REALLY ? ? ? ? ? - Strange but True Facts . . . . .


1 Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's largest zipper manufacturer.

2 40 percent of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

3 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

4 On the average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

5 Chocolate kills dogs! True, chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.

6 Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as a medicine.

7 Leonardo DA Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

8 Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

9 There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

10 Leonardo DA Vinci invented scissors. Also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

11 Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.

12 The original name for the butterfly was "flutterby"!

13 By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand.

14 Mosquito repellents don't repel... They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.

15 Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

16 The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

17 Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than the entire Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

18 Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one foot.

19 Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.

20 The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.

21 To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, p rick your fingers into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.

22 The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

23 The "pound" (#) key on your keyboard is called an octothorp.

24 The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

25 Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

26 The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

27 Dreamt" is the only word in the English language that ends in "MT".

28 It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

29 In Chinese, the KFC slogan "finger lickin' good" comes out as "eat your fingers off".

30 A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.

31 We shed 40 pounds of skin a lifetime.

32 Yo-Yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines

33 Mexico City sinks about 10 inches a year.

34 Brains are more active sleeping than watching TV.

35 Blue is the favorite color of 80 percent of Americans.

36 When a person shakes their head from side to side, he is saying "yes" in Sri Lanka

37 There are more chickens than people in the world.

38 The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest.

39 There are more telephones than people in Washington , D.C.

40 The average four year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day.

41 The average person presses the snooze button on their alarm clock three Times each morning.

42 The three wealthiest families in the world have more assets than the Combined wealth of the forty-eight poorest nations.

43 The first owner of the Marlboro cigarette Company died of lung cancer.

44 Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

45 The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

46 Our eyes remain the same size from birth onward, but our noses and ears Never stop growing.

47 You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching TV.

48 A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a Few weeks.

49 Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

50 The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.

51 When the moon is directly overhead, you weigh slightly less.

52 Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never telephoned His wife or mother because they were both deaf.

53 A psychology student in New York rented out her spare room to a Carpenter in order to nag him constantly and study his reactions. After weeks of needling, he snapped and beat her repeatedly with an axe Leaving her mentally retarded.

54 "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

55 Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking Countries because Colgate translates into the command "go hang Yourself."

56 Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.

57 "Bookkeeper" is the only word in English language with three consecutive Double letters.

58 Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed People do.

59 The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every Letter in the English language.

60 If the population of China walked past you in single line, the line Would never end because of the rate of reproduction.

61 China has more English speakers than the United States .

62 Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.

63 Each square inch of human skin consists of twenty feet of blood vessels.

64 An average person uses the bathroom 6 times per day.

65 Babies are born with 300 bones, but by adulthood we have only 206 in our Bodies.

66 Beards are the fastest growing hairs on the human body. If the average Man never trimmed his beard, it would grow to nearly 30 feet long in his Lifetime.

67 According to Genesis 1:20-22, the chicken came before the egg.

68 The longest place name still in use is: Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturi- Pukakpikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu - a New Zealand hill.

69 If you leave Tokyo by plane at 7:00am, you will arrive in Honolulu at Approximately 4:30pm the previous day.

70 Scientists in Australia 's Parkes Observatory thought they had positive Proof of alien life, when they began picking up radio-waves from space. However, after investigation, the radio emissions were traced to a Microwave in the building.

71 Wearing headphones for an hour increases the bacteria in your ear 700 times.

72 More than 40,000 parasites and 250 types of bacteria are exchanged during a French kiss.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Scissor road marking mystery
LYDIA ANDERSON



Scissor-shaped markings painted sporadically along the centre line on Wellington's Shelly Bay Rd have the council and residents confused.

Judy Thornett wrote to The Wellingtonian asking about their appearance after noticing them while driving with a friend.

She decided to investigate, and asked the owner of the Chocolate Fish Cafe, as well as Wellington City Council.

However, no-one seemed to know the answer.

