BS: Useless Trivia

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST,Sidewinder
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 08:27 PM

The Irish poet Brendan Behan was visiting Canada in the dim and distant past and was asked to appear on a talk show. He agreed and answered all the questions put to him quite amiably then he was asked "Why had he come to Canada?" to which he replied " I was in a bar in Ireland drinking and when I picked up my glass there was a beer mat under it that said Drink Canada Dry so I thought I'd give it a try".

Best Wishes.

Sidewinder.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST,Harmoni
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 01:30 AM

It's impossible to lick your elbow

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: mack/misophist
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 01:26 PM

One of San Francisco's earliest, most beloved oddities was Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico; a man of infinite gravitas and charisma. He not only printed his own currency, people accepted it. You try doing that.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 02:48 PM

>>It's impossible to lick your elbow

And undignified to try....

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 02:55 PM

A cangaroo's penis is bifurcated (split in two) at the end.
I guess they can two-time at the same time?

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: LilyFestre
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 07:33 PM

The safety pin was invented on April 10, 1849 by Walter Hunt of New York, New York.

:) Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST,Sidewinder
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 07:38 PM

The Five Marx Brothers were Groucho,Chico, Harpo, Gummo and Zeppo and contrary to popular belief Harpo was not a mute. Groucho once refused membership of an exclusive club saying "I wouldn't want to be a member of any club that would have me as a member".

Best Wishes.

Sidewinder.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Jeep man
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 07:46 PM

Things are more like they are now than they have ever been before. Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Bert
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 07:52 PM

Interesting LilyFestre, at school (a hundred years ago) our Latin master showed us a picture of a safety pin excavated from Ancient Rome.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST,Sidewinder
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 08:41 PM

Dick Rowe of Decca Records turned The Beatles down after they did an audition saying "groups with guitars are on their way out".Jim Denny of The Grand Ole Opry told Elvis Presley he should "go back to driving a truck" after his first and only appearance on the show.Bob Dylan played harmonica on a Harry Belafonte album. Pete Townsend played harmonica on Little Millies "My Boy Lollipop".Rod Stewart sang backing vocals on "Hi Ho Silver Lining" by The Jeff Beck Group.Mick Jagger sang backing vocals on "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon.Paul McCartney produced both Those Were The Days by Mary Hopkins and I'm The Urban Spaceman by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. John Lennon produced the album "Pussycats" for Harry Nielsen. Alan Klein managed both The Beatles and The Stones at different times.Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison all died within a year and all before the age of 30.Leonard Cohen spent the night with Joplin in The Chelsea Hotel where years later Sid Vicious reportedly murdered his girlfriend.Buddy Holly,Richie Valens, J P Richardson, Rick Nelson,John Denver,Aliyah all died in plane crashes.David Bowie called his son Zowie and Marc Bolan called his son Rolan.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Auggie
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 09:37 PM

Wisconsin's automobile license plates read "America's Dairyland".

That sobriquet is taken very seriously. State statute 97.18(5) prohibits the serving of oleo or margarine to any student, inmate or resident of a State Institution or University as a substitute for table Butter under threat of penalty.
Violaters may be fined not less than $100 nor more than $500 nor imprisoned longer than 3 months... or both.

Fines and incarceration times double for those found guilty of subsequent offenses.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: mack/misophist
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 10:40 PM

Vikings didn't get scurvy. Their sauer kraut kept them healthy.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 12:34 AM

I once knew a woman who could lick the tip of her own nose.

My first wife could take the stem from a maraschino cherry, put it in her mouth, and tie it in a knot with her tongue.

