1) Squirrels have thumbs. That just seems funny.
2) If you hold your nose, you can’t hum (Try it!).
3) In one of Tennyson’s poems, there is a verse that reads, “Every moment dies a man/Every moment one is born.” The English mathematician Charles Babbage, who conceived programmable computation, had a minor issue with that. "In your otherwise beautiful poem," he wrote in a letter, "one verse reads, ‘Every moment dies a man/Every moment one is born.’
" ... If this were true, the population of the world would be at a standstill. In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of that of death.” He suggested that the next edition of the poem should read ‘Every moment dies a man/Every moment 1 1/16 is born.’ Strictly speaking," Babbage added, "the actual figure is so long I cannot get it into a line, but I believe the figure 1 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry."
4) A study suggests that herrings break wind to communicate. This is known to marine biologists as “Fast Repetitive Ticking” or FRT, proving that scientists might have some sense of humour after all. The study's findings, now published online in theU.K.science journal Biology Letters, reveal thatAtlanticand Pacific herring create high-frequency sounds by releasing air from their anuses.
"We know [herring] have excellent hearing but little about what they actually use it for," said research team leader Ben Wilson, a marine biologist at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre,British Columbia,Canada. "It turns out that herring make unusual farting sounds at night."
But unlike the human version, herring FRTs are thought to bring the fish closer together.
5) You answer questions of different subjects better according to which nostril you are mainly breathing through. If one is breathing through the left nostril one would be better at verbal tasks and emotionally more positive. If one is breathing through the right nostril one should be better at visual and spatial tasks, but more emotionally negative.
6) The first animal to be cloned was a Sea Urchin in 1885.
7) The largest number that has been formally defined and used in a mathematical demonstration (so infinity doesn't count) is called Graham’s Number. That number has more digits than there are atoms in the whole universe. However, scientists know that the last digit is 7.
8) The proper thing to wear at the gym in ancient Greece was nothing at all, because the word "gymnasium" comes from Greek "gymnos" meaning "naked". A "gymnasium" is "a naked place". However, they did wear a "kynodesme" which was a kind of leather pouch which held one’s penis in an upright position, fastened by a bow. It prevented your penis getting in the way of their training. Trainers would attract the athlete's attention by pulling on the string used to fasten it. Other gymnos related words include "gymnopedia" which means the dances performed by naked boys at public events and "gymnologise" which is to debate naked.
9) You do not die the instant you are put in a vacuum. In fact, you can survive for a few minutes inside one. The first sensation you experience would be the moisture on your tongue boiling, which results in you losing your sense of taste. Gas escaping from your body would simultaneously make you defecate, urinate and vomit. As there is no air in a vacuum, you would die of suffocation after awhile.
10) Cornflakes were originally designed to discourage masturbation.
11) After making 1.4 billion crayons for Crayola, the senior crayon maker, Emerson Moser, admitted he was color blind.
12) More people in the world are bitten by New Yorkers than sharks.
13) Orcas (killer whales), when traveling in groups, breathe in unison.
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Random Facts You Didn't Need to Know
AléatoireThis is a totally random compilation of facts, collected for my own enjoyment. After all my years of storing them up, I felt it was time to share them with you. Well... enjoy this bundle of totally random awesomeness!
