10 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Week

1. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was asked to be on Celebrity Big Brother.

2. Rail passenger numbers could increase by 30-40% in the next 10 years.

3. Dishcloths are purged of 99% of their bacteria during two minutes in a microwave.

4. But they can pretty easily catch fire while doing so.

5. Only four postcodes in the UK do not have a Tesco. They are the Outer Hebrides, the Shetlands, Orkney and Harrogate.

6. Uninsured vehicles are 10 times more likely to be involved in hit-and-run crashes.

7. Guinness turns out red, rather than black, if the barley is roasted for less time than normal.

8. Today presenter John Humphrys gets up one minute before 4am and is in the BBC studio at 16 mins past.

9. People who live within 500 metres of a motorway grow up with significantly reduced lung capacity.

10. A haddock's mating call starts as a slow knocking sound, before turning into a quicker hum similar to a small motorcycle revving its engine.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a008981

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

3. Dishcloths are purged of 99% of their bacteria during two minutes in a microwave.

4. But they can pretty easily catch fire while doing so.

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Wow, I put my scrubbing sponge in the microwave. I wonder if it's safe. But I had read you only needed 45 sec to a minute.

1. The Dutch have overtaken the Americans as the tallest people on Earth.

2. The candiru, or toothpick fish, can swim into a tiny body orifice such as the penis, erect a spine and feed on blood and tissue.

3. Seahorses do not mate for life but are promiscuous and bisexual - the most indiscriminate being the Australian bigbellied seahorse.

4. Newcastle is the noisiest place in England.

5. In China, James Bond is known as Lingling Qi - 007.

6. There are twice as many privately-owned tigers in the US as there are in the wild in the rest of the world.

7. The people who built Stonehenge lived at an ancient village in Durrington Walls.

8. Lavender and tea tree oil products can cause young boys to develop breasts.

9. Palm oil is present in one in 10 supermarket products.

10. Brazil nuts are seeds encased in an outer shell that weighs more than 1kg.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a009276

1. Catherine Cookson novels have been borrowed from UK libraries 25 million times in the last 10 years.

2. Ireland has the highest crime rate in the European Union.

3. A pig's mood is indicated by its tail. It is happy when the tail is tightly coiled and unhappy when it hangs limp.

4. The National Theatre's electricity bill is £600,000 a year.

5. There is one practising GP among the MPs in the House of Commons - Labour's Howard Stoate.

6. Astronauts wear nappies during launch and re-entry because they can't stop what they're doing should they need to urinate.

7. Vikings may have used a special crystal to navigate when fog obscured the sun.

8. Frankie Laine set a marathon dance record of 3501 hours in 145 consecutive days in 1932.

9. Eighty-eight percent of children in Poland aged 12 to 18 use instant messaging, compared to 50% in the UK, says a survey.

10. The Southern Cross has more stars than the five commonly depicted on the Australian flag, astronomers have discovered.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a009540

1. Georgic is a punishment dished out to Eton pupils which involves the copying out of hundreds of lines of Latin.

2. Only 10% of the three million men in the UK who suffer from impotence are being treated, says Boots.

3. The left ear is more responsive to words of emotion whispered into it than the right.

4. One in three households in the UK is dependent on the state for at least half its income, says thinktank Civitas.

5. A siesta can drastically reduce the risk of death from heart disease.

6. Tony Blair does not keep a personal diary.

7. Antony and Cleopatra were ugly.

8. Women in the UK travelled on average 6,300 miles in 2005, 1,900 miles less than men.

9. Two-thirds of Frosties are eaten by men aged 18+.

10. 10% of university work from across the UK is plagiarised.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...ast_w_14.shtml

Where do you find this information?

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Originally Posted by Serenata

Where do you find this information?

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There is a link at the end of my post to BBC's Magazine page where they come from.


