- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words
- In it's 60yr history, Lotus have only made approximately 87,000 vehicles. And some of them are still working.
- Toyota - the worlds largest car manufacturer - made approximately 9.49 million cars in 2007 alone.
- At any one time approximately 0.7% of the worlds population is drunk. That's just over 47 million people. And some of them arn't from Finland.
- Ducks have been known to rape other ducks, and will, on occasions, drown their victim.
The 1937 London Trophy was the first ever televised motor race.
The first ever American Football match played under floodlights was abandoned at half time as the players ran into the light poles.
Native Americans have an almost 100% chance of having lactose intolerance. The Dutch have around 1% chance.
John McCain was born in Panama in a US military base. He makes bloody nice oven chips, too.
The King of Sweden, Richard Branson and Jay Leno are all dyslexics.
The BBC series Spooks (Americans : it's like 24 but less monumentally stupid and better) has only one remaining character that was in the first episode.
Vladimir Putin is reputedly a black belt in Judo. The North Korean government claim that their dictator, Jong-Il Kim can hit two to three holes in one per round of golf.
Tata own Jaguar, Land Rover, Corus (formerly British Steel) and Tetley Tea.
The first mid engined car to win a Grand Prix was not in the 1960s. Assuing the AIACR European Championship (functually the World Championship races) are counted, an Auto Union Type C won the 1937 Belgian Grand Prix in the hands of Rudolf Hasse. The cars were absolute dogs to drive - that year all the other world championship races were won by Mercedes' front engine W125.
Hitler stopped going to motor racing after 1938 as a British driver won the Belgian GP (albeit in of of the cars his regime funded).
I set my alarm clock to get up for GP qualifying ... but the bloody thing broke
The first ever American Football match played under floodlights was abandoned at half time as the players ran into the light poles.
Native Americans have an almost 100% chance of having lactose intolerance. The Dutch have around 1% chance.
John McCain was born in Panama in a US military base. He makes bloody nice oven chips, too.
The King of Sweden, Richard Branson and Jay Leno are all dyslexics.
The BBC series Spooks (Americans : it's like 24 but less monumentally stupid and better) has only one remaining character that was in the first episode.
Vladimir Putin is reputedly a black belt in Judo. The North Korean government claim that their dictator, Jong-Il Kim can hit two to three holes in one per round of golf.
Tata own Jaguar, Land Rover, Corus (formerly British Steel) and Tetley Tea.
The first mid engined car to win a Grand Prix was not in the 1960s. Assuing the AIACR European Championship (functually the World Championship races) are counted, an Auto Union Type C won the 1937 Belgian Grand Prix in the hands of Rudolf Hasse. The cars were absolute dogs to drive - that year all the other world championship races were won by Mercedes' front engine W125.
Hitler stopped going to motor racing after 1938 as a British driver won the Belgian GP (albeit in of of the cars his regime funded).
I set my alarm clock to get up for GP qualifying ... but the bloody thing broke
You sir, are a lexiphonic (somebody who likes to use long or obscure words).
Keeping on the WW2 theme:
- US Naval Command was called CINCUS at the onset of war. It's quite amusing when said as a word - which is maybe why they changed it.
- In WW2 the American airforce shot down an estimated 1 plane for every 12,700 rounds fired.
- Sergent Major Charles Howard is one of several British servicemen to win an Iron Cross. Howard won his during one of his numerous escape attempts from Auschwitz whilst posing as a wounded German soldier in a field hospital. He also purchased corpses off SS guards and used them as part of an elaborate ploy to help bust Jew's on their way to being exterminated, replacing people rescued from the human train with dead bodies. He did not get a reciept when he gave the bodies back to the Germans. In all he rescued around 400 Jews from extermination.
- China suffered around 11 million fatalaties in WW2, but only 1 million of their losses where military.
- During Pearl Habour a light cruiser called Phoenix survived the bombardment, and indeed the rest of the war. Sold off as Army surplus she became the pride of the Argentinian Navy as the General Belgrano which was hit and sunk in the Falklands conflict by a British submarine. Sadly the Argentinian army did not have any kind of rescue procedure and all hands where lost.
