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

The dimples on a golf ball make it go 300 yards further,

the strongest creature known to man could not lift up a piggions feather.

The Chicago Tribune (I think) building in Chicago has bits of The Houses of Parliament, The Great Pyramid of Giza and various other national and international old things stuck in its walls.

George W. Bush is the 43rd president of America (well I find that useless)

Why do they have parts of the pyramids in it? Who gave them permission for that?

And what was meant with the strongest creature known to man could not lift a feather? Surely most animals can do that.

strengh is not the same as dexterity ...

On the 'Hillman Imp Californian' the Positive camber on the front wheels was reduced by 1 degree, this aws done by lowering the swing-axle pivot point by ¾". This resulted in a front suspension height reduction of half an inch, and it improved both the looks and the handling of the Imp.

The dimples on a golf ball make it go 300 yards further,

This does not sound right. With what club? If I took off 300 yards from my longest drive, it would be a very sorry sight.

Some stripper or similar attempted, and succeeded, in getting tax deducted from the price of her breast implants since they were 'necessary' for her work. As did a burglar, for wear and tear on his tools... and then he tried to claim for the petrol he used to get to jobs.
And here's me with not even the nerve to use an old return ticket.

David Rice Atchison wuz the 12th president of the USA & wuz prez for a possible 24 hours or a definite few minutes.

So did anyone try the Liver / Milk experiment then? It’s been a subject of debate amongst my partner and I for some time, though being vegetarian we’ve not got around to trying it out.

>> The word "fart" comes from the Old English word feortan

As in “foertian times” then?

if you copy & past ' from MSWord into h2g2 using MSIE you get ’

Thats a bit bob isn't it.

no ... just Useless information

(they copy & paste & post into the 'Opera' browser just fine though ... )

It's sad but true that there are thousands of speciece dying out each year, there's a fairly weighty tome published each year, a kind of Last Chance to See register, of those species not expected to see out the decade. I don't know what the average figure is (i'm pretty sure there's a figure in Durrell's Pink Pidgeons though the figure will be higher now) but it'swell over 4 a year and it's increasing exponentially.

The main ingredient in the fish food that one buys from the pet shop is fish.

California licence plate # THX 138 was the plate number used on the yellow 33' five window Chrysler coupe in the movie "American Graffitti". It was also part of the the title of another of George Lucas's early films.

THX 1138 is also the code that appears in the veiw finer of the macro binocular shots in Empire (which DNA refered to as "terribly boring"). And in Star Wars Han claims to be transferring the prisoner from "cell block 1138"

Why do they make pet food in flavours attractive to the owners, you get all sorts of luxury pet food these days. Surely cats would prefer "Mouse and Sparrow" flavour or "Goldfish in toilet bowl water" flavour, and Dogs would go for "Cat", "Postmans Leg" or "Own Excrement" flavours.

While we do have the title Useless Information in operation i was wondering if anyone had come across any good examples of useless information on product packaging.

In line with the "Instructions on toothpicks" issue in SLATFATF i have notice the following:

Instructions on a box of matches, and on a packet of peanuts (Open packet, eat nuts. May be choking hazard)

I like the 'may contain nuts' warning on a jar of peanut butter.

Useless information: King Canute is often cited to demonstrate the arrogance of power due to his 'holding back the sea' faux pas. In fact, Canute was trying to demonstrate to his court that his power was insignificant in the face of true power. How misunderstood can you get?

The 'f' word is used more than one-hundred times during Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs'.

What, flatulence?