Butterfly Fun
Disconnected oddments for the butterfly mind
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Britain is responsible for half the potato crisp consumption of Europe. Single women in their 30s do more unpaid overtime than anyone else The word "bible" does not appear in the works of Shakespeare. |
Per capita, more people are diagnosed with skin cancer each week in Scotland than in Australia. |
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Serbia produces almost a third of the world's rasberries. |
The longest speech ever made at the United Nations lasted four hours and twenty nine minutes. It was given in 1960 by Fidel Castro. ............................................... Nelson Mandeala still ( May 2008) figures on the US terrorist watch list and needs special permission to visit the US. ......................................... North Korea had a campaign telling men to keep their hair short - because of the negative effects which long hair has on the development of human intelligence. ............................................. It has been estimated that an average well off British household has available to them as much energy, at the flick of a switch, as could be supplied in Roman times by 5000 slaves. ................................................... If you work in a bank, don't go to work in Italy. 57% of all bank robberies in Europe take place in Italy. One in ten Europeans live or work on a flood plain. In Grimsby the number is more than one in four. .............................................. In the 20th Century 170 million people are estimated to have been killed by their own government. In comparison about 40 million were killed in wars. ................................................ The largest cemetery in the world is probably that at Najaf, in Iraq. It covers 5 square miles and has over 5 million graves. ................................................ The biggest computer ever made weighed 275 tons and occupied 2000 square metres of floor space. Each computer had nearly 60,000 vacuum tubes, used 3 megawatts of power, and needed 100 people to operate it. They were in use from 1958 to the early 1980s. Nowadays some pocket calculators are as powerful as those monsters. ................................................. The London Assembly is allegedly charged £70 for having a light bulb replaced. True? Yes, probably. Why? Because a bulb in traffic lights has to be very long lasting and efficient. Such is a LED type bulb. These are still expensive, but are expected to become much cheaper and available for general use in a few years. Thus saving energy. ............................................. Newcastle City Council (Lib/Dem) is stripping horse chestnut trees to prevent children getting hurt (at a cost of £1000) ! ............................................... Britain is not the only country with a binge drink problem. Research showed that In Denmark 30% of 15 and 16 year olds had been drunk at least 3 times in the last 30 days. ........................................... This summer has seen many references to the outbreak of the Spanish civil war in 1936. One of the leading characters on the Republican side was Tom Wintringham, from a well known Grimsby family (his uncle had been ................................................. We often hear or read that the United Kingdom's economy is the fourth largest in the world (actually it isn't). Many people take this to mean we are the fourth richest. When a country's wealth is measured as an average amount per head we come 13th. Such a measurement is not an exact science, but there are only two countries close and above us, whereas there are six fairly close below us. Thus it unlikely that a small change in calculations would improve our position. .............................................. " David Cameron is dainty as a butterfly, flitting from likeable issue to issue". .................................................... In the 2004 US elections 98% of congressmen (i.e. the lower house) were reelected. Soviet Russia could achieve 100%. So did California in 2004. These results are made possible by so-called redistricting (drawing their own electoral boundaries) ................................................ 1950 about 10% of the public said they believed in ghosts, and 2% thought they had seen one. ................................... Half of the Labour MPs elected in 1906 were teetotalers. ................................................ If you define "immigrants" as those who now live in this country but were born overseas, then the origins of immigrants by number and country coming here between 1991 and 2001, beginning with the most are: Those from Germany include babies of service families. In Grimsby, between one and a half to two percent of our population were born abroad.
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Worlwide, people use google to make a search on the web over one billion times each day. ............................................... Britain adopted our present (Gregorian) calendar in 1752. Before 1752 Britain used the Julian calendar. Their new year's day is on our January 14th. The Julian calendar is used amongst others by astronomers. The dates change at noon , instead of midnight. ............................................ Because of poor water management, it is estimated that more than a billion people will lack access to clean water next year. .................................................. At one time when Harold Macmillan was prime minister, he was related through marriage with 35 of his 87 ministers. .............................................. ................................................ "Terrorism" is not something new. During her reign eight attempts were made to kill Queen Victoria. In 1881 an Anarchist Congress in London decided that 'all rulers, ministers of state, the nobility, the clergy, the most prominent capitalists, and other exploiters should be annihilated'. And the policy was carried out. Amongst others, the heads of state of France, the US, and Russia were assassinated. In 1892-1894 11 major explosions took place in Paris. Greenland is the world's largest island - 4 times the size of France. 80% is covered in ice (about 8% of the world's fresh water supply). ................................................ ................................................ Some quiz questions & answers What was Hitler's first name?- Heil Name some famous brothers - Bonnie and Clyde Name something that floats in a bath - water Name an occupation where you might need a torch - a burglar What is the Italian word for 'motorway' - espresso What does 'varicose' mean? - nearby. ................................................ ................................................. A detailed satellite radar study of the ice sheet over Greenland (by a NASA team) showed it was losing 220 cubic kilometres more ice every year than it accumulated through snow fall. .................................................. Global warming is "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people". ............................................... Male mice, like humans, serenade a potential mate. The pitch is not within the range that a human can hear ( so no danger of humans being seduced), but scientists have analysed the chirps, and are satisfied that it can be classified as singing. ................................................. The great majority of people have more than the average number of legs and hands. ................................................... ..................................................... In 2005 the EU spent more on office cleaners than it spent on Common Foreign and Security Policy. ............................................ Some school howlers Q: Name the four seasons Q: How can you delay milk turning sour? Q:What does "varicose" mean? Q: What does "benign" mean?
There are two kinds of pedestrians--- the quick and the dead. The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement. .................................................... Get up to date with your proverbs You can't teach a new mouse old tricks Modulation in all things Virtual reality is its own reward Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the internet and he won't bother you for weeks.
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