- One of the largest battleships ever built, the Yamamoto, was sent into it's final battle with insufficient fuel to return home. Surely the Japanese wheren't thinking it would be defeated?
- The first nation to equip soldiers with and to use the M16 rifle in combat was ... Great Britain
- At one thousand yards the Pak 43 (better known as the Flakk 88) could penetrate almost 8 inches of armour. In real terms, that means a lot of people died.
- In WW2 3.4 million tonnes of explosives where dropped by allied forces. In effectiveness of explosives on a lb for lb basis, the American forces delivered more explosions on Iraq during the first day of Shock & Awe. Neither achieved their stated objective.
- The nobel peace prize was conceived by some guy called Nobel. He came up with the idea because he didnt like the idea of his name being remembered for all the nasty weapons he'd invented, like dynamite.
the town with the logngest name in the UK is Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch (welsh)
Which translates to "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave"
Which translates to "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave"
- Cows can walk up stairs, but not down them.
- Winston Churchill's pet Maccaw is still alive.
- Mao killed more like 70 million people.
S14 don't be such a bah humbug, why don't you join in the fun and post some random facts yourself!
- Winston Churchill's pet Maccaw is still alive.
- Mao killed more like 70 million people.
S14 don't be such a bah humbug, why don't you join in the fun and post some random facts yourself!
Only if you're an engineer. In proper maths its 'j' Or is it the other way around?
- The medal given to the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize depicts three naked men with their hands on each others shoulders.
- The Peace Prize is the only Nobel prize selected by a Norwegian committee. The remaining four prizes are all awarded by Swedish committee's.
- Alfred Nobel was a Swedish national, but lived in and set up several companies in many different countries in his life time, but he never lived in or had any business links with Norway.
- Alfred Nobel's brother Emil was killed in 1864 when experimenting with nitroglycerin at one of his laboratories in Stockholm Sweden.
- Since 1901 the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony is always held in Oslo on the 10th of December (which is also my sisters birthday)
- Alfred Nobel died a very very wealth man in San Remo Italy on the 10th of December 1896 (which is also the year my sister was born...ok, so that's a lie, but what the hell, she'll never read this)
- It's illegal to drink beer out of a bucket whilst sitting on a curb in St Louis.
The guy who voiced Shredder in the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles cartoon was none other than James Avery, who played Uncle Phil in The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air.
My favourite bit of TV trivia.
My favourite bit of TV trivia.
Cockroaches can live for 9 days after their head has been cut off.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
- In the town of Chester, it is legal to kill a Welshman with a bow and arrow, providing it is midnight, the Welshman is on the outer perimeter, and the bowman is on the wall itself.
- If you were to shout continuously for 8 yeas, 7 months and 6 days you would generate enough energy to warm up one cup of coffee
- An orgasm of a pig lasts for 30 minutes
- Banging your head to the wall consumes 150 calories per hour
- Man and dolphin are the only two species that have sex for pleasure
- Polar bears are left handed
- The Atlantic wolffish (Anarhichas lupus) has got over 27 000 different sences of taste
- Starfish do not have brains
- Lions mate up to 50 times a day
- Urolagnia (also urophilia, undinism) is a sexual activity in which participants derive sexual pleasure from urine and/or urination.
it's the Yamato.
it is actually true.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/question261.htm
so the probability of two people sharing the same birthday in a group of 57 randomly selected people is:
1 - 1*364/365*363/365*362/365*361/365 ... 309/365 = 0.99
It'll almost certainly due to the fact that conception is more or less likely (either due to the chance of succesful fertilisation being better, or just more people gettin' busy
)at certain times of the year, so ages tend to be grouped together around a certain time of year rather than evenly spread out evenly.- In the UK you are never more than about 90 miles from the coast
- Houses prices don't always rise
- The flushing toilet was invented in 1596, not by Thomas Crapper as most people think, but by Sir John Harington.
- There is a two-foot long bird called the Kea. The kea lives in New Zealand and just loves to eat the strips of rubber around car windows.
