 | ||||||
| ||||||
Useless Facts 8
After eating too much food, your hearing becomes less sharp.
In 1996, toy company Mattel released a "Harley Davidson" Barbie. This dolls distinctive feature is a birth mark on her face that changes position with every new release of the doll.
There are fifteen nations that gave women the right to vote before the United States did in 1920. The earliest were New Zealand, in 1893, Australia, in 1902, and Finland, in 1906.
Britain developed the first Tanks for use during World War I. The word "Tank" was used because it didn't mean anything, and didn't give the Germans a clue as to its possible use.
What is black light? A black light trap? Black light is invisible ultraviolet light. A black light trap is a trap for insects that uses a form of black light which attracts particular bugs.
The first coin-operated machine ever designed was a holy-water dispenser that required a five-drachma piece to operate. It was the brainchild of the Greek scientist Hero in the first century A.D.
Despite the strong presence of Latino baseball players since the 1940s, Armando Rodriguez in 1974 and Rich Garcia in 1975, both in the American League, were the first Hispanic umpires in the majors.
What made the Viking expansion possible? Sails. With sails, the Viking longships could sail at more than ten knots and appear suddenly on a foreign coast. The sails the Vikings used were made out of wool.
The film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me had to
be renamed in Singapore as censors didn't like the title -- it was briefly forced to change it to 'The Spy Who Shioked Me.' (Shioked means 'treated nicely.')
During the making of the movie "Fight Club," actor Brad Pitt chipped his tooth. However, he did not get his tooth capped until after the movie was done filming as he thought it would look better chipped for his character.
In 1986, a drunk fan got into a pace car at Talladega Superspeedway, and started joyriding on the track in front of a nationwide audience. The police cruisers who had to chase him around the track were not amused when they caught and arrested him.
Britain built a fleet of steam submarines in 1915, dubbed the K-Boat, it proved to be a disaster and never went into action. It took 5 minutes at best to perform a crash dive, and once underwater it was unstable resulting in a a number of accidents.
The most destructive tornado on record occurred in Annapolis. In 3 hours, it tore through the town on March 18, 1925 leaving a 980-foot wide trail of demolished buildings, uprooted trees, and overturned cars. It left 823 people dead and almost 3,000 injured.
What is black ice? Have you ever been driving along on a bitterly cold night and suddenly, without any warning, found your car sliding all over the road? That could beblack ice, a thin film of ice on paved surfaces (such as roads) that is difficult to see.
Barbie® and Ken® Dolls are named after Mattel founders Ruth and Elliot Handler's son and daughter, Barbara and Ken. Barbie's® full name is Barbie Millicent Roberts, and she is from Willows, Wisconsin. First sold in 1959, Barbie® wasn't given bendable legs until 1965.
In one scene from this movie 'Three Men and a Baby' a young boy who has nothing to do with the film is seen moving across the set. Actually standing in the window. Later, when this was discovered, no-one knew who he was and rumours started to spread about a possible haunting.
Foam rubber is a flexible, porous substance made from a
natural or synthetic latex, which is compounded with assorted ingredients and whipped into a froth. The finished product contains about 85 percent air and 15 percent rubber. It is also called sponge rubber or latex foam.
Where did the term "Gypsy" come from? The English, who did not know where the Gypsies originated, called them "Gypsies" as a shortened form of "Egyptians. " The Spanish referred to the same group as "Flemish," the Swedes as "Tatars," and the French as "Bohemians."
What is the meaning of firing shots at a military funeral? Firing three shots at a military funeral is a very old custom that was once used during battle. The purpose was to let both sides know that the dead had been cleared off the battlefield so the fighting and maiming and killing could begin anew.
Where did Gypsies originate? Most likely the Gypsies originated in Northern India, as the Gypsy language (Romany) is Indic. However, no one knows why or when the Gypsies left India. We do know they were in Persia by 1000 A.D. and had reached northwest Europe by the 1400s and North America by the 1800s
European papermakers were the first to use watermarks.
A watermark identified the manufacturer of the paper with the members of the trade organization. Just as trademarks were stamped into silver and fine firearms, a watermark quietly revealed that the paper was the creation of a skilled artisan.
For a short time in 1967, the American Typers Association invented a new punctuation mark that was a combination of the question mark and an exclamation point called an “interrobang.” It was intended to be used to express incredulity or disbelief. It never caught on with the general public, and it faded away.
What does "Viking" mean? "Viking" is Norse for "piracy." Recent scholarship, however, suggests that the Vikings were much more than barbaric raiders, taking advantage of avulnerable Europe. The Norsemen were also skilled craftsmen, shipbuilders,and poets who actually enriched the European civilizations they invaded.
Is Mount Vesuvius still active? The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, is perhaps the most famous volcanic eruption on record and one of the first to be documented by an eyewitness. And yes, the volcano is still active. Mount Vesuvius has erupted several times since 79 AD, the most recent eruption occurring in 1944. The most deadly eruption was in 1631.
When did the custom of playing "Taps" at military funerals begin? "Taps" started out as a "lights out" song, played at the end of each day. However, during the Civil War, when Northern and Southern troops were often camped out pretty close to each other, officers decided to play "Taps" at funerals instead of the traditional three-shot salute. The fear was that the sound of shots being fired might restart fighting.
Why do naval ships fire cannons when someone dies?
This custom originates in the days when war was supposed to be a game played fairly and by gentlemen's rules. A ship that fired a cannon was leaving itself vulnerable to attack because it left the ship partly unarmed. The message conveyed by the cannon shot was that the person who died was important enough to the crew that it was intentionally placing itself at risk in order to mourn. Any enemy ship in the vicinity was supposed to back off.
What type of plane is Air Force One? "Air Force One" is the radio call sign to designate any plane the President is aboard. There are currently two planes in the presidential fleet. When the president is aboard either plane, or any other Air Force aircraft, the radio call sign is "Air Force One." The two planes in the current fleet are specifically-configured Boeing 747-200B series aircraft. Both can accommodate about 70 passengers and are capable of flying half way around the world without refueling.
In what country did Vikings live? Actually, Vikings lived in several countries. These notorious sea raiders and explorers hailed from three Scandinavian homelands: Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The Danes made their mark in the British Isles and along the coastlines of Europe. The Norwegians sailed across the Atlantic Ocean toreach America. And the Swedes traveled up Russian rivers to reachConstantinople and the Orient. Just last month, in September, researchersreported finding a Viking burial site, with six Viking men and women, in England. It's the first Viking burial ground found in Britain
What causes lightning? Scientists are re-thinking their theories on what causes lightning. Lightning occurs when particles of frozen water collide with ice crystals inside large clouds, generating positive and negative electrical charges, which separate within the cloud - the negative charges moving downward and the positive charges upward - and form a lightning bolt. But recent research suggests that the layers of charged particles are sometimes reversed, with positive charges sinking to lower regions, says Paul Krehbiel, a researcher at the New Mexico School of Mines and Technology. A surprising number of storms also produced an accompanying "positive to ground" form of lightning, in which positive charges rush to the ground and cause a reverse flow of negative charges -- an effect opposite of typical lightning strikes. Krehbiel says such lightning strikes tend to be more powerful, and may be more common than had been realized. "Storms may reverse their polarity all the time, but we just never knew it," he said.
Two out of three people sleep on their sides, and they're about equally divided as to WHICH side. Of the remainder, slightly more sleep on their stomachs than sleep on their backs.
The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.
~ Ralph W. Sockman
