Weird facts, unusual information and uncommon knowledge that is fun to read make life so much more interesting and enliven our casual conversation, even though these may not otherwise be worth at all. A rail journey which creates a family on ride amongst the fellow travelers epitomizes the spirit of all pervasive ‘trivia-seekers’ when people share their experience, knowledge about … almost every thing under the sun. ECoR Trivia intends to carry on this tradition of sharing interesting facts around us.
To start with, let us share some common trivia from around the world.
• A leech that feeds on blood fills itself with three to four times its own body weight in blood, and will not feed again for months. Leeches were once used by doctors to drain "bad blood" from sick patients.
• An albatross can sleep while it flies. It apparently dozes while cruising at 25 mph. In its entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.
• Mockingbirds can imitate any sound from a squeaking door to a cat meowing.
• The giant squid is the largest creature without a backbone. It weighs up to 2.5 tons and grows up to 55 feet long. Each eye is a foot or more in diameter.
• When a female horse and male donkey mate, the offspring is called a mule, but when a male horse and female donkey mate, the offspring is called a hinny.
• Damascus in Syria, was flourishing a couple of thousand years before Rome was founded in 753 BC, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in existence.
• French was the official language of England for over 600 years.
• The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antarctica.
• The Vatican's Swiss Guard still wears a uniform designed by Michelangelo in the early 16th century.
Now, some unusual firsts….
Anousheh Ansari is first female "space tourist," on September 18, 2006. She paid $20 million to ride on the Russian Soyuz TMA-9 capsule. She is an Iranian.
Annie Taylor is the first woman to go over the Niagara Falls in barrel in 1901. She was 64 at that time.
Laika, the dog, was the first living creature to orbit the earth aboard a Soviet satellite, Sputnik 2.
The list can be endless...
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