Stuff (trivia) that you should have known but didn't...

[LikeDylanInTheMovies]

At the age of 36 I've discovered that

1. Shirley McClaine and Warren Beatty were brother and sister

2. Camels store fat and not water in their humps.

People I've told about my discoveries have universally responded with 'well yeah, everyone knows that'.

Any other factoids you were well behind the curve with?

Glittery - I live in SE MI. We have quite a few roundabouts here. Recently we were in WI and drove past a town that had LOADS (well, about 4 or 5 going around the edge of town). DH and I said it was the Milton Keynes of America.

Just been reading up about the mandela effect, never come across it, interesting.do people who remember him dying in prison not remember him being released.

No me neither.

And then becoming the first president of post-apartheid South Africa? That was kind of a big deal? Not sure if it is an American thing. Their news coverage is incredibly insular and if it doesn't happen on their own soil or involve Americans in some way, their news media aren't interested.

Yeah, I'm a little shocked about people thinking Mandela died in prison.
I remember when he was released.

Now I have 'Freeee-eeeeeee Nelson Mandela' going around my head.

Rice Krispies are made of actual rice! I honestly didn't realise until I was about 25.

I had no idea he divorced winning and remarried thought

Winnie

Found out today horses sleep standing up!

Sunday....I think!

That the red splodge ( technical term) on the end of a seagulls beak is not actually ketchup from their latest feast!

I'm going to delight the whole office with the Big Mo trivia tomorrow

I didn't know until the last few years that reindeer are real animals. I thought they were made up fairy tale animals just for Christmas.

I bet they already know.

That reds plodded on the gull's beak is there for a reason, 2bees. It is what the chicks peck at when they want food, to encourage the parent to regurgitate dinner for them. The bigger and brighter the splodge, the stronger the chicks begging and pecking response. It's a stimulus.

I am always staggered but the number of natural history things that come up in these threads that people don't know but then I think the biggest thing of all that I discover is just how much of an animal geek I am!!

When I was a kid marmite was much thicker, like peanut butter. It was made using yeast by product from the brewing industry, but when people started drinking lager more than beer, and there was less brewing yeast they changed how it was made and it became gloopier.

These threads are a regular feature on MN, and I'm just ticking off my trivia topic bingo card for this thread:
Portsmouth = island - CHECK
Pineapples - CHECK
Channel Tunnel - CHECK
Toasters - CHECK
Still waiting for petrol cap side indication, then I'm done.

Tabs inside clingfilm boxes too

Dad

The petrol side indication ... my car doesn't have an arrow on it pointing in either direction! Although, cars where the primary market is right hand drive (just Japan really now, but older British cars too) tend to have the filler cap on the left side and the indicator stork on the right. European cars it tends to be the other way round.

I used to think that blueberries were just a made up thing for movies. I think I was about 18 before I knew they were real. But back then I'd never seen one - fruits weren't transported so much, so they weren't sold in the UK when I was a kid.

I now live in the US and people find it hard to believe - we're in a blueberry growing state. It's like not believing in apples.

If your petrol gauge doesn't have an arrow on it, does it have an image of a pump with the pump nozzle on the side which has the filler cap?

Yet another fucking crisp packet thread!!

I know! Crisp packets are a weird MN obsession.

Erinsborough is based on an anagram of neighbours

If your petrol gauge doesn't have an arrow on it, does it have an image of a pump with the pump nozzle on the side which has the filler cap?

Nope. But somehow remembering that it is on the passenger side never seems like a struggle!

Something I've learnt: "the dark side of the Moon" is an older term for the far side of the Moon, and so it is not always dark (although it is tonight).

1) Shirley McClaine and Warren Beatty were brother and sister

I don't actually know who either of them are