Let’s get trivial:

TO GET YOU THROUGH ANY AWKWARD SILENCE.

Some random facts to fill any awkward silence

1. You thought flamingos had weird-arse knees that bent backwards, like a possessed child in a horror flick? Nope, guess again. The curvy birds actually get about on their tiptoes, making that fleshy joint you can see mid-leg their ankle. Their real knees are buried way up amongst their feathers.

2. It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose. Go on, give it a burl. You see, when you hum, air escapes through your shnoz, creating the buzzy sound we all hear. If your nostrils are sealed shut, no air can escape – and the same goes for noise.

3. During World War II, bacon was used to make explosives in the US. Housewives saved the excess fat from their fry-ups and donated it to the army – it was then used to make glycerin, which is pretty ace for making things blow up.

4. Spare a thought for the posties in Susami, a fishing town on the central coast of Japan. The location is home to the world’s deepest functional mailbox, which sits 10 metres below sea level, and receives around 1000 pieces of (waterproof) mail each day.

5. Here’s some good news if you have a party coming up but you’re prone to lightheadedness: on average, humans fart enough each day to fully inflate a balloon. (Keep in mind, you may need to get some pals on board, or start decorating a few weeks out from the big do.) 6. The Swiss have a whole lot of compassion for the guinea pig – so much, in fact, that it’s illegal to own just one of the furry critters. As social animals by nature, they seek out rodent company, and denying them this is seen as an inexcusable act of cruelty.

7. Do you have a habit of buying loads of books and magazines, then letting them pile up and gather dust without so much as turning a page? Well, there’s a Japanese word for that: tsundoku.

8. If you happen to pass away in Amsterdam with no family or friends around to say a final goodbye, you won’t shuffle off this mortal coil all alone. Rather, a local poet will write a special ode in your honour, and read it at your state-provided funeral.

9. Surprisingly, braces aren’t a modern-day torture device dreamed up by evil orthodontists intent on ruining your first kiss and emptying your parents’ pockets. They actually go way back to ancient times – metal bands have been found on the teeth of Egyptian mummies.

10. Cameras are so accessible these days that it’s estimated more photos were taken around the world in the last two minutes than in the entire 19th century. Numbering in the hundreds of millions, that’s an awful lot of happy snaps.

11. Forget buttered popcorn – in Colombia, moviegoers are more likely to munch on a handful of crunchy roasted ants. Known as hormiga culona, the snack is also considered an aphrodisiac, which is a handy bonus if you happen to be catching a flick on a date.

12. Oh, you took a trip outside the Earth’s atmosphere that was watched by more than 530 million people? Cool, you still need to sign a customs form, affirming the details of your journey. Such was the case for Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins when they returned from the moon in 1969. Their declared cargo? Moon rock and dust samples.

13. Warm up those lips, chums – ‘the sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick’ is supposedly the toughest tongue twister in the English language.