Some interesting facts...

Tigeree · 2008-12-30 14:32:14

Awww me? careless started it. Wot did I do ...... except all these .....
Woooo! on our way 2 the next hundred!

Kidz rock!
111. (<kool) Babies have taste buds all ova the inside of their mouths, not just on their tongues.

112. Up until the age of 6 or 7 months children can breathe and swallow simultaneously.

Eat your leafy greens!
113. 1 of the best ways 2 clean pewter is 2 rub with cabbage leaves.

114. Iceberg lettuce, up until 1920's was called "crisphead".

And other food.

115. The main purpose of growing rice in flooded paddocks is 2 drown the weeds surrounding the seedlings.

116. Sugar was added 2 chewing gum in 1869 by a dentist, William Semple.

A little bit of History!
117. The Hollywood sign was erected in 1923.

118. (shockingly, and i wonder if u have eva noticed this before) The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows!

119. During the 6teenth and 7teenth centuries in England, () egg whites were a popular form of laundry detergent.

120. In Elizabethan times, carnations were used 2 spice wine & ale.

121. When the Eiffel Tower was built in 1884, Parisians referred 2 it as "the tragic lamppost".

Drink your milk!
122. About 10kg (352 ounces, 22 pounds) of milk is needed 2 make 1 kilogram (35 ounces, 2.2 pounds) of natural cheese.

123. (< also kool) It takes on average 90 squirts from a cow's udder to make 1 litre of milk.

And finally ... The Animals
124. Horseracing regulations require no racehorse's name 2 contain no more than 18 letters.

125. Sheep will not drink from running water.

126. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

127. Mosquitoes have teeth! kool.

128. Fish have been known 2 kiss up 2 25 minutes. ???

129. Lizards communicate by doing pushups! LOL!!!

130. (< yay! jackpot!) A skunk can be detected by a human 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) away.

131. Due 2 it's eye placement a donkey all of it's hoofs at the same time.

What d'ya know I have an extra!

132. (< kool lol) If 80% of ur liver were 2 be removed, the remaining part would continue 2 function.

Jai Ganesh · 2008-12-30 16:57:17

133. The word "listen" and the word "silent" are anagrams.

134. 'Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia' is the fear of long words.

135. The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start!

136. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

137. Did you know pearls are found in oysters? The largest pearl ever found was 620 carats.

138. Your heart beats about 70 times a minute, and each time it beats, it pumps about about a cupful of blood?

139. About 70 percent of your body weight is water?

140. The rhinoceros's horn is made of the same stuff found in our hair and fingernails which is called keratin. It also contains something called gelatin.

careless25 · 2008-12-31 05:33:55

ganesh wrote:

135. The names of the continents all end with the same letter with which they start!

North America/South America are 2 exceptions.

Jai Ganesh · 2008-12-31 16:42:50

Good point, careless25!
I guess that was said because they are referred to as America, in general.

141. Smearing a small amount of dog feces on an insect bite will relieve the itching and swelling.

142. A normal human being has about 80,000 strands of hair on his head!

143. Human saliva has a boiling point three times that of regular water.

144. When immersed in liquid, a dead sparrow will make a sound like a crying baby.

145. Coca-Cola was the favored drink of Pharaoh Ramses. An inscription found in his tomb, when translated, was found to be almost identical to the recipe used today.

Tigeree · 2009-01-06 15:36:55

Go Ramses!
Polar bears don't eat penguins the 2 species live at opposite ends of the Earth.
How can a sparrow make a sound when it's dead?

146. ...... oh i forgot I'll tell u when i remember.

Jai Ganesh · 2009-01-06 20:46:31

147. Most common name in the world is Mohammed.

148. It takes 1.3 seconds for light to travel from the Moon.

149. City with the most Rolls Royces per capita: Hong Kong

150. Youngest American President. Theodore Roosevelt was 42 (Kennedy was 43).

151. Pencils are hexagonal because theyre cheaper. You can make 9 hexagon pencils with the same wood it takes to make 8 round.

