10 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Week

[Virgil]

7. Italy produces 33,000 tonnes of mozzarella each year.

And I wouldn't mind if it were all sent to my house. Yum, I love fresh mozzarella.

[Scheherazade]

I love cheese.

*demands some now*

[Scheherazade]

1. Ian Fleming never met the woman upon whom he based Miss Moneypenny.

2. Each year 40,000 people pay homage at the California garage where the founders of Hewlett Packard started out.

3. White people make up 90% of the UK's population.

4. Most popular musical instrument in schools? The violin.

5. Morgan Tsvangirai's surname is pronounced chang-girr-IGH.

6. Much of the time it takes to fully train as an RAF pilot is taken up with solo flights.

7. Fabio Capello rings his mother every day.

8. Rice was once considered so important in Japan that it was worshipped as a god.

9. 4.4m apples are thrown away daily in the UK.

10. Belugas are the only white whales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a025462

[Nightshade]

Miss Monneypenny was based on someone?

[Scheherazade]

1. About 86% of fathers attend the birth of their children.

2. There is more crime in Glasgow than New York.

3. Vitamins can be bad for you.

4. To help break the bubbly when a new ship is launched, P&O sometimes scores the bottle with a glass-cutter.

5. The brain makes some decisions 10 seconds before they become conscious thought.

6. About 42% of hay fever sufferers think they have a cold.

7. Smells can drift across the Channel.

8. Belly fat creates more fat.

9. Scientists can control the brains of flies.More details

10. Bowleggedness is called genuvarum.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...ast_w_52.shtml

[Niamh]

2. There is more crime in Glasgow than New York.

And probably even more than that in Limerick

3. Vitamins can be bad for you.

yeah thats why i'm cutting my supplements.

4. To help break the bubbly when a new ship is launched, P&O sometimes scores the bottle with a glass-cutter.

clever

5. The brain makes some decisions 10 seconds before they become conscious thought.

so technically, one doesnt make spur of the moment decisions, because its already been decided before you even think it?

6. About 42% of hay fever sufferers think they have a cold.

true

7. Smells can drift across the Channel.

thats why we dont like winds from the east here

8. Belly fat creates more fat.

[Virgil]

2. There is more crime in Glasgow than New York.

New York has become the safest big city in America. It is incredible the difference between now and 15 years ago. From the article: "It suggests following a zero tolerance policy like the American city." Credit Rudy Guilliani for have the guts to fight the bleeding hearts. Just like in my discussion in my debate on incest, people in society need boundaries of right and wrong, and boundaries permeate to acceptable socialized behavior. Tolerating grafitti or jumping the subway turnstile or smoking marijuana creates an atmosphere that crimes are acceptable and they lead to further crimes.

3. Vitamins can be bad for you.

Absolutely. I stopped taking a multi vitamin. I was actually overloading on iron. Apparently my system absorbs iron very well, and given the supplement I was consistently over the range in my blood tests, finally to the point where the doctor had to further evaluate a special blood disease (I forget the name). I would only recommend taking specific vitamins if it was determined you were deficient in it. For instance my mother (and this is not unusual for older people) has trouble absorbing vitamin B12. She has to take supplements; some people actually require monthly shots. A broad based diet usually covers all of one's needs. That's why i don't advocate vegetarianism. Meat has the broadest diversity of nutrition and proteins, and unless a vegetarian carefully assesses meal by meal all their nutritional requirements, they are going to come up short. And who has time for that? And the flexibility to find all your foods? Meat pretty much solves most of your nutritional deficiencies. The problem is in today's world we tend to eat too much of it. One does not need a lot to satisfy your nutritional needs.

5. The brain makes some decisions 10 seconds before they become conscious thought.

I don't understand this one, nor do they explain it. I would like to know more about the mechanics of how this is.

7. Smells can drift across the Channel.

Hehehe, is this the real reason why the British and the Irish and the French never got along?

[Niamh]

Hehehe, is this the real reason why the British and the Irish and the French never got along?

[blp]

When I was in Japan I was told to finish all my rice on the grounds that it was a sacred food. Not a God, maybe, but the sacral element persists.

[Scheherazade]

1. A mother's diet at conception influences the gender of her baby.

2. Elvis visited Britain.

3. Gordon Brown did not send a Christmas card to Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel or Russia's outgoing president, Vladimir Putin.

4. Staff at the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop were only offered six-month contracts when it opened 50 years ago, because the corporation feared the work would drive them mad.

5. There are 109 journeys between London's Tube stations that are quicker to walk.

6. Astronauts at the International Space Station must spend two hours a day exercising their legs.

7. The language of space is English.

8. The UK's most valuable tree is the plane.

9. Children are more likely to injure themselves falling out of bed than out of a tree.

10. A woman's chances of quitting smoking is linked to her hormones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a026447

[Virgil]

1. A mother's diet at conception influences the gender of her baby.

I wonder what mama was eating 9 months before I was born? Perhaps if she had passed on the desert I might have been Virgila.

[Visionary3]

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/224

Microsoft Worldwide Telescope to be working soon. I found this fascinating.

[Scheherazade]

1. An LSD trip led to the invention of the vegeburger.

2. "Unlawfully laying hands on a cow with intent" was a crime in 19th Century Britain.

3. Colossal squid have the biggest eyes of any creature on the planet at a whopping 11 inches.

4. The most popular name for a pub is the Red Lion, with 756 such establishments across the UK.

5. The most common "combination craving" for a pregnant woman is pickles and peanut butter.

6. Inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos are known as Lesbians.

7. Humans can hold their breath for 17 minutes.

8. A severed finger tip can grow back naturally.

9. Residents of Sheffield have the worst tooth decay of people anywhere in Britain.

10. Children who attend daycare or playgroups are less like to develop the most common type of childhood leukaemia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a026786

[Virgil]

1. An LSD trip led to the invention of the vegeburger.

See, I always said it was unnatural to go vegetarian. (only kidding )

2. "Unlawfully laying hands on a cow with intent" was a crime in 19th Century Britain.

Lord knows what those farm boy were doing to the cows to actually create a law. I can only imagine.

4. The most popular name for a pub is the Red Lion, with 756 such establishments across the UK.

Hey I think we have some in the US too.

5. The most common "combination craving" for a pregnant woman is pickles and peanut butter.

Thank God I'll never be pregnant. Hey wasn't there a guy in the news the other week that was pregnant? I wonder if he had these cravings.

6. Inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos are known as Lesbians.

8. A severed finger tip can grow back naturally.

Actually someone was telling me at work about this yesterday. I didn't believe it. I still don't. If you look at the article, the guy is sticking his middle finger at me. What does it mean to regrow the middle finger?

[Niamh]

I wonder what mama was eating 9 months before I was born? Perhaps if she had passed on the desert I might have been Virgila.

Never heard of the old nursery rhyme Virg?