1. Two cups of spearmint tea a day is thought to control excessive hair growth for women.

2. Less than 5% of cohabiting couples stay together for longer than 10 years.

3. A baby can survive being born after a gestation period of 22 weeks.

4. Dog bites have doubled in 10 years, judging by admissions to hospital.

5. Chimpanzees make their own spears for hunting.

6. Cross-country skiing is a useful skill to have when exploring the moon.

7. Poor maths is costing UK shoppers £800m a year because they don’t notice when they are short-changed.

8. Peter Hain’s house in Neath has a dancefloor.

9. Trabants were made from plasticised cotton waste, called Duroplast.

10. Tony Blair still plays his guitar most days.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a010047

1. Burglar alarms, traffic wardens and crowded busses are good news for home owners, signalling an area is on the up.

2. "Wet disposal" means a hurried assassination.

3. Despite what the movies suggest, a lit cigarette won't ignite clothes doused in petrol, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms research laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland.

4. The tentacles of the colossal squid caught by New Zealand fisherman would make calamari rings the size of tractor tyres.

5. Incest is not illegal in France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium or Portugal.

6. But advertising wine on French TV is banned.

7. It's illegal to introduce beavers into the wild.

8. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hosts a daily radio phone-in show.

9. Some modern cars have a "limp home" mode.

10. A rise in crematorium funerals is causing an increase in damaging mercury emissions in the air from melted dental fillings.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a010309

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

10. A rise in crematorium funerals is causing an increase in damaging mercury emissions in the air from melted dental fillings.

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Oh no. :eek: And I bet it's contributing to global warmng too. :p :p

1. The premium rate phone services market in the UK is the biggest in the world, worth £1.2bn a year - that's £20 each for every man, woman and child.

2. Terry Wogan gets paid for presenting Children in Need - the only presenter to do so.

3. More than half (52%) of smokers haven't told their parents about their habit.

4. Producing palm oil - hailed as a future biofuel – can produce carbon emissions 10 times that of petroleum.

5. Prince Charles is a fan of veteran reggae artist Sugar Minott - requesting one of his songs be played while visiting a record shop in London.

6. Coffee doesn't make you more alert in the morning, according to a study by Bristol University.

7. Superheroes are susceptible to snipers, with Captain America being killed by a bullet.

8. Only about half of China's population can speak the national language, Mandarin.

9. There are 946 billionaires in the world .

10. The moon glows a coppery red when totally eclipsed by the shadow of the earth - itshue determined by how much dust is in the earth's upper atmosphere.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a010595

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

6. Coffee doesn't make you more alert in the morning, according to a study by Bristol University.

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Well, that's a crock. Whoever paid for that study got ripped off.

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Originally Posted by Virgil

Well, that's a crock. Whoever paid for that study got ripped off.

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I agree. Who could make through the hours between 8 and 12 without a cup of joe (cuppajoe) or other cafeinne supplement....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

2. Terry Wogan gets paid for presenting Children in Need - the only presenter to do so.

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Just another reason on the already long list why I dont like the smarmy git.


In relation to the caffeine study:

In my final year at school back in Scotland Iremember having to do a final project in Chem. My topic was analysing and comparing caffeine content in various drinks/products (tea, coffee, coke, "pep pills") - I really chose that topic 'cause I got to mess about with chloroform.......

With regards to the effects of caffeine, it is of course a stimulant and increases alertness etc. From what I remember however it also has a psychological addiction property to it, and where people are used to having it the morning and then for some reason do not the effect is greater than someone not drinking coffee and then having a cup one morning. I can only assume the research is somehow based on this, otherwise it would appear to be a huge waste of money.

I think the same goes for smokers. They become satisfyed after having one, and therefore they are chemically and psychologically addicted. I guess.

1. Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were written not only to entertain but to promote the idea that working for a unified public interest was a myth - as argued by Margaret Thatcher's favourite theorist, James Buchanan.

2. Mobile phones in large part have little effect on medical equipment, despite bans on their use in most hospitals.

3. Comic Relief has raised £425m since it started 21 years ago up until Friday's extravaganza.

4. Parting hair on the left is said to emphasise masculine traits as it draws attention to left-brain activities; similarly, parting on the right is said to emphasise feminine traits.

5. About 200 million light bulbs - of the common or garden incandescent tungsten filament variety - are sold each year in the UK; there are plans to phase these out by 2011.

