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

It takes about 40 minutes to boil an ostrich egg

Hard or soft?
It takes much longer in Sanaa

Hair DOES NOT grow faster if you cut it. Really, it doesn't.

Cut hair doesn't grow at all.

Copied from F135418?thread=644466 post 56
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As that answer was not actually given by God then I cannot accept it as being correct. If it had actually been God talking then I still would of doubted it. As they honestly, truthfully, respectfully, logically cannot vomit underwater. It's all to do with the complex relationship between a sharks genetics, the downward pressure of water, the process of breathing through gills, the presence of sea amoeba and random plate teutonics.

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SO what you're saying is that it's all because of a bunch of German crockery?

zigackly

(if you want to get technical it's because it has been discovered that shark DNA is almost identical to the DNA samples taken from over 100 random German Hausfrau's)

The paper used for teabags is made from hemp.

Is that why tea's supposed to be relaxing?

I haven't played on this thread fo a while, so I've some catching up to do:

Pffft: This excellent article includes some instructions on the best way to eat lutefisk: A3100168


yuNobody:
datum vs data is a hobby horse of mine. Of course data is singular! In English. The name given to refer to a stack of paper with lots of numbers on it or a computer file encoding representations of same is *derived from* but not *identical to* the plural of 'datum'. Heavens! If you were to ask someone to give you the data - you wouldn't expect them to hand you each number one by one - you'd expect to be given a single stack of paper. Data is a singular noun refering to the stack. If you wanted them one by one - you'd have to ask for the datums! (that'll wind people up!)

Do you also refer to a single song from an opera as an opus?

And don't let me hear anyone talking about 'fora' or 'referenda' neither. Unless they can also tell me the 'correct' plural of wombat, igloo and bungalow.

both fora and referenda are widely used plural forms in english. altho my personal opinion, and its only my opinion, is that they are affectations.

i also seem to remember the librarian in my university days talking of fora but i have lost too many brain cells to now say to what that referred.

the safe option to describe the plural of an animal (or in fact anything at all), is 'them things'.

Especially if the animal in question is a mongoose.

Staying with Lutefisk here a good article from Google

http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/ic/lutefisk.html

From the above:

"Oh, she said 'I never eat lutefisk either. It tastes like python."

When I was at university, my anatomy and physiology was a remarkable character who would march into the lecture room already talking and would continue - without notes - for a solid hour. He would pepper his lectures with various vaguely illustrative anecdotes. One time he came out with:

"Once in New Guinea I was served grilled python. It was tolerably edible, but not so tasty as rattlesnake."

I saw a comedian on tv talking about some delicacies in Japan. To quote as best as I can remember:

For about $500 you can buy a bowl of viper urine! Now I don't know about you, but if I had $500 burning a hole in my wallet and a terrible thirst for ... Viper urine... You can be darn sure I'd be walking into the kitchen to make sure they got some damn snakes back there and not just a sumo wrestler and a six pack of beer!

Some useless facts that television and inane conversation have burned on my memory.

Banana is the largest herb in the world
Orchids are named for the greek word for testicle
"Good Night sleep tight" phrase derived from mattresses secured to bedframe by ropes which could be tightened to make the bed firmer for sleepers comfort

Tonga once printed a postage stamp in the shape of a banana.

The plymouth breakwater weighs the same as the Great Pyramid at Chipos.

I've been to Dublin and back today.

Well, it's a fact, and I challenge anyone to find a use for it!

RF