Trivia Today

Blue, green, grey, white, or black; smooth, ruffled, or mountainous; that ocean is not silent: H.P. Lovecraft.

RANDOM TIDBITS

Fish have been on the earth for more than 450 million years.
There are over 25,000 identified species of fish on the
earth.

***

The spotted climbing perch is able to absorb oxygen from
the air and will crawl overland using its strong pectoral
fins.

***

Some fish make sounds by grating their teeth and others
like some catfish make sounds from their air filled swim
bladder.

***

Fish have a specialized sense organ called the lateral line
which works much like radar and helps them navigate in dark
or murky water.

***

The largest fish is the great whale shark which can reach
fifty feet in length. The smallest fish is the Philippine
goby that is less than 1/3 of an inch when fully grown.

***

Fish have excellent senses of sight, touch, taste and many
possess a good sense of smell and 'hearing'.
 
That's something I've noticed about food: whenever there's a crisis if you can get people to eating normally things get better: Madeleine L'Engle.

RANDOM TIDBITS

The Double Truffle Hamburger at DB Bistro Moderne in
Manhattan will cost you a whopping $99. The burger contains
three ounces of rib meat mixed with truffles and foie gras
stuffed inside seven ounces of sirloin steak and served on
a Parmesan and poppy seed bun, with salad and truffle
shavings.

***

The $1,000 Luxury Pizza, a 12-inch thin crust, is the
creation of Nino Selimaj, owner of Nino's Bellissima in
Manhattan. Orders must be placed 24 hours in advance for
this pie covered with six different types of caviar that
need to be specially ordered. The pie is also topped with
lobster, creme fraiche, and chives.

***

At $1,000, the Grand Opulence Sundae at New York's
Serendipity certainly lives up to its name. Made from
Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream covered in 23-karat edible
gold leaf and drizzled with Amedei Porcelana, the world's
most expensive chocolate, this indulgence is studded with
gold dragets and truffles and topped with dessert caviar.

***

At $2,600 per pound, Chocopologie by Knipschildt Chocolatier
of Connecticut is the world's most expensive box of
chocolates. The company also sells a dark chocolate truffle
with a French black truffle inside for $250. These pricey
treats are available on a preorder basis only.

***

The von Essen Platinum club sandwich at the Cliveden House
Hotel near London is the world's most expensive sandwich
at $197. Weighing just over a pound, the sandwich is made
of the finest ingredients, including Iberico ham cured for
30 months, quail eggs, white truffles, semi-dried Italian
tomatoes, and 24-hour fermented sourdough bread.

***


Nicknamed "The Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata," the world's
most expensive omelette comes stacked with caviar and an
entire lobster encased within its eggy folds - and will set
you back $1,000. The omelette is the creation of chef
Emilio Castillo of Norma's restaurant in New York's Le
Parker Meridien Hotel.

(www.howstuffworks.com)
 
We believe that electricity exists, because the electric company keeps sending us bills for it, but we cannot figure out how it travels inside wires: Dave Barry.

RANDOM TIDBITS

Electricity travels at the speed of light - more than
186,000 miles per second!

***

A spark of static electricity can measure up to three
thousand (3,000) volts. A bolt of lightning can measure up
to three million (3,000,000) volts – and it lasts less than
one second.

***

Electricity always tries to find the easiest path to the
ground. It can be made from wind, water, the sun and even
animal manure.

***

The first power plant – owned by Thomas Edison – opened in
New York City in 1882. One power plant can produce enough
electricity for 180,000 homes.

***

Thomas Edison didn’t invent the first light bulb – but he
did invent one that stayed lit for more than a few seconds.

***

Benjamin Franklin didn’t discover electricity – but he
did prove that lightning is a form of electrical energy.
 
Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you
can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world.: Ada Louise Huxtable.

RANDOM TIDBITS

Sol + stice derives from a combination of Latin words
meaning "sun" + "to stand still." As the days lengthen,
the sun rises higher and higher until it seems to stand
still in the sky.

***

The Summer Solstice results in the longest day and the
shortest night of the year. The Northern Hemisphere
celebrates in June, but the people on the Southern half of
the earth have their longest summer day in December.

***

The Celts and Slavs celebrated the first day of summer with
dancing and bonfires to help increase the sun's energy. The
Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess
of Light.

***

Pagans called the Midsummer moon the "Honey Moon" for the
mead made from fermented honey that was part of wedding
ceremonies performed at the Summer Solstice.

***

Ancient Pagans celebrated Midsummer with bonfires, when
couples would leap through the flames, believing their
crops would grow as high as the couples were able to
jump.

***

Midsummer was thought to be a time of magic, when evil
spirits were said to appear. To thwart them, Pagans often
wore protective garlands of herbs and flowers. One of the
most powerful of them was a plant called 'chase-devil',
which is known today as St. John's Wort and still used by
modern herbalists as a mood stabilizer.
 
The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so much like life: Arthur Miller.

RANDOM TIDBITS

According to The Broadway League, Broadway shows sold
approximately $937 million worth of tickets in the 2007-08
season.

***

New York did not have a significant theatre presence until
about 1750, when actor-managers Walter Murray and Thomas
Kean established a resident theater company at the Theatre
on Nassau Street, which held about 280 people. They
presented Shakespeare plays and ballad operas such as The
Beggar's Opera.

***

In 1752, William Hallam sent a company of twelve actors
from Britain to the colonies with his brother Lewis as
their manager. They established a theater in Williamsburg,
Virginia and opened with The Merchant of Venice and The
Anatomist. The company moved to New York in the summer of
1753, performing ballad operas and ballad-farces like Damon
and Phillida.

***

By the 1840s, P.T. Barnum was operating an entertainment
complex in lower Manhattan. In 1829, at Broadway and Prince
Street, Niblo's Garden opened and soon became one of New
York's premiere nightspots. The 3,000-seat theater
presented all sorts of musical and non-musical
entertainments. The Astor Place Theatre opened in 1847.

***

Lydia Thompson came to America in 1868 heading a small
theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for
middle-class New York audiences. Thompson's troupe, called
the "British Blondes", was the most popular entertainment
in New York during the 1868–1869 theatrical season.

***

Charles Hoyt's A Trip to Chinatown (1891) became Broadway's
long-run champion, holding the stage for 657 performances.
This would not be surpassed until Irene in 1919.
 
The tongue is ever turning to the aching tooth: Thomas Fuller.

RANDOM TIDBITS

Toothpaste is not a relatively modern phenomena. In fact,
as long ago as 3000-5000 BC Egyptians made a dental cream
by mixing powdered ashes of oxen hooves with myrrh, burned
egg shells, pumice, and water.

***

In 1000 AD Persians added burnt shells of snails and oysters
along with gypsum. However, toothpaste was still only
afforded by the rich. In 18th century England a tooth
cleaning "powder" containing borax was sold in ceramic pots,
but the problem with this was that it was very abrasive.

***

Prior to WWII, toothpaste was packaged in small lead/tin
alloy tubes. The inside of the tube was coated with wax,
however, it was discovered that lead from the tubes leached
into the product. It was the shortage of lead and tin during
WWII that led to the use of laminated (aluminum, paper, and
plastic combination) tubes. At the end of the twentieth
century pure plastic tubes were used.

***

The breakthrough that transformed toothpaste into the
crucial weapon against tooth decay was the finding that
fluoride could dramatically reduce cavities. Dr. William
Engler tested 400 preschool children and discovered a
dramatic reduction in dental cavities among children
treated with fluoride. This study, along with many others
done around the world, led to the widespread introduction
of fluoride in the 1950s.

***

Fluoride incorporates itself into tooth enamel making your
teeth more resistant to acids produced by plaque bacteria,
as well as acids found in fruit juices, soda (both regular
and diet) and certain foods.

***

Abrasives give toothpaste its cleaning power. They remove
stains and plaque, as well as polish teeth. Common abrasives
include calcium phosphates, alumina, calcium carbonate, and
silica. Toothpaste should be abrasive enough to remove
plaque and stains, but not abrasive enough to damage tooth
enamel.

(www.saveyoursmile.com)
 
It is no dishonor to be in a minority in the cause of liberty and virtue: Samuel Adams.

RANDOM TIDBITS

The ancient Chinese used fireworks at festivities and to
frighten enemies in battle. Captain John Smith set them
off in Jamestown in 1608, enjoying a bit of English popular
entertainment and impressing Native Americans.

***

Legend has it that the Chinese made the first fireworks in
the 800s, filling bamboo shoots with gunpowder and
exploding them at the New Year with the hope that the
sound would scare away evil spirits. According to tradition,
Marco Polo brought this technology back to Europe. However,
fireworks may in fact have developed in India or the Arab
world. Fireworks became known in Europe during the 1300s,
probably after returning Crusaders brought them from the
East.

***

By the 1400s Florence, Italy, was the center of fireworks
manufacturing. At this time fireworks were just one effect
in a celebration rather than its focus. At religious
festivals Italians made plaster figures that spewed
fireworks from their eyes and mouths. The 1533 coronation
parade for Anne Boleyn included a papier-mache dragon that
belched fire.


