# Did you know? (no Michael Caine references please)



## David H (Nov 27, 2012)

*1.* If you are right  handed, you will  tend to chew your food on the right side of  your  mouth.

*2.* If  you are left handed, you will  tend to chew your food on the left  side of your  mouth.

*3.* To  make half a kilo of honey, bees  must collect nectar from over 2  million individual  flowers

*4.* Heroin is the brand  name of  morphine once marketed by  'Bayer'.

*5.* Tourists visiting  Iceland should  know that tipping at a restaurant is considered  an  insult!

*6.* People in nudist colonies play volleyball more than any other sport. (a whole lot of floppin' goin' on) 

*7.* Albert Einstein was  offered the  presidency of Israel in 1952, but he   declined.

*8.* Astronauts can't belch  - there is  no gravity to separate liquid from gas in their   stomachs.

*9.* Ancient Roman, Chinese  and German  societies often used urine as  mouthwash. 
*
10.* The  Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. In  the Renaissance era, it was  fashion to shave them  off!

*11.* Because of the speed at which Earth moves around the Sun, it is impossible for a solar eclipse to last more than 7 minutes and 58 seconds.

*12.* The night of January 20 is "Saint Agnes's Eve", which is regarded as  a time when a young woman dreams of her future husband.

*13.* Google is actually the  common name  for a number with a million zeros. (not a lot of people know that!)

*14.* It  takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never  wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

*15.* Gold  is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the  ground for thousands of years .

*16.* Your tongue is the only muscle in your body that is attached at only one end .

*17.* If  you stop getting thirsty, *you  need to drink more water*. When a  human body is dehydrated, its  thirst mechanism shuts off.

*18.* Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of  tobacco-related  diseases.

*19.* Zero  is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman  numerals
*
20.* Kites  were used in the American  Civil War to deliver letters and  newspapers. 

*21.* The  song, Auld Lang Syne, is sung at the stroke of midnight in  almost every English-speaking  country in the world to bring in  the new year.

*22.* Drinking water after eating  reduces the acid in your mouth by 61  percent

*23.* Peanut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450?F

*24.* The  roar that we hear when we  place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but, rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

*25.* Nine  out of every 10 living things live in the ocean

*26.* The banana cannot reproduce  itself. It can be propagated only by the intervention of man

*27.* Airports at higher altitudes  require a longer airstrip due to lower air density

*28.* The University of Alaska campus spans four time zones

*29.* The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal  itself.

*30.* In  ancient Greece , tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional  proposal of marriage. Catching it meant she accepted.

*31.* Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song Happy Birthday.

*32.* Intelligent people have  more zinc and copper in their hair.

*33.* A comet's tail always points away from the sun

*34.* The  Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent

*35.* Caffeine increases the  power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is found in some medicines.

*36.* The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times,  when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity.

*37.* If  you get into the bottom of a  well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

*38.* When  a person dies, hearing is the  last sense to go. The first sense lost is sight

*39.* In ancient times strangers shook hands to show that they were  unarmed 

*40.* Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside

*41.* Avocados have the highest calories of any fruit at 167 calories per hundred grams

*42.* The moon moves about two inches away from the Earth each year

*43.* The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space  dust

*44.* Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher  than 15,000 meters

*45. *Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy

*46.* Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge  down

*47.* Everything weighs one percent less at the equator

*48.* For  every extra kilogram carried on a space flight, 530 kg of excess  fuel are needed at lift-off

*49.* The letter J does not appear anywhere on the periodic table of  the elements.

*And last but not least:*

*50.* In 2012, December has *5 Fridays*, *5  Saturdays*, and *5 Sundays*. This apparently happens once every 823 years!


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## trophywench (Nov 27, 2012)

I'm not telling my hubby that last one.

He ONLY works on Friday, Saturday and Sunday !


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## Andy HB (Nov 28, 2012)

Googol is the correct spelling, not google. Also it is 1 followed by 100 zeros not 1 million zeros.

Andy (the pedant) HB


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## Northerner (Nov 28, 2012)

Andy HB said:


> Googol is the correct spelling, not google. Also it is 1 followed by 100 zeros not 1 million zeros.
> 
> Andy (the pedant) HB



Isn't it a googolplex? Wasn't that the famous ?1m question in the 'cheating major' case on WWTBAM?


