i'm kind of a sucker for strange or little-known facts, especially facts that one would think would be widely known, but often aren't. my preferences are in astronomy, life sciences, and sociology. but if you have a strange fact from any field, please feel free to share it. the only criteria is that it has to be true.
i'll go first.
strange fact #1: The moon is leaving the Earth's orbit!
yes it's true. the moon is so large and heavy that the Earth cannot maintain the moon in a stable orbit. instead, the moon has a decaying orbit, and is steadily getting farther away from the Earth at a rate of 2 inches per year. this has been going on for a long, long time. scientists say there was a time in the distant past when the moon was 15 times larger in the evening sky. in the distant future, eventually the moon will escape the earth.
The largest populated country where English is the official language is India.
The largest organ in the human body is the skin.
Sorry girls it wasn't what you were thinking about >:D
#4 A cockroach can continue living without its head for days (even a week). Then it will not die because it no longer has a head but due it it's incapability to eat food. o.o!
How bizarre... How bizarre, how bizarre... Ooooh baby... Oh baby.. You're making me crazy....
Quote from: Cindi Jones on August 17, 2007, 12:28:52 AM
The largest populated country where English is the official language is India.
:o
Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult.
there are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos!
Some giraffes have gallbladders and some don't. Nobody knows why.
Dennis
in poland, there is the legend of a witch who will behead anybody who cannot talk about flax for an hour. Could you?
you're born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206!
About half of the galaxies out there in the universe are not disk shaped. They are round like balls.
Facts about Elvis:
Is a direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln's great-great grandfather, Isaiah Harrison
Elvis did not like confrontation. He wanted to fire his manager, Colonel Tom Parker, many times. He would tell his friends "Tell Parker he's fired." His friends would go tell him, then Parker would say "Tell Elvis to tell me personally". Elvis never would.
Made the first ever musical video of all time: Jailhouse Rock (1957).
Was extremely proud of his Cherokee roots. Wanted to be more open about it but was advised against it, according to some sources by Colonel Tom Parker, since this was around the time that there were still racial tensions in the US. Sometimes the audiences were "deceived with the truth" like in G.I. Blues (1960) when his character tells about his Cherokee background. In real life his Cherokee roots started with his maternal great-great-great grandmother Morning Dove White and it was even rumored in Memphis that he had Cherokee blood from his father's side of the family as well, though never confirmed.
He was allegedly offered roles in The Rainmaker (1956), The Defiant Ones (1958), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), West Side Story (1961), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), The Fastest Guitar Alive (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), True Grit (1969), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971), A Star Is Born (1976) and Grease (1978).
He was a distant cousin of President Jimmy Carter.
In 1973 he met with Led Zeppelin members Robert Plant and John Paul Jones in Los Angeles. An idol to the members of Led Zeppelin, Elvis wanted to meet "who was outselling him" at concerts (Zeppelin was in the midst of a record-breaking tour that year). A meeting was arranged with two of the four band members (Plant and Jones). Plant was so awestruck at meeting his idol in person that he could barely speak to him. Jones, nearly as awestruck as Plant, made small talk with the "King," and mentioned what a beautiful watch Elvis wore. Elvis, always the generous one, instantly traded his $5,000 gold and diamond watch for Jones' $10 Mickey Mouse watch. This broke the ice with all of them, and they became fast friends. Throughout the early '70s, members of Led Zeppelin even attended a few of Elvis' concerts, and were granted the privilege of sitting in the front row by the King himself.
Once sent $1,000,000 to Buford Pusser, the Tennessee sheriff who was the subject of the 1973 film Walking Tall (1973).
In 1973 he was biggest tax payer in USA.
He never wrote a song during his music career.
A quote from Elvis
Quote"I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."
The average woman consumes over 6 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime.
Termites eat through wood twice as fast while listening to heavy metal music.
The average person spends 6 months of their life waiting in traffic.
The average person takes about 2.5 million steps in a year.
Quote from: Cindi Jones on August 17, 2007, 11:53:27 AM
About half of the galaxies out there in the universe are not disk shaped.
Strictly speaking, the
visible universe (although there's no reason to believe this doesn't hold everywhere). Because:
We don't see the entire universe. Some of it is far enough that no light from there has reached us yet.
Nfr
Curly hair, Roman noses, unibrows, and extra digits are dominant genetic traits. Makes ya wonder why we don't have more people running around with twelve fingers and fourteen toes.
Dino
Dolphins sleep with one eye open! :P
tink :icon_chick:
a human has 2 small holes in the roof of the mouth, which are in most cases, quite undetectable by the tongue.
Posted on: September 14, 2007, 04:14:00 PM
The term "French Kiss" is actually derived from French Poodle, for the reason that, as Jean-Luc Pierre stated, "No matter how many times you kiss your French poodle, it will always give you the tongue first."
Only 3% of Americans know that the right to petition the Government is a right in the first Amendment of The Constitution.
I like stupid laws. I think their existence qualifies them as 'fact':
QuoteIn Memphis, Tennessee, a woman is not to drive a car unless a man warns approaching motorists or pedestrians by walking in front of the car that is being driven.
In Virginia, chickens cannot lay eggs before 8:00 a.m., and must be done before 4:00 p.m.
In the state of Colorado, a pet cat, if loose, must have a tail-light !
In California, a law created in 1925 makes it illegal to wiggle while dancing.
In Utah, daylight must be visible between dancing couples.
In Missouri, a man must have a permit to shave.
Karen
They made me giggle XD
i cant think of any><
All snakes swallow their meal whole.
Tax collectors have families.
Ernest Vincent Wright wrote "Gadsby", a novel which contains over 50,000 words -- none of them with the letter E.
It can be read here:
http://www.wordwork.org/gadsby/02.html