Fun Facts

[Slim]

The US Navy dropped a toilet on North Vietnam in October 1965, to mark the occasion of the 6,000,000th pound of ordnance being dropped by US aircraft during the war.

[David L]

The US Navy dropped a toilet on North Vietnam in October 1965, to mark the occasion of the 6,000,000th pound of ordnance being dropped by US aircraft during the war.

They couuld have dropped 6,000,000 toilets on North Vietnam for all the good the ordnace did

[dom]

In the 1830s in Ireland the temperance movement was born in an attempt to curb excessive drinking in the country. People who took The Pledge swore never to drink again.

One bright lad came up with the idea of using ether. Ether was sniffed, not "drank" and meant people could take it and still abide by the pledge.

It had advantages. Intoxication came very quickly but left not a trace of a hangover. It became very popular and could be got very easily as it was produced as a by product in some industrial process. Everyone took it, sometimes on numerous occasions on the same day. Teachers reported children smelling of it as they turned up to school.

It was foul smelling and tasting though. And had anither major disadvantage. People taking it belched and farted prodigiously. The principal content of these emissions were ether vapours that are highly flammable. If the ether user happened to be by a fire or smoking, very serious consequences could ensue!

The killjoy UK Government some 60 years later at the turn of the 20th Century banned its use and by the 1920s it had completely fallen out of favour

[Matt2112]

One 18" pizza has more pizza than two 12" pizzas.

[Blastzone]

Pizzas, round in shape , served in square boxes and cut into triangles

[Nickslikk2112]

Taiwanese MP Freddy Lim is also "Left Face of Maradou" singer in the METAL band Chthonic.
The lucky bugger is also married to Doris Yeh, bassist from Chthonic.

[Nick]

France's longest border is shared with Brazil!

[Slim]

The "half-mast" flag etiquette comes from the tradition of one army raising its flag above its defeated enemy, to indicate victory and defeat. The space at the top of the pole should be the height of a flag, to represent the invisible flag of death.

This is what it's supposed to look like when done properly:



I was out on a bike for a few hours today and saw a lot of Union Flags at half-mast; unfortunately they'd taken the "half" part literally in each case.

There's actually some guidance on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/death-of-her-majesty-the-queen

[Slim]

Eddie Van Halen didn't ask for (nor receive) a payment for playing on Beat It.

[Slim]

Sharks are prehistoric creatures. They inhabited the oceans before the first trees evolved. And two hundred million years before the first dinosaurs. They have survived five mass extinction events.

Dolphins, by contrast, evolved from furry four-legged land-based creatures.