Freaky Factoid Friday - First Edition

So I found this list of little trivia factoids in, of all places, my packet of feminine napkins. I know, right? Maybe the manufacturers think we're losing brain cells through the process of menstruation, or we want to be Trivial Pursuit geniuses. Who knows. But I was intrigued by two of the little factoids.

 

Factoid #1. Flamingoes live up to 80 years.

How do they know this? Did a study happen where they had a birthday party for the same flamingo, year after year? And who was invited - did they invite all the other flamingoes, and if so, did they make them wear party hats so they could tell them apart? What kind of birthday present do you give a flamingo? Lawn ornaments made to look like people standing on one leg? And how do we know that there isn't some crusty old flamingo somewhere who's lived to the ripe old age of 81? These are questions I need answered, because I really want to know. You'd have to be a special sort of person to even want to know this, don't you think?

 

Factoid #2. A Boeing 747 plane holds about 216,846 litres of fuel.

Okay. Apart from this being an astonishing figure, let's just take a minute and look carefully at that sentence. Does anything strike you as odd? How about the word 'about'? ABOUT??? Don't you think that's kind of an important thing to know exactly? It's not like asking someone how tall they are, "oh, about 5 feet" or asking how much a litre of milk costs "about $2.30". I mean, really - it's like asking "What's your altitude?" to get a response of "Oh, about 30,000 feet - what if you're wrong, and you're only at 29,000 feet - 1,000 feet will make a big freaking difference when you land, don't you think? I've got to tell you, this factoid does absolutely nothing for my fear of crashing on an airplane.

 

Anywho, things are running a bit more smoothly here, and although we don't have a routine exactly, I've managed to clean the house 3 days in a row. Which is a huge thing for me, really. Not that I'm a slob or anything, it's just that with two small children who require near constant supervision, it's a challenge. And I've even managed to wean Charlie off about 50% of her television viewing - no easy feat, I tell you.

 

Cheers,

Sarah