Some Useless Information

Did you know that...

...The housefly hums in the middle octave, key of F.
...Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.
...Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
...The band Duran Duran got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie "Barbarella.
...Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula." That translates to "The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Little Portion." Thanks to Louise for providing us with more information and finishing the translation for us!
...Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
...An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
...Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth, and whose shame created the expression for ignominy, "His name is Mudd."
...The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
...The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
...111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
...If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die. They need gravity to swallow.
...The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's A Wonderful Life."
...It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up. The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is dangling out of its mouth. Then the frog uses its forearms to dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the stomach back down again.
...While we're on the disgusting subject, horses are unable to throw up. That makes them very vulnerable to food poisoning.
...Correction fluid (of which White-Out is an example) was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith (formerly of the Monkees). (Thanks to John for his correction, and a link to more information
...Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar, in "Midnight Cowboy." Her entire role lasted only six minutes.
...Statues of famous people on horses: If the horse has both front feet off the ground, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front foot off the ground, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four feet on the ground, the person died of natural causes. (John assures us this is a myth, and you can check it out for yourself in the Urban Legends Reference Pages.)
...Gilligan of Gilligan's Island had a first name that was only used once, on the never-aired pilot show. His first name was Willy. The skipper's real name was Jonas Grumby. It was mentioned once in the first episode on their radio's newscast about the wreck.
...Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been overmixing the soap formula, causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and said how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
...Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building, it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It seems to take about eight floors for the cat to realize what is happening, relax, and correct itself.
...'stewardesses' is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand using the standard two-handed typing technique. (If you want to learn to type everything with only the left hand, check out our one-handed typing tutor.)
...The Baby Ruth candy bar was actually named after Grover Cleveland's baby daughter, Ruth.
...Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex. Armadillos are also the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.
...Reindeer like to eat bananas.
...Physicist Murray Gell-Mann named the sub-atomic particles known as quarks for a random line in James Joyce, "Three quarks for Muster Mark!"
...The abbreviation for 1 pound, "lb.", comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning balance.
...If you took a standard slinky and stretched it out it would measure 87 feet.
...1/100th of a second is called a "jiffy".

Ever wonder what happens when TV shows are pre-empted?

How about some oddities in the movies?

Play some games with numbers.

Go back to the front gate.

Page maintained by Stewart of Esmerel.