She also could hear high-pitched sounds that supposedly only dogs can hear.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: JennyO
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 12:39 AM

I CAN lick the tip of my own nose. I don't do it too often tho, cos it grosses people out.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: LadyJean
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 12:54 AM

Lillian Russell was married at the Schenley Hotel. (Now the University of Pittsburgh Student Union.) Elenora Duse died there (and is alleged to haunt the place.)
Andy Warhol was born Andrew Wahola, he lived for a while in Pittsburgh's Hill district, which August Wilson uses for the setting for his plays about African Americans. (Wilson lived in Pittsburgh's Homewood section, as did John Edgar Wideman.)
Mary Cassat, Gertrude Stein and Martha Graham were all born in the city of Allegheny, now Pittsburgh's North Side.
Pittsburgh's oldest industry wasn't steel, it was glass.
George Washington's first military command was at Fort Necessity outside of Pittsburgh. He came back as president, leading troops to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794.
My home is in a borough named for Jane Gray Swisshelm, an early suffragist.
Nobody knows where knitting originated, or when.
Single point knitting needles were originally called knitting pins.
The last battle of the English Civil war was fought at St. Marye's Citye Maryland. (Tye roundheads won.)
Kentucky was almost named Transylvania.
Jefferson Davis went to Transylvania College in Lexington Kentucky.
C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Dorothy L. Sayers were good friends.
Hans Christian Anderson was dyslexic. He had a half sister who was a prostitute. He went to Copenhagen at the age of 14 to become a performer, and danced in a ballet. He played a troll.
Holly plants are male and female.
Had enough yet? I've got an eidetic memory. I can go all day.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: pdq
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 11:54 AM

The only language in which every word ends in a vowel is...






















Japanese

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: beadie
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 12:15 PM

Auggie:

Wisconsin also (in the same statute) specifies in elegant detail how margarine must be packaged when sold at retail. It is also illegal to place margarine on the table at any public eating establishment unless specifically requested by the customer.

These regulations stem from a huge battle in the state's Legislature during the middle sixties (before it was legal to even possess margarine in the state). The "dairy defenders" who violently opposed the attack on the state's primary agricultural industry dreamed up all manner of reasons why the "synthetic" substitute for pure, wholesome butter should not be allowed to invade America's Dairyland. It would cause all manner of ailments, it would dull young children's senses to the point of distraction in school, it would devastate the agricultural economy; . . . take your pick.

As an interesting aside, after this battle was decided (resulting in the passage of the statute you cite to), one of the prime advocates for butter, a Senator from the Southern Wisconsin hill country, began a similarly passionate opposition to the trend toward open display and sale of contraceptives in pharmacies. Heretofore, such items were available only behind the counter. The Senator famously argued (and this is on the state's legislative record) that if these things are made more widely available, the poor people will start to use them and we won't have enough young men to meet the needs of our military draft.   -    Remember, this was during the VietNam War era.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: susu
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 12:18 PM

someone reading all these posts will actually try to lick their elbow.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: mack/misophist
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 12:28 PM

My high school trig teacher could lick her elbow. Of course, she had an artificial arm.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Bassic
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 12:31 PM

If my tongue was an inch longer then I could.;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: ToulouseCruise
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 01:30 PM

I've got new socks on.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: LilyFestre
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 01:40 PM

Hiya Bert,

   About the safety pin....here's what I found:

Walter Hunt. Hunt was a mechanic from New York, whose other inventions include a forerunner of the Winchester repeating rifle, a successful flax spinner, knife sharpener, streetcar bell, hard-coal-burning stove, artificial stone, road sweeping machinery, velocipedes, ice ploughs and mail making machinery. In 1834, Walter Hunt built America's first sewing machine, which was also the first eye pointed needle sewing machine. He later lost interest in patenting his sewing machine, because he believed the invention would cause unemployment.

The safety pin was invented while Walter Hunt was twisting a piece of wire, trying to think of something that would help him pay off a fifteen dollar debt. On April 10, 1849, the safety pin was patented. Walter Hunt also thought little of his safety pin as an invention and soon sold the patent for four hundred dollars.

****I have seen other articles that say this date is when he had the idea patented.....I wouldn't be a bit surprised if ancient cultures had safety pins though! They are the most useful little things!

:) Michelle

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Mrrzy
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 01:47 PM

OK - it was Guillotin, not Guillotine, who invented the guillotine.

Female kangaroos have three vaginas and two uteri.

Japanese doesn't HAVE vowels - they use a syllabary, not an alphabet.

Elephants are also the only non-primate mammals to have breasts (nipples between the FRONT limbs) rather than udders (between the back limbs) or multiple nipples running the length of the body (like cats and dogs and other animals who have litters).

