10 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Week

[Scheherazade]

1. It's illegal to fly a national flag without permission from a local council - unless it is flown from a vertical flagpole - meaning thousands of football fans were technically breaking the law during the World Cup by displaying the Cross of St George.

2. When filming summer scenes in winter, actors suck on ice cubes just before the camera rolls - it cools their mouths so their breath doesn't condense in the cold air.

3. 99 ice creams have been so-called since the 1930s, when they were more of an ice cream sandwich than a cone.

4. The Nazis went out of their way to condemn Superman, with Goebbels writing a polemic in April 1940 in Das Schwarze Korps, the SS newspaper.

5. Boutros Boutros Ghali's mobile phone ringtone is Oh My Darling and When the Saints (as listeners to Radio 4's Today programme unexpectedly heard on Wednesday morning).

6. Gordon Brown was presented with a Ferrari pedal car by the Italian finance minister, revealed the register of ministerial gifts. He paid £190 to keep it.

7. Once body temperature reaches 42C, it starts to cook. The heat causes the proteins in each cell to irreversibly change.

8. The average film running time is now two hours.

9. DR Congo boasts not only copper and gold and diamonds but also most of the world's deposits of a mineral called coltan, which is used in mobile phones.

10. Tokyo's subway has women-only carriages to protect female commuters from groping.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5209286.stm

[Scheherazade]

1. Thirty percent of people with digital cameras never print their pictures.

2. Shoe injuries are on the rise - half a dozen women are admitted to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff during weekend evenings suffering from them.

3. There are only four members of the Shaker religious sect left in the world.

4. The new chief executive of Ben and Jerry's is called Walt Freese.

5. California was the 12th largest source of greenhouse gasses last year - 41% of which is down to transport (as opposed to 28% in the UK).

6. British motorists are the most uptight in Europe, with 87% sometimes very annoyed by other drivers.

7. Almost all the leatherback turtles found dead in UK waters have died from ingesting discarded plastic bags, which they mistake for jellyfish, one of their main food sources.

8. Lord Tebbit is a "huge fan" of Deal or No Deal.

9. It's illegal to make confetti out of euro bank notes.

10. The oleander (Nerium oleander) plant is perhaps the most lethal plant in the British Isles today - one small portion of leaf could knock you out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/...8.stm#10things

[Scheherazade]

1. Only children are the least likely to be able to make other people laugh, say psychologists. Only 11% of children without siblings have this talent.

2. Newspapers in the UK have given away 54 million DVDs this year, about the same number as have been sold by retailers.

3. The original film footage of the first Apollo XI moon landing has been lost.

4. There are 32,000 workers living on-site at the production centre in China where iPods are manufactured.

5. Televisions with plasma screens can consume four times as much electricity as cathode ray tube televisions.

6. Involuntary bad language, a symptom affecting about one in 10 people with Tourette's syndrome, is called "coprolalia".

7. There's an A-level in critical thinking - Theo Walcott's girlfriend, Melanie Slade, passed it.

8. The town of Barga in Tuscany claims to be "the most Scottish in Italy" - and this week held its annual Scottish festival.

9. There are two million cars and trucks in Brazil which run on alcohol.

10. Watching television can act as a natural painkiller for children, say researchers from the University of Siena.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4790045.stm

[Scheherazade]

1. Trap-jaw ants have been recorded closing their jaws at 66 mph, the fastest known speed for an animal moving its body parts.

2. Caprice's surname is Bourret.

3. There is only one cheddar cheese maker in Cheddar, even though cheddar is the most popular hard cheese in the English-speaking world.

4. Cartoon cat Tom smoked roll-ups. But a scene showing him rolling his own cigarette, only using one hand, is to be cut from screenings on children's television.

5. For every 10 successful attempts to climb Mount Everest there is one fatality, says a report from a medical journal.

6. Cows can have regional accents, says a professor of phonetics, after studying cattle in Somerset

7. Cups of tea can be healthier than water, according to some nutritionists.

8. Despite the iPod's success, Apple has had to pay Creative for use of its patented technology.

9. There are 300,000 people aged 90 or over in the UK.

10. A million guitars were sold in the UK last year, more than double the number sold five years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/5270228.stm

[Shannanigan]

1. Thirty percent of people with digital cameras never print their pictures.

Oh I bet it is soooooooooo much more than that with all the people who just keep photos on their computer and send them through the internet!

Honestly, why print when everybody has a computer and instead of lugging albums around you can just have photos on a disk or flash drive?

[Scheherazade]

1. Everyday school expenses - such as uniforms - cost families an average £1,300 a year.

2. Some Royal Mail stamps, which of course carry the Queen's image, are printed in Holland.

3. 88% of couples in long and happy relationships have lips of similar size, according to research by the University of Leicester.

