Some More Useless Facts

[UKPulse]

• An average human produces enough saliva in a lifetime to fill two standard sized swimming pools.
  
• We blink about 84 million times a year.
  
• Currently there are estimated to be more $100 bills in Russia than there are in the United States.
  
• Pound for pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars.
  
• The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
  
• 35% of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married!
  
• The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
  
• A gold razor removed from King Tutankhamen's tomb was still sharp enough to be used.
  
• 15% of women in the United States send themselves flowers on Valentine's day.
  
• In American military terminology, a shovel is known as a "combat emplacement evacuator".
  
• In the 16th century the law in England allowed men to beat their wives, but only before 10pm.
  
• "Freelance" comes from the knights whose lances were free for hire and were not pledged to one master.
  
• 85% of people can curl their tongues into a tube.
  
• Technically the banana is a berry.
  
• A 'zarf' is the holder of a handleless coffee cup.
  
• The average smell weighs about 760 nanograms.... (?!)
  
• There are more chickens in the world than there are people.
  
• In his lifetime an average man will spend 3,350 hours shaving (that's over 139 days)!
  
• The average person over 50 will have spent a year looking for lost or mislaid items.
  
• The average person in America spends 8 years of their life watching TV.
  
• 70% of Swedish women claim to have taken part in a threesome.
  
• The peanut is a vegetable - it's a member of the pea family.
  
• French fries were invented in Belgium.
  
• More people are alergic to cow's milk than to any other food.
  
• A can of spam is opened every 4 seconds.
  
• The worl's fastest racquet sport is badminton, where the shuttleock reaches speeds of nearly 200mph.
  
• Horses race clockwise in England and anti-clockwise in the US.
  
• Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
  
• Crocodiles cannot stick their tongues out.
  
• A snail can sleep for three years.
  
• It would be possible to boil 30 litres of water with the heat generated by the average adult human each day.
  
• Bing Crosby turned down the role of Columbo before Peter Falk was offered the part.
  

[Monster-Mat]

........the only thing that has been invented in Australia, in all its History.

is the rotary washing line

[Scorpion]

Boomerangs....Fosters?

And the best thing,Kylie

Which incidently Kylie means boomerang in Abourigini

[gefmar]

........the only thing that has been invented in Australia, in all its History.

is the rotary washing line

Before you Poms lay sh!t on us Ozies read on

1838 PRE-PAID POSTAGE

First pre-paid letter-sheets were issued by the New South Wales Post Office.

1843 GRAIN STRIPPER

John Ridley and John Bull of South Australia developed the world's first grain stripper that cut the crop, removed and placed the grain into bins.

1850 REFRIGERATION PLANT

First mechanical refrigeration plant was built by Geelong publisher, James Harrison.

1876 STUMP-JUMP PLOUGH

Robert and Clarence Bowyer Smith developed a plough which could jump over stumps and stones, enabling newly-cleared land to be cultivated.

1882 STRIPPER HARVESTER

The first stripper harvester was conceived by Hugh Victor McKay of Drummartin, Victoria.

1885 TELEPHANE

Henry Sutton's telephane, which transferred signals along telegraph lines, was the forerunner of the television.

1889 ELECTRIC DRILL

Arthur James Arnot patented the world's first electric drill in Melbourne.

1897 DIFFERENTIAL GEARS

David Shearer of South Australia built a steam car with differential inside left rear wheel hub.

1898 TELEPRINTER

The teleprinter for recording messages onto a tape was invented by Donald Murray of Sydney.

1903 FROTH FLOTATION PROCESS

The process of separating minerals from rock by flotation was developed by Charles Potter and Guillaume Delprat of New South Wales.

1905 THRUST BEARING

Anthony Mitchell invented the tilt-pad thrust bearing which revolutionised thrust technology.

1906 FEATURE FILM

The world's first feature length film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, was a little over an hour long.

1907 XEROGRAPHY

The key technology for the invention of xerography was developed by Professor O U Vonwiller at The University of Sydney.

1913 AUTOMATIC TOTALISATOR

Invented by George Julius, the tote automised betting at horse races.

1915 ASPRO

Aspro was developed by Melbourne pharmacist, George Nicholas, and experimenter, Henry Woolf Shmith.

1924 CAR RADIO

The first car radio was fitted to an Australian car built by Kellys Motors in New South Wales.

1925 ELECTRIC RECORD CHANGING SALONOLA

The stepped centre spindle of the invention by Tasmanian Eric Waterworth was later used in record changers worldwide.

1927 PEDAL WIRELESS

The pedal-operated generator, connected to a wireless, was invented by Alfred Traeger.

1928 FLYING DOCTOR SERVICE

Dr Kenyon Welsh and pilot Arthur Affleck began operating the first flying doctor service out of Cloncurry, Queensland.

1934 UTILITY VEHICLE

The utility vehicle, with a front like a car and a rear like a truck was designed by Lewis Brandt at the Ford Motor Company in Geelong, Victoria.

1946 CASTORS

George Shepherd invented the dome shaped castors which replaced traditional pivoted wheel castors.

1952 ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETER

The complex analytical instrument used in chemical analysis was invented by Sir Alan Walsh of the CSIRO.

1957 TROUSERS WITH PERMANENT CREASES

The process for producing permanently creased fabric was invented by Dr Arthur Farnworth of the CSIRO.

1958 'BLACK BOX' FLIGHT RECORDER

The 'black box' voice and instrument data recorder was invented by Dr David Warren in Melbourne.

ROUND-THE-WORLD AIRLINE SERVICE

The first round-the-world airline service was inaugurated by Qantas.

1965 INFLATABLE AIRCRAFT ESCAPE SLIDE

The inflatable aircraft escape slide which doubles as a raft was invented by jack Grant of Qantas.

1967 PUNCTURE-PROOF TYRES

Puncture-proof tyres made of hollow rubber segments bolted onto a steel rim, were invented by Alan Burns.

1970 VARIABLE RATIO RACK AND PINION STEERING

The variable ratio rack and pinion steering in motor vehicles was invented by Australian engineer, Arthur Bishop.

LASER BEAM LIGHT HOUSE

The world's first laser beam lighthouse was at Point Danger, New South Wales.

1972 ORBITAL INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

The orbital combustion process engine was invented by engineer Ralph Sarich of Perth, Western Australia.

1978 SPIRALLY WOUND PLASTIC PIPES

The production of large diameter pipes from spirally wound interlocking plastic strips was invented by South Australian engineer Bill Menzel.

1979 BIONIC EAR

The cochlear implant was invented by Professor Graeme Clark of The University of Melbourne.

RACE CAM

The tiny camera used in sports broadcasts was developed by Australian engineer, Geoff Healey.

COOL LIGHTWEIGHT WOOL FABRICS

The technique for spinning lightweight wool was invented at the CSIRO.

1984 FROZEN EMBRYO BABY

The first frozen embryo baby was born at the Queen Victoria Medical Centre in Melbourne.

WORLD'S MOST EFFICIENT SOLAR CELLS

Dr Stuart Wenham and Professor Martin Green from The University of Sydney invented the world's most efficient solar cells.

CONTINUOUS SELF-CLEANING MICROFILTRATION

A group of engineers and scientists LED by Dr Doug Ford invented the continuous self-cleaning microfiltration.

1985 SPINNING CONE FLAVOUR RECOVERY

The system of capturing flavours and aromas normally lost during food processing was invented by Dr Don Casimir at the CSIRO.

WORLD'S BEST LIGHTNING PROTECTION

The first real advancement in lightning protection technology since Franklin's sharp rods and the Faraday cage, was the Dynasphere invented by Rick Gumley of Tasmania.

ORAL VACCINE FOR BRONCHITIS

Oral vaccine to prevent bronchitis was developed by Professor Robert Clancy at the University of Newcastle.

1986 GENE SHEARS

The discovery of gene shears was made by CSIRO scientists, Wayne Gerlach and Jim Haseloff.

1987 TWO-MINUTE AIDS TEST

The world's fastest AIDS test was developed at The University of Melbourne.

COMPUTERISED CANCER DETECTION

Research by Dr Bevan Reid lead to the invention of a computerised device which reliably detects cancerous and pre-cancerous cells.

