Total Trivia

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The myth that lemmings regularly hurl themselves off cliffs (they don't) was widely popularised by the makers of the Oscar-winning Disney documentary White Wilderness, who - lacking any real-life lemming suicides to film - decided to push a load of lemmings off a cliff into a river instead.

 

[fire_breeze]

Shen Kuo (1031–1095), a Song Chinese government scholar-official and prolific polymath inventor and scholar, wrote a vivid passage in his Dream Pool Essays (1088) about an unidentified flying object. He recorded the testimony of eyewitnesses in 11th-century Anhui and Jiangsu (especially in the city of Yangzhou), who stated that a flying object with opening doors would shine a blinding light from its interior (from an object shaped like a pearl) that would cast shadows from trees for ten miles in radius, and was able to take off at tremendous speeds.

 

[fire_breeze]

In 1995, Ray Santilli instigated a wide reaching “alien autopsy” controversy when he claimed to possess footage taken in a tent by a U.S. military shortly after the 1947 Roswell UFO incident. Santilli first presented his film to an invited audience of media representatives, UFOlogists and other dignitaries at the Museum of London on 5 May 1995. Although the broadcast version did not show the actual “autopsy”, video editions have the complete and unedited film, plus previously unreleased footage of wreckage presented as the remains of the alien craft reported to have crashed in Roswell. The show features interviews with experts on the authenticity of the film.

On April 4, 2006, two days prior to the UK release of Alien Autopsy Ray Santilli and fellow producer Gary Shoefield announced that their film was only partially real (a “few frames,” in their words), while the rest was a reconstruction of twenty-two rolls of film, averaging four minutes in length, which Santilli had viewed in 1992 but which had subsequently degraded from humidity and heat. According to Santilli, a set was constructed in the living room of an empty flat in Rochester Square, Camden Town, London. John Humphreys, an artist and sculptor, was employed to construct two dummy alien bodies over a period of three weeks, using casts containing sheep brains set in jelly, chicken entrails and knuckle joints.

It's considered to be number 3 in the top 10 famous hoaxes.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Maybe it's historically inaccurate to talk about hoaxes before 1700. After all, the word 'hoax' only came into use during the 1700s. But if we take hoaxes to be any form of outrageous deception, then there was certainly plenty of that going on during the middle ages. The curious thing about hoaxes from this period is that they were often never exposed... until centuries later. Probably because there was little desire to challenge deceptions that supported the status quo.

Forgeries of the Medieval Church
Sure, they devoted their life to God, but that didn't stop the men and women of the Church from engaging in a little creative forgery. In fact, the medieval church was probably one of the most prolific sources of forged documents of all time.

Pope John VIII ruled for two years. However, while riding one day from St. Peter's to the Lateran, he had to stop by the side of the road and, to the astonishment of everyone, gave birth to a child. It turned out that Pope John VIII was really a woman. In other words, Pope John was really Pope Joan.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In July 2001 an e-mail began to circulate claiming that the Lovenstein Institute, a think-tank based in Scranton, Pennsylvania, had conducted research into the IQ of all the Presidents of the past 50 years and had concluded that George W. Bush ranked at the bottom, with an IQ of only 91.

The claim that G.W. Bush had the lowest IQ of any recent U.S. President attracted the attention of the international media. The London Guardian broke the story on July 19, and on August 26 Garry Trudeau featured the report in his Doonesbury comic strip. Unfortunately both Trudeau and the Guardian had fallen for a hoax.

 

[desideratum]

The human brain is approximately 75% water

The weight of an average human brain is about 1.3kg or roughly 3lbs i.e., almost one bag of sugar -- It's smaller than an elephant's brain (6kg) but bigger than a monkey's brain (95g)! A dog's brain weighs about 72g and a cat's brain weighs abut 30g.

Your skin weighs twice as much as your brain!

 

[water_side]

Scottish author Iain Banks was an extra in the film Monty Python and The Holy Grail. He played a knight in the final "battle" scene.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Ten cords of wood stacked 4 feet wide by 4 feet high by 80 feet long have the same heating potential as 1,400 gallons of oil.
(Not very practical for the lounge or patio though!)