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 01:56 PM

On the 'Bounty', Captain Bligh wasn't a Captain, he was only a 1st Lieutenant and he ordered a four hour dancing session every evening to improve the mens fitness and morale.

He sailed from Spithead in the UK, to Cape Horn (South America) where the weather was so bad he turned and went across the Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa) and on to Adventure Bay, Van Diemens' Land (Tasmania) before he had to issue a single punishment, mroe than 9 months into the trip.

The first death on board was 2 months out of Adventure, and that from an infection picked up there.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Bert
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 03:04 PM

Thanks Michelle,

here's something that I found about the Roman version.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: mack/misophist
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 04:16 PM

The fibula used by the Romans, and the Celts, had no cover over the point. It could be made entirely of one piece of wire. The modern safety pin does have a cover, which is why it's a "safety" pin.

Fibulae should not be confused with pin-annular brooches, which had two parts and were not meant to bend.


More trivia: Roman shields were made of plywood.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Auggie
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 07:33 PM

Beadie
Was the Wisconsin senator you refered to that inexhaustable treasure trove of insipid ideas, the one and only Odie Fish?

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 08:06 PM

Mrrzy: Written Japanese might not have special symbols for vowels, but spoken Japanese certainly has vowel sounds, don't you think?

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Bert
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 08:12 PM

Mack,

Some did cover the point

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: pdq
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 08:23 PM

...from Merriam-Webster OnLine:

"Main Entry:        vow·el
Pronunciation:        'vau(-&)l
Function:        noun
Etymology:        Middle English, from Middle French vouel, from Latin vocalis -- more at VOCALIC
1 : one of a class of speech sounds in the articulation of which the oral part of the breath channel is not blocked and is not constricted enough to cause audible friction; broadly : the one most prominent sound in a syllable
2 : a letter or other symbol representing a vowel -- usually used in English of a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y "

A vowel is a sound first, the symbol for that sound second.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 08:51 PM

William Bligh was involved in three mutinies, none of which were through his fault.

The famous 'Mutiny on the Bounty' came about because Fletcher Christian was a pretentious wimp who couldn't deal with being treated as a junior officer (he was only a warrent officer *acting* as an officer for the cruise+) and by the mens' reluctance to leave Tahiti.
The second was the 'Spithead' mutiny, where the whole fleet effectively went on strike for better conditions (When other Captains were being replaced as part of the settlement, Bligh was welcomed back on board his ship with cheers from the crew).
A third 'mutiny' related to trying to stamp out corruption in the Military as Governor of New South Wales (something to do with rum IIRC).

Bligh was a cartographer, partly trained by Cook (and present on Cook's last voyage, I believe)and some of his maps were still in use late into the 19th Century.

Walrus


+The early accounts of the Mutiny were published by friend/members of the Christian family who naturally pushed the blame elsewhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: mack/misophist
Date: 14 Jan 05 - 01:05 AM

On rare occasions, 'w' may also be a vowel; such as 'cwm'.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: HuwG
Date: 14 Jan 05 - 12:47 PM

The word "cwm" is Welsh (meaning vale, or glacial corrie). In Welsh, "w" is always a vowel, pronounced as "oo" or "u".

(In Welsh, "u" is usually pronounced as "i". "y" is pronounced either as an "i" or a "u".)

Where Welsh words have been borrowed by English, half the vowels have usually been discarded e.g. "glib", meaning slippery, insincere or superficial, derives from the Welsh "gwlyb" (f. "wleb"), meaning wet.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Maija
Date: 14 Jan 05 - 02:54 PM

>>It's impossible to lick your elbow

The youngest son in the house just proved this theory wrong.

>>And undignified to try....

That's why I made him try and didn't try it myself ;)


Shane MacGowan once tried to eat a Beach Boys vinyl record.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: beadie
Date: 14 Jan 05 - 04:05 PM

Actually, Auggie, it was the esteemed Gordie Roseleip of Darlington . . . the farmers' friend and the bane of welfare mothers.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: mack/misophist
Date: 15 Jan 05 - 02:15 PM

To pdq, in re Japanese:

You are incorrect, I fear. For example, the Japanese word for foreigner, stranger, "other-person" is gaijin. Most do seem to end in vowels, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jan 05 - 04:31 AM

When counting in Japanese, "three" = "san"

Doug c

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Cluin
Date: 17 Jan 05 - 12:40 AM

Norville Rogers was the real name of "Shaggy" from the Scooby Doo cartoon (voice by Casey Kasem).   

