The jellyfish known as Turritopsis nutricula is biologically immortal.
The word queue is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way when the last four letters are removed.
Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
The placement of a donkey's eyes in its head enables it to constantly see all four of its feet!
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Pointless Trivia
Broccoli has an IQ of about 2.
The tongue of the chameleon is twice as long as the rest of its body.
The eye of the giant squid can reach 15 inches in diameter!
Not to be confused: a bibliophile is a collector of rare books while a bibliopole is a seller of rare books.
Captain James Gallagher, flew the B-50 Superfortress taking off on February 26, 1949 Carswell Air Force base in Fort Worth, Texas on the first round-the-world, non-stop flight. The plane, carried a crew of 14, averaged 249 miles per hour on the 23,452-mile trip that ended successfully on March 2. The Superfortress was refuelled four times in the air by B-29 tanker planes.
The well known 26 mile marathon has actually been 26 miles, 385 yards since 1908. Before the 1908 Olympics the official marathon distance was exactly 26 miles. For the 1908 Olympics in London, England it was decided that the royal family needed a better view of the finish line. The race started at Windsor Castle and organizers added an extra 385 yards to the race so the finish line would be in front of the royal box.
From that point forward the marathon distance became 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 kilometres). The International Assiciation of Athletics Federations (IAAF) adopted the distance as the "official" marathon distance in 1921.
The tongue of the chameleon is twice as long as the rest of its body.
The eye of the giant squid can reach 15 inches in diameter!
Not to be confused: a bibliophile is a collector of rare books while a bibliopole is a seller of rare books.
Captain James Gallagher, flew the B-50 Superfortress taking off on February 26, 1949 Carswell Air Force base in Fort Worth, Texas on the first round-the-world, non-stop flight. The plane, carried a crew of 14, averaged 249 miles per hour on the 23,452-mile trip that ended successfully on March 2. The Superfortress was refuelled four times in the air by B-29 tanker planes.
The well known 26 mile marathon has actually been 26 miles, 385 yards since 1908. Before the 1908 Olympics the official marathon distance was exactly 26 miles. For the 1908 Olympics in London, England it was decided that the royal family needed a better view of the finish line. The race started at Windsor Castle and organizers added an extra 385 yards to the race so the finish line would be in front of the royal box.
From that point forward the marathon distance became 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 kilometres). The International Assiciation of Athletics Federations (IAAF) adopted the distance as the "official" marathon distance in 1921.
For the only time in recorded weather history, snow fell in the Sahara desert in southern Algeria on February 18, 1979. The storm lasted only half an hour and the snow was gone within hours.
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Monday, 23 November 2009
Finger Puppet Instructions
Someone bought me finger puppets, as a joke for a Christmas 'Secret Santa'. The product was made in China. Here are the instructions as listed on the packaging:
Instructions prepared by those, who don't use English as their first language, always make for hilarious reading.
- Put it into mouth will cause dangers of suffocation
- Play under protector's protection [this one's a classic]
- Do not use, damages, distortion product for your safety
- Please do not throw and cast it - in order to avoid injury and damage to the goods
- Do not give it to the children under 4 years
- Please do not put it near fire
Instructions prepared by those, who don't use English as their first language, always make for hilarious reading.
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
I received someone elese's credit card in the post.
Recently, Kat's (my lovely wife's) wallet went missing.
As a consequence of this, I had to cancel my credit card and order a replacement card via my bank.
Today, my Australian owned bank sent me a replacement credit card via the mail.
The credit card was held with a special backing adhesive to a letter which contained my relevant details.
I looked at the signature on the card and noticed there was something a little odd ... the digitised signature wasn't mine, ... neither was the photograph. In fact, it was someone else's credit card!
My bank had sent me someone else's card instead of my own!
I dialled the free phone number and explained my predicament.
To cut a long story short, the bank had to cancel the card they sent me, as well as my new card ... which had probably been sent to someone else ... and start again!
Now I've got to wait a few more days for my card to ... ahem ... hopefully ... ahem ... turn up in the post.
Here's an anagram which may give you a clue as the the name of my bank (common short version name):
CAT PEWS
As a consequence of this, I had to cancel my credit card and order a replacement card via my bank.
Today, my Australian owned bank sent me a replacement credit card via the mail.
The credit card was held with a special backing adhesive to a letter which contained my relevant details.
I looked at the signature on the card and noticed there was something a little odd ... the digitised signature wasn't mine, ... neither was the photograph. In fact, it was someone else's credit card!
My bank had sent me someone else's card instead of my own!
I dialled the free phone number and explained my predicament.
To cut a long story short, the bank had to cancel the card they sent me, as well as my new card ... which had probably been sent to someone else ... and start again!
Now I've got to wait a few more days for my card to ... ahem ... hopefully ... ahem ... turn up in the post.
Here's an anagram which may give you a clue as the the name of my bank (common short version name):
CAT PEWS
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Breakthrough: Getting Command and Conquer: Generals to work in Linux Mint
If you have Microsoft Vista, apply the steps in my last post, then apply a nocd patch (this also means you can keep your ROM stored away in a safe place).
If you have Windows XP or earlier on a separate partition, install the game there first as per normal (this is the easy way for games on more than one ROM disc), then apply the nocd patch. Many other games contained on a single ROM disc, can be installed directly into your Wine directory in your Linux OS easily enough.
On your Linux browser, go to the website for Wine HQ and follow the instructions for downloading the Wine git repository (Link: http://wiki.winehq.org/GitWine) via the terminal. In my case, this allowed me to upgrade Wine from 1.0.1 (stable version) to the latest version in development being 1.1.28, via my normal software repository. This version seems to have fixed many bugs, including the invisible mouse cursor, which I encountered in some games designed for Windows.
Mount the drive containing the Windows files and open the folder containing Program Files.
In the case of C&C Generals, look for the folder entitled EA Games.
You now have 2 choices here; either copy the entire contents of this folder from your Windows partition to your home folder in Linux (this also gets around the multi CD installation of this game ... and others like it). A simple Copy and Paste will achieve this.
Or, you can choose to run the game directly from the Windows partition, in your Linux environment. In this option you can open the file by right clicking and using "Open With Wine Program Loader".
I prefer the first option here, as it now means I have a copy of the relevant game in Linux, ... and I don't have to mount the Windows Partition each time I want to open the program.
If you have Windows XP or earlier on a separate partition, install the game there first as per normal (this is the easy way for games on more than one ROM disc), then apply the nocd patch. Many other games contained on a single ROM disc, can be installed directly into your Wine directory in your Linux OS easily enough.
On your Linux browser, go to the website for Wine HQ and follow the instructions for downloading the Wine git repository (Link: http://wiki.winehq.org/GitWine) via the terminal. In my case, this allowed me to upgrade Wine from 1.0.1 (stable version) to the latest version in development being 1.1.28, via my normal software repository. This version seems to have fixed many bugs, including the invisible mouse cursor, which I encountered in some games designed for Windows.
Mount the drive containing the Windows files and open the folder containing Program Files.
In the case of C&C Generals, look for the folder entitled EA Games.
You now have 2 choices here; either copy the entire contents of this folder from your Windows partition to your home folder in Linux (this also gets around the multi CD installation of this game ... and others like it). A simple Copy and Paste will achieve this.
Or, you can choose to run the game directly from the Windows partition, in your Linux environment. In this option you can open the file by right clicking and using "Open With Wine Program Loader".
I prefer the first option here, as it now means I have a copy of the relevant game in Linux, ... and I don't have to mount the Windows Partition each time I want to open the program.
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