Fantastic Facts!

[minyacaliel]

Facts from a year 1985....

1. The first British mobile phone call is made
2. William Schroeder becomes the first artificial heart patient to leave the hospital.
3. Microsoft Corporation releases the first version of Windows, Windows 1.0.

[Lalaith-Elerrina]

1. 1 acre of trees produces enough oxigen for 18 people every day.

2. The longest military march in U.S. history is 2,000 miles by the Mormon Battalion in 1847.

3. The world's fastest insect is the dragonfly at 36 miles per hour.

[Maegnas]

Continuing on the sports subject...

1. Greece has won silver medal for a first time in its history in a World Championship (concerning a team sport, men's or women's division - we had a gold in junior men in 1995).

2. The final game was the poorest one offered by this team in its existence, scoring only 47 points! (this team = this selection of players and coaches)

3. Greece didn't demand to be excluded from anti-dopping controls! (Can you guess which team did demand such a thing?)

[Vana_the_Ever-Young]

Another sports fact (different sport though ): The chances of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are one in 67 million.

Bird fact: The penguin is the only bird that can swim, but cannot fly.

Eating fact: A person swallows approximately 295 times while eating dinner.

Vey

[Lalaith-Elerrina]

1. Thunderheads packed with rain or snow are called cumulonimbus clouds.

2. Doldrums: area around the equator where winds cancel each other out, resulting in no wind.

3. Stick bugs can grow up to 15 inches long.

[minyacaliel]

Gloom facts about Clark Gable...

1. Clark gable's mother died, when he was seven months old.
2. When his third wife died in a plane crash, Gable joined the US Army Air Force and was off the screen for three years, flying combat missions in Europe.
3. A few months after gable's death, his wife gave birth to John Clark Gable.

[Bolg]

Muzzle velocities of four assault rifles currently in service around the world
( meters per second )

M-4 Carbine / U.S.A. 905 m/s

Heckler & Koch G36 / Germany 920 m/s

AK-74 ( yes 74 ) / Former Soviet Union 900 m/s

L85 IW (SA80) United Kingdom 940 m/s

[Vana_the_Ever-Young]

Robbery fact: The most common time for a bank robbery is Friday, between 9 and 11 a.m. The least likely time is Wednesday, between 3 and 6 p.m.

U.S. money fact: Pocahontas appeared on the back of the $20 bill in 1875.

Time fact: A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be there in a jiffy.

Vey

[tarathiel]

Yachting record facts:

First man to sail single handed, Non-stop around the world Against the prevailing wind: Sir Chay Blythe.

First woman to sail single handed, Non-stop around the world Against the prevailing wind: Dee Caffari.

Fastest woman single handed, non-stop around the world: Ellen MacArther.

[minyacaliel]

1. Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks
2. Swans usually mate for life, though "divorce" does sometimes occur.
3. Swans feature strongly in mythology; especially in religion and folklore-tales.

[Lalaith-Elerrina]

1. The numbers on opposite sides of a die always add up to 7.

2. At 1.3 billion people, China is ahead of India by only 140 million.

3. The city of Shanghai, China has 13.3 million people.

[minyacaliel]

1. The saying "lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is false. The Empire State Building is struck by lightning on average 100 times each year, and was once struck 15 times in 15 minutes.

2. A bolt of lightning can reach temperatures approaching 28,000 degrees Celsius (50,000 degrees Fahrenheit) in a split second. This is about five times hotter than the surface of the sun.

3. Singapore has the highest rate of lightning activity in the world

[Lalaith-Elerrina]

1. Banging your head against the wall uses 150 calories an hour.

2. The Mayan Calendar, the most accurate of ancient calendars, ends in 2012.

3. The fastest human muscles are the ones that open and close the eyelid.

[minyacaliel]

1. Clouds form when the invisible water vapor in the air condenses into visible water droplets or ice crystals
2. Clouds are divided into two general categories: layered and convective
3. The color of a cloud tells much about what is going on inside the cloud.

[Lalaith-Elerrina]

1. The blue field with stars on the U.S. flag was to represent "a new constellation" in the sky.

2. In 2001, a person in the U.S. with a High School Diploma earned an average of $34,723. A PhD earned $86,965.

3. Malachi is the "youngest" book in the Old Testament, written about 400 B.C.

[Dunthule]

1. The average roll of toilet paper 5 days in the bathroom

2. In 1391, China began producing toliet paper for use by its Emperors

3. Before toilet paper was invented, French royalty wiped their bottoms with fine linen

[Crucifer]

1. Dibble means to drink like a duck.

2. A whales... genitalia... is officially called a dork.

3. The yo-yo was originally used as a weapon in the Philippines.

[tarathiel]

Facts about dogs:

1: a brown and white collie is called Red and white.

2: a brown and white spaniel is called liver and white.

3: a brown labrador is called chocolate.

Go Figure

Tar

[prmiller]

Fantastic Facts and Dazzling Discoveries

The pufferfish, with all it quills,
has another way it kills,
eat its flesh, without a care,
and you shall perish...then, and there;
for hidden deep, it has a gland,
that sushi makers find quite grand,
upon the fish, they deftly spread
the merest portion...more? You're dead.
They call it "fugu"(FOO-goo) now you know,
should you sashimi-eating go.


Another fact, from far Japan,
where I have learned, that for man
turning forty-two is grim,
not a happy year for him.
Four, you see, can also mean
death, "that's it", the end-of-screen.
Add the two... you make a verb,
that makes him look twice from a curb.
Shi-ni--Forty-two..."You die."
Quite a burden for a guy!


Finally, another fact,
there is a place where women act
the roles of men, (and women, too)
Shakespeare in reverse...it's true!
For once the roles of women were,
done by boys, whose facial fur
had not emerged, and thus their voices,
provided roles of female choices.
Takarazuka, you'll find,
leaves that Shakespeare world behind,
for the woman, coiffed and dressed,
is called "Him" by her addressed.