trivia

"There are fears that the growing demands of the construction industry could lead to a shortage in the desert kingdom." Saudis 'fear sand shortage'

"The head judge of the city's appeals court said a penal inquiry was being carried out by the police."

How was this photo fo a someone holding a nuclear fuel rod taken? 1. tiny, very brave photographer sitting inside containment chamber? 2. vanity mirror on other side of containment chamber? 3. deluxe double aspect containment chamber with windows on both sides? 4. fake containment chamber for publicity shots?

CNN.com - Oldest genital fossils found in Scotland - Sep. 22, 2003

The New York Times is a good newspaper - but the headlines are so dull that they border on parody. Today's priceless example: "No Anthrax found in pond". Fark however, points to a cracking headline from the Australian News Interactive site: "Dalai Lama misses sex, shoots guns" Sometimes tabloids are just much better fun.

The latest issue of AIR tackles the problem: is Kansas flatter than a pancake?. "...For example, the earth is slightly flattened at the poles due to the earth's rotation, making its semi-major axis slightly longer than its semi-minor axis, giving a global f of 0.00335. For both Kansas and the pancake, we approximated the local ellipsoid with a second-order polynomial line fit to the cross-sections..."

"BERLIN (Reuters) - A giant catfish that ate a dog and terrorized a German lake for years has washed up dead". So much better than a 'man bites dog' story. Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

The French language police have decided that people shouldn't use the word email but instead the term courriel, based on courrier electronique which they claim has common currency. Unless you check Google.fr of course. So here's a thought - France has a lot to offer, without its language - it's famous for Food and drink and sex for gods sake - and the English (read American - this is not a patriotic rant) language accepts this: restaurant, beverage, embrace. A siege mentality about the French language doesn't really preserve French culture at all, in fact if anything it prevents its appeal spreading - from the lack of a French originated point of view during the Iraq war (due to lack of english language transalations of French newspapers, most french opinion was propogated through anti-French, english speaking commentators) to the absence of decent cheese, manadatory kissing and high-speed railroads in the...

James Dyson (inventor of the bagless vacuum cleaner) has created a waterfall that creates the illusion of water following an endless spiral uphill. BBC NEWS | UK | How does Dyson make water go uphill?

Condoms are usually used to prevent life: Examiner: Condom was key to DNA discovery

Sometimes spam isn't so bad, e.g the pitch I just received to buy this talking toilet roll holder

Not being a fluent Swedish speaker, I could be wrong, but I sometimes wonder if Ikea product names are one big practical joke. Billy bookshelves, Lac or Dik wallhangings or a bedside table called Tracy "Home-furnishing giant Ikea has apologized for accidentally naming a child's bunk bed after an obscene German expression. The $175 bed is called the 'Gutvik' - which means 'good f- - -' in German. The company insists it was named after a tiny town in Sweden." NYPOST.COM National News: WEIRD BUT TRUE