Well, I never knew that! Share your interesting info...

[bansidhe]

The Hooded Pitohui, a poisonous bird native to New Guinea. and the Poison Dart frog, native to Colombia, have the same type of poison. The current theory is that the poison is derived from a type of beetle both species eat.

Identical twins do not have identical fingerprints.

There are no muscles in your fingers.

[Redwing]

Although the word "earthling" today conjures visions of science-fiction stories, it is actually the Old English word for a farmer.

[Thuringwethyl]

Learned this one this weekend - if you wrap plastic wrap around a banana's stem, they stay fresh longer. Awesome when I buy that GIANT bunch from Sam's.

Also, one I've gotten a lot of mileage out of lately - if you pour regular table salt and a little Dawn (it works best, but I suppose others may work as well) into a cast iron skillet, use a plastic scraper (I got mine for $1 at a kitchen store) you can get all the burnt on stuff in a cast iron pan out without hurting the seasoning of the pan. I have been cooking a lot more the last few weeks, and my cast iron is getting a workout!

You can also use regular Dawn dishsoap to fade a hairdye job that's come in too dark. Because it's meant to clean pots and pans, it doesn't have the gentler buffer agents that shampoo does, and will pull some of the hair color back out more easily.

Better be careful with this; dishsoap is harsh and will have have the same chemical effect as a hair dye (damage-wise). When I was younger I didn't realize this and accidentally gave myself a chemical cut.
I have to admit I rocked that pixie. 

[MOM21SON]

Not entirely academic, but I just recently figured out the share/not to share label on Icebreaker candy.  The "share" is on the little opening, while "not to share" is the big opening.  That seems backwards, as "share" should be the bigger opening, right?  The joke being "I'm only sharing one or two" for the small flap, and "all mine" for the larger flap where getting more mints is easier.  Turns out there is a hygienic background to this labeling.  You would think "share" should accompany the larger flap, but hygienically speaking, you don't want people's dirty fingers infecting all your candies, thus "to share" is the smaller flap where you can shake a candy or two onto the palm of their hand.

You just blew my mind... I always just put it with the "jerk advertising" label. It was next to the Twix "2 for Me, None for You"

CRUD MONKEYS!!  That has been driving me nuts!  I swear when they first came out, the "to share" had the larger opening?  no?  The last few I have bought I thought labeling machine needed fixing!

[Seraphia]

Learned this one this weekend - if you wrap plastic wrap around a banana's stem, they stay fresh longer. Awesome when I buy that GIANT bunch from Sam's.

Also, one I've gotten a lot of mileage out of lately - if you pour regular table salt and a little Dawn (it works best, but I suppose others may work as well) into a cast iron skillet, use a plastic scraper (I got mine for $1 at a kitchen store) you can get all the burnt on stuff in a cast iron pan out without hurting the seasoning of the pan. I have been cooking a lot more the last few weeks, and my cast iron is getting a workout!

You can also use regular Dawn dishsoap to fade a hairdye job that's come in too dark. Because it's meant to clean pots and pans, it doesn't have the gentler buffer agents that shampoo does, and will pull some of the hair color back out more easily.

Better be careful with this; dishsoap is harsh and will have have the same chemical effect as a hair dye (damage-wise). When I was younger I didn't realize this and accidentally gave myself a chemical cut.
I have to admit I rocked that pixie. 

Very true - it's gentler than many of the chemical stripping agents you can buy, but it's harsher than washing with a clarifying shampoo.

[Bijou]

Everyone probably knows this, but...
If you freeze your block of tofu and then thaw it before using the texture is very different and it has a lot less moisture in it.
http://vegetarian.lovetoknow.com/How_to_Freeze_Tofu

[Shalamar]

I didn't know that, and our family cooks with tofu all the time (one daughter is vegan, the other vegetarian.  My husband and I eat anything and everything).  I don't really care for the texture, myself, so I'm curious to see if I prefer it after it's been frozen. Thanks for the tip!

[laud_shy_girl]

Black olives start off green.

You can tell if you are ovulating with a microscope a glass and your spit

[IMissItaly]

It's impossible to fold a piece of paper over on to itself more than 8 times.
I've tried it with various sizes of paper and haven't been able to even make
it to 8 at times.

[m2kbug]

Not entirely academic, but I just recently figured out the share/not to share label on Icebreaker candy.  The "share" is on the little opening, while "not to share" is the big opening.  That seems backwards, as "share" should be the bigger opening, right?  The joke being "I'm only sharing one or two" for the small flap, and "all mine" for the larger flap where getting more mints is easier.  Turns out there is a hygienic background to this labeling.  You would think "share" should accompany the larger flap, but hygienically speaking, you don't want people's dirty fingers infecting all your candies, thus "to share" is the smaller flap where you can shake a candy or two onto the palm of their hand.

You just blew my mind... I always just put it with the "jerk advertising" label. It was next to the Twix "2 for Me, None for You"

CRUD MONKEYS!!  That has been driving me nuts!  I swear when they first came out, the "to share" had the larger opening?  no?  The last few I have bought I thought labeling machine needed fixing!

Yes, "to share" did have the larger opening once, I'm pretty sure.  This is part of what made me take notice.  I thought the same thing; that the label machine is punching labels on backwards. They changed it.  It was one of my kids who explained the details and then I looked it up online. 

Now we know!   

[Outdoor Girl]

It's impossible to fold a piece of paper over on to itself more than 8 times.
I've tried it with various sizes of paper and haven't been able to even make
it to 8 at times.

I think this only refers to 'normal' type paper.  I'm pretty sure I remember Mythbusters busting this one using a really large, really thin piece of paper.

[Kendo_Bunny]

Found this one out today: the ASL symbol for "bathroom" is also an obscene symbol through a good portion of Europe, and was extremely obscene during Elizabethan times.

I had no idea it was "bathroom" when a kid made the sign at me - I was more taken aback than anything, and was informed that it meant "bathroom" by one of the teachers.

[ladyknight1]

Cheddar cheese did not start out orange, and the orange color is added.

Beginning in the 12th century, the cheese made in the village of Cheddar was very popular and had a pale yellow color when mature due to the diet of the cows. Only the cheese made in the Cheddar region could be called by that name. Other cheesemakers noticed the success of the cheese, and began to dye their cheeses to compete with Cheddar cheese.

[VorFemme]

Black olives start off green.

You can tell if you are ovulating with a microscope a glass and your spit

You can tell if you are in your fertile period with some mucus and your thumb & index finger (it is going to be "stringier" when not fertile to be harder for anything to get through your cervix).  It thins and quits "stringing" sooner when fertile to make it easier for sperm to get through....and even your nasal mucus shows the same effect (or so I was reading a while back - then menopause started and I no longer needed to track "that time of month"!).

[KenveeB]

Learned this one this weekend - if you wrap plastic wrap around a banana's stem, they stay fresh longer. Awesome when I buy that GIANT bunch from Sam's.

Also, one I've gotten a lot of mileage out of lately - if you pour regular table salt and a little Dawn (it works best, but I suppose others may work as well) into a cast iron skillet, use a plastic scraper (I got mine for $1 at a kitchen store) you can get all the burnt on stuff in a cast iron pan out without hurting the seasoning of the pan. I have been cooking a lot more the last few weeks, and my cast iron is getting a workout!

You can also use regular Dawn dishsoap to fade a hairdye job that's come in too dark. Because it's meant to clean pots and pans, it doesn't have the gentler buffer agents that shampoo does, and will pull some of the hair color back out more easily.

Another for the "Uses of Dawn" files: flea bath. Give your dog a good bath in Dawn dish soap (the original blue kind) and it will smother the fleas. Works great when you have a dog straight out of the shelter and nasty or if you can't give it medication.