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Rated: E · Book · Educational · #2105953
One hundred facts that are interesting but ultimately useless.
presenting:

A Catalogue of Useless Facts


- introduction -

Whether I'm at work or out with friends, I have a reputation as the person who knows things. Not useful things, mind you; not once has it been profitable to know the reason why dogs have wet noses, or the meaning of the linguistic term "glottal stop", or the difference between a bug and an insect. If anything, all the aimless wandering on Wikipedia keeps me from finishing my other writing projects.

But there is a purpose to this eclectic mishmash of trivia, and it ties into my own major philosophy: stuff is interesting. The world is often rough and depressing, but if I can find one neat little factoid, everything seems a little less meaningless.

And this brings us to the point of this blog. Lately, it feels like my various newsfeeds are full to bursting with anger and bickering. As a generally positive person, I wanted to counteract this in some way -- only I'm not so adept with inspirational quotes or pithy wisdom. What I can offer, though, are useless facts.

Over the past few months, instead of filing these accidental info-bits in some dusty corner of my brain, I've been taking notes. Before long, I had enough for a solid month of trivia. I collected a few more and thought instead I'd do a "Factoid Friday" every week for a year. But I'm a curious person by nature, and can't help but stumble on new things. Maybe I'm eating lunch one day, I suddenly wonder where ketchup comes from, and bam! I learn something new!

So here come the facts. They may be short, or they may be long. They may cover language, biology, history, mythology, or any number of other subjects. Many of you may know some of these, and some of you may know many of these. But hopefully, at least once between now and the time my collection runs dry, you'll be inspired to say, "Huh! That's actually kind of interesting!"

-BD Mitchell


Blog is currently on hiatus.

