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"If you speak when angry, you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret." GROUCHO MARX
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The Scottish Highlands, the Appalachian Mountains in the USA, and the Atlas Mountains in North Africa were once all part of the same mountain range.
(Image: Pedro Correia & J. Brendan Murphy; CC BY.)
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Vincent Van Gogh once worked as a supply teacher in Ramsgate.
(Image: Anthonydpadgett)
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The red material dropped from planes fighting forest fires acts both as a flame retardant and fertiliser, to help new growth after the fire is extinguished.
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At various points throughout the year, the hottest part of the solar system is Didcot. There is a nuclear fusion reactor there that can reach temperatures higher than the sun.
756
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Ever suffer from restaurant menu anxiety? Astronauts on the International Space Station have 200 meal options, but they have to decide what they will want for the whole trip before they go up.
757
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There is an outside toilet on the edge of a cliff in Siberia. It stands 2,500 metres above sea level and receives loo roll by helicopter.
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Scientists at the University of East Anglia spent seven years trying to discover why men exist.
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Before her death in 1891, the wealthy French socialite Anne Goguet left 100,000 francs to be awarded for the first communication with another planet. Contact with Martians was not eligible, because the existence of life on Mars was ‘sufficiently well known’.
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Japan’s poo museum features a giant inflatable poo that erupts miniature toy-poos every 30 minutes.
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The town of Levi in northern Finland hosts the Tree Hugging World Championships. There are three categories: speed hugging (hugging as many trees under a minute), dedication (showing passion and emotion), and freestyle (imaginative ways to hug a tree).
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"The moral of 'The Three Bears,' for instance, is 'Never break into someone else's house." The moral of 'Snow White' is 'Never eat apples.' The moral of World War One is 'Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand'." LEMONY SNICKET
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Word of the Day: SLEEVEEN (Irish English) — an untrustworthy person.
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During the Crimean War, the inventor of the saxophone Adolphe Sax had an idea for a cannon that would be able to demolish a whole city by firing a 10-metre-wide shot weighing 550 tons. The unrealised weapon was to be called Saxocannon.
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A FIT OF THE CLEVERS is 19th-century Scots for a sudden burst of activity when you realise how much work you have to do.
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Unhappy people tend to daydream about the past, but happy people tend to daydream about the future.
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In late 2020, a Namibian politician named Adolf Hitler won election to local office.
Adolf is a common name in the country, and his father (who named him) did not know the significance of the name. He says he has no plans for world domination.
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Lough Hyne in Ireland is gloomy enough that deep sea sponges which normally only survive at the bottom of the ocean have been living successfully there as shallow as 5 metres down for over 20 years.
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There is a termite city underneath northeastern Brazil which is as large as Britain and some parts are thought to be nearly 4,000 years old.
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"Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on." TERRY PRATCHETT
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Wikipedia has a list of ‘Lamest Edit Wars’ that includes such disputes as ‘Is Limp Bizkit a nu metal/rapcore or rapcore/nu metal band?’, ‘Is it Star Trek into or Into Darkness?’, and ‘Should we say that economist Guy Standing is sitting in his photo?’. bit.ly/39qXtcu
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Countries are more likely to go to war when their national football team is doing well.
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You retain information better if it is accompanied by a pun.
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Word of the day GRUNTLING, n. the old term for a young pig.
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If the average person’s blood vessels were laid end to end they would reach around the Earth almost two and a half times (60,000 miles).
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves