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

The word 'Ecnalubma' was invented by Rich Hall, an American comedian.
It means an ambulance seen through a rear-view mirror.

I use one of Rich Hall's sniglets in conversation quite often.


Musicosis - the annoying state of having some song stuck on continuous loop in your head for hours at a time. (paraphrased from memory).

Dexy's Midnight Runners can give me musicosis in one stanza.

I get musicosis from "Alone Again (Naturally)" by Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Fact: Apple pips contain cyanide, but not enough to cause any ill effects.

"Africa has the shortest coastline of all the continents."

But the re-modelled version on Earth Mark Two should fix that little problem, as they gave it to Slartibartfast to do and his design proposal includes a LOT of fjords... why change a winning formula?

Fact: This is a real notice on an insect spray from New Zealand:
"This Product Not Tested On Animals."

"Slartibartfast" is the code word needed to unlock some 3D software included years ago with a magazine.

(Actually not so useless, at least to me)

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch was developed as the name of the village on south Anglesey in the C19th in a purposeful bid to have the longest name in the UK and so attract tourists.

Nowadays, it has reverted to its previous name, simply Llanfairpwllgwyngyll.

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch has 58 letters in it.

This post has exactly 101 letters in it.

St Johnstone is the name of Perth's football team because the patron saint of Perth is St John. Likewise, St Mirren is the name of Paisley's patron saint and football team.

Helen Mirren's a saint? What of, strippers?

Ian Paisely has a patron saint? I thought that was too Roman Catholic for his tastes?

94% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Proudwart

And there are 10 types of people in the world.
Those that understand binary and those that don't.

That's always been one of my absolute favourites, count

Ta... It's an oldie but a goody.



And now, back to useless info.


The toilets used on the shuttle and space station work on the principle of negative pressure in lieu (loo?) of gravity. Basically a fan "below" one's nether regions sucks air and any solids or liquids towards it then when, literally, the sh!t hits the fan it is flung against the sides of the compartment.

If all the people in the world stood on each others shoulders, the ones at the top would asphyxiate in space, and those at the bottom would be crushed.

Hell, if only 0.0000006% of the people in the world did so, that would happen.

I have a dying poppy in a bottle of water on my desk. Its a fact. It's useless. WOOHOO!

Napoleon had piles when he rode from Marseilles to Paris in 1814 (or 15) to raise an army to fight the British.

Rolf Harris' catchphrase is "Can you tell what it is yet?"