Thread: Did You Know

Westminster Abbey name from its location

One of the greatest achievements of Edward the Confessor, who ruled England from 1042 to 1066, was the construction of Westminster Abbey.
Born the son of King Ethelred the Unready and Emmaat at Islip in Oxfordshire, Edward was driven from England by the Danes and spent his exile in Normandy. The story goes that Edward vowed that if he should return safely to his kingdom, he would make a pilgrimage to St Peter's, Rome. When he returned and was crowned at Winchester in 1042, he found it impossible to leave his subjects. The Pope released him from his vow on condition that he should found or restore a monastery to St Peter. This led to the building of Westminster Abby in the Norman style to replace the Saxon church at Westminster. Edward determined that the Minster should not be built in London, and so a place was found to the west of the city, hence it is called "Westminster."

.

The pleasant feeling of eating chocolate is caused by a chemical called anadamide, a neurotransmitter which also is produced naturally in the brain.
From the Middle Ages until the 18th century the local barber's duties included dentistry, blood letting, minor operations and bone-setting. The barber's striped red pole originates from when patients would grip the pole during an operation.
The US nickname Uncle Sam was derived from Uncle Sam Wilson, a meat inspector in Troy, New York.
The living does not outnumber the dead: since the creation about 60 billion people have died.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
Midday refers to the moment the sun crosses the local meridian.
Due to earth's gravity it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 metres.
It is not true that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made structure that can be viewed from space - many man-made objects, including the Dutch polders, can be viewed from space.


Andy

Frogs on all continents except Antarctica

There are close to 4,000 known species of frogs, including toads. They range in size from less than half an inch to nearly a foot long and come in a rainbow of colors and patterns.
Adult frogs are carnivorous and will eat just about anything smaller than themselves, including insects, worms and even other frogs.
A frog's long, sticky tongue is attached in the front of its mouth, and, as a signature move, a frog can flick its tongue out to capture its prey with remarkable speed.
The earliest known frog (Vieraella herbsti) appeared during the late Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago. The specimens that have been found in Arizona shows that the skeletal shape and body plan of the frog has remained almost unchanged.
The biggest frog is the appropriately named Goliath frog (Conraua goliath) of Cameroon. They reach nearly 30cm (a foot) and weigh as much as 3,3 kilograms (7 lb). The smallest frog is the Gold frog (Psyllophryne Didactyla) of Brazil. They grow to only 9,8 mm (3/8 inch).
Equally small is the Eleutherodactylus iberia discovered only in 1996 in Monte Iberia, Cuba. (It doesn't even have a common name yet.) Other small frogs are poison frogs. They measure less than 1cm (1/2 inch).
Recently scientists have noticed a marked decline in the numbers of frogs and other amphibians around the world. Some species are believed to have become extinct within the past fifty years. Causes for the decline include ozone depletion, pollution, habitat loss, introduction of new predators, disease and even a fungus.

1. A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
2. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.
3. The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.
4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
5. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
6. A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.
7. A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".
8. During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur," a small red car can be seen in the distance (and Heston's wearing a watch).
9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily! (That explains a few mysteries....)
10. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
11. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.
12. The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.
13. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and silver.
14. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. There was never a recorded Wendy before.
15. The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
16. If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death. (Who was the sadist who discovered this??)
17. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.
18. The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
19. The original name for butterfly was flutterby.
20. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
21. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
22. Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.
23. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.
24. Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.
25. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
26. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
27. Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson."
28. An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than three steps backwards while dancing!
29. The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.
30. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.
31. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!

How very interesting Andy

Did You Know

Sharks are immune to every disease, basically, including most all cancers. They have a simple, more streamline immune system than humans, allowing them to fight infection and disease more efficiently. Scientists may someday learn enough about the DNA of these characteristics to illuminate much disease. But, as of August 2008, cancer was still killing every fifth person on this planet.

THEY LEARN TO DATE MIGHTY YOUNG

A week after birth, a honey bee queen flies from the hive, seeking romantic encounters. She then mates with as many as 20 drones, collecting enough sperm to fulfill her job of reproduction for a lifetime. Apparently, in an evolutionary hurry, this queen can usually begin laying her eggs less than a week after mating.


.

The word 'pound' is abbreviated 'lb.' after the constellation 'libra' because it means 'pound' in Latin, and also 'scales'. The abbreviation for the British Pound Sterling comes from the same source: it is an 'L' for Libra/Lb. with a stroke through it to indicate abbreviation.
Sames goes for the Italian lira which uses the same abbreviation ('lira' coming from 'libra'). So British currency (before it went metric) was always quoted as "pounds/shillings/pence", abbreviated "L/s/d" (libra/solidus/denarius).
The three largest land-owners in England are the Queen, the Church of England and Trinity College, Cambridge.
The monastic hours are matins, lauds, prime, tierce, sext, nones, vespers and compline.
If you come from Manchester, you are a Mancunian.
No animal, once frozen solid (i.e., water solidifies and turns to ice) survives when thawed, because the ice crystals formed inside cells would break open the cell membranes. However there are certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen. These frogs make special proteins which prevent the formation of ice (or at least keep the crystals from becoming very large), so that they actually never freeze even though their body temperature is below zero Celsius. The water in them remains liquid: a phenomenon known as 'supercooling.' If you disturb one of these frogs (just touching them even), the water in them quickly freezes solid and they die.

The study of creatures such as Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and the lochness monster is called cryptozoology. Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans coined the term to describe his investigations of animals unknown to science.

The apparatus used in alcohol distilleries for freeing the spirit from water is called the dephlegmator.

One that speaks two languages - is bilingual - can be said to be diglot.

Ducks are never male. The males of the species are called drakes.

Shoemakers are commonly called cobblers but correctly speaking a cobbler is a shoe repairmen. A shoemaker is a cordwainer.

A specific length of thread or yarn according to the type of fiber is called a hank. For linen, a hank is 274 metres (300 yards); for cotton, it is 768 metres (840 yards).

The white part of your fingernail is called the lunula.

The thin line of cloud that forms behind an aircraft at high altitudes is called a contrail.

A depth of 2 fathoms (3,6 metres) is called a Mark Twain. Originally a fathom was the space reached by with two arms outstretched.

In the early days of film making, people who worked on the sets were called movies. The films were called potion pictures.

The back of the human hand is the opisthenar.

Someone who uses as few words as possible when speaking is called pauciloquent.
People that study fish are called ichthyologists.

The pin that holds a hinge together is called a pintle.

A melody is a group of notes in a certain order that results in a sweet or agreeable sound. An easily remembered melody is called a tune.

Compulsive shopping was identified by a German psychiatrist almost a hundred years ago. Clinically it is known as oniomania. Shopaholics are the people who do not suffer from chrematophobia, which is the fear of touching money.

In early France the distance a man could walk while smoking one pipeful of tobacco was called a pipee.

The central shaft of a bird's feather which bears the vane or web of the feather is called a rachis.

The small cup in which an espresso is served is called a demitasse.

Someone who habitually picks their nose is called a rhinotillexomaniac (rhino=nose, tillexis=habit of picking at something, mania=obsession with something).