Strange Facts

Snippy · **Posts:** 385 **Joined:** Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:58 pm

Apparently people don't have knee caps until the age of 2-6. Who knew?!

Here are some other things I found out and thought were really strange:

Everytime Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his head.

Chinese Crested dogs can get acne.

Slugs do not have lungs, rather a hole in the side of thier body that directly absorbs oxygen. They also have four noses.

Peter the Great executed his wife's lover and forced her to keep her lover's head in a jar of alcohol in her bedroom.

That thing between your mouth and nose is called a philtrum.

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 was to poke someone's eye out.

The average person speaks about 31,500 words per day.

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

The slow loris is the only primate that has a venomous bite.

13% of all countries do not have a word for "love."

The largest living creature on earth is a fungus in Montana that lives on and within the soil that covers an area of approxamately 40 sq. acres.

A cockroach can live for over a month without it's head, then it only dies of dehydration.

A theory state that humans were better designed for life in the water.

Rachel · **Posted:** Sat Apr 08, 2006 8:28 am

Snippy wrote:

A theory state that humans were better designed for life in the water.

thats quite interesting actually (oh the things i'll do to avoid starting work...!)

Paul · **Posted:** Sat Apr 08, 2006 9:52 am

16. Aeronomy is the study of the Earth's upper atmosphere.
17. The grizzly bear is capable of running as fast as the average horse.
18. More types of fish swim in Brazil's Amazon River than in the entire Atlantic Ocean.
19. The Earth is not round. It is an oblate spheroid, which means that it is a bit squashed on one plane.
20. Over 900 million people speak Mandarin Chinese.
21. Adults lose nearly one percent of their natural ability to mend genetic damage with each year that passes.
22. In the 6th century B.C. philosopher Pythagoras condemned the fava bean and would not let his followers eat it.
23. Llamas communicate by humming.
24. In ancient Rome it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose.
25. Buffalo are a red color when they are born. The color changes to brown about two months after they are born.
26. Cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.
27. A newborn Chinese water deer is so small that it can almost be held in the palm of the hand.
28. In 1740 a cow was found guilty of sorcery in France and publicly hanged.
29. Up to the age of six or seven months a child can breathe and swallow at the same time.
30. Taxi is spelled the same way in thirteen languages.
31. Men have more blood in their circulatory system than women and more red blood cells.
32. The month of May was once known to Anglo-Saxons as Thrimilce, because during this month cows could be milked 3 times a day.
33. The fluid that bathes the whole outer surface of the brain and spinal cord is known as cerebrospinal fluid.
34. The oldest known animal fossils on Earth are called "Ediacara" after a locality in Australia where they were first discovered.
35. Death occurs if the body cools down to about 24 celsius (or 76 fahrenheit)
36. More Monopoly money is printed yearly than real money throughout the world.
37. James Wright, a GE engineer, created playdough by mixing silicone oil with boric acid.
38. A Boeing 707 plane uses 4,000 gallons of fuel during take-off.
39. The bottom layers of the ice in the Greenland Ice Cap Inlandis could be up to two million years old.
40. Pangrams are sentences containing all the letters of the alphabet: e.g., The quick wise fox jumped over the lazy dog.
41. There is enough energy in one bolt of lightning to power a home for two weeks.
42. A queen termite can lay thirty thousand eggs a day.
43. In 1795 Napoleon offered a 12,000 Franc prize (approximately $2,212 US Dollars) to anyone who could devise a method of finding a way to preserve food.
44. Meerkats are immune to most venoms, including that of cobras.
45. The herb Fenugreek causes your urine to smell like maple syrup.
46. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, consisting of 260 words, took only 2 minutes to deliver.
47. In 1386, a pig in France was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child.
48. A modern rocket engine can produce 3,000 times more power than a car engine of the same size.
49. The American opossum, a marsupial, bears its young just 12 to 13 days after conception.
50. The game of chess dates back 4000 years, to an ancient Indian board game called Chaturanga.

Wee, facts

Snippy · **Posts:** 385 **Joined:** Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:58 pm

I wonder if the french hung any inanimate objects. How could they tell when it was dead?

I also thought these were really shocking:

Boanthropy is a disease in which a man thinks he is an ox.
BothHitler and Napoleon were missing one testicle.
Every hampster in the US is the result of a single litter from an imported pair.
There are more people alive today, than have EVER died!
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (wow my dad must have made 6 cups by now then.)
One legend claims stealing someone's shadow (by measuring it against a wall and driving a nail through its head) can turn the victim into a vampire.
Alexander the Great was a homosexual.
The average woman eats 6 lbs of lip stick in her life time.
Stalin's left foot had webbed toes.
The most common name in the United States is 'Sue Smith'
Atila the Hun was a dwarf.
Rice paper does not contain any rice.
Most giraffes are bisexual.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
Each year, Americans spend more on cat food than on baby food.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the longest name of any place on Earth.

