Self Explanatory...

1) Did you know Butterfly wings have scales?

1848)the area code for south dakota is 605 statewide.
not completely useless if you find yourself here. or trying to call here

1849) All clams start out as males; some decide to become females at some point in their lives.

1850) American car horns beep in the tone of F.

Well, now that ... is appropriate. :oP

only if half of them also beeped in the tone of U

1851) Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the mornings.

So, by deductive reasoning and logic ... adding an apple to your morning coffee ... or coffees, should prove to have some interesting results. I'll get back to you on this one.

Or, come find me ... should be easy ... use a seismometer.

I b buzzin' and vibin' fo' shizzle. :oD

isn't this thread called "useless facts"? 1851 is not only useful, but known to be true. try again, Slick :P

Ok, peanut brain. :oP

1852) Hair on the scalp typically grows at a rate of 1 mm (0.04 in) every three days.

PS- that's MR peanut brain simpson to you, pal :o)

1853) Porcupines float in water ... hmm ... maybe we could try fly fishing with them??

Actually ... nahhh :P

We'll use Rob, such an air-head :D

1854) Canada beat Denmark 47-0 at the 1949 world hockey championships.

1855) The 32 richest nations will spend over a trillion ($1,000,000,000,000.00 - 1000 billion) US dollars on "defense".

By comparison, less than $500 million is required to finish the job of eradicating Polio from the entire planet - but it can't be found for some strange reason ... just like the $10 billion (1% of military expenses) that would be required to protect about three quarters of the world's biological diversity.

1856) The above two facts are unrelated ... maybe. :oP

1857) The yo-yo was originally a weapon used in the Philippine jungles.

1858) Every 5 seconds a computer gets infected with a virus (lots of dumb people out there :P )

Here's one Les could try :D

1859) If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

OMG wow... haha, we used to have a joke whenever we went to a restaurant and the service was really slow... we said there was an old lady out back cooking our steak... with a candle.

I am ... uh ... busy at the moment. Heating up a cup of coffee, that is.

Shouldn't be too long ... *resumes his yelling*

1860) In Texas, it's against the law for anyone to have a pair of pliers in his or her possession.

1861) In Illinois, the law is that a car must be driven with the steering wheel.

O_0

1862) In West Virginia, only babies can ride in a baby carriage.

Ha! That's what they think. :oP

1863) In the next seven days, 800 Americans will be injured by their jewelery.

1864) Someone on Earth reports seeing a UFO every three minutes.

1865) There are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world.

1866) It's 4:15 PM and right now 6,000 tourists are sitting in a Labor Day traffic jam on Route 6... the only way off of Cape Cod.

I would like to make a slight correction as to the statement of facts as presented by Gemma's sister ... er, I mean brother ... brother's posting of #1865:

1865) There are more bacteria in YOUR mouth than there are people in the world.

Mine? Clean enough that I can eat out of it. :oP

1866) In Utah, birds have the right of way on any public highway.

1867) In Ohio, one must have a license to keep a bear.

Insert your own jokes ... *here*

When you say birds, you mean the flying things or us fabulous creatures?

Both. ;o)

Thank you for your kind correction Les. My mistake there :)

1868) There are more people in the world than cells in Les' brain :P

1869) Chris will lead a very, very short life. Happy and blissful though ... that is, until the piano falls on him.

Kidding ... kidding. :oP

However, continuing along these lines of ... ahem ... discussion ...

1870) Men have larger heads—about 2% bigger around—filled with more fat and fluid. The extra fluid apparently speeds brain communication. Men also average more massive brains (10%). However, the picture changes when we take body mass into account. Men have slightly heavier brains for their weight than women until age 15. The situation reverses for ages 15 and up: women’s brains are a little more massive with respect to their weight.

Women have about 11% more brain cells than men in the part of the brain (directly behind the forehead) that perceives language—in the cortical layers of the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex.

1871) I don't have a fact to post here.

1872) /\ That was useless. /\

:oP

1873) I STILL can't hear anything after last night.

Whaaa?? Whaaa??

Sorry, please ... SPEAK LOUDER ... I CAN.. ... oops, sorry. Had the vacuum cleaner on. :o\


Here's some 'art stuff':

1874) In 1983, a Japanese artist, Tadahiko Ogawa, made a copy of the Mona Lisa completely out of ordinary toast.

1875) An artist from Chicago named Dwight Kalb created a statue of Madonna made out of 180 pounds of ham.

1876) Bernd Eilts, a German artist, turns dried cow manure into wall clocks and small sculptures. He is now expanding his business to include cow dung wrist watches.

Person on the street: "What time is it?"

Reply: "Time to get a watch that doesn't smell like cow dung, methinks."

1877) The VGA in "VGA Monitor" stands for Video Graphics Array...

1878) The most popular shoplifted items in supermarkets, reside in the meat section...

1879) Structural arson fires...most frequently occur in abandoned buildings ...for no reason other than malicious vandalism...

1880) Contrary to the popular stereotype...The most haunted houses in the world are neither abandoned, nor in a state of disrepair...

In 1916, an elephant was tried and hung for murder in Erwin, Tennessee.

In September of 1916, Mary the Elephant made that claim to fame come true, at least once. She killed Red Eldridge, a drifter who had been taken on at Kingsport, Tennessee as an elephant handler, a job he knew nothing about. The next day, while taking her to a nearby pond, Mary killed Eldridge.

Eyewitness accounts were of little use, since they varied from the possible to the improbable, except that the end result was the same: Mary had struck or grabbed the man with her trunk and he had been thrown to the ground and stepped on.

A blacksmith immediately shot the elephant five times with a 32-20, to no effect. The local Sheriff then had a go at shooting her as well, with as little result. Sparks' was desperate. He knew his circus would never play the state again, if something wasn't done. So the elephant had to pay. In the end, they hung Mary from a railroad car derrick. There was no extra charge for admission.

Continuing with the pachyderm theme ...

1882) During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants.

Hmm, gives me an idea ... why not just eat 6 elephants as quick as you can ... and then for the rest of your life you will have allll that time required for feeding ... freed up to do as you please.

You know, pursue some hobbies or sports or whatever. Laze around. Your choice, you now control ... truly ... your own destiny. No more ... 'oh, what time is dinner' ... 'oh, when are we having lunch' ... 'oh, who forgot to replace the toilet paper' and so on.

Yep ... *taps the side of his own noggin with his finger* ... I thought of that one me own self. :oD

1883) In space, astronauts cannot cry properly, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow down their faces.

And here I thought it was because they were tough.

Sheesh ... bet they cry for their mommies out in the dark, deep recesses of space where it's all scary and stuff. 'Cept, no one can tell.

Wimps.

'The right stuff??' No ... don't think so ... gravity rules. Power to the g -stuff !!!

:oD

1884) 4000 people a year are injured by teapots
1885) more people a year die from donkeys than plane crashes
1886) chickens can't swallow upsidedown
1887) 2500 left handers die from using right handed objects a year
1888) the average life span of an umbrella is 2 years
1889)A donkey will sink in quick sand, while a mule will not.
1890)The McDonald’s™ at Toronto’s ‘SkyDome’ is the only McDonald’s™ locationthat sells hot dogs.
1891)One million $1 bills weighs 1 ton
1892)In an average day, a four year old child will ask 437 questions.
1893)The average speed of Heinz™ ketchup leaving the bottle is 25 miles per year.
1894)Little more than half of the people living in the U.S. would rather fold, than wad their toilet paper.
1895)The only words in the English language to contain two "U’s" back to back are: vacuum, residuum, and continuum
1896)998 million people play Volleyball
1897)You consume one tenth (.1) calories when you lick a stamp.
1898)60 % of statistics are made up...
1899)Dragon boat racing is the 8th most popular sport in the world!(What the funk is Dragon boat racing)
1890)The first non-human to win an Oscar was Mickey Mouse.
1891)Pi has been calculated to over 2,260,321,363 digits.
1892)An ostrich egg would take four hours to hard boil.
1893)The left leg of a chicken is more tender than the right one.
1894)There are more chickens in the world than people.
1895)A novel with 50,000 words, non of which contained the letter ‘E’ waswritten by Ernest Wright.
1896)There are only 18 countries richer than Bill Gates
1897)There have been fewer people below 2km in sea than have been on de moon
1898)The only word in the English language to contain three back to back double letter combinations is; Bookkeeper.
1899)The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia
1900)The smallest 'country' in the world to have its own top-level domain name is Norfolk Island, off the coast of Australia.
1901)The surface speed record on the moon is 10.56 miles per hour.It was set in a lunar rover.
1902)Gibraltar is the only place in Europe were you can find wild monkeys
1903)Every year, the moon moves 1/2 an inch further from the earth.
1904)In 1977, George Willig was fined $1.10 for climbing the World Trade Center building.


ive rambled on for two long some one else take over, and that was just the begining of a 50 page word document i wrote with these facts from various sites

and i keep going on and on (stop me if i killed the thread)

1905)If you yelled for 8 years ,7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough energy to heat a cup of coffee.
1906)Banging your head off a wall uses 150 calories an hour!(ouch)
1907)The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps blood out to the body it could squirt blood 30 feet!
1908)In downtown Lima, Peru, there is a large brass statue dedicated to Winnie-the-Pooh.
1909)In space you cannot cry because there is no gravity to make the tears flow
1910)In the Scottish Hebrides, an island is defined as being an islandonly if it is big enough to sustain 1 sheep
1911)There are more plastic lawn flamingos in the US than real ones.
1912)A typist fingers travel over 12 and a half miles in an average day.
1913)The Roman Catholic Church did not acknowledge that the earth revolves around the sun until the mid 1990’s.
1914)The world’s most common non-contagious disease is tooth-decay
1915)In 50 million years, it is likely that Mars will have a ring around it.
1916)The short phrases of organ music played at a baseball game is called a tucket.
1917)Dungarees is another word for Denim
1918)A deltiologist is someone who collects postcards
1919)People descended from the Scottish clan of Kerr are more likely to be left handed than any other ancestrial group.
1920)The sortest war ever recorded lasted only 38 minutes. (Britain vs. Zanzibar in 1896)
1921)Despite a population of over a billion, China has only about 200 family names
1922)If you told someone that they were one in a million, you'd be saying there were 1,800 of them in China
1923)In 1892, Italy raised the minimum age for marriage for girls to 12
1924)New York City has 570 miles of shoreline
1925)Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in our solar system
1926)A red-haired man is more likely to go bald than anyone else.
1927)"Q" is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States.
1928)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
1929)The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are useable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies
1930)Two objects have struck the earth with enough force to destroy a whole city. Each object, one in 1908 and again in 1947, struck regions of Siberia. Not one human being was hurt either time.
1931)We are in the middle of an ice age. Ice ages include both cold and warm periods; at the moment we are experiencing a relatively warm span of time known as an interglacial period. Geologists believe that the warmest part of this period occurred from 1890 through 1945 and that since 1945 things have slowly begun freezing up again
1932)A jogger's heel strikes the ground 1,500 times per mile.
1934)A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years.

and that is the end of the funny section, NOW to animals!!!, i should stop now shouldnt i

You fix your numbers, and I'll let you go on more.

wooops big mistakes

there we go tim i fixed it, but ill stop going now

1944) In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons.

And ... one set of very dull plastic cutlery for 'you know who'.

1945) A quarter of raw potato placed in each shoe at night will keep the leather soft and the shoes smelling fresh and clean.

o_0

Who's gonna try that one and get back to us?

I can vouch that this really works!...'Honest'!

hey your numbers need fixing
(denying it was my fault in the first place while slowly moving into the corner crying at his lack of literary and numerical skills) sorry my numbers threw us all off

1946) I like making up facts :D

In terms of measurements ...

1947) A "2 by 4" is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2.

1948) A "hairbreadth away" is 1/48 of an inch.

1949) A 10-gallon hat actually only holds about 3/4 gallon.

1950) A bee could travel 4 million miles (6.5 million km) at 7 mph (11 km/h) on the energy it would obtain from 1 gallon (3.785 liters) of nectar, or it could just sit down and enjoy that honey properly.

1951) Les has consumed more than 2x his height worth of brownies in his lifetime.

1952) Use'les's fact #1951 ... is a gross underestimate of the actual amount.

That is, unless ... you are talking about amount consumed at one sitting ... then ... the approximation ... is ... close. :oP

1942) <---The correct number!

/\ The correcting nerd! /\

Just kidding and playing, Tim.

How's work? You get that raise yet?

1953) In many skyscrapers, the frieght units are the only elevators that will service every floor in the structure...

1954) A 747 actually has 6 jet engines...The four main units under the wing that propel the aircraft, and two smaller units housed in the fuselage for generating electric power...

1955) In 1955, Disneyland first opened its gates, and Elvis Presley made his first TV appearence. Albert Einstein also died.

DONT SPEAK OF DISNEY LAND... ive known a friend whos so devoted to disney land and its history that just as i hear anyone utter those words, i yell.. SHUT UP JAKE

1956)the worlds biggest cloned animal is a bull cloned from skin cells from anoter bulls ear

1947) Again...the CORRECT number.

1948) underthehill363 needs to be banned!

try again Tim.. the facts have to be useless ;-)

Yeah !! What he sai... *peers above and looks at username of previous post* ...

o_0

Is there an impostor in the house??

*yanks chain ... real hard*

:oP

*rereads Tims' second to last post*

Oh, my mistake ... I meant to write previously ... the correcting and YELLING nerd. :oP

1959) /\ Not an entirely useless fact. /\

At least, you'll have the prior safety knowledge that hearing protection equipment is recommended around Tim.

You're welcome. :o)

Carrying on ...

1960) The average North American teenager drinks an average of 6+ glasses or cans of carbonated beverages ("soft drinks") each day, over half of them of the caffinated cola variety.

Ok, then.

"1985) Austrian rock singer Falco records Rock Me Amadeus!"

oh wait, those are lyrics....nevermind :P

Moving right along...

1961) The year of the CIA-backed (and botched) Bay of Pigs Invasion in Cuba...

1962) New York's famous coffee brand "Chock Full O' Nuts" actually started out as a nut retail establishment...hence the name...

1963) The famous catchy tune for the aformentioned product was sung by Page Morton Black, the wife of the company's founder...

1964) A bibliophile is a collector of rare books. A bibliopole is a seller of rare books.

1965) A cat uses it's whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through.

And if you want to fool them into thinking that they are putting on weight ... wait till they are asleep and trim back their whiskers. :oD

Just kidding ... don't do that. :o|

1966) A dentist invented the Electric Chair.

It's all coming together now where those guys are concerned.

*nods orthodontically*

1967) The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

1968) The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.

Hmm ... that doesn't seem quite right ... lemme check on that and get back to you ...

1969) The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."

1970) One of the most frequently misspelled words...IS "Misspelled"...

1971) Hawaiian Punch's cartoon mascot's name is "Punchy"

1972) To date, the longest running fully CG animated movie is still The Incredibles at just over two hours...

1973) Crushed cockroaches can be applied to a stinging wound to help relieve the pain.

o_0

Says ... who?!?

1974) The average human body contains enough iron to make a small nail.

Good to know ... if I ever need just one ... more ... nail ... to finish a job.

*looks appraisingly at his next 'nail' *

Here ... eat this ... it's good for you.

*pushes plate of raw meat over*

Lots of iron. :oD

1974) The year Richard M. Nixon, 37th President of the U.S.A. (a.k.a. "Tricky Dicky"), resigned as a result of the downturn of the Watergate Scandal

1975) The Six Flags chain of amusement parks, derives its name from the "Six Flags" the state of Texas (where the first Six Flags park initially opened - "Duh") has flown under (i.e. Spain, France, Mexico, Independant Republic of Texas, Confederacy, and the U.S.A.)

1976) It was calculated some time ago that If the Loch Ness monster truly exists, it could only be about as big as a 12 year old as there is only enough fish in the loch to feed a 31 kg. (about 67 lbs.) creature.

1977) Beer is made by the fermentation of bacteria feeding on yeast cells and then defecating.

o_0

Think I need a beer after reading tha.. uhm ... make it a scotch, straight up. :o|

I've never liked beer. Now I'm sort of glad.

And in an effort to quickly rid our collective minds of how beer is made ...

1978) The collecting of beer mats (coasters) is called tegestology.

1979) Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end.

/\ Oh, there's a joke in there somewheres ... but, I am not going to be the one to reach down there. /\ :oP

1980) The largest toy distributor in the world is McDonald’s.

1981) Because steel expands when it gets hot, the Eiffel Tower is six inches taller in the summer than in the winter.

1982) "Scientific America" carried the first magazine automobile ad in 1898. The Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH, invited readers to "dispense with a horse".

1983) People who laugh a lot are much healthier than those who don't. Dr. Lee Berk at the Loma Linda School of Public Health in California found that laughing lowers levels of stress hormones, and strengthens the immune system - not to mention a good belly-laugh is great exercise.