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Comments, corrections, and suggestions are welcome at all times!
#100. Pliny the Elder
ID #908794 entered on April 10, 2017 at 5:46pm
#99. Loofahs
ID #908713 entered on April 9, 2017 at 3:06pm
#98. Barber Poles
ID #908647 entered on April 8, 2017 at 5:49pm
#97. Purple Flags
ID #908599 entered on April 7, 2017 at 8:19pm
#96. "Okay"
ID #908523 entered on April 6, 2017 at 4:11pm
#95. The First TV Show
ID #908464 entered on April 5, 2017 at 6:57pm
#94. Ball o' Bees
ID #908367 entered on April 4, 2017 at 5:12pm
#93. "Car"
ID #908288 entered on April 3, 2017 at 5:59pm
#92. The Underwater Waterfall
ID #908194 entered on April 2, 2017 at 2:28pm
#91. The World's Best Voice-Actor
ID #908119 entered on April 1, 2017 at 2:35pm
#90. "Hors d'oeuvre"
ID #908052 entered on March 31, 2017 at 8:33pm
#89. Cold Welding
ID #907959 entered on March 30, 2017 at 4:43pm
#88. Mondegreens
ID #907883 entered on March 29, 2017 at 4:00pm
#87. "Sheriff"
ID #907817 entered on March 28, 2017 at 5:15pm
#86. QWERTY
ID #907734 entered on March 27, 2017 at 4:40pm
#85. Malapropisms
ID #907650 entered on March 26, 2017 at 2:23pm
#84. The Caduceus
ID #907578 entered on March 25, 2017 at 3:36pm
#83. "Clone"
ID #907509 entered on March 24, 2017 at 4:41pm
#82. "Robot"
ID #907451 entered on March 23, 2017 at 3:22pm
#81. Panda Diets
ID #907378 entered on March 22, 2017 at 4:17pm
#80. Nightingale Floors
ID #907310 entered on March 21, 2017 at 4:32pm
#79. The Wilhelm Scream
ID #907246 entered on March 20, 2017 at 4:50pm
#78. Cave Clouds
ID #907169 entered on March 19, 2017 at 6:05pm
#77. Stage Ninja
ID #907100 entered on March 18, 2017 at 6:33pm
#76. Shrews and Booze
ID #907034 entered on March 17, 2017 at 4:41pm
#75. "Panic"
ID #906972 entered on March 16, 2017 at 5:02pm
#74. The First Marathon
ID #906896 entered on March 15, 2017 at 3:50pm
#73. Pi (π)
ID #906813 entered on March 14, 2017 at 2:24pm
#72. "Cartoon"
ID #906712 entered on March 13, 2017 at 2:37pm
#71. Daylight Saving Time
ID #906584 entered on March 12, 2017 at 2:37pm
#70. "Sandwich"
ID #906521 entered on March 11, 2017 at 6:34pm
#69. The Fisher King
ID #906464 entered on March 10, 2017 at 6:34pm
#68. Carmine
ID #906392 entered on March 9, 2017 at 7:54pm
#67. Coral Castle
ID #906310 entered on March 8, 2017 at 3:31pm
#66. False Friends
ID #906243 entered on March 7, 2017 at 5:12pm
#65. Moray Eels
ID #906165 entered on March 6, 2017 at 2:34pm
#64. Trenchers
ID #906092 entered on March 5, 2017 at 4:48pm
#63. The Red-Eye Effect
ID #906007 entered on March 4, 2017 at 3:49pm
#62. The Photophone
ID #905936 entered on March 3, 2017 at 4:06pm
#61. "Pomegranate"
ID #905861 entered on March 2, 2017 at 5:15pm
#60. Ketchup
ID #905760 entered on March 5, 2017 at 4:50pm
#59. "Buckaroo"
ID #905680 entered on February 28, 2017 at 3:39pm
#58. Exploding Lakes
ID #905616 entered on February 27, 2017 at 9:14pm
#57. Eyeshine
ID #905532 entered on February 26, 2017 at 4:38pm
#56. MacGuffins
ID #905485 entered on February 25, 2017 at 5:17pm
#55. Circular Breathing
ID #905422 entered on February 24, 2017 at 4:46pm
#54. Navigation Bridge
ID #905362 entered on February 23, 2017 at 4:52pm
#53. "Dude"
ID #905256 entered on February 22, 2017 at 4:12pm
#52. Icebergs
ID #905184 entered on February 21, 2017 at 4:19pm
#51. Peter the Eagle
ID #905049 entered on February 20, 2017 at 3:06pm
#50. "Reindeer"
ID #904978 entered on February 19, 2017 at 2:03pm
#49. Turkey Comas
ID #904912 entered on March 5, 2017 at 4:51pm
#48. The Golden Milestone
ID #904841 entered on February 17, 2017 at 3:19am
#47. "Violin", "Viola" & "Cello"
ID #904806 entered on February 16, 2017 at 2:25pm
#46. Reeded Coins
ID #904685 entered on February 15, 2017 at 4:05am
#45. The Giantest Flowers
ID #904628 entered on February 14, 2017 at 4:43pm
#44. "Piano"
ID #904562 entered on February 13, 2017 at 6:50pm
#43. The Oldest Tree
ID #904484 entered on February 12, 2017 at 3:46pm
#42. The Mines of Paris
ID #904442 entered on February 11, 2017 at 6:06pm
#41. "Umbrella"
ID #904366 entered on February 10, 2017 at 2:08pm
#40. Generic Trademarks
ID #904312 entered on February 9, 2017 at 1:28pm
#39. Second Bananas
ID #904203 entered on February 8, 2017 at 3:31am
#38. "Dollar"
ID #904155 entered on February 9, 2017 at 5:12pm
#37. The Ampersand
ID #904095 entered on February 6, 2017 at 4:46pm
#36. Platypus Venom
ID #904010 entered on February 5, 2017 at 2:09pm
#35. Aluminum
ID #903909 entered on February 4, 2017 at 3:17am
#34. Minced Oaths
ID #903836 entered on February 3, 2017 at 3:15am
#33. "Hero" & "Villain"
ID #903798 entered on February 2, 2017 at 3:10pm
#32. The Tiniest Frog
ID #903692 entered on February 1, 2017 at 3:38am
#31. Infrasound
ID #903637 entered on February 15, 2017 at 7:44pm
#30. The Dollar Sign
ID #903569 entered on February 9, 2017 at 5:13pm
#29. Chickens
ID #903436 entered on January 30, 2017 at 4:02am
#28. Fortune Cookies
ID #903377 entered on January 28, 2017 at 5:05pm
#27. Octopuses
ID #903309 entered on January 28, 2017 at 2:18pm
#26. Ant Farmers
ID #903238 entered on January 26, 2017 at 6:22pm
#25. Bluetooth
ID #903151 entered on January 30, 2017 at 8:45pm
#24. Portmanteau
ID #903082 entered on January 24, 2017 at 6:01pm
#23. Bubble Algae
ID #903015 entered on January 23, 2017 at 7:25pm
#22. "Spatula"
ID #902916 entered on January 22, 2017 at 2:43pm
#21. The Scarlet Pimpernel
ID #902870 entered on January 21, 2017 at 8:53pm
#20. The Blackest Black
ID #902728 entered on January 20, 2017 at 3:10am
#19. "Camouflage"
ID #902677 entered on January 19, 2017 at 2:28pm
#18. Coconut Crabs
ID #902584 entered on January 18, 2017 at 5:06pm
#17. "Hello" & "Goodbye"
ID #902480 entered on January 17, 2017 at 5:09pm
#16. Pangrams
ID #902362 entered on January 16, 2017 at 3:47pm
#15. Bird-Brained
ID #902254 entered on January 15, 2017 at 2:24pm
#14. Ye Olde Article
ID #902183 entered on January 14, 2017 at 3:33pm
#13. Sun Dogs
ID #902059 entered on January 13, 2017 at 3:31am
#12. "Golf"
ID #901966 entered on January 12, 2017 at 3:23am
#11. The Un-Littlest Birds
ID #901886 entered on January 11, 2017 at 3:06am
#10. The Littlest Bird
ID #901792 entered on January 10, 2017 at 3:03am
#9. "Cereal"
ID #901705 entered on January 9, 2017 at 3:31am
#8. Daguerreotypes
ID #901595 entered on January 8, 2017 at 3:04am
#7. "Companion"
ID #901498 entered on January 7, 2017 at 3:46am
#6. Inception Island
ID #901303 entered on January 6, 2017 at 3:23am
#5. Tomatoes
ID #901209 entered on January 5, 2017 at 3:47am
#4. "Calendar"
ID #901074 entered on January 5, 2017 at 3:48am
#3. Long Words
ID #900964 entered on January 5, 2017 at 3:49am
#2. The Vegetarian Spider
ID #900860 entered on January 5, 2017 at 3:50am
#1. "Blog"
ID #900746 entered on January 5, 2017 at 3:50am

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