police officers have the highest rate of suicide after retirement than any other profesion. if that’s not useless i don’t know what is
the original mario bros game tune as well as many useless catchy tunes that refuse to get out of my head.
i don’t know the original question, but that should be Mandarin, not Chinese. Mandarin is one of the official language. Chinese refers to all the dialects/languages including Mandarin/Cantonese/Hokkien/etc.
I know the serial number of my friend’s old dialup modem. This is not all that surprising nowm though, because I use it as an email address.
I remember the VIN of the first car I bought. The car itself died three years ago, yet its memory endures as a blessing.
Pi to a mere 45 decimal places.
The Simple Solution to Rubik’s Cube, except for the direct handling of one configuration of the bottom edge pieces. All right, so this does have its uses.
The primary theme music from the classic arcade game Frogger was the Japanese kids’ song, Inu no Omawari-san (The Doggy Policeman). I know the first stanza in Japanese (better than I know it in English).
I actually need that “30 days hath September…” thing b/c for some reason it’s hard for me when really busy to remember if the 30 months have only 30 or not; a couple tiems almost told a client to come in for a will signing on June 31st.
Being an occasional fanfiction writer (“Me” on www.fanfiction.net) I find many uses for thigns fromt he TV shows I like. Sports lineups for baseball teams from the '80s are nice for reminiscing w/friends.And even King Phillip Came Over for Green Stamps, the mnemonic for “Kingdom, Phyllum, Genus…” can be used if I have to have a kid memorizing something tricky in a stor; I don’t remember the poetry I memorized in school, sadly
But, if you want useless, I have no idea how I would ever use the record highs of my friends and I in a couple Intellivision video games from the early 1980s. Nobody plays my old Intellivison anymore w/my nephews and nieces now in England w/their parents (as missionaries), and none of my church buddies would care what they’d have to beat to break a record even if they did play them. But, my school buddies and I were crazy about those records in those days, and tried to beat each other often as prettens/teens.
Jackknifed Juggernaut
…
to the last sylable of recorded time
and all our yesterdays
have lighted fools the way to dusty death
…and so on
Derleth
IDDQD IDKFA IDSPISPOPD, takes me back.
Both of those are more useful than
amo amas amant amamus amartis amant (and I don’t care how inacurate that is).
But even that might be useful [TL-quote]Under rather unusual circumstaces
[/quote]
Wheras this won’t…
AnalyticAndAlgebraicTopologyOfLocallyEuclidianMetrizationOfInfiniteDifferentialByReimannianManifold.
The 3rd ingredient listed on a container of Body Butter
The lyrics to The Nations of the World by Yacko Warner
The commands to draw several different shapes in LOGO on an Apple II
Actually, Small Clanger, your conjugation of amo in the present indicative active is almost completely accurate.
Did I mention that I know all of the regular verb forms, all the forms of esse, malle, nolle, velle, posse, and fieri, all of the regular noun forms, all of the forms of deus, bos, vis, filia, dea, domus, and rus, and all of the other endings for anything possibly excepting irregulars?
I can also sing ‘Everywhere to me’ without the music, and ‘Elevation’ with the music, by dint of having listened to them both about eighty billion time while reading or doing my homework.
Given an artist’s drawing of a Marvel superhero who was an Avenger, member of the Justice League, the Crime Syndicate, Freedom Force, or the Fantastic Four, odds are about 20 to 1 that I can name that character and the character’s powers.
I know pi to another 11 places now… GEEK ALERT!!:D:D:D
Actually, that knowledge was helpful to me when I moved into my current apartment. There are seven locked doors total that I needed keys for, so I bought them in the ROY G BIV colors and arranged them in that order, front door to garage.
If that’s not dorky, I don’t know what is.
Actually, that knowledge was helpful to me when I moved into my current apartment. There are seven locked doors total that I needed keys for, so I bought key covers in the ROY G BIV colors and arranged them in that order, front door to garage.
If that’s not dorky, I don’t know what is.
The refrain to “The Jabberwocky.”
It would be much dorkier if you had 10 doors and bought key covers in the order of resistor color coding.
Black, Brown, ROY G BIV, Gray…
Credo in unum deum
Patrem omnipotentem
Factorem caeli et terrae
Visibilium omnium
Et invisibilium
Et in unum dominum
Jesum Christum
Filium dei
Uni genitum …
The whole mass in Latin. And in no other language, of course. It used to be mighty handy when I was in a choir, but now it’s just not very useful anymore. I also know the Heart Sutra in Sino-Japanese, but I actually get to use that one from time to time.
Kanjizai bosatsu gyo jin hanyaharamita ji sho ken go on kai ku do issai ku yaku. Sharishi, shiki fu i ku, ku fu i shiki, shiki soku ze ku, ku soku ze shiki, ju so gyo shiki yaku bu nyo ze…
I learned Russian for a short while and the only thing I remember is:
Daite-mnie piepelnitsa (Pass me the ashtray.)
I don’t smoke.
Cold oysters seldom develop many perfect pearls; their juices congeal too quickly. That’s a way of remembering geologic eras in order: Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississipian, Pennsylvanian, Permian, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Tertiary, Quaternary.
As a self-described forgetful person, there are four, nay five things, that I will never forget till the day I die – barring the onset of a degenerative brain disorder, e.g., Parkinson’s, ALS, or Alzheimers.
For starters, what I learned during basic training in the U.S. Army:
I. My “Three General Orders”:
- "I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post only when properly relieved;
- I will obey my special orders and perform all my duties in a military manner;
- “I will report violations of my special orders, emergencies, and anything not covered in my instructions, to the commander of the relief.”
II. MFRs (Maximum effective ranges) of the M-16 and M-60:
"The MFR of the M16A2 semiautomatic rifle on a point target is 550m (the M16A1 MFR is 450m).
“The MFR of the M-60 gpmg (general purpose machine gun) is 1100 m.”
III. The Postal Code of the U.S. Army Infantry Training Center:
“Ft. Benning, GA 31905”
IV. The Spelling of the Longest word in German I ever learned:
“Hochgeschwindigkeitdesschwerarbeitsbeigollitron”
**V. The Names of all my Elementary- , Junior-High- & High-school Homeroom Teachers from 1974 to 1986: **
1st: Mrs. Belfield
2nd: Mrs. Appleyard
3rd: Mrs. Augusta Long
4th: Mrs. Stein
5th: Mrs. Diane White
6th: Mrs. Faigle
7th: Mr. Karp
8th: Mr. Karp
Freshman/9th grade: Mr. Gary Becker
Sophomore/10th grade: Mr. John Jacobson
Junior/11th grade: Mr. John Jacobson
Senior/12th grade: Mr. John Jacobson
I went to a very small, church based, Christian school* (read: Fundamentalist) from 7th grade until 12th grade graduation. A part of our studies included Biblical verse memorization. Typically, this involved random verses deemed significant to our spiritual growth. One semester our teacher got the bright idea that the entire book of Phillipians (NIV) was significant so we had to memorize the entire book and recite it from memory to the class.
That was… a long time ago… and I’m still amazed I could memorize something like that. Especially considering that today I am lucky to memorize my wife’s birthday, angel day, and our anniversary.
- I’m all better now, thank you.
MeanJoe
First chapter or so of The Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy (“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the galaxy lies a small, unregarded yellow sun…”)
Only 10 digits of pi.
In 2nd edition D&D, the table for aving throws is on page 101 of the player’s handbook. This once was useful, but now that we play 3rd edition, not so much.
The 50 States, alphabetically. (Thanks “50 nifty united states”)
The Pledge of Allegiance…in Spanish. Had to learn it in 8th grade Spanish class, and recite it in front of said class. I’m now 27. But if I ever have to pledge allegiance to the US Flag in front of Spanish-speaking peoples, I’m all set.
The books of the Old Testament, in order. My grade school teacher made me memorize them in oh, third grade or so (I went to a parochial, Christian grade school). I also had to learn the New Testament, but I’m not as good at those.
The mudfish can breathe through its tail and can climb trees.
Lots of bad hair band lyrics, even though I haven’t heard the songs in years.
I’m sure there’s more in there…
Snicks
I can remember most of my lines from the first grade performance of “Hansel und Gretel” that I performed in Germany. I was Hansel. (Hansel? Hansel. Hansel?)
“One man in each century is given the power to control time. The man chosen to receive this power is carefully selected. He must be kind, he must be fair, he must be brave. You have fulfilled these requirements and we of the outer galaxies designate to you the wisdom of Solomon, and the strength of Atlas. You (echo) are (echo) Captain 11!”
Captain 11 was the weather guy from the local news station (channel 11 obviously) and everyday after school he had a half-hour program. It was the best. I even got to go on the show a couple of times (it had a live audience!). When our town had its centennial celebration, Captain 11 came to town and was in the parade. Although he was drunker than a skunk, he was nice enough to listen as my sister and I recited the above.
I also know all the words to “Ice Ice Baby.” Sigh.