From The Times of London, Rules of Thumb and Useless Information, among other sources.
CAN CARROTS HELP TO IMPROVE YOUR VISION?
The eyesight myth dates back only to the Second World War when the Royal Air Force was trying to hide the fact that it had developed a sophisticated radar system to shoot down German bombers. They said that the accuracy of British fighter pilots at night was a result of them being fed huge quantities of carrots.
It’s true that carrots are rich in betacarotene. The body converts betacarotene to vitamin A and extreme vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness. But only a small amount of betacarotene is necessary for good vision. If you’re not deficient in vitamin A, your vision won’t improve, no matter how many carrots you eat.
WHY DO MEN HAVE NIPPLES?
Because we are mammals and blessed with body hair, three middle ear bones, and the ability to nourish our young with milk that females produce in modified sweat glands called mammary glands.
Although females have the mammary glands, we all start out in a similar way in the embryo. During development, the embryo follows a female template until about six weeks, when the male sex chromosome kicks in for a male embryo. The embryo then begins to develop all of its male characteristics. Men are thus left with nipples and also with some breast tissue.
Men can even get breast cancer and there are some medical conditions that can cause male breasts to enlarge. Abnormal enlargement of the breasts in a male is known a gynecomastia. Gynecomastia can be caused by using anabolic steroids. So, if your favourite athlete suddenly develops man boobs and starts winning gold medals, you know the reason why.
NEVER TAP ON A GUAGE ANY HARDER THAN YOU'D TAP ON THE END OF YOUR NOSE
IS SEMEN NUTRITIOUS OR FATTENING?
You are what you eat. In this case, it is somewhat true, as sperm contains important genetic material. But sperm is not particularly nutritious or fattening.
The average ejaculate, about one teaspoon, contains between two and three hundred million sperm. Total calories: about five. These calories are derived mainly from fructose, a type of sugar, secreted into semen by the prostate gland to provide the sperm with the energy to swim. Other good stuff found in semen includes water, vitamin C, citric acid, phosphate, bicarbonates, zinc, and prostaglandins. A veritable breakfast of champions.
ANYTHING ABOVE 87 OCTANE IS SPECIALLY FORMULATED FOR SUCKERS.
WHY CAN YOU LIGHT A FART?
An average fart is 59 per cent nitrogen, 21 per cent hydrogen, 9 per cent carbon dioxide, 7 per cent methane and 4 per cent oxygen.
Farts can travel at speeds of 10ft (3m) a second
A person produces about half a litre (1pt) of farts a day.
Women fart as much as men.
The gas that makes farts stink is hydrogen sulphide. This gas, which is less than 1 per cent of the make-up of a fart, contains sulphur, the smelly component. Foods that cause smelly farts include beans, cabbage, cheese, eggs, fizzy drinks.
Most people pass gas about 14 times a day.
Farts contain the flammable gases hydrogen and methane. The proportions of these gases depend largely on the bacteria that live in the colon which digest food that has not previously been absorbed by the gut. There is some danger associated with igniting flatulence. But students and Boy Scouts don’t seem to care.
IF A GUY HAS CORDS ON HIS SUNGLASSES, HE'S A DICK. IF THE SUNGLASSES ARE MIRRORED, HE'S DANGEROUS.
THE 1904 OLYMPIC GAMES IN ST. LOUIS
Included mud fighting, rock throwing, pole climbing, spear (not javelin) throwing
It was so hot during the games that the staff at the Far East Tea House couldn't even give away their product. They poured the hot tea over ice cubes! Iced tea was invented and the drink quickly became the games's most popular beverage.
A teenager named Arnold Fornachou was selling ice cream at his exposition booth. He ran into a big problem - he ran out of the paper dishes on which to serve the ice cream. In a stroke of genius, he noticed that the guy in the next booth, a Syrian named Ernest Hamwi, was selling waffles. Arnold rolled one of Ernie's wafer-thin waffles up and invented the ice cream cone. Within ten years more than one-third of all ice cream was served in a cone.
THE FIVE MOST STOLEN ITEMS IN A DRUGSTORE:
Batteries, cosmetics, film, sunglasses, Preparation H.
Apparently people are just too embarrassed to purchase the last item. One of Preparation H's main ingredients is shark liver oil. The oil not only helps shrink hemorrhoids, but will shrink any tissue. As a result, many older women in Florida use the stuff to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
DOLPHINS ARE THE ONLY OTHER MAMMALS BESIDES HUMANS THAT HAVE SEX FOR FUN
AMERICAN AIRLINES SAVED $40,000 IN 1987 BY ELIMINATING ONE OLIVE FROM EACH SALAD SERVED IN FIRST CLASS
GHANDI'S FUNERAL
In the movie "Gandhi" 300,000 extras appeared in the funeral scene. Of the 300,000, approximately 100,000 received a small fee, and the other 200,000 did it for free.
FROM WHENCE CAME OZ?
The name for Oz in "The Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."
CATS
A fall of 30 feet can be survived my most cats.
In 1888, an Egyptian peasant discovered an estimated three hundred thousand mummified cats in Beni Hassan, Egypt. Of the cats that were not stolen once the find was made public, the remaining mummified cats were shipped to Great Britain to be used as agricultural fertilizer.
In a lifetime, the average house cat spends approximately 10,950 hours purring.
One out of four American households own a cat.
DOGS
About 30% of American admit to talking to their dogs or leaving messages on their answering machines for their dogs while they are away.
An average city dog lives approximately three years longer than an average country dog.
Border collies are the most intelligent breed of dog.
Chocolate can be fatal to dogs. Chocolate contains a chemical theobromine, which is poisonous to dogs.
In 2002, dogs killed more people in the U.S. than the Great White shark has killed in the past 100 years.
TOBACCO ROAD
When Christopher Columbus and crew landed in the New World they observed the natives using a nose pipe to smoke a strange new herb. The pipe was called a "tabaka" by the locals, hence our word tobacco.
IS THAT YOU, FAUNTLEROY?
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
CELSIUS TO FAHRENHEIT
The formula for converting C to F is: degrees C x 9 / 5 +32
Minus forty degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus forty degrees Fahrenheit.
PRESIDENTS
Bill Clinton is the only President ever to be elected twice without ever receiving 50% of the popular vote. He had 43 percent in 1992 and 49 percent in 1996.
Nine U.S. Presidents never went to college: George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland, and Harry Truman.
To avoid long encounters with the press, President Ronald Reagan often took reporters' questions with his helicopter roaring in the background.
Anyone could come to Andrew Jackson's public parties at the White House. At his last one, a wheel of cheese weighing 1,400 lbs. was eaten in two hours. The White House smelled of cheese for weeks.
TEXAS
In 1974, Fred Gomez Carrasco, San Antonio drug dealer and gangster, was shot to death by Texas Rangers after an 11 day hostage-taking seige. At the coroner's inquest, the coroner ruled "death by suicide". He stated, "When a Texas Ranger orders you to halt and you do not halt, you have just commited suicide."
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