6. The brief flowering of the cherry blossom tree is taken so seriously in Japan that forecasts are used to plan festivals, and travel agents use them to plan tours.

7. The woman who invented the modern incarnation of Mother's Day was so distressed by its commercialisation that she tried to copyright the date to protect her idea. She failed.

8. Four out of every 10 children are born out of wedlock.

9. To be found attractive, women should sway their hips and men their shoulders (although researchers call this a "shoulder swagger").

10. There are 1.3 billion £20 notes in circulation.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a010595

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

4. Parting hair on the left is said to emphasise masculine traits as it draws attention to left-brain activities; similarly, parting on the right is said to emphasise feminine traits.

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Now this is one of the most rediculous things I've ever heard. This is the ultimate psycho babble.

Uh oh. I'm parting on the wrong side.:D


What about people who part down the middle?:idea:

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Originally Posted by Virgil

Now this is one of the most rediculous things I've ever heard. This is the ultimate psycho babble.

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U-oh!

*has a feeling that 'somone' is parting his hair on the right! :p :D

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Originally Posted by *Classic*Charm*

Uh oh. I'm parting on the wrong side.:D

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No worries, me too, it seems like! :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

U-oh!

*has a feeling that 'somone' is parting his hair on the right! :p :D

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No, as a teenager I used to part my hair on the left. As an adult I started parting down the middle. I can't tell you how this psychobabble irks me. It's nonsense, like astrology.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by *Classic*Charm*

What about people who part down the middle?:idea:

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Good question. I could quip and say "bi" but per above I part down the middle and I'm completely and only straight. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

10. A rise in crematorium funerals is causing an increase in damaging mercury emissions in the air from melted dental fillings.

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Eeee!:eek: I wonder if I have toxic teeth.Can the mercury seep out of your fillings and kill you? *pulls teeth out*

1.Chiyo(The name of the Geisha in Memoirs of a Geisha)

2.That Squid eat eachother especially during sex( I just read the first page of this thread:)

3.How much people don't like Wuthering Heights on this forum:)

4. That Survivor winner Rich Hatch is in prison for 4 1/2 years for tax evasion.

5. That it will rain tomorrow.

6.That I am actually an okay Scrabble player.

7.That I will be going to the Orchestra on Thursday.

8. That Ions are not that interesting.

9. That my memory is not as great as it used to be:)

10. That I can eat French Silk Pie for breakfast and I don't get sick.(my mother was wrong!:)

1. There are 30,000 wild parakeets in London.

2. Alan Sugar is a big fan of Masterchef.

3. It's possible to map a 248-dimensional structure.

4. Harvesting rhubarb in candlelight helps preserve its flavour.

5. The Quakers invented the modern protest campaign - in calling for an end to the slave trade – deploying petitions, consumer boycotts, images, a logo and a slogan.

6. The Legal limit for flying a plane is 20mg of alcohol.

7. Martina Navratilova has spent four years secretly working as an artist.

8. NHS hospitals took more than £95m in car parking charges in 2004/2005.

9. Alcohol and tobacco are more "harmful" than cannabis, ecstasy and LSD according to a new ranking drawn up by the Lancet.

10. Tony Blair isn't a bad comedy actor, judging by his performance on Comic Relief.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a011187

1. The UK's national time signal is accurate to within 1,000th of a second of Co-ordinated Universal Time.

2. Drinking, drug-taking teenagers are in the decline, according to a survey by the Information Centre.

3. The average water temperature of the UK's rivers and lakes is 5C in winter, 18C in summer.

4. Eight of the 10 most crowded train journeys in the UK are outside London.

5. The average duvet is home to 20,000 live dust mites.

6. Designer discount retailer TK Maxx is called TJ Maxx in the US.

7. Having a baby can cost you up to two months sleep in the first year.

8. Chimps and bonobos differ from humans by only 1% of DNA and could accept a blood transfusion or a kidney.

9. Britain's peat bogs store carbon that is equivalent to 20 years' worth of national industrial emissions.

10. Dogs can seemingly perform the Heimlich manoeuvre – a technique for helping someone who is choking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a011459

1. More servicemen and women in the British armed forces have taken their own lives (697) over the past two decades than have been killed in combat (438) according to the Ministry of Defence.

