10 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Week

[Scheherazade]

1. A monsoon is a wind, rather than rain.

2. More than 12,000 laptops a week go missing at US airports.

3. Synod is pronounced SIN-uhd, and Sentamu (as in John) is pronounced with a stress on the first syllable - SENT-uh-moo.

4. Women with large breasts pay more for their bras at Marks & Spencer than their smaller chested counterparts.

5. Some slugs are carnivores, and have razor-sharp teeth.

6. The average UK household bins £8-worth of leftovers a week.

7. Pears sink while apples float.

8. One in 20 of Britain's population will attend a summer festival.

9. One in three tickets sold at London theatres are for musicals.

10. Whipping someone until they bleed - even if they encourage it - is a criminal offence.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a031941

[Virgil]

2. More than 12,000 laptops a week go missing at US airports.

Oh my God. I better be careful with my laptop next time I go to the airport.

4. Women with large breasts pay more for their bras at Marks & Spencer than their smaller chested counterparts.

I'll be glad to chip in.

[Jozanny]

I'll be glad to chip in.

Only if I can buy the jockstraps for the most noteworthy.

[lugdunum]

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

Cool!
Do you think that Quarter-finalists at the Moscow's tournament get free vodka?

[eyemaker]

4. Women with large breasts pay more for their bras at Marks & Spencer than their smaller chested counterparts.

LoL..

[Scheherazade]

I'll be glad to chip in.

That's funny. I thought that you would be against such extravagance and encourage them to do without!



1. Misuse of the Red Cross emblem is a breach of the Geneva Convention.

2. Boys cost £7,000 more to rear than girls during school years.

3. A baobab fruit has six times as much vitamin C, per gram, as an orange.

4. White Americans are 14% more likely than other ethnic groups to survive cancer.

5. The switch from coal gas to non-toxic North Sea gas has contributed to a fall in the number of suicides.

6. There are estimated to be more than 2,000 Esperanto speakers in the UK.

7. Chocolate poisons dogs.

8. Twelve countries, including the US, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Libya and Russia, ban travel and immigration for HIV-positive people.

9. Young teenagers are drinking less and consuming fewer drugs.

10. House prices are up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a032375

[Virgil]

2. Boys cost £7,000 more to rear than girls during school years.

Give a girl a doll and she's happy; you got to give a boy a toy that moves or explodes. Plus, wait until the girl grows up and the father has to pay for the wedding.

4. White Americans are 14% more likely than other ethnic groups to survive cancer.

Talk about a slant to this story as if they have to add the racial component. (Unfortunately that's a disparity in educational awareness as well as economic.) But the real story is that the average American did as good or better than anyone else in the world. And for some strange reason there are Americans who want to change our health system to be more like the British. *shakes his head and mumbles something political*

7. Chocolate poisons dogs.

Yes, yes, yes!! Be careful to not let dogs get chocolate.

9. Young teenagers are drinking less and consuming fewer drugs.

Fantastic. There is no surer way than to ruin kids lives than to get them involved with drugs.

[lugdunum]

9. Young teenagers are drinking less and consuming fewer drugs.

Spain was certainly NOT part of this study. Unfortunately.... (For Spain, not for the study of course! )

[Scheherazade]

1. Having fat friends increases your risk of obesity.

2. The temperature of outer space is -270C (-454F).

3. There are about 50 species of ants in the UK.
More details

4. Drumming is as energetic as playing professional football.

5. The average Brit's savings would last 52 days if they found themselves out of work.

6. Scrabble is huge in Senegal.

7. The actress who played Brian's girlfriend in Life of Brian is now the mayor of Aberystwyth (and could end a local ban on showing her own film).

8. Faking one's death is known as pseudocide.

9. Mothers can change the "flavour" of their breast milk by what they eat.

10. The next named number up from a trillion is a quadrillion.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a033279

[sprinks]

2. The temperature of outer space is -270C (-454F).

And I thought it was cold here during the winter

[Virgil]

8. Faking one's death is known as pseudocide.

I've never heard that before. That is interesting.

9. Mothers can change the "flavour" of their breast milk by what they eat.

Can they do chocolate milk?

[Scheherazade]

1. Bees act in a similar way to serial killers.

2. Liz Taylor has broken her back five times.

3. Lake Baikal in Russia holds about a fifth of the world's fresh water.

4. The blank stickers for visa stamps are called vignettes .

5. Dyslexics can find it particularly difficult to learn the piano.

6. Van Gogh often reused canvasses to save money.

7. Seals can navigate from the position of stars.

8. Mick Jagger's officially a pensioner.

9. Being single in middle age can increase your risk of dementia.

10. In a drinking contest between a pen-tailed tree-shrew and a human, the former would win.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...x.html#a033717

[Virgil]

1. Bees act in a similar way to serial killers.

I can't believe that anyone actually spent money on this study. What a waste. Here's the first sentence from the article:

Just as bees forage some distance away from their hives, so murderers avoid killing near their homes, says the University of London team.

The analogy is among the most idiotic I have ever seen.

2. Liz Taylor has broken her back five times.

Doesn't she have large breasts? Now we know why.

3. Lake Baikal in Russia holds about a fifth of the world's fresh water.

I had never heard of Lake Baikal. So I looked it up. It's the 8th largest lake in the world. So how can it hold one fifth of the world's fresh water? There are seven other lakes bigger. Unless it's substantially deeper that the others. Strange. Edit: I looked it up and yes it is very deep.

8. Mick Jagger's officially a pensioner.

Good old Mick. Incredible how they keep going.

9. Being single in middle age can increase your risk of dementia.

But being married can increase your risk of going insane.

10. In a drinking contest between a pen-tailed tree-shrew and a human, the former would win.

Yeah, but does he drink a good scotch?

[Scheherazade]

1. Olympic swimmers can consume more than 12,000 calories a day while training. And not get fat.

2. Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson was once ranked seventh in the UK at fencing (men's foil).

3. There were 1,048 babies named Gertrude in 1907 but none in 2005.

4. Octopuses do not have eight legs. They have six arms and two legs.

5. The number of farmland birds in the UK is about half of what it was in the 1970s.

6. Penguins receive knighthoods.

7. Ear infections can affect the risk of being obese because they influence the nerves governing taste.

8. A rooftop luggage carrier increases fuel consumption by 20%.

9. Mills and Boon still publish at least one sheikh romance a month.

10. Buying oil only requires a 10% deposit of the market price.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...ast_w_63.shtml

[manolia]

2. Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson was once ranked seventh in the UK at fencing (men's foil).

Yeah that's the spirit.

4. Octopuses do not have eight legs. They have six arms and two legs.

Nonsense! Arms, legs..they taste just the same to me