# Cleanup's Useless Facts **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 21, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669 "2003-02-21T23:47:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/1 "2003-02-21T23:47:54Z")
Cleanup presents to you… **THE MOST MUNDANE THING YOU HAVE EVER READ BUT YOU LIKE IT ANYWAY BECAUSE IT’S FROM CLEANUP!** Post here scrap knowledge you have picked up that may not have any relation to anything serious in life, but you still find interesting. Here’s a few I have encountered: The IRS employee tax manual has instructions on how to collect taxes after a nuclear war. Hopefully, the IRS will be gone by then. Your blood travels over 12 000 miles per day. Take that, zoom-zoom kid. If an octopus is hungry enough, it will eat its own arms. The calories present in a bagel with cream cheese could power an electric toothbrush for 52 hours 20 minutes. Hey, diet, AND whiten your teeth. The average shower uses 30 gallons of water. Coca-Cola was originally green, due to the high concentration of cocaine in it, until the company was sued for mass production of a controlled substance. Caffeine to the rescue. By then the company had already made enough money to pay for the lawsuit, and probably enough money to hospitalize and rehabilitate all the people they destroyed. Have fun. 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2003, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/2 "2003-02-21T23:59:30Z")
The Alphabet song and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star follow the exact same tune. Milk gives cats diarreha. Some pilots in WWII were issued cans of asparagus. The reason was, that if they ever crash landed on an island or near a body of water they were supposed to eat the asparagus and pee in the water. Apparantly some chemical is created in the process and it turns your piss into fishbait. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/3 "2003-02-22T00:00:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cleanup \* > \*\* > Coca-Cola was originally green, due to the high concentration of cocaine in it, until the company was sued for mass production of a controlled substance. Caffeine to the rescue. By then the company had already made enough money to pay for the lawsuit, and probably enough money to hospitalize and rehabilitate all the people they destroyed. > > \*\* That sounds like a combination of [this Snopes article](http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/green.asp) and [this one](http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/cocaine.asp). Basically…the cocaine one is true, the green one is not. ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/4 "2003-02-22T00:01:38Z")
_Gasp!_ You’re lowering my self-esteem, Lsura (am I supposed to bold that? People seem to do that here). You get a cookie. A green one. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/5 "2003-02-22T00:08:12Z")
I’d rather have green eggs and ham. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/6 "2003-02-22T00:14:57Z")
“Your blood travels over 12 000 miles per day. Take that, zoom-zoom kid.” Now if that was your blood as a whole then that = 500 miles per hour. If it is your blood (in parts) then the snumber of red blood cells is 6000000 per microliter would make the value much higher. So how is this value of 12000 miles per day dirived? ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/7 "2003-02-22T00:18:14Z")
Ask the newspaper. Maybe I seem retarded, but where’d you get 500 miles per hour from? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/8 "2003-02-22T00:21:32Z")
Here’s a stumper - how do you show what bold tags look like in a sdmb thread without them ‘activating’ oh. and the OP - [Here is my completely life-altering knowledge](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=164701) ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/9 "2003-02-22T00:27:37Z")
Here’s how… **[b\*\*][**/b]\*\* do a reply to this post to see what I had to type to get that ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/10 "2003-02-22T00:30:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cleanup \* > \*\*Ask the newspaper. > > Maybe I seem retarded, but where’d you get 500 miles per hour from? \*\* You _do_ seem retarded, I’m afraid; it’s simple division. If your blood travels 12,000 miles in a day, then it travels 12,000/24 miles an hour. ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/11 "2003-02-22T00:36:31Z")
Somehow I assumed miles per day as miles per hour. Sorry 'bout that. ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/12 "2003-02-22T00:40:34Z")
**in reply to lobsang’s post** Unfortunately, I was unable to post a screenshot to describe this, but this is what you typed: LeftBracket/B/Right Bracket/LeftBracket/B/LeftBracket/B/RightBracket/RightBracket/LeftBracket/LeftBracket/Slash/B/RightBracket/Slash/B/RightBracket/LeftBracket/Slash/B/RightBracket That oughta be right. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/13 "2003-02-22T00:50:35Z")
I came _this_ [sub]\[/sub] close to posting the following into MPSIMS… Title - **Warning. (Warning - Warning)** Body - Warning. Because technically it made sense (I have a thread called warning, in which there _is_ a warning, and I warned people that there was a warning in the body.) But I knew it would not go down well. I compromised and explained it here. Which is arguably **more** pointless. I have a feeling that I will sink to record levels of mundanity tonight. dopers beware. Assuming ‘mundanity’ is a real word ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/14 "2003-02-22T00:52:23Z")
I am sorry people, but I love gramatical/literary irony, even if it is stupid. Things like “Do not read this sign” ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/15 "2003-02-22T00:54:38Z")
Now you want me to compose a post which manages to show how I did that??!:eek: (picture a large mess of ']'s and '['s and 'b’s and a man with a strained expression… for several hours) Do not tempt me! I am in danger of trying. ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/16 "2003-02-22T00:54:42Z")
Lobsang, mind telling me if I was right or not? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/17 "2003-02-22T00:55:43Z")
scratch that last post. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/18 "2003-02-22T00:56:22Z")
**Cleanup** you’ll probably wish you hadn’t asked but since there are 24 hours in a day then 12000 miles per day = 12000/24 miles per hour = 500 miles per hour Ah newspapers not always too great on facts, though as they say over 12000 miles per day, and if you are counting the distance traveled by each red blood cell per day \* the huge number of red blood cells the number would be much larger than 12000. So though not wrong this is a bit like saying the distance to the moon is greater then 2 miles, and if you do some research on this you might be able to change your sig to contain a much more impressive number you calculated yourself 🙂 Checking the web I find [this page](http://www.rwc.uc.edu/koehler/biophys/9c2.html) lists a blood speed of 36.6 m/s which on conversion gives a quite respectable 80.5 miles per hour. ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/19 "2003-02-22T00:56:54Z")
If you would like to know, the way I figured it out was I simply pressed the “Quote” button on your post, which gave me the exact coding. In other words, I can’t be wrong, unless I made a typo. Which I didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Cleanup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Cleanup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleanup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2003, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669/20 "2003-02-22T00:59:33Z")
And how do you like my new sig, Bippy? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cleanups-useless-facts/156669.md?page=2)