She said some of her friends joked it could be a reference to Miramar Cutting - the section of Cobham Dr just before the turn off to Shelly Bay Rd.

But the scissor mystery was not solved that easily.

Earlier in the week, Thornett drove to Moa Pt near Wellington International Airport, and found more scissor markings.

She said she would love to know why the "clean and tidy" markings were there.

"Is it a lark?" she said.

"Does it mean something?"

Wellington City Council spokesman Richard MacLean said the council had no idea who had painted the scissors, but it was clearly someone with a quirky sense of humour.

...more at link
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/7624663 ... ng-mystery

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Police: Buffalo man tried to eat bogus $50 bills
Associated Press

DARIEN, N.Y. — Authorities say a 35-year-old man tried to swallow several counterfeit $50 bills after he was caught trying to use the bogus money at a New York amusement park.

The Genesee County Sheriff's Office says deputies were called to Darien Lake Theme Park and Resort on Sunday night after Larry Jones, of Buffalo, bought french fries with a $50 bill.

Deputies say a park employee spotted the fake and called security. While being taken away, deputies say, Jones stuffed five bills into his mouth and tried unsuccessfully to eat them.

Investigators say Jones told them he had received the bills as pay for a remodeling job.

He was charged with possessing a forged instrument and tampering with evidence and jailed without bail. He's expected in court with a lawyer Sept. 25.

http://online.wsj.com/article/APf9f8f16 ... a99b1.html

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

That's a lovely bay, Rumpy. Is it near where you live?

_________________

No.. that is Wellington... long way from Auckland... but we can do better than that and further North so likely to be warmer.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Drunken man on horse arrested after chase

BUNNELL, Fla. (AP) — A man was intoxicated while riding his horse as he led police on a half-hour chase through a northeast Florida town, authorities said Tuesday.

Charles Larkin Cowart, 29, was arrested Monday afternoon in the city of Bunnell, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville.

A police officer was responding to a report of "an intoxicated male riding a horse" when he turned on his emergency lights to stop traffic as Cowart crossed the street, according to the charging affidavit. Cowart said he was on his way to his grandmother's house in nearby Flagler Beach, but refused officers' order to dismount and "in an aggressive manner reared the horse back" and took off running.

Officers did not immediately chase after him, the report said, citing the public and the horse's safety. Cowart continued to ride through town, "causing a crowd of people to come out of their homes" and a train to slow down as Cowart crossed over a set of railroad tracks. Police kept their emergency lights on, but did not use their sirens to prevent the horse from being frightened and "potentially making the situation worse."

Cowart ignored several verbal commands to get off the horse, which after more half an hour, became exhausted. Cowart eventually jumped off and took off running. He was captured a short time later. The horse returned to Cowart's family and is doing fine, police said.

Cowart was booked into the Flagler County Jail on charges that included disorderly conduct, resisting arrest without violence and cruelty to animals. He was being held Tuesday on $7,000 bond.

A message was left Tuesday at a phone listing for Cowart in Bunnell, about 60 miles south of Jacksonville. It was not immediately known if he has an attorney.

Cowart was arrested for petit theft on Sept. 9 and on a DUI charge in October 2010. The disposition of those charges wasn't immediately known.

...more at link
http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/entertainment/w ... z27cWFVMik

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Challenge not taken lying down



Footwear designer Chen Mingzhi took two months to meet his neighbour's challenge to create a big shoe.

The Chinese man made the 1.9 metre long right-foot shoe in his family store in Wenling, Zhejiang province.

If converted into New Zealand shoe sizes, it would be a size 70.

It weighs 38kg and cost NZ$380 to make.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/7743618 ... lying-down

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Man freed after getting his head stuck in bin in Aberdeen
1 October 2012 Last updated at 09:07 GMT



Firefighters were called out to rescue a man whose head was stuck in a public litter bin in Aberdeen.

It is not yet known how the man got into the predicament, which happened on the city's Justice Street.

