Tell me an interesting bit of trivia.--Al

-- Al Schroeder (al.schroeder@nashville.com), May 19, 2000

Answers

Americans will spend about 6 months of their lives waiting for red lights to turn green.

-- Bev Sykes (basykes@dcn.davis.ca.us), May 20, 2000.

Hey Bev - - - and another eight months waiting for the durn fools ahead to wake up and move when the light turns green.

-- Denver doug (ionoi@webtv.net), May 20, 2000.

When I first started seeing my therapist (Spug), and was feeling insecure and scared and untrusting, he started singing "Year of the Cat" when I walked through the door of his office. I wear patchouli as perfume, you see, and he started right with the "incense and patchouli" line and sang it all the way to the end. It broke the ice, and I decided that any therapist who could sing (somewhat badly) a song to a new & unfamiliar client was someone I could trust with my life. And I

-- Tesserae (tess@tesserae.org), May 20, 2000.

It is estimated that in our lifetime we (all humans) will swallow 5 spiders in the middle of the night while we sleep.

Just what I needed to think about before heading off to bed. Hmm..I'm 32...maybe my 5 are already behind me....

Maybe.

-Bob

-- Bob (and_if_I_die@hotmail.com), May 20, 2000.

Five...spiders????

All together now...

Eeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

--Al

-- Al Schroeder (aschroeder@comdata.com), May 20, 2000.

As a young man I worked both in restaurants and creameries. Believe me when I say that spiders are probably "Clean Cuisine !

-- Denver doug (ionoi@webtv.net), May 20, 2000.

jimmy carter and richard nixon were fifth cousins or something.

-- (yeahright@aol.com), May 20, 2000.

"Mr. Ed's" real name was Bamboo Harvester.

-- Bev Sykes (basykes@dcn.davis.ca.us), May 20, 2000.

Daddy Long Legs have the most poision compared to any other spider - and the most dangerous.. but their fangs aren't long enough to penetrate human flesh.

-- Jen (invisiblegirl@kittymail.com), May 21, 2000.

The uterus can exert 60lbs per square inch during labor.

-- cory (coryglen@yahoo.com), May 22, 2000.

The cartilage in your nose never stops growing.

-- Colin (ethilrist@prodigy.net), May 23, 2000.

I like the stuff that "everybody knows" but just isn't true.

For example, it's perfectly safe to go swimming right after eating, despite what "everybody knows."

(And that daddy long legs thing, above, obviously isn't true.)

-- Dave Van (davevan01@hotmail.com), May 25, 2000.

Gee, I'm so swayed by "That's obviously not true". The best site I found discussing the Daddy Long legs story is this one:

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mdaddy.html

Sorry, I don't know enough html to make it a link. Basically it says the jaw size thing is true, and nobody knows how venomous they are (since they can't bite us, we don't care).

The swallowing five spiders thing is really unsettling, though.

-- Amanda (missdufour@hotmail.com), May 26, 2000.

Actually, I believe the daddy long legs thing isn't true - because it's another spider that is similar looking to a daddy long legs. This spider is highly poisionus and looks like a daddy long legs but isn't. (you start to realize what a silly common name that is for a spider after you type "daddy long legs" three times in a row...) I got my information from a friend with a degree in zoology who spent two years doing spider related research. (I heard the same thing and asked him about it.) Other facts:

Your tongue is the strongest muscle in the body (it only has one point of contact with other flesh to support it).

39 shopping carts are stolen from american supermarkets daily.

A tiger has not only striped fur, but striped skin.

In 1991, it became illegal for a brazillian man to kill his wife for cheating on him.

-- Liz Stricklen (lizstricklen@yahoo.com), May 26, 2000.

Amanda: I said "that's obviously not true," because all I have to do is look at a daddy longlegs and see that there is no way its long, very slender, extremely lightwieght body could hold much in the way of venom. There's just no way it compares to some of the large venomous spiders.

But just to make you happy I checked around... It turns out that the term "daddy longlegs" is applied to many different kinds of insects. I've never seen one like the one pictured on this page, that's scary! Most insects referred to as daddy longlegs are flys or arachnids with no venom. There is one kind that does have some venom, but it is not harmful to humans.

According to this page, "it is a myth that pholcid spiders have venom that is highly toxic to humans."

I think it's safe to say it's an urban myth.

-- Dave Van (davevan01@hotmail.com), May 26, 2000.

Dave: I was pretty sure it was a myth, too. I guess I feel like disputing urban myths with "That's obviously not true" isn't any more valid than claiming them to be true based on what your best friend's brother heard.

