Really TRUE odd factoids

[CharlesF]

Bliss is the default computer wallpaper of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system. It is a virtually unedited photograph of a green hill and blue sky with clouds in the Los Carneros American Viticultural Area of California's Wine Country. Charles O'Rear took the photo in January 1996 and Microsoft bought the rights in 2000.

It is estimated that billions of people have seen the picture, possibly making it the most viewed photograph in history.

 

[classic33]

Four Bikes Are Produced Every Second

With more than 1 billion in use across the world, demand for bicycles is essentially nonstop. To keep up, manufacturers produce about 364,000 bikes every single day.
For context, that's
15,000 an hour,
253 per minute, or
four bicycles every second.

A bike is purchased by someone every two seconds.

 

[Seevio]

If a pizza has radius "z" and height "a", then the formula for it's volume would be Pi.z.z.a

 

[classic33]

In Scotland you could get a ticket for drunk cow riding. That's you being drunk, not the cow.

Technically, the full 1872 law mandates people not be drunk when in charge of a cow, horse, carriage or steam engine.

 

[classic33]

In the town of Sarpourenx, you cannot die within the city limits unless you already have your burial plot purchased in the local cemetery.

This has to do with the fact that the cemetery is full, so the mayor issued an ordinance in 2008. He added, "Offenders will be severely punished."

How the offenders would be "severely punished" wasn't made clear.

 

[swee'pea99]

The most expensive substance on the planet - one in daily use all over the world - costs £100 trillion/kg.

Feel free to guess (no googling!)

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Common sense?

 

[Electric_Andy]

It's either printer ink or Saffron! I really have no idea, if it's something in "every day use"

 

[swee'pea99]

Nul points.

The answer is....botox.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Nul points.

The answer is....botox.

You might not like the answer but at least tell us now

 

[Beebo]

Nul points.

The answer is....botox.

Do we have a source for this? I guess it’s a very watered down substance. Isn’t it botulism poisoning?

maybe a bit like the active ingredient in homeopathic treatments. They must be very expensive per KG too.

 

[Milkfloat]

Four Bikes Are Produced Every Second

With more than 1 billion in use across the world, demand for bicycles is essentially nonstop. To keep up, manufacturers produce about 364,000 bikes every single day.
For context, that's
15,000 an hour,
253 per minute, or
four bicycles every second.

A bike is purchased by someone every two seconds.

If 8 are made every two seconds and 1 is purchased, what happens to the other 7? That is a hell of a warranty rate

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

Barry Manilow's hit single "I write the songs" was written by Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys.

 

[swee'pea99]

Do we have a source for this? I guess it’s a very watered down substance. Isn’t it botulism poisoning?

maybe a bit like the active ingredient in homeopathic treatments. They must be very expensive per KG too.

Will Auntie Beeb do?

It is indeed used at homeopathical-level dilutions.

Discovered this, BTW, from an absolutely fascinating series called Pain, Pus and Poison: The Search for Modern Medicines, now available on iPlayer. And as a bonus TRUE odd factoid from the programme, when penicillin was first developed during the second world war, contingency plans were made to destroy all traces of it in the event of a German invasion, along with the equipment and all records. The core three scientists, meanwhile, painted spores on the inside of their clothing...

 

[Chris S]

There are more people living in Nepal than in the whole of Australia.