Things you did not know

[Limasol]

Glass has properties of both solids and liquids, and is thus essentially undefined.

A little known fact is that the above "fact" is actually so much bollocks" the myth arose when people examined church stained glass and found the bottom was thicker. This lead them to conclude it was "flowing" very slowly under the influence of gravity. But actually the reason is simply that glass making back in medieval times didn't produce flat panes like now; so engineers constructing the windows would put the think end of the cut-to-size glass piece at the bottom to lower the risk of it being top heavy and just falling out.

 

[Geoffrey42]

And by the way to our American friends, did you know your yellow Schoolbusses are owned by A British Firm?

Does a British firm own the patent on yellow school buses? Or do they own all of the various companies that make the range of school buses used across the United States? Blue Bird is British, International (which I rode to school on) is apparently American out of Jersey, Thomas Built is owned by Daimler. Or, perchance, did you make the assumption that the United States is somehow small and homogeneous?

The fourth most visited attraction in Paris, after the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre, is Jim Morrison's grave.

Out of curiosity, is this specifically Morrison's grave, or Pere Lachaise cemetery in general? Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Chopin are all buried in the same cemetary as Morrison.

 

[ReepNeep]

What about the Arc 'd Triomphe?

 

[LwaXley]

the F-117 Nighthawk was desigbed to be a Fighter (that's hat the F stands for) but it is used as a Bomber or more likely an Attacker. so the correct name would have to be B-117 or A-117. Plus the original color was white and without an on board stapability computer the thing would fall out of the sky like a rock (not that it could get there in the first place)

 

[crabman]

The fourth most visited attraction in Paris, after the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and the Louvre, is Jim Morrison's grave.

Out of curiosity, is this specifically Morrison's grave, or Pere Lachaise cemetery in general? Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, and Chopin are all buried in the same cemetary as Morrison.

If I'm being completely honest (and I am) I don't know. It was one of those 'tell the fact, give as few details as possible, and move on' sort of fact books.

What about the Arc 'd Triomphe?

Again, sorry but I don't know.

 

[Anarchemitis]

The most produced aircraft ever is the Cessna 172, a very common twin-seat light propeller aircraft, over 43,000 have been built. 2nd place goes to the Soviet-built Polikarpov Po-2, which hasn't seen production since 1959. Over 40,000 of them were built for the World Wars.

 

[TheSentinel]

Fact: Zombie Genocide is the only zombie movie ever to come out of Ireland.

Fact: Halo 3 is overrated.

Fact: Not all old people are rascist.

Fact: Andrew Jackson is officialy the most bad-ass president ever. EVER.

 

[Jimmyjames]

Most lizards have THREE eyes. This third eye is a photosensory organ called a "parietal eye" that can sense heat and UV rays, and can see shadows and shapes. It's visible as a single, shiny scale on the top of their heads.

this is only true for the tuatara, a reptile native to New Zealand that is, not in fact a lizard but an anceint species related to lizards, but no quite.

Sorry, you're dead wrong on that. All iguanids, agamids, most skinks, and physignathus have the pineal (parietal) eye.

 

[Gabngar]

I would like to point out that Ripley's is completely unreliable as they never bother to check their facts.Hell, it used to be that you sent in stories and the most interesting got published. That's just begging for people to dick with you.

And that's terrible.

And on that note, here's my contribution. In The days of Jack The Ripper, Many blamed the growing crime rate on violence in the theatres. Now imagine Jack Thompson in a powdered wig.

 

[whistleduck]

PWND! There are zero rats in my province. Now if only I could get the number of people that low... But how? But Hhhhooooowwwwww?

There sure are a lot of mice though. When I'm working, I always seem the scurrying around the rails.

now forgive me if someone has already commented on this, but i can't be bothered to read through all these pages, but mice & rats have the exact same genes & DNA, just that rats & bigger. same thing though.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Pedestrian fatalities account for 11% of automobile accident fatalites.

 

[whistleduck]

A little known fact is that the above "fact" is actually so much bollocks" the myth arose when people examined church stained glass and found the bottom was thicker. This lead them to conclude it was "flowing" very slowly under the influence of gravity. But actually the reason is simply that glass making back in medieval times didn't produce flat panes like now; so engineers constructing the windows would put the think end of the cut-to-size glass piece at the bottom to lower the risk of it being top heavy and just falling out.

this is true, it was on QI (quite interesting) & if stephen fry says it's right, it must be.
that & the mollusc thing.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Going by number of ships, Disney has the 4th biggest Navy in the World.
Going by number of people, Tesco has a larger Army than the U.K.

 

[Geoffrey42]

now forgive me if someone has already commented on this, but i can't be bothered to read through all these pages, but mice & rats have the exact same genes & DNA, just that rats & bigger. same thing though.

LIES! Different species. Different Genus. What makes you say this?

@crabman: I respect your honesty, good sir.

 

[zacaron]

the MMO world of warcraft makes aprox $1800000000 a year thats 1.8 bil a year with an avrage of 10 mil players

 

[the monopoly guy]

Most lizards have THREE eyes. This third eye is a photosensory organ called a "parietal eye" that can sense heat and UV rays, and can see shadows and shapes. It's visible as a single, shiny scale on the top of their heads.

this is only true for the tuatara, a reptile native to New Zealand that is, not in fact a lizard but an anceint species related to lizards, but no quite.

Sorry, you're dead wrong on that. All iguanids, agamids, most skinks, and physignathus have the pineal (parietal) eye.

you are right, alot of lizards have it too, but the black night can never be defeated! I am invincible! come back here you yellow bastards! I'll bite your knees off!

monty python aside I was right about the tuatara though, they are the last remaining sphenadons, they originated 200 million years ago, and are equally related to lizards and snakes alike. they were originally misclassified until 1867. there are two species, the brothers island tuatara and the norther tuatara. they are native to New Zealands north island and are considerd a "living fossil"

if you read all that, then kudos you get a cookie

 

[TheKnifeJuggler]

Fact: Andrew Jackson is officialy the most bad-ass president ever. EVER.

I must disagree.

Teddy Roosevelt kept a crocodile as the white house pet.
Or maybe it was a bear...

I think it was both.
...

 

[Jimmyjames]

I was right about the tuatara though, they are the last remaining sphenadons, they originated 200 million years ago, and are equally related to lizards and snakes alike.

Yeah, Tuatara maybe. But I mean strictly a lizard, that's my point. (and yes, you're right about the Tuatara)

Teddy Roosevelt kept a crocodile as the white house pet.
Or maybe it was a bear...

You're mostly correct. It was actually an alligator surgically grafted to the back of a bear. And it was mean as HELL.

 

[Jenkins]

the MMO world of warcraft makes aprox $1800000000 a year thats 1.8 bil a year with an avrage of 10 mil players

dude that means that. blizzard has grossed enough money to buy a fleet of b-2 bombers or 1 nimitz carrier.

omg its true. blizzard is building an army to topple the government.!!!

 

[Anarchemitis]

A thing you did not know: I have yet to see Schindler's List; I'm still building up the heart.
Seeing the trailer makes me teary. (If you laugh at this I hope you get IP permabanned.)