'Stupedia' highlights pointless facts stuffed in Wikipedia

London, Apr 30 (ANI): Touted as information treasury, Wikipedia is not just pure general knowledge, but it is also home to a big chunk of pointless facts.

Some of such useless extracts from the online encyclopaedia have now been compiled in a new book, titled 'Stupedia: The Most Useless Facts On Wikipedia', which has left many rolling with their hands on their stomachs, reports The Sun.

Few of the brainless extracts mentioned in 'Stupedia' are:

1.McDonald's signs once had only one golden arch.

2.The Plumed Whistling Duck eats by cropping vegetation rather than diving in water.

3.Laws pertaining to birth aboard aircraft and ships mean it is possible for a person born on a British ship, anchored in a United States port, with a Chinese father and Turkish mother, to have quadruple nationality.

4.The Greencards are a bluegrass band from Texas known for their Americana sound, but they comprise two Australians and an Englishman.

5.The Norwegian National Rail Administration owns all 4,114km (2,556 miles) of railways in Norway but does not operate any trains.

6.German-American confectioner Charles F Gunther claimed to own the remains of the serpent from the Garden of Eden.

7.In addition to insects, the diet of the Common Brown Lemur includes soil and red clay.

8.Liverpool actor and guitarist Ozzie Yue used to flick pieces of paper at Paul McCartney in art class at the Liverpool Institute High School For Boys.

9.South Park Lofts in Los Angeles, originally an eight-storey car park, was converted to lofts - and residents complained about a lack of parking.

10.Irish computer programmer Gavin Walsh owns the world's largest collection of Sex Pistol records and memorabilia.

11.The World Snail Racing Championships were held annually for more than 40 years, with only the 2007 event cancelled due to inclement weather.

12.Gibraltar passports are full British passports that are particularly issued to Gibraltarians and only differ in some wording.

13.Pierre the penguin is the first bird to don a custom-made wetsuit (to combat bald spots).

14.Georgia Tech professor Rebecca Grinter supervised a 2005 study that found iTunes users in the workplace experience "playlist anxiety".

15.The ITV Network Centre did not want to broadcast TV drama Cold Feet at 9pm because that was a timeslot traditionally reserved for programmes that viewers could do their ironing to.

16.Captain Philip Beaver once read the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica during one of his cruises.

17.Squab is the meat from a young domestic pigeon.

18.The broadhead catfish, which is a carnivore, can be fed with rice bran.

19.The wetlands of the Hudson Plains are "notorious for their large populations of biting insects".

20.Women were forbidden to drink wine in Ancient Rome (which the ancient Romans sweetened with lead) under the penalty of death or divorce.

21.The poisonous mushroom Russula Emetica, commonly known as "the sickener", is hoarded and eaten by the red squirrel.

22.The Phylax Society, the first German Shepherd Dog Club, disbanded because members could not agree whether the dogs should be bred for work or appearance.

23.The Winchester Bible - the largest surviving 12th-century English bible - incorporated the skins of 250 calves. (ANI)