During the 1700s displays became more elaborate and were
popular with European royalty. French king Louis XV ordered
extravagant displays of fireworks at Versailles, and
Russian czar Peter the Great put on a five-hour show after
the birth of his son. Meanwhile, in the American colonies
settlers used fireworks to mark happy occasions.

***

The multi-colored fireworks displays began in the 1830s,
when Italians added trace amounts of metals that burn at
high temperatures, creating beautiful colors. Other
additives also produced interesting effects. For example,
calcium deepens colors, titanium makes sparks, and zinc
creates smoke clouds.

***

In 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
reported 9,800 fireworks-related emergency-room visits.
Therefore, leave the fireworks spectacle to the pros!

(www.infoplease.com)
 
Liberty is always dangerous, but it is the safest thing we have: Harry Emerson Fosdick.

RANDOM TIDBITS

When the War of Independence ended in 1783, July 4 became
a holiday in some places. In Boston, it replaced the date
of the Boston Massacre, March 5, as the major patriotic
holiday. Speeches, military events, parades, and fireworks
marked the day. In 1941, Congress declared July 4 a federal
holiday.

***

John Hancock, the president of the Second Continental
Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration. With its
ornate capitals, Hancock's sprawling signature is prominent
on the document. Since then, when people are asked for
their "John Hancock," they are being asked to sign their
names.

***

The Declaration of Independence itself has become one of
the most admired and copied political documents of all time.
It was written by Thomas Jefferson and revised by John
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Jefferson.

***

Uncle Sam was first popularized during the War of 1812,
when the term appeared on supply containers. The U. S.
Congress didn't adopt him as a national symbol until 1961.

***

The first two versions of the Liberty Bell were defective
and had to be melted down and recast. The third version
rang every Fourth of July from 1778 to 1835, when, according
to tradition, it cracked as it was being tolled for the
death of Chief Justice John Marshall.

***

The American national anthem, the "Star-Spangled Banner,"
is set to the tune of an English drinking song ("To
Anacreon in Heaven").
 
Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius: William Blake.

RANDOM TIDBITS - U.S. Interstate History

The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1938 was the first serious
attempt to develop a national roadway system. Officials
studied the feasibility of a toll-financed system of three
east-west and three north-south superhighways.
They learned
that this system could not be self-supporting, and advocated
for a 26,700-mile network instead.

***

Congress passed further legislation in the form of the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944. The act chartered a
"National System of Interstate Highways" and expanded the
network to 40,000 miles. Soon state highway agencies and
the Department of Defense planned nationwide routes. No
specific funds were authorized for construction, however,
making progress slow.

***

President Dwight Eisenhower was the one who finally made
the U.S. Interstate a reality. The Federal-Aid Highway Act
of 1954 set aside $175 million for the construction of an
interstate highway system. However, even more money was
needed for the system that Eisenhower envisioned, and he
continued to press for funds. Two years later, the expanded
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 authorized a budget of $25
billion, of which the federal share was to be 90%.

***

The legislation of 1956 also provided for an extended
network of 41,012 miles and nationwide design standards,
including: a minimum of two lanes in each direction, lanes
that were 12 ft in width, a ten-foot right paved shoulder,
and design speeds of 50–70 mph.

***

Further legislation over the years continued to expand the
total length of the system, which now stretches for more
than 46,726 miles. In 1990, in recognition of President
Eisenhower's pivitol role in building the national system
of interstate highways, President George Bush signed
legislation officially renaming it the Dwight D. Eisenhower
System of Interstate and Defense Highways.

***

Major routes are designated by single- or two-digit numbers.
If a route runs north-south, it is given an odd number, and
if route a runs east-west, an even number. For north-south
routes, numbering conventions begin in the west. Thus I-5
runs north and south along the West Coast, while I-95 runs
north and south along the East Coast. For east-west routes,
numbers begin in the south.

(www.infoplease.com)
 
That is a good book which is opened with expectation and closed in profit: Amos Bronson Alcott.

RANDOM TIDBITS

808 BC - The world's oldest known printed book, The Diamond
Sutra, a seven-page scroll printed with wood blocks on
paper, is produced in China.

***

1440 - German Johann Gutenberg invents movable type by
developing foundry-cast metal characters and a wooden
printing press.

***

1455 - Gutenberg prints his first book, a Latin Bible.

***

1639 - Stephen Day prints Freeman's Oath and An Almanack in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, the first books published in the
American colonies.

***

1731 - The Gentleman's Magazine, considered the first
modern magazine, is published in England. The periodical
is intended for entertainment and includes essays, stories,
poems and political commentary.

