Useless facts

[Joz]

I was doing the Heinz maneuver..... I was waiting for you to ketchup!

Oh, brother.

On a dewy morning, if you look at your shadow in the grass, the dewdrops shine back into your eyes creating a halo called a heilgenoschein.

Sunbeams that shine down through the clouds are called crespucular rays.

 

[KarlMarx]

Party Pooper.
According to the American Numismatic Association, the 1943 copper-alloy cent is one of the most idealized and potentially one of the most sought-after items in American numismatics. Nearly all circulating pennies at that time were struck in zinc-coated steel because copper and nickel were needed for the Allied war effort.

A 1943 copper cent was first offered for sale in 1958, bringing more than $40,000. A subsequent piece sold for $10,000 at an ANA convention in 1981. The highest amount paid for a 1943 copper cent was $82,500 in 1996.

Pennies were also once made of bronze, an alloy of tin and copper.

 

[KarlMarx]

Oh, brother.

On a dewy morning, if you look at your shadow in the grass, the dewdrops shine back into your eyes creating a halo called a heilgenoschein.

Sunbeams that shine down through the clouds are called crespucular rays.

The circular, spectral patterns that you sometimes see on glass, films and what not, are known as "Newtonian Rings"

 

[CSM]

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

 

[KarlMarx]

The actual smallest sovereign entity in the world is the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M.). It is located in the city of Rome, Italy, has an area of two tennis courts, and as of 2001 has a population of 80, 20 less people than the Vatican. It is a sovereign entity under international law, just as the Vatican is.

BTW... the Vatican has a post office, I know this because I once mailed a letter from St. Peter's Bascillica and it arrived at my home in the US with a Vatican City postmark.

 

[Joz]

The little lump of flesh near the ear canal is called a tragus.
Hyroid, a bone in the throat, is the only bone not connected to another bone.
One-third of the people can wiggle their ears one at a time.
A person blinks 6,205,000 times a year. (since women blink almost 2 times that of a man, I wonder which this is referring to)
A person produces a quart of saliva each day; 10,000 gallons in a lifetime.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

For humans the normal pulse is 70 heartbeats per minute. Elephants have a slower pulse of 27 and for a canary it is 1000.

 

[KarlMarx]

The ancient name for Turkey was "Anatolia"

The word "lesbian" comes from an island in the Aegean named "Lesbos". The inhabitants of the island were known as "Lesbians" (both male and females).

Cleopatra, the last pharaoh of Egypt, was not an Egyptian, but a Macedonian. She was of the house of Ptolemy, one of Alexander the Great's generals.

The first known monotheist (outside of the Bible) was the pharaoh Amenhotep IV aka "Ankhenaton". He tried to establish a monotheistic religion based on the worship of the solar disk, known as the "Aten". He was also the husband of Queen Nefertiti and the (possible) father of King Tutankhamen.

King Tutankhamen's original name was "Tutankhaton". He changed his name after he became pharaoh (at the age of 9). The reason was that the worship of the Aten had become considered heretical and the worship of the old Egyptian gods, e.g. Amun, was restored.

probably more Egyptian history that you wanted to know.....

 

[Joz]

.....probably more Egyptian history that you wanted to know.....

Nah, I thought it was pretty cool.

The inventor of Vaseline ate a spoonful everyday.
Craven Walker invented the Lava lamp; made with wax & water.
Games Slater, a Purdue Grad, invented fiberglass.
Einstein never wore socks.

 

[KarlMarx]

Nah, I thought it was pretty cool.

The inventor of Vaseline ate a spoonful everyday.
Craven Walker invented the Lava lamp; made with wax & water.
Games Slater, a Purdue Grad, invented fiberglass.
Einstein never wore socks.

Cinnamon comes from the bark of the cinnamon tree

Cashews do not have shells, each grows out of the end of an "apple" instead

Art Clokey is the creator of Gumby and Pokey

The first modern comic strip was Katzenjammer Kids in 1897. Familiar comic-strip iconography such as stars for pain, speech and thought balloons, and sawing logs for snoring originated in this strip.

 

[Jimmyeatworld]

A dog was the first animal in space, and a sheep, a duck and a rooster the first to fly in a hot air balloon.

 

[Joz]

Six percent of men propose over the telephone.
(I'm really curious what percent is accepted & what kind of woman would do so)

The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672

 

[KarlMarx]

A dog was the first animal in space...

and its name was "Laika"

speaking of dogs.... the "dog days of summer" get their name from the fact that the sun is in the same position in the sky as the Dog Star, Sirius (which happens to be the BRIGHTEST star in the sky, too)

The character, "Gromit", who is the dog in the series "Wallace and Gromit" celebrates his birthday on February 12th

 

[Joz]

7.5 tons of gold are used annually to make class rings.
In one week, 800 people will be injured by their jewelry.

 

[Adam's Apple]

The brightest star in the sky is Sirius in the constellation of Canis Major

The nearest star to our sun is Proxima Centauri at 4.2 light years (a light year is the distance light travels in a year, approximately 6 trillion miles)

Only 5 planets were known up until the 1700s, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The planet Pluto was not discovered until the 1930s

Mercury and Venus are the only two planets that do not have a moon

The largest planet is Jupiter. If hollowed out, it could contain 1,000 planets the size of Earth.

The only moon in the Solar System with an atmosphere is Titan, which orbits the planet Saturn

The four largest moons of Jupiter are known as "The Gallilean Moons" because Galileo Gallelei was the first to see them.

The planet planet with the most moons, 21, is Uranus.

The largest star in our galaxy that is known to us is the star Betelgeuse with an estimated radius of 650 Solar Radii (about 270 million miles).

While we're on the subject of planets, if you want to remember the order of the planets in our solar systems rotating out from the sun, memorize the following sentence:

My very earnest mother just served us nine pickles. (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) Personally, I can never remember what planet comes after Mars.

Apologies to anyone who may have already posted this. I haven't made my way entirely through this post yet.

 

[no1tovote4]

While we're on the subject of planets, if you want to remember the order of the planets in our solar systems rotating out from the sun, memorize the following sentence:

My very earnest mother just served us nine pickles. (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) Personally, I can never remember what planet comes after Mars.

Apologies to anyone who may have already posted this. I haven't made my way entirely through this post yet.

The last two planets, Neptune and Pluto and particularly Pluto, have such a wide variety in their orbits that they actually change places in the orbit order... Occassionally your Earnest Mother would need to serve Pickles Nine....

 

[Joz]

17% of Americans think Joan of Ark was Mrs. Noah.
40% of women have hurled footwear at men.
7% of Ireland's entire barley crop goes for Guinness beer.

 

[Adam's Apple]

The last two planets, Neptune and Pluto and particularly Pluto, have such a wide variety in their orbits that they actually change places in the orbit order... Occassionally your Earnest Mother would need to serve Pickles Nine....

That's an interesting fact, even if it might be useless to most of us.

 

[Adam's Apple]

HOMES is an acronym for the names of the five Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior)

(Probably everyone living in the Great Lakes states already knows that. We learned it in school.)

 

[fuzzykitten99]

Garrison Keillor wrote a short story using as a basis, an event that actually took place at my home when I was about 8 or 9, and read it on his radio show. My aunt is good friends with him, and I have met him on several occasions---he's an arrogant prick.