10 things we didn't know before the 31st, 32nd and 33rd weeks of 2008

Just cos holiday shouldn't get in the way of useless information, here's a 3 week compendium addition...

WEEK 31

1. Bees act in a similar way to serial killers.
2. Liz Taylor has broken her back five times.
3. Lake Baikal in Russia holds about a fifth of the world's fresh water.
4. The blank stickers for visa stamps are called vignettes.
5. Dyslexics can find it particularly difficult to learn the piano.
6. Van Gogh often reused canvasses to save money.
7. Seals can navigate from the position of stars.
8. Mick Jagger's officially a pensioner.
9. Being single in middle age can increase your risk of dementia.
10. In a drinking contest between a pen-tailed tree-shrew and a human, the former would win.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

WEEK 32

1. Cataplexy is a rare condition that means laughter can bring on paralysis.
2. Flat-earthers call spherical-world believers "globularists”.
3. The number 8 is an auspicious number in China because its Mandarin translation is "ba", which sounds like the word for "prosper".
4. All countries have rights over resources up to 200 nautical miles from their shoreline.
5. The Japanese have a day to celebrate greenery called midorinohi.
6. Pet dogs can catch human yawns.
7. Fencing is Italy's most successful Olympic sport.
8. Sportsmen make better decisions in heat.
9. Some people can hear what they see.
10. Robins only became a symbol for Christmas in the 19th Century, when postmen - who mostly brought mail at Christmas - wore scarlet waistcoats and were known as Robin Redbreasts.

(Borrowed from the BBC)

WEEK 33

1. Olympic swimmers can consume more than 12,000 calories a day while training. And not get fat.
2. Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson was once ranked seventh in the UK at fencing (men's foil).
3. There were 1,048 babies named Gertrude in 1907 but none in 2005.
4. Octopuses do not have eight legs. They have six arms and two legs.
5. The number of farmland birds in the UK is about half of what it was in the 1970s.
6. Penguins receive knighthoods.
7. Ear infections can affect the risk of being obese because they influence the nerves governing taste.
8. A rooftop luggage carrier increases fuel consumption by 20%.
9. Mills and Boon still publish at least one sheikh romance a month.
10. Buying oil only requires a 10% deposit of the market price.

(Borrowed from the BBC)