Interesting Facts:

[Lorien]

From an email recieved today. Enjoy!





Many years ago in Scotland, a new game was invented.
> It was ruled
> "Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden" ... and thus
> the word GOLF
> entered into the English language.
>
>
>
> In the 1400's a law was set forth that a man was not
> allowed to beat his
> wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence
> we have "the rule of
> thumb"
>
>
> The first couple to be shown in bed together on
> prime time TV were Fred
> and Wilma Flintstone.
>
>
> Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than
> the US Treasury.
>
>
> Men can read smaller print than women can; women can
> hear better.
>
>
> Coca-Cola was originally green.
>
>
> It is impossible to lick your elbow
>
>
> The State with the highest percentage of people who
> walk to work: Alaska
>
>
> The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
> (now get this..)
>
>
> The percentage of North America that is wilderness:
> 38%
>
>
> The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of
> eleven: $6,400
>
>
> The average number of people airborne over the US
> any given hour: 61,000
>
>
> Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in
> their hair.
>
>
> The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom
> Sawyer
>
>
> The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile
> National Monuments.
>
>
> Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a
> great king from history:
> Spades - King David
> Hearts - Charlemagne
> Clubs -Alexander, the Great
> Diamonds - Julius Caesar
>
>
> 111,111,111 x 111,11 1,111 =
> 12,345,678,987,654,321
>
>
> If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has
> both front legs in
> the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has
> one front leg in
> the air the person died as a result of wounds
> received in battle. If the
> horse has all four legs on the ground, the person
> died of natural causes.
>
>
> Only two people signed the Declaration of
> Independence on July 4th, John
> Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest
> signed on August 2, but
> the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
>
>
> Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of
> what?
> A. Their birthplace
>
>
> Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the
> most popular boat name
> requested?
> A. Obsession
>
>
> Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far wo uld
> you have to go until
> you would find the letter "A"?
> A. One thousand
>
>
> Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes,
> windshield wipers, and laser
> printers all have in common?
> A. All invented by women.
>
>
> Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?
> A. Honey
>
>
> Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any
> other day of the year?
> A. Father's Day
>
>
> In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on
> bed frames by ropes.
> When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened,
> making the bed
> firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase.........
> "goodnight, sleep tight."
>
>
> It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years
> ago that for a month
> after the wedding, the bride's father would supply
> his son-in-law with
> all the mead he could drin k. Mead is a honey beer
> and because their
> calendar was lunar based, this period was called the
> honey month ...
> which we know today as the honeymoon.
>
>
> In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and
> quarts... So in old
> England, when customers got unruly, the bartender
> would yell at them
> "Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down. "It's
> where we get the
> phrase "mind your P's and Q's".
>
>
> Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a
> whistle baked into the
> rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they
> needed a refill, they
> used the whistle to get some service. "Wet your
> whistle" is the phrase
> inspired by this practice.
>
>
> Don't delete this just because it looks weird.
> Believe it or not, you
> can read it.
>
>
> I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty u esdnatnrd
> waht I was
> rdgnieg.The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid
> Aoccdrnig to rscheearch
> at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht
> oredr the ltteers in
> a wrod are, the
> olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat
> ltteer be in the rghit
> pclae The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll
> raed it wouthit a
> porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not
> raed ervey lteter by
> istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
>
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
> At least 75% of the people who read this will try
> to lick their elbow

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Mmm, elbow...

[Kerrytravelers]

2. At least 75% of the people who read this will try to lick their elbow.

Shut up.

[Lorien]

3. Lol

I did. :blush:

[sakabatou]

4. I did too

and I licked it. So its not impossible. If they mean the top of the elbow, then no.

[Floogeldy]

5. It is possible for one to lick one's own elbow.

It would, however, require a bandsaw and a strong stomach. :)

[Lorien]

7. Maybe Gene Simmons could do it

:shrug:

[sakabatou]

6. the thing about the rider statues is incorrect

http://www.snopes.com/military/statue.htm

[Lorien]

8. D'oh! I guess if I forward it I'll have to add "Gettysburg" to that one

n/t

[NMMNG]

9. "Rule of Thumb" is a myth

There was no such law. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000512.html

[Lorien]

12. Here's the definition from your link

I heard the definition from the email before, years ago. Guess the myth has been around for at least 20 years:

Christina Hoff Sommers explains the whole confused business in her 1994 book Who Stole Feminism? How Women Have Betrayed Women. For more than 300 years "rule of thumb" has meant what most people think it means: any rough-and-ready method of estimating. It's believed to have originated with woodworkers, who made measurements with their thumbs. For more than 20 years, however, some feminists have maintained that rule of thumb has the darker meaning alluded to above. They say that the principle of regulated wife beating was elucidated in the famous legal commentaries of William Blackstone (1723-'80), the basis of much U.S. common law, and that it prevailed in state courts well into the 19th century.

However, in Blackstone, as Sommers notes, there's no mention of the rule of thumb. We do find the following discussion: "The husband also, by the old law, might give his wife moderate correction . . . in the same moderation that a man is allowed to correct his apprentices or children. . . . But with us, in the politer reign of Charles the Second <1660-'85>, this power of correction began to be doubted; and a wife may now have security of the peace against her husband." In other words, once upon a time in olde England, a man could beat his wife. But don't try it now.

Wife beating has never been legal in the U.S. The Massachusetts Bay Colony prohibited it in 1655, religious groups campaigned against it, and vigilantes occasionally horsewhipped men accused of it. Most states had explicitly outlawed it by 1870.

[NMMNG]

14. Further down

The old permissive approach wasn't entirely forgotten, however. It was cited in two court rulings, one in Mississippi in 1824, the other in North Carolina in 1874. Both judges referred to an "ancient law" by which a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick provided it was no wider than his thumb. Where the judges came up with the thumb angle I don't know; as I say, it is not found in Blackstone. At any rate, both judges rejected the principle--each found the husband guilty in the wife-beating case he was adjudicating. And neither referred to the old law as the rule of thumb.

It may have been legal in the past for a man to beat his wife, but the law never had a "rule of thumb" attached to it.

[devilgrrl]

10. Reading the elbow thing made me think that was inpossible!

So I didn't try :P

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. From wordorigins.org

Golf

A common misperception is that the name for this game is from an acronym standing for Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden. This is not true. The exact origin is uncertain, but it undoubtedly arises from a Germanic word for club. The Dutch kolf is often suggested, but there is no strong evidence that it was the Dutch word that was the inspiration. There are numerous other possibilities from different languages. The term dates to 1457.

And, according to the Coca-Cola web site (the text isn't copyable and it's in a Flash pop-up, so no link), Atlanta pharmacist John Pemberton invented a caramel-colored drink in 1886. In 1915 to ward off copycats in the original "cola wars," the contoured bottle was introduced with green glass. Coke itself was never green.

[Lorien]

13. I sent this list to the person that sent the email

just goes to show that you can't believe everything you read on the "internets"!

Now I just hope that the claim about African wilderness is false; that's depressing!