Old Fact of the Day (after reading each line, you may sigh deeply and start thinking about those wise words)
31-08-99: 84
% of an average raw apple is water.
30-08-99: Charlie Chaplin's cane was made of bamboo.
29-08-99: The teeth of minnows are located in the throat.
28-08-99: Gerardus Mercator invented the most common projection
for world maps.
27-08-99: If you attempted to count all the stars in the galaxy at
a rate of one per second, it would take you approximately 300
years to count them all.
26-08-99: Out of all the animals a circus animal trainer works
with, none are deadlier than the elephant. More deaths are caused
by the elephants than the large cats circus tamers train with.
25-08-99: The largest living bird is the ostrich.
24-08-99: These two words, "Jesus
wept", make the shortest verse in the Bible.
23-08-99: The ratio of slot machines to inhabitants in Las Vegas
is 1:8.
22-08-99: There are 336 dimpels on a regulation golf ball.
21-08-99: Ten percent of the world population is left-handend. (So forget about left-handed corkscrews, left-handed
pencils, left-handed scissors etc etc. You're just not worth it
{:) )
20-08-99: The largest North American rodent is the beaver.
19-08-99: There are 8 holes in a standard horseshoe.
18-08-99: The legendary home of the Gods, Mount Olympus, stands
9570 feet tall.
17-08-99: On average, a human van milk 6 cows in an hour.
16-08-99: John Wayne died in 7 of his
movies. (He's an alien, I tell ya !)
15-08-99: In "Saving Private Ryan", Steven Spielberg
removed 60 percent of the color of the shot film.
14-08-99: In the Philippines, the yo-yo was originally a weapon. (Watch it, or I'll yo-yo your head off !)
13-08-99: A castrated rooster is called a capon
12-08-99: In June, 1963, in Britain, the British tennis player
Michael Sangster served the fastest serve ever. It was a solid
154 mph.
11-08-99: Today there was a full solar eclipse to be seen
throughout Europe (the path running from South England to France,
to Germany, Austria, all the way to Turkey and further). Another
one will show up here in 300 years or so. Next solar eclipse is
in 2 years though, somewhere in Africa.
09-08-99: Put a stalk of celery in your mouth when you cut onions
and your eyes will not tear (okay, they may not tear anymore, but you probably will
look pretty stupid)
08-08-99: The average McDonald's Big Mac bun has 198 sesame seeds
on it
07-08-99: Cadang-Cadang disease, which occurs in coconut trees, is
named after the noise the coconuts make when they fall to the
ground. (I like that, nice and simpel)
05-08-99: Nothing from you guys (yet, I hope), so here's an
excerpt of Chris Rock's new CD. "Here's a horoscope for
everyone. Aquarius: You're gonna die. Capricorn: Yer gonna die.
Gemini: You're gonna die twice"
04-08-99: Procrastination: Hard work often pays off after time,
but laziness always pays off now.
03-08-99: Stupidity: Quitters never win, winners never quit. But
those who never win and never quit are idiots.
02-08-99: Losing: If at first you don't succeed, failure may be
your style.
01-08-99: Ineptitude: If you can't learn to do something well,
learn to enjoy doing it poorly.
26-07-99: You don't need a parachute to skydive. You need a
parachute to skydive twice.
21-07-99: From Ben Tims: If you have a
subpage on your homepage called "fact of the day" then
you'd better change it to "fact of a day" if you
don't give a fact for every day. This is my fact of this day. (Clearly
to see, I'm being harrassed by a smart-ass)
20-07-99: Most people know that the
offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a mare produces a mule.
However the offspring of a stallion and a jennet (female donkey)
is called a henny. (trust me, one day you'll thank me for letting
you know this)
19-07-99: Unatractiphobia - Fear of ugly people.
18-07-99: You know you're getting old when you need more time to
rest than to get tired.
24-06-99: The Greyhound,
capable of reaching speeds of 43 m.p.h., is the fastest breed of
dog for distances of up to half a mile.
23-06-99: Dogs normally have 42 teeth.
22-06-99: Of the 88 recognized constellations, 3 are canine
constellations.
21-06-99: It's summmmmer. So here's something to look forward to :
During the Summer holidays there is a large rise in child
injuries. Half of child injuries come from sports such as
football and other ball games.
20-06-99: Talk is cheap. Supply exceeds demand.
19-06-99: Don't ever go live above a bar or
a pub or something, I just realised it sucks big time (no, I
don't live above one, I was in this bar for a dinner). It's like
bad bad very bad and loud music till at least midnight. I.e. your
nightmares start already at 20.00 hours.
09-06-99: To train a flea, put it in a jar with a lid on it. At
first it will hit the lid, but eventually it will begin to jump
just high enough to miss the lid. Take the lid off, and the flea
still jumps no higher than where the lid was. (Well, I guess this
means, if fleas are found and to keep contagion minimal, all
people involved should wear a plastic bag on their heads for a
day or so)
08-06-99: Dogs have about 100 different facial expressions, most
of them made with the ears. Unfortunately, the likes of bulldogs
and pitbulls only have 10, due to their breeding. Therefore,
these dogs easily get misinterpreted by other dogs and often get
into fights. (Maybe that's why I fight with dog so often too,
because even IF they had 100 different facial expression, I
wouldn't recognize 3, at most)
07-06-99: Just saw an ad for a "Star Wars" music CD.
Discount, 2.50 bucks. First tip, don't ever buy a CD that is less
than 10 bucks. Anything less, and it's probably fake and
unauthorised. Second tip, it had no less than 3 (!!!!) Star Trek
fonts on the cover. George Lucas would've ripped the producer of
this CD's heart out and eaten it while it was still beating, if
he found out.
25-05-99: A hardworking man can sweat up to 8 litres a day (hah,
not me, I don't ever work hard, hence, I won't sweat that much,
simple as that).
24-05-99: Lottery - A tax on people who are bad at math.
23-05-99: Pessimist - An optimist with experience.
22-05-99: Optimist - Someone who tells you to cheer up when things
are going his way.
21-05-99: In Japan, there are no 4th and 9th floors in hospitals.
4 and 9 are pronounced "shi" and "ku"
meaning, "death and "pain". (Imagine walking the
stairs, bet you can't keep track on which floor you are, current
floor is add 1, or substract 1 ? Or add 2 ? Or substract 2 ?).
This also affect soft- and hardware releases, where version 4 is
usually skipped (name 3, and you'll win today's big prize).
20-05-99: Paper can be recycled about 6 times.
19-05-99: The brains of men shrinks faster then the brains of
women.
18-05-99: The oldest coins (money) found were 700 BC in Asia.
12-05-99: All cows are females, the males are called bulls. Hah,
gotcha there for a sec, didn't I ?
11-05-99: A cow can't give milk until she's given birth to a calf.
10-05-99: A Holstein cow's spots are like a
fingerprint or a snowflake, no two cows have exactly the same
pattern of spots.
09-05-99: The average cow produces 40 glasses of milk each day.
08-05-99: A cow weighs about 1,400 pounds and eats about 55 pounds
of food per day.
07-05-99: It takes 12 gallons of milk to make 1 gallon of ice
cream.
06-05-99: You could milk about six cows per hour by hand, but with
modern machinery, you can milk up to 100 cows per hour.
05-05-99: Cows provide 90% of the world's milk. (Is there any
other milk then ?)
01-05-99: Sailfish can leap out of the water and into the air at a
speed of 50 miles per hour. (Did you know a man was killed by one
recently ?)
30-04-99: Queen's Day, though I have no idea why it's Queen's Day
today, since our current queen's birthday is 30th January.
29-04-99: The drink '7UP' used to contain lithium (an
anti-depressant). Yeah, that's explains the UP eh ?
26-04-99: Sheep will not drink from running
water. (Yeah, I know, it contradicts the
previous fact. I know one of them is true, I just don't know
which one.)
25-04-99: Sheep prefer to drink running water.
24-04-99: The name Jeep came from the abbreviation
used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle,
G.P.
