To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Sat, 3 Aug 2002 23:26:47 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] fw: some purported facts
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

Please feel free to comment selectively...

I have added mine.

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1.  A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

It would be surprising, given that camels have integral water bags.

2.  Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or
it will digest itself.

No comment.

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

I did not know that.  Are they sure it's not a 'jot'?

4.  A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and
down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

If so, perhaps because the bubbles get caught in the folds of the raisin,
and then collapse when the raisin surfaces.

5.  A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

Don't know.

6.  A duck's quack doesn't echo.  No one knows why.

Perhaps a duck's quack really does echo as well as any other sound, but a
duck's quack sounds like it is echoing even when there is no physical
echo.

7.  A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2 by 3-1/2.

Yes.  Modern '2 x 4s' are planed down from rough 2 x 4s, and it is legal
to sell a planed stud of finished size 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 as a '2 x 4'.

8.  During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur", a small red car can be seen in
the distance.

Don't know.

9.  On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily (I
knew it!).

In the U.S. only?  With several million babies born each year, it would
be surprising if only 12 were given to the wrong parents (especially
counting errors later corrected).

10.  Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear
pants.

It's believable.

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

Yes, it is believable that was done, as an object lesson.  The actual
metal savings would be insignificant to the war effort.

12.  The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side
in a game of chess is
318,979,564,000.

A tedious calculation.

13.  There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple,
and silver.

'Mange' for 'orange' is close, as is 'salver' for 'silver'.  If 'slurple'
was a word, it would work for 'purple'.

14.  The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan".  There was
never a recorded Wendy before.

Don't know.

15.  The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II
killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

Don't know.

16.  If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will
instantly go mad and sting itself to death.  (Who was the sadist that
discovered this??)

Don't know.

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

Filming Bruce Lee's moves, for showing in slow motion, would require
speeding up the film when shooting, I would think.

18.  The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the
USA".

Don't know.

19.  The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

Don't know.

20.  The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which
stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your
thumb.

I have heard that before.

21.  The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player
for automobiles.  At that time, the most known player on the market was
Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

Believable, since most of Motorola's early products, most famously car
radios, were intended for use in vehicles.

22.  Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.

Makes sense.

23.  By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you cannot sink
into quicksand.

Almost everyone can float in water, and quicksand should be more dense
than water.

24.  Celery has negative calories.  It takes more calories to eat a piece
of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

I doubt that.  But if one eats a lot of celery, one will probably lose
weight, since one will consequently likely eat less of various more
fattening foods.

25.  Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike
contest.

Did the judges know who he was?  Maybe he was having an off day?

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

Don't know.

27.  Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson".

Don't know.

28.  An old law in Bellingham, Washington made it illegal for a woman to
take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

Perhaps because she might back into someone else?

29.  The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.

Almost certainly.

30.  The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book
most often stolen from public libraries.

I wonder if that fact is listed in the Book itself.

31.  Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

I can't imagine why.

32.  Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space
because passing wind in a space suit damages them.  (The suits or the
astronauts??)

It sounds like a wise policy.

.

.

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