Random facts

[Dave the Explosive Newt]

Quoting DrAlex from 13:18, 27th Oct 2005
As is NutraSweet, the sweetner in Diet Coke and other sodas.

Being technical, so is air. I think you have to eat several grams of nutrasweet to stand any reasonable chance of cancer - equivalent to necking about 20-30 litres of drink in a day.

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Will Watson - half man, half beast. All awesome.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

For air conditioning to effectively remove all the various particulates from cigarette smoke to a neglible level, it would need to have power equivalent to that of a tornado.

Britain also enjoys more tornados per square km than any other country in the world.

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IMAGE:www.btinternet.com/~brother.war/white10-2.gif

[Mr Comedy]

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

You can take Steveo away from the bar, but you can't stop him drinking.

[Appletarty]

Comparitivly, dung beetles are the strongest animal on Earth - according to my brother...!

[Grandpa]

bump


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[s]Cogitationis poenam nemo meretur, facias ipse quod faciamus suades - pax vobiscum.[/s]

[exnihilo]

Quoting thackary from 10:05, 27th Oct 2005
Sharks will only attack you if you're wet.

It's true. Sharks will rarely, if ever, come into your house and attack you.

[David Bean]

Haven't you people ever watched 'Jaws'? That shark made after the chaps on the boat before they went into the water!

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I'm your Guardian Angel.

[Prophet Tenebrae]

I believe that the scene where Jaws pursues Rob Schneider along the beach on a bicycle is in the Director's Cut...

Pinball machines contain 3,500 parts and over 0.8km of wiring.

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IMAGE:www.btinternet.com/~brother.war/white10-2.gif

[Dave the Explosive Newt]

Until the 1940s, the Government funded a company to visit all companies and private houses in the country ensuring they had correctly made the switch between Greenwich Mean Time and Daylight Saving Time. This company was named after their pursuit - British Improved System of Time Operation.

After the war, funding was withdrawn for this company as the country sought to rebuild and they were forced to diversify - into the produce of a cheap, instant foodstuff. Hence: BISTO.

(may not be true)


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Will Watson - half man, half beast. All awesome.

[DrAlex]

In Switzerland (I think), the leftovers from the abattoires are being sold to car manufacturers. Here the gooeys are being fermented to produce methane (cows of course having a very successful symbiosis with Methanogen archea), and the methane is, in turn, used to power hybrid trams and cars.

The Swiss drive using cow farts.

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[Prophet Tenebrae]

The Swiss still pay a tax specifically on salt.

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IMAGE:www.btinternet.com/~brother.war/white10-2.gif

[flarewearer]

Quoting DrAlex from 23:38, 30th Oct 2005
In Switzerland (I think), the leftovers from the abattoires are being sold to car manufacturers. Here the gooeys are being fermented to produce methane (cows of course having a very successful symbiosis with Methanogen archea), and the methane is, in turn, used to power hybrid trams and cars.

The Swiss drive using cow farts.

It is actually in the Swedish town of Linkoping, and the local train, busses, municipal vehicles that are the main users, along with a few local private vehicles.

There is a Beeb article here; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4373440.stm

And just to be a pedantic biologist, cows of course have protozoan and bacterial simbionts, rather than archaea.

Overconsumption of the artificial weetner "Aspartame" has been linked by the US FDA to the following side effects;
abdominal pain, anxiety attacks, arthritis, asthma, asthmatic reactions, bloating/edema, blood sugar control problems (hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia), brain cancer (Pre-approval studies in animals), breathing difficulties, burning eyes or throat, burning urination, can't think straight, chest pains, chronic cough, chronic fatigue, confusion, death, depression, diarrhea, dizziness, excessive thirst or hunger, fatigue, feel 'unreal', flushing of face, hair loss (baldness) or thinning of hair, headaches/migraines, hearing loss, heart palpitations, hives (Urticaria), hypertension (high blood pressure), impotency and sexual problems, inability to concentrate, infection susceptibility, insomnia, irritability, itching, joint pains, laryngitis, "like thinking in a fog," marked personality changes, memory loss, menstrual problems or changes, muscle spasms, nausea or vomiting, numbness or tingling of extremities, other allergic-like reactions, panic attacks, phobias, poor memory, rapid heartbeat, rashes, seizures and convulsions, slurring of speech, swallowing pain, tachycardia, tremors, tinnitus, vertigo, vision loss, and weight gain.

I would class "death" as smoething more than just a side-effect

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[DrAlex]

Still, kind of them to alphabetize the list.

Europeans didn't introduce horses to 'The New World', they reintroduced them. A species of horse was native to the Americas, but was either hunted to extinction by Mongolian nomads, or didn't survive the most recent ice age.

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http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37100343

[Thackary]

I once read the one of the short term effects of diabetes was "death".
Perhaps one of the longest long term effects if you ask me...

[Rob]

Quoting flarewearer from 06:32, 13th Sep 2005

St Andrews claims to be the home of golf, but the most likely locations for the first organised games of golf are perhaps Leith Links or Brunstfield Links in Edinburgh. The word "links" is derived from the old norse "hlenkr", meaning a sandy coastal area.

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Mussleburgh golf course, in the center of mussleburgh race course claims the title of the worlds first golf course.

[flarewearer]

Quoting rob from 12:32, 31st Oct 2005

Mussleburgh golf course, in the center of mussleburgh race course claims the title of the worlds first golf course.

Indeed, but the original rules were drawn up by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers playing on Leith links, and only later exported to St Andrews and the Royal & Ancient. The Meadows near where I live also claims to be another home. I think all anyone can agree is that various people were hitting balls into holes with clubs around Edinburgh long before they did so in St Andrews

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[Smith]

Isn't st andrews the home of golf because it is where the first actual golf competitions were held?

I mean, kids were kicking a ball around in the streets long before there were football pitches and goals.
I'm pretty sure St Andrews was the first place to instill golf as an actual game/sport.

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We're not drunk, we're multi-millionaires...
IMAGE:img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/ryanlewisjones/burlyman.jpg

[flarewearer]

Quoting Smith from 12:46, 31st Oct 2005
Isn't st andrews the home of golf because it is where the first actual golf competitions were held?

I'm pretty sure St Andrews was the first place to instill golf as an actual game/sport.

The original official rules were drawn up in Edinburgh, as were the first games played by the rules. It was only later that St Andrews modified them to the modern rules; i.e. reducing the number of holes from 22 to 18.

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[The Dude]

I believe that St. Andrews official claim to fame is that the Royal and Ancient has played on the same course longer than any other golf Club in the world.

[Guest]

The Cohen family have the unusual distinction of having two world cup medal winners at major team sports.
George Cohen, right back for the world cup winning England Football team of 1966 and his nephew Ben Cohen who won the Rugby World Cup with England.