23-04-99: Good bye came from God bye which came
from God be with you. So-long came from the Arabic salaam and the
Hebrew shalom.
22-04-99: The phrase "sleep tight"
originated when mattresses were set upon ropes woven through the
bed frame. To remedy sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to
tighten the rope. (Hehe,
pretty funny eh ?)
21-04-99: The word 'news' did not come about
because it was the plural of 'new.' It came from the first
letters of the words North, East, West and South. This was
because information was being gathered from all different
directions. (True or false,
it still is a pretty useless fact, innit ?)
20-04-99: Blonds have more hair than dark-haired
people. (I hope you realize
this doesn't apply to people who have colored their hair ?)
19-04-99: Each king in a deck of playing cards
represents a great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs
- Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, and Diamonds -
Julius Caesar. OOoooh, you
couldn't tell ? You didn't know ? Boy, it's sooooo obvious.
18-04-99: Only four
important diamond fields have been found - in Africa, South
America, India, and the Soviet Union. (That's where I'll be going, but first I have to get
some dough. Oh, no, that's a paradox)
17-04-99: The phrase, if yelled out in a crowded
shopping mall that will attract the most people is: "I
DROPPED MY DIAMONDS!". (But
I guess you could've figured that out yourself eh ?) Hehe, who tried it yet ?
16-04-99: A person who smokes one pack of
cigarettes a day inhales a half cup of tar everyday.
15-04-99: Winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere
on December 21. The last day of winter is March 23rd. There are
63 days of winter. December 22 is the day when the North Pole is
tipped farthest from the sun. (Yeah right, only 63 days of winter, then why was it
snowing today ?)
14-04-99: You're more
likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day that in any other
weather.
13-04-99: You can use pine cones to forecast the
weather - the scales will close when rain is on the way. (With all this rain here, there's really
no need for predicting, is there ?)
12-04-99: The fear of Popes is Papaphobia. *Did you know the Pope just released a
new CD (with some poppy rockin' songs and some definite smashing
dance-tracks ?) Papaseedeephobia should be the fear of Pope CD's
then ?*
11-04-99: You can tell a
turtle's sex by its sound. Males grunt, females hiss. *Hmm, doesn't this apply to humans as
well ?*
10-04-99: Erotodromomania is the abnormal impulse
to travel to escape painful sexual situations. *I for one, haven't travelled in the
last 10 years*
09-04-99: All the planets
in our solar system could be placed inside the planet Jupiter.
08-04-99: Penguins can jump
as high as 6 feet in the air. Weeeeeew.
07-04-99: A dollor bill is about 6 inch long. *Hey, that's the same lenght as
my ... ... never mind*
06-04-99: Ah what the heck, one more Easter fact (I know so
much): The Easter bunny has its origin in pre-Christian fertility
lore. The Hare and the Rabbit were the most fertile animals known
and they served as symbols of the new life during the Spring
season. The bunny as an Easter symbol seems to have it's origins
in Germany, where it was first mentioned in German writings in
the 1500s. The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany
during the early 1800s. And were made of pastry and sugar
05-04-99: Easter:
Originally Easter eggs were painted with bright colors to
represent the sunlight of spring
04-04-99: Easter: Of all
the symbols associated with Easter the egg, the symbol of
fertility and new life, is the most identifiable.
03-04-99: The elephant is
the mammal that can't jump.
02-04-99: The elephant is
the only animal with 4 knees.
01-04-99: Okay, April
Fool's Day. Origin ? I'd hate to brag about it, but it was right
here in Holland. Then again, that's what all countries say about
themselves. Some say it's because April Fool's Day began in many
parts of the world at the same time, in celebration of the spring
equinox. Pranks were a big part of even the most boring equinox
parties, everywhere from Sweden to India. Others argue that the
modern April Fool's Day followed the adoption of a reformed
calendar in France circa 1564. In medieval times, the octave of
New Year's began on March 25 with the eight days of festivities
ending on April 1. Although I forgot the Dutch version of its
origin, you can take my word for it, it started here in Holland.
31-03-99: It's impossible
to sneeze with your eyes open.
