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50 Totally and Random and Useless Facts

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millbank

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50 Totally Random and Useless Facts

 

 

1. The US interstate highway system requires that one mile in every five be straight. These straight sections function as airstrips in times of war and other emergencies.

 

2. The Boston University Bridge is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.

 

3. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs have only about ten.

 

4. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

 

5. In every episode of Seinfeld, there is a superman somewhere.

 

6. February 1965 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

 

7. The cruise liner, Queen Elisabeth II, moves only six inches for every gallon of diesel fuel that it burns.

 

8. Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book published in every major Dewey Decimal category.

 

9. Columbia University is the second largest land owner in New York City, after the Catholic Church.

 

10. Cat urine glows under a black light.

 

11. Back in the mid-80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator.

 

12. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

 

13. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

 

14. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child is 2-6 years of age.

 

15. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

 

16. If you have three quarters, four dimes and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

 

17. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

 

18. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually that all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

 

19. No NFL team which plays its home games in a dome has ever won a Superbowl.

 

20. The first toilet ever seen on TV was on "Leave it to Beaver".

 

21. In the Great Fire of London in 1666, half of the city was burned down but only 6 people were injured.

 

22. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers - they saw them as competitors.

 

23. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 years old.

 

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

 

25. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life".

 

26. It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of its mouth. The frog then uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.

 

27. Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

 

28. Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar, in "Midnight Cowboy". Her entire role lasted only 6 minutes.

 

29. Charles Lindburgh took only four sandwiches with him on his famous transatlantic flight.

 

30. 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.

 

31. Stewardesses is the longest word that is formally typed with only the left hand.

 

32. Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always the same sex.

 

33. To escape the jaws of a crocodile, push your thumbs into its eyes - it will release you instantly.

 

34. If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will come up heads approximately 4950 times because the heads picture weighs more than the tails side, so it ends up on the bottom more often.

 

35. Hydroxydeoxycorticosterones is the longest anagram in the English language.

 

36. Los Angeles' full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Pornciuncula.

 

37. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

 

38. Al Capone's business card said he was a furniture dealer.

 

39. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.

 

40. Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubbles' maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.

 

41. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

 

42. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

 

43. The Ramses brand condom is named after the great Pharoh Ramses II, who fathered over 160 children.

 

44. If NASA send birds into space, they would soon die because birds need gravity to swallow.

 

45. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

 

46. The computer term "byte" is a contraction of "by eight".

 

47. The average ear of corn has eight hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows.

 

48. The famous split-fingered Vulcan salute is actually intended to represent the first letter ("shin", pronounced "sheen") of the word "shalom". As a boy, Leonard Nimoy observed his rabbi using it in a benediction and never forgot it; he was eventually able to add it to Star Trek lore.

 

49. The idea that "the Boogey Man will get you" comes from the Boogey people, who still inhabit an area of Indonesia. These people still act as pirates today, and attack passing ships.

 

50. Underground is the only word in the English language that begins and ends with the letters "und"

 

 

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plenzmd1 Hall of Famer

plenzmd1

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2. The Boston University Bridge is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.

 

 

Uhm, this is not correct either. I have done the same thing on the canal in Richmond. Train tressel above, 95 above that, in the flight path to the airport. As a matter of fact, the guy who guides the tour boat on the canal will tell you THAT is the only place where that can be done.

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Ramius All Pro

Ramius

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50 Totally Random and Useless Facts

 

      6. February 1965 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

 

Facts

510901[/snapback]

 

Hmmm...

Full Moon on tuesday February 16, 1965...so much for these being truthful facts...

 

Now, there was no Full Moon in Feb 1961, Feb 1999, and there will be no full moon in Feb 2018, or Feb 2037

 

The pattern is that theres a chance for no full moon in february every 19 years. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. But take a look, and starting with 1904, there is either no full moon in feb, or a full moon on feb 1. And so on for every 19 years.

 

http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/fullmoon.htm#03

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ch19079 Veteran

ch19079

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1) Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.

 

2) From Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me -- In the U.S., "shag" is far less offensive than in other English-speaking countries. Singapore briefly forced a title change to "The Spy Who Shioked Me." ("Shioked" means "treated nicely.")

 

3) Trivia is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and the crossroads.

 

4) In Dante's "Inferno" the Ninth Circle of Hell is reserved for those who betray family or country. The denizens of this deepest circle, who are frozen in ice, include Judas (betrayer of Christ) and Cassius and Brutus (betrayers of Julius Caesar).

 

5) The only nation whose name begins with an "A", but doesn't end in an "A" is Afghanistan.

 

6) According to NASA, the U.S. has the world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S. can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes.

 

7) Bore-hole seismometry indicates that the land in Oklahoma moves up and down 25cm throughout the day, corresponding with the tides. Earth tides are generally about one-third the size of ocean tides. (WTF??) :lol:

 

8) The original fifty cent piece in Australian decimal currency had around $2.00 worth of silver in it before it was replaced with a less expensive twelve sided coin.

 

9) it is illegal to plow a cotton field with an elephant in North Carolina.

 

10) Under the law of Mississippi, there’s no such thing as a female Peeping Tom.

 

11) Anti-modem laws restrict Internet access in the country of Burma. Illegal possession of a modem can lead to a prison term.

 

12) Lawn darts are illegal in Canada.

 

13) Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.

 

12) It is against the law to whale hunt in Oklahoma. (Think about it...)

 

13) A Venetian law decrees that all gondolas must be painted black. The only exceptions are gondolas belonging to high public officials.

 

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

 

15) Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment: Prohibition. :D

 

16) In most American states, a wedding ring is exempt by law from inclusion among the assets in a bankruptcy estate. This means that a wedding ring cannot be seized by creditors, no matter how much the bankrupt person owes.

 

17) Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine are the four states in the U.S. that do not allow billboards. (god i wish NC had this law)

 

18) In San Salvador, drunk drivers can be punished by death before a firing squad.

 

19) In South America, it would be rude not to ask a man about his wife and children. In most Arab countries, it would be rude to do so.

 

20) In 1845 Boston had an ordinance banning bathing unless you had a doctor's prescription.

 

21) No building in DC may be taller than 13 floors. This is so that no matter where in the city you are, you can see the monument to our first president, Washington.

 

22) In Michigan it's illegal to place a skunk inside your bosses desk.

 

23) In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket.

 

24) During the time that the atomic bomb was being hatched by the United States at Alamogordo, New Mexico, applicants for routine jobs like janitors, were disqualified if they could read. Illiteracy was a job requirement. The reason: the authorities did not want their trash or other papers read.

 

25) "To prevent violence," it was at one time customary at certain phases of the moon to chain and flog inmates of England's notorious Bedlam Hospital.

 

26) In Hartford Connecticut, it is illegal for a husband to kiss his wife on Sundays.

 

27) In December 1997, the state of Nevada (USA) became the first state to pass legislation categorizing Y2K data disasters as "acts of God"— protecting the state from lawsuits that may potentially be brought against it by residents in the year 2000.

 

28) During World War II, bakers in the United States were ordered to stop selling sliced bread for the duration of the war on January 18, 1943. Only whole loaves were made available to the public. It was never explained how this action helped the war effort.

 

29) At the first professional baseball game, the umpire was fined 6 cents for swearing.

 

30) To pass U.S. Army basic training young female recruits must do 17 pushups in two minutes. Males must do 40 pushups in two minutes.

 

31) It is legal in North Dakota to shoot an Indian on horseback, provided you are in a covered wagon.

 

32) The Spanish Inquisition once condemned the entire Netherlands to death for heresy.

 

33) Talking on a cellular phone while driving is against the law in Israel.

 

34) Impotence is grounds for divorce in 24 U.S. states.

 

35) During the California Gold Rush of 1849 miners sent their laundry to Honolulu for washing and pressing. Due to the extremely high costs in California during these boom years it was deemed more feasible to send the shirts to Hawaii for servicing.

 

36) Salim (1569-1627, heir to the throne of India, had 4 wives when he was only 8 years of age.

 

37) Spiral staircases in medieval castles are running clockwise. This is because all knights used to be right-handed. When the intruding army would climb the stairs they would not be able to use their right hand which was holding the sword because of the difficulties of climbing the stairs. Left-handed knights would have had no troubles, except left-handed people could never become knights because it was assumed that they were descendants of the devil.

 

38) Time magazine's "Man of the Year" for 1938 was Adolf Hitler

 

39) The Aztec Indians in Central America used animal blood mixed with cement as a mortar for their buildings, many of which still remain standing today.

 

40) In Northern parts of China it was once a common practice to shave pigs. When the evenings got cold the Chinese would take a pig to bed with them for warmth and found it more comfortable if the pig was clean-shaven.

 

http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/uselessfacts/

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Fezmid All Pro

Fezmid

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Hmmm...

Full Moon on tuesday February 16, 1965...so much for these being truthful facts...

 

Now, there was no Full Moon in Feb 1961, Feb 1999, and there will be no full moon in Feb 2018, or Feb 2037

 

The pattern is that theres a chance for no full moon in february every 19 years. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. But take a look, and starting with 1904, there is either no full moon in feb, or a full moon on feb 1. And so on for every 19 years.

 

http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/fullmoon.htm#03

510972[/snapback]

http://www.obliquity.com/astro/nofullmoon.html

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KD in CA Hall of Famer

KD in CA

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6)  According to NASA, the U.S. has the world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S. can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes.

But that would all go away if Bush signed the Kyoto Protocol. ;)

 

 

7) Bore-hole seismometry indicates that the land in Oklahoma moves up and down 25cm throughout the day, corresponding with the tides. Earth tides are generally about one-third the size of ocean tides. (WTF??)  :o

Damn, and all this time I just thought I was still drunk!!!

 

 

13) Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.

I've been there -- trust me when I say that not everyone is following the law.

 

 

15) Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment: Prohibition.  ;)

Yeah baby.....go CT!!

 

 

18) In San Salvador, drunk drivers can be punished by death before a firing squad.

Amazingly, drunk driving isn't a big problem in San Salvador. :lol:

 

 

30) To pass U.S. Army basic training young female recruits must do 17 pushups in two minutes. Males must do 40 pushups in two minutes.

Gee that makes a lot of sense. :lol:

 

 

33) Talking on a cellular phone while driving is against the law in Israel.

And in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey etc.

 

 

34) Impotence is grounds for divorce in 24 U.S. states.

And grounds for affairs in all 50 states. :D

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stuckincincy Hall of Famer

stuckincincy

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28) During World War II, bakers in the United States were ordered to stop selling sliced bread for the duration of the war on January 18, 1943. Only whole loaves were made available to the public. It was never explained how this action helped the war effort.

 

http://www.angelfire.com/ca6/uselessfacts/

510981[/snapback]

 

It's my understanding that the high-quality steel used in slicing blades was diverted to war production. How much it helped - beats me.

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