Emergency services were alerted to the man stuck with his head in the opening of the 4ft-high bin early on Sunday evening.

A spokesman for Grampian Fire and Rescue Service said the man was not injured.

He was taken to hospital for a check-up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-n ... d-19783214

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Elderly UK couple 'unwittingly' grew pot
15:06 AEST Tue Oct 9 2012


A police officer tweeted a photo of the cannabis plant

British police say an elderly couple unwittingly grew a monstrous cannabis plant in their yard after buying what they thought was an innocuous green bush at a flea market.

Police in Bedford, a commuter town 90km from central London, posted a picture of a luxuriant cannabis plant growing as tall as the fence in what appeared to be someone's back yard.

In a message posted to Twitter on Friday the force said the plant had been "seized today".

"Elderly couple bought shrub at car boot sale, tended carefully-biggest cannabis plant we had seen!!" the message exclaimed.

Further details about the couple - or how either it or police got wise to the plant's true nature - weren't immediately available late on Monday.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8545219

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Weren't they suspicious when the local Rastafarians starting hanging about?

_________________

It is a very attractive looking green bush.... perhaps even better when it flowers

I think if the local Rastafarians HAD "got wind" of it..... it would be looking a bit dishevelled.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Finally a wedding shot - after 88 years
Last updated 16:25 08/11/2012


A LOVE FOR THE AGES: Wu Conghan, 101, and his 103 year
old wife pose for photos while wearing wedding clothes at
their home in a village of Nanchong, Sichuan province.

A Chinese husband and wife, both more than 100-years-old, have finally had their wedding pictures taken.

Cameras were almost unknown in China when Wu Conghan, 101, and blushing bride Wu Sognshi, 103, tied the knot in 1924.

It wasn't until 88 years later that the couple from the town of Nanchong in Sichuan province finally got to pose for their wedding photos.

Afterwards they shared the pleasure of looking through the pictures together on a laptop.

The chance to put on wedding finery once more arose because photographers have been volunteering to give elderly couples in the area the chance to get the mementos that were unavailable first time round.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/7924686 ... r-88-years

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

How sweet! Cute couple. They look so happy.

_________________

Tower of London intruder walks off with keys
Last updated 13:48 14/11/2012



British police are investigating how an intruder breached the security of the Tower of London and stole a set of keys from the tourist attraction and home of the crown jewels.

Locks to the Tower's drawbridges and other rooms have been changed and "a staff disciplinary procedure is underway" after a man was caught trespassing in the early hours of November 6 and escorted from the premises, according to a royal palaces statement.

The stolen keys did not provide access to the Tower itself, Historic Royal Palaces said in a statement, but admitted a lapse in security.

"Our well-established security systems and procedures are robust. However on this occasion, these procedures were not carried out to the expected standard," it said.

The Tower was begun by William the Conqueror in the 1080s and has been used by British monarchs as a home, place of execution and a prison for traitors ever since. Henry VIII had Anne Boleyn executed here.

The crown jewels on display at the palace include a solid gold crown weighing over 2kg and the 105 carat Koh-i-Nur, or Mountain of Light, diamond.

A police spokesman said the incident was under investigation.

The Tower is traditionally staffed by ceremonial custodians, known as Yeoman Warders, nicknamed "Beefeaters", former members of the British armed forces whose elaborate scarlet and gold tunics are one of the best known symbols of the capital.

The warders give tours and carry out the Ceremony of the Keys, the traditional locking up of the Tower of London that has taken place on each and every night, without fail, for at least 700 years and is a popular tourist attraction.

A young warder foiled a more audacious theft in 1671, when a gang of thieves attempted to make off with the crown jewels by smuggling them out under the cloaks and down their trousers.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/7949152 ... -with-keys

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Eclipse over Auckland sky
Fans flock to Stardome Observatory
AMY MAAS
Last updated 09:51 14/11/2012







LATEST: Aucklanders' necks will be craned toward the sky to catch a glimpse of a partial solar eclipse this morning.

The solar eclipse - the first since the 1960s - won't be seen in New Zealand again until 2028 and an eclipse will not be seen in Auckland again until 2035.

By 9.30am about 350 people had gathered at Auckland's Stardome Observatory to view the eclipse, and live pictures are being posted to the website every 30 seconds.

They have telescopes with solar filters set up as well as special glasses to view the Sun.

"We have a lot of people outside just watching through their solar glasses and the solar telescopes we have set up," said Stardome's Jo Creagh.

"We've got another crowd inside the planetarium watching an explanation of the solar eclipse, why they happen and what's fascinating about them."

Creagh also warned anyone wanting to take in the eclipse to make sure they followed the correct safety guidelines when looking at the sun.

"Never look at the sun directly, because it will cause permanent blindness," she said.

"The safe option is to grab a pair of solar glasses or take a look through the solar telescope."

Today's eclipse started over Cairns, Australia, just after sunrise and will be visible over Auckland as a partial or 87 per cent eclipse, beginning at 9.18am, reaching maximum coverage at 10.28am and ending at 11.44am.

A fuller eclipse will be visible in Northland, with the best view - 89.4 per cent - at Cape Reinga where it will start at 9.35am.

An eclipse of the sun occurs when the moon passes directly between earth and the sun casting a shadow on the earth.

"Solar eclipses don't happen every New Moon because the Moon's orbit about Earth is tilted by five degrees relative to the Earth's orbit around the Sun," said Dr Grant Christie, Stardome astronomer.

"In most months the New Moon passes above or below the Sun so no eclipse occurs. But an eclipse will occur when the Moon happens to cross the plane of Earth's orbit close to times of New Moon."

The northern parts of Australia are the only land areas that experience the total eclipse.

For Auckland's large Indian community the eclipse is significant as it coincides with Diwali, the festival of light.

The eclipse also falls on the 64th birthday of the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, who will be in Wellington at the time.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-n ... ckland-sky

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I live in Auckland and I was looking out for this eclipse... I saw... NOTHING!!

Just goes to show... if it doesn't happen online it's not real!!

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

72-Year-Old Chinese Grandpa Models Female Teen Clothing



STORY:

Chinese Grandfather Liu Xianpig, 72, Models Women's Clothing For Boutique Yuekou (PICTURES, VIDEO)
The Huffington Post UK | By Brogan Driscoll Posted: 22/11/2012 11:28 GMT Updated: 22/11/2012 14:38 GMT



Meet Liu Xianping, the 72-year-old cross-dressing grandfather slash model who has taken the internet by storm.

If you thought the average septuagenarian man lives in chinos, plaid shirts and sensible shoes, you'd better think again. Liu prefers to sport long luscious wigs and knee-high socks when modelling for his granddaughter's boutique, Yuekou.

The stylish grandfather poses like a pro for the boutique, even dabbling in a bit of Gangham Style dancing. Natch.

Read more and Slide show....
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/11 ... de=1791620

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Those clothes look really good on him.

_________________

Tennis champ chomps into donkey cheese
Last updated 13:15 11/12/2012

Some might think this is udderly asinine - but it's true.



Novak Djokovic, the champion Serbian tennis player, has bought the world's entire supply of donkey cheese.

Pule is a Serbian delicacy made with donkey's milk. It is said to be the world's most expensive cheese, which makes Djokovic's bill all the more exorbitant.

The crumbly, white cheese sells for €1000 ($1550) a kg, but it's unclear exactly how much the world number one has bought.

Djokovic is behind a new chain of restaurants set to open in his home country and he wanted to shore up enough to guarantee continued supply.

Pule has just one producer, a farm about an hour west of Belgrade, and each kilogram requires 25 litres of donkey milk.

...more at link
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/8064402 ... key-cheese

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I never realized that donkeys could be milked!

_________________