30-03-99: The human heart
creates enough pressure to squirt blood 10 metres.
29-03-99: The average cough
comes out of your mouth at 90 km/h.
28-03-99: Daylight time
(daylight saving mode) again. Meaning the clock had been set 1
hour in advance. This way is will be darker in the morning but it
stays longer light in the evening. This kind of measure were
taken in the middle stone age, or 18th century, or sometimes near
that, to conserve more energy that way. Later on it became
unnecessary, but somehow, it was reinstated in 1977.
27-03-99: Some lions mate 50 times a day (my star
sign is Leo, which translates to Lion in Dutch, but I guess you
didn't wanna know that, did you ?)
26-03-99: A cockroach can live nine days without
its head before it starves to death (wanna try ?)
25-03-99: There are 1,792 steps to the top of the
Eiffel Tower. (Please don't tell me I miscounted ?)
24-03-99: If you multiply 111,111,111 by
111,111,111 you get 12,345,678,987,654,321
23-03-99: Banging your head against a wall uses
150 calories an hour. (I guess you weren't waiting for that fact,
so here's another: Sex burns 360 calories per hour)
22-03-99: Children grow faster in springtime.
21-03-99: Some facts about water, because your
life depends on it.
20-03-99: Some healthy facts for today, coz I luv
healthy visitors here.
19-03-99: On this day 721 BC, it was the 1st
recorded lunar eclipse. Location, Babylon. (Don't tell me you
don't believe me ? Coz I have no way to prove it.)
18-03-99: Yesterday (17 March) was hyped by the
media/advertisement (beer, for instance) as THE day to try having
a Millenniumbaby (a baby born on 1 January 2000). Of course, one
can't help to notice that's it is 40 weeks till birth after the
LAST period. A child is conceived 2 weeks after that. The perfect
timing would be around 2 through 10 April, and even then it would
be stupid, because only 3 % of the birth get on that planned day
anyway. Even more stupid, what makes a Millenniumbaby so special
? It would mean a child not born on that day is less special ? Oh
man, some people who are doing "it" right now for that
purpose really need to grow up some more. (Okay okay, I know,
that last part wasn't supposed to be part of this Fact of the
Day)
17-03-99: One more Aussie fact: KANGAROO. When
the British first arrived in Australia, they observed a most
unusual looking animal. It hopped like a rabbit, had a long tail
and carried it's young in it's pouch. Speaking with aborigines in
attempt to find out what the animal was called proved difficult
due to the language barrier, The British did however get the name
Gangaroo, which later become known as Kangaroo. Many years later
when settlers to this country managed to learn the aboriginal
language discovered that Gangaroo when translated means "I
don't understand what you are saying".
16-03-99: Chewing on 100 grams of Stimorol Cherry
flavored chewing-gum will give you 674 kJ/162 KCAL of energy (how
interesting, *sigh*, but I can't help it. You try giving a fact
of the day every day. *sigh*. In case you didn't buy that, here's
another fact, for bonus: The
Koala is often called a Koala Bear. It is not a bear but a
marsupial. (Gives birth to live young and nurtures young in a
pouch). The Koala is not even remotely related to bears. It is
almost like saying a Panda Fish)).
15-03-99: Did you know that in the UK they sell
computers in the supermarket (???). That'll make a weird saturday
shopping list ? "crackers, chips, 5 eggs, tomatos, Pentium
III-350 MHz Multimedia PC"
14-03-99: "Transformers: The Movie"
sucks, big time. I downloaded this movie (don't ask, it's what
you do when you have a cable modem with unlimited download), and
it took me a week to complete the download. Anyway, be warned.
13-03-99: My sis bought a Marilyn Manson
CD-single today (don't ask). It was supposed to include a
screensaver and several remixes. But the CD was burned with the
image of another version of that single, hence a whole bunch of
people are now stuck with a CD with the wrong content. The clue ?
Well, that's what you get for dealing with the devil himself, he
can't be trusted. The devil has many disguises. You just have to
look better.
12-03-99: You can divide the population of the
world into two categories: those who believe you can divide
everyone in the world into two categories, and those who don't.