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## Andy HB (Nov 28, 2012)

Northerner said:


> Isn't it a googolplex? Wasn't that the famous ?1m question in the 'cheating major' case on WWTBAM?



According to t'internet a googolplex is 10 to the power googol.

Andy


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## Northerner (Nov 28, 2012)

Andy HB said:


> According to t'internet a googolplex is 10 to the power googol.
> 
> Andy



Cheers Andy!  I'll remember that if it ever comes up on a quiz show I'm taking part in


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## LeeLee (Nov 28, 2012)

47. Everything weighs one percent less at the equator

Anyone coming with me to the equator?


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## J.Y.Kelly (Nov 28, 2012)

No.14. Who was the person who sat there and timed it?
Kelly.


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## Copepod (Nov 28, 2012)

26. The banana cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the intervention of man

Absolute rubbish. Wild bananas (eg species _Musa acuminata_ & _M. balbisiana_, the ancestors of domesticated banana) can reproduce sexually by seeds or asexually by suckers; cultivated banana plants can be propagated by intervention of female humans too!


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## Caroline (Nov 29, 2012)

Number 1 I chew on the left side of my face and I am right handed
Number 2 If I chew on the left side of my face and I'm right handed I'm confused...


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## mcdonagh47 (Nov 29, 2012)

J.Y.Kelly said:


> No.14. Who was the person who sat there and timed it?
> Kelly.



No.14 is obvious nonsense anyway, if glass decomposes after a million years it CANNOT be recycled an infinite number of times - only a finite number of times before it decomposes !

NO.11 is badly worded also , the Earth does not "move around the Sun", the Earth orbits the Centre of Mass/Gravity of the Solar System (barysphere)  As does the Sun itself on a 150(?) year orbit). There's an simulator to play with here ..
http://arnholm.org/astro/sun/sc24/sim2/index.html

There are probably flaws,truisms and tautologies in most of these 50 items


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## mcdonagh47 (Nov 29, 2012)

LeeLee said:


> 47. Everything weighs one percent less at the equator
> 
> Anyone coming with me to the equator?



But give the N and S Poles a miss ! You'll weigh more.

Even at the eqautor you will weigh less but your mass will be the same


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## Andy HB (Nov 29, 2012)

mcdonagh47 said:


> Even at the eqautor you will weigh less but your mass will be the same



..... unless you get hit by one of the many meteorites?

Andy


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## Monica (Nov 29, 2012)

December doesn't have 5 Fridays - it has 5 mondays (and saturday and sunday)

I'm left handed and I chew on either side depending on what I'm chewing


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## Northerner (Nov 29, 2012)

Monica said:


> December doesn't have 5 Fridays - it has 5 mondays (and saturday and sunday)
> 
> I'm left handed and I chew on either side depending on what I'm chewing



I'm also left-handed and tend to chew on the right side because of a somewhat compromised tooth on the left side! I did chew on the left side before though


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## mcdonagh47 (Nov 29, 2012)

and of course no. 15 about gold is sheer bunkum.
rust is iron oxide so only iron and its alloys can rust !
most non-ferrous metals will corrode over time but only ferrous metals can rust ;-)


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## Northerner (Nov 29, 2012)

40. Strawberries are the only fruits whose seeds grow on the outside

The strawberry, as well as not being a berry, is not actually a fruit, it is a pseudocarp (or 'false fruit'). Plus, what we think of as the 'seeds' are not the seeds, but the actual fruits, containing the seeds! 

Any more we can debunk?


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## Nicky1970 (Nov 29, 2012)

> 15. Gold is the only metal that doesn't rust, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years .




Strictly speaking, no metal 'rusts' as rust is the common name for the mixture of Iron (III) oxides and Iron (III) oxide -hydroxide, formed from the reaction between iron and oxygen.
Platinum is even less reactive than gold and does not oxidise at any temperature. 
South American natives would find platinum in rivers in its natural state, and throw it back into the water believing it to be 'unripened' gold!

Smartarse Nicky1970, BSc (Hons) Chemistry!


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## David H (Nov 29, 2012)

This was only copied and pasted.

Even if every single item 1 -50 was incorrect 
at least it has people thinking and talking.


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## Northerner (Nov 29, 2012)

David H said:


> This was only copied and pasted.
> 
> Even if every single item 1 -50 was incorrect
> at least it has people thinking and talking.



Indeed it has David!


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## Andy HB (Nov 30, 2012)

It's good fun debunking stuff. 