- 45% of every dollar bill you have ever owned has been in a stripper's G-string.
- Cats can't taste sweetness.
- In 2003, a North Carolina State University study of over 15,000 women found that women who performed the act of fellatio and swallowed semen on a regular basis - one to two times a week - reduced their risk of breast cancer by up to 40 percent. No benefit was found for those who did not participate regularly.
In addition to reducing risk of breast cancer, semen was shown to reduce the length and severity of common colds, soothes a sore throat, and even manage depression!
I think It's actually about 120. And its just about where I live
Some more:
- No-one is actually sure who won the 1973 Canadian Grand Prix.
- Honey is the only foodstuff that will never, ever go off.
- Moose sex lasts 5 seconds.
Since you went politics....
The numbers may sound small, but keep in mind that we are talking about a nation of only 5 million people...
The numbers may sound small, but keep in mind that we are talking about a nation of only 5 million people...
- One of four Finns has a mental problem. Eight percent would need psychiatric care. 6% of adults, 250 000 people are constantly under effect of Prozacs and anti-depressants. 5% of adults takes sleeping pills. [url=http://www.city.fi/artikkeli/Pillerisukupolvi/187/[/url][source][/url] [url=http://www.ktl.fi/portal/suomi/tietoa_terveydesta/elintavat/uni/unettomuus_ja_unihairiot_ovat_yleisia/][source][/url]
- Average adult Finn drinks 10 liters of 100% alcohol yearly. [url=http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkoholismi][source][/url]
- For 15-64 year old Finnish men, alcohol is the most common cause of death. [url=http://www.hs.fi/kotimaa/artikkeli/Alkoholi+on+jo+ty%C3%B6ik%C3%A4isten+yleisin+kuolinsyy/1135222688133][source][/url]
- Drawbacks of alcohol cause an estimated 3 - 6 billion euro bill for our health care, social care, fire and rescue department, police, companies, etc.. yearly. For reference the state budget is about 40 billion, and income of alcohol taxes 1,7 billion.[url=http://www.a-klinikka.fi/tiedotus/paihdetieto/alkoholi.html][source][/url] [url=http://www.tekniikkatalous.fi/tyo/article56525.ece][source][/url] [url=http://www.edilex.fi/virallistieto/mt/vavm20030031][source][/url]
- 27 544 people were caught drink driving in Finland, 2007. [url=http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/til/polrik/2007/polrik_2007_2008-04-04_tie_001.html][source][/url]
- Last year 380 lives were taken on our roads, 1/3 of them because of... I think you'll already guess. [url=http://www.hs.fi/autot/artikkeli/Tieliikennekuolemat+lis%C3%A4%C3%A4ntyiv%C3%A4t++viime+vuonna+l%C3%A4hes+50ll%C3%A4/HS20080123SI1YO03y5l][source][/url] [url=http://ajassanyt.net/sisainen-turvallisuus.htm][source][/url]
- Police records over 30,000 violence related crimes every year, in which over 70% of them involves alcohol. [url=http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/til/polrik/2007/polrik_2007_2008-04-04_tie_001.html][source][/url]
- According to Police estimates in 2007, cannabis grows in 10 000 Finnish households. [url=http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kannabis][source][/url]
- According to the latest EU study, cannabis is the least dangerous drug whereas alcohol and heroine were the most dangerous after ecstasy and cocaine. [url=http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/publications/monographs/cannabis][source][/url]
- (Ab)using alcohol in Finland is widely accepted and often expected. Using cannabis is illegal, and can lead to losing a drivers license, your children, or job (happened to me)...[url=http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomalainen_alkoholikulttuuri][source][/url]
My Finnish friend's granddad died when he passed out drunk on the way home from the pub and froze to death. 
same happened to a guy i knew last winter, and he froze to death on Christmas eve
Wiki says there was about a 30second gap between first and second, how can people not be sure who won?
Perhaps it was due to penalties or punishments or whatever.
and still, alcohol is even more popular. even 11 year olds do it(seen them drunken)
Random Facts Thread
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