interesting fact
- Thread starter key00west
- Start date
windmill
Member
I'm a sucker for useless, but interesting facts. I don't know why, but I love 'em. Now I'll have to find a few.
The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
Most tropical marine fish could survive in a tank filled with human blood.
Most varieties of snake can go an entire year without eating a single morsel of food.
Each year, Americans spend more on cat food than on baby food.
The digestive juices of crocodiles contain so much hydrochloric acid that they have dissolved iron spearheads and six-inch steel hooks that the crocodiles have swallowed.
See if you can find any more useless than that.
The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.
Most tropical marine fish could survive in a tank filled with human blood.
Most varieties of snake can go an entire year without eating a single morsel of food.
Each year, Americans spend more on cat food than on baby food.
The digestive juices of crocodiles contain so much hydrochloric acid that they have dissolved iron spearheads and six-inch steel hooks that the crocodiles have swallowed.
See if you can find any more useless than that.
reefreak29
Active Member
Abraham Lincoln's mother died when the family dairy cow ate white snakeroot and Ms. Lincoln drank the milk.
The city of St. Petersburg, Russia, was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, hence the name, St. Petersburg. But it wasn't always that simple. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Russian leaders felt that Petersburg was too German-sounding. So they changed the name of the city to Petrograd -- to make it more Russian-sounding. Then, in 1924, the country's Soviet Communist leaders wanted to honor the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir I. Lenin. The city of Petrograd became Leningrad and was known as Leningrad until 1991 when the new Russian legislators -- no longer Soviet Communists -- wanted the city to reflect their change of government, so they changed the name back to St. Petersburg.
While she never lived further west than Ohio, Annie Oakley enjoyed much earned fame as an expert shotgun and rifle marksman in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
In times before the use of indoor plumbing, large segments of the population were illiterate, so the words "Men" or "Women" on an outhouse door to differentiate between the two was pointless. Therefore, simple commonly recognized symbols, the half-moon and the star, came to represent male and female outhouses, respectively. For some reason, the half or crescent moon remains the traditional decorative symbol of outhouse doors.
The Ancient Egyptians regarded the dung beetle as sacred, and many would wear figures of these insects as charms
April Fools Day started in France after the adoption of a reformed calender by Charles IX in 1564. Up till that time, New Year celebration began March 21 and ended April 1. When New Year's was changed, some people still celebrated on April 1. These people became known as "April Fools."
John Dillinger once broke out of a federal prison by making a fake gun out of soap. He carved the gun with a plastic spoon he stole from the cafeteria and used shoe polish to paint it black. The guard, thinking that the soap gun was real, gave Dillinger his own gun which he knew was loaded. Dillinger was then escorted by this guard out of the prison.
The army's jeep was not always called that. Instead it was called a general purpose vehicle. It was then shortened to GP (jeep), and the car company just started to manufacture the general purposes vehicles under the name "Jeep."
The city of St. Petersburg, Russia, was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, hence the name, St. Petersburg. But it wasn't always that simple. In 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Russian leaders felt that Petersburg was too German-sounding. So they changed the name of the city to Petrograd -- to make it more Russian-sounding. Then, in 1924, the country's Soviet Communist leaders wanted to honor the founder of the Soviet Union, Vladimir I. Lenin. The city of Petrograd became Leningrad and was known as Leningrad until 1991 when the new Russian legislators -- no longer Soviet Communists -- wanted the city to reflect their change of government, so they changed the name back to St. Petersburg.
While she never lived further west than Ohio, Annie Oakley enjoyed much earned fame as an expert shotgun and rifle marksman in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
In times before the use of indoor plumbing, large segments of the population were illiterate, so the words "Men" or "Women" on an outhouse door to differentiate between the two was pointless. Therefore, simple commonly recognized symbols, the half-moon and the star, came to represent male and female outhouses, respectively. For some reason, the half or crescent moon remains the traditional decorative symbol of outhouse doors.
The Ancient Egyptians regarded the dung beetle as sacred, and many would wear figures of these insects as charms
April Fools Day started in France after the adoption of a reformed calender by Charles IX in 1564. Up till that time, New Year celebration began March 21 and ended April 1. When New Year's was changed, some people still celebrated on April 1. These people became known as "April Fools."
John Dillinger once broke out of a federal prison by making a fake gun out of soap. He carved the gun with a plastic spoon he stole from the cafeteria and used shoe polish to paint it black. The guard, thinking that the soap gun was real, gave Dillinger his own gun which he knew was loaded. Dillinger was then escorted by this guard out of the prison.
The army's jeep was not always called that. Instead it was called a general purpose vehicle. It was then shortened to GP (jeep), and the car company just started to manufacture the general purposes vehicles under the name "Jeep."
reefreak29
Active Member
The custom of offering up a salutation before drinking came from the ancient Roman practice of dropping a small square of toast into an alcoholic beverage to soak up any remaining sediments before drinking. The salutation was given while the bread did its work.
Rene Descartes came up with the theory of coordinate geometry by looking at a fly walk across a tiled ceiling.
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg 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 natural causes.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England used the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y".
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots
Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of fur. The story was changed in the 1600s by a translator. It was the left shoe that Aschenputtel (Cinderella) lost at the stairway, when the prince tried to follow her.
Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize *this* was the day of the changeover.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam." Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty," but he did say, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott".
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life"
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
The "huddle" in football was formed due a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him.
Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.
The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified is to poke someone's eye out.
The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.
The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).
The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".
Beelzebub, another name for the devil, is Hebrew for Lord of the Flies, and this is where the book's title comes from.
Rene Descartes came up with the theory of coordinate geometry by looking at a fly walk across a tiled ceiling.
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg 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 natural causes.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England used the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y".
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots
Cinderella's slippers were originally made out of fur. The story was changed in the 1600s by a translator. It was the left shoe that Aschenputtel (Cinderella) lost at the stairway, when the prince tried to follow her.
Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm. All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning and been too sleepy to realize *this* was the day of the changeover.
The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam." Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty," but he did say, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott".
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life"
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
The "huddle" in football was formed due a deaf football player who used sign language to communicate and his team didn't want the opposition to see the signals he used and in turn huddled around him.
Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.
The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye" is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be disqualified is to poke someone's eye out.
The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.
The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation. Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).
The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".
Beelzebub, another name for the devil, is Hebrew for Lord of the Flies, and this is where the book's title comes from.
reefreak29
Active Member
The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
Oliver Cromwell was hanged and decapitated two years after he had died.
Sheriff came from Shire Reeve.
During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortened to Sheriff.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
Charles Lindbergh took only four sandwiches with him on his famous transatlantic flight.
"Testify" comes from the the Roman practice of affirming the truth of a statement made in court by swearing on one's testicles.
Coca-Cola was once packaged in green bottles, but was never actually tinted green.
Oliver Cromwell was hanged and decapitated two years after he had died.
Sheriff came from Shire Reeve.
During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortened to Sheriff.
The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
Charles Lindbergh took only four sandwiches with him on his famous transatlantic flight.
"Testify" comes from the the Roman practice of affirming the truth of a statement made in court by swearing on one's testicles.
Coca-Cola was once packaged in green bottles, but was never actually tinted green.
jennythebugg
Active Member
Originally Posted by Key00west
Heres an thought to ponder next time your thinking about upgrading your aquarium, if there was a way to to divide up all the oceans in the world so that we would each get equal shares...... we would each get 50,000,000,000 gallons of water each! imagine that??
hmmmm... can we call cbui2 to build a tank for all that h20?
Heres an thought to ponder next time your thinking about upgrading your aquarium, if there was a way to to divide up all the oceans in the world so that we would each get equal shares...... we would each get 50,000,000,000 gallons of water each! imagine that??
hmmmm... can we call cbui2 to build a tank for all that h20?
seasalt101
Active Member
did you know that abraham lincolns brother once saved john wilkes booth's life...tobin
aw2x3
Active Member
When Albert Einstein died, his final words died with him. The nurse at his side didn't understand German.
Albert Einstein was once offered the Presidency of Israel. He declined saying he had no head for problems.
China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.
Before it was stopped by the British, it was the not uncommon for women in some areas of India to choose to be burnt alive on their husband's funeral pyre.
The Anglo-Saxons believed Friday to be such an unlucky day that they ritually slaughtered any child unfortunate enough to be born on that day.
Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.
John D. Rockefeller gave away over US$ 500,000,000 during his lifetime.
Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never phoned his wife or his mother, they were both deaf.
Albert Einstein was once offered the Presidency of Israel. He declined saying he had no head for problems.
China banned the pigtail in 1911 as it was seen as a symbol of feudalism.
Before it was stopped by the British, it was the not uncommon for women in some areas of India to choose to be burnt alive on their husband's funeral pyre.
The Anglo-Saxons believed Friday to be such an unlucky day that they ritually slaughtered any child unfortunate enough to be born on that day.
Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.
John D. Rockefeller gave away over US$ 500,000,000 during his lifetime.
Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never phoned his wife or his mother, they were both deaf.
reefkprz
Active Member
if you get an ant drunk on alcohol it will ALWAYS fall over on its right side never the left.
When Coca-Cola began to be sold in China, they used characters that would sound like "Coca-Cola" when spoken. Unfortunately, what they turned out to mean was "Bite the wax tadpole".
Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery.
A teenager in Belmont, New Hampshire robbed the local convenience store. Getting away with a pocket full of change, the boy walked home. He did not realize, however, that he had holes in both of his pockets. A trail of quarters and dimes led police directly to his house.
Bill Haley and the Comets, one of rock and roll's pioneer groups actually began their career's as Bill Haley's Saddle Pals - a country music act.
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.
When Coca-Cola began to be sold in China, they used characters that would sound like "Coca-Cola" when spoken. Unfortunately, what they turned out to mean was "Bite the wax tadpole".
Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery.
A teenager in Belmont, New Hampshire robbed the local convenience store. Getting away with a pocket full of change, the boy walked home. He did not realize, however, that he had holes in both of his pockets. A trail of quarters and dimes led police directly to his house.
Bill Haley and the Comets, one of rock and roll's pioneer groups actually began their career's as Bill Haley's Saddle Pals - a country music act.
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.
reefreak29
Active Member
LazyPinoy said: