I really enjoyed reading "The Perfectly Useless Book of Useless Information". Thank you Michelle.
Here are some of the useless gems I found:
* Notes: Miraculin and miracle fruit do not taste sweet themselves unlike curculin, a protein which comes from a plant in Malaysia that has similar taste-changing properties. There’s another plant derived class of chemical called gymnemic acids, which has the opposite effect. It’s an anti-sweetener that lasts for 10 minutes, and makes sugar water taste like regular water. http://www.aschoonerofscience.com/?p=1234
More on Miracle Fruit( video) may help cancer patients regain their appetite: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/25/miracle.berries.weightloss/index.html
Here are some of the useless gems I found:
Contrary to popular myth, if humans handle an egg or baby bird and put it back in the nest, its mother will never know. Most birds have a very poor sense of smell.
There is a small cranberry-like fruit that, when chewed, afterward makes any sour food taste sweet. This taste bud-altering effect lasts fifteen to thirty minutes. Known as "miracle fruit" these West African fruits make lemons taste like candy and oranges disgustingly sweet. *
High school dropouts have a life expectancy 9.2 years lower than graduates. p 101
The King Fahd International Airport, is Saudi Arabia, is the world's largest, with a land size of 780 square kilometers. It is larger than the country of Bahrain. p 215
Workers in Brazil and Lithuania get a whopping forty-one paid days off each year. p 215
Holland is part of the Netherlands. "Dutch" refers to inhabitants of the Netherlands, not just Holland. p 216Amazon.com: The Perfectly Useless Book of Useless Information: You'll Never Need to Know Anything That's in This Book...But Read It Anyway (9780399535871): Donal Voorhees: Books: Reviews, Prices & more:
* Notes: Miraculin and miracle fruit do not taste sweet themselves unlike curculin, a protein which comes from a plant in Malaysia that has similar taste-changing properties. There’s another plant derived class of chemical called gymnemic acids, which has the opposite effect. It’s an anti-sweetener that lasts for 10 minutes, and makes sugar water taste like regular water. http://www.aschoonerofscience.com/?p=1234
More on Miracle Fruit( video) may help cancer patients regain their appetite: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/25/miracle.berries.weightloss/index.html
