Total Trivia

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Is that counting Venezuela's tar sands? If tar sands are counted, Venezuela may have more oil reserves than Saudi Arabia, depending on the source you consult.

The factoid said 'proven' oil reserves, by that we must assume all that is known.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Hope diamond is the biggest (45.5 carats) blue diamond known in the world.

 

[PenforPrez]

Only two baseball teams have won 10 or more World Series titles: the New York Yankees (26) and the St. Louis Cardinals (10). The Chicago Cubs have the longest currently active championship drought at 100 years as of 2008, followed by the Cleveland Indians at 60.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The poem commonly referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" was originally titled "A Visit From Saint Nicholas." This poem was written by Clement Moore for his children and some guests, one of whom anonymously sent the poem to a New York newspaper for publication.

 

[water_side]

There are over 31,000 lochs in Scotland.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The color combination with the strongest visual impact is black on yellow. Next to follow black on white, yellow on black, white on black, dark blue on white, and white on dark blue.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Humane Society estimates that there are 800,000 dog bites that require medical attention every year. Dog bites rank second behind sexually transmitted diseases as the most costly health problem in the United States. Over 60 percent of those bitten are children, and 80 percent of the fatalities are also children.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Studies shown by the Psychology Department of DePaul University show that the principal reason to lie is to avoid punishment.

 

[water_side]

The Maidenhead Railway Bridge (designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel - built in 1838) contains the widest, flattest brick arch in the world (24 ft rise, 128 ft span). At the time, Brunel's doubters claimed that the bridge would quickly collapse, yet it still stands today and supports trains over 10 times heavier than those Brunel designed it for.

 

[PenforPrez]

The Maidenhead Railway Bridge (designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel - built in 1838) contains the widest, flattest brick arch in the world (24 ft rise, 128 ft span). At the time, Brunel's doubters claimed that the bridge would quickly collapse, yet it still stands today and supports trains over 10 times heavier than those Brunel designed it for.

I.K. Brunel was named the second-greatest Briton of all time by the British people in a 2002 BBC poll, behind only Winston Churchill. I always find it interesting that almost nobody in America has ever heard of Brunel. That's a shame, because he was an engineering genius.

The CBC in Canada did a similar poll among Canadians in 2004. #1 was politician Tommy Douglas, who as premier of Saskatchewan encouraged the establishment of the prototype for the present-day Canadian health care system.

 

[water_side]

I.K. Brunel was named the second-greatest Briton of all time by the British people in a 2002 BBC poll, behind only Winston Churchill. I always find it interesting that almost nobody in America has ever heard of Brunel. That's a shame, because he was an engineering genius.

The CBC in Canada did a similar poll among Canadians in 2004. #1 was politician Tommy Douglas, who as premier of Saskatchewan encouraged the establishment of the prototype for the present-day Canadian health care system.

Yeah Brunel certainly deserved second place - if not first (although I heard there was a suspision that the Brunel vote was greatly enhanced by block voting from students of Brunel University!)


Almost nothing remains of Brunel's visionary third ship; The Great Eastern (1859). The 'Leviathan' (as it was dubbed), was 700 ft long and could carry 4,000 passengers. Despite it's impressiveness it failed financially and so spent most of it's active life as a intercontinental telegraph cable-layer. The large flagpole within the entrance to Liverpool fc football ground is one of the very few salvaged Great Eastern fixtures. It would be circa 1900 before a ship so large was to be built again.


(I don't know if this is true, but I also heard that a German TV company tried a similar 'Greatest ever' poll, but the show was axed because Hitler was doing too well!)

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL (1806-1859) built twenty-five railways lines, over a hundred bridges, including five suspension bridges, eight pier and dock systems, three ships and a pre-fabricated army field hospital.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The katzenklavier, or cat piano, was a 'musical instrument' designed by 17th century German polymath Athanasius Kircher. It consisted of a row of cats in cages, arranged by voice tone, which were 'played' using a keyboard that jabbed nails into their tails – making them yelp.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Elephants are covered with hair. Although it is not apparent from a distance, at close range, one can discern a thin coat of light hairs covering practically every part of an elephant's body.

 

[PenforPrez]

Only one Catholic has ever been elected President of the United States--John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1960. Only two other Catholics have been nominated by a major party--Democrat Al Smith of New York in 1928 and Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts in 2004.

John F. Kennedy is also one of only three sitting U.S. Senators directly elected to the White House. The others were Republican Warren Harding of Ohio in 1920 and Democrat Barack Obama of Illinois in 2008.

 

[PenforPrez]

(I don't know if this is true, but I also heard that a German TV company tried a similar 'Greatest ever' poll, but the show was axed because Hitler was doing too well!)

They recently did something similar in Russia, and Joseph Stalin won. Of course, in Soviet Russia, Stalin chooses you!

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The caterpillar of the monarch butterfly will eventually multiply its original weight by 2,700 times. If a 7-pound newborn human gained weight at the same rate, as an adult, it would weigh well over 9 tons.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The Chicago Public Library is the world's largest public library with a collection of more than 2 million books.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Moths – at least in the form we know them – are not responsible for damaging woolen clothing. Our wearables are attacked only by moths in the larval state, and then only by one family of moths, the Tineidae.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

There is a house in Rockport Massachusetts, built entirely of newspaper. The Paper House at Pigeon Cove, as it is called, is made of 215 thicknesses of newspaper.

 

[smotherman]

"bump"

Shakespeare invented the word "assassination" and "bump."

 

[smotherman]

The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.

 

[smotherman]

If Barbie were life-size her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal human's neck.

 

[smotherman]

China has more English speakers than the United States.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In 1847, the coastal city of Yorba Buena in California changed its name to San Francisco. The city took its new name from St. Francis of Assisi, who is recognized as San Francisco’s patron saint.