Facts

[lemmingllama]

Just tell people interesting facts that you know and they probably dont. For example, Portugal is the worlds leading supplier of cork!

[† Ferocia Coutura]

It is easier to resuscitate drown victim's whenever they drowned in cold water. Oh, also, penguins have sex once a year.

[lemmingllama]

Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating

Woot, I love useless facts

[† Anras Rune]

proportionally speaking, muscles clams and other moluscles have the largest penis' iin the world, some species having penis' 10x the circumference of their entire body.

Polar bears are one of 3 species of animals that have a bone in their penis, the other two are some species of dolphin and shark.

The average human being is thought to ingest almost a kilo of dead skin a year, althought this number is generally higher if the person has pets, most prominantly dogs and cats.

The toilet seat is actually much cleaner than most other common household items. In experiments the toilet seat ranked in at the 3rd/4th least dirty, while the top 3 were the kitchen sponge, keyboard and light switch respectively.

Most people believe that the word punk came about during the "Punk Rock Age" of the late 70's and 80's, however, the word's actual origins come are much darker. It's first use was in the 1600's where it meant a prostitute and was used even by shakespeare. In recent times it became used as a term for prision rape, so "being Punked" meant you were being raped by an unsavoury individual. Ashton kutcher takes on a whole new light with that one...

Another word origin, one which is much more commonly misunderstood nowadays is the word gay. A gay person is obviously used today to describe a person of homosexual preferances, most commonly used for men.

After all, right up until recently it was a totally innocent word meaning "cheerful," right? In fact, "gay" lost its innocence centuries ago. Starting in the 1700s, the word was used as a euphemism for pretty much anything sexual -- and in a surprising twist, it used to label anybody who was outrageously straight. In the late 1800s, "gay lady" meant prostitute, and "gay house" was a brothel. In fact, if you were a womanizer, you would have been called "gay." If that's not strange enough, a dictionary from 1811 listed "gaying instrument" as a slang term for "penis."

I has many more obscure and strange facts if y'all want them...some funny, some not so funny...

[shyguysteve]

the only bird that can fly backwards is the humming bird.

[lemmingllama]

@Rune You should post more, I made this thread so we can all learn

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better than men.

Honey is the only food that doesn't spoil. (suck on that Twinkies)

[shyguysteve]

the average person can not touch their tongue to their elbows.

bats aren't blind

and a turtle is the oldest living reptiles on earth.

[lemmingllama]

the average person can not touch their tongue to their elbows.

bats aren't blind

and turtles are the oldest living reptile on earth is a turtle(s) <3

please re-examine your last line. Its like saying the department of redundancy department...

The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

[shyguysteve]

please re-examine your last line. Its like saying the department of redundancy department...

The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

was gonna put its name but forgot it. like 400 some years plus, for a female turtle.

The oldest verified person ever was French woman Jeanne Calment, who died at the age of 122 years 164 days.

"Aegilops" and "Almost" are the longest words in alphabetical order from the english dictionary..

[† Mute point]

It is physically impossible to kiss the point of your elbow without having a severely dislocated shoulder. (An average of 75% of people reading this will have just tried to kiss the point of their elbow)

It is biologically impossible for a male cat to have a true Calico coloring.

It is also biologically impossible for a human female to be colorblind.

[shyguysteve]

Sasha is a boys name.

[† Anras Rune]

Human females can see an average of 300 different shades of colour more than men, but have worse depth perception. This is due to females in the neolithic period and before being mostly gatherers and had to recognise different shades of berries and the likes, whereas males were generally hunters. It is also true that men have better memory direction (bearings if exploring, meaning that we find it easier to get home) but females have a better sense of balance.

Blair is also a mans name, as is ashley and lyndsay.

There is only one bird known to man that has been documented to kill human beings and that is the cassowary. Another interesting fact is the golden eagle has no know predator (other than man) and is always the apex hunter even thought they share their territory with bears, wolves and all manner of megafauna. They have been documented to attack bears just for shits n giggles.