Just my personal pet peeve, wanting actual facts. Sorry to jump on you.

And for my bit of trivia (to keep this on topic): There's a law on the books in Arkansas that the Arkansas River can never rise higher than the Main Street Bridge in Little Rock. I don't think a penalty for the river is given.

-- Amanda (missdufour@hotmail.com), May 29, 2000.

Thomas Edison invented wax paper.

Nikola Tesla---inventor of the a.c. current generator & the polyphase induction motor that powers everything from your refrigerator's compressor to your car's alternator--- also invented the electric alarm clock.

George Westinghouse invented the air-brake.

-- phiber0ptix (PZ@palatialbeachhouse.com), July 18, 2000.

A 16th note is a semiquaver. A 32nd note is a demisemiquaver. And a 64th note is a hemidemisemiquaver.

-- Jerry (cuchulain@irelandmail.com), December 16, 2000.

Edgar Allen Poe was expelled from West Point.

-- Jerry (cuchulain@irelandmail.com), December 16, 2000.

www.swo.net/MAAN tons of trivia.

-- Matt Mullen (Hugosimps@home.com), December 27, 2000.

All of the things about the daddy longleg are not true but the one about it having small fangs are true also the poison thing.

In the movie "The Little Mermaid" the price walks done the aisle with a boner.

In the movie "Lion King" when Simba falls on the flowers the dust comes up and spells the word sex.

-- Diem T. Nguyen (babybluechic19@aol.com), May 09, 2001.

If you take out all the veins in the body and lie them one by one they will go 60,000 miles. (I heard this it could be 60,000 feet or 6000 miles)

Cockroaches can make their own food.

There are astronauts, and there are aquanauts.

Japan's airport is made out of garbage.

Octopus have a bag called a siphon which they use to squirt water to move.

Sharks can take out their stomach and clean it if poison or trash from people.

-- Cedric K. (jazzconk@hotmail.com), November 14, 2001.

In Aladdin, while Aladdin is wrestling with Raga (the tiger) he says, "take off your clothes".

-- Shelly Langdon (cool_chick_4ever@hotmail.com), April 13, 2002.

Jamie Lee Curtis was born a hermaphrodite and Andy Garcia had a parasitic twin removed from his shoulder shortly after birth. I think I read these in a book called The Odd Index, if anyone should doubt them.

-- anderwillow (anderwillow@aol.com), May 04, 2002.

Daddy long legs are actually called harvestmen and, besides being completely non-toxic (though they do release a strange smelling liquid when threatened), aren't spiders at all.

-- John K Moran (javatiger@Hotmail.com), June 12, 2002.

"Japan's airport is made of garbage": EH? While several are built on reclaimed land based on landfill, that any of Japan's airports are made OF garbage is patently false.

"Daddy Long Legs": The following page should pretty much clear up any questions regarding this particular wive's tale: Spider Myths--DaddyLongLegs courtesy of the University of California Riverside Department of Entomology. Interestingly, it does not mention that the insect commonly called "daddy long legs" in central Ontario, Canada is actually a crane fly.

Now, for interesting trivia about the real Daddy Long Legs spider: it has the same type of uncate fang structure as the brown recluse, which can -- and does -- bite humans. So, the real question regarding Daddy Long Legs and human bites is whether they're simply timid (unlikely to bite) even when handled or have some difference in the musculature that makes it impossible for the spider to penetrate human flesh. The University of Queensland in Australia has information on the spider that indicates the venom itself is not toxic to humans, but does not mention whether this spider is capable of inflicting a wound on us. In any case, the toxicology does appear to have been explored. All known "Daddy Long Legs," regardless of class, order, etc., are harmless to humans.

"Size matters": To the poster who commented that the Daddy Long Legs is too small to carry enough venom to be dangerous, one need only to look to the Widow family of spiders. There, we find that a small, 10mm female can administer a bite with enough venom to cause death in adult humans if antivenin is not administered. Size does matter, yes -- the male is generally too small to administer an effect bite on a human -- but a female can pierce even the tougher skin on fingertips.

Fresh trivia: Mantidae (praying mantis) of all types are harmless to humans and, in fact, are often as curious about us as we are with them. When thirsty, a praying mantis will happily drink water from your hand.

Fresh trivia: Symptoms of a bite from a Black Widow spider may persist for up to two months, even when antivenin has been administered.

-- Trane Francks (trane@gol.com), November 11, 2002.