What one could and can learn from QI (House & Home)

It is now taking me more than an hour to watch an episode of Qi, why I hear you ask, if you anyone is reading this post, why? More and more answers, to questions I would never have asked, are being given. Stephen Fry, Eddie Izzard, Danny Baker, Bill Bailey and Alan Davies are present in the episode of Qi (series 8/H).

1) Two hamsters have the same energy footprint as a plasma television, the size and make of both hamster and electronic media are not given.

2) Americans may potentially remove a third of the price of a house valuation due to haunting, although ghosts don't exist. I am awaiting scientific proof for this however Eddie Izzard, one of the guests was mentioning that ghosts don't exist due to the lack of cow ghosts, worm ghosts and, a lovely apparition if they did exist, dinosaur ghosts. How come this was never mentioned in valuation lectures, I guess because we are not valuing American property. I also heard, but have no proof and this was not due to Qi, that the presence of a swimming pool can be devalue a property. Is this true, can anyone give more substantial evidence for this?

3) Straw is an ideal building component (19th Century Nebraskan invention), as it more fire resistant that conventional buildings as it has less air space between the straws due to compaction. It is also "structurally sound, resistant to earthquakes, inhospitable to insects and rodents (although I am sure bees would lay eggs or pupae in the hollow straws, this is my purportage), clean straw has no allergy issue, relatively cheap, below zero carbon rating, locally grown, excellent insulation and sound proofing, biodegradable at the end of the building's life, versatile, easy to use..." (Stephen Fry and the Qi Gnomes - accessed here from the Internet Series 8 of Qi). If you were concerned of the water ruining the straw, it can be clad in a stucco or plaster. (Side point - Grand Designs of Channel 4 followed the construction of such a building in Islington, click here for the episode, it can be also bought on iTunes under Grand Designs Series 1 Islington:A Straw House) A website of straw construction can be found here. The Nebraskans also used hay as a construction material, but it was eaten by a herd of cows.

4) Britons have the smallest houses out of the European countries, 76 square metres and bleaches don't claim to kill 100% of germs because it is potentially impossible to prove with present technology, even though they may kill 100% of germs (David Mitchell waxes lyrically on germs here with Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry). On another side note, Sarah Beeney starts her house restoration on Channel 4 tonight, more details can be found here and the programme will probably be available on 4OD and iTunes at a later date.