The "Useless Information" Thread

[LannyC]

...just as "no trans fat" doesn't mean no fat.

milliHelen: amount of beauty required to launch one ship.

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[KevinJS]

It takes 8 minutes for the light from the sun to reach the earth.

Seasons are caused by the tilt of the earth, not the distance from the sun. In fact, the earth is closer to the sun in winter (northern hemisphere)

Tides are caused by the gravity of the moon acting on the oceans. It is this tidal effect that has stopped the spin of the moon, and the reason one side always faces the earth.

The moon is receding from the earth. In a few thousand years it will no longer be capable of causing a total eclipse. All eclipses will be partial or annular.

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[twerppoet]

No sugar added on a product label does not mean no sugar.

Not sure that qualifies as useless information.

[JewelGarden]

There are only a few words that contain two letter "U"s in a row:

Continuum
Duumvir or duumvirate
Vacuum
Residuum
Muumuu

Let me know if you've heard of any others...I collect them! I know, need to get a life! 😎

[scifan57]

Madam, I'm Adam is Madam, I'm Adam spelled backwards.

[KevinJS]

Madam, I'm Adam is Madam, I'm Adam spelled backwards.

Rotavator is the longest palindromic trade name in the world.

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[KevinJS]

The political map of the world has no respect for geography.


Point Roberts, in WA, USA is physically unconnected to the rest of the US. It is south of Vancouver, BC, and is US territory by virtue of the fact that it lies south of the 49th parallel.

Llivia, Spain is surrounded by France. Apparently, someone forgot to tell the residents that they were French, when the border was moved, so they carried on being Spanish.

Baarle-Nassau is Belgian, but is within the territory of the Netherlands, except those parts of the town that are Dutch. These are enclosed completely by Belgian territory. Complex, huh?

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[scifan57]

If we're talking about parts of the US unconnected with the rest of the country, there's the North-West angle in Lake of the Woods. You can reach it from the rest of the US only by boat or by driving through Canadian territory.

There's also San Marino, the only independent city state on the Italian peninsula that wasn't included in the unification of Italy, with the exception of the Vatican State, of course.

[zstairlessone]

Most people in California don't realize ALL of Florida is south of the southernmost part of California, neither do most Floridians

[Mickey330]

The only words with three consecutive double letters are "bookkeeper" and "bookkeeping."

Oh, and while double-checking the above fact, I came across this:

In the English language, "[T]he letter combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways, which can be heard in this sentence: A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed." (from the Brain Candy web site).

English is a scary crazy language!

Marilyn