AS A MATTER OF FACT - share your random but interesting facts!

Thomas828

Jan Hammer composed and performed "Star Cycle" specially for Channel 4s "The Tube" in the 1980s.

Dozen Wicked Words

If you cant remember if a month has 31 days or not (vital I know), use your knuckles and spaces inbetween knuckles, from left hand, to right.

For example, knuckle of left little finger 31, space in between not 31, next knuckle 31, so on and so forth. It gets wild when you get to the index finger knuckles, 2 31 days next to each other!! Wow.

That info might just save your life.

entropi

The largest organ in the body is infact the skin:)

DerekDGoldfish

The Gibzilla wrote: »

Brian Eno composed the start up sound for Windows 95

I remember reading the letter from Microsoft commissioning him used 20 odd adjetives must be uplifing,engaging etc and must last 2.75 seconds thats a lot to ask for even from Eno

bnt

The Gibzilla wrote: »

Brian Eno composed the start up sound for Windows 95

Yup - and his friend Robert Fripp (of King Crimson fame) did the sounds for Windows Vista and 7. Different methods, though: Eno did a single perfect sound to spec, while Fripp went to Redmond with all his gear, and recorded hours of audio from which the Microsoft bods extracted little bits to use. (One of Microsoft's top audio people, Steve Ball, was one of Fripp's "Guitar Craft" students.)

gogo

dooferoaks wrote: »

If you cant remember if a month has 31 days or not (vital I know), use your knuckles and spaces inbetween knuckles, from left hand, to right.

For example, knuckle of left little finger 31, space in between not 31, next knuckle 31, so on and so forth. It gets wild when you get to the index finger knuckles, 2 31 days next to each other!! Wow.

That info might just save your life.

I dont get it, what spaces in between your knuckles?
If in a situation I have to rely on the old '30 days has...'

gogo

Ants!

Ants don't just farm, they raise and keep other insects for food, just like humans raise cattle.

Ants are the only animal besides humans which wage war in organized batallions, against other organized opponents.

Standard Toaster

[FONT=verdana, Arial][SIZE=-1] One gallon of used motor oil can ruin approximately one million gallons of fresh water
[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=verdana, Arial][SIZE=-1]
And in the year 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an 'Honorary Harlem Globetrotter'[/SIZE][/FONT]

take everything

In iceland, kite flying is illegal.

/waits to see how long it takes for that piece of bull**** to be refuted.

irish1967

Guinness is not black

The name Wendy was made up for the novel Peter Pan

The MGM lion was born in Dublin.

For many years the busiest heliport in the world was in Crossmaglen

Five Irish counties start with unique letters.

A common butterfly flapping it's wings can destroy a city like New Orleans.

Capt'n Midnight

B0X wrote: »

In WW2 they used to paint some reconnaissance planes pink because from a distance, pink is actually harder to see against a blue background than blue is.

Fluorescent Pink is the best colour if you want to hide in a sandy desert.

i like lamp

irish1967 wrote: »

Guinness is not black


Five Irish counties start with unique letters.

A common butterfly flapping it's wings can destroy a city like New Orleans.

Do elaborate

--Kaiser--

gogo wrote: »

Ants are the only animal besides humans which wage war in organized batallions, against other organized opponents.

Termites do this as well

LittleLebowski

In 1972 a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.:eek:

spitfireIRL

the common flying kite was originally used as a means to dry wet string.

The guy

If music in a film is played by a radio or piano or anything that the characters would be able to hear, then it's diegetic music. If the music can only be heard by the audience it's non or extra diegetic music.

Dravokivich

Standard Toaster wrote: »

[FONT=verdana, Arial][SIZE=-1]
And in the year 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an 'Honorary Harlem Globetrotter'[/SIZE][/FONT]

Who says White Man can't jump huh!?!

Hasmunch

Dravokivich wrote: »

Who says White Man can't hump huh!?!

ah yes the catholic church..

bonerm

The white dots you sometimes see on your fingernails (leukonychia) is not caused by iron or vitamin deficiency. It is actually caused by damage do the nail itself (often due to biting!).

In extreme cases it can be caused by zinc deficiency.

vibe666

Salvador Dali designed the wrapper for chupa chups lollies.

The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means, "the king is dead".

Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."

The song "Enola Gay" by OMD isn't about a girl, but is a criticism of the US decision to nuke Hiroshima.

which leads nicely into > "Enola Gay" is the name of the bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb 'little boy' on Hiroshima. The plane got it's name from the pilot's mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.

Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight >floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct itself.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target,it got "the whole 9 yards."

jackiebaron

vibe666 wrote: »

Salvador Dali designed the wrapper for chupa chups lollies.

The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means, "the king is dead".

Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."