Six-year-olds have it best - they laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

I love being six. :oD

1984) Light can travel around the world 7 1/2 (seven and a half) times in a single second. Similarly, light can reach the moon and return, in about 3 seconds.

Particularly if light has to use the facilities.

*nods ... and crosses legs*

... ...

... ...

Sense? You want sense?

OOoohh ... come to the wrong place buddy ... what you need to do is go back a couple of threads, hang a left at URBAN LIFE CONTEST ... go straight for, hmm ... about two threads and you should just see To whom much is given...

... now now, no rubber necking ... nothing to see there ... keep going until you get ... here.

1975!

1985) In 1975 I reached my 7th birthday

Hi Tim ;-)

Huh ... thought the correction had been made ... oopsies.

1986) More than 100 pizza box-related patents have been issued since 1976.

'Cause pizza wasn't invented until Rob hit the age of 8. He told me so ... and I believe him.

1987) The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.

Honey, I'm home. What the??? ...

1988) You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.

Oh yeah? What about if I am sleeping and watching TV at the same tim.. ... heyyy ...

*lightbulb goes off ... flickers ... and goes out*

Where am I? :o|

1978) In 1985 Back to the Future debuted.

1990) our counting skills are appauling, wait... thats not useless... or a fact

201) Perhaps, but the spelling and grammatical errors are countless ;-)

One moment please ... ok, checked and grammatical errors indeed does include improper ... annnnnd ... missing punctuation.

:oD

1) Based on previous surveys, 17 percent of you will embarrass yourselves in some way at your office Christmas party.

*gets lampshade ready ... and prepares his 'speech' to the head guy*

2) Fifty-six percent of Americans sing holiday carols to their pets.

And I might add ... badly. :oP

3) There are 1.76 billion candy canes produced every year.

0_o

I counted 1,759,999,999.

4) A traditional Christmas dinner in early England was the head of a pig prepared with mustard.

And who says the English have no cuisine??

:oP

5) Saint Nicholas of Myra, the original Santa Claus, was the patron saint of children, thieves and pawnbrokers.

'Splains a lot, don't it Lucy?

1981) A Mongolian wild ass can run 8 mph faster than a reindeer.

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen! ... and ... uh ... what the?!?! ..."

1987) I have a collection of Marches on vinyl –

1988) Tim had ... had, a collection of Marches on vinyl ...

*sounds of more hammering are heard*

No worries though Tim, converted the analog music files for you and burned them to disc ... here ya go ... *hands Tim a floppy disk*

1989) Population of Christmas, Fla., an unincorporated town - 1,162.

1990) Boxing Day, December 26th, was traditionally known as St. Stephen's Day, but is more commonly known as Boxing Day. This expression came about because money was collected in alms-boxes placed in churches during the festive season. This money was then distributed to the poor and needy after Christmas.

1991) Holly; the sharply pointed leaves were to symbolize the thorns in Christ's crown and the red berries drops of his blood. Holly became a nativity tradition.

1992) According to tradition, giving a lump of coal in the stockings of naughty children comes from Italy.

1993) Poinsettias were attached to Christmas starting in 1828. Joel Roberts Poinsett, then the first Mexican ambassador from the United States, imported the plant from Mexico.

1994) White Christmas, which has been recorded by hundreds of artists, and as sung by Bing Cosby sold over 100 million records, making it the undisputed #1 holiday song of the modern era. Amazingly enough, Bing recorded it in only one take.

1995) The word 'honeymoon' comes from a Norse (Viking) tradition that after a marriage the new bride and groom would drink meade (a fermented honey beverage) for 30 days while they got to know each other better.

1996) I have an SLR made in the 1970's...

(*mutters under his breath*) ... so much for vain babblings ...

/\ JOKe. /\

1997) 1 in 3 men will wait until Christmas Eve to finish their shopping.

1998) 1 in 6 men would like to get rid of all the "gift-giving nonsense."

1999) Kris Kringel, a man in his 40s, lives in North Pole, Alaska, and delivers pizzas for a living. He drives a 1984 Ford Tempo.

2000) The practice of exchanging presents at Christmas originated with the Romans. Every December, the Romans celebrated a holiday called the Saturnalia. During this time the people gave each other good luck presents of fruit, sweets, pastry, or gold. When the Christians began to celebrate their own holiday at this time of year, they simply took over the tradition.

2001) Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday. Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

2002) According to psychologists, the average child outgrows the belief in Santa Claus, mostly as a result of peer pressure, at about the age of seven or eight...

2003) Debuting on television in 1965, the seasonal presentation of A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first of many Peanuts animated features, and originally aired only once every holiday season...

On a plane, if the passenger in your seat on the incoming flight had serious gas, then you are sitting on a cushion full of disease-causing microbes.

2005) In medieval times, 'Hot cockles' was a popular Christmas game until Victorian era. In this game, other players give a blow to the blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person who gave the blow.

Ya man (and woman) ... nothing spells out the spirit of the holidays better that punching out your best buds.

Who's next? >:oD

THERE IS ENOUGH BRICK IN THE GREAT PYRAMID OF GIZEH TO BUILD A WALL 10 FEET HIGH AND 1 FOOT THICK AROUND THE ENTIRE BORDER OF FRANCE.

and.. which bridge contains enough metal for the accompanying electrified barbed wire? :P

(kidding)

2007)When your hands are soaked,and the skin wrinkles, it's caused by the hands' nerves

I ... did not know that. :o|

Interesting.

2008) Based on a 1999 estimated population count of North America and Europe, on Christmas Eve of that year Santa Claus had to visit 42,466,666 homes in a 12-hour period -- that's 983 homes per second.

talk about the blessing of ADD, huh? ;-)

2009) <--- That's when all analog television broadcasting stops...because of those stupid media mongrels.

888,000 CREDIT CARDS IN CIRCULATION WILL TURN OUT TO HAVE INCORRECT CARDHOLDER INFORMATION ON THEIR MAGNETIC STRIPS.

2010) The dot over the letter “i” is called a tittle
2011) The “57″on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of pickle types the company once had.
2012) The Mayans predicted that the world will end on 12/21 of
^this year

2013) Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

Hmm ... wonder if that works as well with..

2014) The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

Me? My left hand? 56.6667%.

I'm special ... mom says so. :oD

2015) Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

0_o

Really? Neu Joisey?? That's just plain useless ... and a fact.

2016) 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."

And Kermit was named after Keith from "It's a Blissful Life." :oD

Timely (useless?) facts:

2017) January was established as the first the first month of the year by the Roman Calendar. It was named after the god Janus (Latin word for door). Janus has two faces which allowed him to look both backwards into the old year and forwards into the new one at the same time. He was the 'spirit of the opening'.

2018) In the old days, the New Year started with a custom called 'first footing', which was suppose to bring good luck to people for the coming year. As soon as midnight had passed and January 1st had started, people used to wait behind their doors for a dark haired person to arrive. The visitor carried a piece of coal, some bread, some money and some greenery. These were all for good luck - the coal to make sure that the house would always be warm, the bread to make sure everyone in the house would have enough food to eat, money so that they would have enough money, and the greenery to make sure that they had a long life.

Blonde joke moment interjection:

What did the blonde say when she found out she was pregnant?

"Are you sure it's mine?"


2019) The 1st of January was a highly significant day in medieval superstitions regarding prosperity, or lack of it, in the year ahead. A flat cake was put on one of the horns of a cow in every farmyard. The farmer and his workers would then sing a song and dance around the cow until the cake was thrown to the ground. If it fell in front of the cow that signified good luck; to fall behind indicated the opposite.

0_o

Wt? ... :oD

2021) Having your family life taped for a reality show is almost certain to break up your marriage/relationship. I present the following to you as evidence:

Newlyweds - Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. Kaput
Til Death Do us Part - Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro. Kaput
Meet The Barkers - Travis Barker and Shanna Moaklar. Kaput and back on again. Hmmm.
Breaking Bonaduce - Danny Bonaduce. KAPUT
Hogan Knows Best - Hulk Hogan. Kaput
Strange Love - Flava Flav and Brigitte Nielsen. Kaput
Being Bobby Brown - Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Kaput. (and the world breathed a huge sigh of relief)

Those that have survived the curse so far:
The Osbournes - Starring everyone's favorites
Run's House - Reverend Run of Run DMC
Bam's Unholy Reunion - Bam and Missy Margera

2022) Someone ... who shall remain nameless .. *points above him and **mars (<--- it's a 'snicker' without the nuts :oD)* ... watches way, way ... waaaayyyy too much TV and/or pays too much attention to the entertainment rags.

