10 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Week

[Scheherazade]

1. Placa George Orwell in Barcelona is covered by CCTV.

2. Television presenter Fern Britton has a gastric band.

3. Nearly all animals are banned from the grounds of the Houses of Parliament - except dogs and horses.

4. Many businessmen believe biscuits are key to clinching deals.

5. Public drinking is socially acceptable in Denmark.

6. Syria has the world's largest restaurant, seating 6,014 diners.

7. George Lucas's daughter Amanda is a mixed martial arts fighter.

8. London's broadband is the fastest in the UK.

9. T-shirts featuring rude words, bombs or cartoon guns can stop you getting on planes from British airports.

10. Getting caught cheating at a British university does not get you expelled.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a028574

[Virgil]

4. Many businessmen believe biscuits are key to clinching deals.

Biscuits???? What kind of biscuits? Those with hundred dollar bills in the middle.

5. Public drinking is socially acceptable in Denmark.

Cool. Is public vomiting accepted too?

6. Syria has the world's largest restaurant, seating 6,014 diners.

Well, at least I hope they have more than one waiter.

[cipherdecoy]

10. Sloths aren't lazy.

Hahaha, that's a cute one.

[Scheherazade]

Biscuits???? What kind of biscuits? Those with hundred dollar bills in the middle.

Nope, probably spiked ones served by Tyra Banks and so on.

[Scheherazade]

1. Sir Jonathan Miller's main recreational activity, according to Who's Who, is deep sleep.

2. Not paying attention as a juror is not an offence in Australia.

3. Gordon Brown's favourite song is Keep Right On To The End Of The Road, written in 1919 by fellow Scot Sir Harry Lauder.

4. A petaflop is a measurement of computing speed equivalent to one thousand trillion calculations a second.

5. Rwanda has its own Archers radio soap - an everyday story of cassava-farming folk.

6. Komodo dragons don't kill their prey outright - instead their bacteria-laden salvia causes septicaemia.

7. Dolphin pods have no leader.

8. Pigs can suffer from mysophobia, a fear of dirt.

9. One in 10 people have a piercing other than on the earlobe.

10. Egyptian law says the age gap between spouses should not exceed 25 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a028915

[sofia82]

8. Pigs can suffer from mysophobia, a fear of dirt.

Really?!

[papayahed]

8. Pigs can suffer from mysophobia, a fear of dirt.

i saw that news story recently:



http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_w...oot_swine.html

[sprinks]

2. Not paying attention as a juror is not an offence in Australia.

Yeah that would be in reference to what happened recently here in Australia. A massive drugs case was dropped because 4 jurors were playing Sudoku during the trial!! .
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7447627.stm

The three-month trial had cost taxpayers more than A$1m (US$945,000) and the two accused men faced possible life sentences.

They got busted when people noticed that the jurors were writing notes vertically as well as horizontally!! . Oh I laughed so much when I heard about it on the news!!

[amanda_isabel]

hmm..

1. stairs going to the human kinetics program is really terrifying!

2. you have to be in school more than ten minutes before your class, or you'll wind up late

3. activism is not defined the way it used to

4. brainwashers are everywhere

5. eating chips can stain teeth!

6. lots of people are actually a lot more clueless than they think, and they presume they aren't

7. some faculty advisers don't care.. or they don't know anything..

8. I have become so accustomed to a dentist working on my mouth

9. none of my windows are suitable for that experiment in physics

10. a smile is priceless!

[Scheherazade]

1. The only DVD rejected by the British Board of Film Classification last year was a boxset of Weeds (broadcast in the UK on Sky One), for promoting drug use - despite more than 1,000 pornographic films being passed.

2. A bespoke garment does not necessarily need to be handmade.

3. There are 14 towns called Springfield in the US.

4. The England rugby team always includes a lawyer in the tour party.

5. John Lewis sold a Wii every five minutes in May.

6. Schools influence the smoking habits of young people.

7. Eating a big breakfast helps weight loss.

8. Bill Gates has not one, not two, but three computer screens at his office desk.

9. The British eat potatoes about 10 billion times a year and pasta 1.4 billion times.

10. Infants that use dummies are more likely to get ear infections.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a030905

[Virgil]

1. The only DVD rejected by the British Board of Film Classification last year was a boxset of Weeds (broadcast in the UK on Sky One), for promoting drug use - despite more than 1,000 pornographic films being passed.

Isn't the answer to reject the 1000 porn films as well rather than accept the druggy film?

3. There are 14 towns called Springfield in the US.

That's all? Everytime I turn around it seems like I hit a springfield.

7. Eating a big breakfast helps weight loss.

Counter intuitive but true. A good breakfest with protein and I don't feel hungry for well beyond lunch time. Of course I stll eat lunch.

8. Bill Gates has not one, not two, but three computer screens at his office desk.

A lot of the young guys at work have two computer monitors. I barely know what to do with one.

[Scheherazade]

1. The Royal Family costs the equivalent of 66p per person in the UK.

2. Benito Mussolini was knighted in 1923 but it was withdrawn in 1940.

3. About 35% of the 13.1 billion plastic bottles used by UK households annually are recycled, up from 3% in 2001.

4. A Volvo can accommodate 13 people.

5. Blue Peter presenters Valerie Singleton and Peter Purves had a fling.

6. Dogs can lawfully mess on roads with a speed limit of 40mph or above.

7. There are 13 podiatrists at the Glastonbury Festival.

8. On average, 1.5m 24-hour ration packs are eaten every year by British forces serving around the globe.

9. Kanye West ices his knees after every performance.

10. The number of people killed on the roads is at its lowest since records began in 1926.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a031266

[Virgil]

1. The Royal Family costs the equivalent of 66p per person in the UK.

Well, I guess if you Brits don't mind. Stuff like that would not go off well in the US.

4. A Volvo can accommodate 13 people.

Redicuous. That was a trgedy waiting to happen.

6. Dogs can lawfully mess on roads with a speed limit of 40mph or above.

You guys don't have pooper scooper laws? In NYC you must clean up after your dog. I remember before the pooper scopper laws (around early 1980's) I used to step in dog crap all the time.

10. The number of people killed on the roads is at its lowest since records began in 1926.

That's great. I believe the same goes for over here. Auto designs have made a difference. Buckling up has made a difference.

[Niamh]

10. The number of people killed on the roads is at its lowest since records began in 1926.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a031266

Wish i could say the same about here. think we are already closing in on 300 deaths. thats more than one death a day.

[Scheherazade]

1. In Zimbabwe, millions of dollars are called mollars.

2. .The 9/11 conspiracy theorists in the US include the LIHOPs (the government Let It Happen On Purpose) and MIHOPs (the government Made It Happen On Purpose).

3. Sir Clive Sinclair doesn't use the internet.

4. Everton, Aston Villa and Fulham are among the football clubs that were created from Sunday schools.

5. The City of Glasgow Police is the oldest force in the world, 29 years older than the Metropolitan Police formed under Sir Robert Peel.

6. Nelson Mandela was still on the US terror watch list until this week.

7. An income of £13,400 is required to enjoy a minimum standard of living in the UK.

8. Gordon Brown's favourite Beatle song is All My Loving.

9. Malaria is increasing in the UK.

10. Quarter-finalists at Wimbledon get free tea at the tournament for life.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a031612