4. London has the best public transport system in the world (well, according to readers of TripAdvisor.com).

5. Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Lydia Moronoff, the daughter of a Russian-born violinist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

6. The Airfix swastika decals are banned from kits for sale in Germany.

7. Toytown, the horse which carried Zara Phillips to equestrian gold, cost just £400.

8. Chinese Girl, a painting by Vladimir Tretchikoff, who died last week, is believed to have sold more in print form than the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

9. Some sharks can't reproduce until the age of 20 or above.

10. Dipping seagull eggs in oil, so they do not hatch, is seen as the best way to limit the seagull population. Shooting the birds is too dangerous, while smashing eggs just leads to gulls laying more.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/...4.stm#10things

[kathycf]

Well, I don't know if anybody posted these before (too lazy to search through the whole thread ) but here are a few fun facts about my native land.

1. Only in America......can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

2. Only in America......are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

3. Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while
healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

4. Only in America......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

5. Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

6. Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

7. Only in America......do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

8. Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

9. Only in America......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

10. Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machines with Braille lettering.


Many thanks to my friend Sara who passed this information on to me.

[kathycf]

5. Helen Mirren was born Ilyena Lydia Moronoff, the daughter of a Russian-born violinist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

and she shares a birthday with me...July 26th.

[AimusSage]

3. 88% of couples in long and happy relationships have lips of similar size, according to research by the University of Leicester.

3. Now that is interesting, what with many women nowadays filling up their lips with collagen, could this be why so many divorce?

6. The Airfix swastika decals are banned from kits for sale in Germany.

6. Airfix is out of business anyway, so I don't really so how that is a problem anymore. Airfix crashes and burns It's sad really, I like to build models, if not plastic ones.

[Virgil]

1. Everyday school expenses - such as uniforms - cost families an average £1,300 a year.

Do kids in England have to wear uniforms to school? I think that's a great idea. They are trying it in the Detroit school system and residents are rebelling. I think it makes the kids better.

[Nightshade]

I think it makes the kids better.

HaHa and sorry HA!

I dont see as it makes a differance myself. The things people do to their uniforms
Mind you thats high school I think it may work quite well for the primaries except you can see the fashion. that is tyhe uniforms are made buy shops and not buy schools.
Last years bhs Summer dresses were gorgeous but obviously more exspensive.

[Scheherazade]

Yes, kids do wear uniforms in the UK (at least till they are 16) and I think they are great. Parents don't worry about children's outfits day in, day out. Also, they provide some kind of equality between children. Even if they come from poorer backgrounds, they don't have to worry about not having designer label clothes or as many different outfits as their friends etc when they are at school at least.

And truants can be spotted very easily too if they are wearing uniforms!

[Nightshade]

ok thats true. I ve seen boys on the train leaving the town in school uniform and gone oi what are you doing out of school. ( of course I never actually said that as Im not fond of being told to well you can guess.

I may not think it makes the behave but I do think its better than nonuniform itseasier on the kids too You can et up i the morning and you KNOW what you will wear instead of going I know its been cleaned but I wore that on monday.

[Madhuri]

1. India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization

2. Varanasi, also known as Benares, was called "the ancient city" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C.E, and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today?

3. India never invaded any country in her last 10000 years of history.

4. India is the world's largest democracy.

5. India invented the Number System. Zero was invented by Aryabhatta.

6. The World's first university was established in Takshashila in 700BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century BC was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.

7. Chess (Shataranja or AshtaPada) was invented in India.

8. Sanskrit is also known as "The Mother of all Languages", although it, like Latin, Greek and Persian, actually descends from Proto-Indo-European (PIE).

9. Although modern images of India often show poverty and lack of development, India was the richest country on earth until the time of British invasion in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus was attracted by India's wealth.

10. Temple of Lord Venketeshwara is the second busiest and richest religious centre in the world after the Vatican. Every year above 12 million people visit this temple from within India and the world but mostly from South India. The current receipts of the shrine are estimated at Rs 10 Billion p.a.

[Scheherazade]

1. There were seven unsuccessful attempts by early humans to settle in Britain, before the first successful attempt, 12,000 years ago.

2. Chimpanzees are learning how to cross roads safely, researchers in West Africa have discovered.

3. Estate agent signs from Northern Ireland are being re-used as roofing tiles in South Africa.

4. The model railway market in Germany is the biggest in Europe and is estimated to be six times larger than in the UK.

5. Bob Dylan inspired Pam Ayres to write poetry.

6. The world's fastest supercomputer will have its speed measured in "petaflops", which represent 1,000 trillion calculations per second.

7. Migrant workers send back £149bn to their families in developing countries, says the United Nations.

8. Stingray barbs are up to six inches long and before Steve Irwin's death, they had caused only two other fatalities in Australia.

9. The term Eastenders was coined by the media in the 1880s, with these Victorian Londoners being associated with crime and ill-health.

10. The medical name for the part of the brain associated with teenage sulking is "superior temporal sulcus".


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/...2.stm#10things