Trivia Today

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS - RAINFORESTS

Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface;
now they cover 6%.

***

One hundred and thirty seven plant, animal and insect
species are being lost every single day due to rainforest
deforestation.

***

The howler monkey is the loudest animal living in the
rainforests of South America.

***

More than half of the world's estimated 10 million species
of plants, animals and insects live in the tropical
rainforests.

***

One hectare of lowland rainforest in South America can
contain as many frog species as in all of North America.

***

The biggest rainforest in the world is in South America,
along the banks of the Amazon River.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year, the Day of Judgement,
the Day of Remembrance, and the Day of Shofar Blowing.

As the Day of Judgement, Jews worldwide examine their past
deeds and asks for forgiveness for their sins.

As the Day of Remembrance, Jews review the history of their
people and pray for Israel.

As the Day of Shofar Blowing, the Shofar is blown in temple
to herald the beginning of the 10 day period known as the
High Holy Days.

And of course it is New Year's Day.

***

Rosh Hashanah is observed the first and second day of the
seventh month of the Jewish calender, Tishri, which usually
falls in September.

***

In Israel, Rosh Hashanah is the only holiday kept for 2 days
as it is considered too important to be observed for only
24 hours. Both days are considered one long day of 48 hours.

***

The common greeting at this time is L'shanah tovah ("for a
good year"). This is a shortening of "L'shanah tovah tikatev
v'taihatem" (or to women, "L'shanah tovah tikatevi
v'taihatemi"), which means "May you be inscribed and sealed
for a good year."

***

On Rosh Hashanah, it is customary for families to gather
together for the holiday meal. Traditional foods sweetened
with honey, apples and carrots are served, symbolizing
sweetness, blessings, abundance and the hope for a sweet
year ahead.

***

The first night's meal begins with apple dipped in honey.
Challah, the bread usually eaten on the Sabbath (not braided
as at regular meals but instead baked in a circle - a wish
that the coming year will roll around smoothly without
unhappiness or sorrow) is also dipped in honey before
eating.

RANDOM TIDBITS


A Russian dog named Laika was the first creature to fly
in space.

***

French writer George Sand carried on an affair with
Frederic Chopin.

***

The most expensive bottle of wine sold for $300,000. It
was a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafitte claret engraved
with the initials of Thomas Jefferson.

***

A rooster will attack anything that he thinks will harm
the hens ( that includes humans ). Their spurs (located at
the back of their leg ) can cause a very painful puncture
wound.

***

Laid head to claw, KFC chickens consumed worldwide would
stretch some 275,094 miles. They would circle the Earth
at the equator 11 times or stretch from the Earth approx-
imately 50,094 miles past the moon.

***

The Ameraucana and Araucana chickens can lay eggs colored
in shades of green or blue, depending on the breed and
it's ancestry.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used
as money in Siberia.

***

Owls are the only birds who can see the color blue.

***

The yo-yo was originally a weapon used in the Philippine
jungles.

***

The Nobel Peace Prize medal depicts three naked men with
their hands on each other's shoulders.

***

Millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by
squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.

***

The only married couple to fly together in space were Jan
Davis and Mark Lee.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

The General Lee cars used in the popular show The Dukes of
Hazards were 1969 Dodge Chargers.

***

The Muppet Show was banned from TV in Saudi Arabia because
one of its stars was a pig.

***

The first music video ever played on MTV Europe was by Dire
Straits, "Money For Nothing."

***

The childhood word game Hangman was the inspiration for TV's
Wheel of Fortune.

***

The first letter Vanna White ever turned on the game show
Wheel of Fortune was the letter "T."

***

Lenny Kravitz's mother played the part of Helen on the TV
sitcom "The Jeffersons."

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

Pogo sticks were first used by sacrificial dancers in Borneo.

***

The biggest tomato on record weighed 7 1/2 pounds.

***

New York City law entitles its horses to a 15 minute
"coffee break" after each two hours of work.

***

Gone Flakey...

1984 Kelloggs' Miss America commerative Corn Flakes Box
featuring Vanessa Williams is one of the most collectible
cereal boxes.

***

Better eat your Wheaties...

In the 1950's Wheaties stopped using athletes on their
boxes and started using Disney figurines. Sales went down
15%. General Mills had a meeting and decided to recall
their sports stars. The Disney boxes are valuable today.

***

Count Chocula

In 1981, General Mills featured a box with a Bela Lugosi
Dracula wearing a six-pointed star pendant. A religious
group objected to what they felt was a "Star of David"
and the box was recalled.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

Fast food restaurants use yellow, red, and orange because
those are the colors that stimulate hunger.

