Random, useless facts!

[Becky]

As fascinating as it is to know that a hamster can cover 2.5 miles in a night on it's wheel, I'm sure that there are people out there in posession of even weirder, more useless facts.

Lets see who can come up with the best!

 

[Me__2001]

No automobile made after 1924 should be designated as antique

 

[Quadophile]

If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.

 

[Becky]

If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.

I'm glad I didn't know that when I was doing statistics in Maths A-level, it would have put a different spin on things (we used the 'Toss a Coin' example many many times)!

 

[floppybootstomp]

It is almost a constant that on or after consuming the 10th pint, I shall:

a) Fall over.
b) Visit an Indian restaurant and order a meal that is way too hot for my palate.
c) Declare I am your friend for life.
d) Smile a lot and wobble.
e) Fall asleep.

Howzat?

 

[muckshifter]

The Titanic's fourth funnel, the one furthest back, was fake.

Why? Aesthetics. It made the ship look bigger, and among the many immigrants (many who could'nt read company literature or timetables), it was a common belief that the more funnels a ship had, the faster it was. In their rush to reach America, this could be a deciding factor on what ship they bought tickets for.

 

[Becky]

Floppybootstomp; Nice fact, not completely useless though! Ever been to Rusholme in Manchester (aka The Curry Mile)?

Muckshifter; That's really odd! I suppose there must be a lot of that going on... good old architects and engineers

 

[Shorty]

"You are statistically likely to be killed by a champagne cork than a poisonous spider."

This would be true in my case. Those 8 legged, arm devouring, hellspawn demons would never get near enough to me to be deadly. A quick swat with the nearest heavy object sorts that.

 

[Me__2001]

The storage capacity of human brain exceeds 4 Terrabytes

 

[Quadophile]

The storage capacity of human brain exceeds 4 Terrabytes

But when it comes to speed it sure beats the fastet hard drive when data is accessed, even if images need to be loaded provided one has the photographic memory

They say everyone has photographic memory, its just that some don't have film loaded in the first place

 

[Ian]

Chinese Traditional Banana Rice Cakes do not taste nice - I've just tried one and it was like a swiss roll made from bubble gum!

On a more realistic note... "Average number of squirts from a cow's udder needed to yield a gallon of milk : 345"

 

[ChristopherP]

The wingspan, and length of a Boeing 747 Jumbo are both longer than the wright brothers first flight

There are more restraunts in New York than there are days in an average life

Friends was filmed in Los Angeles and NOT NYC!

 

[ChristopherP]

In their rush to reach America, this could be a deciding factor on what ship they bought tickets for.

And what a big mistake they made...

The storage capacity of human brain exceeds 4 Terrabytes

Wish mine had Winzip...

But when it comes to speed it sure beats the fastet hard drive when data is accessed

Oh man, now you are making me feel abnormal!

 

[ChristopherP]

a new one...

In the 2004 Olympics opening ceremony in Athens,

Iraq got the biggest cheer!

 

[cogent1]

If you toss a penny 10000 times, it will not be heads 5000 times, but more like 4950. The heads picture weighs more, so it ends up on the bottom.

Now that's what I call a useless fact, because I don't think it's true. Where did you get THAT gem from?

 

[Ian]

Now that's what I call a useless fact, because I don't think it's true. Where did you get THAT gem from?

I think it could be true, as it is natural that one side of the coin would be heavier than the other (it would be almost impossible to make it exact down to the placement of single atoms). So, statistically, it would land heads down more often. Of course, wear and tear on each coin etc... would effect it. The deviation from 0.5 to 0.495 is well within sampling variability.

There is some more info here, not very conclusive though

http://www.biostat.wustl.edu/archives/html/s-news/1999-01/msg00020.html

 

[muckshifter]

Isn't the Internet wonderfull ...

Memo to all teams playing Belgium in the World Cup this year: don't let them use their own coins for the toss.



Mathematicians say the coins issued in the eurozone's administrative heartland are more likely to land heads up than down.

While the notes which began circulating in the 12 members of the eurozone on January 1 are all the same, the coins show national symbols on one side and a map of Europe on the other. King Albert, who appears on Belgian coins, appears to be a bit of a lightweight, according to Polish mathematicians Tomasz Gliszczynski and Waclaw Zawadowski. The two professors and their students at the Podlaska Academy in Siedlce spun a Belgian one euro coin 250 times, and found it landed heads up 140 times. The cent coins proved even more likely to land heads up.

The Guardian

 

[ChristopherP]

All of, or most of, films directed by John Hughes (The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buellers Day off etc...) are filmed in "Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois. 60062", the place where he himself graduated.

 

[Quadophile]

Flipping of coins has become a hot discussion here, eh?

 

[Becky]

Who'd have thought it?! I guess Quadophile wins the (nonexistent) prize for the random fact which inspired the most debate

Just remembered another one from a while ago...In Britain, it's illegal to eat mince pies on 25th December

Here's some other odd British laws;
London Hackney Carriages must carry a bale of hay and a sack of oats.

It is illegal for a Member of Parliament to enter the House of Commons wearing a full suit of armour.