Tell me something useless but interesting I don't know. No googling allowed. Corrections welcomed.

[YourMaNoBraBackOfMyCar]

I love these threads so please tell me all manner of useless info. [Thanks]

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a Friday the 13th.

ambulance sirens were designed to imitate a newborn's crying - very similar pitch and "pattern", which is why you get alerted and can't ignore it.

if you hear it at night in the distance it takes a few seconds to try and figure it out if it's a baby's crying or an ambulance's siren!

Blue for a boy is a Middle Eastern tradition (or so I heard) Having a son was heaven sent. Blue is the colour of the sky.

That's why it should be for a girl really GhettoPrincess
What biased, me ?

In this country, its a modern thing for pink to be a girls colour, pink is not far from red and red was seen as a masculine colour.

There are fewer years between the existence of the T-Rex and a human being than between the Stegosaurus and the T-Rex. Would I be an annoying mum if I corrected my son next time I saw him using Rex to attack Steggy?

LRD I think this is the bit in question (angels like helicopters,I mean):

I looked, and I saw beside the cherubim four wheels, one beside each of the cherubim; the wheels sparkled like topaz. As for their appearance, the four of them looked alike; each was like a wheel intersecting a wheel. As they moved, they would go in any one of the four directions the cherubim faced; the wheels did not turn about as the cherubim went. The cherubim went in whatever direction the head faced, without turning as they went. Their entire bodies, including their backs, their hands and their wings, were completely full of eyes, as were their four wheels. I heard the wheels being called “the whirling wheels.” Each of the cherubim had four faces: One face was that of a cherub, the second the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 10:9-14

That is amazing ... it sounds like Philip Pullman. I suppose that is where he got it from! But wow ... completely bizarre and stunning.

It is scientifically possible for dragons to have existed.

Can somebody here explain to me what SPIROLOGY, or a SPIROLOGIST is?

Is it anything to do with spirograph?

I dont know. I heard the word today in passing, and cant find anything substantial to tell me what it is!

spirology has got something to do with checking whether someone has lung disease.

Epinephrine and adrenaline - two names for the same hormone, named after the gland they are secreted from.
The gland is called the adrenal gland. Ad is from the Greek for on, and renal is the Greek for kidney.

What about epinephrine..... well epi is from the Latin for on, and nephrine comes from the Latin for kidney.

And in case you were wondering, the adrenal glands are on top of the kidneys!

Another random biology fact- it is not always the male of a species who determines the gender of a child at conception. In humans, makes carry X and Y chromosomes, which means that a sperm will EITHER have an X (and the child wil be female) or a Y (and the child will be make) chromosome. (Males are XY and females are XX)
In other species, for example in all birds, it is the females who carry the heterozygous pair of chromosomes (XY) and so they are the determinants of gender.

Also, when birds reproduce, they do so by means of something called a cloacal kiss.

have just realised I seem to know a lot more about bird sex than is normal, but it's part of my job, honest!!

Um, I don't want to be pushy but the boys = pink thing has been mentioned repeatedly as if it's a new thing since I first posted it at 12.09 yesterday...

Zing , thats spirometry

Adrenaline is from Latin, and epinephrine from Greek, pineapple

It is awesome that you are a bird sex expert!

melanie that's it lol!

And in reptiles (or at least some of them) sex is determined by the temperature at which the eggs are incubated.

There is a particular species of fruit fly which makes sperm that if you unravelled the sperm's tail it would be longer than the whole body of the fly.

A male walrus has a penis bone about 2 feet long.

Myrrh was used to embalm bodies, and the significance of a wise man bringing it was to tell Mary that her baby would die for the sake of others.

Barbara Cartland was a Brummie.

thank

I never knew that connection!

I know that myrrh is a sort of disinfectant (or antibacterial stuff?) so I was under the impression that it had a medicinal use

The Magi's gifts:

Gold is to symbolise Jesus' kingship
Frankincense symbolises Jesus' deity (it was used as an offering to deities)
Myrrh symbolises Jesus' death

The Magi are buried in Cologne Cathedral

I thought the frankincense was used as incense in the temple and so it symbolised his priesthood