not have a full moon.


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## Staff Deployment (Oct 27, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.



Well, bugger.

I take about an hour, every night.
I think something's wrong with me.

OH YEAH A USELESS FACT

Glass is not a slow-moving liquid. Glass is a solid.
The whole thing with historical church windows being thicker on the bottom than the top today, that's because of shoddy window-making skills.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 27, 2012)

The "pound" key on your keyboard (#) is called an octotroph.

Almonds are members of the peach family.

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 28, 2012)

Lollipop is the longest word typed with your right hand.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 28, 2012)

Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
Barbie's full first name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
The outdoor temperature can be estimated to within several degrees by timing the chirps of a cricket. It is done this way: count the number of chirps in a 15-second period, and add 37 to the total. The result will be very close to the actual Fahrenheit temperature. This formula, however, only works in warm weather. (Try it!)
Bees have 5 eyes. There are 3 small eyes on the top of a bee's head and 2 larger ones in front.


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## Bruno Spatola (Oct 28, 2012)

Halitosis is kind of a fictional disease. Listerine blew it out of all proportion with talk of "chronic halitosis", popularized it and suggested their own products be used to combat it. They made bad breath sound like a genuine ailment one should be concerned about.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 28, 2012)

Go and sneeze your brains out!


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## Olly Buckle (Oct 29, 2012)

Bruno Spatola said:


> Halitosis is kind of a fictional disease. Listerine blew it out of all proportion with talk of "chronic halitosis", popularized it and suggested their own products be used to combat it. They made bad breath sound like a genuine ailment one should be concerned about.


Not a new sales technique, before 'Lifebuoy' soap did something similar to BO (Your best friends won't tell you) most people smelt and didn't notice. When I was a little boy we all bathed once a week and washed our hands and face weekdays, just before that Elizabeth the first was criticised for he excessive cleanliness, she bathed 'once a month, whether she need it or not'!


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## Dave Watson (Oct 29, 2012)

On the day that JFK was assassinated, CS Lewis and Aldous Huxley also died.


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## dolphinlee (Oct 29, 2012)

Olly Buckle said:


> Not a new sales technique, before 'Lifebuoy' soap did something similar to BO (Your best friends won't tell you) most people smelt and didn't notice. When I was a little boy we all bathed once a week and washed our hands and face weekdays, just before that Elizabeth the first was criticised for he excessive cleanliness, she bathed 'once a month, whether she need it or not'!



Lucky Strike cigarettes did the same with "pick up a Lucky Strike not a sweet."  This lead to the idea that smoking keeps you away from sweets and then smoking helps you to lose weight.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 29, 2012)

[video=youtube;Ts2H5zg2mrk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts2H5zg2mrk[/video]​


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## IanMGSmith (Oct 30, 2012)

Believe it or not, Shakin' Stevens was not born anywhere near the San Andreas fault.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 30, 2012)

City with the most Rolls Royce's per capita: Hong Kong

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Coca-Cola was originally green.


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## Staff Deployment (Oct 31, 2012)

Ol' Fartsy said:


> Coca-Cola was originally green.



Coca-Cola was originally cocaine.
...or had cocaine in it.

Cocaine's structural formula is C[SUB]6[/SUB]H[SUB]6[/SUB]COOCHCHCH[SUB]2[/SUB]CHCHCH[SUB]2[/SUB]CH[SUB]2[/SUB]COCH[SUB]3[/SUB]NCH[SUB]3[/SUB]. Or at least that's the best I can determine from this diagram I'm looking at. It's really complicated. I probably got the order wrong.

Aspirin is C[SUB]6[/SUB]H[SUB]6[/SUB]COOHOCOCH[SUB]3[/SUB].


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## Ol' Fartsy (Oct 31, 2012)

Staff Deployment said:


> Coca-Cola was originally cocaine.
> ...or had cocaine in it.
> 
> Cocaine's structural formula is C[SUB]6[/SUB]H[SUB]6[/SUB]COOCHCHCH[SUB]2[/SUB]CHCHCH[SUB]2[/SUB]CH[SUB]2[/SUB]COCH[SUB]3[/SUB]NCH[SUB]3[/SUB]. Or at least that's the best I can determine from this diagram I'm looking at. It's really complicated. I probably got the order wrong.
> ...



Here's your answer:

When launched, Coca-Cola's two key ingredients were cocaine and caffeine. The cocaine was derived from the coca leaf and the caffeine from kola nut, leading to the name Coca-Cola (the "K" in Kola was replaced with a "C" for marketing purposes).


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## dolphinlee (Nov 1, 2012)

Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt”


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## Ol' Fartsy (Nov 1, 2012)

At Disneyland they have hundreds of wild domesticated cats running around the park. They never come out during the day because there's too many people, but the reason they're there is to catch the mice.


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## dolphinlee (Nov 5, 2012)

Staff Deployment said:


> Cocaine's structural formula is C[SUB]6[/SUB]H[SUB]6[/SUB]COOCHCHCH[SUB]2[/SUB]CHCHCH[SUB]2[/SUB]CH[SUB]2[/SUB]COCH[SUB]3[/SUB]NCH[SUB]3[/SUB].
> Aspirin is C[SUB]6[/SUB]H[SUB]6[/SUB]COOHOCOCH[SUB]3[/SUB].



Structural formulae are used to show the spacial relationship of the atoms. Chemists are lazy so they use chemical formulae.

Cocaine  = C[SUB]17[/SUB]H[SUB]21[/SUB]NO[SUB]4[/SUB][SUB][/SUB]
[SUB] [/SUB][SUB][/SUB]
Aspirin   =  C[SUB]9[/SUB]H[SUB]8[/SUB]O[SUB]4   

[/SUB][SUB][/SUB][SUB]That's a lot easier.

[/SUB][SUB][/SUB]


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## Staff Deployment (Nov 6, 2012)

dolphinlee said:


> That's a lot easier.



Indeed it is. It also avoids inadvertently pronouncing things like "Cooch Cotch" and then getting beaten up for talking stupid.


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## dolphinlee (Nov 6, 2012)

Staff Deployment said:


> Indeed it is. It also avoids inadvertently pronouncing things like "Cooch Cotch" and then getting beaten up for talking stupid.



It is so easy when you know about it. But until someone explains it properly then how are you supposed to understand.
Robert the Bruce died of leprosy.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Nov 9, 2012)

William Wallace was not a common Scottish man. He was a lord like Robert the Bruce!


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## dolphinlee (Nov 9, 2012)

There is an old saying that the winners write the history books.

This is now out of date - film makers now rewrite the history books.


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## Gamer_2k4 (Nov 9, 2012)

dolphinlee said:


> Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters “mt”



What about our esteemed moderator, alanmt?


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## dolphinlee (Nov 9, 2012)

Nice one Gamer_2k4.

However, I believe alanmt lives in Montana. So I am going to assume that he is an American therefore it doesn't count.

I did say English word not American English.


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 10, 2012)

dolphinlee said:


> Nice one Gamer_2k4.
> 
> However, I believe alanmt lives in Montana. So I am going to assume that he is an American therefore it doesn't count.
> 
> I did say English word not American English.



Ah yes, it depends who is spelling it. There are some words that are often spelled that way, perhaps you should say 'correctly spelled' to exemt a few examples I can promtly think of


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## Staff Deployment (Nov 10, 2012)

Add an "s" to Prince and it becomes plural.

Add another "s" and it becomes _feminine_.

It is the only English word that does this.


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## dolphinlee (Nov 10, 2012)

Olly Buckle said:


> Ah yes, it depends who is spelling it. There are some words that are often spelled that way, perhaps you should say 'correctly spelled' to exemt a few examples I can promtly think of



Thank you for pointing that out, Olly. Oh dear, I have no defence. Oh, maybe I do - this is a useless fact thread. 

Can I claim that my fact was useless because it wasn't actually true?  

I look forward to your reply


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## Olly Buckle (Nov 10, 2012)

Don't worry Dolphinlee, it may be a fact that some people can't spell, but it is a pretty useless one


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## dolphinlee (Nov 10, 2012)

Olly, ewe got me gud!
Ham radio operators got the term "ham" coined from the expression "ham fisted operators," a term used to describe early radio users who sent Morse code (i.e., pounded their fist).


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## Bruno Spatola (Nov 15, 2012)

Chlorine is odourless.


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## Ol' Fartsy (Nov 16, 2012)

23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts.


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## dolphinlee (Nov 16, 2012)

I have just spent two hours on the phone trying to cancel my cell phone (mobile) subscription to get my money back. The first hour and a half was spent going through all the options in the telephone system to try to get to a live person. The last half an hour was spent going from live person to live person only to find out that I cannot have my money back because there is no money there are only minutes. I can see a lot of money in my account but I cannot have it back or have vouchers to pass onto another person. Right now I am not a happy bunny. The cheapest option was pay as you go. However, to keep the money that was unused I had to put in more money every year - even when I had not used up the money I put in at the start. Having lived in different countries this is the strangest system and the most excessively expensive I have every come accross. 

This company wouldn't be allowed to get away with this theft in Europe.

I feel better now.


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## Bruno Spatola (Feb 24, 2013)

Only frogs from California make the "ribbet" noise; nowhere else.

Only honeybees die after stinging. No other breed does. Multiple varieties of wasp die after stinging, though.


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## Ditch (Feb 24, 2013)

Butterflies taste with their feet.


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## edinfresno (Feb 24, 2013)

It is illegal to graze livestock on the Boston Common (Boston's largest public park) on Sunday.

It's also illegal to fly kites in Philadelphia on Sunday.

It's been mathematically _proven_ that bumblebees cannot fly.

The average person has no idea what their coccyx is or where it's located.


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## Bruno Spatola (Feb 24, 2013)

Dragonflies cannot move their legs properly, so don't bother using them most of the time. They're quite pointless.


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## Hunter (Apr 5, 2013)

The electric chair was invented by a dentist.


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