Useless Trivia :)

From The Amazing Book of Useless Information, by Noel Botham

The most widely spoken language in the world is Mandarin Chinese, with 885 million speakers in China alone.

The first episode of Joanie Loves Chachi was the highest-rated U.S. television episode in the history of Korean television. Chachi is Korean for "penis."

The number 172 can be found on the back of the five-dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

A pound of gold actually weighs less than a pound of feathers. The reason is that feathers are measured in avoirdupois weight in which there are 16 ounces per pound. Gold is measured in troy weight with 12 ounces per pound.

The first policewoman in the United States was Alice Wells in 1910. She was hired by the Los Angeles Police Department and was allowed to design her own uniform. (Read more on Wikipedia.)

The first woman to be elected a head of state was Sirimavo Bandaraneike in 1960, who became president of Sri Lanka.

In 1846, Albert Tirrell became the first person to successfully use sleepwalking as a defense for murder and arson in the United States. (Read more on Wikipedia.)

The first person to have his diabetes successfully treated was a 14-year old Canadian boy named Leonard Thompson, who was injected with a new discovery called insulin, at Toronto General Hospital in 1922.

The first sheets of toilet paper, each measuring two by three feet, and for use by the emporer, were introduced in China in 1391. The first toilet paper rolls were marketed by the Scott Paper Company in Philadelphia in 1879.

The world's first perfect Pac-Man game was played on July 3, 1999, by Billy Mitchell. It took him six hours to score the maximum possible 3,333,360 points by eating every fruit, Power Pellet, blue ghost, and dot for 256 boards without losing a single life. Interestingly, although the game technically has no end, the 256th and final level contains a bug that has thus far made the level impossible to finish.

Until recently, among some tribes in New Guinea it was the custom for a young fighting man to give his girlfriend a finger cut from the hand of his opponent. She wore the finger on a string around her neck.

Men can read smaller print than women.

In the Middle Ages, many people believed that stars were beams of light shining through the floor of heaven.

Harry Potter preview

I can tell from the preview where certain things have been changed from the book, which is of course to be expected, especially in a book of that length, but... I hope it's good! We've been waiting a long time!

Funny Italian Greyhound Video

I was surfing YouTube and came across this cute video of a baby and an Italian Greyhound. It cracks me up. The dog reminds me of the IG I had many years ago, Gooch Pooch (aka MacGuyver). The look on his face when the baby starts fussing is classic, and he totally distracts the baby from crying.

Lincoln vs Kennedy

From The Amazing Book of Useless Information

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both presidents' wives lost children while living in the White House.

Both were shot on a Friday.

Both were shot in the head.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

Both were succeeded byu Southerners named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1805.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1905.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names. Both names are composed of fifteen letters.

Lincoln was shot at the Ford theater.
Kennedy was shot in a Ford Lincoln car.

Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were both shot before their trials.

More useless trivia

From The Ultimate Book of Useless Information, by Noel Botham

In the movie The Right Stuff, there is a scene where a government recruiter for the Mercury Astronaut Program, played by Jeff Goldblum, is in a bar at Muroc Lake, California. His partner suggests legendary jet test pilot Chuck Yeager as a good astronaut candidate. Goldblum proceeds to badmouth Yeager, claiming they ned someone who went to college. During this conversation, the real Chuck Yeager is playing the bartender, who is standing behind the recruiters and eavesdroping. General Yeager is listed low in the movie's credits as "Fred."

The nineteen-foot-long Batmobile used in the TV series Batman, starring Adam West, only got four miles to the gallon.

Sean Connery has to have the tattoos on his arm covered by makeup when filming. The tattoos declare his love for his mom and dad, and for Scotland, which he represented in the 1952 Mr. Universe contest.

Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina state anthem.

All royal babies are baptized with water brought from the River Jordan. (Sarai presumes they mean British royal babies, since this was in a section on British royalty.)

Big Changes!

I have just been offered the Young Adult Librarian I position at the Georgetown Branch, and I accepted! Yaay!

I will be doing training of some sort in July - I need to learn the SIRSI system and I will be doing some reference training and maybe other things. My official start date in the new position will be August 3.

Because August will be the wind-down of the summer reading program and lots of people will be taking vacations, some of my training will be delayed until September, but I will get to meet with other staff at other locations to discuss YA stuff, so that will be cool.

I'm very excited!!!!!!!!!! :)

I Love Useless Trivia

From The Best Book of Useless Information Ever

Plants that are not cared for will cry for help; a thirsty plant will make a high-pitched sound that is too high for humans to hear.

A snowflake can take up to an hour to fall from the cloud to the surface of the Earth.

Due to gravitational effects, you weight slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.

The Swedish pop group ABBA once turned down an offer of $1 billion to reunite.

Oscar-winner Holly Hunter used to be a poultry judge in her native Georgia.

One Christmas, Friends stars Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer gave plasma tvs to crew members who'd worked on the show for less than five years - while those who'd passed the five-year mark received Mini Cooper cars.

Woody Harrelson's father was a hitman convicted of assassinating a federal judge.

David Hasselhoff's great-uncle was Karl Hasselhoff, the inventor of inflatable sheep. (Sarai says - I don't really want to know the uses of inflatable sheep.)

During The Empire Strikes Back's famous asteroid scene, one of the deadly hurling asteroids is actually a potato.

Justin Timberlake's 2003 Christmas show in Dublin, Ireland, sold out in forty seconds.

Professional ballerinas use about twelve pairs of toe shoes per week.

Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn, played in his high school bagpipe band.

Without glasses, John Lennon was legally blind. (Sarai notes - me, too.)

At the end of [The Beatle's song] "A Day in the Life," an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs, sounds.

It was illegal to sell E.T. dolls in France because there is a law against selling dolls without human faces.

Unlawful Behavior

From The Amazing Book of Useless Information, by Noel Botham

The United States has more laws governing sexual behavior than every country in Europe combined.

An excerpt from Kentucky state legislation: "No female shall appear in a bathing suit on any highway within this state unless she be escorted by at least two officers or unless she be armed with a club."

In Oxford, Ohio, it's illegal for a woman to strip off her clothes in front of a man's picture.

In North Carolina, it is illegal to have sex with a drunken fish.

In the state of Utah, sex with an animal - unless performed for profit - is legal.

Pop Quiz

From The Amazing Book of Useless Information

1. How long did the Hundred Years' War last?
2. Which country makes Panama hats?
3. From which animal do we get catgut?
4. In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?
5. What is a camel's hair brush made of?
6. The Canary Islands in the Pacific are named after which animal?
7. What was King George VI's first name?
8. What color is a purple finch?
9. Where are Chinese gooseberries from?



answers:
1. 116 years
2. Ecuador
3. Sheep and horses
4. November
5. Squirrel fur
6. Dogs (Canines)
7. Albert
8. Crimson
9. New Zealand

Hot Homonyms

From The Amazing Book of Useless Information, by Noel Botham

The bandage was wound around the wound.

The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

The farm was used to prodice produce.

We must polish the Polish furniture.

He could lead if he would get the lead out.

The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

I did not object to the object.

The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

They were too close to the door to close it.

The buck does strange things when the does are present.

A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

The wind was too strong for us to wind the sail.

After a number of injections, my jaw got number.

Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.

I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?