Random Facts

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
Words



"Jerkwater" is a railroad term. Until about fifty years ago, most trains were pulled by thirsty steam engines that needed to refill their boilers from water towers next to the tracks. But some towns were so small and inconsequential that they lacked a water tower. When trains stopped in those places, the crew had to find a nearby stream or well and, bucket-brigade style, "jerk" the water to the train. Those little dots on the map became known as jerkwater towns.

Malcolm Lowry had pnigophobia—the fear of choking on fish bones.
Augustus Caesar had achluophobia—the fear of sitting in the dark.
Androphobia is a fear of men.
Caligynephobia is a fear of beautiful women.
Pentheraphobia is a fear of a mother-in-law.
Scopophobia is a fear of being looked at.
Phobophobia is a fear of fearing.
Mageiricophobia is the intense fear of having to cook.
Papaphobia is the fear of Popes.
Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
Clinophobia is the fear of beds.

The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan."
STUG, has a fear of that weird blue color you used.:sick:



Surveys



Two out of three people sleep on their sides, and they're about equally divided as to WHICH side. Of the remainder, slightly more sleep on their stomachs than sleep on their backs.

A survey finds that a quarter of all people who take a briefcase or something similar to work with them have got SOMETHING in it for self-defense.

As many as nine out of ten people are right-handed, and the word for that side, "right," is derived from a variety of sources, all of which suggest strength. Left, on the other hand, comes from the Old English, lyft, for useless, weak.

A 1997 Gallup poll found that about one in four American workers - 24 percent - said that if they could do so, they would fire their boss.

Half of all men start to lose their hair by the time they turn 30. Everybody loses dozens of hairs a day - the key thing is whether or not they grow back. More than 40 percent of men wind up with significant hair loss.

Most humans can guess someone's sex with 95 percent accuracy just by smelling their breath.

Two-thirds of men wear briefs, 22 percent wear boxers, and six percent don't wear underwear (I assume 6% did not answer).

Occasionally, hot dog sales at baseball stadiums exceed attendance, but typically, hot dog sales at ballparks average 80 percent of the attendance.

There are more telephones than people in Washington DC.

Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.

Since the Lego Group began manufacturing blocks in 1949, more than 189 billion pieces in 2000 different shapes have been produced. This is enough for about 30 Lego pieces for every living person on Earth.

There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada.
dilli? Did you get the day off, or something?
 

moreluck

golden ticket member
WATER FACTS........

Roughly 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.

At birth, water accounts for approximately 80 percent of an infant’s body weight.

A healthy person can drink about three gallons (48 cups) of water per day.

Drinking too much water too quickly can lead to water intoxication. Water intoxication occurs when water dilutes the sodium level in the bloodstream and causes an imbalance of water in the brain.

Water intoxication is most likely to occur during periods of intense athletic performance.

While the daily recommended amount of water is eight cups per day, not all of this water must be consumed in the liquid form.

Nearly every food or drink item provides some water to the body.

Soft drinks, coffee, and tea, while made up almost entirely of water, also contain caffeine. Caffeine can act as a mild diuretic, preventing water from traveling to necessary locations in the body.

Pure water (solely hydrogen and oxygen atoms) has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.

Water dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Wherever it travels, water carries chemicals, minerals, and nutrients with it.

Somewhere between 70 and 75 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water.

Much more fresh water is stored under the ground in aquifers than on the earth’s surface.

The earth is a closed system, similar to a terrarium, meaning that it rarely loses or gains extra matter. The same water that existed on the earth millions of years ago is still present today.

The total amount of water on the earth is about 326 million cubic miles of water.

Of all the water on the earth, humans can used only about three tenths of a percent of this water. Such usable water is found in groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes.

The United States uses about 346,000 million gallons of fresh water every day.

The United States uses nearly 80 percent of its water for irrigation and thermoelectric power.

The average person in the United States uses anywhere from 80-100 gallons of water per day. Flushing the toilet actually takes up the largest amount of this water.

Approximately 85 percent of U.S. residents receive their water from public water facilities. The remaining 15 percent supply their own water from private wells or other sources.

By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.

The weight a person loses directly after intense physical activity is weight from water, not fat.
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
Drinking too much water too quickly can lead to water intoxication. Water intoxication occurs when water dilutes the sodium level in the bloodstream and causes an imbalance of water in the brain.

We had a local college student who died from water intoxication. He was pledging a fraternity and they forced him to drink massive amounts of water. I am sure that their mind set, as would be mine, was that what harm could come from drinking too much water other than really having to go to the bathroom.
 

