7 Random Things I Want You to Know

1.????Less is More, More or Less

Readers often skip introductory paragraphs. They’re the writing equivalent of someone starting a speech by saying, “In the speech I am about to give, I will mainly be speaking about blah blah blah that I will talk you to you about briefly now starting with a short pithy anecdote...”.

Readers' time is precious and they know they can skim the first para, or skip it completely, without losing too much so you can get away without writing one.?

2.????The Great Grain Robbery

If I had a pound for every time I’ve heard someone mention ‘the big cereal conspiracy’ I’d be two pounds richer, oh yeah.

But no such conspiracy exists. Mr Kelloggs does not employ an army of minions to go through every cereal box making sure the biggest bits are always at the top – it’s physics.

Put some bigger things and smaller things in a container, mix them around, let them settle and the smaller ones will be at the bottom. ?

3.????Now is the Winter of Our Non-event

Every single year, without fail, people are amazed when we have bad weather in February. They nearly explode when the weather forecast threatens snow in March and they totally lose their shit if we’re still talking about the cold in April.

What only me and a guy called Paul Rolling in Nottingham know is that statistically it’s more likely to snow at Easter than Christmas.

4.????In the Worst Possible Taste

You take your favourite person out for dinner. You order the wine. Oh, would ya look at that, it’s got one of those modern screw cap things. Who’s going to taste it? You do it. No, you do it. OK then. *the waiter/waitress pours a tiny bit into your glass*

NO!! Do not even. The point of tasting wine is to see if it’s corked: no cork = cannot be corked (how does no one know this?).

You don’t get to taste it so you can reject your crap choice, we all go for the second cheapest bottle, it’s OK.

5.????Get Some Perspective

When life feels a bit ridiculous and you can feel yourself getting bogged down with mundane minutiae try and remember... you are one of eight billion humans sitting on a rock that's four and a half billion years old hurtling though space at 110 thousand kilometres an hour circling a ridiculously hot ball of gas more than 152 million kilometres away.

Try not to sweat the small stuff.

6. I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue

How much do you know? Trick question. Whatever you answered, you’re wrong.

People who know a lot know they don’t know much and people who think they know a lot don’t know much at all, as Donald Rumsfeld would have said.

It’s called the Dunning-Kruger effect. And it explains why teenagers think they know everything, people in their 20s don’t understand why the boss gets paid more than them, and the wisest people you meet are often the most humble.

“True wisdom is knowing what you don't know” – Confucius

7. What are the Odds

People are more likely to read listicles with an odd number of items. You read this, didn't you?! I rest my case.

Now you know my favourite random facts, please share them far and wide, everyone should know this stuff. I've been shoehorning them into conversations for years and I still have friends (OK, only a couple, no need to get picky...).