Total Trivia

[fire_breeze]

Some people consider the $1 bill unlucky because there are so many 13's on it: 13 stars, 13 stripes, 13 steps, 13 arrows and even an olive branch with 13 leaves on it.

Of course the $1 bill is unlucky - if it was lucky it would be a $100 bill.

 

[smotherman]

Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.

 

[desideratum]

Monday morning coffee;

You would have to drink 100 cups of coffee in 4 hours to get the lethal dose of caffeine which is 10 grams

98 to go

 

[desideratum]

A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee.

Swedish people drink more coffee in a day than any other nation (11 cups on average)

There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee. Of these, only 26 have been tested, and half caused cancer in rats.

I need more coffee lol

 

[luv1]

What is a bigger killer then war? Work. Around 2,000,000 people die of work related accidents and diseases as opposed to the 650,000 from war every year. According to the US Bureau of labour statistics in 2000, 5,915 died at work. Of which the most deadlest is the Lumberjack with 122 deaths per 100,000. Second is fishing, third is airplane pilots. But lucky they mostly died in small planes not the passenger jet so if your were thinking of traveling your safe.....unless your going be private jet inwhich case make sure your will's up to date. Metalworkers fourth and mining/drilling fifth. The third most common cause of death on the job in all occupations was murder which claimed 677 workers. 50 police officers were murdered, but so was 205 sales staff. The second is falls but the first is car accidents. Even as a cop you were more likely to die in a car crash then being shot by a bad guy.

 

[luv1]

Where does the most tigers live? Asia? Nope, the USA. There are thought to be 4,000 tigers in Texas alone and not all in zoos.

 

[smotherman]

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

 

[desideratum]

When you blush, your stomach lining also reddens.

 

[smotherman]

If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die, they need gravity to swallow.

 

[desideratum]

A pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.
Feathers are weighed by avoirdupois weight, which has 16 ounces to a pound, whilst gold is weighed in troy weight, which has only 12 ounces to a pound.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

This thread is delicious! I have spent the past hour reading it! I thought I might repay the favor with - trivia

A very warm welcome desideratum

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The steam engine was not invented as most people believe in the 1800's, but was infact invented in Egypt around AD 64 by the mathermatician and geometer Heron. It was called aelopile or "wind ball" and worked on the same priciple as jet propulsion. A steam driven metal ball was spun around at 1,500 rpm Saddly no one saw ant practical use for the thing and it was treated as only a toy. The other sad thing is the train was invented just 700 years earlier by Periander the tyrant of Corinth. It was called the Diolkos. It ran 4 miles across the isthmus of Corinth in Greece. It was used to move cargo from ships as a short cut between the Aegean and Ionian seas. It was used for 1,500 years but fell into disrepair around AD 900 and totally forgoten untill the 1400's.

OH and Heron also invented the vending machine. For 4 drachmas you would get a shot of holy water in a portable device so on else could drink the hard payed for drinky.

Those where some clever guys back in the day don't you think?

That was a real gem, thanks luv1

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The word daffodil originally belongs to an entirely different plant - the ashphodel, from southern Europe. By the time the plant was introduced into Tudor England from medieval France it was known as the aphodel or aphadill.
At the same the cultivated daffodil as we know it was also introduced and the identities of these two new flowers seem to have become confused.
De aphadill or d'affadill became the origin of the name flower that we know it today.

 

[_Misty_]

A Googol is the digit 1 followed by one hundred zeros (in decimal representation). The term was coined in 1920 by nine-year-old Milton Sirotta (1911–1981), nephew of American mathematician Edward Kasner. Kasner popularized the concept in his book Mathematics and the Imagination (1940).

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

During the process of slicing up onions, an enzyme known as allinase and another compound called isothiocyanate get together and create a type of sulphuric vapour which gets into the eyes and irritates them no end.

 

[_Misty_]

The same chemical responsible for the ecstatic highs of love and sexual attraction, phenyl ethylamine, is also found in chocolate.

 

[smotherman]

In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes!

 

[fire_breeze]

The hundred billionth crayon made by Crayola was Periwinkle Blue.

 

[smotherman]

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

 

[fire_breeze]

Of the 15,000-odd known species of orchids in the world, 3,000 of them can be found in Brazil.

 

[CCaprice]

The same chemical responsible for the ecstatic highs of love and sexual attraction, phenyl ethylamine, is also found in chocolate.

That explains my infatuation with chocolate!

 

[CCaprice]

Tulip bulbs can be used in place of onions for cooking.

 

[CCaprice]

California is the source for nearly 60% of all USA-grown fresh cut flowers.

 

[fire_breeze]

Mae West never said "Come up and see me sometime." She said "Come on up sometime and see me."

 

[smotherman]

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