***

1771 - Encyclopaedia Brittanica, the first English-language
encyclopedia, is published in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1793 - The Pennsylvania Evening Post becomes America's first
daily newspaper.

***

1828 - Noah Webster, often referred to as the “father of his
country's language,” publishes the American Dictionary of
the English Language in an attempt to encourage American
independence in both written and spoken English.
 
The first duty of a newspaper is to be accurate. If it be accurate, it follows that it is fair: Herbert Bayard Swope.

RANDOM TIDBITS

1842 - Illustrated London News uses woodcuts and engravings
for the first time, prompting the growth of illustrated
journals throughout the second half of the century.

***

1851 - Selling for a penny a copy, the New York Times
debuts.

***

1922 - James Joyce's Ulysses published. The U.S. Post
Office destroys 500 copies of the novel because it is
considered obscene. Reader's Digest debuts.

***

1923 - Time Magazine debuts.

***

1953 - The first issue of TV Guide magazine hits the
newsstands on April 3 in 10 cities with a circulation of
1,560,000. Playboy magazine hits newsstands. A nude Marilyn
Monroe graces the cover.

***

1967 - Rolling Stone and New York Magazine debut, spawning
the popularity of special-interest and regional magazines.

***

1994 - For the first time in history, chain bookstores
outsell independent stores, signaling what many fear to be
the death of smaller booksellers at the hands of superstores.
 
Babies are always more trouble than you thought - and more wonderful: Charles Osgood.

RANDOM TIDBITS

A baby recognizes its mother's voice at birth, but it takes
14 days to recognize its father's voice.

***

When born, the baby's head is one quarter the size of the
rest of its body.

***

The typical cost of raising a child in the United States
for the first year of life is $7,000 (not including medical
costs).

***

Only 3-4 percent of babies actually arrive on their due
date!

***

The old wives tale birth prediction states you should
suspend a wedding ring on a string over the pregnant
woman's hand. The direction it swings will determine the
gender.

***

The average child share his/her birthday with 9 million
other people.
 
I've learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes: Andy Rooney.

RANDOM TIDBITS - Toilet Paper Trivia

In 1391 AD in China, the Bureau of Imperial Supplies
produced 720,000 sheets of toilet paper a year for use by
the emperors. Each sheet measured two feet by three feet.

***

Colonial Americans used corncobs and leaves to cleanse
with before toilet tissue came along. When newspapers
became available they were also used.

***

New Yorker Joseph C. Gayetty produced the first packaged
bathroom tissue in the United States in 1857. The Gayetty
Firm from New Jersey produced the first toilet paper named
“The Therapeutic Paper”. The company sold it in packs of
500 sheets for fifty cents, and Joseph Gayetty had his name
printed on each sheet!

***

The Scott Paper Company was the first company to manufacture
tissue on a roll, specifically for the use of toilet paper.
Scott purchased large “jumbo” rolls of paper from various
paper mills and converted them into packages of small rolls
and stacked sheets.


***

Twenty-six billion rolls of toilet paper, worth about $2.4
billion, are sold yearly in America alone. Americans use
an average of 23.6 rolls per capita a year.

***

As of 2009, between 25% and 50% of the toilet paper used in
the United States comes from tree farms in the U.S. and
South America, with most of the rest coming from second
growth forests, and only a small percentage coming from
virgin forests.
 
FactZone

Some factstuff in freeones.

Tongue does the thing
women reach orgasm about 25 percent of the time with intercourse and 81 percent of the time during oral sex

Now stick your tongue out :tongue:

Brain during an orgasm is 95 percent similar to the brain of a person taking heroin.
:spump: :rofl:


___
cont.
 

LukeEl

I am a failure to the Korean side of my family
Re: FactZone

Fact: I carved the Rocky Mountains with sweat and brawn!!!!!!
 

LukeEl

I am a failure to the Korean side of my family
Re: FactZone

Fact: One time I dressed up as Santa for a Christmas party I was having for Blue Ball's children. Anyway, I show up as Santa, say I've got goodies for you kids. I reach into my bag and proceed to hand out scrap metal and cigarettes to them. Then I take off my beard and say There's no Santa cause I ate him!
 
Re: FactZone

67% of facts are made up on the spot... 53% of people already know that.
 

PirateKing

█▀█▀█ █ &#9608
Re: FactZone

Fact: One time I dressed up as Santa for a Christmas party I was having for Blue Ball's children. Anyway, I show up as Santa, say I've got goodies for you kids. I reach into my bag and proceed to hand out scrap metal and cigarettes to them. Then I take off my beard and say There's no Santa cause I ate him!
Thank goodness....

I thought you were going to say that you molested them.
 
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