Facts

1. A person swallows approximately 295 times while eating dinner.
2. Nike Air Soles do not actually have 'air' in them.
3. Oak trees are struck by lightning more than any other tree.
4. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
5.There are more bacteria in your mouth than there are people in the world.
6. During his or her lifetime, the average human will grow 590 miles of hair.
7. Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults laugh on average only 15 times a day.
8. The human brain is insensitive to pain.
9. Cattle are the only mammals that pee backwards.
10. The average American uses eight times as much fuel energy as an average person anywhere else in the world.
11. Female canaries cannot sing.
12. Your heart pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood each day!
13. During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants.
14. The first toilet being flushed in a motion picture was in the film “Psycho”.
15. The warmest temperature ever recorded on Antarctica was 3 degrees F.

16. A Koala Bear sleeps 22 hours of every day.
17. A rainbow can only be seen in the morning or late afternoon.
18. During a typical human life span, the human heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times.
19. A survey reported that 12% of Americans think that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.
20. Cats make over 100 different vocal sounds; dogs can make about ten.
Visitors - do you want to share any other interesting facts? Please leave them in Comments below.

Competition

What exactly did Marco Materazzi say
to Zinedine Zidane to enrage him so?
Please leave answers in the "Comments" section below. The winner will receive a year's supply of frozen "Aunty Bessy's" Yorkshire puddings and a copy of Zinedine Zidane's latest self-help manual.

And the winner is..... Laura for her suggestive, "I've tried your sister but your mother was better!" Prizes below. I will be happy to deliver them personally. All I need is your home address Laura! The Zidane book is unfortunately in French - "Le Roman d'une Victoire" which roughly translated means , "Head-Butting for Beginners". On the cover Zidane is doing an impression of his ample Algerian mother.

Ants

Google Earth is improving its coverage of our planet - with those aerial photograph zones extended to even include the humble city of Sheffield. Clues in these close-up aerial views lead me to deduce that the satellite coverage of Sheffield was compiled in the summer of 2004 – probably in August.

And so now you can zoom right in on our humble semi-detached home on our humble street in our humble suburb of humble Sheffield. From this distance, people in the streets appear like ants casting ant-like shadows. Perhaps that’s all we are with our antennae and receptors, most of us worker ants, tending the larval ants while older ants decline into memory.

In these streets and houses and gardens we eke out our dreams, most of us quietly imagining that the spotlight of the world is focussed upon us but maybe we’re all just ants on a great antheap, connecting with other ants, busying ourselves day by day with close-up events of the here and now, rarely zooming away to look at the wider picture.

Traditional

As suggested by Alkelda, here's a reworking of the traditional song "Cape Cod Girls" covered by Dan Zanes. Actually this song has many forms and the chorus normally refers to South Australia. All join in now! One...two...three...

Farewell to Spurn Point

Yorkshiremen ain't got no fears
heave away, haul away
They comb their hair behind their ears
They’re men who will amaze ya!

Chorus:
So run away you Lanc’shire boys,
Run away, far away
Run away don’t make a noise
We’re the men who will amaze ya!

Yorkshiremen ain’t got no stress
heave away , haul away
What’s less is more what’s more is less
Our lads they will amaze ya!

Yorkshire folk don’t need no pills,
heave away, haul away
They eat pigs’ ears and codfish gills
Our diet would amaze ya!

Yorkshire gals ain't got no care,
heave away, haul away
They run around almost bare
Their knickers would amaze ya!

*The photo shows Spurn Point/Spurn Head at the entrance to the Humber Estuary which is the mouth through which most of the water in Yorkshire's river system eventually flows.

Yorkshiremen

Yorkshire has been the homeland of so many great people. The recent death of "Fiery" Fred Trueman - a cricketing legend and a typical Yorkshireman - led me to think about other great men and women who have emerged from this paradise on Earth. My top ten would include the charismatic football manager Brian Clough, cricketer Geoff Boycott, sculptress Barabara Hepworth, inventor of stainless steel - Harry Brearley, gifted writer of "Wuthering Heights" fame - Emily Bronte, artist David Hockney, slavery reformer William Wilberforce, poet Ted Hughes, pop music trailblazer - Jarvis Cocker, failed parliamentary plotter Guy Fawkes... but my number one Yorkshire hero of all time has to be Captain James Cook (1728 -1779). His life details are summarised below.