"Like WOW, man!"

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Teresa
Date: 17 Jan 05 - 01:25 AM

Using one to six dots for each character, Braille has a maximum of sixty-three possible characters. There are "shorthand" type characters that make up the balance in addition to the alphabet.

Teresa

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Auggie
Date: 17 Jan 05 - 11:25 AM

Lipstick

Never 'Banned in Boston', but once the New York Board of Health considered making it illegal (the year was 1924) because at the time its composition, mainly beeswax for stiffness, olive oil for flow, and crushed, dried insect corpses for color was thought by some to be a health hazard, and not to just the wearer, but even to those who were kissed.

Still ache to kiss those ruby red lips? Well, Fear Not. By the late 20th century, Modern Science had completely reformulated the product.

Today's product contains a weak acid which actually reddens the lips, castor oil to carry the acid, animal &/or vegetable oils and soap to allow the first two to be smeared around, petroleum based wax to make it rigid enough to be sold as a stick rather than a cream, food preservatives to keep the oils from going rancid, perfume to mask the caster oil smell, and synthetic dyes (often aluminum and coal tar among others)to color the product itself.

Oh yeah, one more thing. The shiny iridescent quality? It's from dried, ground fish scales soaked in ammonia.

Ain't modern life grand?

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Bert
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 12:16 AM

If blind people changed Braille to eight dots then they could use extended ASCII and computer people would be able to read it.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 01:26 AM

Some reports have it that in 1865, Otto von Bismarck challenged Virchow to a duel, but Virchow declined. (This would have given him 12 years to think up what he SHOULD have said, and then actually get the chance to use it in 1877)

(Posting anonymously so as not to appear a would-be know-it-all, trivia-hounding freak, looking for an upset... The Virchow anecdote about trichinosis *is* published, in Bartlett's Book of Anecdotes. This other version (about rearmament and forced unification), I have only seen on the web.)

I leave resolution of the discrepancy to other useless-truth seekers.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Teresa
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 02:05 AM

Indeed, there is eight-dot computer braille.

Teresa

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST,Auggie
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 08:51 AM

Actually Guest, the other account is published as well, and not on the web. But since you're the would be know it all trivia freak, I'll let you go find the source. Have fun.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 09:00 AM

It's about time I had a cuppa tea

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Crystal
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 12:08 PM

on being told that it is impossible to lick your elbow a significant proportion of people will try.

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 12:29 PM

The impossibility of licking elbows is clearly a fascinating subject for the entirley normal section of the poulation reperesented by mudcat users....


and the rest of us

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 04:44 PM

I'm sorry Auggie. It was a fascinating anecdote, and, as I said, you were entirely justified in relaying it. I just thought that you, I, and anyone else who might be likely to relay it further would want to know there was something fishy about that sausage story, even though it could be true.

If you already knew that the guy had weinered out of an earlier duel challenge from the very same von Bismarck, I'm sorry for submitting a useless fact, but I'm surprised you would deem that unworthy of mention in the clever weiner duel.

(I spent a much longer time researching and learning about Roman plywood, BTW, which amazed me just as much.)

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: Auggie
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 09:16 PM

Dear Guest
No Harm, No foul.
Actually it's been a great day. Passed my 4 year post-cancer surgery check up today with no problems, so very little on the web could upset me. As to the veracity of my version, I've found it published my way twice (now that you've had me looking) but perhaps both were in error as one seems to have been cribbed from the other just as I cribbed it from the first source.
After all, if all it took to ensure veracity was repetition, I would be repeating "I won the lottery" over and over till it was true. Actually, after my MD's report today, I do feel like I've won the lottery.
I bow to your trivia expertise (but don't begin to challenge an ex-chemist on lipstick).

Best Regards

Subject: RE: BS: Useless Trivia
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Jan 05 - 09:42 PM

If it's trivial, I'm interested. And congratulations!