Christopher · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 9:01 am

Alexander the Great was quite thoroughly bi-sexual, however he had little time for sex at all as behind conquering, religion, and drinking, it was hardly relevant.

I've been to Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

zorg · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:39 am

Snippy wrote:

Every hampster in the US is the result of a single litter from an imported pair.

No possible way that that is true.

Others, very interesting.

Amethyst · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 5:01 pm

zorg wrote:

Snippy wrote:

Every hampster in the US is the result of a single litter from an imported pair.

No possible way that that is true.

Others, very interesting.

I think it means that every hamster in the U.S. is descended from a single litter of hamsters from an imported pair.

Paul · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 5:42 pm

Ice will usually be considered safe for skating when it’s 5 to 6 inches thick.
Lead poisoning is known as plumbism.
A cow's only sweat glands are in its nose.
More than 50 percent of the people in the world have never made or received a phone call.
The heaviest metal is osmium, which is twice as dense as lead.
An earthquake in China's Shanshi province killed an estimated 800,000 people in 1556.
The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.
Cheetahs can go from a standing position to 45mph in two seconds.
A honey bee tracheal mite, at 100 microns, is tiny enough to live in a bee's windpipe.
The world record for sitting in a cage filled with scorpions is 21 days.
The Volkswagon Beetle was introduced into the United States in 1949. In that first year a grand total of 3 were sold.
Sea sponges are used in drugs for treating asthma and cancer.
There are about one-hundred lightning strikes worldwide every second.
Stegosaurus had a very small head compared to the rest of its body. Its brain was about the size of a walnut.
The palms and the soles of your feet have more sweat glands than anywhere else on your body.
Elephants drink about 18 gallons of water each day.
The Statue of Liberty has size 879 sandals that are each 25 feet long.
The longest ruling Pharoah in Ancient Egypt was Pepi II who ascended the throne in 2278 BC at the age of six and ruled for 94 years.
You are more likely to lose your hearing than any of your other senses if you are hit by lightning.
It takes a sloth two weeks to digest the food it eats.
During your lifetime, your heart will beat over three billion times.
"Soldier's disease" is a term for morphine addiction. The Civil War produced over 400,000 morphine addicts.
The material to build the Taj Mahal was brought in from various parts of India by a fleet of 1,000 elephants.
The highest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole was minus 13C.
A grown pigeon has nearly 10,000 feathers.
The first country to give women the vote was New Zealand – in 1893.
About ten million bacteria live in one gram of soil.
Walruses have sacs under their throats that they fill with air to bob vertically in the water while they sleep.

alien · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 6:42 pm

Snippy wrote:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the longest name of any place on Earth.

imagine putting that on a postcard...

shapu · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:27 pm

Quote:

A honey bee tracheal mite, at 100 microns, is tiny enough to live in a bee's windpipe.

All the more impressive given that bees don't breathe through their mouths, but instead through little holes in the side of their bodies called "Spiracles."

Bee stings are rubbish to you, but suicide for the bee - they leave their stinger and part of their exoskeleton with you as a parting gift, then go off to die.

Many of our english element names have their roots in other languages, though mostly Latin:
Tin (Sn) was once Stannum (Latin)
Tungsten (W) was Wolfram (German)
Gold (Au) was "Aurum" (Latin)
Silver (Ag) was "Argentum" (Latin)
Potassium (K) was "kalium" (Latin)
Sodium (Na) was "natron" (Latin)
Iron (Fe) was "ferrum" (Latin)
Antimony (Sb) was "stibium" (Latin)
Mercury (Hg) was "hydrargyrum" (Latin for "liquid silver")
Lead (Pb) was "plumbum" (Latin), which gives rise to the phrase "Sitting plumb" or "hang a plumb" - an architect or builder would hang a lead weight on a string to see if something was on a straight vertical line.

Uranium (Element number 92) is the highest-atomic-number element that is naturally occuring. Everything after that is our own darned fault.

The lowest atomic-number element that is manmade is Technetium, number 43.

Troggy7 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 8:03 pm

alien wrote:

Snippy wrote:

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the longest name of any place on Earth.

imagine putting that on a postcard...

Imagine SAYING that...

-Ducky- · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 10:11 pm

Donald Duck comics were banned in Sweden (I think.) because he doesn't wear pants

Inexistence · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 10:35 pm

Actually it was supposedly Finland and it wasn't real, just a rumour.

On that subject, Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.

theonlysaneone · **Posted:** Sun Apr 09, 2006 11:45 pm

-Ducky- wrote:

Donald Duck comics were banned in Sweden (I think.) because he doesn't wear pants

IIRC, many people on the street in Sweden don't wear pants.

TDG · **Posted:** Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:54 am

Christopher wrote:

I've been to Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

I haven't, but I want to. That sign at the edge of the town is awesome...

And to elaborate the woman voting thing, Kate Sheppard was one of the forerunners for giving women the vote. She is now featured on the $10 note

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