1251
@qikipedia
WORD OF THE DAY: POKEMON an old Cornish word meaning 'clumsy', first recorded in the 19th century.
1252
@qikipedia
Most of the bacteria found during a recent study of the microbiome of the London Underground were previously unknown to science.
1253
@qikipedia
In the event of an apocalypse, about 200 humans would need to survive for the species to be able to repopulate.
1254
@qikipedia
Zombies would likely develop high cholesterol on an all-brains diet.
1255
@qikipedia
While filming the 1996 horror movie Scream, a phone used by Drew Barrymore’s character to make panicked 911 calls was accidentally left connected. Concerned police phoned back to check the murders weren’t real.
1256
@qikipedia
Euphonia, a Victorian ‘talking machine’, was one of the first robots who could speak sentences. It was so unsettling one commentator labelled it a ‘scientific Frankenstein monster’ with a ‘hoarse sepulchral voice’.
1257
@qikipedia
There is a pizzeria in Guatemala that cooks their pizzas on lava from an active volcano.
(Image: Carlos Urrutia; CC BY-SA-NC.)
1258
@qikipedia
Word of the day: SWAGE (Scots) - to sit back and let a good meal digest
1259
@qikipedia
In the 18th century, small cannons were sometimes mounted on camels.
1260
@qikipedia
"There's no problem so awful that you can't add some guilt to it and make it even worse!" BILL WATTERSON
1261
@qikipedia
Something killed off 90% of all sharks 19 million years ago. No one knows what.
(Image: Richard Ling; CC BY-NC-ND.)
1262
@qikipedia
The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock because they were about to run out of beer.
1263
@qikipedia
Eating the head of a sea bream called sarpa salsa can cause hallucinations. It was used as a recreational drug during Roman times.
1264
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Some clubs use free lollipops to calm patrons at the end of the night, because it’s hard to shout at someone with a lollipop in your mouth.
1265
@qikipedia
The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised. GEORGE F. WILL
1266
@qikipedia
Dogs can have cat allergies (and vice versa).
1267
@qikipedia
Sedona in Arizona is home to the world’s only McDonalds with a blue ‘M’. Officials felt yellow clashed with the scenery. (Image: 1Veertje, CC-BY 2.0)
1268
@qikipedia
The shred of skin that peels off after sunburn is called a blype.
1269
@qikipedia
Americans today have approximately 64 billion bones between them. In 65 million years, only about 50 of these bones will survive in the fossil record.
1270
@qikipedia
Coelacanths, the ‘fossil fish' still found off the coast of Madagascar, existed over 300 million years earlier than Madagascar itself.
(Image: Alberto Fernandez Fernandez)
1271
@qikipedia
Peacocks fake orgasm noises to trick peahens into thinking they’re more sexually active.
1272
@qikipedia
Every actor has to make terrible films from time to time, but the trick is never to be terrible in them. – CHRISTOPHER LEE (1922-2015)
1273
@qikipedia
Following a recent salmonella outbreak, the US Centres for Disease Control has warned people not to ‘kiss or snuggle’ their chickens.
1274
@qikipedia
The Dutch town of Nieuwkoop has a literal ‘red light district’ for bats. At night, the town is lit by red street lights that are less disruptive to bat activity than white ones.
1275
@qikipedia
In 2019, climbers left an estimated 8,000 kg of poo at a single camp on Mount Everest.
@qikipedia
A Quite Interesting Twitter feed from the team behind the BBC TV show QI.
linktr.ee/TheQIElves