Thoughts of the third kind

Its been one of those weeks when as sometimes happens in life, nothing of note actually happens - well if you exclude Reading and Manchester United drawing in the FA cup.

Here in Riga the weekend passed very quietly, although it was disturbing to learn that one of the weekend rituals will no longer be available to us - The Radisson Hotel Sunday Brunch is no more ! I was advised that this is due to the fact that not enough people were making use of it, - it is a shame as at Ls12.00 per person including champagne it was excellent value for money.

So in order to provide a little entertainment for those of you who regularly glance at this blog, I have decided to simply present a few of the weird and wonderful facts from the lunatic world which we inhabit - provided by http://www.strangefacts.com/

• The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad!


• The first product to have a bar code was Wrigleys gum


• Porcupines float in water


• The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet


• The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable"!


• Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland


• A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies from starvation


• Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States


• Bats always turn left when exiting a cave


• Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails


• Rice paper does not have any rice in it!


• Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel, "Gadsby", which contains over 50,000 words -- none of them with the letter E


• After eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and then eats it again
  
• and then courtesy of the Guinness Book of records surely one of the strangest world records

Farthest Nasal Ejection.

Kevin Cole's Farthest Spaghetti Nasal Ejection World Record:Kevin Cole of Carlsbad, New Mexico, USA, holds the record for the longest spaghetti strand blown out of a nostril in a single blow.
On December 16, 1998, Kevin successfully achieved a record distance of 19 cm (7.5 in) on the set of Guinness World Records: Primetime in Los Angeles, California, USA.

I bet that made his Dad proud !!

Now a few images just to bring a smile (or at least a glimmer of a smile)

and then in a week where clearly there was not a lot new going on in the world - an Irishman has reinvented the bicycle - the pictures say it all - but if I was him I would look for a daytime job, as I do not think this is going to catch on

Just in case you think you are seeing things - yes you do sit sideways to the direction of the bike ! I think a recipe for a serious crick in the neck - and do not fall off, as you are strapped to the bike.

So to all of you who have at times felt a little despondent, remember that there so much lunacy going on in the world, all you have to do is spend a little time to find it - and when you do it will make all your troubles into perspective.

And for those not with us in Riga, we have had two glorious days of snow, so once again Riga is taking on its Winter wonderland look, and with forecast of -22 degrees for later this week, then it will simply sparkle !