OT: Share useless Trivia!

[Wicht]

Statistically you're more likely to die from an asteroid collision than in a plane accident.

I am not sure I believe that one. How many people each year actually die from asteroid collisions? None that I have ever heard of.

 

[Wicht]

Elwood Stone, who currently resides in Ohio, has been struck by lightning three times in his life.

 

[The Sigil]

Here's one of my favorites...

To within one-half of one percent precision, there are pi seconds in a nanocentury.

In more common units, there are pi*10^7 seconds in a year (to within 1/2%).

--The Sigil

 

[Shiv]

Park Ranger Roy C. Sullivan was struck by lightning eight times before he died (of natural causes).

Elephants can't jump. They're the only animal on earth incapable of doing so.

There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia.

Before Mickey Mouse became the big man on campus, Felix the Cat was America's most popular cartoon character.

A group of ferrets is called a "business."

Pumpkins are a seed-bearing fruit, not a vegetable.

The screwdriver was invented before the screw.

The gas light was invented before the match.

 

[Griswold]

heh, learned this in my Social Welfare class.

60% of the people that live below the poverty line in the US own thier own home.

G.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

I am not sure I believe that one. How many people each year actually die from asteroid collisions? None that I have ever heard of.

The last recorded incident of something being killed by a meteorite (which might be what was meant) that I know of was a dog in Egypt.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Park Ranger Roy C. Sullivan was struck by lightning eight times before he died (of natural causes).

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I believe he committed suicide.

EDIT: Yep, I thought I'd read that. Go here:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/lightning/va-lightning.htm


Here is the relevant passage (emphasis mine):

"Park Ranger Roy C. Sullivan worked many years at Shenandoah National Park. On this day, Roy was struck by lightning for the seventh time earning him the title of "the human lightning conductor." The first time occurred in 1942 as he was working up in a lookout tower. The lightning bolt caused him to lose his big toe nail. In 1969, he was driving along a mountain road when the bolt struck. (Cars and trucks will not protect you if the window is open). He lost his eye brows. In 1970, he was walking across his yard to get the mail when lightning struck. His shoulder was seared. In 1972, he was standing in the office at the ranger station when lightning set his hair on fire. In 1973, after his hair had grown back, he was struck again. His hair was again set on fire and his legs were seared. In 1976, while checking on a campsite, he was struck injuring his ankle. His last and seventh encounter was while fishing. Lightning caused chest and stomach burns. It is not only amazing that Roy was injured seven times by lightning, but it is astounding that he was not killed! His death in his 70's was not related to lightning. He committed suicide and was said to be distraught over the loss of a woman. It was never determined why lightning seemed to be attracted to him."

 

[Michael Tree]

Mary Pickford, the first big starlet of Hollywood, who was called "America's Sweetheart", was Canadian.

The term "Devil's Advocate" came from the the medieval church's process of canonizing a new saint. One priest, designated the devil's advocate, was responsible for arguing why the person should not be canonized.

The word "news", as in newspaper, was created as the plural of "new".

Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian are all distantly related to Japanese and Korean.
Japanese is not at all related to Chinese. They're as different as English and Japanese.

The Basque langauage (from northern Spain and the Pyrenees mountains) is completely unrelated to all other languages on the earth. (A friend of mine has a casual theory that it's related to Atlantean )

In the middle ages Black clothing was extremely expensive, because it was so difficult to die cloth that dark.

The ancient Romans used lead powder to sweeten their wine.

A toga is not rectangular. It's more of a semi-circle in shape, and should be twice as long as the wearer's arm span.

 

[Rashak Mani]

I´ve heard that one of the Korean soldiers before... kind of hard to belevie... but who knows ? Koreans tend to obey orders a lot or well ?

 

[Wicht]

Pumpkins are a seed-bearing fruit, not a vegetable.

This is a matter of semantics. Technically, and according to most dictionaries, any product of a plant can be termed a fruit (even say wheat or corn) and any plant is a vegetable.