IJMC - A Deluge of Useless Facts

Granted, in today's world, a lot of useless facts can be turned into cash 
or food. Every day it seems that another bar starts up a "Trivia Night" 
where you can use facts like this to beat out other teams for prizes. So, 
if any of you win any trivia contests with anything you learn here, then 
you owe me a burger and a drink. Fair 'nuff.                        -dave






"Important", But Totally Useless Facts

  The "pound" key on your keyboard (#) is called an octotroph.

  The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

  The "dot" over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

  Table tennis balls have been known to travel off the paddle at 
  speeds to 160 km/hr.

  Pepsi originally contained pepsin, thus the name.

  The original story from "Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights" begins, 
  "Aladdin was a little Chinese boy."

  Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

  Honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any 
  kind of life.  What about milk, you ask ?  A cow has to eat grass to make 
  milk. Grass is living.

  The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

  Michael Jordan makes more money from NIKE annually than all of the 
  NIKE factory workers in Malaysia combined.  However, without him, they 
  would have no job.

  The volume of the earth's moon is the same as the volume of the 
  Pacific Ocean.

  Cephalacaudal recapitulation is the reason our extremities develop 
  faster than the rest of us.

  Spiral staircases in medieval castles are running clockwise.  This 
  is because all knights used to be right-handed.  When the intruding army 
  would climb the stairs they would not be able to use their right hand which 
  was holding the sword because of the difficulties of climbing the stairs. 

  Left-handed knights would have had no troubles, except left-handed 
  people could never become knights because it was assumed that they were 
  descendants of the devil.

  Ham radio operators got the term "ham" coined from the expression 
  "ham fisted operators," a term used to describe early radio users who sent 
  Morse code (i.e., pounded their fist).

  The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is "Live Free or Die."  
  These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in 
  Concord.

  Chinese Crested dogs can get acne.

  Hydrogen gas is the least dense substance in the world, at 0.08988g/cc.

  Hydrogen solid is the most dense substance in the world, at 70.6g/cc.

  Each year there is one ton of cement poured for each man woman and 
  child in the world.

  The house fly hums in the middle octave key of F.

  The only capital letter in the Roman alphabet with exactly one end 
  point is P.

  The giant red star Betelgeuse has a diameter larger than that of 
  the Earth's orbit around the sun.

  The longest place name still in use is:  
  Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokai-
  whenuakitanatahu -- a New Zealand hill.

  Los Angeles's full name is: "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina 
  de los Angeles de Poriuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, 
  "LA."

  Only 1 in 2,000,000,000 will live to be 116 or older.

  An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

  Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
  
  According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, it is 
  possible to go slower than light and faster than light, but it is
  impossible to go the speed of light. Also, there is a particle called
  tackyon which is supposed to go faster than light. This means if you fire
  a tackyon beam, it travels before you fire it.

  When you tie a noose, the rope is wrapped twelve times around 
  because it's the same length as a persons head.

  Hummingbirds are the only animal that can fly backwards.
   
  A cat's jaw cannot move sideways.