Dizzee

ɹǝqɯǝɯ ɹoıuǝs
Pillows tend to gain weight as they grow older. Up to 25% of the weight of an old pillow is skin flakes, the mites which eat them, and their waste products (which are what most folks are actually allergic to when it is said they have a "dust allergy"). :sick:
 

rod

Retired 22 years
Pillows tend to gain weight as they grow older. Up to 25% of the weight of an old pillow is skin flakes, the mites which eat them, and their waste products (which are what most folks are actually allergic to when it is said they have a "dust allergy"). :sick:

Plus you should take them in for an oil change if you use alot of hair products
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
OTHER
useless facts
Approximately sixty circus performers have been shot from cannons. At last report, thirty-one of these have been killed.

Calvin and Hobbes: Hobbes originally had pads on his hands and feet but Bill Waterson (the creator) found them too distracting and removed them.

In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become a year older on New Year's Day.

In 1979, Namco released Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game of all time. Over 300,000 units were sold worldwide. More than 100,000 units are sold in the United States alone. Originally named Puck Man, the game was retitled after executives saw the potential for vandals to scratch out part of the letter P on the game's marquee, which might discourage parents from letting their children play. Pac-Man became the first video game to be popular with both males and females.

The St. Louis Gateway Arch had a projected death toll while it was being built. No one died.

203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S. (most of it in Texas, I'm assuming :wink2:)
 

dilligaf

IN VINO VERITAS
Crossword Puzzles
The first crossword puzzle appeared in 1913 in an American paper called "World." It was devised by its editor Arthur Wynne. It was of 32 words and diamond shaped. There were no black boxes in the puzzle.
Some 30,000,000 Americans slave over crosswords in newspaper, journals, and paperback books.

The hardest crossword puzzles according to experts appear in two British papers: "The London Times" and "Observer." Only few readers can complete these and it takes them 2 to 3 hours. The record time for completing a "Times" puzzle was an incredible 3 minutes and 45 seconds by a British diplomat named Roy Dean in 1970.

The largest crossword puzzle ever published had 2631 clues across and 2922 clues down. It took up 16 sq. feet of space.

The strangest crossword ever made was by a British writer Max Beerbohm in 1940. He called it the "Impossible Crossword" and issued warning to puzzlers so they do not go crazy trying to solve it, as the clues were nonsensical and the answers didn't exist.
 

rod

Retired 22 years
OTHER

useless facts

Approximately sixty circus performers have been shot from cannons. At last report, thirty-one of these have been killed.

Calvin and Hobbes: Hobbes originally had pads on his hands and feet but Bill Waterson (the creator) found them too distracting and removed them.

In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become a year older on New Year's Day.

In 1979, Namco released Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game of all time. Over 300,000 units were sold worldwide. More than 100,000 units are sold in the United States alone. Originally named Puck Man, the game was retitled after executives saw the potential for vandals to scratch out part of the letter P on the game's marquee, which might discourage parents from letting their children play. Pac-Man became the first video game to be popular with both males and females.

The St. Louis Gateway Arch had a projected death toll while it was being built. No one died.

203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S. (most of it in Texas, I'm assuming :wink2:)


Calvin and Hobbes--- one of the greatest comic strips ever published. I was really bummed when Waterson just decided to up and stop writing it.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
Pillows tend to gain weight as they grow older. Up to 25% of the weight of an old pillow is skin flakes, the mites which eat them, and their waste products (which are what most folks are actually allergic to when it is said they have a "dust allergy"). :sick:
I wonder what the expiration date should be, as I'm currently using pillows that are years old.:sick:




OTHER



useless facts

Approximately sixty circus performers have been shot from cannons. At last report, thirty-one of these have been killed.

Calvin and Hobbes: Hobbes originally had pads on his hands and feet but Bill Waterson (the creator) found them too distracting and removed them.

In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become a year older on New Year's Day.

In 1979, Namco released Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game of all time. Over 300,000 units were sold worldwide. More than 100,000 units are sold in the United States alone. Originally named Puck Man, the game was retitled after executives saw the potential for vandals to scratch out part of the letter P on the game's marquee, which might discourage parents from letting their children play. Pac-Man became the first video game to be popular with both males and females.

The St. Louis Gateway Arch had a projected death toll while it was being built. No one died.

203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S. (most of it in Texas, I'm assuming :wink2:)
STUG has spent countless hours/quarters, playing Pac-Man.
 

stevetheupsguy

sʇǝʌǝʇɥǝndsƃnʎ
Do you still have the high score on the machine at Queens Pizza shop?
I used to play at a bar in Inwood, Manhattan, called The Last Stop. It was right outside the last stop of the "A" train, at 207th st. One of the many machines, that if it still existed, would have my high score still in place.
 
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