WAVE PIERCING CATAMARAN

Sydney naval architect Phillip Hercus designed the first wave piercing catamaran.

1988 SPLIT-CYCLE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

The split-cycle internal combustion engine was invented by engineer, Rick Mayne in Queensland.

CONTROLLED RELEASE ORAL MORPHINE CAPSULES

The world's first controlled release oral morphine capsules were developed by a South Australian company.

BIOLOGICAL PESTICIDES

The first non-chemical biological control agent was invented at The University of Adelaide.

1989 HYDROMETALLURGICAL COPPER PROCESS

The first economic hydrometallurgical process to produce base metals without toxic fumes was invented by Peter Everett of Sydney.

1990 READING MACHINE FOR THE BLIND

The world's first reading machine for the blind was invented by Milan Hudecek of Melbourne, Victoria.

1991 BIO-DEGRADABLE MARINE DEGREASER

The world's first bio-degradable marine degreaser was developed by the CSIRO and the Australian Analytical Laboratories.

1992 MULTI-FOCAL CONTACT LENS

The world's first multi-focal contact lens was invented by optical research scientist, Stephen Newman in Queensland.

1993 UNDERWATER PC

The world's first underwater computer with a five-button hand-held keypad was developed by Bruce Macdonald at the Australian Institute of Marine Science.

1994 NON-INVASIVE TB TEST

The world's first reliable non-invasive TB test, that avoids possible adverse reactions, was developed by scientists in Victoria.

1995 EXELGRAM

The world's most sophisticated optical anti-counterfeiting technology was developed by the CSIRO.

[Scorpion]

WWW. dont you love it

[gefmar]

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Democratic Firsts

First place in the world to have a secret ballot in elections (1856)

First Place in the world to give women the vote. (1894)

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Legal Firsts

Torrens Title. An Australian invented the worlds first method of land registration. Now in use by many countries around the world.

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Sporting Firsts

First country in the world to beat America in it America's cup.

Only country to have attended every modern Olympic games.

The first country to employ skiing as a sport. (1863)

The Australian crawl. Until the 1890's competetive freestyle was done with the head out of the water. (Remember how Tarzan used to swim in the movies?) Australian ***** Cavill popularised it and enabled it to be accepted in world class meetings.

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Inventions

The bionic ear, a device that enables some deaf children to hear.

Flexible wine casks... the bag in the box.

The boomerang. Ancient weapon of the aboriginies. Other cultures have throwing sticks but none came back to the thrower if it missed the target.

The Notepad. In the whole history of paper, it had been sold and used in single sheets until in 1902 JA Birchall thought it would be a good idea to stack a pile of half sheets together, back it with cardboard and glue one end.

Making the world's first notepad.

The Electric Drill was the invention of Arthur James Arnot, who patented it in 1889.

Postage stamps. The world's first pre paid postage system was introduced at Sydney in 1838.

The world's first refrigeration plant was an Australian invention of 1858.

To our collective shame, the worlds first bathing beauty contest was held in Australia in 1920.

The famous "black box" flight recorder for recording aeroplane movements was invented in Australia in 1958.

Also in 1958 the worlds first regular 'round the world' airline service was begun.

The inflatable aircraft escape slide, which becomes a raft if the aeroplane ditches in water was an Australian invention of 1965.

The Automatic letter sorting machine - 1930

Two stroke lawn mower.

The rotary hoist washing line.

Lithium as a treatment for manic depression.

Latex gloves 1945

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Some sources (including at one time this page!) give Australia the credit for the Xerox photocopying process but was the NOT the case.

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Military firsts

The underwater torpedo, Louis Brennan 1874

The tank (1912 - Lance de Mole)

Paper machine gun belt - dramatically reduced gun jamming while firing.

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Biggest

The largest Island in the world.

The flagpole at Parliament house in Canberra is the largest aluminium object in the world.

Sydney Tower is the highest building in the southern hemisphere.

Kalgoorlie in WA is the worlds largest electorate 2,255,278 sq km

The Australian Labor Party is the oldest surviving labor party in the world. (1891)

The worlds largest cattle property is Strangeray Springs in S.A. over 30,000 sq km