h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Pearls melt in vinegar

It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.

35% of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.
Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.

Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet (developed by Western Union to test Telex).

Average life span of a major league baseball? 7 pitches.

A duck's quack doesn't echo... and nobody knows why.

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was name "American Pie", hence the album by Don McLean.

Each king in a deck of cards represents a great king from history: Spades: King David; Clubs: King Alexander; Hearts: King Charlemagne; Diamonds: Julius Caesar

111,111,111 multiplied by 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down, hence the expression: "getting fired"

Hersey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks as if it is kissing the conveyor belt.

The HIGHEST point in Pennsylvania is LOWER than the lowest point in Colorado.

The ONLY two days of the days of the year in which there no major professional sports (MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game.

Only one person in two BILLION will be live to be 116 or older.

The mask used by in the original "Halloween" was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.

If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.

Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.

The fingerprints of koala bears and humans are virtually indistinguishable; so much that they can be confused at a crime scene.

Months that begin on Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th"

Well, i´d say there are some of that information that is actually useful. But nice to know. I´ve also been told that if you take an olive(or maybe it was a cherry) and put two holes in it one on each side, it will start to rotate if you put it in champagne.

Madame Du Pompador was the first person in Europe to have a pet goldfish.

I read it years ago somewhere and am determined that it will come in useful at some point or another. It's my favourite bit of trivia.

It's not useless. It's entertained me for a few minutes. I can't think of anything to add, though.

Mary Queen of Scots was over 6 ft tall.

William the Conquerer's wife was only 4'2"

Lesotho is the country with the highest lowest point in the world - i.e. its lowest point is higher than any other country's lowest point.

The Blade Runner directors cut is shorter than the standard release.

"Swindon Town" is the only league football (the real stuff) team in the UK to share no letters with the word Mackerel.

Thousands of people are injured each year by toilets

Your home is one of the most dangerous places you can be - more accidents happen to people in the home than anywhere else.

Hmm... my store of useless information seems to have dried up a bit - but then it is twenty to two in the morning. Perhaps I should go to bed.

I think that's the most interesting piece of information I've heard in a long time! The mackeral, i mean. I haven't checked the league tables to confirm that it is correct - it is truly amazing that someone did! (assuming it is actually true)

Men blink less than women.

Why?

Could be because they don't want to miss out on ogling a passing babe. Or maybe because men don't tend to wear as much mascara and eye makeup and perfume, which irritates the eyes. Or maybe they're just lazier.

According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, six people were injured last year...by a tea cosy.

Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.

Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and
purple.

"I am" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great; Hearts - Charlemagne; and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.

The inventor of the Phillips screw as Henry M. Phillips, a
businessman from Portland, Oregon.

Harpic is named after the chemist who discovered it - Harry Pickerill.

The modern yo-yo started off life as a Phillipino hunting weapon.

Pockets did not exist before the late sixteenth century

There are estimated to be more than 48,000 Elvis impersonators worldwide.

In Oklahoma, it's illegal to catch whales or to get a fish drunk

A blue whale's heart is about the size of Volkswagen Beetle.

"Jackdaws love my big sphinx of quartz" is the shortest English sentence yet devised to include all the letters of the alphabet

WD-40 stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt

Oprah Winfrey's name was a mistake. Her name was supposed to be
the biblical "Orpah" but the midwife spelled it wrong on the
birth certificate.

The paper clip was invented by Johan Vaaler in 1899.


Red Dog

St John's Wood is the only station on the London Underground whose name doesn't contain any of the letters in the word 'mackerel'.

The Duke of Wellington had a tail.
Elizabeth I was famous for throwing slippers.
Beginning sentances with 'and' or 'but', split infinitives, ending with a preposition- all traditionally wrong, but there is no other reason for this than an Eminent Man disliking them.
Eunuchs do not go bald.
Liver is attracted to milk, and will move towards it. (Not personally confirmed but I'd love it to be true.)
Cigarettes are radioctive, containing Polonium 135. (I'd love this to be true also.)
I heard it was 36 people injured by tea-cosies.

Just how would the liver move, it doesn´t seem to me to have any means of self-transportation.

What kind of tail did Lord Wellington have?

In the newspaper today there was a list of things people had had accidents with. Things like false teeth, socks, pants and such.

I have to see if the liver thing is true

I`m intrigued as to how you`re going to check this out Phreako ? On behalf of all liver lovers could I suggest that you don`t make it too hard - putting milk in a glass might make it all but impossible even for the fastest Livers. On the other hand if you put the milk in a puddle near the liver how will you know it isn`t the milk that moves. Tricky.

Very interested to hear what your experimental techique is going to be.

Red