Useless Information Friday

Non-Phish General
#1

Since I began working in this office last Spring, I’ve put together a weekly broadcast Email to my fellow employees entitled “Useless Information Friday”. Just dawned on me to share it here.

Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults laugh on average only 15 times a day.

Author Robert May considered the names of Reginald and Rollo before he settled on “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.”

Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software.

96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 850 peanuts are needed to make an 18 oz. jar of peanut butter.

The term “mayday” used for signaling for help (after SOS) comes from the French “M’aidez” which is pronounced “MAYDAY” and means, “Help Me.”

The phrase “Often a bridesmaid, but never a bride,” actually originates from an advertisement for Listerine mouthwash from 1924.

Annually 17 tons of gold is used to make wedding rings in the United States.

96% of candles that are purchased are by women.

Fido means faithful in Latin. The most popular name for a pet in the United States is Max.

The dot that appears over the letter “i” is called a tittle.

The Uape Indians, who live in the Amazon, mix the ashes of their recently cremated relatives with alcohol, then all members of the family drink the mix with fond memories of the deceased.

The state that has the most diners in the world is New Jersey, which is referred to as the “Diner Capital of the World.”

31% of employees skip lunch entirely.

The average four year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day.

Tomato ketchup is a good conditioner for the hair. It also helps get the greenish tinge that some blonde haired people get after swimming in water with chlorine in it.

According to a study by the nation’s largest auto insurer, most accidents occur between 3 and 6 p.m. on Friday.

The pound key (#) on the keyboard is called an octothorpe.

Annually, the amount of garbage that is dumped in the world’s oceans is three times the weight of fish that is caught from the oceans.

The tip of a bullwhip moves so fast that it breaks the sound barrier. The crack of the whip is actually a tiny sonic boom.

The word “laser” stands for “Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission by radiation.”

Just by recycling one aluminum can, enough energy would be saved to have a TV run for three hours.

Since the United Nations was founded in 1945, there have been 140 wars.

In Israel, religious law forbids picking your nose on Sabbath.

One of the most prolific musical composer in Hollywood history is Carl W. Stalling. In his twenty-two years as musical director for the Warner Brothers animation department, he wrote over 600 individual scores for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons.

#2

Yup, makes sense, ask a question, laugh about it, ask a question, laugh about it…

I love useless information. I’m going to use it to win on Jeopardy some day. Thanks Fone

#3

I definitely put peanut butter on before jelly.

You need a base!

#4

I thought it was going to be like that one list that someone posted about how a person can’t lick their own elbow, and at the bottem it said “99% of all people who read this will try and lick their elbow” except maybe with this one was like “wash their hair with ketchup”. I bet I do that the next time I go camping!

#5

some of these are awesome…here’s some more, starting with one about my homeland:

Delaware is the only state with part of its border defined by the arc of a compass. (Except that other state next to Delaware with the same border.)

In American English, “forty” is the only number which is spelled by going only forward and not backtracking.

There are 2,598,960 possible hands in a five-card poker game.

People from Manchester, England are called Mancunians.

Marvin Gardens in the Monopoly game is not spelled the same as the Marven Gardens outside of Atlantic City, NJ, which the board game isbased on.

While drug-sniffing dogs are trained to bark like crazy, go “aggressive” at the first whiff of the right powder… Bomb-sniffing dogs are trained to go “passive” lest they set off a motion sensor or a noise sensor or any number of other things that might go kablooie.

Anise is the scent on the artificial rabbit that is used in greyhound races.

#6

^idunno dude…i usually put the jelly on one slice and the pb on the other, and i find it’s easier to wipe the knife after the jelly (ie JELLY FIRST)

#7

My ex sometimes washed her hair with olive oil. But I’m not actually sure if it helps clean or just treats the hair. Or maybe she was just insane.

#8

Good point. I also put jelly on one side, peanut butter on the other.

But I do put peanut butter first… I guess it doesn’t matter.

There is going to be anarchy in the kitchen next time i make a PB&J.

#9

There’s usually anarchy in the kitchen any time I make a PB&J.

Classic American Food -> War With Self

#10

random fact fridays eh?

you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead

the ancient roman leader Elagabolus (sp?) once appointed a horse as a general to his army

i got more but now i must shower

#11

^^^^^^ Yeah, JamPhan, I put the jelly on first. Cleaning off the knife is much easier. Then the peanut butter.