152. An infant has 300 bones. An adult 206.

153. The Pacific Ocean is larger than all the land mass of the Earth.

154. Every diamond, no matter how big, is only one molecule.

155. Damascus, Syria, is the oldest continuously occupied city in the world.

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-06 22:55:49

156. The city of Ulm in southern Germany boasts the tallest cathedral in the world (over 160 metres). The city is also the birthplace of Albert Einstein.

Jai Ganesh · 2009-01-15 02:17:18

157. "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.

158. The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump!

159. Earth is the only planet not named after a God.

160. More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.

161. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

162. The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times!

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-15 02:29:23

ganesh wrote:

157. "Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.

No. Its actually rhythms.

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-15 02:35:30

ganesh wrote:

142. Polar bears can eat as many as 86 penguins in a single sitting.

Not again!

Look. Polar bears live in the North Pole while penguins live in the South Pole. They do not ever meet! How many times must I say that!

Last edited by JaneFairfax (2009-01-16 08:13:49)

mathsyperson · 2009-01-15 03:56:29

The fact that polar bears wouldn't eat penguins in their natural habitat doesn't make the fact wrong, but the number makes it very dubious.

I'm pretty sure all the statements in that post are jokes though.

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-15 05:48:06

Then it should be in a jokes thread, not a facts thread!

I did wonder if, though polar bears dont eat penguins in the wild, they might do so in a zoo, say. In that case, #142 should be in a trivia thread.

I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HATE PEOPLE WHO COPY STATEMENTS RANDOMLY FROM THE WEB WITHOUT TAKING THE TROUBLE TO VERIFY AT LEAST SOME OF WHAT THEY BLINDLY COPY!!

Last edited by JaneFairfax (2009-01-16 14:00:43)

careless25 · 2009-01-16 13:31:04

JFF when i started this thread the facts were meant as a joke in the first few posts but then as more ppl added random facts(non humorous[i think thats a word and thats how it should be speled]), i followed.
I agree this should be in the facts section but now there is no use as many of them might be untrue.:(

But after ganesh mentioned his source i didnt just post from a random website. I used "100 Weird Facts About The Human Body' by Christina Laun as my source.

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-16 14:02:00

What source did Ganesh use for his ridiculous statement about polar bears and penguins??? Thats what Id like to know!!!

Jai Ganesh · 2009-01-18 02:45:27

I forgot!
I use the Google search engine, and first have a look at the facts on a page. If I am certain that more than half of them are correct, I assume the others ought to be correct too!
I tend to make mistakes when I am fast,
and that has led to many mistakes in the past!
But none of them costly ones!
Anyways, if JaneFairfax is unhappy about the errors in the posts, I'd never think twice before typing
S o r r y!.
However, I found that topfive.com says
"Polar bears can eat as many as 86 penguins in a single sitting."

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-18 04:52:37

Thanks, Ganesh.

Sorry for being bad-tempered, but, you see, on the Internet, anybody can put anything they like on it. Just because you can find something on the Internet doesnt mean its right. For example, if someone was trying to convince you that the moon was made of cookies, and you asked for a link, they could simply put up that info on their homepage and link you to their homepage. Just because they can provide a link does not mean they are right, does it?

Always check the trustworthiness of a site you quote your information from. Wikipedia is probably good enough. Mind you, since anybody can edit Wikipedia articles, there will always be the possibility of someone editing them to add spurious information. Nevertheless, since Wikipedia articles are carefully monitored, any information deemed dubious will most likely be marked with a cautionary tag (like reference necessary or something) so you should take that into account as well.

Now could you please remove Fact #142 and replace it with something else from a more creditable site? PLEASE??

Last edited by JaneFairfax (2009-01-18 09:17:33)

mathsyperson · 2009-01-18 05:48:48

Yes, Wikipedia's moderation is pretty good.
There was an experiment where people added blatantly false statements to some random articles, and about 80% of them (if I remember) were removed within an hour.
I don't have citation for that though.

careless25 · 2009-01-18 18:06:09

163. There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that were made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us its not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.

164. Blondes have more hair. Theyre said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a persons lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.
^Yes i know its been posted before.

165. Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails. If you notice that youre trimming your fingernails much more frequently than your toenails youre not just imagining it. The nails that get the most exposure and are used most frequently grow the fastest. On average, nails on both the toes and fingers grow about one-tenth of an inch each month.

166. The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they arent subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.

167. You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but youll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.

168. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from its flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If youve ever wondered how your how clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-18 23:06:26

#169. In the United Kingdom, the telephone area dialling code for Bedford is 01234.

#170. 1234 is the product of two prime numbers, 2 and 617.

#171. The French for the number 1234 (one thousand two hundred and thirty-four) is mille deux cent trente-quatre.

#172. If the digits 1234 appear at the beginning of a French telephone number,* however, they would be written 12-34 and pronounced douze, trente-quatre (twelve, thirty-four). French telephone numbers generally consist of ten digits and are read in pairs.

*There may not be any real French telephone numbers beginning with 12-34. This is just a (hypothetical) example.

Last edited by JaneFairfax (2009-01-19 02:42:58)

Jai Ganesh · 2009-01-19 02:22:36

#173. The ISD code for India is 91, the product of a number believed to be lucky (7) and another unlucky (13)!

PS: Did as you said, JaneFairfax! I know what's complied from the pages on the different websites need not necessarily be true! But as mathsy pointed out, I always visit a few sites which can be relied upon! Like www.answers.com

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-19 02:45:02

Thank you very, Ganesh!

Once again, sorry for being bad-tempered.

careless25 · 2009-01-19 14:48:29

Yes, Wikipedia's moderation is pretty good.
There was an experiment where people added blatantly false statements to some random articles, and about 80% of them (if I remember) were removed within an hour.
I don't have citation for that though. tongue

But not good enough... i came upon this researching on dred scott.
In this article it says he dies on September 1858.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott
^under Life, the 6th line from the last
and in this it says he dies on November 7, 1858.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford
^under Scotts Fate

so yes wiki is sometimes(very rarely) unreliable. But i will still keep using it.:lol:

MathsIsFun · 2009-01-19 17:17:59

Good find!

I have seen people edit the times table on Wikipedia. So 6x6=38 or something. But it gets corrected in a short while.

Identity · 2009-01-20 01:09:42

My school got banned from editing wikipedia because too many people were fooling around

Now we're trying to get our own wikipedia up and running

JaneFairfax · 2009-01-20 08:31:57

#174. The Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen (18731950) and his son Eero Saarinen (191061), also an architect, shared the same birthday (August 20).

Math Is Fun Forum

#26 2008-12-30 14:32:14

Re: Some interesting facts...

#27 2008-12-30 16:57:17

Re: Some interesting facts...

#28 2008-12-31 05:33:55

Re: Some interesting facts...

#29 2008-12-31 16:42:50

Re: Some interesting facts...

#30 2009-01-06 15:36:55

Re: Some interesting facts...

#31 2009-01-06 20:46:31

Re: Some interesting facts...

#32 2009-01-06 22:55:49

Re: Some interesting facts...

#33 2009-01-15 02:17:18

Re: Some interesting facts...

#34 2009-01-15 02:29:23

Re: Some interesting facts...

#35 2009-01-15 02:35:30

Re: Some interesting facts...

#36 2009-01-15 03:56:29

Re: Some interesting facts...

#37 2009-01-15 05:48:06

Re: Some interesting facts...

#38 2009-01-16 13:31:04

Re: Some interesting facts...

#39 2009-01-16 14:02:00

Re: Some interesting facts...

#40 2009-01-18 02:45:27

Re: Some interesting facts...

#41 2009-01-18 04:52:37

Re: Some interesting facts...

#42 2009-01-18 05:48:48

Re: Some interesting facts...

#43 2009-01-18 18:06:09

Re: Some interesting facts...

#44 2009-01-18 23:06:26

Re: Some interesting facts...

#45 2009-01-19 02:22:36

Re: Some interesting facts...

#46 2009-01-19 02:45:02

Re: Some interesting facts...

#47 2009-01-19 14:48:29

Re: Some interesting facts...

#48 2009-01-19 17:17:59

Re: Some interesting facts...

#49 2009-01-20 01:09:42

Re: Some interesting facts...

#50 2009-01-20 08:31:57

Re: Some interesting facts...

Board footer