2. Serving anything more than tea and biscuits at a political meeting is an offence called "treating" and punishable by a year in prison or an unlimited fine, under the the Representation of the People Act 1893.

3. There are four Knight Rider cars, one of which is in a museum in Cumbria.

4. The record-breaking TGV train, which reached 584km/h, took 10 miles to stop when the brakes were fully applied in test runs.

5. Human ashes are called cremains.

6. "Lunatics, idiots, deaf and dumb" people are barred from standing for election under laws dating from 1766 which still apply.

7. Keith Richards has been trepanned.

8. It is cheaper to ship waste from London to Shenzen in China than it is to send it by road from London to Manchester.

9. There is mobile phone reception from the summit of Mount Everest.

10. Prisoners of war returning from Vietnam were told by the US government that the word "whatever" had become a common form of slang while they were away, to imply boredom.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a011675

I just looked up trepanned and I'm still not sure what it means. :confused: Was a circular protion of his skull removed?

I just found out only 5 or six people died in the Fire of London in 1666.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

5. Human ashes are called cremains.

7. Keith Richards has been trepanned.

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I wonder if it has anything to do with snorting your father's ashes?:lol: :lol:

From M-W:

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Main Entry: 1tre·pan
Pronunciation: tri-'pan
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): tre·panned; tre·pan·ning
Etymology: Middle English, from trepane trephine
1 : to use a trephine on (the skull)
2 : to remove a disk or cylindrical core (as from metal for testing)
- trep·a·na·tion /"tre-p&-'nA-sh&n/ noun

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or from dictionary.com:

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
tre·pan1 /trɪˈpæn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[tri-pan] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, -panned, -pan·ning.
–noun 1. a tool for cutting shallow holes by removing a core.
2. Surgery. an obsolete form of the trephine resembling a carpenter's bit and brace.
–verb (used with object) 3. Machinery. to cut circular disks from (plate stock) using a rotating cutter.
4. Surgery. to operate upon with a trepan; trephine.

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Originally Posted by papayahed

I just looked up trepanned and I'm still not sure what it means. :confused: Was a circular protion of his skull removed?

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Thats what Trepanned is isnt it? Didnt know people still did it today. I know that many ancient Native American tribes used to do it. like being anointed to a tribe. Others believed that it created a closer link with the spirit world.

I just quoted the definition above your post Niamh. You must of been writing as I posted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Niamh

Thats what Trepanned is isnt it? Didnt know people still did it today. I know that many ancient Native American tribes used to do it. like being anointed to a tribe. Others believed that it created a closer link with the spirit world.

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That's why it seems so odd.

I feel so very informed now. I wish school was like this, it would be much more interesting.

Ostriches have eyes bigger than their brains.

1. Boris Yeltsin lost a thumb and index finger on his left hand while playing with a hand grenade as a child.

2. Runner's World, Wilfred Owen poetry and Uncle Tom's Cabin are restricted in Guantanamo Bay, lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith says.

3. Neighbours is the most watched daytime telly show other than the BBC's One o'clock news.

4. Scouting for Boys by Lord Baden-Powell is the fourth bestselling book of the 20th Century, after the Bible, the Koran and Mao's Little Red Book.

5. We each get a completely new skeleton every 10 years, because of cell renewal.

6. Smoking will be banned in police interview rooms in England when the new law takes effect, although it is not banned in Scotland. More details

7. Kryptonite exists.

8. Nearly half of all cases handled by top divorce lawyers last year involved a private detective to check on alleged infidelity.

9. £26m of pennies have been lost on UK streets since 1971.

10. North Korea is the least visited country in the world – only 1,800 Westerners make the trip each year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a012556

Ten Things I didn’t know last week...