Thanks for posting it in the first place, David.

Andy


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## Garthion (Dec 2, 2012)

34. The Swine Flu vaccine in 1976 caused more death and illness than the disease it was intended to prevent

Swine Flu did not exist in 1976, at least not having communicated to man.

Plus, glass is not a solid, it is liquid, but of such a high viscosity that it appears to be solid, if you look at VERY old windows, there is a bulge around the bottom where the glass has been flowing towards.


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## David H (Dec 3, 2012)

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_swine_flu_outbreak*



> if you look at VERY old windows, there is a bulge around the bottom where the glass has been flowing towards.




Myth
Once thought to be an ever-changing material in a constant state of flux, glass is not, in fact, subject to the phenomenon of ?flow.? Due to colonial glass panes often being thicker at the bottom than the top, it was widely believed that the glass continued to flow after being hung, and therefore settled to the bottom of the pane. The reality was much less fantastic. It was due to the manufacture of the glass by hand, making a consistent thickness difficult to achieve. When the panes were hung, often -- but not always -- the thickest, heaviest part of the glass was placed at the bottom.



*http://www.ehow.com/info_12156274_old-wavy-glass-window-panes-spots-haze.html#ixzz2DzNgazXe*


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## Andy HB (Dec 3, 2012)

David H said:


> *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_swine_flu_outbreak*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Yep, I've heard that it's a myth too, but understand that it may be a myth to say that it is a myth (just trying to muddy the waters!!)


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## David H (Dec 4, 2012)

Monica said:


> December doesn't have 5 Fridays - it has 5 mondays (and saturday and sunday)
> 
> I'm left handed and I chew on either side depending on what I'm chewing



Probably calculated in 2011 and going by the callendar it should have been *except 2012 is a leap year *so it's 1 day longer.


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## David H (Dec 4, 2012)

Andy HB said:


> Googol is the correct spelling, not google. Also it is 1 followed by 100 zeros not 1 million zeros.
> 
> Andy (the pedant) HB



Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, *named their search engine after the term googol.* In 1997, Larry was brainstorming names with other Stanford graduate students, including Sean Anderson, and looking at available domain names. Anderson miskeyed googol as "google" and found it available. Larry liked it and the name "Google" stuck. *Google's corporate headquarters is called the GooglePlex,* an affectionately tongue-in-cheek reference to the origins of the company name.

*http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/googol-and-googolplex*


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## David H (Dec 4, 2012)

J.Y.Kelly said:


> No.14. Who was the person who sat there and timed it?
> Kelly.



I think decompose should possibly read erode!!


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## David H (Dec 4, 2012)

Andy HB said:


> Yep, I've heard that it's a myth too, but understand that it may be a myth to say that it is a myth (just trying to muddy the waters!!)



Just to debunk your possible myth about the myth.!!

*http://www.glassnotes.com/WindowPanes.html*


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## mcdonagh47 (Dec 4, 2012)

Northerner said:


> Cheers Andy!  I'll remember that if it ever comes up on a quiz show I'm taking part in



No 18 has a pretty exact figure and of course its wrong ( perhaps it just refers to the USA ?) because 5,000,000 people a year worldwide die from the effects of smoking ...

18. Each year 2,000,000 smokers either quit smoking or die of tobacco-related diseases.

Check it out ...
"•Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030."
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/


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## robert@fm (Dec 4, 2012)

David H said:


> *4.* Heroin is the brand  name of  morphine once marketed by  'Bayer'.



Strictly speaking, diamorphine, not morphine as such.  Diamorphine is still used in hospitals (as the hydrochloride) to releive really severe pain, especially where there's a bad cough involved.  (Incredible though it seems, "Heroin" was the brand name of a cough mixture.)


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## robert@fm (Dec 5, 2012)

David H said:


> *19.* Zero  is the only number that cannot be represented by Roman  numerals



Another false one, probably arising from the common error of misusing "number" as if it meant "positive integer".  Negative numbers also cannot be represented as Roman numerals, nor can fractional numbers.  (I suppose that terminating decimal fractions could be rewritten as rational fractions in Roman numerals, but this doesn't help with transcendental numbers such as _pi_.)



> *24.* The  roar that we hear when we  place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but, rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.



Reminds me of a cartoon I saw in the Sun once; a young woman holding a seashell to her ear and hearing "The tide is out at the moment, but if you care to leave a message..."


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