Tag Archives: trivia
26 September 2009 – 3:40 PM
22 September 2009 – 5:15 AM
- Sarah-Jane Woodhall was nicknamed Trinny by family friend Frank Lauder – the director of the St Trinians films – when she was five-years-old. He dubbed her ‘Trinny’ when she was sent home from school for cutting off another girl’s plait.
- Eurovision Song Contest organisers may ban countries if broadcasters reveal voters' identities, after people in Azerbaijan were questioned by police after voting for neighbouring Armenia. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought over disputed land in the 1990s.
- Livestock are responsible for nearly a fifth of all greenhouse emissions. We should eat more plants. Meat-free Monday anyone?
- Sportswear brands Adidas and Puma were founded by feuding brothers.
- Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe has put on weight.
- We have enough body fat to sustain about 40 marathons.
- Media files in Windows 7 taskbar thumbnails have a toolbar that allows you to play/pause and skip to next and forward items in a playlist.
13 September 2009 – 3:33 AM
- In Google Reader, 'v' is the keyboard shortcut to jump to the website an item comes from (i.e. 'view original').
- You can extend a disposable razor's life with a pair of jeans.
- In Firefox, 'Ctrl-F-Enter' highlights all instances of the string you are searching for. In Chrome, 'Ctrl-F' already highlights them all, and then you can toggle from instance to instance using Enter.
- Many airlines allow the use a GPS-enabled device on their flights.
- Double tapping with three fingers on the display of an iPhone 3GS turns on zoomed mode. Double tapping with three fingers again zooms back out.
- In the sixties, the UK briefly considered switching to driving on the right-hand side. It would have cost '£264m – about £3.4bn today. But that would now be seen as a ridiculously conservative estimate.'
- When you hold and shake a window in Windows 7, all other windows are minimised. Shake again to restore them back. Also, AERO is a backronym for 'Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open'.
5 September 2009 – 7:02 AM
- The distance between your eyes is one tenth the length of your arm, and this can help you estimate distances.
- My (old) computer keyboard at work has a Scroll Lock key. I had to look it up to find out that 'Today, this particular use of scroll lock is rare'.
- People on morphine still feel the pain, but are 'less troubled by it than they would be without the drug'. Found out while reading about the possibility of genetically engineered pain-free animals, so that they would not suffer because of factory farming. Er, improve their living conditions instead? But don't get me started on that – it's the only instance where I am happy to pay more for food.
- Anna Wintour has had her hair in her trademark pageboy bob since the age of 14.
- About 10,000 children were sent to Australia from British orphanages and institutions from the 1930s to 1967, many without their parents knowing.
- The British comedy drama 'Jam & Jerusalem' airs in the US as Clatterford (from the name of the fictional West Country location where it takes place).
- Paddington bear has an evil twin called Euston. You can follow Euston on Twitter. That's how you can find out that he is how he is because of 'growing up with a smug, t-total, non swearing, non-drug taking marmalade freak who has a fetish for wellington boots'.
