The Useless-But-Interesting Information Thread

[DoctaMario]

We all have those little nuggets of info that are overall pretty useless, but still interesting nonetheless. Post them here! Inquiring minds want to know!


•Did you know that the term "shot" of liquor came from the old West? When a cattle rider wanted to drink but hadn't been paid yet, he'd pay for his liquor with a bullet, which the bartender could later sell and make his money. Hence the term a "Shot of whiskey."

[xHaZxMaTx]

The Pilgrims of the Mayflower were destined for 'the Hudson River, north of the 1607 Jamestown Settlement', but landed at Plymouth Rock because they had run out of beer (which was safer to drink than water, at the time).  Or so says Modern Marvels.

[Suwako]

Americans that pay their ticket;
after a imminent call from the court of law: 10%
after a friendly call from the court of law: 35%.
after a call from their mother: 50%. 

2005-

[Angel]

Walking under a ladder is considered bad luck because a ladder leaning against a wall forms a triangle - the Holy Trinity. If one breaks the Holy Trinity by walking through it...

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time - 1/100th of a second.

[Dannysaysnoo]

Cockney slang was originally used by thieves planning in public, so that the police couldn't understand them.

[Faerie Alex]

The Tupolev Tu-144 is the only other SST besides the Concorde. It also flew first and faster than the Concorde.

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

In approximately 1902 a book was written about  a ship named Titan, which sank after hitting an iceburg. Ten year later, a ship left port in Belfast.

[Ryudo Lee]

Oysters, often considered an aphrodesiac, are approximately 70% gonads.

[Angel]

The average American spends about six months of their life waiting for a red light to change. (The same amount of time is spent on the toilet.)

[DoctaMario]

A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time - 1/100th of a second.

[Faerie Alex]

Someone (can't remember who) said that the Treaty of Versailles (1919) was nothing more than a cease-fire to last twenty years. He was accurate within 3 months, possibly closer depending on when he said it.

[GabrielsThoughts]

Column one of the Los Angeles Times is labeled with bright red letters, because people are apparently too stupid to know that is there is a first column, especially  with all the pictures and three different kind of text on the cover and the big ass red letter starting the column off.

[xHaZxMaTx]

If you want people to understand you, it helps to use proper English.

Not-so-useless.

[Sienna Maiu - M T]

The average Sienna could forsee that this thread was going to be moved here, but is generally too lazy to even bother mentioning it.

[Suwako]

33 percent of all women find themselves a mother better than their mother.

2005- 2006-

[xHaZxMaTx]

The internet is for - among other things - porn.

[Suwako]

Almost 40% of all men have nude  photographs of  their girlfriend or woman. 21% show that/those photograph(s) to friends or acquaintances.

dunno date

[superluser]

The Toxoplasma parasite prefers to infect cats, so it has evolved in such a way that when it infects a mouse, it will make the mouse lose its aversion to cats and thus more likely to be eaten by a cat.  The parasite then infects mice through cat feces.

It is also associated with schizophrenia in humans.

(y'all probably knew this)

[Angel]

Arachibutyrophobia: the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.

(I kid you not. This is a real phobia.)

[lucas marcone]

sutides sohw taht poelpe dnot raed ecah lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wolhe.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

sutides sohw taht poelpe dnot raed ecah lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wolhe.

Actually, said studies have been shown to be utterly non-existent. The studies that -do- exist show that while the placement of letters in the middle of words is less important, letters at the end tend to be more important in placement.

Which is not -quite- the same thing. And reading a sentence that has been jumbled is -still- slower than reading a "correct" sentence, for many people.

[superluser]

sutides sohw taht poelpe dnot raed ecah lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wolhe.

You're conflating two studies.

People read word by word, not letter by letter (which is why you shouldn't set running text in sans serif).  You look at the shape of the word, the ascenders and descenders and decide what it is and move on.

And the other is, as llearch says, apparently apocryphal.

[Angel]

There is a small group of people in the world who are able to snort milk up their noses and squirt it out of their eyes. Their tear ducts apparently work in two ways. The current world record for longest milk squirt from the eye is held by Ilker Yilmaz.

[xHaZxMaTx]

I can blow air from my eyes, does that count?

[lucas marcone]

Aiyno was promised pie. little know fact but VERY important.

[Brunhidden]

seven popes have been convicted of being satanists

[Dannysaysnoo]

seven popes have been convicted of being satanists

That made literally LOL!

[superluser]

seven popes have been convicted of being satanists

Are you referring to antipopes or something else?  Because if it's the latter, I would be very curious to know which ones.

[Dannysaysnoo]

seven popes have been convicted of being satanists

Are you referring to antipopes or something else?  Because if it's the latter, I would be very curious to know which ones.

Antipopes? you mean, like, a pope who can't put on his hat over his horns?

[Angel]

I can blow air from my eyes, does that count?

It might. One guy discovered he could do that when he held his nose underwater and bubbles came out of his eyes. So you could be a milk-squirter.