Tidbits

[Earthnut 1,122]

We all love little bits of interesting information, and here's hoping everyone has something to add.

I will start with ~

Quote

What Americans know as “cotton candy”, sugar that is heated, liquefied, and then finely spun to create a cloud-like ball of “sugar glass”, is known by many different names around the world including “candy floss” in the UK, “fairy floss” in Australia, “barbe à papa” (Daddy’s beard) in France, and “se’arot savta” (Grandma’s hair) in Israel.

 

Edited May 15, 2017 by Earthnut

[Walkabout 398]

love FYI info, will have to look for some to add !

[Earthnut 1,122]

Looking forward to your contribution Walkabout.  Here's another one ~

Quote

In the Thai language, the number “5” is pronounced “ha”, so Thai speakers will sometimes use “555” to stand in for “hahaha” when chatting or texting.

 

Edited May 16, 2017 by Earthnut

[Earthnut 1,122]

Quote

The largest bone in the skull is the mandible, or jaw, which is notable not only for its size, but also its mobility—the rest of the skull is composed of numerous fused flat bones.

 

[Walkabout 398]

is everyone seeing ads from Amazon.com or just me ???

[Earthnut 1,122]

18 hours ago, Walkabout said:

is everyone seeing ads from Amazon.com or just me ???

I'm not, so I'm betting it's just you.  Check your settings here and in your browser.  Are you using Chrome?

Tidbit ~

Quote

Despite their portrayal in movies and cartoons as carrying a cask of liquor around their necks, St. Bernard dogs never performed such a function and historians attribute the popular trope to a 19th century painting by Edwin Landseer (which did feature a dog with a cask).

 

[Libby 482]

This is probably the most confusing place to live in:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Hertog

It's a municipality of Belgium, but most of it is bits within the Netherlands.

"Some houses in the town of Baarle-Hertog/Baarle-Nassau are divided between the two countries. At one time, according to Dutch laws restaurants had to close earlier. For some restaurants on the border this simply meant that the customers had to move to a table on the Belgian side."

 

[Earthnut 1,122]

Wow Libby, that is so weird.  Thanks for contributing.  Please post more.

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Kangaroos, despite having a leafy and fiber-rich diet, don’t expel gas by burping or flatulence. Instead, their bodies convert the methane into acetate, which is then used as energy. Researchers are investigating transferring gut bacteria from kangaroos to cattle to cut down on livestock-driven greenhouse gas emissions.

 

[Libby 482]

Love the fact about kangeroo metabolism. There's lots of fascinating stuff about the flora and fauna of Australia (and New Zealand) because they were so isolated from the rest of the world for so long and evolved very differently. I reckon animals such as kangaroos have had to be pretty smart in terms of their biology just to have survived over the millennia.

Another interesting tidbit: Whitechapel in London is most famous for the Jack the Ripper murders. But like other areas in London, there's the overground national rail network plus the London underground system. What makes Whitechapel very different in modern times is that the underground rail goes over the overground rail.

[Walkabout 398]

wish they could do that with human gas  !