Facts R Fun

[abababababab]

The "@" sign was very close to being eliminated from the standard keyboard until 1971, when Ray Tomlinson wrote it into the code used to send the first email.

 

[J. A.]

In 1941, the crew of the British submarine HMS Trident was given a reindeer as a gift by the USSR navy. The animal was called Pollyanna, ate the navigation chart while on board and insisted on sleeping under the captain's bed.
She was given to Regents Park Zoo, where she lived for the rest of the war. It was told that whenever she heard a siren or loudspeaker, she ducked down as if she was still on the submarine. Pollyanna died in 1947.

 

[scifan57]

The first programable general purpose computer was designed by Charles Babbage in the 1830's and was a hundred years ahead of it's time. This computer, which was never built, was called the Analytical Engine. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analytical_Engine

 

[scifan57]

The shortest war in history occurred in 1896 between England and Zanzibar. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

 

[abababababab]

Though dragonflies possess 6 legs like any other insect, they cannot walk.

 

[scifan57]

Though dragonflies possess 6 legs like any other insect, they cannot walk.

Take a look at this video. It shows a female dragonfly walking backwards while laying eggs. The video is sped up because it was walking very slowly.

 

[J. A.]

Most dragonflies cannot walk well.

 

[scifan57]

Most dragonflies cannot walk well.

Apparently they only walk when they absolutely have to.

 

[abababababab]

The length of your ring finger in comparison to your index finger indicates the amount of testosterone you were exposed to as a fetus. Longer ring fingers equates to more testosterone.

 

[J. A.]

The length of your ring finger in comparison to your index finger indicates the amount of testosterone you were exposed to as a fetus. Longer ring fingers equates to more testosterone.

That's what some scientists believe. It has not been proved yet.

If they are right, then I'm not an "average" woman.

 

[J. A.]

The Dead Sea is 9.6 times as salty as the ocean.

 

[abababababab]

Most cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy experience hair fall, here's why :

The cancer drugs attack cells that undergo rapid mitosis (cell division), the cancer cells, but, even our hair follicles divide rapidly. The drugs cannot make out the difference between these cells and attack both healthy and abnormal cells.
Some modern drugs do not attack healthy cells, thus some people do not experience hair fall.
Even the cells of the lining of the stomach and bone marrow divide rapidly. Some cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy also experience inflammation of their digestive tract and are immune-suppressed (due to deficiency of white blood cells)

 

[J. A.]

William Shakespeare added new vocabulary and phrases to the English language. He used about 17,800 words. 1,700 of these were first used by him.

 

[scifan57]

The oldest written record of the name Jessica in its current spelling is in a play by William Shakespeare "The Merchant of Venice" where it appeared as the name of Shylock's daughter.

 

[J. A.]

What we usually call Big Ben was named Clock Tower until 2012. Since then, the tower is officially known as Elizabeth Tower. It was renamed to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock.