I love useless information. Although trivial to some, nuggets of pointless statistics, percentages, and myth-busting explanations provide hours of fun discourse — especially over a few beers with friends. An online discussion shares some interesting pieces of trivia for your next beer night.
1. Crown Shyness
Certain species of trees avoid touching each other, leaving aesthetically pleasing boundaries between the canopy of leaves above the forest. “One theory assumes a tree’s leaves can feel when they are approaching another tree,” explains an arborist. “Once they sense a nearing neighbor, the growing process halts, ensuring light can penetrate the canopy and photosynthesis continues.” Remarkable.
2. Kindred Talent
“The creator of Johnny Bravo, the creator of Powerpuff Girls, and the creator of Dexter’s Laboratory were all roommates in college,” says a commenter. He adds another children’s TV revelation to advertise his superior knowledge: “Spongebob SquarePants, the Mayor of Powerpuff Girls, and Carl from Johnny Bravo all are voiced by the same person: Tom Kenny.” This guy knows his kids’ television!
3. Why Flamingoes Are Pink
“Flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp — or, in some species, algae,” says the next poster. “In order to keep flamingos pink, zookeepers mix another chemical into their food. Otherwise, they’d be white.” I live near a colony of these stunning creatures, and I will add that older birds are pinker due to their longer exposure to the pink crustaceans.
4. Tank Cannon Hierarchy
A military expert explains the appearance of tanks used as display vehicles. “If the barrel of the tank is kept high, it means that (the) tank has taken part in a war and won, but now (is) decommissioned.” He explains that a down-pointed cannon means the enemy captured the tank, then it was rescued; a straight barrel means the tank was active during peacetime.
5. Air Curtains
Another commenter shares another useless — but fascinating — fact. When you enter a store, you feel a blast of air pushing down, known as an air curtain, “which acts as a barrier and doesn’t let the cold air inside the store flow outside.” Moreover, this air curtain keeps bugs out of the store.
6. Skin Dust
Hygiene freaks best look away now. “Your dead skin accounts for most of the dust in your house,” shares someone. I am now perturbed, considering the dust that collects in my apartment! I always assumed it was because we keep our windows open frequently — time to invest in some moisturizer.
7. Rhyming Schemes
Those lexicologists and word lovers now have a new tidbit of information to play with. “No word in the English language rhymes with silver, month, orange, (and) purple,” shares a wordsmith. I am still trying to think of a rhyming word for orange!
8. Wait, Isn’t That Called Lint?
“That substance that collects over time in the bottoms of pockets or cuffs of trousers is called gnurr,” says an Indian business professional. She admits this is her “most useless” fact. “I don’t think I’m ever going to call it gnurr in practical life!”
9. Flip You For It!
“If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will not be heads 5,000 times,” announces a statistics buff, “but more like 4,950 times because the head picture weighs more and therefore ends up on the bottom.” So, should you need to do 10,000 coin flips one day, be warned!
10. At Least It Wasn’t Comic Sans!
The Panama Papers scandal saw Pakistan’s ex-prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, arrested and jailed for corruption and forgery. “One of the reasons was that (the) Sharif family had used Calibri font for forging documents,” explains a Pakistani resident, “which were dated even before the font was publicly available.” How did this guy make it to the top?
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This thread inspired this post.