***

Passion fruits have a tranquilizing effect on the body.

***

A one-third pound stalk of broccoli contains more vitamin C
than 204 apples.

***

It takes about three hours for food to be broken down in
the human stomach.

***

Chocolate contains the same chemical, phenylethylamine,
that your brain produces when you fall in love.

***

Blueberries have more antioxidents than any other fruit or
vegetables.

RANDOM TIDBITS

The Antpitta avis canis Ridgley is a bird species that
barks like a dog.

***

The Dalmatian dog is named for the Dalmatian Coast of
Croatia, where it is believed to have been originally bred.

***

Boxers were named after their habit of playing. At the
beginning of play with another dog, a Boxer will stand on
his hind legs and 'box' at his opponent.

***

The real name of Toto the dog in "The Wizard Of Oz" was
Terry.

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The dog name “Fido” is from Latin and means “fidelity.”

***

Greyhounds have the best eyesight of any breed of dog.
Today the dog is widely used in racing.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS - GIRAFFES

Giraffes live for 10-15 years in the wild, but average 25
years at zoos.

***

The average giraffe's blood pressure is two or three times
that of a healthy person.

***

A baby giraffe is about six feet tall at birth.

***

Thinking that its parents were a camel and a leopard, the
Europeans once called the animal a "camelopard."

***

A giraffe’s heart can pump 16 gallons of blood in one minute.

***

A giraffe is able to clean its ears with its own tongue.

 

[tunsty]

The track listing for U2's 'The Joshua Tree', was actually picked by singer Kirsty Macoll (RIP)

Both she and her husband, Steve Lillywhite, were good friends with the group and would often hang around whilst they were inbetween recordings.
Toward the end of the recording for the album, Kirsty asked the band if there was anything she could do, as she was bored with hanging around.
Someone suggested that she choose the track listing for the album, picking her favourite song first and then onto her second favourite.. etc

 

[CunningStunts]

I read today that Zebras are actually white with black markings... I always thought it was the other way around.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS - All About Mars

The ancient Greeks attributed the planet of Mars to Ares,
their god of war, because of its red color.

***

The Martian surface is red due to the oxidation of iron in
the soil.

***

An object weighing 100 pounds on Earth would weigh just 38
pounds on Mars.

***

Mars has white areas at the poles that are white polar ice
caps.

***

Statistically, UFO sightings are at their greatest number
during those times when Mars is closest to Earth.

***

The Martian atmosphere is 100 times less dense than that of
Earth.

RANDOM TIDBITS

The state of Michigan claims more varieties of trees than
all of Europe.

***

The state of Tennessee was known as Franklin before 1796.

***

Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine are the four states in
the U.S. that do not allow billboards.

***

Maine produces almost all of the country's wild blueberries.

***

Texas is the only state that is allowed to fly its flag at
the same height as the U.S. flag.

***

The state that grows the most cranberries is Wisconsin.

 

[minidog]

good read HL

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

The National Enquirer was originally a horse-racing
tip sheet.

***

Johnny Knoxville's real name is Phillip J. Clapp.

***

John Milton used 8,000 different words in his poem,
"Paradise Lost."

***

In 1999, the National Geographic Society revised the off-
icial height of Mt. Everest, raising the previous 1954
elevation figure by 7 feet as a result of more precise
global positioning and measuring devices.

***

A Harlem-born, African American bicycle messenger went
on to win a silver medal in cycling at the 1984 Olympics.
His name was Nelson "The Cheetah" Vails.


***

Barbara Bush's book about her English Springer Spaniel,
Millie's book, was on the bestseller list for 29 weeks.
Millie was the most popular "First Dog" in history.

 

[historylover]

good read HL

:hatsoff:

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

An average person has about 6 quarts of blood running
through their body.

***

If you've got a normal head of hair, you have about 100,000
hairs on it.

***

If your sense of smell isn't working, you can't taste an
onion

***

The first jigsaw puzzle was invented to teach geography.
In, 1767, John Spilsbury, a teacher in England and formery
the apprectice to the Royal Geographer, made the first jig-
saw.

***

In 1939, Charles Magnant, along with Joe Biviano, Abe
Goldman, and Gen von Hallberg were the first to play
accordions within the hallowed walls of Carnegie Hall.
Their first selection was Bach's Toccata and Fugue in
D minor.

