::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Trivia

More Useless Knowledge

*Native speakers of Japanese learn Spanish much more easily than they learn English. Native speakers of English learn Spanish much more easily than they learn Japanese.
*New Zealand kiwis lay the largest eggs with respect to their body size of any bird.
*Elephants have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean.
*When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a "portmanteau."
*Sting got his name because of a yellow-and-black striped shirt he wore until it literally fell apart.
*Every photograph of an American atomic bomb detonation was taken by Harold Edgerton.
*The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
*The muzzle of a lion is like a fingerprint -- no two lions have the same pattern of whiskers.
*There is a type of parrot in New Zealand that likes to eat the rubber strips that line car windows.
*New Zealand is also the only country that contains every type of climate in the world.
*Cockroaches' favorite food is the glue on envelopes and on the back of postage stamps.
*Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman.
*Andy Warhol created the Rolling Stone's emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the 'Sticky Fingers' album.
*Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were the two left-handed Beatles.
*Only three angels are mentioned by name in the Bible: Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer.
*Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice."
*Wilma Flinestone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.
*The term "devil's advocate" comes from the Roman Catholic Church. When deciding if someone should become a saint, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view.
*Compact discs read from the inside to the outside edge, the reverse of how a record works.
*The term "Mayday" used for signalling for help (after SOS), it comes from the French term "M'aidez" which is pronounced "MayDay" and means, "Help Me"
*Grapes explode when you put them in the microwave.
*Many species of bird copulate in the air. In general, a couple will fly to a very high altitude, and then drop. During their descent, the birds mate. Sometimes the couple gets too involved and SPLAT!
*If NASA sent birds into space they would soon die because they need gravity to swallow.
*There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he, in, rein, her, here, here, ere, therein, herein.
*Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sideways, like a scissor, to extract the juices from the food.
*The letters H I O X in the Latin alphabet is the only ones that look the same if you turn them upside down or see them from behind.
*Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson."
*Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
*Vietnamese currency consists only of paper money; no coins.
*Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting while he was alive, Red Vineyard at Arles.
*It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
*Skin is thickest at the back -- 1/6 of an inch.
*The most sensitive finger is the forefinger.
*The word denim comes from 'de Nimes', or from Nimes, a place in France.