Some Useless Facts

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

The "dot" over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

The only capital letter in the Roman alphabet with exactly one end point is P.

Table tennis balls have been known to travel off the paddle at speeds up to 160 km/hr.

The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

The original story from "Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights" begins, "Aladdin was a little Chinese boy."

Only 1 in 2 million people will live to be 116 or older.

Each year there is one ton of cement poured for each man, woman and child in the world.

Cephalacaudal recapitulation is the reason our extremities develop faster than the rest of us.

Ham radio operators got the term "ham" coined from the expression "ham fisted operators," a term used to describe early radio users who sent Morse code (ie, pounded their fist).

When you tie a noose, the rope is wrapped twelve times around because it's the same length as a person's head.

Metals

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite number of times.

Gold is the only metal that doesn't corrode, even if it's buried in the ground for thousands of years. That is why people can bury it in the ground.

About Food

Pepsi originally contained pepsin, thus the name.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

Honey is the only natural food that is made without destroying any kind of life. What about milk you say? A cow has to eat grass to produce milk and grass is living.

Groundnut oil is used for cooking in submarines because it doesn't smoke unless it's heated above 450 F.

Caffeine increases the power of aspirin and other painkillers, that is why it is included in some medicines - perhaps that is why doctors advise to take painkillers with tea or coffee.

About Geography

The volume of the Earth's Moon is the same as the volume of the Pacific Ocean.

Airports at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density.

A comet's tail always points away from the Sun.

The Moon moves about 1.6 inches away from the Earth each year.

The Earth gets 100 tons heavier every day due to falling space dust.

Due to the earth's gravity, it is impossible for mountains to be higher than 15,000 metres.

Everything weighs less as you move towards the equator.

If you get into the bottom of a well or a tall chimney and look up, you can see stars, even in the middle of the day.

According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, it is possible to go slower than light and faster than light, but it is impossible to go the speed of light. Also, there is a particle called tackyon which is supposed to go faster than light. This means if you fire a tackyon beam, it travels before you fire it.

The giant red star Betelgeuse has a diameter larger than that of the Earth's orbit around the Sun.

Hydrogen gas is the least dense substance in the world, at 0.08988 g/cc.
Hydrogen solid is the most dense substance in the world, at 70.6 g/cc.

About Places

The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is "Live Free or Die." These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord.

The longest place name still in use is: Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteaturipukakapikimaungahoronuk-upokaiwhenuakitanatahu -
a New Zealand hill.

Los Angeles's full name is: "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Poriuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "LA.".

Animals / Birds

The Earth has over 1,200,000 species of animals, 300,000 species of plants and 100,000 other species.

The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.

The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
A cat's jaw cannot move sideways...

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Elephant is the only animal that can't jump.

A polar bear can look clumsy and slow but during chase on ice, can reach up to 25 miles an hour of speed.

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
Ostrich eats pebbles to help digestion by grinding up the ingested food.

Chinese Crested dogs can get acne.

Snails have 14,175 teeth laid along 135 rows on their tongue.

Hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards.

The house fly hums in the middle octave key of F.

A butterfly has 12,000 eyes.

The swan has over 25,000 feathers in its body.

Owl is the only bird, which can rotate its head to 270 degrees.

That fish is the only animal which never closes its eyes while sleeping. Why? Because it has no eyelids.

But dolphins sleep with one eye open.

A blue whale can eat as much as 3 tones of food everyday, but at the same time can live without food for 6 months.

While camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.

Some Other Specialties of Birds / Insects

If you put a Buzzard in a pan six or eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly upward, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary Bat that flies around at night, cannot take off from a leveled place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is to shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A Bumblebee if dropped into an open tumbler will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

General

Silk
Silk is extracted from cocoons of beautiful small milky white caterpillars of the species Bombax mori. The extraction of silk is very tragic. Thousands of these cocoons are boiled in water with the insect moth inside in its developing stage of its metamorphosis cycle. If moth is allowed to emerge from the cocoon, traders in the field do not get the quality staple length of the silk. Cocoons are therefore boiled and inside it the moth is killed so that it will not emerge from the cocoon damaging it. Then the silk thread is extracted out.

Gelatin
Similarly, gelatin which is used in many sweets, puddings, custards is extracted from cartilage tissue of animal bone, horns and nails.

Shells
Shells are also animal product and are either collected live or dead. There is no way to know that whether the shell is collected live or dead. Shell is similar to the musical instrument in which a tubing is tightly wound. This tubing slowly gets widen and because of this anatomical property shell can be blown.

Shaaligraam
What about Shaaligraam? Scientifically, Shaaligraam are known as ammonites, ie fossilized sea snails. Presence of Shaaligraam from Gandakee River, in Nepal, and its occurrence in the Himaalayan ranges is considered as a proof that there was a sea before in the present day Himaalayan ranges. Most of the Shaaligraam are with animal fossils. According to a PhD Thesis on ammonites, only Hiranya Garbh Shaaligraam do not have animal fossil inside. Ammolite is a rare and valuable opal-like organic gemstone found primarily along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada too. It is arguably the rarest gemstone on earth, rivaling the rarity of such gemstones as alexandrite and red diamonds. It is made of the fossilized shells of ammonites.

Chess
It is well known that the game of chess was originated in India. It was known as Chaturangam. It is to be split as chatur + angam or four parts. This is what Amar Sinh the well known lexicographer says about Chaturangam:

hastyaswarathapaada atam senaangam syat chatushtayam //
The four parts of the Sena (army) are Hasti (elephant), Ashwa (horse), Rath (chariot) and foot soldier. They protect the king and the Minister. In the modern chess Hasti is named as Bishop. Ashwa is named as knight. Rath named as the rook and the foot soldier as the pawn.