1… that Albert Einstein actually contemplated how long the human race could exist without bees: 4 years.
2…that Stephen Hawking would get to float weightless. Very cool for him!
3…Dubya would do a dance for malaria: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqy91GnS-Bg
4…that the Dow would surpass 13,000!
5… that this photo of Phil Spector existed: http://s89690178.onlinehome.us/PhilSpectorHair-sm.jpg
6…that the US has imported the television show,“Katie & Peter” – as if we don’t have enough talentless “celebrities” already. I thought her name was Jordan, anyway?
7…that a chimp could live to be 75. http://www.latimes.com/features/prin...-home-magazine
8…that an Italian researcher is working on making a “Spider-man” suit. http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Real_li..._04262007.html
9…that a story like this could make it onto CNN’s website, regardless of its categorization as “Offbeat” : http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/0....ap/index.html
10…Keith Richards has been trepanned (learned that right here in this thread).

1. Asda's buttock-slap is one of the few gestures to have been trademarked.

2. The goat who became an internet phenomenon after "marrying" a Sudanese man was named Rose.

3. New York may be "the city that never sleeps", but its pedestrians only rank eighth in a global study of walking pace.

4. Pandas in captivity don't need "Viagra, panda porn videos, or other previously tried artificial stimulants" to contemplate a spot of rumpy-pumpy after all.

5. Mirror tycoon Robert Maxwell ate grapes by lowering a bunch into his mouth, stripping the fruit and taking it out leaving only the stalks.

6. Apes communicate with gestures that have different meanings depending on the context - a chimpanzee with an extended arm and open hand may be begging for food, asking a female chimp for sex or reconciling with a male after a fight.

7. Men bitten by the Brazilian wandering spider can experience long and painful erections - a condition known as priapism.

8. Maggots can treat MRSA.

9. Blushing can be treated by cutting the nerve that creates the red flush in the face, neck or upper chest.

10. Danny deVito - yes the actor - has created his own brand of Limon cello, the lemony Italian liqueur.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a012953

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

1. Asda's buttock-slap is one of the few gestures to have been trademarked.

2. The goat who became an internet phenomenon after "marrying" a Sudanese man was named Rose.

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Say what? :eek: :goof: not sure which suprises me more the goat getting married over the internet, or that Asda has gone and trademarked slapping money in your back pocket......:lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

9. Music can help reduce chronic pain by more than 20% and can alleviate depression by up to 25%.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/...2.stm#10things

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That is VERY true, People do not realise the power that music has on you. I listeten to music when I'm physically or mentally ill and I feel instantly better.

1. The British eat a third of the world’s cod.

2. Squirrels can peel bananas.

3. Pre-schoolers will watch a favourite DVD or video for an average of 17 times before getting bored.

4. Astronauts wear adult nappies on spacewalks and during launch. But Nasa likes to call them "Maximum Absorbency Garments".

5. Seventy-thousand teenagers failed to turn up to take a GCSE exam last year.

6. Tony Blair smoked his last cigarette 15 minutes before he got married.
More details

7. Widening the M1 will cost more than the annual economies of a third of the world’s nations.

8. Fewer than 3% of rewards offered for information about crimes are paid out each year in the UK.

9. Four ingredients have been added to bread by law since WW2 – niacin, thiamine, iron and calcium.

10. UK’s oldest working household appliance is a 50-year-old Prestcold Fridge in Norfolk.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a013222

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

3. Pre-schoolers will watch a favourite DVD or video for an average of 17 times before getting bored.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a013222

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This is in a week isnt it?

1. Hair loss in humans might be reversible.

2. Almost one-third of men are balding by the time they reach 30.

3. 14% of Rolls-Royce owners also own a private jet

4. Dirty Harry and The Exorcist III are based on a spate of unsolved murders in San Francisco in the late 1960s.

5. Jose Mourinho has a Yorkshire terrier called Gullit, named after the Dutch footballer Ruud Gullit.

6. Nearly half of pregnancies are unplanned.

7. The UK has the most post offices in Europe.

8. The insults "moron", "idiot", "imbecile" and "cretin" were once official medical diagnoses.

9. There were no sperm donors in Northern Ireland, until recently, and only 208 in the UK.

10. Cranes disappeared from the UK 400 years ago because the East Anglian fenland was drained. They recently returned.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...things_7.shtml