Fun with facts

[Griffin NoName]

I'd go for battery operated ejector seats with a huge lever marked Pull Here.

The thing that would worry me would be the length of time to get the brain to remember the emergency evacuation procedure, especially with no air hostess to go through it before every journey



If Anderson invented the windshield wipers, who invented the windscreen wipers?

[Pachyderm]

Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.


Probably Anderson as well. Just changed the name, double the patent rights...

[Pachyderm]

The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.

[Aphos]

The term "red tape" comes from the post Civil War era, where veterans' records were bound with red ribbon.  It would take some time for the clerks to find the appropriate records when a veteran would show up in Washington to make a claim.

[Pachyderm]

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable"

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Because of all the preservative in modern foods, people are taking longer to decompose after death.

[Bluenose]

The longest English word that can be typed using only the letters on the top row of a standard typewriter or computer keyboard is typewriter.

[Pachyderm]

See, it's catching.

Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.

[Pachyderm]

In the spring of 1975, a baby in Detroit fell 14 stories and landed on Joseph Figlock, who was walking below. A few years later it happened again. Figlock and both babies survived.

[Pachyderm]

pteronophobia is the fear of being tickled by feathers

[anthrobabe]

Did you know that elephants are fantastic swimmers and love the water for the most part?
Also an elephant can run at speeds up to 25 mph over short distances- and don't bother climbing a tree they just knock them down.
Elephants live in herds and often stay in the family herd for their entire life.
"Proboscidea" is of Greek origins. Pro = forward or in front of. Boskein means to feed or mouth. Evidence for a trunklike organ has been known since the "woolly mammoths" and in the living elephants.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Did you know that elephants are fantastic swimmers and love the water for the most part?
Also an elephant can run at speeds up to 25 mph over short distances- and don't bother climbing a tree they just knock them down.
Elephants live in herds and often stay in the family herd for their entire life.
"Proboscidea" is of Greek origins. Pro = forward or in front of. Boskein means to feed or mouth. Evidence for a trunklike organ has been known since the "woolly mammoths" and in the living elephants.

Elephants are also unable to gallop.  Their "run" is really a very fast walk.  The cannot jump, either.  Too heavy, the landing would break their bones.

The elephant's foot is an amazing bit of engineering as well.  They literally stand on their toes (as do many mammals).  There is a thick pad of fat underneath their foot, and the bones of their toes (fingers?) surround this pad.  When an elephant steps down, the fatpad is squished, and expands the diameter of their foot.  The 'finger' bones spread out, too.  When the elephant picks up her foot, she draws together these bones, decreasing the diameter of the foot (squeezing the fat pad).

Why?

Because elephants like to play in the mud.  When stepping in deep, squishy mud, their feet expand as they sink into it.  When the foot is lifted, the reduction of the diameter keeps the foot from becoming 'glued' in place by suction-- the foot lifts out easily.

Pretty amazing, really.

[Griffin NoName]

I like their opposable trunks.

[Pachyderm]

Elephants live in herds and often stay in the family herd for their entire life

Females do.

The life of the adult male is different. As he gets older, he begins to spend more time at the edge of the herd, gradually going off on his own for hours or days at a time. Eventually, days become weeks, and somewhere around the age of fourteen, the mature male, or bull, sets out from his natal group for good. While males do live primarily solitary lives, they will occasionally form loose associations with other males. These groups are called bachelor herds.

At least a few elephants have been suspected to be drunk during their attacks. In December 1998, a herd of elephants overran a village in India. Although locals reported that nearby elephants had recently been observed drinking beer which rendered them "unpredictable", officials considered it the least likely explanation for the attack. Purportedly drunk elephants raided yet another Indian village again on December 2002, killing six people, which led to killing of about 200 elephants by locals. Elephants have used their powers of deduction to "hijack" trucks carrying sugarcane.

I saw a young male collecting palm nuts and other fruits which had been out in the sun, and making a pile of them near a tree. He then lay down in the shade provided by the tree, and slowly ate the lot. He got pissed, had trouble standing up, swayed a lot while walking, and eventually went to sleep. Unfortunately, had to leave before he woke up, so no idea what a hang-over he had...

[The Meromorph]

  I love it!