Interesting Facts

According to Pollstar, seven out of 10 of music's biggest earners with the highest-grossing tours in 2010 had an average age of over 40. (And the winners are:- 1. Bon Jovi, Gross ticket sales (2010): $201.1m; Average age: 52.8 2. AC/DC, Sales: $177m; Average age: 58.4 3. U2, Sales: $160.9m; Average age: 49.5 4. Lady Gaga, Sales: $133.6m; Average age: 24 5. Metallica, Sales: $110.1m; Average age: 47 6. Michael Bublé, Sales: $104.2m; Average age: 35 7. Walking with Dinosaurs, Sales: $104.1m; Average age: Prehistoric 8. Sir Paul McCartney, Sales: $93m; Average age: 68 9. The Eagles, Sales: $92.3m; Average age: 62.75 10. Roger Waters, Sales: $89.5m; Average age: 67) At 24, Lady Gaga is the youngest artist to feature in the poll, grossing $133.6m, but she had to work harder for her money, performing 138 shows compared with 80 for Bon Jovi and just 32 for U2.) Source: The Independent

The hyoid bone is the only bone in the human body not connected to any other. (Located in the throat it is sometimes called the 'Adams' apple' and it allows us to speak.  It helps to support your tongue and raise your larynx whenever you talk and swallow. The term "Adam's Apple" is derived from Adam having eaten the forbidden fruit in the Bible's account of the lives of Adam and Eve.)

The world’s largest frog is nearly as big as a house-cat. (It's called the Goliath frog. Does that mean there's a David frog too?)

You would weigh less at the Equator! (But not much less! While standing at the equator you are further away from the bulk of Earth’s mass than at the poles which results in less than a pound! But it's a pretty instant diet.)

An Olympic gold medal is almost 99% silver. (It seems a bit of a cheat really, I'm sure it's against the trade descriptions act.)

According to the annual Christmas Price Index compiled by PNC Wealth Management, if you were to buy every item mentioned in "The Twelve Days of Christmas," you would have to fork out nearly $100,000. (Trying to buy the 364 items repeated in all the song's verses — from 12 drummers drumming to a partridge in a pear tree — would cost $96,824, an increase of 10.8 percent over 2009.  That's inflation for you.)

According to Google the top 12 toys for Christmas 2010 are: City Airport, Lego UK Fireman Sam Deluxe Fire Station Playerset Fur real Go Go Walking Pup, Hasbro Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear, Mattel UK Kidizoom VideoCam, VTech Monopoly Revolution, Hasbro Moon Dough Barn, Spinmaster Toys UK Nerf N Strike Stampede ECS, Hasbro Paper Jamz Guitar, Wow Wee Europe Pumpaloons, Drumond Park Sylvanian Families Caravan, Flair Zhu Zhu Grooming Salon, Character Options This was like reading gobbledygook to me.  What on earth are Pumpaloons?!)

Truffle producers in France claim that one in three of all the truffles sold in France is stolen. (The problem is the high price some daft people are willing to pay for this highly-prized delicacy; between €800 (£680) and €1,000 a kilo. A crime wave of truffle rustling, the armed theft of cash from truffle traders, the theft of "truffle trees", and even the rustling of champion truffle-sniffing dogs, has now cost one man his life, as a young farmer in the Rhône valley has been arrested on possible murder charges after shooting dead a man whom he suspected of raiding his "truffle groves" in the middle of the night. The victim was carrying only a truffle-digging trowel. So, truffles are off the menu (not that they were ever on it) in our house this Christmas. I'll stick to the chocolate variety.)

A timely invention has been announced in Germany, a car windscreen that doesn't allow ice to form on it. (Developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Technology (IST) in Braunschweig, in north-central Germany, the windscreen prevents ice forming even at temperatures as low as minus 18° C. There's only one problem, the thin coating of indium tin oxide applied to the window, can interfere with radio and mobile phone reception. I wonder what everyone will do with those extra minutes on a frosty morning?)

The umbrella was invented to block the sun, not the rain. (It is also called a parasol, brolly, rainshade, sunshade, gamp or bumbershoot. The last one should be pronounced very carefully.)

The full name of world famous artist Pablo Picasso is Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santisma Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso. (I wonder how long it took for his parents to think them up?!  xx)

According to research carried out at University College London, the human brain only matures fully when you are middle aged. (In the research scans showed that the prefrontal cortex – the area just behind the forehead – continues to change shape into the 30s and 40s.  The prefrontal cortex is a key area of the brain and is often thought said to be key to what makes us human.  It is said to be involved with decision making, social interaction and many other personality traits.  Which goes to prove my "teenagers are another species" theory.)

Elephants can't jump.

The human body creates 2.4 million red blood cells every second. (Good job we don't have to count them; or bank them!)

