Sunday, December 1, 2013

Trivia Bits 01 December

 

  • Hexadectylism is the term to describe someone who has and extra digit on one or both hands or feet.
  • Jayne Mansfield managed to furnish her Pink Palace without buying any furniture by writing to suppliers and asking for free samples.
  • Macaroni, Gentoo, Chinstrap and Emperor are types of Penguins.
  • Australian actress Jessica De Gouw plays Mina Murray in the TV series Dracula a British-American horror drama television series premiered on NBC on October 25, 2013 also stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Dracula / Alexander Grayson / Vlad Tepes.
  • On December 20, 1860, South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union.
  • On June 26th, 1945, the charter of the United Nations was signed by 50 countries in San Francisco. The text of the charter was in five languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
  • 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.
  • President George Washington created the Order of the Purple Heart in 1782. It's a decoration to recognize merit in enlisted men and non-commissioned officers.
  • President Lincoln proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day in 1863.
  • The geology of the Grand Canyon area includes more than 40 major identified sedimentary rock layers exposed range in age from about 200 million to nearly 2 billion years old.
  • The British judicial practice of Quarter Sessions where local courts traditionally held at four set times each year existed until they were abolished in 1972.
  • The Bureau of Meteorology in New South Wales recorded 364 tornadoes across the state from 1795 to June 2003.
  • Richard Nixon was the 1st US president to visit China in February, 1972.
  • The Heysen Trail in South Australia is the longest dedicated walking trail in Australia running from Parachilna Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges via the Adelaide Hills to Cape Jervis on the Fleurieu Peninsula and is approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) in length.
  • In Anatomy the clavicle is also as the collarbone and is the only long bone in the body that lies horizontally. It makes up part of the shoulder and the pectoral girdle
  • Roman coins have been dug up in America, suggesting that perhaps the Vikings or Columbus weren't the first Europeans to visit the New World. The coins were found in locations as far afield as Texas, Venezuela and Maine. One stash was found buried in a mound in Round Rock, Texas. The mound is dated to approximately 800 A.D. In the town of Heavener, Okla., a bronze tetradrachm bearing the profile of Emperor Nero was found in 1976. The coin was originally struck in Antioch, Syria, in 63 A.D.
  • Banana oil is also commonly known as Isoamyl acetate.
  • With the development of telecommunication systems, the telephone is increasingly taking the place of radio communications. Only a few years ago all calls for the Royal Flying Doctor Service were received by radio. Now only two percent of Royal Flying Doctor service calls in Australia are made via radio
  • Indira Gandhi once said You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
  • The ibex is a member of the goat family.

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