Most plants contain some level of toxins (like alkaloids) for defense. After all, they’re plants. They can’t go anywhere but they have to defend themselves somehow. Through millennia of trial and error, both animals and human beings have figured out which plants are safe, which are lethal, and which are somewhere in between. For example, did you know that many grain-bearing plants contain a toxin known as lectins? And that the African staple, cassava, must be thoroughly boiled and soaked to separate it from its poisonous compound, cyanide? Even the humble lima bean has been bred to contain less cyanide. Cherries, potatoes, peaches and apple seeds are all toxic – eat enough of the latter, in fact, and it will prove fatal.

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It never ceases to amaze what the human body can do, or what kind of things people discover that they have the unique ability to do with it. Some are plain “out there”, some are a little disturbing and some are actually quite amazing. Be ready to see some crazy things that you never imagined the human body would be capable of and a couple of things that are just plain disturbing (not for the weak of stomach). And really people, do not try any of this at home… Read the rest of this entry »

The phenomenon of Independent Multiple Discovery is interesting – how more than one person has made the same discovery without any knowledge of the other. Related to this  – the distant cousin – is the Accidental Discovery. While one scenario shouts “Eureka!” the other mutters, “Oops, didn’t mean to do that”. However, at the end of the day they both celebrate, for they have come up with something new, planned or unplanned, whether by design or by dumb luck. This post lists several Accidental Discoveries that have been parlayed into fortunes and globally successful products.

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A casual and easy list on some fun and interesting ways to help make some use of your time spent traveling to work on the bus. If you do not commute then (a) use anything on this list to perhaps make good use of spare time during the day, and (b) all commuters hate you !! (just kidding – they’re only jealous)

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LOP – Lists o Plenty - iPhone/iPod Touch App is here!

Lists o Plenty is now available in app for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Take it with you wherever you go and enjoy a nice list or some pix; even access Random News through Fax o Plenty. Free to download and no ads – nice…hey, it doesn’t have to be a whiz-bang game to be a cool app.

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You know how sometimes things just pop into your head?

This list is a few of those things…contribute your in the comments! Read the rest of this entry »

Sixty years ago a goat herder, trying to catch the attention of a distracted buck, threw a rock and broke open a clay jar holding a Dead Sea Scroll. He had no way of knowing that at that moment he had changed the world forever. This post has a collection of 25 factoids of interesting information and a link to the actual text – translated to English – for those who would like to see what the scrolls contained in their writings.

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Everyone has that dream of stumbling on something that turns out to be worth a fortune or has some major significance. Something that we just find in the everyday course of life. This list tells the stories of those exact events, from fortune to historical importance, where everyday people in the course of everyday life have found treasures that we dream of, and that we all enjoy reading about.
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With the 2010 Winter Olympics in full swing, it is a good time to do a post that relates to the cold weather sports that people love. When temperatures drop, when it snows, and when water freeze, for many it means huddling up and staying indoors until spring. For others however, it means that it is time to get outside and play – ski, skate and toboggan. The athletes of the winter games have perfected speed, endurance, agility and grace in their sports, and so in honour of the years of training they put in and the hours of enjoyment they provide for us to watch them compete, this list presents 10 Great Moments in Winter Olympic history.

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This is not about dinosaurs or woolly mammoths. The moment of extinction is the death of the last individual of that species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point, indicating that there is no ability to survive the current generation. Given that perspective, this list presents 10 animals that have or likely will become extinct in the 21^st century. Read the rest of this entry »