useless facts

[Jimbuna]

The longest place name still in use is:
Taumatawhakatangihangaoauauotameteat uripukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenua kitanatahu
-- a New Zealand hill.

[Platapus]

Portobello, Button, and White (Cremini) Mushrooms are all the same species Agaricus bisporus, just at different levels of maturity.

[Jimbuna]

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

[Platapus]

The largest living organism on the planet is a single honey mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae) in the Malheur National Forest, Oregon, USA.
It’s around 3.5 miles (5.6 km ) wide, occupies an area of 965 hectares (2,385 acres), and is at least 2,400 years old.

[Jimbuna]

According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, it is possible to go slower than light and faster than light, but it is impossible to go the speed of light. Also, there is a particle called tackyon, which is supposed to go faster than light. This means if you fire a tackyon beam, it travels before you fire it.

[Platapus]

Yartsa Gunbu is the most expensive edible mushroom in the world.

Eating them is considered a status symbol, and at $50,000 per pound (£80,500 per kilogram), or $2,000 for a single ounce


Sounds like quite the delicacy.

Yartsa Gunbu, or the caterpillar fungus, is a parasitic fungus that kills its host caterpillar and uses it to produce a mushroom that grows out of the caterpillar’s head.





Uh, on second thought, I think I will pass.

[Jimbuna]

When you tie a noose, the rope is wrapped twelve times around because it's the same length as a person’s head.

[Jimbuna]

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates mating by ripping the male's head off.

[Platapus]

Owls don't have eyeballs, but more like eye tubes. They can only see straight ahead, which is why an Owl can rotate their heads so much... they have to.

[Jimbuna]

Butterflies taste with their feet.

[Platapus]

In the early 1300s, Britain established the first means to measure shoe size. King Edward II declared the barleycorn as the basis for shoe measurement.



There are three barleycorns to an inch

[Von Due]

The lenght of a barleycorn varies between about 4 millimeters and around 15 mm. Whoever had the largest barleycorn had the smallest feet in terms of barleycorns.

[Jimbuna]

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)

[Platapus]

The smallest flower in the world is the Wolffia globosa or Watermeal. This tiny green plant is the size of a grain of rice, and the flower is located in a small hole in the surface of the plant.

[Jimbuna]

Starfish have no brains. (I know some people like that too.)