***

According to the National enter for Health Statistics,
between 1980 and 2000, the number of twins births in-
creased 74%. Triplet births have increased fivefold.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

Sharks have upper and lower eyelids but they do not blink.

***

Some sharks swim in a figure eight when frightened.

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Sharks have survived on earth for about 400 million years.

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A shark bites with its lower jaw first and then its upper.

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The hides of mature female blue sharks are more than twice
as thick as those of males.

***

A shark may grow and use over 20,000 teeth in its lifetime.

RANDOM TIDBITS

Germany is the world's second largest consumer of coffee in
terms of volume at 16 pounds per person.

***

Over 53 countries grow coffee worldwide, but all of them
lie along the equator between the tropic of Cancer and
Capricorn.

***

An acre of coffee trees can produce up to 10,000 pounds of
coffee cherries. That amounts to approximately 2,000 pounds
of beans after hulling or milling.

***

The percolator was invented in 1827 by a French man. It
would boil the coffee producing a bitter tasting brew. Today
most people use the drip or filtered method to brew their
coffee.

***

Up until the 1870s most coffee was roasted at home in a
frying pan over a charcoal fire. It wasn't until recent
times that batch roasting became popular.

***

# Each year some seven million tons of green beans are
produced world wide, most of which is hand picked.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

Sharks and coffee today, I like it, they go well together. :thumbsup:

I like the one about the sharks and eyelids.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means
it can be recycled an infinite amount of times.

***

The first real recycling program was introduced in New York
City in the 1890s.

***

One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the
air each year.

***

Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it
in an incinerator.

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Since 1978, the weight of a soda bottle has been reduced by
29 percent.

***

Around 45% of the paper Americans use each year is recovered
for recycling.

RANDOM TIDBITS

Walt Disney got his idea for Mickey Mouse while watching
mice play one night in a garage.

***

Disneyland and Walt Disney World amusement parks are in
counties with the same name. Disneyland is in Orange County,
California; Disney World is in Orange County, Florida.

***

H.R. Haldeman and Ron Ziegler, who helped plan the Watergate
burglary for President Nixon, both worked at Disneyland
when they were younger.

***

"EPCOT" stands for “Experimental Prototype Community of
Tomorrow”.

***

The story of Mulan had been told in China for almost 1,500
years before it was made into a movie.

***

The Swiss Family Robinson tree house in Disneyland has
300,000 fake leaves on it.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

China produces about 70 percent of the world's silk supply.

***

The ancient Chinese believed that swinging your arms could
cure a headache.

***

Rice flour was used to strengthen some of the bricks that
make up the Great Wall of China.

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The earliest recorded human settlements in China were
discovered in the Huang He basin and date from 5000 B.C.

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Pekingese dogs were sacred to the emperors of China for
more than 2,000 years.

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Twenty percent of China's plants are used in medicine.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

On average, 80 people shoot at the Goodyear blimp
each year.

***

The last stagecoach holdup took place in Tennessee on
October 15, 1882.

***

The average age for first time brides is 24.5 years.
For grooms it's 26.5 years.

***

A Texan convicted of robbery worked out a deal to pay
$9600 in damages rather than serve a two-year prison
sentence. For payment, he gave the court a forged check.
He got his prison term back, plus eight more years.

***

The distance of a marathon was first standardized at 25
miles in 1896. During the 1908 London Olympics, Queen
Alexandra wanted her grandchildren to see the start of
the race. So the starting line was moved back 1 mile and
385 yards- onto the front lawn of Windsor Castle.

***

If you were a tobacco farmer in the 30's and 40's, you
wouldn't have had to fight in WW II. President Roosevelt
declared tobacco "an essential crop" at the outbreak of the
war- exempting tobacco growers from the draft.

 

[historylover]

RANDOM TIDBITS

Elvis won only three Grammy awards, but none were for his
rock or country recordings. All three were for gospel songs.

***

Elvis is the No.1 most impersonated celebrity ever.

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Nine months to the day of Elvis and Priscilla Presley's
wedding, on February 1, 1968, the couple welcomed daughter
Lisa Marie to the world.

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Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo, Miss. is open to the public.
The future star was born in the two-room house on January
8, 1935. The Presley family lived there until 1948, when
they moved to Memphis.

***

One hundred forty-eight different Elvis recordings have
been certified gold, platinum or multiplatinum. And with
more than 1 billion albums sold worldwide, he's the
biggest-selling solo artist ever.

***

Elvis is in three music Halls of Fame: the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and the
Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Johnny Cash is the only other
artist to be in three music Halls of Fame - the
Songwriters, Country and Rock halls.