50 Completely Useless Facts

50 THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW (or, 50 Completely Useless Facts!)
The word "queue" is the only word in the English language that is still pronounced the same way

when the last four letters are removed.

Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions!What is called a
"French kiss" in the English speaking world is known as an "English kiss" in France.

"Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order.

"Rhythm" is the longest English word without a vowel.

Coca-Cola would be green if colouring weren’t added to it.

There is a city called Rome on every continent.

Horatio Nelson, one of England's most illustrious admirals was throughout his life, never able to
find a cure for his sea-sickness.

The skeleton of Jeremy Bentham is present at all important meetings of the University of London.

The first known transfusion of blood was performed as early as 1667, when Jean-Baptiste, transfused two pints of blood from a sheep to a young man
The present population of 5 billion plus people of the world is predicted to become 15 billion by 2080.
Adolf Hitler was a vegetarian, and had only ONE testicle.

Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible

Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."

The average lead pencil will draw a line 35 miles long or write approximately 50,000 English words.

The six official languages of the United Nations are: English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

Earth is the only planet not named after a god.

It's against the law to burp, or sneeze in a church in Nebraska, USA.

The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is 9000 years old!

Queen Elizabeth I regarded herself as a paragon of cleanliness. She declared that she bathed once every three months, whether she needed it or not.

Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.

You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

Your heart beats over 100,000 times a day!

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, everytime you breathe!

One quarter of the bones in your body, are in your feet!

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!


You're born with 300 bones, but by the time you become an adult, you only have 206.

The average person laughs 10 times a day!

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years!

Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.

More people are allergic to cow's milk than any other food.

More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.

It's against the law to have a pet dog in Iceland! (The 'fact' about pet dogs in Iceland is incorrect. However, it is true that an epidemic once killed most of the Icelandic dog population.)

Beetles taste like apples, wasps like pine nuts, and worms like fried bacon

Vista vs XP--The 10 resons to go wid xp!!

Its been quite a while that I had a post here. So folks here I am-back again with yet another Interesting post. >And the reason behind the post is quite strange.. I was asked to find the features of Vista{By my teacher :) } and I end up bringing about 10 striking reasons why people are quite content with XP though there is this latest version available.So lets digg deeper into the post..

1.Security
From a security standpoint, there's just not a lot to compel XP shops to upgrade. Many of the issues addressed by Vista have already been resolved under Windows XP using in-house applications or third-party tools.[ read more...]

2.Manageability
Moving to Vista provides little or no ROI from a systems management perspective. Yes, the new image-based installation model is a welcome addition. However, the lack of significant innovation in other areas makes Vista's management story less than compelling.[read more...]

3.Reliability
There is little or no clamor in the Windows XP community for better stability or reliability. Windows XP is a mature, stable OS with a well-known list of weaknesses and corresponding work-arounds. On paper, Vista brings a better foundation, but in practice, it addresses problems that most customers weren't aware even existed, let alone needed fixing.[read more...]

4.Usability
Change, for change's sake, is never a good idea. And while you can understand Microsoft's desire to refresh the Windows UI (all those Mac OS X screen shots look so much prettier than XP), Vista's designers seem to have cut off their nose to spite their face. Regardless, the usability "improvements" in Vista are unlikely to make IT's list of compelling reasons to move away from XP anytime soon.[read more...]

5.Performance
Would you rather throw new hardware cycles at offsetting Microsoft's code bloat and voracious appetite for CPU bandwidth, or at a tangible, measurable improvement in application throughput and user productivity? Enough said[read more...]

6.Hard ware Compatibility
When's the last time you worried about driver support under Windows XP? With an installed base into the hundreds of millions, chances are you'll still be finding XP drivers long after Vista's grandchildren are being put out to pasture.[read more...]

7.Microsoft Software Compatibility
Windows XP is still, and likely will remain for some time, the compatibility bar for new Microsoft applications. If and when Microsoft attempts to create an exclusive Vista tie-in, the company will need to articulate some valid technical reason – one that stands up to scrutiny from the IT community – for not supporting Windows XP.[read more...]

8.Third-Party Software Compatibility
ISVs go where the money is, and right now that's still the generic Win32 API (plus MFC/ATL) running on the range of Windows platforms. The only exceptions to this rule are tools or utilities that target Vista-specific functions such as the new boot loader and sidebar widgets. The risk of missing out on important third-party application functionality by sticking with Windows XP is next to nil.[read more...]

9.Developer Tools Support
With most developers still targeting the Win32 API, and with virtually the entire .Net Framework 3.0 functionality back-ported to XP, there's simply no compelling reason to base your IDE on Windows Vista.[read more...]

10.Future Proofing
If ever there were an opportunity to skip a Windows upgrade cycle, the XP-to-Vista transition is it. XP may be showing its age, but its age is mainly skin deep: The new challenger is flashy, but also slower and heavier, and it lacks a killer combination of compelling features needed to unseat XP.[read more...]

Original post by Randall C. Kennedy of Infoworld and brought to you by $n$