Cook was born in a small village near Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, and learnt his trade in small sailing ships known as 'cats', in which he journeyed up and down the coast from the Tyne to the Thames. He later served with the Royal Navy, and in 1768 won the appointment of commander of the Endeavour.

In 1769 Venus was due to pass in front of the Sun, a rare event that can be used to measure the distance of the Sun from the Earth. The Royal Society decided to send astronomers to the Pacific to record the transit of the planet, and enlisted the Navy's help. The Navy agreed, as long as one of their officers was in charge of the boat.

Cook was chosen as commander, and the Whitby-built HM Endeavour was acquired and fitted out. After calling in on Tahiti to witness the transit of Venus, Cook sailed down to 40º latitude but found there was no land.

In accordance with his instruction he turned and headed towards New Zealand, which had previously been 'discovered' by the Dutchman Abel Tasman. During the rest of the voyage Cook and his crew charted New Zealand, sailed the east coast of Australia and rediscovered the Torres Strait.

In 1772-5, not satisfied by his previous exploits, he made a second voyage of discovery, this time to chart the Atlantic.

Cook was a practical seaman, who understood the importance of vitamin C to maintain the health of his crew, but on his third and final journey, in command of the Resolution, he did not deal so well with the Hawaiians he encountered when he landed on their island .

Misjudging the situation, he took their king hostage, after some hostility. Then during a brawl in another part of the island, one of the Hawaiian chiefs, Chief Kalimu, was killed by one of Cook's party. News of this reached the king just as Captain Cook was leading his hostage down to the Resolution.

The Hawaiians had by now started to distrust Cook's intentions, and attacked the English group. Cook remained aloof from the fighting, until one warrior crept up behind him and hit him on the head with a large club. Other warriors then joined in attacking him with daggers, causing him to fall in the water. Cook managed to get his head up again, but another warrior gave him a shattering blow - and Cook went down for the last time.

Well those are my alltime greatest Yorkshiremen - including a couple of women. I considered including Arthur Clewley but quickly rejected that absurd idea. Can anyone suggest any other great Yorkshire people I might have missed out?

Renaissance

So there I was hanging from the apple tree, as dead as honour in high places. A magpie had perched on my shoulder, defecating white slime all down my back. Surprisingly, I was still conscious, floating outside my body, inspecting the vessel of flesh and bone that had carried me through the years.

But who was that at the back gate? She seemed familiar with her greenish pallor and her flowing medieval garments. Yes. It was Alkelda the Gleeful of “Saints and Spinners” fame. She was cradling a small silver vial. She proceeded past the compost bins and the comfrey plot to where I was swinging like Dick Turpin. The magpie that was now perusing my jelly eyes flew off to the chimney pot.

Alkelda chanted some ancient incantation and tossed the contents of the silver vial all over my front. I guess it was just water – some kind of holy water. “Water of life! Heal this erring son!” She stood on the picnic table and unfastened the thick sisal rope that had killed me just as my conscious spirit returned to fill my body like a tide moving over a beach. I was alive again! I twisted my head back and forth and pinched myself as Alkelda disappeared back through the gateway.

“Come back Alkelda!” I yelled but she was gone like a departing rainbow.

Back in the house my wife said, “Where’ve you been? You’ve missed all the quarter final and what’s that red mark on your neck?”

“Oh it’s just those bloody brambles again!”

“Want a cup of tea?”

“Thanks love.”

“Do you wanna know the score? The match?”

“Why what was it? Lost on penalties again I bet.”

“Not this time honey. It was England 4 Portugal 0! That Sven is a master tactician and motivator. Looks like we’re playing France in the semis… Should be a walk over. Walcott scored a hat trick and Michael Carrick played his usual progressive midfield role… it was brilliant! Want a biscuit?”

Gutted

World Cup Quarter Final

Arrrrrgh! It's happened again! England lose on penalties! The Portugese team looked pretty ordinary all afternoon and even though we were a man down, England created the better goalmouth chances by far. Owen Hargreaves was again a revelation - full of energy and commitment. Our back four were also brilliant. But Lampard and even Gerrard were disappointing today. England's army of fans deserve more than this - more than our uninspirational Swedish manager could provide - in spite of his barrowloads of money. In the end, I would have to say that he has been a dismal failure and I am glad to see the back of him. It's so frustrating. We have so much talent and yet in this World Cup it was never properly harnessed. Like most of the English nation I am well and truly gutted (see above with apologies to the squeamish!) and I'm just going up the garden to string myself up from the apple tree! Farewell cruel world!