1. High Blood Pressure

The giraffe has unusually high blood pressure. Its heart uses tremendous force to pump blood through its neck, which is about 10-12 feet long. A giraffe heart weighs about 25 pounds (11 kilos) and has walls up to three inches thick! (Does it also suffer from 'tall poppy' syndrome?)

2. 'Bird-servation'

The Wright Brothers spent time observing the flight of the buzzard to help them solve the mystery of flight. They realized that the bird retained balance in the air by twisting the tips of it's wings. By creating a wing warping method based upon this observation, the brothers were able to obtain a remarkable degree of manoeuverability. (Today they look to the eagle)

3. 'JAWS' True or Make Believe?

Believe it or not, JAWS author Peter Benchley based his story about a rogue man-eating shark on a real series of shark attacks that occurred along the New Jersey shore in 1916. At that time a single shark attacked five people, and killed four of them. The shark swam up the New Jersey coast, terrorizing beach goers, and actually entered Mattawan Creek where it killed a young boy and the man who dived down to retrieve his body. Just like in the movie, resort owners were loathe to publicize the attacks (the first one received hardly a mention in the local press). A retired seaman who saw the shark when it first swam into the creek wasn't taken seriously. Shortly after the attacks, a Great White shark with human remains inside its belly was killed by two fishermen. Interested in learning more? Check out Michael Capuzzo's book, 'Close to Shore', which vividly recreates the summer of 1916 and the rogue shark that terrorized New Jersey, USA. (Could also, of course, have been about Hollywood itself!)

4. Ball Lightening?

Imagine seeing a strange glowing sphere that moves through the air. Experts cannot explain what 'ball lightning' is, but it occurs during lightning storms and may be an ordinary bolt of lightning. Witnesses who have observed this rare phenomenon typically report the ball of light is about the size of a grapefruit (but it may be much larger or smaller) and that it survives for only a few seconds. Some also report a bad smell. (Reported as UFO sightings too?)

5. St. Elmo's Fire

St. Elmo's fire is a luminous electric discharge that appears on sharp projections such as steeples and mastheads of ships during intense storms. Sailors have a superstitious dread of it, but it is actually an explainable natural phenomenon. Mediterranean sailors named it for their patron saint, St. Elmo. (A saintly halo?)

6. Are You a 'will-o'-the-wisp'?

Will-o'-the-wisps are fleeting lights, blue or white, that move mysteriously in the night. They are also known in Wales as "corpse candles" because they are often seen in graveyards, as well as in bogs and marshes. Such lights do exist and can still be seen, but are not supernatural, as was once believed. (Some people believed that to see one was to be forewarned of your own death.) The lights are most likely caused by the ignition of gases produced by the decay of plant or animal matter. (All move mysteriously in graveyards, bogs and marshes at night.)

7. From Pasta Pan into the Fire

Before beginning his movie career - Keanu Reeves managed a pasta shop in Toronto, Canada. (Was it a promotion?)

8. A Smelly Business

George Ellery Hale's 100 inch lens built in the early 1900s was the largest solid piece of glass made until then. The lens was made by a French specialist who poured the equivalent of ten thousand melted champagne bottles into a mold packed with heat maintaining manure so that the glass would cool slowly and not crack. ((Champagne and manure - oops, caviar - for all)

9. Honeybees See

Honeybees navigate using the sun as a compass, even when it is hidden behind clouds - they find it via the polarization of ultraviolet light from areas of blue sky. (Stay in the warm on rainy days.)

10. Goldfish See Better Than We

Goldfish have four colour recepectors in their eyes compared to our three - the mantis shrimp has ten color receptors. (See in Quadrosonic!)

11. Presidential Prophecy

Here in New Zealand, the Presidential Highway links the towns of Gore and Clinton. These towns existed long before the said gentlemen were a twinkle in their mother's eyes. Gore is also known as the Brown Trout Capital of the World and is New Zealand's country music capital.

