Totally useless information/trivia

[leviramsey]

the largest number known to man is called Graham after professor graham. this ends in a 7, it was discovered in the 70's. Prior to this the largest number known was a googolplex. The zeroes in a googleplex would fill every atom in the universe, a Graham is massively larger

A Graham is not the largest number known to man, as BOF ably demonstrated. However, it was once the largest number known to be used in a reasonably useful mathematical proof.

Interestingly that proof was to solve a certain problem in Ramsey theory.

[TheWalletInspector]

the largest number known to man is called Graham after professor graham. this ends in a 7, it was discovered in the 70's. Prior to this the largest number known was a googolplex. The zeroes in a googleplex would fill every atom in the universe, a Graham is massively larger

A Graham is not the largest number known to man, as BOF ably demonstrated. However, it was once the largest number known to be used in a reasonably useful mathematical proof.

Interestingly that proof was to solve a certain problem in Ramsey theory.

That's debatable.

[villa4europe]

what i learnt from QI tonight -

all these mobile phone recycle companies envirophone and the likes, they pay for your rubbish old phone because they are full of copper, gold and silver, there is more gold in phones in the UK than there is in the ground

and wind farms kill bats, not because of the blades, but because as they fly past the drop in pressure crushes their lungs

[leviramsey]

Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall, aleph-null bottles of beer,

Take one down, pass it around, Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall!

Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall, aleph-null bottles of beer...

[villa4europe]

there were aleph-null alsations walking down the street, aleph-null alsations walking down the street, and if carson yeung wants something to eat...

[BOF]

Spurs, of the allegedly useless and cobbled-together defence, have currently got the 2nd best defence in the Premier League behind Man Utd. I think there's something wrong with the matrix.

[Chindie]

The practice of deliberately picking annoying music on a jukebox is known as Wyatting, named after the experimental musician of the 60s.

[iancharlie]

stalin was once a revered poet and singer. he was also a weatherman.

[The_Rev]

The practice of deliberately picking annoying music on a jukebox is known as Wyatting, named after the experimental musician of the 60s.

It is also known as Kula Shaker-ing, named after the **** awful band of the late 1990's.

[AndyM3000]

A banana isn't a fruit, it is a herb.

Im still amazed by this.

[BOF]

It's both. It is a fruit because it contains seeds. It is also a herb because the banana tree (actually a plant) is not wood. So I'm afraid the banana is a fruit.

[OutByEaster?]

The common Cavendish banana is a man made hybrid which is particularly suspect to disease as it sterile and does not reproduce in the normal way.

It is likely that it will become extinct in our lifetime; and this has already happened in living memory to the previous number one banana, the gros michel.

[leviramsey]

China currently has approximately $2.4 trillion of foreign exchange reserves. That is about 4% of global GDP.

The previous times that a country has had 4% of global GDP in its foreign exchange reserves are the USA in 1929 and Japan in 1989.

(Source is Jeremy Grantham, who predicted in 2006 that, "In five years, I expect that at least one major bank (broadly defined) will have failed and that up to half the hedge funds and a substantial percentage of the private equity firms in existence today will have simply ceased to exist."... in short a sharp cookie)

[Stevo985]

It's both. It is a fruit because it contains seeds. It is also a herb because the banana tree (actually a plant) is not wood. So I'm afraid the banana is a fruit.

It is a fruit, and more specifically a berry.

Made more strange by the fact that a strawberry and a raspberry are not berries, despite their names.

[mjmooney]

In other news: pork is not meat, and cake is a potato.

[AndyM3000]

In other news: pork is not meat, and cake is a potato.

You are going to have to run that one by me one more time...

[tonyh29]

Anatidaephobia is the fear that you are being watched by a duck .....

[mjmooney]

There is only one English professional football team whose name contains none of the letters in the word "mackerel".

[chrissmith921]

There is only one English professional football team whose name contains none of the letters in the word "mackerel".

Swindon Town

[mjmooney]

There is only one English professional football team whose name contains none of the letters in the word "mackerel".

Swindon Town

Correct. Did you Google it, or work it out?