Knowledge is useful ... sometimes

 

There is really no limit to the amount of research I do to bring interesting facts to my readers. My job is to inform and entertain.

Did you know, for instance, that the universe is for ever expanding. The universe is the term we use to encompass all that there is. All that exists. For example, all the planets, moons, stars, galaxies, solar systems and so on. Everything, put together in a big shopping bag, is the universe.

And it is for ever expanding. Don't ask me into what; because I don't know. If everything that exists is the universe then there is nothing outside it, so how can it expand into nothing that exists? Try that on your friends at your next party and they'll avoid you like a fart in a space suit.

Coming back to earth. Did you know that pigeons recognise you if you've been unkind to them? They recognise vivid colours that you wear. Say you are in a park wearing a yellow coat and you've shooed away a pigeon. The next day, if you're in the same park in the same coat and the same pigeon is there he'll recognise you and drop a deposit on you.

Have you ever dropped a wallet or purse? Did you get it back I wonder? A study was carried out and apparently a wallet with a lot of money in it is more likely to be handed in to the police than one with a little money, or no money at all. Also, there is a better, or lesser, chance of your wallet being handed in depending on which photos it contains. A wallet with a photo of a baby is more likely to be handed in than a wallet with photos of old people, or one's spouse, or a pet, or no photo at all. There seems to be a pecking order as to which photo is more likely to result in the wallet being returned to you. Mine contains a photo of a boomerang!

Did you know when a centipede is chased by a predator it cuts one of its legs and throws it at the predator? Whilst the predator is eating the leg the centipede runs away. Unfortunately, most centipedes eventually die when they return to look for their shoe.

Also, did you know that there is a species of dragonfly where the female pretends to be dead to avoid having sex with its partner? I bet a number of men can testify to similar experiences.

Also, somewhere in Europe there's a library with many ancient and very valuable books. So valuable that you are not allowed to touch them in case you ruin these very ancient documents. So they've decided to put all these documents on one Kindle type tablet; or better still on one USB stick. When they finish the transfer, there will be this huge ornate building totally empty with just one USB stick which you can borrow.

Are you aware that you must never go swimming after you've had a meal. My grandfather once went swimming straight after eating a burger and fries and was attacked by a shark. Luckily he survived because the shark was vegetarian.

You are more likely to be attacked by a hippopotamus than being bitten by a shark. That's because there are no sharks in the jungle. Unless you took one in your suitcase.

House flies have compound eyes made up of thousands of individual visual receptors, called ommatidia. When a fly lands on a mirror it says, "That's another way of looking at it!"

Also, did you know that silverfish can live for two to eight years unless you hit them hard with your shoe.

Did you know that you should not sleep with your head under the pillow otherwise the tooth fairy will take all your teeth away?

Finally, Marriage Guidance Counsellors report that generally husbands do not remember their mistakes. There is no point in both couple remembering the same thing. Also, husbands are best at keeping secrets because they never listen anyway. And archaeologists make the best marriage partners; the older you get the more interested they are in you.

I am very good at keeping secrets. Years ago friends of mine got married in secret in a far away town. They only invited very few well trusted friends like me. On the morning of the wedding I called a taxi at my hotel. The taxi driver asked me where I wanted to go and I did not tell him. He asked several times and I kept the secret safe with me.