The average wingspan of bat is thought to be directly correlated with the width of its nostrils.

Komodo Dragons are the largest reptiles in the world, and their saliva can kill with the slightest bite. This is cause of the sheer amount of pathogens and virus that breed in their mouths, meaning without treatment anything bitten normally dies within 72 hours.

German scientists discovered, after looking at hundreds of thousands of photos, that cows always seem to graze on a north to south line.

[jobonline20]

The phenomenal power of the human mind:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch as Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,

the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[DrumRoll]

A group of frogs is called an army.

A group of rhinos is called a crash.

A group of kangaroos is called a mob.

A group of whales is called a pod.

A group of geese is called a gaggle.

A group of ravens is called a murder.

A group of officers is called a mess.

A group of larks is called an exaltation.

A group of owls is called a parliament.

[† Anras Rune]

A group of frogs is called an army.

A group of rhinos is called a crash.

A group of kangaroos is called a mob.

A group of whales is called a pod.

A group of geese is called a gaggle.

A group of ravens is called a murder.

A group of officers is called a mess.

A group of larks is called an exaltation.

A group of owls is called a parliament.

expanding on this...

a group of eagles is called a convocation

a group of cormorants is called a gulp

a group of doves is called a prettying

a group of emus is also called a mob

a group of flamingoes is called a stand

a group of guinea fowl is called a confusion

a group of guillemots is called a bazaar

a group of ruffs is called a hill

and a group of swans is called a lamentation

[Zovesta]

Read most of these (too jittery to read everything) and I knew most of them. *sigh* But for the ones that I didn't, interesting stuff.

Here, you get a bunch of worthless samurai stuff.

Did you know that samurai would often eat katsuobushi on their treks into battle, but onigiri the rest of the time?

When protecting villages, the samurai would often be paid for in rice.

Despite the Bushido code demanding honour above all else, a lost of lower ranking samurai were corrupt and frequently bullied the people they were protecting - such as the villagers mentioned above.

When a samurai was ordered to commit seppuku by their daimyo, the preparations would be stretched out for many days. Ones of these included a final banquet, where the samurai's friends and family would come eat with him. They followed a very strict way of speaking, being very polite and never expressing themselves, for this was familiar and personality-less, so it was relaxing.

After the samurai committed seppuku, his head would be sent to his family.

There are many ways to commit seppuku, all with varying levels of honor, of course, with simple beheading the least honorable.

Even though, for many Westerners, seppuku brings to mind the image of someone slicing their stomach open and letting themselves die, this very rarely happened. The samurai committing seppuku had a "second", who would stand above them, to their left, with a sword. Depending on the arrangement made between the two beforehand, the second would cut off his head as soon as he picked up the wakizashi (or tanto/dagger), as soon as he made a small cut on his abdomen, as soon as he cut all the way across (but before he made the extra stroke), etc. They never wanted them to suffer, since they were already being so brave.

Only the most skilled seconds would not cut off the samurai's head completely, and instead only leave a small bit of skin connected, so as to further distance the honourable seppuku and the disgraceful beheading fit for thugs.

After the samurai committed seppuku but before they sent the head to his family members, they would hold the samurai's detached head by the hair, or, if he was bald, by stabbing a dagger through his eye and carry him around like a candy apple. :|

The more a samurai cut into his stomach before he was beheaded, the more honourable he was.

Samurai originally started the practice of seppuku because they didn't want to be tortured for information by their enemies.

The 47 Ronin is perhaps the most well-known story about samurai to Westerners, yet they actually went against the Bushido code. "No revenge/grudges/etc."

High-ranking samurai were normally very intelligent, or at least well-read.

Jizamurai were samurai that were just about peasants, and often helped with crops and the like - they tended to live by villages, if not in them.

Junshi was the act of following your late lord to the grave. This was outlawed in the Edo period (1600-1867).

