Did you know that...

[Swatopluk]

Did you know that there were serious attempts to legislate the value of pi (not pie!)?
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/805/did-a-state-legislature-once-pass-a-law-saying-pi-equals-3

[Sibling DavidH]

Did you know that the first stuntman to go over Niagara Falls  in a barrel (Bobby Leach, an Englishman) later died when he slipped on a piece of orange peel?

[Swatopluk]

Did you know that the decimal point was introduced by the watchmaker Jost Bürgi (friend of Kepler) who also could claim to be a co-dicoverer of logarithms.

[Pachyderm]

The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

[Swatopluk]

Did you know that hymen and hymn are both derived from a Greek deity, (Hymen(aios))?
He also had pirate connections.

[ivor]

DYK that the chirping sound that a male hummingbird makes at the bottom of his courtship dive is actually made by his tail feathers.

[Swatopluk]

Did you know that St.Ctristopherus was kicked out of the saint list for not existing by Paul VI?

[Sibling DavidH]

Did you know that  King Peibio Clafrog of Ergyng threw his daughter Efrddyl into the river Wye when she was found to be illegitimately pregnant, that she didn't drown and the child turned out to be St Dyfrig (Dubricius)?

You ought to know this if you live in Herefordshire or are called Devereux.

[Swatopluk]

I guess on o the towers in the Tower Of London wa snamed after him?

---

Did you know that the first cinema precursor (zoetrope) dates back to China about AD180?

[Sibling DavidH]

The Devereux Tower is named after Robert Devereux (1566-1601) who was a prisoner in the Tower and was executed.

And Devereux is the Norman-French version of 'Dubricius'
-----------------------------------

Did you know that the word tadpole is from Old English tād pol , meaning "toad head" and that therefore it should not logically apply to frogs at all?

[Swatopluk]

How many people do you know that could give an easy explanation what the difference is betwen frogs and toads?

[Sibling DavidH]

Did you know that if you write stuff in blue letters people will usually think it's a link and click on it for hours?

[Pachyderm]

How many people do you know that could give an easy explanation what the difference is betwen frogs and toads?

Actually, quite a few. Some in far greater detail than you would wish.

Some famous people, and their real names...

Alan Alda = Alphonso D'Abruzzo
Alice Cooper = Vincent Furnier
Tony Curtis = Bernard Schwartz
Elvis Costello = Declan Patrick McManus
Bo Diddley = Otha Elias Bates McDaniel

and

Albert Brooks = Albert Einstein

[Swatopluk]

I was asking for an easy explanation

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Did you know that Richard Wagner was likely not the son of Mr.Wagner sen. but of a Mr. Geyer, the chap his mother married after Mr. Wagner sen.'s death?
This is also the 'hidden' meaning behind Nietzsche's (in)famous comment on Wagner: Ein Geyer ist fast schon ein Adler (A vulture/Geyer is almost an eagle).

[pieces o nine]

Did you know that Freddie Mercury's given name was Farrokh Bulsar?