10 Things We Didn't Know This Time Last Week

[Virgil]

Virgil you are so funny. Loved to read this with your personal comments added

Thank you Walker. I'm glad you enjoy it. I have fun coming up with comments.

[Niamh]

virg you are a nutter!

[Virgil]

virg you are a nutter!

Thank you Niamh.

[Scheherazade]

1. When the term "nostalgia" was coined in the 17th Century, some thought it was a uniquely Swiss phenomenon.

2. The removal of bales of straw can legally constitute building work for planning law purposes.

3. Half of the world's 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing.

4. Some bugs do not get tackled for years.

5. Glass attacks in bars and pubs cause 87,000 injuries a year in England and Wales.

6. You can pay for university courses with Tesco Clubcard points.

7. Italy has 180 products with protected origin status, the most in the EU.

8. Racing camels can be worth millions.

9. Lego fanatics use computer modelling to design their creations.

10. "Baby brain" is is just a myth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_121.shtml

[Virgil]

1. When the term "nostalgia" was coined in the 17th Century, some thought it was a uniquely Swiss phenomenon.

Well, if you make such wonderful chocolates, you would be nostagic for it too.

2. The removal of bales of straw can legally constitute building work for planning law purposes.

Incredible. There must be a union that governs removal of straw.

3. Half of the world's 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing.

Not that is actually very sad. I love English, but really does it have to absorb all the other languages?

4. Some bugs do not get tackled for years.

Then they ought to play in the super bowl. They would make a heck of a running back.

5. Glass attacks in bars and pubs cause 87,000 injuries a year in England and Wales.

Maybe they ought to switch to plastic bottles and glass.

6. You can pay for university courses with Tesco Clubcard points.

And here I thought monopoly money was valueless. I could have paid for college on game money!

7. Italy has 180 products with protected origin status, the most in the EU.

I bet most of it has to do with food. What kind of cuisine would the world have without us Italians.

8. Racing camels can be worth millions.

Did you ever see the jockies for those camels? Completely bow legged.

9. Lego fanatics use computer modelling to design their creations.

Are you serious? That is actually really cool. I bet those are good skills for a kid to develop if they want to get into engineering.

10. "Baby brain" is is just a myth.

Oh yeah. When you're born you already start with the brain of a ninety year old. How silly.

[Scheherazade]

1. The Frisbee was originally called the Pluto Platter.

2. Fast-moving elephants run with their front legs but walk with their back legs

3. Parents in Japan swear by KitKats when their children are taking exams.

4. High-end cars have radar-based cruise control.

5. At the 1964 Innsbruck Games the Austrian army transported 20,000 blocks of ice for the bobsled and luge.

6. The United Arab Emirates recently held the largest camel beauty contest ever.

7. "Karaoke rage" has claimed more than a dozen lives in the Philippines... usually for Frank Sinatra's My Way.

8. Birds may use their feathers for touch, like cats use their whiskers.

9. Nearly 400,000 people still watch every episode of Friends on Channel 4 and E4.

10. In Japan, a bow's humility is determined by its deepness and duration.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_122.shtml

[The Walker]

9. Nearly 400,000 people still watch every episode of Friends on Channel 4 and E4.

of course! friends is friends
oh i know so many of them! jeje

[Scheherazade]

1. The Dalai Lama has met every serving US president since 1991.

2. The Barbie doll has had 125 careers since 1959.

3. There is a Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

4. 10 possible endings were written and rehearsed for the EastEnders live episode.

5. Pregnant women do not need to eat for two.

6. Winning the lottery really does make you happier.

7. Australia has never had a saint. Until now.

8. The Battle of Bosworth actually took place more than a mile from where we thought.

9. Goldie Hawn runs schools.

10. King Tut broke his leg shortly before his death.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_123.shtml

[Virgil]

1. The Frisbee was originally called the Pluto Platter.

I tell you, Pluto gets no respect. First they downgrade it from a planet and then they scrap it as a toy. What next?

2. Fast-moving elephants run with their front legs but walk with their back legs

Sounds like Michael Jackson and the moon walk.

3. Parents in Japan swear by KitKats when their children are taking exams.

Did Scher grow up in Japan? She grew up on kitkats.

4. High-end cars have radar-based cruise control.

What the heck is that for, monitoring ICBMs while one is driving?

5. At the 1964 Innsbruck Games the Austrian army transported 20,000 blocks of ice for the bobsled and luge.

Can't the Austrian army come to my house now? We're in our fourth snow storm of the year, and it would be so knid of them to take some of this crap away.

6. The United Arab Emirates recently held the largest camel beauty contest ever.

And the camel was cuter than their Miss Universe entry. (No, no, I'm kidding. No disrespect intended. Just a joke.)

7. "Karaoke rage" has claimed more than a dozen lives in the Philippines... usually for Frank Sinatra's My Way.

I can't imagine what exeactly happens here to end their lives. Did the singer sing so bad that they decided to pummel him to death?

8. Birds may use their feathers for touch, like cats use their whiskers.

But you can't use a cat whisker for a quill. Birds are more literary.

9. Nearly 400,000 people still watch every episode of Friends on Channel 4 and E4.

One of these days they will no longer be friends.