The song "Enola Gay" by OMD isn't about a girl, but is a criticism of the US decision to nuke Hiroshima.

which leads nicely into > "Enola Gay" is the name of the bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb 'little boy' on Hiroshima. The plane got it's name from the pilot's mother, Enola Gay Tibbets.

Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight >floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct itself.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target,it got "the whole 9 yards."

The "rule of thumb" one is not true. It's a myth that's been widely discredited.

horseplay

sharks will only eat humans while wet

bodun

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target,it got "the whole 9 yards."[/QUOTE]


Nope, complete B******S!

Luxie

Despite the commonness of pink for girls and blue for boys today, as late as the early 1940s, this colour theory actually existed in the opposite. Pink was seen as the more appropriate colour for boys, while blue was deemed better for girls.

vibe666

jackiebaron wrote: »

The "rule of thumb" one is not true. It's a myth that's been widely discredited.

bodun wrote: »

Nope, complete B******S!

ye's are all out t' get me i tells ya!

but yeah, looks like you're right on both counts.

first one to prove all of mine wrong gets a sexual favour. from jackiebaron & bodun. :D:D

vibe666

here's one i just learnt today that i had always kind of wondered about.

it was about the difference between English English (BBC English if you will) and American English. You kind of assume that being the melting pot of international culture that the colonial USA was that as the English speaking colonists mingled with all the other nationalities the pronunciation of the words morphed from (dare I say 'proper') BBC English into what we know to be US English today.

Except it's not. US English has fundamentally the same pronunciation as it did during colonial times, it's the 'BBC English' that has made the radical changes to what it has become today thanks to all the rich people wanting to sound posh.

seriously.

christ on a bike!

Aerodynamically speaking, tortoises are capable of 250mph. Depressing for the poor buggers

Capt'n Midnight

The radioactive decay of Cobalt 60 is non symmetrical and in a very strong magnetic field more electrons will come out one end than the other.

You can radio aliens and check if they are made of anti matter before you shake their hands.


It's not good to shake hands with someone made of anti matter, it can upset your plans for the afternoon.

jackiebaron

vibe666 wrote: »

ye's are all out t' get me i tells ya!

but yeah, looks like you're right on both counts.

first one to prove all of mine wrong gets a sexual favour. from jackiebaron & bodun. :D:D

Frantically scouring archives!! Got Stephen Fry on the other line

vibe666

jackiebaron wrote: »

Frantically scouring archives!! Got Stephen Fry on the other line

hold your horses, you haven't seen them yet!

1ZRed

My fun fact, if you make a fist with your left hand and squeeze your thumb in that same fist, you have no gag reflex!
I swear I don't know how I came across this information....:rolleyes:

Chuck Stone

Shure you can prove any oul shite with facts.

Washington Irving

If you use the search function you will find many threads identical to this one!

Mental I know

MagicRon

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Shure you can prove any oul shite with facts.

And that's a fact!

Faith+1

You can't lick your own elbow

H2UMrsRobinson

Faith+1 wrote: »

You can't lick your own elbow

Nor has the need to do so ever arisen.

joshrogan

The amount of reposted threads is in direct correlation with the amount of people who can't use the search button.

CavanCrew

A pigs orgasm lasts 30 minutes... do what you wish with these insightful words.

slievenamon fella

1 in every 2 children born in limerick is a bastard

stupidusername

If you pinch a cats tail, it turns gay.

The King of Moo

There are four lights!

1ZRed

CavanCrew wrote: »

A pigs orgasm lasts 30 minutes... do what you wish with these insightful words.

Nice ice breaker if you ask me;) haha

Pompey Magnus

Every packet of crisps produced in the UK has a best before date which falls on a Saturday.

Pudsy33

1ZRed wrote: »

My fun fact, if you make a fist with your left hand and squeeze your thumb in that same fist, you have no gag reflex!
I swear I don't know how I came across this information....:rolleyes:

thats false

Jesus Wept

1ZRed wrote: »

My fun fact, if you make a fist with your left hand and squeeze your thumb in that same fist, you have no gag reflex!
I swear I don't know how I came across this information....:rolleyes:

Solid start, let the horseshit commence.

1ZRed

Pudsy33 wrote: »

thats false

So you've tried it?
It seems to work for me, although its not entirely fool proof.

argosy2006

http://s3-ak.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/web02/2010/9/10/0/why-cant-people-just-enjoy-the-image-13462-1284092214-0.jpg

thunderdog

You a get a much longer stretch (and by stretch I think they mean more hours of daylight) in the evenings during the Spring and Summer months.

This fun fact has been verified by several facebook status updates

RichieC

Monkeys cant look up.

Eggy Baby!

Prescription drugs are 16400% more deadly than terrorism.