The everyday blog of Richard Bartle.
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6:00pm on Thursday, 15th November, 2007:
Weird
Here are some weird and wonderful pieces of trivia for those of you who like facts and figures:
Because of the gravitational effect of the Earth, the moon grows in diameter front-to-back by 1cm every 8 days. It shrinks in diameter side-to-side by the same amount.
51% of the bits in Microsoft's Vista operating system are 0s, and 49% are 1s.
The bubbles in champagne contain a small amount of Nitrous Oxide, or laughing gas. However, you would need to capture 168 bottles' worth to get enough to make someone laugh.
Under EU legislation, it's technically illegal for ice cream to contain cream. It is, however, allowed to contain ice (less than 50%, otherwise it's a sorbet).
A car tyre being driven driven north/south in the southern hemisphere will last 4% longer than an identical car tyre being driven north/south in the northern hemisphere. Driving south/north, it's the other way round.
The most common surname south of the equator is Rodriquez.
11 of the 200 best-selling computer games for the Sinclair Spectrum had the word "moose" in their title.
In feudal Japan, left-handedness among males aged 14 and over was punishable by death. Left-handed women, on the other, er, hand, were regarded as particularly attractive.
In 1976, construction workers in New Zealand unearthed a Maori burial site containing three clay tablets that bore Assyrian cuneiform writing. When translated, they were revealed to be grain store records.
Ireland became and island during the Triassic period, about 225 million years ago. Since that time it has only been connected to the rest of Europe periodically during ice ages.
The oldest harp in the world dates from around 1200 BC, and was found in the tomb of a functionary in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. It is believed it was originally strung with the intestines of an animal.
In the first draft of The Hobbit, Bilbo's last name was Butterkin.
The time at which most clocks stop is 6:32.
Excluding submarines, every Royal Navy capital ship constructed since 1881 has involved the accidental death of at least one person.
The last surviving dodo was kept as a pet and nicknamed Barnaby. It died by choking to death on a shirt it was attempting to eat.
New York was originally going to be called New Albany when it was acquired from the Dutch, but the Duke of York and Albany's wife thought that New York sounded better.
Bats cannot sneeze.
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Copyright © 2007 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).