100 things we didn’t know this time last year (from Digg) – some interesting ones include [my comments are in brackets]:
- While it’s an offence to drop litter on the pavement, it’s not an offence to throw it over someone’s garden wall. [neat!]
- Nicole Kidman is scared of butterflies. “I jump out of planes, I could be covered in cockroaches, I do all sorts of things, but I just don’t like the feel of butterflies’ bodies,” she says.
- Until the 1940s rhubarb was considered a vegetable. It became a fruit when US customs officials, baffled by the foreign food, decided it should be classified according to the way it was eaten. [sort of like the anti-tomato]
- It’s possible for a human to blow up balloons via the ear. A 55-year-old factory worker from China reportedly discovered 20 years ago that air leaked from his ears, and he can now inflate balloons and blow out candles.
- Lionesses like their males to be deep brunettes.
- The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing “is equal to” in his equations. He chose the two lines because “noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle”.
- “Restaurant” is the most mis-spelled word in search engines.
- The name Lego came from two Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”. It also means “I put together” in Latin.
- Tactically, the best Monopoly properties to buy are the orange ones: Vine Street, Marlborough Street and Bow Street.
- It takes less energy to import a tomato from Spain than to grow them in this country because of the artificial heat needed, according to Defra. [this country referring to UK]
- Giant squid eat each other – especially during sex.
- First-born children are less creative but more stable, while last-born are more promiscuous, says US research. [what if you were first AND last born (only child)? uncreative, stable, and promiscuous!]
- A towel doesn’t legally reserve a sun lounger – and there is nothing in German or Spanish law to stop other holidaymakers removing those left on vacant seats. [and there’s no law against me throwing food in your face, but it’s just common courtesy that I don’t.]
- One in six children think that broccoli is a baby tree. [awwwwww]
- One in 18 people has a third nipple.
- Spanish Flu, the epidemic that killed 50 million people in 1918/9, was known as French Flu in Spain. [it’s not from us, it’s from them!]
- The first traffic cones were used in building Preston bypass in the late 1950s, replacing red lantern paraffin burners.
Border Fence Firm Snared for Hiring Illegal Workers (from Digg) – A fence-building company in Southern California agrees to pay nearly $5 million in fines for hiring illegal immigrants. Two executives from the company may also serve jail time. The Golden State Fence Company’s work includes some of the border fence between San Diego and Mexico. Talk about irony…
How long in the freezer does it take to chill a Coke from 89F to 35F? (from Digg) –
That would be about 20-25 minutes in a freezer. If you put it in a bucket of ice, that would halve that time. If you put water in that ice, it’d be cold (+- 5c) enough to drink in about 4-6 minutes, if you put salt in that water, you’d reduce the chill time to just over 2 minutes. Agitating the can in the water, rolling it around, reduces the chill time even more.
The fastest possible way is to grab a CO2 fire extinguisher and unload that sucker on the can.
Whatever you do, do NOT bury the can in sand, pour gasoline on the sand and set the sand on fire. That won’t do anything.
This is all empirically gained evidence, not third party.
SNL – Digital Short – A Special Christmas Box *Uncensored Version* (from RayAlome) – (NOT SAFE FOR WORK!) *Uncensored Version* Something special f *Uncensored Version* Something special for your girlfriend this Christmas Another hilarious song skit from SNL. This time it’s “Dick in the Box”.
GRANDMA’S BOY GAME DEMONIK BEING MADE (from Digg) – They’re actually going to make that game shown on Grandma’s Boy: Demonik into a real Xbox 360 game! I wonder which came first…
Collector pays $2.3M for $1,000 bill – An art collector has paid about $2.3 million for a $1,000 bill printed in 1890, according to the auction house that brokered the transaction between two anonymous private collectors.
Imagining the Tenth Dimension – A Book by Rob Bryanton (from RayAlome) – If the site is down, you can try the mirror. A very intriguing video of the 10 different dimensions that can be perceived by humans which ultimately leads up to string theory. I don’t agree with the author’s usage of the word dimension 100%, but he does give an easy view of understanding this concept. If you’re interested, you can purchase the book from Amazon.com.
Don’t Forget To Declare Bribes On Your Taxes – When filling out the “other income” section on your taxes this year, there’s a few things you might forget to declare. Like your income from selling drugs. AllFinancialMatters spotted this while cruising the this years IRS FAQ.
Bribes. If you receive a bribe, include it in your income.
Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner.
Kickbacks. You must include kickbacks, side commissions, push money, or similar payments you receive in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), if from your self-employment activity.
Illegal income. Illegal income, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.
Empty-Stomach Intelligence (from Digg) – Hunger makes the best sauce, goes the maxim. According to researchers at Yale Medical School, it may make quadratic equations and Kant’s categorical imperative go down easier too. The stimulation of hunger, the researchers announced in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience, causes mice to take in information more quickly, and to retain it better — basically, it makes them smarter. And that’s very likely to be true for humans as well. And I always thought it was just food coma that make me lazy. It’s because hunger makes me smarter.
AppleGeeks Lite 081 – What if babies were like video games?
Dolphins saved by arm wrestling – The world’s tallest man has saved the lives of two dying dolphins in China by reaching deep into their stomachs to pull out pieces of plastic, official Chinese media reported on Thursday. … In an operation shown on local television, a dozen men held the dolphins down while Bao slid his 1.06 metre (42 inch) long arm down their throats to grab the plastic. The dolphins are now recovering well, Xinhua said. His arm is over 3ft long! Interestingly enough, I would’ve thought one of those mechanical arms with clampers would have worked, but they had to request this guy all the way from Mongolia to come. Do check out the gallery of photos.
THREAD (from Digg) – an interesting short animation using just thread to create images and movement. You can see more on his homepage: ARNO SALTERS.
Pray for Coal – The 10 most dangerous play things of all time (from Digg) – In the last year alone, some eight million units of toys were recalled in the U.S., according to W.A.T.C.H., a toy-safety advocacy group. But Kool Toys and Polly Pockets are kids’ stuff compared to the hazardous baubles of yesteryear. In the spirit of the holidays, Radar presents the 10 most dangerous toys of all time, those treasured playthings that drew blood, chewed digits, took out eyes, and, in one case, actually irradiated. To keep things interesting, we excluded BB guns, slingshots, throwing stars, and anything else actually intended to inflict harm. Below, our toy box from hell. These toys are awesome!
Kid Gets Burned By Fire (from Digg) – This dude is insane. I am not sure what he thought would happen by soaking his jeans in gasoline and then running through a fire. I bet this kid has some serious burns after this. Didn’t someone teach him about STOP! DROP! AND ROLL!?
I was reading one of the strips from The Joy of Tech and found this question: Imagine a plane is sitting on a massive conveyor belt, as wide and as long as a runway. The conveyor belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels, moving in the opposite direction. Can the plane take off? My initial instinct was yes, but after I thought more about it, I decided it was no and RayAlome confirms that answer. The thing that is missing is the air flow. Even when your engine is in full power, there’s no air pushing your wings up, which is a natural process when the plane is moving forward. RayAlome suggested putting a giant hair blower in front of it.