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

The most common name in the world is neither Ching nor John. It's Muhammad.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

According to 1903 issue of "The Old Farmers' Almanac," the best time of the day to select a new pair of shoes is in the afternoon, when the exercise of the day has stretched the muscles to their largest extent.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Canada’s first Olympic gold medal was won by a man competing for the United States. George Orton of Strathroy, Ontario, took first place in the steeplechase at the 1900 Olympics in Paris, but because Canada didn’t have an official team he entered as part of the American team instead.

 

[mulehead61]

John F. Kennedy was not the youngest man to serve as president of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was; Kennedy was the youngest elected.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Australian scientists have identified some species of baby spiders that bite off the limbs of their mothers and slowly dine on them over a period of weeks. The researchers hypothesize the maternal sacrifice keeps the young from eating one another. (Hides my legs!)

 

[fire_breeze]

According to 1903 issue of "The Old Farmers' Almanac," the best time of the day to select a new pair of shoes is in the afternoon, when the exercise of the day has stretched the muscles to their largest extent.

And because your feet are a little swelled up

John F. Kennedy was not the youngest man to serve as president of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was; Kennedy was the youngest elected.

And JFK was the better looking one

 

[fire_breeze]

During World War II, condoms were used to cover rifle barrels from being damaged by salt water as the soldiers swam to shore.

 

[fire_breeze]

A Russian man who wore a beard during the time of Peter the Great had to pay a special tax.

 

[RUlookingup]

Estelle Lebost (Mrs. Carl Reiner) is probably best remembered for her one line — "I'll have what she's having" — in the deli scene in son Rob's 1989 hit, When Harry Met Sally.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

In a survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, 31 percent of those people surveyed felt that having a maid, housekeeper, or gardener would make their lives significantly less stressful. About 20 percent said that having a less stressful job would make life easier, and 3 percent of those surveyed said a personal shopper would minimize their stress.

(Just give me loads of money)

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Whether visiting Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, or Swaziland, most big game areas offer safari by horse. The adventure offers a more one-on-one experience with nature than that available from a vehicle-driven safari.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

Seven-foot-two Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was born just a bit longer than the average newborn at 22½ inches, but he weighed a hefty 12 pounds, 11 ounces. His name at birth was Lewis Alcindor.

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

As a young man Myles was commissioned to fight in the Netherlands. On his return to England he was hired by the Merchant Adventurers to sail with the Pilgrims in the Mayflower. He was with the first landing party to step ashore after they cast anchor on November 11th, 1620, in the Bay of Cape Cod. He acted as the commander of the exploring parties, and rallied the pilgrims to counter the first attack by Indians on December 8th, 1620.
On December 19th, the settlers selected a site for their colony to which they gave the name New Plymouth, but the next few months were to be a time of terrible hardship. One hundred and one persons came ashore, but by Christmas 1620 there were so many sick or dead that only about half-a-dozen were left capable of self-help. It was at this time that Myles lost his wife, Rose Standish. These few had to tend the sick, make fires, cook, wash and feed the others.
In 1662 he successfully led a rescue mission to Weymouth, which was under Indian attack. In 1628 he put down a minor rebellion by break-away settlers and in 1635 led an attack on French Traders who were intent on taking land from the colony. As late as 1653 he was called upon, at the age of 70, to command the fighting volunteers of the colony against a threatened Dutch invasion.

Myles Standish died on October 3rd, 1656.




↑ S. Aspinall, Tales of Old Standish (Published by Clarington Press Ltd, Ince, Wigan, 1982)
Retrieved from "http://wiki.standish.org.uk/index.php/Captain_Myles_Standish"

 

[desideratum]

*tiptoeing through...*

When opossums are playing 'possum', they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.

 

[desideratum]

and I couldn't resist this that I saw recently . . . so sweet! yum!

"Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt."

 

[Gaia_Lorraine]

*tiptoeing through...*

desideratum

Americans consume about 138 billion cups of coffee a year.

 

[liquen]

nyassa o nyanja is the word used by the angoni hillmen (who speak a dialect of zulu) for any large body of water. so, lake nyassa's name means lake... or lake lake