Just sayin'. :oP

2023) A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

2024) In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

Hmm ... perhaps an amendment of sorts is in order to extend that rule to include others in parliamentary proceedings?

'But ... but ... Les ... by doing so in your above suggestion ... that would cut down on the entertainment value, no?'

My point exactly.

2025) 14% of people do not belive in God

2026) Lights emit light

*is very proud of himself*

>:D

And well you should be?

:oP

2027) January 3rd, 2008 will be a day that shall go down in the annals of Caedesian history.

And yes ... that is a use'les's fact. Well, 'cept to my mom ... but then again, she is biased and I still owe her $20. She needs to stay on my good side till payback. :oD

2028) "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.

*tries to establish that fact in his own mind ... and loses a nail in the process*

2029) Toilet seats are usually one of the cleanest surfaces around the home or office, probably because they are frequently cleaned. Phones, computer keyboards, desktops, sink faucets and doorknobs are commonly inhabited by 10,000 to up to 100,000 bacteria per square inch.

2030) The average human body is composed of between 10 and 100 trillion cells - depending upon which expert you ask.

*turns around ... twice ... and asks himself, the 'expert' for his opinion ...*

'Hmmm ... I'd say more like and closer to 17. Maybe a bit higher ... but, not much.'

:oP

2031) The ocean quahog Arctica islandica L., can live to be 220 years old in sub-arctic waters. Animals in colder water live the longest, since their metabolism is slower.

*goes off to the drawing board to invent a portable cooled living environment of liquid nitrogen in which he will spend the rest of his days in from now on*

I have my goals set for reaching the age of 1,037.

Man, just think of what my birthday cake is going to look like when that one rolls around!!

*goes off to the drawing board to invent a device that will reclaim BTU's from burning candles, that can be sold off to competing energy companies for redistribution at the retail level*

:oD

2032) The average IQ in the United States is 98

2033) The average IQ in Canada is 90

feel free to draw whatever conclusions you wish :P

I wasn't in the sampling. :oD

And according one source (look for the summary chart), your numbers be off a tad. 98 and 97.

Which sounds soooo much better than ... 98 and 90.

That's ok ... I forgive you ... yourself being located two standard deviations away from the median of your population, one ... one has to make allowances. :oD

2032) There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo.

I know ... I counted.

2033) If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will not be heads 5,000 times, but more like 4,950. The heads picture weighs more, so it winds up on the bottom.

2034) 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Ya baby !! A mathematical palindrome ... of ... of ... of sorts !!

2035) You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime.

Again ... I was not ... not in the sampling.

:oD

2036) Hoser is a Canadian word

2036) Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

Got my fingers crossed on that one ... as I have my eyes on a PS20017 ... the consoles at that time will play the games for you. :oD

2037) Ben and Jerry's send the waste from making ice cream to local pig farmers to use as feed. Pigs love the stuff, except for one flavor: Mint Oreo.

0_o

Really? Pigs have no discerning tastes ... obviously.

2038) The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

Me? 14 seconds. :oD

But, it was more of a fall really, as opposed to 'true' flight. :o|

Zeuxis, a Greek painter in the 5th Century BC laughed hismself to death while looking at one of his paintings.

The average IQ of members on this site has been brought down considerably by a member with an 8 and face in their name .

Basset Hounds cannot swim

Elizabeth I of England suffered from anthophobia, a fear of roses.

2042) Wilma Flinstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.

2043) A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

Hmm ... *thinks better of it ... and carries on ...*

2044) A group of unicorns is called a blessing. Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink." A group of frogs is called an army. A group of rhinos is called a crash. A group of kangaroos is called a mob. A group of whales is called a pod. A group of geese is called a gaggle. A group of ravens is called a murder. A group of officers is called a mess. A group of larks is called an exaltation. A group of owls is called a parliament.

Annnnnd ... a group of Caedesians are called ... artists. :oD

Walt Disney had wooden teeth

The oldest exposed surface on earth is New Zealand's south island.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

Emus cannot walk backwards.

2049) Lyn can't count above the number 2000, apparently. :oP

2050) To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into it's eyeballs...it will let you go instantly.

Welllll, now you tell me. :o\

2051) The phrase "sleep tight" derives from the fact that early mattresses were filled with straw and held up with rope stretched across the bed frame. A tight sleep was a comfortable sleep.

2052) Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands while typing.

There's a joke in there somewheres. :oD