A Bit About Me

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Along with my daily duties as founder and head writer of HumorMeOnline.com, in 2003, I took the Grand Prize in the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest (also known as the "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night" competition). I've also been a contributor to "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" and the web's "The Late Show with David Letterman". I also occupy my time writing three blogs, "Blogged Down at the Moment", "Brit Word of the Day" and "Production Numbers"...and my off-time is spent contemplating in an "on again/off again" fashion...my feable attempts at writing any one of a dozen books. I would love to write professionally one day...and by that I mean "actually get a paycheck".

16 March 2012

A Random Act of Mindless (Part II)




This is Part II of my foray into making up "Random Facts" to post on Facebook. I had to split them into two groups because over the course of a few days there were more than I realized. If you didn't catch the first part, this part probably makes less sense, so go over and read Part I first.



After realizing people actually were commenting to these things and liking them...and my newfound joy for writing them...I publicly acknowledged this fact (as was appropriate as it was a fact and was randomly inspired)...

"I am having a lot of fun making up "Random Facts". I cannot speak for those who are reading them...but I'm enjoying this a lot."

And then I went right back to making them up...again, hopefully you will smile a bit...



"Random Fact #15: Sophocles dedicated "Oedipus Rex" to his mother."
"Random Fact #12: Avocado pits will only sprout with three toothpicks - if you put a fourth in them (suspending the lower half of the seed in a glass of water) - they do not sprout."

"Random Fact #23: Women did not have the right to use a surname until the mid 1500s. Before then they were only referred to by first name and the place they were from...such as "Anne from Dover"."



"Random Fact #19: "The Bridge to Terabithia" was written only while the author watched episodes of "Bewtiched"."


"Random Fact #20: If you record a cat's purr and play it back to them backwards they will run away and hide. There is no explanation for this other than they are cats and cats like to f*ck with people."


"Random Fact #38: Most people whine in the key of C Minor...this is why most composers chose to write symphonies in this key -- they were whiney little bastards and found the key soothing."


"Random Fact #33: If you pick up a good-sized turtle and hold the underbelly of it up to your ear, you can hear the seashore...but only when the legs and head are fully inside the shell; otherwise you will hear the sound of you dropping it when it scratches you with its really long nails."



"Random Fact #4: The reason most people are lactose intolerant is because cows are notorious methane producers."


"Random Fact #12: The battery evolved from a one-celled organism."


"Random Fact #2: New Jersey is the only two-word state which is also commonly referred to in one word: Jersey. (West Virginia being called "backwards" does not count.)"


"Random Fact #16: The Mayan Calendar was originally invented to show women which days they were most fertile."


"Random Fact #81: No one knows how a snail can excrete that much mucous to leave as a trail. Scientific tests speculate the snail's body is like a wick of a humidifier and depending on the humidity level...determines how far it can travel."

"Random Fact #38: The "optimal" time for falling in love happens between the ages of 16-24. After age 24, the capacity to tolerate the irritating things people do declines drastically, thereby lessening the chance you will find them "ideal". Also, on the average, most people will fall in out of love four times in their life and remember those more fondly than a relationship later on. This is also the reason posited for why you have better childhood memories then your adult ones, i.e., life was better, food tasted better, television and music was better, etc. It's not that things were better so much as you tolerated more back then."


"Random Fact #4: Tablecloths were originally used to sop up/cover up the blood from the previous patron as there would usually be all-out brawls in most inns/restaurants. It was easier to cover up the blood than to go outside and pump water, bring it back inside, clean the table and set it back up."



"Random Fact #77*: The average person consumes about 3000 potato "eyes" in their lifetime. While potato eyes are indeed poisonous as they contain glycoalkaloids...it takes a great deal of them to actually make you sick...but as little as three of them can send you to the emergency room if you are hypersensitive. It is always best to toss ANY potato out if you see visible sprouting.

*This random fact brought to you by the "National Potato Council"."

"Random Fact #3: The human skeleton contains 206 bones...but that was not always the case. Early hominids had only 200 bones - anthropologists have determined that as we evolved our bones became more diverse and thinned slightly causing some to actually branch off and form two bones instead of one. The bones of the inner ear, for example, were once much denser and thicker possibly to hear frequencies of predatory animals which we do not need to fear anymore."




"Random Fact #97: If Dorothy Parker were alive today (and on Facebook) her witty comments would have been replaced with things like "Awwww...look at this kitty photo, it's sooooo adorable!" and "I'm stealing!"

Progress...sometimes one step forward is still two steps back.



Then my fun culminated on the 29th of February with this last one:


"Random Fact #29: The first "Leap" year was started after the Gregorian Calendar was implemented in 1582...but not officially adopted by England and the American Colonies until some 200 years later. The origination of the word "Leap" is not what most people think...that the calendar has to "leap" ahead one extra day once every four years to make the calendar work, but it is from the Old English/Latin word "lepre/lepros" as in "leper". It was customary in the late 1500s/early 1600s to burn effigies of lepers on this day to cleanse villages from the scourge of leprosy...hence the name "Lep Year" or, as it is now called "Leap Year"."


All in all, I had a lot of fun...and I think I did two really witty ones -- altho I'm not sure if you thought any of them were witty...but two? Eh. Who knows. I'll see if anyone comments.


And for those of you who were curious...I did indeed mention a number twice - two times. Numbers 81 and 33 were repeated. There's probably a random fact to explain this, and when I get around to thinking of it, you can bet I'll let you know.

9 comments:

  1. Ordinarily I would fix up the spacing...but because I copy/pasted text from Facebook, the HTML nightmare would have been too great for me to stand and, honestly, I think it's still legible. But, since I am anal about things like this...I felt compelled to point out why the design is sub-par. :)

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  2. Still another random fact.

    Sun sneezing (photic sneeze reflex) is a condition of uncontrollable sneezing in response to numerous stimuli,such as looking at bright lights, or the sun. This condition affects 18-35% of the population. Which means, of course, that looking at the sun will not trigger a sneezing attack in 65-82% of the population. To put it another way, for most people, the sun is nothing to sneeze at.

    Note: Photic sneeze reflex is also known as Autosomal Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst syndrome, or ACHOO syndrome.

    Note to Mariann: I hope the residual pain from your onychotomy abates to where you can safely drive from your abode to mine. I almost miss you :-)

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  3. Traci from Beaumont especially likes the Taribithia/Bewitched fact.

    Achoo -- excuse me, I was taken aback by the Leap to leper.

    You are too creative -- I love your "facts".
    :-)
    Traci

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  4. Random Fact: Random facts which are repeated, retweeted, reblogged over and over on the internet, become, FACT. :)
    I'm just teasing. Enjoying your 'facts' immensely.
    Luna

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  5. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I know some are better than others...but it was fun coming up with them. :)

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  6. Love your random facts. Mom and I have gotten quite a chuckle over some of them. Mooo

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  7. Random Fact #29(C) - If I wasn't already happily married, you'd be on the short list of people I'd ask.

    This stuff is superb! It must be salable. Have you considered sending it off anywhere?

    By the way - coincidence! - just yesterday I had an avocado and I inserted FOUR toothpicks into it and suspended it in water. Seriously, I did. We shall now find out if perhaps you've stumbled onto something REAL :-)

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  8. Random fact #81: The numbers 81 and 33 are notorious for knocking out other numbers and taking their place. This is why Boston Celtics great Larry Bird wore number 33 intead of his lucky number which was, of course, 81.

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  9. I never knew Neil Armstrong's dog was named Lunar

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