A 10-gallon hat barely holds 6 pints.  (I'm really disappointed!)  

When citizens of Lychun, China said they were having a long lunch they were not kidding, assembling a dining table that stretch 6,000 feet. (1,860 tables were used in order to seat some 10,000 diners.  The lengthy lunch was not long enough to secure a world record however, with the biggest ever banquet stretching some 12,000ft.  I wouldn't want to be a waiter there! )

Census bosses in Serbia have included a new section for extraterrestrials to declare their presence in an upcoming population questionnaire. (Space visitors will be able to list themselves as ETs/aliens but will not have to give details of their sex, religion or ethnicity, confirmed the country’s Statistical Office. Would you tick the alien box? xx)

The name "volcano" has its origin from the name of Vulcan , a god of fire in Roman mythology. (So Trekkies were here before.  xx)

According to research published in Science, you'll age slightly faster standing on a staircase than you do on the floor below. (It's all because of the time-slowing effects of acceleration and gravity which have been demonstrated in experiments that compare real clocks on Earth's surface with timepieces in high-flying spacecraft and satellites, such as ones used for global positioning systems and these effects are measurable here on Earth. Seemingly the pull of gravity on an object increases closer to the centre of mass, so an object on the Earth's surface actually experiences a slightly stronger pull than one floating in the atmosphere. Now I know why all those rich people live in penthouse suites, they're trying to live forever.)

Green sea turtles can swim 559 miles (900km) in a month. (The green sea turtle can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour. If you're wondering what a green sea turtle looks like, in the 2003 Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, the character called Crush is a green turtle.)

The factory that makes Ikea's Billy bookcases knocks out 15 of them every minute. ( So by the time you have read this message, there'll be another 15 Billy bookcases in the world.) 

British born Susan Travers is the only woman who ever served in the French Foreign Legion. (She also received the Legion d'Honneur, the Medaille Militaire and the Croix de Guerre. I'm not sure if she ever had to roll under tanks.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Travers

In what was a dark day for education in England, politicians (who as a whole benefited from a free education) voted by 323 to 302 to raise the cap on annual tuition fees at English universities. (Taking effect in 2012, the basic level of fees will now climb to 6,000 pounds (9,460 dollars, 7,140 euros), with an upper limit of 9,000 pounds. The current cap is 3,290 pounds. In the United Kingdom, doctors wishing to become GPs (general practitioners / doctor to you and me) attend an undergraduate course of five to six years (or a graduate course of four to six years, leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB/BS). This means that your average GP will owe between 36,000 and 54,000 by the time they leave university.)

Opium poppies are grown in Hampshire, in the south of England. (The diamorphine - equivalent to heroin - created is then used for treating UK addicts and it is used in palliative care. But don't think you can simply 'grow your own', it can only be done under licence and there are strict controls on access to fields. In fact, the mere possession of opium poppies is a crime in the UK.)

Banana skins can take two years to biodegrade. (I'm not sure if this is good or bad news for clowns.

The famous puppy from the Andrex TV adverts has been replaced by a computer-generated dog. (So, all you people following him on Twitter or Facebook - IT'S NOT REAL!)

The Andrex puppy has over 171,000 friends on Facebook. (This is twice as many as the Lord Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.  What makes it funny, is that the Andrex puppy is a Labrador Retriever puppy that appears on TV adverts for Andrex toilet paper.)

Since July 2010 it has been illegal in France to wipe your bottom with the French flag. (Why on earth would anyone think they need a law for that, I thought? So I Googled it cautiously and found this story Photograph sparks outrage !)

The European Patent Office has 5,841 inventions related to toilet paper. (It probably even has loo paper for left handed people.  Now there's an idea!)

In the US in 1973 there was a massive shortage of toilet paper. (Seemingly, Tonight Show host Johnny Carson joked that there was an acute shortage of loo paper, and so the next morning, 20 million people bought all that they could find. By noon, most stores were sold out.  The shortage lasted for 3 weeks.) Source: Wikipedia

According to Catholic tradition the colour for the season of Advent is violet. (I thought about learning more about Advent as I opened the first window on my Advent calendar this morning. Seemingly violet came into use for this season at the end of the thirteenth century. During this time ministers wear violet vestments (clothing worn by ministers). The colours used in some vestments are changed during the year to indicate the seasons of the church year. Obviously violet wasn't quite so girly in the thirteenth century.)

World Aids Day According to the UN, for women of reproductive age, HIV has become the main cause of death worldwide. In a report it says up to 70% of women worldwide have been forced to have unprotected sex. A message to men:- Don't be daft, don't be silly, get that condom on your willy. A message to women to give to men:- Don't be daft, don't be silly, get that condom on your willy.)