10 things we didn't know before the 3rd week of 2009

1. Motown was originally called Tamla.
2. Northern Rock and Lehman Brothers were both founded in 1850. And both failed in spectacular fashion exactly a year apart.
3. There are more than 50 million lightning strikes in Brazil each year, on average.
4. Countdown is French.
5. The fast food that generates the most litter is McDonald's.
6. City traders with long ring-fingers make more money.
7. A typical Google search produces between 0.2g and 7g of carbon dioxide.
8. An intense ketamine high gives an out-of-body-experience known to recreational users of the horse tranquiliser as the "K-hole".
9. The first man to view the Moon through a telescope was not Galileo. He was English.
10. John the Good was bad and William the Bad was good.

(Borrowed from the BBC)