#12

"
In American English, “forty” is the only number which is spelled by going only forward and not backtracking. "

^i dont understand what that one means/how it works.

can someone explain?

#13

^ I was also confused by this. I think it means that the letters go in the order that they are already in…in the alphabet. f…o…r…t…y ???

#14

This Week’s Edition:

The name for Ivory Soap was inspired by a verse from the Bible. Harley Proctor thought of the name when the minister read from Psalms 45:8, “All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad.”

The household wrench was invented by boxing heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in 1922.

The ballpoint pen was first introduced to the United States in October of 1945. It was introduced in New York’s Gimbels Department Store, and the whole stock of 10,000 pens was sold out the first day for $12.50 each.

The children’s nursery rhyme, “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” was used by members of a pirate ship as a coded message.

F**king, Austria - Yes, a town name that is a swear word.

#15

The average ear of corn has eight-hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows.

The voice of Tony the Tiger is Thurl Ravenscroft, who also sang the “Rotten Mr. Grinch” song in the movie, “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”. He was also narrator for Disney’s “A Spooky Night in Disney’s Haunted Mansion” album. He performed for many Disney attractions including: voice of Fritz the parrot in "The Enchanted Tiki Room, " lead singer in “Grim Grinning Ghosts” in the Haunted Mansion, narrator on Monorail. He was the voice for the Disneyland LP based on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride. The flip side of this LP contained a number of sea chanties he sang.

The ZIP in zip code stands for “Zone Improvement Plan.”

The short-term memory capacity for most people is between five and nine items or digits. This is one reason that phone numbers were kept to seven digits for so long.

Golf-great Billy Casper turned golf pro during the Korean War while serving in the Navy. Casper was assigned to operate and build golf driving ranges for the Navy in the San Diego area.

To prevent evil spirits from entering the bodies of their male children, parents dressed them in blue. Blue was chosen because it’s the color of the sky and was therefore associated with heavenly spirits. Girls weren’t dressed in blue, apparently because people didn’t think that evil spirits would bother with them. Eventually, however, girls did get their own color: pink. Pink was chosen because of an old English legend which said that girls were born inside of pink roses.

When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a “portmanteau.”

The right side of a boat was called the starboard side due to the fact that the astronavigators used to stand out on the plank (which was on the right side) to get an unobstructed view of the stars. The left side was called the port side because that was the side that you put in on at the port. This was so that they didn’t knock off the starboard.

In the 1700’s you could purchase insurance against going to hell, in London England.

Carrageenan is a common ingredient in ice cream and toothpaste. Carrageenan is seaweed. A purple, edible seaweed, also known as Irish moss, that’s found along the coasts of Northern Europe and North America. It’s used as a suspending agent in foods, pharmaceuticals and liquids, as a clarifying agent for beverages, and in controlling crystal growth in frozen confections.

MAFIA is an acronym for Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela, or “Death to the French is Italy’s Cry”

Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed character on film, having been played by 72 actors in 204 films. The historical character most represented in films is Napoleon Bonaparte, with 194 film portrayals. Abraham Lincoln is the U.S. President to be portrayed most on film, with 136 films featuring actors playing the role.

Americans spend more than $630 million a year on golf balls.

A person standing under an oak tree is 16 more times liable to be hit by lightning than if he had taken refuge beneath a beech tree. The oak tree has vertical roots which provide a more direct route to ground water.

Crossing one’s fingers is a way of secretly making the sign of the Cross. It was started by early Christians to ask for divine assistance without attracting the attention of pagans.

Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams have the same colors: Black and gold.

In 1966, Elliot Handler, one of the co-founders of Mattel, Inc. and part of the Barbie doll empire, was the inventor of Hot Wheels

#16

Thanks, Bill!

Useless Informaton Friday is always a treat!

#17

The children’s nursery rhyme, “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” was used by members of a pirate ship as a coded message.

I could swear I heard somewhere that this was proven false.

#18

Motel is a portmanteau for motor and hotel?

I don’t understand that one.

What does it have to do with a motor?

#19

because people stop at them when they are on the road, or “motoring”. if that makes any sense. and hey what the hell is a “portmanteau”?

#20

here funky.

When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a “portmanteau.”