[jobonline20]

You can still have an erection once dead

A death erection (sometimes referred to as "angel lust") is a post-mortem erection which occurs when a male individual dies vertically or face-down with the cadaver remaining in this position. During life, the pumping of blood by the heart ensures a relatively even distribution around the blood vessels of the human body. Once this mechanism has ended, only the force of gravity acts upon the blood. As with any mass, the blood settles at the lowest point of the body and causes edema or swelling to occur; the discoloration caused by this is called lividity.

[† Ferocia Coutura]

Here's a fact not many people know about.

Pop-artist Ke$ha got an almost near-perfect score on her SAT and attended college on a full-ride before she dropped out to pursue a singing career after writing a song for Britney Spears.

Not many people knew that Ke$ha was an almost genuis!!!

[Monad-Gnostis]

Humans havent evolved to their last form yet, lmao!

[† Anras Rune]

Read most of these (too jittery to read everything) and I knew most of them. *sigh* But for the ones that I didn't, interesting stuff.

Here, you get a bunch of worthless samurai stuff.

Did you know that samurai would often eat katsuobushi on their treks into battle, but onigiri the rest of the time?

When protecting villages, the samurai would often be paid for in rice.

Despite the Bushido code demanding honour above all else, a lost of lower ranking samurai were corrupt and frequently bullied the people they were protecting - such as the villagers mentioned above.

When a samurai was ordered to commit seppuku by their daimyo, the preparations would be stretched out for many days. Ones of these included a final banquet, where the samurai's friends and family would come eat with him. They followed a very strict way of speaking, being very polite and never expressing themselves, for this was familiar and personality-less, so it was relaxing.

After the samurai committed seppuku, his head would be sent to his family.

There are many ways to commit seppuku, all with varying levels of honor, of course, with simple beheading the least honorable.

Even though, for many Westerners, seppuku brings to mind the image of someone slicing their stomach open and letting themselves die, this very rarely happened. The samurai committing seppuku had a "second", who would stand above them, to their left, with a sword. Depending on the arrangement made between the two beforehand, the second would cut off his head as soon as he picked up the wakizashi (or tanto/dagger), as soon as he made a small cut on his abdomen, as soon as he cut all the way across (but before he made the extra stroke), etc. They never wanted them to suffer, since they were already being so brave.

Only the most skilled seconds would not cut off the samurai's head completely, and instead only leave a small bit of skin connected, so as to further distance the honourable seppuku and the disgraceful beheading fit for thugs.

After the samurai committed seppuku but before they sent the head to his family members, they would hold the samurai's detached head by the hair, or, if he was bald, by stabbing a dagger through his eye and carry him around like a candy apple. :|

The more a samurai cut into his stomach before he was beheaded, the more honourable he was.

Samurai originally started the practice of seppuku because they didn't want to be tortured for information by their enemies.

The 47 Ronin is perhaps the most well-known story about samurai to Westerners, yet they actually went against the Bushido code. "No revenge/grudges/etc."

High-ranking samurai were normally very intelligent, or at least well-read.

Jizamurai were samurai that were just about peasants, and often helped with crops and the like - they tended to live by villages, if not in them.

Junshi was the act of following your late lord to the grave. This was outlawed in the Edo period (1600-1867).

I noticed the word getting used so i thought i'd correct it. Did you know that bushido has absolutly nothing to do with the old feudal samurai. Most people think it does, but in reality the "Bushido Code" came about as early as 1905. The whole thing started with an honest, if retarded mistake by a historian named Nitobe Inazo, who based his 1905 book Bushido: The Spirit of Japan on rules written for samurai. Aside from laws that they were told to follow, the history of the samurai is notable for a complete lack of evidence that they were any more happy to die in battle and even a little bit loyal. It's entirely possible that a warrior sacrificing his life was seen as noble, but that's no different than the European code of chivalry which also made room for honorable suicide.

As it turns out, our modern concept of Bushido developed as a method of social control. The Emperor and the Imperial Army and Navy (back in the 1920s-40s) wanted something that would boost their men's fighting spirit. When Nitobe Inazo sucked at his job badly enough to write that "the way of the warrior is to die," they all just sort of nodded and said, "Yep, that's the way of the warrior alright!"