10. In Japan, a bow's humility is determined by its deepness and duration.

Don't get fooled. Most japanese have bad backs and are hunched over.

1. The Dalai Lama has met every serving US president since 1991.

And the Dalai Lama is still in office while all those presidents are not. I'll take the D-L's job, despite the dresscode.

2. The Barbie doll has had 125 careers since 1959.

Talk about a lack of focus and not having a direction in life.

3. There is a Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.

And one wonders why UK have never had a great composer like Mozart.

4. 10 possible endings were written and rehearsed for the EastEnders live episode.

Can't they make up their mind? Talk about indecision.

5. Pregnant women do not need to eat for two.

But they so enjoy doing so.

6. Winning the lottery really does make you happier.

I'm willing to give it a try.

7. Australia has never had a saint. Until now.

That's because most Aussies are a bunch of devils.

8. The Battle of Bosworth actually took place more than a mile from where we thought.

I guess they liked the alliteration. The Battle of Umphadickering just didn't sound as cool.

9. Goldie Hawn runs schools.

For blondes. Enough said.

10. King Tut broke his leg shortly before his death.

His Queen was a karate balckbelt and didn't like him staring at the slave girls.

[Scheherazade]

Did Scher grow up in Japan? She grew up on kitkats.

Guess, this explains why I am super-duper like this, doesn't it?

1. The average life of a web page these days is apparently somewhere between 44 and 77 days.
More details

2. A "beryl" is a type of precious mineral.

3. A dentist in San Francisco is named Les Plack.

4. A piconewton is a millionth of the force that a grain of salt exerts when resting on a tabletop.

5. There are people in the UK called Justin Case, Barb Dwyer and Stan Still.

6. Computer game and movie character Lara Croft was created in Derby.

7. Elephants growl.

8. Johnny Cash's Guess Things Happen That Way was the 10 billionth track to be sold on iTunes.

9. The types of lasers that remove tattoos can also be used to clean up works of art.

10. Recent snow has left the UK's roads riddled with 1.6 million new potholes.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_124.shtml

[Scheherazade]

1. A parrot can be repossessed.

2. Germans call chickenpox windpox, due to the speed with which it spreads.

3. Chickenpox is not referred to in medical literature before the 17th Century but it is thought to be an ancient condition whose name springs from the fact that the blisters resemble chick peas.

4. Some chickens are half-male and half-female.

5. The largest meat-eating plant in the world likes to eat the droppings of tree shrews and rats, rather than tree shrews and rats themselves.

6. "Hurt locker" is a phrase used by the military since at least 1966.

7. The Yukon never actually has 24-hour darkness.

8. Fifty percent of a jumbo jet can be recycled.

9. The world's first sleeping bag was patented in 1876, and called an Euklisia rug.

10. Soldiers in Afghanistan use concrete mixers to wash their clothes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_126.shtml

[Scheherazade]

1. Plastic surgeons in the US are doing lip grafts using muscle from the neck to make lips fuller.

2. For almost 30 years, the Virgin Mary has been said to appear daily in the Bosnian town of Medjugorje.

3. The mafia use Facebook.

4. The flat-headed cat has webbed feet.

5. Bono, Nick Cave and Jarvis Cocker sing sea shanties.

6. A "labile" vitamin means it is easily destroyed.

7. Straightening irons outsell hairdryers.

8. Dolphins can swim up to 50 miles a day.

9. Fried tarantula tastes like liver.

10. The Achilles tendon usually breaks with a loud snap.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_127.shtml

[Scheherazade]

1. Eighty-two million people play Farmville.

2. The name "scrumpy" comes from a word meaning small and shrivelled.

3. Rudyard Kipling turned down the Order of Merit - twice.

4. In The Wizard of Oz, Toto was played by a dog called Terry.

5. Pine that is grown in a cold climate has greater durability.

6. The Bill began life as a one-off drama called Woodentop.

7. The world's most complex mathematical problem is called the Poincare Conjecture.

8. There are only about 10 Pagani Zonda S supercars produced each year.

9. Teachers sometimes get lavish gifts from their pupils like a Tiffany bracelet.

10. Over 260 species of marine wildlife become entangled in litter or mistake it for food.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_128.shtml

[jet.thursday]

7. "Karaoke rage" has claimed more than a dozen lives in the Philippines... usually for Frank Sinatra's My Way.

-oh this so true! especially on streets where there are dozen drunk men, i think i also heard,
that when the drunk man's singing is out of tune, he'll be sorrrrry and dead (>.<)

4. Some chickens are half-male and half-female.

quite unusual, and will you tell it is half male/female? cause we've got lots of
chickens back at our yard

[Scheherazade]

1. The heat of a chilli pepper is measured on the Scoville Scale.

2. The world's oldest hot cross bun is 189 today.

3. The world record for sitting in a room with snakes without being bitten is 113 days.

4. Fish, rodents and snakes can predict earthquakes.

5. The classic 45-second shower scene in Psycho took a week to film.

6. Britain's oldest-known new father is 76.

7. The average person tells four lies a day.

8. The most visited exhibition in the world last year was a Buddhist exhibition in Japan.

9. Ordained priests can work in supermarkets.

10. Gossip spreads as rapidly as flu.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinem...st_w_129.shtml