12. Sea Angel

The sea angel is a snail with wings. (But can it fly?)

13. Musical Cactus

The hedgehog cactus of Mexico is pleated like an accordion so that it can expand with water in preparation for periods of drought. (Fast, fast, sloooow)

14. 'Who Are You?'

Female koel birds of India have a shriek that sounds exactly like, "Who are you?" (David - I think!)

15. The Ultimate Bathtub

The first metal-lined bathtub was constructed by Adam Thompson of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1840 and weighed nearly a ton. (Strong floor a necessity)

16. The POP in Popcorn

A drop of water in each kernel, surrounded by starch, puts the "POP" in popcorn. When the corn is heated, the water turns into steam. Pressure builds until it explodes, and the starch inflates,inverting the kernel. (How do we react under pressure?)

17. The First Car Engine

Samuel Morey of Oxford, New Hampshire, patented the internal combustion engine in 1826. It was pretty much the kind of engine we still use in cars and trucks, but not as complicated and needing less maintenance than those of today. (No longer have to have a man with a red flag walk in front of our cars though - might be a good idea!)

18. The Weather

In 1875 the Times of London became the first newspaper to print a daily weather chart. (How accurate then - and now!)

19. A Mirror Image

In 1992 a San Francisco man walked through a plate-glass storefront trying to board the cable car he saw reflected in the shiny window. (Knew there was a good reason for not cleaning windows.)

20. Wanting More

One of the men arrested for looting in the infamous Los Angeles riots was a $3 million Lotto winner who receives $120,000 a year from the state. (How much is enough?)

21. Too Clean

A women in Royal Oak, Michigan, USA, was arrested, handcuffed, and jailed for putting her
garbage cans out too early. (Was the cell clean?)

22. Faithfulness

A Florida wedding reception was interrupted when the bride threw macaroni salad at the groom and he responded with gunfire. At the hospital, the wounded bride insisted on checking in under her new married name. (Begin as you mean to continue!)

23. Theory and Practise

The 1982 National Father's Day Association's 'Father of the Year' went to jail for failing to pay child support. (A sad dad.)

24. Perceptive Viewers

A colour-bar test pattern on a Los Angeles television drew higher ratings than for two competing stations' 10 p.m. newscasts. (More restful to sleep in front of.)

25. Inflationary Fame

Tickets for Frank Sinatra's first solo performance at the Paramount Theatre in New York City in 1942, sold for 35 cents each. (And they thought it was expensive then too!)

26. Not All Is As It Seems

The "black box" that houses an aeroplanes voice recorder is orange so it can be more easily detected amongst the debris of a plane crash. (High altitude colour blindness.)

27. New Vision

The Chinese invented eyeglasses. Marco Polo reported seeing many pairs worn by the Chinese as early as 1275, 500 years before lens grinding became an art in the West. (Marco Polo had 'vision' to be there.)

28. Starch Start

Englishman Orlando Jones patented that fabulous miracle food known as 'corn starch' in 1841. Today it can be found in multitudes of products including deodorants, it heals diaper (nappy) rash, and of course, thickens gravy. (The source of the English 'stiff upper lip' perhaps?)

29. Ancient Weed Killer

The primary purpose of growing rice in flooded paddies is to drown the weeds surrounding the young seedlings - rice can, in fact, be grown in drained areas. (Is diced rice nice?)

30. Selective Digestion

The gastric juices of a snake can digest bones and teeth - but not fur or hair. (The fluff's too tough!)

31. Ahead Of His Time

The brilliant inventor Gail Borden, Jr. invented condensed milk in the 1850's and later the Lazy Susan, but he struck out with one other invention: the poorly-received "meat biscuit." (Before the Pet Food market evolved.)

32. Absentee Queen

Queen Berengaria, wife of Richard I of England, the Lion-Heart, never stepped foot in the country for which she served as queen. (Afraid of entering the 'lions den'?)

33. "Four-told

Thomas Edison's first major invention was the quadruplex telegraph. Unlike other telegraphs at the time, it could send four messages at the same time over one wire. (Starting information overload.)

34. Worse Than War

The Influenza Epidemic that followed World War 1 killed 20 million people and sickened 1 billion, making it more devastating than the world's most deadly war ever itself! (Nature, once again, greater than man.)

35. Cancer-less?

The Hunza, who live in Northwest Kashmir, reportedly have not experienced cancer. The group is also said to have unusual longevity. (But would we want to eat their food?)

36. More Life

In George Washington's day, average life expectancy in America for men was just 34 years and 36 years for women. A hundred years and modern medicine can make a lot of difference! (Some things don't change though. Women still outlive men.)

37. Paper Wars

Papyrus was invented by the Egyptians around 1800 BC. (Speelling miztakes have abbounded eva sinse!)

38. 'Not So Simple' Arithmetic

There are 43,560 square feet in an acre. (No wonder the world changed to metrics - well, most of us have!)

39. A Hot 'Cup Of Tea' Please - Anywhere!

The noted Scottish physicist Sir James Dewar, invented the thermos flask, in 1906. (To keep his tea hot or his whisky cold?)

40. Long Lived Big Bird

The Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet made its first flight on February 9 1969. It is most likely that later models will still be flying commercially in 2019, 50 years after its first flight. (Not a 'fly by night' model!)

41. Ice Delight

There are more than 100 words for "ice" in the Eskimo language. (Is 'icebound' one of them?)

42. Minute Reign

King Louis XIX ruled France for a total of fifteen minutes. (All good things come to an end - some more quickly than others!)

43. The World's Tallest Mountain?

You thought it was Mount Everest? All New Zealanders do, as it was first climbed by our favourite son Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing Norgay, from Nepal reaching the Earth's highest point at 11:30 am on May 29, 1953. Although Mount Everest, at 29,028 feet, is often called the tallest mountain on Earth, Mauna Kea, an inactive volcano on the island of Hawaii, is actually taller. For only 13,796 feet of Mauna Kea stands above sea level, yet it is 33,465 feet tall if measured from the ocean floor to its summit. (Difficult to climb from the bottom though!)

44. Multi Skilled

Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors. (A cut above the rest.)

45. Liquid Labour Saving Device

In the 1800's making tomato ketchup at home was a tedious all day project, and American housewives hated the process. So when Henry J. Heinz introduced bottled ketchup in 1875, he promoted it as a labour saving device. His first slogan was "Blessed relief for Mother and the other women of the household." (Bottled 'woman-power!')

46. Natures Technology

Coconut shells can absorb more impact than most crash helmets. (Need smaller heads though!)

47. 'Tomato-less' Ketchup

The Chinese invented ke-tsiap - a concoction of pickled fish and spices (but no tomatoes) - in the 1690s. By the early 1700s, its popularity had spread to Malaysia, where British explorers first encountered it, and by 1740 the sauce - renamed ketchup - was an English staple. However, it wasn't until the 1790s that New England colonists first mixed tomatoes into the sauce. Until then, it was widely believed that tomatoes (a close relative of the toxic belladonna and nightshade plants) were poisonous. (Wonder what colour it was before the tomatoes were added?)

48. The Seven Seas

An ancient term describing what were believed to be all the seas and oceans of the world. Many people believe the seven are what we now know as the Arctic, Antarctic, North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, South Atlantic and Indian oceans. However, the phrase has no literal meaning and is used to romanticise sailing. It came into use before some of the oceans were even known to exist.(Nothing romantic about seasickness though!)

49. Tower Towers

The actual height of the Eiffel Tower is 984 feet. But it grows by 6 inches in summer, as metal expands. And shrinks back to normal in the winter, as metal contracts. (What goes up must come down.)

50. An Imposter?

Napolean was not born in France. He was born on the small island of Corsica. But he was born on the day when France gained control over Corsica from Italy. So he was born in France. (Confused - I am. Maybe he was too.)