Odd and Wonderful Facts

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This was a thread that lasted quite awhile here in the Random section.
Seems we ASpies love to collect odd facts.

BUT just facts, please!! No rumours, or Urban Legends ! !

Like this: Nick Mason is the only member of Pink Floyd that has played on every one of their albums.
Look it up ! !

Gilmore joined after the first album came out, Syd dropped out after the second, Waters left after "The Final Cut" which Wright skipped.

Wright did not skip...more like forcefully ejected after being bitchslapped by the ring hand of Roger Waters...(slight exaggeration...).

Here's some tasty Floydian tidbits:

"Have a Cigar" was sang not by Roger or Dave, but by Roy Harper (as in Zeppelin's "Hat's Off to Roy Harper."

Pink Floyd and Zeppelin both bankrolled Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Cartman from South Park quotes "Pigs" :"Haha, Charade you are!"

The band once performered the music during a ballet, included in the creation of it was Roman Polanski.

Which One's Pink? I am. (Not rumor or legend, true! Look it up!).

There's a rather excellent english show called QI presented by the wonderful Stephen Fry that deals with this sort of thing

Jimi Hendrix was 60% hearing impaired at the time of his death.

When Elvis died, there were traces of 10 different narcotics in his blood.

Elvis was originaly blond.

Elvis had a twin brother who was stillborn.

The Marlboro man died from lung cancer.

Both Ozzy Osbourne, Sting and Bono suffers from tinnitus.

30% of all professional rockstars are hearing impaired.

52% of all professional rockstars suffer from tinnitus.

American Airlines saved 40,000$ in 1987 by removing one olive berry from each sallad served on first class.

"60 Minutes" only lasts for 45 minutes.

George W. Bush and Sylvester Stallone were born on the same day.

More americans are killed by vending machines each year than by sharks.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words.

All of the clocks in Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.

Americans eat over a billion donuts each year.

People gave each other the finger allready in the ancient Rome.

An average man has a 13" biceps (I'm not sure of what age they used here).

An average man is on his peak physically at age 23.

10% of all inhabitants of San Fransisco are homosexuals.

The Chevrolet division of General Motors has produced the Corvette every year since 1953, except for 1983. They were having problems meeting emission standards (new in those days) and after a handful of 1983 models were made, they were all scrapped-except for the 23rd one which resides in the Corvette Museum.

Just FYI a fact is not a fact unless it can be proven. So - I'd like to posit that if you're going to be posting *facts* as random as they may be that you also beef them up with a link or 2 for reference and substantiation.

Okay, here are some facts about Count Dracula, well fit for Halloween :

- Dracula really existed in Transylvania under the name of Count Vlad Tepes
- Dracula meant "Son of Dragon", as his father belonged to a military faction named the "Dragons", Drac meaning dragon and ula being a termination that meant "son of". Ironically, in his language Drac was also used to describe "the Devil", so "Dracula" could also mean "Son of the Devil".
- It is believed that Vlad Tepes suffered from a genetic condition known today as porphyria. This disorder affects a set of genes that give a person the following physical traits : sharpened teeth, pale skin, red eyes, and a low tolerance to intense daylight.
- Vlad Tepes was known to be an upmost cruel person. First, dozens of impaled people were always exposed in front of his castle to fill with fear any eventual intruder. He also once claimed to relieve his land from all diseased, handicaped and poor people in only one night. The strategy he used was the following : he invited all afflicted persons to a feast in a wooden building, locked the door while they were eating, and set the place on fire.
- One of his female relative (his cousin I believe), once murdered two young virgins and used them to have a blood bath. She believed such a blood bath would grant her eternal life.

You might find other "fun" facts about the legendary count Vlad Tepes if you do a wikipedia search.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_tepes

[edit] Some modern scholars have argued that vampire stories may have been influenced by a rare illness called porphyria. The disease is a blood disorder that disrupts the production of haem. Porphyria was thought to be more common than elsewhere in small Transylvanian villages (roughly 1000 years ago) where inbreeding probably occurred. The haem group, found in every blood cell in the human body, is excited by electrons, but in a controlled fashion. However, the haem groups in porphyria sufferers causes uncontrollable tissue, bone and skin damage, made worse when the person comes into contact with sunlight.[clarify] This would have given the porphyria sufferer a very pallid skin colour, with teeth that appear larger than normal, due to the porphyria damaging the gum tissue and causing it to recede. These people would have been very anemic, and drinking (animal) blood was a traditional treatment for anemia. (source from Wikipedia)

Buddy Ebson (Uncle Jed on the Beverly Hillbillies) was cast as the Scarecrow in MGM's 1939 "Wizard of Oz." He was switched to the role of the Tinman, and suffered a near fatal reaction to the aluminium dust that the make-up departmant sprayed on his face. No footage of his performance exists, only stills of him in costume and make-up.

REF:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_%281939_film%29

Sahara means simply 'desert ' in Arabic

Casablanca means 'white house ' in Spanish

Casanova is less romantic in English than Italian
- 'new house '

camera comes from Latin for 'room' ( a camera
being like a little room ) and is related to the
word chamber

Roger Bannister, Wes Santee, John Landy and Haile Gebreselassie were all born under the sign of Aries.

Withdrawal is a 100% effective method of birth control!

Greta Garbo never won the academy award for best actress.

Ref:Wiki

there is an estate in Chorley marked with and called 'the Asshawes',it is pronounced 'the ass whores' [sounds like they're advertising prostitution but the estate is nothing like that].

Alfred Hitchcock never won the academy award for Best Director.