User:A*star actress

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A*star actress 02:16, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Astrology 2.1 Aquarius 2.2 Pisces 2.3 Aries 2.4 Taurus 2.5 Gemini 2.6 Cancer 2.7 Leo 2.8 Virgo 2.9 Libra 2.10 Scorpio 2.11 Sagittarius 2.12 Capricorn 3 Things That You Never Knew You Wanted To Know 3.1 WARNING!!!! 3.2 The Useless Facts 3.2.1 Animals 3.2.2 Bugs and Insects 3.2.3 Celebrities 3.2.4 Dumb Criminals 3.2.5 Food and Drink 3.2.6 Geography 3.2.7 History 3.2.8 Odd Inventors 3.2.9 Medical 3.2.10 Musicians 3.2.11 Myths 3.2.12 Plants 3.2.13 Science and Technology 3.2.14 Sports 3.2.15 Strange Laws 3.2.16 Odd Notices 3.2.17 Surveys 3.2.18 TV and Movies 3.2.19 Words 3.2.20 Wrecker World Records 3.2.21 Just Plain Random and Obviously Others 4 Fears 4.1 A 4.2 B 5 Songs To Sing On The Bus 5.1 The Song That Never Ends 5.2 99 Bottles

[edit] Introduction

Hi! I'm A*star actress and I've been a member of the Wikipedia community for a while now. So far, I've loved it. If anyone wants to talk on my talk page, feel welcome. You may also make comments about my user page on my talk page.

[edit] Astrology

There are twelve astrological signs in the year. People born under each sign will, more likely than not, have the characteristics of their sign. Each of these unique astrological signs and the people born under them are described below.

[edit] Aquarius

January 20 - February 18

You can recognize the ones born under the sign of the Water Bearer because they're the ones starting their own trends instead of following everyone else. Independent and unique, they don't believe in cliques, but invite everyone to sit at their lunch table. Once they get to know you, you can count on them to be a loyal friend. Water Bearers are known for their beauty, but would rather be judged for their deeds and abilities than for their looks. Their quest for knowledge makes Water Bearers excellent scientists and their love of people makes teaching a perfect Aquarius profession.

Element: Air Color: Turquoise Lucky Numbers: 1 and 7 Love Matches: Libra, Gemini, and Sagittarius Friendship Matches: Sagittarius and Aries Aquarius Celebs: Justin Timberlake, Oprah Winfrey, and Jennifer Aniston.

[edit] Pisces

February 19 - March 20

You know the friend who always seems to know something's wrong before you mention it - the one who's a great listener? You can bet that they're born under the sign of the Fish. Is it that aura of mystery around them or just their easygoing nature that draws everyone to Pisces? While they love being with the whole gang, Pisces individuals are also known to slip into their own dream world. Medicine is a perfect career for compassionate Pisces. Couple their kindness with their strong spirituality and Pisces make powerful religious leaders as well.

Element: Water Color: Violet Lucky Numbers: 2 and 6 Love Matches: Cancer, Scorpio, and Taurus Friendship Matches: Capricorn and Taurus Pisces Celebs: Jensen Ackles, Drew Barrymore, and Freddie Prinz Jr.

[edit] Aries

March 21 - April 19

Those born under the sign of the Ram are natural leaders. Whether student council president or basketball team captain, they take their duties seriously. Confident and enthusiastic, Aries individuals are driven to succeed and take everyone with them. They're just as likely to be helping a teammate with that jump shot as to be working on their own. Rams love to participate in sports, and Aries girls are seen as "one of the guys" - until they turn on that charm. Their intellect and curiosity make Aries good explorers and doctors. Whatever the profession, you'll find Aries taking the lead.

Element: Fire Color: Red Lucky Numbers: 1 and 9 Love Matches: Taurus, Leo, and Sagittarius Friendship Matches: Gemini and Aquarius Aries Celebs: Amanda Bynes, Jackie Chan, and Emma Watson

[edit] Taurus

April 20 - May 20

Social yet hard working, blessed with both fashion sense and common sense, you might find those born under the sign of the Bull planning the next school dance or writing the advice column for the school newspaper. If a Taurus individual is planning the dance, eat before you go, because the Taurus is known for being thrifty. And expect the advice Taurus doles out to be honest but compassionate, because Bulls are also known for their integrity and kindheartedness. A wide variety of careers are good for Taurus, including medicine, architecture, banking, and fashion design.

Element: Earth Color: Shocking Pink Lucky Numbers: 6 and 4 Love Matches: Leo, Aries, and Virgo Friendship Matches: Pisces and Cancer Taurus Celebs: Kirsten Dunst, Lance Bass, and Kelly Clarkson

[edit] Gemini

May 21 - June 21

Have you ever heard the nursery rhyme that goes "...when she was good, she was very, very good, and when she was bad, she was horrid?" That was probably written about a Gemini. Blame it on the fact that they were born under the sign of the Twins, but it's like they're two people rolled into one. Intelligent and witty, Geminis are never satisfied doing one thing at a time, but need to be juggling lots of things. Fun and funny Geminis make good friends and are never boring. Good career choices for logical, rational Geminis include law and journalism.

Element: Air Color: Green Lucky Numbers: 5 and 9 Love Matches: Scorpio, Libra, and Aquarius Friendship Matches: Aries and Leo Gemini Celebs: Joshua Jackson, Mike Myers, and Natalie Portman

[edit] Cancer

June 22 - July 22

The caretakers, the organizers - you know - the "moms" of the world, are often the ones born under the sign of the Crab. Always looking out for others, the Cancer person is likely the one organizing the winter mitten or Thanksgiving food drives. And because of their excellent organizational skills and enormous group of friends, these drives are huge successes. The phone is always ringing at sympathetic Cancer's house with friends calling with problems, and caring Cancer never lets them down. Their interest in people make journalism and politics good career choices.

Element: Water Color: Silver Lucky Numbers: 3 and 7 Love Matches: Virgo, Taurus, and Scorpio Friendship Matches: Taurus and Virgo Cancer Celebs: Jared Padalecki, Tobey Maguire, and Michelle Branch

[edit] Leo

July 23 - August 22

Just as the lion is "king of the jungle," those born under the sign of the Lion strive to be the center of attention. Dynamic, dramatic, and creative, you will never be mislead by a Leo. What you see is what you get with this most honest of all zodiac signs. Still, you might get tired of Leo always being in the spotlight. Count on Leo to be "king of the jungle" in their career as well. If they're in politics, they'll be governor or president. If a Leo is an entertainer, they're sure to be a star.

Element: Fire Color: Gold Lucky Numbers: 8 and 9 Love Matches: Aries, Sagittarius, and Taurus Friendship Matches: Gemini and Libra Leo Celebs: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, and Daniel Radcliffe

[edit] Virgo

August 23 - September 23

The saying "still waters run deep" might have been written about those born under the sign of the Virgin. They're so quiet, Virgos might go unnoticed in the crowd, but they're paying attention and analyzing every move. They're so shy, Virgos might have some trouble making friends, but once they do they're devoted for life. Virgos have strong ideas of right and wrong and live their life by this code. You won't find a Virgo cheating on a test or taking something that isn't theirs. Intelligent and analytical, Virgo's strong eye for details make them excellent bookkeepers, accountants, and editors.

Element: Earth Color: Navy Blue Lucky Numbers: 5 and 3 Love Matches: Capricorn, Leo, and Taurus Friendship Matches: Cancer and Scorpio Virgo Celebs: Cameron Diaz, Pink, and Rupert Grint

[edit] Libra

September 23 - October 23

Born under the sign of the Scales, sociable Libra is the one throwing yet another wonderful party. Outgoing and full of charm, even if Libra isn't hosting the party, they're probably still the one making sure no one's fighting and everyone's happy. Libra can't stand conflict and will often give in to avoid a fight. You'll find them running back and forth between friends helping to smooth out their problems as well. This sensitivity to others makes counseling a good Libra profession. Their artistic abilities also make them well suited to be writers, artists, or interior decorators.

Element: Air Color: Pale Pink Lucky Numbers: 6 and 9 Love Matches: Aquarius, Aries, and Gemini Friendship Matches: Leo, Sagittarius Libra Celebs: Matt Damon, Hilary Duff, and Ashanti

[edit] Scorpio

October 24 - November 21

That intense, mysterious person, whom you can't quite figure out...you know the one whom everyone's curious about? Well, they might very well be born under the sign of the Scorpion. Scorpion individuals don't run in a crowd but will have one or two close friends they're dedicated to. Private Scorpio won't even share their secrets with them. Yet there's something about Scorpio that makes others share their deepest secrets. Scorpio people tend to possess great wisdom and strong reasoning skills, so good career matches include psychologist, detective, and even spy.

Element: Water Color: Maroon Lucky Numbers: 2 and 4 Love Matches: Cancer, Gemini, and Leo Friendship Matches: Virgo and Capricorn Scorpio Celebs: Leonardo DiCaprio, Whoopi Goldberg, and Kelly Osbourne

[edit] Sagittarius

November 22 - December 21

Don't look for those born under the sign of the Archer couch potatoing in front of the TV. Instead of watching the big game, they've organized their own. These outgoing, witty, and profound lovers of travel can be counted on for FUN!! Raising money for a cause? It's Sagittarius who'll come up with the idea, organize the event, and see it through. They have great organizational skills and are always ready to fight for the underdog. With so many gifts, Sagittarius can be almost anything, but some top career choices include teacher, coach, or anything else that involves travel.

Element: Fire Color: Purple Lucky Numbers: 5 and 7 Love Matches: Aries, Leo, and Aquarius Friendship Mathces: Libra and Aquarius Sagittarius Celebs: Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, and Steven Spielberg

[edit] Capricorn

December 22 - January 19

While the rest of the class is worrying about getting the big paper done, those born under the sign of the Goat have already finished it. Self-disciplined and hard working, Capricorn will have crossed the paper off their to-do list and moved on to the next assignment. Capricorn individuals are competitive and ambitious, but they're not trying to best you. They're trying to outdo themselves, setting even higher goals to reach. Capricorn might seem cold, but once you get to know them, they'll be your friends for life. Math and money professions appeal to logical Capricorn, and they also make excellent teachers.

Element: Earth Color: Gray Lucky Numbers: 2 and 8 Love Matches: Taurus, Pisces, and Capricorn Friendship Matches: Scorpio and Pisces Capricorn Celebs: Ricky Martin, Jim Carrey, and Mackenzie Rosman

[edit] Things That You Never Knew You Wanted To Know

This is the part of the page where you can find all the useless facts, cool trivia, and interesting information that have been collected from various sources over the past few years. True to its name, most of the facts are useless, but many of them may actually help you in the future.

[edit] WARNING!!!!

There are a lot of facts on this page, and I can't be 100% positive that all of them are 100% accurate. I wish I could be, but I'm sure that there's at least one fact that isn't 100% accurate.

[edit] The Useless Facts

[edit] Animals

1. Ostriches are often not taken seriously. They can run faster than horses, and the males can roar like lions.

2. Seals used for their fur get extremely sick when taken aboard ships.

3. Sloths take two weeks to digest their food.

4. Guinea pigs and rabbits can't sweat.

5. The pet food company Ralston Purina recently introduced, from its subsidiary Purina Philippines, power chicken feed designed to help roosters build muscles for cockfighting, which is popular in many areas of the world.

6. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cockfighting market is huge: The Philippines has five million roosters used for exactly that.

7. Sharks and rays are the only animals known to man that don't get cancer. Scientists believe this has something to do with the fact that they don't have bones, but cartilage.

8. The porpoise is second to man as the most intelligent animal on the planet.

9. Young beavers stay with their parents for the first two years of their lives before going out on their own.

10. Skunks can accurately spray their smelly fluid as far as ten feet.

11. Deer can't eat hay.

12. Gopher snakes in Arizona are not poisonous, but when frightened they may hiss and shake their tails like rattlesnakes.

13. On average, dogs have better eyesight than humans, although not as colorful.

14. The duckbill platypus can store as many as six hundred worms in the pouches of its cheeks.

15. The lifespan of a squirrel is about nine years.

16. North American oysters do not make pearls of any value.

17. Human birth control pills work on gorillas.

18. Many sharks lay eggs, but hammerheads give birth to live babies that look like very small duplicates of their parents. Young hammerheads are usually born headfirst, with the tip of their hammer-shaped head folded backward to make them more streamlined for birth.

19. Gorillas sleep as much as fourteen hours per day.

20. A biological reserve has been made for golden toads because they are so rare.

21. There are more than fifty different kinds of kangaroos.

22. Jellyfish like salt water. A rainy season often reduces the jellyfish population by putting more fresh water into normally salty waters where they live.

23. The female lion does ninety percent of the hunting.

24. The odds of seeing three albino deer at once are one in seventy-nine billion, yet one man in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, took a picture of three albino deer in the woods.

25. A group of twelve or more cows is called a flink.

26. Cats often rub up against people and furniture to lay their scent and mark their territory. They do it this way, as opposed to the way dogs do it, because they have scent glands in their faces.

27. Cats sleep up to eighteen hours a day, but never quite as deep as humans. Instead, they fall asleep quickly and wake up intermittently to check to see if their environment is still safe.

28. Catnip, or Nepeta cataria, is an herb with nepetalactone in it. Many think that when cats inhale nepetalactone, it affects hormones that arouse sexual feelings, or at least alter their brain functioning to make them feel "high." Catnip was originally made, using nepetalactone as a natural bug repellant, but roaming cats would rip up the plants before they could be put to their intended task.

29. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans ages the equivalent of five human years for every day they live, so they usually die after about fourteen days. When stressed, though, the worm goes into a comatose state that can last for two or more months. The human equivalent would be to sleep for about two hundred years.

30. You can tell the sex of a horse by its teeth. Most males have 40, females have 36.

31. Tuatara lizards, from New Zealand, have two eyes in the center of their heads and a third one on top of their heads.

32. A British medical journal called The Practitioner has determined that bird watching can be hazardous to one's health. They have officially designated bird watching a hazardous activity, using the example of the death of a bird watcher who became so wrapped up in watching a particular bird that he failed to notice his potentially dangerous surroundings and was eaten by a crocodile.

33. Because porcupines have hollow quills, they are great swimmers.

34. Mediterranean divers, before the Middle Ages, used to gather the golden strands of the pen shell, using them to weave a very fine cloth for the purpose of making women’s' gloves. The cloth was so fine, in fact that a pair of these gloves could be packed into an empty walnut shell, or anything of comparable volume.

35. Snakes that have the genetic mutation of having been born with two heads have a hard time eating, because the two heads generally fight over which gets the food.

36. Baby songbirds seem to learn how to sing from the adult birds of their species, and if they are raised by other species, they don't sing the same as their ancestors. They often make strange warbling noises, but may also learn the songs of other species. In the latter case, they can pass these songs on to their offspring.

37. Giraffes can't cough.

38. Elephants can smell water from as far away as three miles.

39. The Japanese quail has many values to the people who live in the areas it habituates. They are used for their song, their eggs, their uses as fighting cocks, for their meat, and are carried around in cold weather in South china to keep one's hands warm.

40. All shrimp are born male, but slowly grow into females as they mature.

41. The stomach acids in a snake's stomach can digest bones and teeth but not fur or hair.

42. The March Hare from Alice In Wonderland portrays the actual antics of real hares during springtime, when they jump around and hit their large hind feet on the ground.

43. Some species of dinosaur were the size of chickens.

44. Birds cannot go into outer space, because they use gravity to assist them in swallowing, so they'd quickly choke and die in a non-gravity environment.

45. The Metro Goldwyn Mayer lion lived in Memphis, Tennessee.

46. Humans have three color receptors in their eyes, while goldfish have four, and mantis shrimp have ten.

47. Studies have shown that pigs are one of the more intelligent animals, surprisingly. They come a close second only to primates. They are so smart, in fact, that they can be trained to do tricks like a dog.

48. Birds do not sleep in their nests, although they may rest in them from time to time.

49. The average giraffe has a blood pressure two or three times that of the average human.

50. Some birds from the rain forests of South America actually breed in Canada in the summer, before returning south for the winter.

51. The giant Pacific octopus can squeeze its entire body through a hole the size of its beak.

52. More types of fish live in one Amazon River tributary than in all the rivers in North America combined.

53. Penguins generally mate once and produce one egg per year.

54. The mako shark and great white shark are two of the few species of shark that are warm blooded.

55. You can house break an armadillo.

56. Cows are the only mammals that pee backwards.

57. Greyhound dogs can see better than any other breed of dog.

58. The opossum is a North American mammal about the size of a cat. It looks much like an over sized rat. In fact, one type of opossum is actually called the rat opossum. What's most interesting about opossums is how it reacts to predators: if it can't escape and hissing and showing its teeth do not scare off the predator, they pretend to die. The thing is, it's not doing this because it wants to; it can't really control it. Its muscles tighten up in fear and it faints.

59. The giant tortoise can live longer in captivity than any other animal.

60. The Pekingese is the royal dog of China.

61. Snakes don’t bite in rivers or swamps because they would drown if they did.

62. St. Bernard dogs do not carry kegs of brandy, and never have.

63. Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms per day.

64. Ostriches stick their heads in the sand to look for water.

65. The Kiwi, national bird of New Zealand, can't fly. It lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind and lays only one egg each year. Despite this, it has survived for more than 10 thousand years.

66. The oyster is usually ambisexual. Through its life it will change from male to female and back again numerous times.

67. In regions of India where the soil is red - elephants take on a permanent pink tinge because they regularly spray dust over their bodies to protect themselves against insects.

68. The most venomous of all snakes, known as the Inland Taipan has enough venom in one bite to kill over 200,000 mice.

69. Finches love thistle seeds. But only goldfinches can eat upside-down. Goldfinch feeders have openings underneath perches so other birds can't elbow their way into that particular chow line.

70. It takes seven years for a lobster to grow 1 pound.

71. A crocodile really does produce tears, but they're not due to sadness. The tears are glandular secretions that work to expel excess salt from the eyes. Hence, "crocodile tears" are false tears.

72. Ergonomic waterbeds are the latest must-have on the bovine circuit. The beds, listing at $175, are said to enhance cattle health by reducing joint damage.

73. A dog's mucus membrane is the size of fifty postage stamps.

74. The longest recorded life span of a camel was 35 years, 5 months.

75. 78% of cats never travel with their owner.

76. To a human, one giant octopus looks virtually the same as any other of the same size and species. This explains why divers claim to have seen the same octopus occupy a den for ten or more years. But an octopus seldom lives longer than four years.

77. September 16-21 is Farm Animal Awareness Week.

78. The world camel population is 19,627,000.

79. Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead.

80. The giant crab of Japan can be as large as 12 feet across.

81. The snapping turtle eats carrion and is used by police to find dead bodies in lakes, ponds and swamps.

82. The Alaskan blackfish is found in Arctic region. When the cold Arctic winter comes, the waters the blackfish calls home freeze. And so does the blackfish! It's not dead, but only in a state of suspended animation. Months later when spring arrives, and ice melts, the blackfish comes back to "life" and goes off swimming on its merry way as if nothing ever happened.

83. Sharks never stop moving, even when they sleep or rest.

84. The woolly mammoth, extinct since the Ice Age, had tusks almost 16 feet high.

85. The king crab walks diagonally.

86. The East Alligator River in Australia's Northern Territory, was misnamed. It contains crocodiles not alligators.

87. The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in 2000 B.C.

88. The kinkajou's tail is twice as long as its body. Every night, it wraps itself up in its tail and uses it as a pillow.

89. The average minimal speed of birds in order to remain aloft in flight is reported to be about 16½ feet per second, or about 11 miles per hour.

90. Young birds such as ducks, geese, and shore birds are born with their eyes open.

91. A few species of monkeys and apes see the full spectrum of color, as well as some birds and possibly fish. Most animals, however, perceive the world in shades of gray, including the bull. A bull who charges a bright red cape is charging because of the movement of the cape, not the color.

92. A large kangaroo would make a great long-distance jumper, covering more than thirty feet with a single jump.

93. In Budapest, they control the pigeon population by mixing birth control chemicals with the birdseed.

94. Lobsters are scared of octopuses. The sight of one makes a lobster freeze.

95. A cat's jaw cannot move sideways.

96. Dogs have about 100 different facial expressions, most of them made with the ears.

97. In 1992 five cows were killed in drive by shootings in Clay County, Missouri.

98. When reflected from bright lights (head lights) deer's eyes are orange, whereas cats and dogs are green. Rabbits' eyes remain black.

99. The heaviest dog on record is an Old English Mastiff named Zorbah, who weighed 343 pounds and measured 8 feet and 3 in. from nose to tail.

100. In Vermont, the ratio of cows to people is 10:1.

101. In a test performed by Canadian scientists, using various different styles of music, it was determined that chickens lay the most eggs when pop music was played.

102. Koala is Aboriginal for "no drink".

103. The average adult male ostrich, the world's largest living bird, weighs up to 345 pounds.

104. The average elephant produces 50 pounds of dung each day.

105. Relative to their weight and size, birds are stronger than people. Luckily, they don't tend to throw their weight around.

106. The Platypus can eat its weight in worms every day.

107. A donkey will sink in quicksand but a mule won't.

108. If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.

109. Pigs can become alcoholics.

110. A blue whale's tongue weighs more than an elephant.

111. A top freestyle swimmer achieves a speed of only 4 miles per hour. Fish, in contrast, have been clocked at 68 mph.

112. Did you know that at Disneyland they have hundreds of wild domesticated cats running around the park? They never come out during the day because there's too many people, but the reason they're there is to catch the mice.

113. The world's fastest reptile (measured on land) is the spiny-tailed iguana of Costa Rica. It has been clocked at 21.7 miles per hour.

114. Minnows have teeth in their throat.

115. Rattlesnakes gather in groups to sleep through the winter. Sometimes up to 1,000 of them will coil up together to keep warm.

116. In the air, puffins are powerful flyers, beating their wings 300 to 400 times a minute to achieve speeds up to 40 miles per hour.

117. There are 1,600 known species of starfishes in the world.

118. The Bateleur eagle of Africa hunts over a territory of 250 square miles a day.

119. More than one million stray dogs and over 500,000 stray cats live in the New York City metropolitan area.

120. There are 40,000 muscles and tendons in an elephant's trunk. This makes it very strong and flexible, allowing an elephant to pluck a delicate flower or lift a huge log. The trunk is used for touching, grasping, sucking, spraying, smelling, and striking.

121. Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.

122. No other animal gives us more by-products than the hog. These by-products include pig suede, buttons, glass, paint brushes, crayons, chalk, and insulation to name a few.

123. A bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed every animal in the Berlin Zoo except the elephant, which escaped and roamed the city. When a Russian commander saw hungry Germans chasing the elephant and trying to kill it, he ordered his troops to protect it and shoot anyone who tried to kill it.

124. Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.

125. To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs-it will let you go instantly.

126. The "snood" is the fleshy projection just above the bill on a turkey.

127. The hairless area of roughened skin at the tip of a bear's snout is called the rhinarium.

128. The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.

129. The ostrich egg yolk is the biggest single cell in the world.

130. The bottle-nosed whale can dive to a depth of 3,000 feet in two minutes.

131. Male monkeys lose the hair on their heads in the same way men do.

132. Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not sweat by salivating, they sweat through the pads of their feet.

133. Many hamsters only blink one eye at a time.

134. The leg bones of a bat are so thin that no bat can walk.

135. While drug-sniffing dogs are trained to bark like crazy, go "aggressive" at the first whiff of the right powder... Bomb-sniffing dogs are trained to go "passive" lest they set off a motion sensor or a noise sensor or any number of other things that might go "kablooie."

136. During WWII, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs.

137. The pupil of an octopus' eye is rectangular.

138. The Javan rhinoceros - a solitary, single-horned species - is the world's rarest large mammal. Only an estimated 50 to 70 of the animals remain in the wild. There are none in captivity.

139. Marcel Prousthave had a swordfish at home.

140. The first chimpanzee to travel in space was named Ham. The name came from the lab that he was raised in - the Holloman AeroMedical lab in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Ham's flight in a Mercury space capsule in 1961 helped to prove that space travel could be safe for humans.

141. The oldest know breed of domesticated dog is the saluki. Carvings of animals resembling the saluki have been found in excavations of the Sumerian Empire believed to date from between 6000 and 7000 B.C.

142. The beluga whale is often referred to as the "sea canary" because of the birdlike chirping sounds it makes.

143. More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States.

144. One species of antelope, the Sitatunga, can sleep underwater.

145. Most cows give more milk when they listen to music.

146. The largest order of mammals, with about 1,700 species, is rodents. Bats are second with about 950 species.

147. The bite of a leech is painless due to its own anesthetic.

148. The black bear is not always black. It can be brown, cinnamon, yellow, and sometimes a bluish color.

149. Most tropical marine fish could survive in a tank filled with human blood.

150. Most varieties of snake can go an entire year without eating a single morsel of food.

151. To provide their young with all the comforts of home while growing up, ichneumon wasps lay their eggs in or on the bodies of host grubs. But there's a catch. The grubs are sometimes those of wood-boring insects hidden deep within tree trunks. How to reach them? Ichneumons' abdomens come equipped with an egg laying structure, or ovipositor harden with ionized manganese or zinc. "Some can drill as much as three inches into solid wood," says Donald Quicke of Britain’s Imperial College. When the wasps hatch, they chew their way out with mouth-parts also hardened with minerals from the grubs they ate.

152. Shock treatment for epilepsy was once administered by electric catfish.

153. Each year, Americans spend more on cat food than on baby food.

154. The flamingoes of East Africa have few natural enemies. In general, the only predators an adult flamingo need fear are the fish eagle and the marabou stork.

155. Rabbits never walk or trot, but always hop or leap.

156. Gorillas and cats sleep about fourteen hours a day.

157. The flying snake of Java and Malaysia is able to flatten itself out like a ribbon and sail like a glider from tree to tree.

158. Rats can swim for a 1/2 mile without resting, and they can tread water for 3 days straight.

159. The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

160. An iguana can stay under water for twenty-eight minutes.

161. Dogs mature very fast in their early years. However, most of their growth occurs during the first two years. After that, development slows down. A one-year-old dog is like a teenage human and a two-year-old dog is like an adult in his mid-twenties. Only when the dog is older—more than ten—does a single dog year equal about seven human years.

162. Elephants have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean.

163. Out of all the animals a circus animal trainer works with, none are deadlier than the elephant. More deaths are caused by the elephants than the large cats circus tamers train with.

164. Belize is the only country in the world with a jaguar preserve.

165. A quarter of the horses in the U.S. died of a vast virus epidemic in 1872.

166. All elephants walk on tip-toe, because the back portion of their foot is made up of all fat and no bone.

167. A baby eel is called an elver, a baby oyster is called a spat.

168. A robin's egg is blue, but if you put it in vinegar for thirty days it turns yellow.

169. Elephants often communicate at sound levels as low as 5Hz. This means that if you flap your hands back and forth faster than five times a second, an elephant can actually hear the tone produced.

170. The world's largest rodent is the Capybara. An Amazon water hog that looks like a guinea pig, it can weigh more than 100 pounds.

171. Mongooses were brought to Hawaii to kill rats. This plan failed because rats are nocturnal while the mongoose hunts during the day.

172. Frogs never drink. They absorb water from their surroundings by osmosis.

173. Seagulls are heavy in the front and light in the back. They experience less wind resistance when they face into the wind. When you see them at the beach on a windy day facing the same direction, they are trying to minimize the wind's resistance by facing into the wind.

174. Parthenogenesis is the term used to describe the process by which certain animals are able to reproduce themselves in successive female generations without intervention of a male of the species. At least one species of lizard is known to do so.

175. The only continent without reptiles or snakes is Antarctica.

176. A trout swims at about 4 miles per hour which is faster than you or me.

177. Lobsters can move up to 25 feet per second underwater.

178. A winkle is an edible sea snail.

179. A jynx is a woodpecker, also know as the wryneck because of its peculiar habit of twisting its neck.

180. In Wales, there are more sheep than people. (In 1996 the population for Wales was 2,921,000 with approximately 5,000,000 sheep)

181. The crocodile is a cannibal; it will occasionally eat other crocodiles.

182. Octopi and squid have three hearts. Their main systemic heart pumps blood throughout the circulatory system, and two branchial hearts provide some additional push at each of the paired gills.

183. February is the mating month for gray whales.

184. The crocodile is surprisingly fast on land. If pursued by a crocodile, a person should run in a zigzag motion, for the crocodile has little or no ability to make sudden changes of direction.

185. Of all known forms of animal life ever to inhabit the earth, only about 10 percent still exist today.

186. Fish travel in schools, whales travel in pods or gams.

187. Of the 250-plus known species of shark in the world, only about 18 are known to be dangerous to man.

188. Flamingoes feel safest when they are crowded together, hundreds in a group.

189. Flamingoes live remarkably long lives: up to 80 years.

190. Rhinos are in the same family as horses, and are thought to have inspired the myth of the unicorn.

191. Snakes continue to grow until the day they die.

192. Weighing approximately 13 pounds at birth, a baby caribou will double its weight in just 10 days.

193. The oyster is usually ambisexual. It begins life as a male, then becomes a female, then changes back to being a male, then back to being female; it may go back and forth many times.

194. The Pastern is the part of a horse located on the foot between the fetlock and the hoof.

195. The digestive juices of crocodiles contain so much hydrochloric acid that they have dissolved iron spearheads and six-inch steel hooks that the crocodiles have swallowed.

196. The penculine titmouse of Africa builds its home in such a sturdy manner that Masai tribesman use their nests for purses and carrying cases.

197. The domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking. Wild cats hold their tail horizontally, or tucked between their legs while walking.

198. When a hippopotamus exerts itself, gets angry, or stays out of the water for too long, it exudes red sweatlike mucus through its skin.

199. The Penguin is the only bird that can swim, but not fly. It is also the only bird that walks upright.

200. A kind of tortoise in the Galapagos Islands has an upturned shell at its neck so it can reach its head up to eat cactus branches.

201. When two zebras stand side by side, they usually face in opposite directions. They say this is so they can keep an eye out for predators.

202. A typical day for a gorilla is to get up early and eat. It eats until it gets hot, then it will nap. When it gets up from its nap, they resume eating until the sun goes down.

203. There are more than 300 references to sheep and lambs, more than any other animal, in the Bible's Old Testament, one of the earliest records of sheep.

204. The underside of a horse's hoof is called a frog. The frog peels off several times a year with new growth.

205. The cells which make up the antlers of a moose are the fastest growing animal cells in nature.

206. The Dalmatian dog is named for the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, where it is believed to have been originally bred.

207. A pelican consumes about 33 and 1/3 percent of its body weight in a single meal.

208. Chocolate effects a dogs heart and nervous system, a few ounces enough to kill a small sized dog.

209. Dachshunds are the smallest breed of dog used for hunting. They are low to the ground, which allows them to enter and maneuver through tunnels easily.

210. The golden tree frog has a croak that sounds like a mallet chipping rock, but in summer it sounds like a tinkling bell.

211. City squirrels will eat just about anything, and often, it's the junk food that people offer them that they prefer, like Cracker Jack peanuts. Many naturalists have concluded that a peanut diet is harmful to squirrels: it seems to result in a weakening of eyesight and a thinning of the animal's pelt.

212. A skunk will not bite and throw its scent at the same time.

213. The Mola Mola, or Ocean Sunfish, lays up to 5,000,000 eggs at one time.

214. Mother prairie dogs will nurse their young only while underground in the safety of the burrow. If an infant tries to suckle above ground, the mother will slap it.

215. The more that is learned about the ecological benefits of bats, the more home gardeners are going out of their way to entice these amazing winged mammals into their neighborhoods. Bats are voracious insect eaters, devouring as many as 600 bugs per hour for 4 to 6 hours a night. They can eat from one-half to three-quarters their weight per evening. Bats are also important plant pollinators, particularly in the southwestern U.S.

216. The chameleon has a tongue that is 1.5 times the length of its body.

217. Mother-of pearl is not always white. It can be pink, blue, purple, gray, or even green. Nor is it produced only by the pearl oyster. The abalone and the pearl mussel both have shells that are lined with fine-quality mother-of-pearl.

218. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

219. Boredom can lead to madness in parrots. When caged by themselves and neglected for long periods of time, these intelligent, sociable birds can easily become mentally ill. Many inflict wounds upon themselves, develop strange tics, and rip out their own feathers. The birds need constant interaction, affection, and mental stimulation; some bird authorities have determined that some parrot breeds have the mental abilities of a 5-year-old human child. Should a neglected parrot go mad, there is little that can be done to restore it to normalcy. In England, there are "mental institutions" for such unfortunate creatures.

220. The smallest of American owls, the elf owl, often nests in the Gila woodpecker’s cactus hole after the woodpecker leaves. The owl measures barely 6 inches tall. It specializes in catching scorpions, seizing each by the tail and nipping off its stinger. It then swallows the scorpion’s body, pincers and all.

221. As much as 40-percent of the entire world's varieties of freshwater fish are to be found in the Amazon River basin. There are about 8,600 species of birds in the entire world, and more than half of them are also represented in this area.

222. The Portuguese jellyfish tentacles have been known to grow a mile in length, catching anything in it's path by stinging it's prey.

223. The African lungfish can live out of water for up to four years.

224. Cats can run slightly more than 30 miles per hour.

225. Male birds actually do most of the singing, primarily to stake out their territory and to invite females of their species over to mate. Females tend to select as mates those male birds who sing the most. It is believed they do this not because they like the quality of the singing, but because they have learned the males who sing the most have the most food in their territory. Since the male doesn't have to spend much time hunting for food, it has more time to sing.

226. At birth a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.

227. The flying gurnard, a fish, swims in water, walks on land, and flies through the air.

228. Contrary to popular belief, elephants are not afraid of mice, and they do not have any better memory than any other animal.

229. Despite being a nine-inch-tall bird, the roadrunner can run as fast as a human sprinter.

230. While there are hundreds of species of sharks, only about seven are marketed and eaten with any regularity in the United States.

231. The largest species of seahorse measures 8 inches.

232. A camel can lose up to 30 percent of its body weight in perspiration and continue to cross the desert. A human would die of heat shock after sweating away only 12 percent of body weight.

233. There are about 500 different kinds of cone snails around the world. All have a sharp, modified tooth that stabs prey with venom like a harpoon. Most cone snails hunt worms and other snails, but some eat fish. These are the ones most dangerous to people. The nerve toxin that stops a fish is powerful enough to also kill a human.

234. The leech has 32 brains, 32 more than most humans.

235. The blow of a whale has a strong, foul odor. It apparently smells like a combination of spoiled fish and old oil. Because whales have such terrible breath, sailors believed at one time that a whiff of it could cause brain disorders.

236. The last of a cat's senses to develop is sight.

237. Mussels can thrive in polluted water because of an inborn ability to purify bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

238. Because birds carrying messages were often killed in flight by hawks, medieval Arabs made a habit of sending important messages twice.

239. Since housecats are clean and their coats are dry and glossy, their fur easily becomes charged with electricity. Sparks can be seen if their fur is rubbed in the dark.

240. The jackrabbit is not a rabbit; it is a hare.

241. A house cat has 18 claws.

242. A castrated rooster is called a capon.

243. A shark’s skeleton is made up of cartilage.

244. The only venomous British snake is the adder.

245. To see at night as well as an owl, you would need eyeballs as big as a grapefruit.

246. The venom of the king cobra is so deadly that one gram of it can kill 150 people. Just to handle the substance can put one in a coma.

247. Cats purr at 26 cycles per second, the same as an idling diesel engine.

248. The sea lion can swim 6,000 miles, stopping only to sleep.

249. While many people believe that a camel's humps are used for water storage, they are actually made up of fat. The hump of a well-rested, well-fed camel can weigh up to eighty pounds.

250. Birds do not have sweat glands, so their bodies cannot cool down through perspiration. Their bodies cool by flight or, when at rest, panting.

251. Giant squids have eyes as big as watermelons.

252. Male lions can sleep for up to 20 hours a day.

253. The male howler monkey of Central and South America is the noisiest animal which can be heard clearly for distances of up to 3 miles.

254. Sharks can sense a drop of blood from 2.5 miles away.

255. The dumbest domesticated animal is the turkey.

256. The only place in Europe where monkeys live free is Gibraltar.

257. Beavers do not eat fish.

258. Australia has the largest sheep population.

259. Penguins only have sex once a year.

260. You can cut up a starfish into pieces and each piece will grow into a completely new starfish.

261. The blue whale can go up to 6 months without eating.

262. Fish can be susceptible to seasickness.

263. The female pigeon cannot lay eggs if she is alone. She must be able to see another pigeon in order for her ovaries to function. Her own reflection will work if no other pigeon is available.

264. Dolphins can kill sharks by ramming them with their snout.

265. A woodchuck breathes 2,100 times an hour, but it only breathes ten times an hour while it is hibernating.

266. The greyhound dog can reach speeds of up to 42 miles per hour.

267. The electric eel has an average discharge of 400 volts.

268. A parrot’s beak can close with a force close to 350 pounds per square inch.

269. Lemon sharks grow a new set of teeth every two weeks. That means one shark will go through more than 24,000 new teeth in a year.

270. Apus Australiensis, a shrimp-like crustacean of arid central Australia, survives where other water animals would perish because its eggs hatch only after they have been dried out in the sun.

271. Elephant tusks grow throughout an elephant's life and can weigh more than 200 pounds. Among Asian elephants, only the males have tusks. Both sexes of African elephants have tusks.

272. Reindeer like to eat bananas.

273. The average life expectancy of a leopard in captivity is 12 years.

274. Mice, whales, elephants, giraffes, and humans all have seven neck vertebrae.

275. Elephants and short-tailed shrews get by on only two hours of sleep a day.

276. Elephants are covered with hair. Although it is not apparent from a distance, at close range, one can discern a thin coat of light hairs covering practically every part of an elephant's body.

277. The turkey was wrongly named after what was thought to be it's country of origin.

278. Elephants communicate in sound waves below the frequency that humans can hear.

279. Wolf packs could be found in all the forests of Europe, and in 1420 and 1438, wolves roamed the streets of Paris.

280. The whistling swan has more than 25,000 feathers on its body.

281. You can identify a grizzly bear's mark by the sign of five claws. A black bear will lacerate a tree trunk with four claws.

282. The white elephant is the sacred animal of Thailand.

283. The kakapo is a nocturnal burrowing parrot of New Zealand that has a green body with brown and yellow markings. Its name is from Maori and means "night parrot."

284. Gorillas beat their chests when they get nervous.

285. A cow's sweat glands are in the nose.

286. City squirrels will eat just about anything, and often, it's the junk food that people offer them that they prefer, like Cracker Jack peanuts. Many naturalists have concluded that a peanut diet is harmful to squirrels: it seems to result in a weakening of eyesight and a thinning of the animal's pelt.

287. A skunk will not bite and throw its scent at the same time.

288. The Mola Mola, or Ocean Sunfish, lays up to 5,000,000 eggs at one time.

289. Mother prairie dogs will nurse their young only while underground in the safety of the burrow. If an infant tries to suckle above ground, the mother will slap it.

290. The more that is learned about the ecological benefits of bats, the more home gardeners are going out of their way to entice these amazing winged mammals into their neighborhoods. Bats are voracious insect eaters, devouring as many as 600 bugs per hour for 4 to 6 hours a night. They can eat from one-half to three-quarters their weight per evening. Bats are also important plant pollinators, particularly in the southwestern U.S.

291. The chameleon has a tongue that is 1.5 times the length of its body.

292. Mother-of pearl is not always white. It can be pink, blue, purple, gray, or even green. Nor is it produced only by the pearl oyster. The abalone and the pearl mussel both have shells that are lined with fine-quality mother-of-pearl.

293. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

294. Boredom can lead to madness in parrots. When caged by themselves and neglected for long periods of time, these intelligent, sociable birds can easily become mentally ill. Many inflict wounds upon themselves, develop strange tics, and rip out their own feathers. The birds need constant interaction, affection, and mental stimulation; some bird authorities have determined that some parrot breeds have the mental abilities of a 5-year-old human child. Should a neglected parrot go mad, there is little that can be done to restore it to normalcy. In England, there are "mental institutions" for such unfortunate creatures.

295. The smallest of American owls, the elf owl, often nests in the Gila woodpecker’s cactus hole after the woodpecker leaves. The owl measures barely 6 inches tall. It specializes in catching scorpions, seizing each by the tail and nipping off its stinger. It then swallows the scorpion’s body, pincers and all.

296. As much as 40-percent of the entire world's varieties of freshwater fish are to be found in the Amazon River basin. There are about 8,600 species of birds in the entire world, and more than half of them are also represented in this area.

297. The Portuguese jellyfish tentacles have been known to grow a mile in length, catching anything in it's path by stinging it's prey.

298. The African lungfish can live out of water for up to four years.

299. Cats can run slightly more than 30 miles per hour.

300. Male birds actually do most of the singing, primarily to stake out their territory and to invite females of their species over to mate. Females tend to select as mates those male birds who sing the most. It is believed they do this not because they like the quality of the singing, but because they have learned the males who sing the most have the most food in their territory. Since the male doesn't have to spend much time hunting for food, it has more time to sing.

301. At birth a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.

302. The flying gurnard, a fish, swims in water, walks on land, and flies through the air.

303. Contrary to popular belief, elephants are not afraid of mice, and they do not have any better memory than any other animal.

304. Despite being a nine-inch-tall bird, the roadrunner can run as fast as a human sprinter.

305. While there are hundreds of species of sharks, only about seven are marketed and eaten with any regularity in the United States.

306. A female swine, or a sow, will always have an even number of teats or nipples, usually twelve.

307. Unlike most cats, tigers love the water and can easily swim three or four miles.

308. The owl parrot can't fly, and builds its nest under tree roots.

309. Gorillas do not know how to swim.

310. A 4-inch-long abalone can grip a rock with a force of 400 pounds. Two grown men are incapable of prying it up.

311. A bird "chews" with its stomach. Since most birds do not have teeth, a bird routinely swallows small pebbles and gravel. These grits become vigorously agitated in the bird's stomach and serve to grind food as it passes through the digestive system.

312. A bird sees everything at once in total focus. Whereas the human eye is globular and must adjust to varying distances, the bird's eye is flat and can take in everything at once in a single glance.

313. There are about 40 different muscles in a bird’s wing.

314. A bison can jump 6 feet.

315. There are about 5,000 species of coral known. Only about half of them build reefs.

[edit] Bugs and Insects

1. The natural diet of Lady Beetles consists of soft bodied insects such as aphids, spider mites, and young caterpillars. Adults can consume up to 100 aphids a day.

2. Certain species of male butterflies produce scents that serve in attracting females during courtship.

3. The Giant cricket of Africa enjoys eating human hair.

4. A nest in which insects or spiders deposit their eggs is called a "nidus".

5. Honeybees have hair on their eyes.

6. The only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees is the praying mantis.

7. Scientists have identified more than 300 viruses capable of bringing fatal diseases to insects. The organisms are believed to be entirely different than those that cause disease in humans, and are thus harmless to man.

8. The average airspeed of the common housefly is 4 1/2 mph. A housefly beats its wings about 20,000 times per minute.

9. Small cockroaches are more likely to die on their backs than large cockroaches.

10. There is an average of 50,000 spiders per acre in green areas.

11. Fleas can jump more than 200 times their body length.

12. Crickets don't chirp by rubbing their legs together, they make the noise by rubbing their wings together.

13. The social life in ants and termites has been accompanied by an extraordinary royal perk: a 100-fold increase among queen ants in average maximum lifespan, with some queens surviving for almost 30 years. This longevity can be attributed in part to the sheltered and pampered life of the royal egg layer.

14. Between 20,000 and 60,000 bees live in a single hive. The queen bee lays nearly 1,500 eggs a day and lives for up to 2 years. The drone, whose only job is to mate with the queen bee, has a lifespan of around 24 days—he has no sting. Worker bees - all sterile females - usually work themselves to death within 40 days, collecting pollen and nectar. Worker bees will fly p to 9 miles to find pollen and nectar, flying at speeds as fast as 15 mph.

15. There are 4,300 known species of ladybugs in the world.

16. You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day that in any other weather.

17. The tarantula spends most of its life within its burrow, which is an 18-inch vertical hole with an inch-wide opening. When male tarantulas are between the ages of 5 to 7 years, they leave the burrow in search of a female, usually in the early fall. This migration actually signals the end of their life cycle. The males mate with as many females as they can, and then they die around mid-November.

18. Until very recently, no centipede was found that did not have an ODD number of leg pairs. Usually the number varies from 15 to 191 pairs, all odd. No one knows why. However, Chris Kettle, a doctoral student in ecology, recently found a centipede with 48 pairs of legs, an even number. The remarkable discovery was presented to the International Congress of Myriapodology in Poland and featured in the science journal Trends in Genetics. Mr. Kettle suspects a genetic mutation is responsible for the even number of leg pairs.

19. 62 degrees Fahrenheit is the minimum temperature required for a grasshopper to be able to hop.

20. Mosquitoes prefer children to adults, and blondes to brunettes.

21. Spiders have transparent blood.

22. There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are humans on the entire earth.

23. A spiders web is made of two types of silk, one sticky and the other not. The spider begins the web with the non sticky silk and forms the "spokes". After the frame is constructed and secure, the spider goes back with the sticky silk and completes the web design we are so familiar with, connecting spoke to spoke. They will also add rows connecting the spokes to allow them access for web maintenance. Spend time watching a spider and you will see that they painstakingly avoid the sticky silk and walk on the spokes. Should the spider be startled and walk in the sticky silk it will affix to the spider the same as it would you or any thing else. Spiders recycle their webbing, so a spider that gets stuck in its own web may eat its way out.

24. Some crickets burrow megaphone-like tunnels that help transport the sound of their chirps as far as 2,000 feet away.

25. A bee could travel 4 million miles (6.5 million km) at 7 mph (11km/h) on the energy it would obtain from 1 gallon (3.785 liters) of nectar.

26. A dragonfly flaps its wings 20 to 40 times a second, bees and houseflies 200 times, some mosquitoes 600 times, and a tiny gnat 1,000 times.

27. A fly can react to something it sees and change direction in 30 milliseconds.

28. A housefly can transport germs as far as 15 miles away from the original source of contamination.

29. A mature, well-established termite colony with as many as 60,000 members will eat only about one-fifth of an ounce of wood a day.

30. The silkworm's silk comes out of its mouth as a thread of gooey liquid, so that nice silk blouse you spent a fortune on is really just worm spit.

31. Some spiders have as many as eight eyes.

32. The monarch butterfly's sense of taste is about 12,000 times more sensitive than a human's.

33. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the best time to spray household insects is 4:00 p.m. Insects are most vulnerable at this time.

34. After mating, the female black widow spider turns on her partner and devours him. The female may dispatch as many as twenty-five suitors a day in this manner.

35. An ant can survive for up to two weeks underwater.

36. Ants stretch when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human manner before taking up the tasks of the day.

37. On an average day, a queen bee lays about 1,500 eggs.

38. Bees have been known to cure rheumatism.

39. A mosquito has 47 teeth.

40. Tarantulas do not use muscles to move their legs. They control the amount of blood pumped into them to extend and retract their legs.

41. Any Female bee in a beehive could have been the queen if she had been fed the necessary royal jelly. All female bees in a given hive are sisters.

42. The longest species of centipede is the giant scolopender (Scolopendra gigantea), found in the rain forests of Central and South America. It has 23 segments (46 legs) and specimens have been measured up to 10.5 inches long and 1" in diameter.

43. Female mosquitoes will obtain blood from humans and animals, but only to nourish their eggs. Their food actually consists of nectar and other plant juices.

44. Ladybugs bleed to protect themselves. When alarmed, they release drops of a reddish or yellowish bitter tasting liquid from their mouths and from the pores at their joints. This repels prospective attackers.

45. Certain kinds of insects can live as long as a year after having their head severed. What's more, the insects can still react to stimuli, such as light and temperature.

46. March 14 is "Save a spider day."

47. The beautiful but deadly Australian sea wasp (Chironex fleckeri) is the most venomous jellyfish in the world. Its cardiotoxic venom has caused the deaths of 66 people off the coast of Queensland since 1880, with victims dying within 1-3 minutes if medical aid is not available.

48. The leaf bug of ceylon (phyllum sicci folium) has legs and antennae the color and shape of leaves, has indentations on its body like the vein marks on a leaf, and hangs from branches, swaying in the breeze exactly like a leaf.

49. The black widow spider can devour as many as twenty 'mates' in a single day.

50. Tarantulas are poisonous, but the concentration of the venom in those found in North America is low enough that they're usually not a threat to human life. In fact, some people keep them as pets.

51. Certain fireflies emit a light so penetrating that it can pass through flesh and wood.

52. Tropical ants, when a flood sweeps down on them, roll themselves into a huge living ball which drifts upon the water, with the young safe and dry at the core.

53. Scientists turn up as many as 10,000 new species of insects every year.

54. Worms can have up to ten hearts.

55. The dragonfly has about 30,000 lenses covering the retina of its eye, and thus sees many, many images where we see only one.

56. Fleas can accelerate 50 times faster than the space shuttle.

57. Male bees will try to attract sex partners with orchid fragrance.

58. If two flies were left to reproduce without predators or other limitations for one year, the resulting mass of flies would be the size of the Earth.

59. Maggots were once used to treat a bone infection called osteomyelitis.

60. Butterflies taste with their hind feet.

61. Moths have no stomach.

62. The male of one species of insect related to the praying mantis can only reproduce after the female has bitten off his head.

63. Honeybees navigate using the sun as a compass, even when it is hidden behind clouds - they find it via the polarization of ultraviolet light from areas of blue sky.

64. The katydid has supersonic hearing. It can hear sounds up to 4-5,000 vibrations per second.

65. Little Miss Muffet was arachnaphobic.

66. A typical Mayfly only lives one day.

67. The silkworm moth has lost the ability of flight due to domestication.

68. The largest insect in the world, the meganeuron, a prehistoric dragonfly, measured 29 inches from wingtip to wingtip.

69. Out of 20000 species of bees, only 4 make honey.

70. A dragonfly's penis is shovel-shaped at the end, to scoop a rival male's sperm out of the female it's impregnating.

71. A swarm of Rocky Mountain locusts flew over Nebraska on July 20-30, 1874 covering an area estimated at 198,600 square miles. The swarm must have contained at least 12.5 trillion insects, weighing about 27.5 million tons.

72. Scientists have actually performed brain surgery on cockroaches.

73. Insects make up two thirds of known species.

74. A bee has four wings.

75. A mature, well-established termite colony with as many as 60,000 members will eat only about one-fifth of an ounce of wood a day.

76. The berry butterflies (hypsa monycha) of Singapore, in their caterpillar stage, group around the top of a stem to foil predatory birds by imitating the appearance of a poisonous berry.

77. Bees have 5 eyes. There are 3 small eyes on the top of a bee's head and 2 larger ones in front.

78. Crickets hear through their knees.

79. In relation to its size, the ordinary house spider is eight times faster than an Olympic sprinter.

80. There is a butterfly in Africa with enough poison in it's body to kill six cats.

81. The ichneumon fly has a sense of smell so keen that it can locate a caterpillar deep inside a tree trunk.

[edit] Celebrities

1. At last check, the governor of Arkansas makes $60,000 a year. His salary is the lowest of all 50 states. A dozen or so states pay their governors more than $100,000 year, generally the more populous states. California pays its governor $131,000. Illinois comes in second at $130,000 and change, with New York, a close third at $130,000 even.

2. Lyndon B. Johnson was the first president of the United States to wear contact lenses.

3. President Teddy Roosevelt died from an "infected tooth."

4. Money man Cornelius Vanderbilt was an insomniac and a believer in the occult. He was not able to fall asleep unless each leg of his bed was planted in a dished filled with salt. He felt this kept out the evil spirits. It also kept out the snails, ants, and anyone with high blood pressure.

5. Artist Andy Warhol became famous for his painting of Campbell's Soup cans. Before that - he made his living painting shoes for advertisements.

6. Flamenco dancer Jose Greco took out an insurance policy through Lloyd's of London against his pants splitting during a performance.

7. President Woodrow Wilson wrote all of his speeches in longhand.

8. Television horse Mr. Ed was foaled in 1949 in El Monte, California. Mr. Ed's original name was Bamboo Harvester. Raised as a parade and show horse he was once owned by the president of the California Palomino Society. He died in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, on February 28, 1979, at 30 years old. Tahlequah was also the "home office" for "Late Night with David Letterman's Top Ten List" for several years.

9. President Theodore Roosevelt was the first to announce to the world that Maxwell House coffee is "Good to the last drop."

10. Lloyd Vernet Bridges III is the birth name of actor Beau Bridges. He was given the nickname "Beau" by his family, reportedly after Ashley Wilkes's son in the classic 1939 film "Gone With the Wind."

11. On April 14th, 1910, President Howard Taft began a sports tradition by throwing out the first baseball of the season. That happened at an American League game between Washington and Philadelphia. Washington won, 3-0.

12. Roosevelt was the most superstitious president—he traveled continually but never left on a Friday. He also would not sit at the same table that held thirteen other people.

13. George Washington was deathly afraid of being buried alive. After he died, he wanted to be laid out for three days just to make sure he was dead.

14. Richard Nixon's favorite drink was a dry martini.

15. Julius Caesar was self-conscious about his receding hairline.

16. James Buchanan is said to have had the neatest handwriting of all the Presidents.

17. Richard Nixon left instructions for "California, here I come" to be the last piece of music played (slowly and softly) were he to die in office.

18. The only president to be head of a labor union was Ronald Reagan.

19. When the Hoovers did not want to be overheard by White House guests, they spoke to each other in Chinese.

20. Robert Kennedy was killed in the Ambassador Hotel, the same hotel that housed Marilyn Monroe's first modeling agency.

21. Benjamin Franklin lived at 141 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA.

22. Theodore Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to deliver an inaugural address without using the word "I". Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Dwight D. Eisenhower tied for second place, using "I" only once in their inaugural addresses.

23. A short time before Lincoln's assassination, he dreamed he was going to die, and he related his dream to the Senate.

24. When John Wilkes Booth leaped onto the stage after shooting the President, he tripped—on the American flag.

25. Paul Cezanne had a parrot who he taught to say, "Cezanne is a great painter."

26. George Washington had to borrow money so he could travel to his inauguration.

27. Lyndon Johnson died one mile from the house he was born in.

28. Grover Cleveland answered the White House phone, personally.

29. Calvin Coolidge was sworn into office by his own father.

30. Theodore Roosevelt was blind in his left eye.

31. Charlie Chaplin was so popular during the 1920s and 1930s, he received over 73,000 letters in just 2 days during a visit to London.

32. Warren Harding was the first US president who could drive a car.

33. George Washington died the last hour of the last day of the last week of the last month of the last year of the 18th century.

34. Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an automobile, fly on a plane, and go underwater in a submarine.

35. JFK was the first president born in the 20th century.

36. Thomas Jefferson was once given a 1,235 pound hunk of cheese, giving us the term "the big cheese."

37. President McKinley was shot while shaking hands with spectators.

38. Theodore Roosevelt's wife and mother both died on Feb. 14, 1884.

39. Lincoln was shot on Good Friday.

40. James Garfield often gave campaign speeches in German.

41. George Washington died after being bled by leeches.

42. Leslie Lynch King, Jr. is the birth name of American President Gerald. R. Ford. Ford was the son of Leslie Lynch King and his wife Dorothy Ayer Gardner, who divorced soon after the birth of their only child. When his mother married Gerald R. Ford, Sr. in 1916, he adopted the name Gerald R. Ford, Jr.

43. Noah Webster was referred to as "the walking question mark" during his student days at Yale.

44. Ellen DeGeneres was the first stand-up comedian Johnny Carson ever asked to sit on "The Tonight Show" guest couch during a first appearance.

45. Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla became the first non-Italian pope in 455 years on October 17, 1978. He was inaugurated six days later in a mass at St. Peter's Square, becoming John Paul II.

46. Entertainers who worked in the pizza business before they became famous include Stephen Baldwin, who was a pizza parlor employee, Bill Murray, who was a pizza maker, and Jean-Claude Van Damme, who delivered pizzas. Many years back, Julia Roberts and Christie Brinkley both sold ice cream. Before she made it as a pop singer, Madonna sold doughnuts at Dunkin' Donuts. And in the burger arena, Jennifer Aniston was a waitress at a burger joint, Queen Latifah worked at Burger King, and Andie McDowell was employed by McDonald's.

47. Lyndon Johnson's First Family all had initials LBJ. Lyndon Baines Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Linda Bird Johnson and Lucy Baines Johnson. And his dog, Little Beagle Johnson.

48. Orson Welles is buried in an olive orchard on a ranch owned by his friend, matador Antonio Ordonez in Sevilla, Spain.

49. The concerti on the two Voyager probes' information are performed by famed Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.

50. Jonathan Davids, lead singer for Korn, played in his high school bagpipe band.

51. John F. Kennedy's rocking chair was auctioned off for $442,000.

52. David Atchison, as president pro tempore of the Senate in 1849, was U-S president for one day - Sunday, March 4th - pending the inauguration of President-elect Zachary Taylor on Monday, March 5th.

53. Shangri-la, the presidential hideaway near Thurmont, Maryland, was renamed Camp David in honor of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's father and grandson on May 22, 1953.

54. Actor Steve McQueen encouraged his karate teacher to pursue a career in acting. The teacher? Chuck Norris. McQueen is quoted as telling Norris, "If you can't do anything else' there's always acting."

55. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt ate three chocolate-covered garlic balls every morning. Her doctor suggested this to improve her memory.

56. Rap artist Sean "Puffy" Combs had his first job at age two when he modeled in an ad for Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shops.

57. One year, Elvis Presley paid 91% of his annual income to the IRS.

58. Steven Spielberg is Drew Barrymore's godfather. After seeing her nude in Playboy magazine, he sent her a blanket with a note telling her to cover herself up.

59. Mao Zedong, like many Chinese of his time, refused to brush his teeth. Instead, he rinsed his mouth with tea and chewed the leaves. Why brush? "Does a tiger brush his teeth?" argued Mao. As you can imagine, his teeth were green. Chairman Mao also loved to chain-smoke English cigarettes, when his doctor asked him to cut down, he explained that "smoking is also a form of deep-breathing exercise, don't you think?"

60. In 1977, the legendary Groucho Marx died three days after Elvis Presley died. Unfortunately, due to the fevered commotion caused by Presley's unanticipated death, the media paid little attention to the passing of this brilliant comic. Groucho, with his talented brothers (Chico, Harpo, and Zeppo), starred in irreverent films in the 1920's through 1940's, including "Duck Soup", "A Night at the Opera", "Love Happy," and "A Day at the Races." For five decades, Groucho had worked in the industry as an actor, comedian, TV game show host, and writer, and he won an Emmy in the early days of television for Outstanding Personality.

61. U.S. President Millard Fillmore's mother feared he may have been mentally retarded.

62. Theodore Roosevelt's mother and first wife died on the same day in 1884.

63. Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle.

64. Galileo became totally blind just before his death. This is probably because of his constant gazing at the sun through his telescope.

65. O.J. Simpson had a severe case of rickets and wore leg braces when he was a child.

66. Mark Twain first learned to ride a bicycle at age 55.

67. Vincent Van Gogh painted his last painting, "Cornfield with Crows," and shot himself at age 37.

68. Ice Cube's real name is O'Shea Jackson.

69. Actor Robert De Niro played the part of the Cowardly Lion in his elementary schools production of The Wizard of Oz. De Niro was 10 at the time.

70. During a stage revival of the musical The King and I, star Yul Brynner reportedly acted like a prima donna, making frustrating demands of the cast and crew. One incident that escalated the friction was the London Palladium's backstage pay phone. Brynner said the phone's ringing woke him during naps, so he requested a private phone be installed in his newly redecorated dressing room (which cost $65,000 to make-over). He then had the public phone disconnected. Reportedly, cast members retaliated by pouring glue on his dressing room doorknob.

71. I suppose someone should mention that Mae West never said "Come up and see me sometime." She said "Come on up sometime and see me." Cary Grant never said "Judy, Judy, Judy," and Cagney never said "You dirty rat..."

72. While we're at it, Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake." That callous phrase was originally (falsely) attributed to the wife of Louis XIV, the Sun King, two generations before the Austrian daughter of Maria Theresa ever made the trip to France. It bred a lot of bad feelings, but she never said it. What she DID say, as she walked up the stairs to the guillotine and stepped on the foot of the executioner, was "Forgive me sir. I did not mean to do it."

73. Mary Todd once dated both Abe Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. She chose Lincoln because he showed more promise, and she was right - he was good at everything but ducking.

74. Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate Army, remains the only person, to date, to have graduated from the West Point military academy without a single demerit.

75. So far, nine presidents were elected in years divisible by 20. Six died before their term ended: William Henry Harrison (1840), Lincoln (1860), Garfield (1880), McKinley (1900), Harding (1920), and Kennedy (1960). Franklin D. Roosevelt was reelected in 1940 but died in 1945, after his 1944 reelection. So that's really seven out of nine. Maybe they should be running from, not for the office this year.

76. James Garfield, 20th President of the United States, lived in the White House with his mother.

77. Although John F. Kennedy was reportedly an accomplished yo-yo player, the yo-yo that has commanded the highest price at auction was autographed by President Nixon. This yo-yo was given to "King of Country Music" Roy Acuff onstage at the Grand Ole Opry in 1972, after Nixon introduced Acuff's act. Acuff was famous for yo-yoing on stage and encouraged the President to try. Luckily, the President's awkward performance was captured in a classic news wire photo. The yo-yo fetched $16,029.00 at Acuff's estate auction.

78. Abraham Lincoln's political experience before he became president was a two year term in the House of Representatives.

79. After telling the press he was an expert in hand gestures, President George Bush gave the "V-for-Victory" sign as he drove in his armored limousine past demonstrators in Canberra, Australia's capital in January 1992. In Australia, holding up two fingers to form a "V" has the same vulgar meaning as the middle-finger gesture in the United States. The Aussie demonstrators were enraged, and they signaled in the same manner back at the U.S. President. Pres. Bush later apologized for his faux pas.

80. Alexander Hamilton has been credited with writing George Washington's famous Farewell Address.

81. Johnny Carson was born in Corning, Iowa and grew up in Norfolk, Nebraska.

82. Against Army regulations, George Armstrong Custer often wore a blue velvet uniform.

83. Prince Harry and Prince William are uncircumcised.

84. Walt Disney named Mickey Mouse after Mickey Rooney, whose mother he dated for some time.

85. Theodore Roosevelt, a staunch conservationist, banned Christmas trees in his home, even when he lived in the White House. His children, however, smuggled them into their bedrooms.

86. The first Michelin Man costume (Bidenbum) was worn by none other than Col. Harlan Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.

87. William Howard Taft is the only man ever to be President AND Chief Justice. The US Supreme Court appointment came second and was a job Taft enjoyed much more than the presidency.

88. W.C. Fields, the great 1930s movie comedian and famous misanthrope, died on Christmas, the holiday he despised. Of all the notable quotes that issued from this notorious curmudgeon, the most often quoted, said to be from his California tombstone, is "All things considered, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."

89. Did you know that Goofy actually started life as 'Dippy Dawg,' a combination of both Goofy and Pluto.

90. In January 1950, actor John Wayne placed his hand prints in wet cement at Grumman's Chinese Theatre (now Mann's Chinese Theatre) in Hollywood. Sand used in the cement reportedly was brought from Iwo Jima, in tribute to his performance in the 1949 film "Sands of Iwo Jima". This event marked the 90th such ceremony in the "Forecourt of the Stars" at the famous theater.

91. Felix the Cat is the first cartoon character to ever have been made into a balloon for a parade.

92. According to one source, Americans buy about 5 million things that are shaped like Mickey Mouse, or have a picture of Mickey Mouse on them, in the course of one day.

93. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams were all avid collectors and players of marbles. In their day, marbles were called "small bowls" and were as popular with adults as with children.

94. Pepin the Short, King of the Franks from 751 to 768 AD was four feet six inches tall. His wife was known as Bertha of the Big Foot.

95. George Washington's face was badly scarred from smallpox.

96. King Alfonso of Spain (1886 to 1931), was so tone-deaf that he had one man in his employ known as the Anthem Man. This man's duty was to tell the king to stand up whenever the Spanish national anthem was played, because the monarch couldn't recognize it.

97. Gerald Ford was one of the members of the Warren Commission appointed to study the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

98. Bette Davis was born Ruth Elizabeth Davis in Lowell, Massachusetts, on April 5, 1908.

99. She passed away from cancer October 6, 1989.

100. Bette Davis appeared in more than 100 films between 1931 and 1989. She made her first film called Way Back Home in 1931.

101. She was 5' 3 1/2" tall.

102. Lucille Ball was her classmate at John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School.

103. In the 1950's she suffered osteomyelitis of the jaw and had to have part of her jaw removed.

104. Joan Crawford and Davis had feuded for years & during the making of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" Bette had a Coca-Cola machine installed on the set due to Joan Crawford's affiliation with Pepsi. (Joan was the widow of Pepsi's CEO.) Joan got her revenge by putting weights in her pockets when Davis had to drag Crawford across the floor during certain scenes.

105. On her tombstone is written "She did it the hard way."

106. Bette was married four times, her last to actor Gary Merrill which lasted ten years, longer than any of the previous three.

107. The only role she didn't get that she wanted in 1939 was Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone With the Wind." Warners wouldn't loan her to David O. Selznick unless he hired Errol Flynn to play Rhett Butler, which both Selznick and Davis thought was a terrible choice.

108. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

109. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look alike contest.

110. Sharon Stone was the first Star Search spokesmodel.

111. Tennis pro Evonne Goolagong's last name means "kangaroo's nose" in Australia's aboriginal language.

112. When he was a child, Blaise Pascal once locked himself in his room for several days and would not allow anyone to enter. When he emerged, he had figured out all of Euclid's geometrical propositions totally on his own.

113. Meg Ryan turned down plum lead parts in the films "Steel Magnolias," "Pretty Woman," and "Silence of the Lambs." A few years after her rejection of "Silence of the Lambs," which earned Jodie Foster a Best Actress Oscar, Ryan disclosed to Barbara Walters in a television interview that she had felt the role "was dangerous and a little ugly. I felt it was too dark - for me."

114. By age 16, Andre the Giant (who's real name is Andre Russimof) was 6'10' tall. He had a rare glandular disorder that made his body continue to grow. Even as he died, his body was still growing.

115. The first U.S. president to use a telephone was James Garfield.

116. Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky was financed by a wealthy widow for thirteen years. She stipulated that they never meet and they didn't.

117. In her entire lifetime, Spain's Queen Isabella (1451-1504) bathed twice.

118. Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, second president of the US, and mother of John Quincy Adams, who became the sixth US president in 1825. Her grandson, Charles Adam, also aimed to be president, but failed to get his party's nomination.

119. Before he pursued his acting career, Jack Nicholson worked as an office boy in MGM's cartoon department.

120. Charles Dickens worked in a shoe polish factory at age 12.

121. Marvin Hamlisch became the youngest pupil ever at the Julliard School of Music - at age 7.

122. At age 13, Carl Sandburg quit school to work as a day laborer.

123. Herman Melville shipped aboard the whaler "Acushnet," at age 21. He later wrote a book from the experience.

124. Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to the poor in India, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.

125. When 7-year-old Shirley Temple’s life was insured with Lloyd’s, the contract stipulated that no benefits would be paid if the child film star met with death or injury while intoxicated.

126. Noah Webster was referred to as "the walking question mark" during his student days at Yale.

127. Frank Sinatra was once quoted as saying rock 'n' roll was only played by 'cretinous goons'.

128. Grover Cleveland, the 24th president of the US, worked briefly as an executioner before becoming president. He hung at least two convicted criminals.

129. The music hall entertainer Nosmo King derived his stage name from a 'No Smoking' sign.

130. Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana.

131. Winston Churchill, prime minister of England during World War II, superstitiously feared January 24 because he was certain it was destined to be the day of his death. Churchill's father had died on that date. Churchill did indeed die on January 24, 1965.

132. Hitler was claustrophobic. They had to install a mirror in an elevator just to keep him from being scared.

133. Desi Arnaz's (Ricky Ricardo from "I Love Lucy") father was mayor of Santiago, Cuba, and his mother the daughter of one of the founders of Bacardi Rum. His family went into exile after the coup that brought Fulgencio Batista to power in 1934. The family made its new home in Miami, Florida. Desi's best friend in high school - Al Capone, Jr.

134. More than 100 descendants of Johann Sebastian Bach have been cathedral organists.

135. Green Bay Packers backup quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, has been struck by lightning twice in his life.

136. "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know I'm not blonde." -Dolly Parton

137. "You see a lot of smart guys with dumb women, but you hardly ever see a smart woman with a dumb guy."—Erica Jong

138. Writer Director Actor Albert Brooks real name is Albert Einstein.

139. The Taco Bell dog is a girl. Her name is Gidget.

140. Howard Hughes once made half a billion dollars in one day. In 1966, he received a bank draft for $546,549,171.00 in return for his 75% holdings in TWA.

141. Before they became famous, many entertainers worked in sales. Among them, Johnny Cash sold appliances, Rue McClanahan sold blouses, Boris Karloff sold real estate, Leonard Nimoy sold vacuum cleaners, and George Takei sold men's ties.

142. Thomas Marshall (1854-1925), U.S. vice-president, once remarked "What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar."

143. William Shatner went to Balfour Collegiate (Regina, Saskatchewan) during his high school years.

144. President John Tyler had fifteen children.

145. March 2 is Dr. Seuss' birthday.

146. Attila the Hun was a dwarf. Pepin the Short, Aesop, Gregory the Tours, Charles 3 of Naples, and the Pasha Hussein were all less than 3.5 feet tall.

147. President Grover Cleveland was a draft dodger. He hired someone to enter the service in his place, for which he was ridiculed by his political opponent, James G. Blaine. It was soon discovered, however, that Blaine had done the same thing himself.

148. Rita Moreno is the first and only entertainer to have received all 4 of America's top entertainment industry awards: the Oscar, the Emmy, the Tony and the Grammy.

149. Sharon Stone was the first Star Search spokesmodel.

150. James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, is missing his entire middle finger on his right hand.

151. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger paid $772,500 for President John F. Kennedy's golf clubs at a 1996 auction.

152. The author of Roberts' Rules of Order, Col. Roberts of the U. S. Corps of Engineers, is also famous as the engineer in charge of designing the Seawall in Galveston, Texas. This Seawall was constructed after the famous hurricane of 1900 which hit Galveston, killing thousands.

153. The founder of JC Penny had the name of James Cash Penny.

154. Michael Jackson was black. :)

155. Dick Clark of American Bandstand fame is the host of the CBS trivia game show "Winning Lines". Clark is also the producer of rival network Fox's game show "Greed".

156. Whoopi Goldberg was a mortuary cosmetologist and a bricklayer before becoming an actress.

157. Before he became famous for his TV comedy work, the late Phil Hartman worked as a talented and respected graphic designer. In fact, he was the designer of the logo for Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

158. The famous Impressionist painter Claude Monet won 100,000 francs in the state lottery. The money made him financially independent.

159. Talk show host Montel Williams had a nose job.

160. Arnold Schwarzenegger began his transition from Austrian bodybuilder into an American film star when he made his screen debut in 1970 under the name "Arnold Strong" in "Hercules Goes Bananas."

161. At the 1970 Oscar ceremonies, buxom Raquel Welch presented the award for best "special visual effects."

162. At age 16 Confucius was a corn inspector.

163. When Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman became the first U.S. President to take office in the midst of a war.

164. Robert Redford attended the University of Colorado on a baseball scholarship.

165. Salvador Dali once arrived to an art exhibition in a limousine filled with turnips.

166. Thomas Jefferson anonymously submitted design plans for the White House. They were rejected.

167. During World War II, W.C. Fields kept US $50,000 in Germany 'in case the little bastard wins'.

168. For a while Frederic Chopin, the composer and pianist, wore a beard on only one side of his face. 'It does not matter,' he explained. 'My audience sees only my right side.'

169. Clark Gable used to shower more than 4 times a day.

170. Charles Dickens kept the head of his bed aligned with the North Pole. He believed that the earth's magnetic field would pass longitudinal through his body and ensure him a good night rest.

171. Grace Bedell, age 11, wrote Abe Lincoln with a suggestion. She urged Lincoln to grow a beard. If he did, she'd try to get her four brothers to vote for him as president. Lincoln won the election in November - then grew a beard.

172. Mae West was once dubbed 'The statue of Libido'.

173. Jimmy Carter is a speed reader (2000 wpm).

174. Adam Sandler and Bill Gates rank number 1 and 2 among the most popular role models with male college freshmen.

175. Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, learned Braille so that he could rest his eyes and still read. Huxley's eyes pained him when he read too much and his eyesight was failing. One of the benefits of learning Braille, Huxley said, was being able to read in the bed in the dark.

176. When young and impoverished, Pablo Picasso kept warm by burning his own paintings.

177. In 1996, Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for applesauce, which coincidentally is what his name means in Japanese.

178. Bob Dole is 10 years older than the Empire State Building.

179. Before coming to the White House, Nancy and Ronald Reagan were actors. During their earlier careers each was involved in a performance that foreshadowed their later lives. In 1939, the then Nancy Davis had one line in a high school play called, eerily enough, "First Lady." It was, "They ought to elect the First Lady and then let her husband be president." She and her future husband also appeared in an episode of the "General Electric TV Theater" called "A Turkey for the President".

180. John Lennon's middle name was Winston.

181. The opera singer Enrico Caruso practiced in the bath, while accompanied by a pianist in a nearby room.

182. Before beginning his movie career, Keanu Reeves managed a pasta shop in Toronto, Canada.

183. Anthea Turner, Walt Disney, Tom Cruise, Susan Hampshire, Whoopi Goldberg, Thomas Edison, Henry Winkler, Cher, Brian Conley, and Leonardo DaVinci are, or were, dyslexic.

184. Early in his career, William F. Buckley, Jr. was employed as a Spanish teacher at Yale.

185. While at Harvard University, Edward Kennedy was suspended for cheating on a Spanish exam.

186. George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.

187. Lillian Gish has the longest movie career of any actress, having debuted as a 19 year old in An Unseen Enemy (1912), and making her last appearance in Whales of August (1987). Miss Gish was born in 1893.

188. The first president to appear on television was Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was seen by U.S. viewers at the opening of the New York World's Fair on April 30, 1939.

189. Mystery writer Agatha Christie acquired her extensive knowledge of poisons while working in a hospital dispensary during World War I.

190. Howard Hughes' original fortune came from his father's invention of an oil drill bit capable of boring through subterranean rock.

191. The first U.S. president to use a telephone was James Garfield.

192. Recording star Vanilla Ice's real name is Robert Van Winkle.

193. Shirley Temple made $1 million by the age of 10.

194. The first U.S. president to visit Moscow was Richard Nixon.

195. King Kong was Adolf Hitler's favorite movie.

196. Mickey Mouse was the first non-human to win an Oscar.

197. James Dean died in a Porsche Spider. [Webmaster's Note: James Dean died outside of Paso Robles, California, about a half an hour north of my home.]

198. Napoleon was terrified of cats.

199. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger bought the first Hummer manufactured for civilian use in 1992. The vehicle weighed in at 6,300 lbs and was 7 feet wide.

200. When asked to name his favorite among all his paintings, Pablo Picasso replied "the next one."

201. The godfather of actress Winona Ryder was the late Dr. Timothy Leary, LSD guru of the 1960s. Winona’s father, Michael Horowitz, served at one time as Leary’s archivist and ran a bookstore called Flashback Books. Additionally, her parents were politically active intellectuals, and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was a good family friend.

202. Reportedly, Virginia Woolf wrote all her books while standing.

203. When Errol Flynn appeared as a contestant on the mid-1950s TV quiz show The Big Surprise, he was questioned about sailing and won $30,000.

204. Before he catapulted to fame, Bob Dylan was paid $50 in 1960 for playing the harmonica on a Harry Belafonte album.

205. John F. Kennedy and Warren Harding were the only United States presidents to be survived by their fathers.

206. Ignce Paderewski, one of the greatest concert pianists of all time, was also premier of Poland.

207. Richard M. Nixon, as a young naval officer in World War II, set up the only hamburger stand in the South Pacific. Nixon's Snack Shack served free burgers and Australian beer to flight crews.

208. On "forever-39" Jack Benny's 80th birthday, Frank Sinatra gave him two copies of the book "Life Begins at Forty."

209. When Yul Brynner had hair, it was dark brown.

210. Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, and Dostoyevsky were all epileptics.

211. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote 37 books.

212. Vincent Van Gogh shot and killed himself while painting "Wheatfield with Crows."

213. Bill Cosby was the first black to win a best actor Emmy.

214. Ronald Reagan's first wife was Jane Wyman.

215. Abraham Lincoln had a wart on his face.

216. Princess Grace was once on the board of 20th Century-Fox

217. Richard Simmons is gay.

[edit] Dumb Criminals

1. In Redondo Beach, Calif., a police officer arrested a driver after a short chase and charged him with drunk driving. Officer Joseph Fonteno's suspicions were aroused when he saw the white Mazda MX-7 rolling down Pacific Coast Highway with half of a traffic-light pole, including the lights, lying across its hood. The driver had hit the pole on a median strip and simply kept driving. According to Fonteno, when the driver was asked about the pole, he said, "It came with the car when I bought it."

2. The record for the world’s worst drivers is a toss-up between two candidates: First, a 75-year-old man who received 10 traffic tickets, drove on the wrong side of the road four times, committed four hit-and-run offenses, an caused six accidents, all within 20 minutes on October 15, 1966. Second, a 62-year-old woman who failed her driving test 40 times before passing it in August, 1970 (by that time, she had spent over $700 in lessons, and could no longer afford to buy a car).

3. Richard Milhouse Nixon was the first US President whose name contains all the letters from the word "0." William Jefferson Clinton is the 2nd.

4. A Hawaiian stamp of 1851 with a face value of 2 cents was the sole reason Gaston Leroux, a Parisian philatelist, murdered its owner, Hector Giroux.

5. Lawsuits filed by California inmates cost the taxpayers more than $25 million in 1994.

6. Archduke Karl Ludwig (1833-1896), brother of the Austrian emperor, was a man of such piety that on a trip to the Holy Land, he insisted on drinking from the River Jordan, despite warnings that it would make him fatally ill. He died within a few weeks.

7. Peter Karpin, a German espionage agent in World War I, was seized by French Intelligence agents in 1914 as soon as he entered the country. Keeping his capture a secret, the French sent faked reports from Karpin to Germany and intercepted the agent's wages and expense money until Karpin escaped in 1917. With those funds the French purchased an automobile, which, in 1919, in occupied Rurh, accidentally ran down and killed a man, who proved to be Peter Karpin.

8. When police arrived in Appleton, Wisconsin to remove a woman's children because of a complaint that she had given her 11-year-old daughter a "swirlie" (Holding her head in a flushing toilet). The woman reportedly said, "I haven't had a vacation in 13 years, go ahead and take them!"

9. A reward of $1,000 was offered for information leading to the capture and conviction of a man robbing taxi drivers. The man turned himself in and demanded the reward as a result. He received a 20 year sentence for aggravated robbery instead.

10. The Belgium news agency Belga reported in November that a man suspected of robbing a jewelry store in Liege said he couldn't have done it because he was busy breaking into a school at the same time. Police then arrested him for breaking into the school.

11. A couple robbing a store caught on camera could not be identified until the police reviewed the security tape. The woman filled out an entry form for a free trip prior to robbing the store.

12. A lawyer defending a man accused of burglary tried this creative defense: "My client merely inserted his arm into the window and removed a few trifling articles. His arm is not himself, and I fail to see how you can punish the whole individual for an offense committed by his limb." "Well put," the judge replied. "Using your logic, I sentence the defendant's arm to one year's imprisonment. He can accompany it or not, as he chooses." The defendant smiled. With his lawyer's assistance he detached his artificial limb, laid it on the bench, and walked out.

13. In 1970, Russel T. Tansie, an Arizona lawyer filed a $100,000 damage lawsuit against God. The suit was filed on behalf of Mr. Tansie's secretary, Betty Penrose, who accused God of negligence in His power over the weather when He allowed a lightning bolt to strike her home. Ms. Penrose won the case when the defendant failed to appear in court. Whether or not she collected has not been recorded.

14. A man went in to rob a bank. He demanded the clerk to give him all the money. They told him to go sit out in his car and they would bring him the bags of money. He agreed and went out to his car. In the meantime, the people in the bank called the police. When they got there the man was still sitting in his car waiting for the money and they arrested him.

15. In South Carolina, an inmate who was paralyzed behind bars says in a lawsuit that Spartanburg County jail guards should have stopped him from doing back flips off a desk in his cell. Torrence Johnson, who is suing for unspecified damages, said recently that he fell and crushed a vertebra while being held in maximum-security in 1998.

16. R.C. Gaitlan, 21, walked up to two patrol officers who were showing their squad car computer felon-location equipment to children in a Detroit neighborhood. When he asked how the system worked, the officer asked him for identification. Gaitlan gave them his drivers license, they entered it into the computer, and moments later they arrested Gaitlan because information on the screen showed Gaitlan was wanted for a two-year-old armed robbery in St. Louis, Missouri.

17. Dennis Newton was on trial for the armed robbery of a convenience store in district court when he fired his lawyer. Assistant district attorney Larry Jones said Newton, 47, was doing a fair job of defending himself until the store manager testified that Newton was the robber. Newton jumped up, accused the woman of lying and then said, "I should have blown your head off." The defendant paused, then quickly added, "If I'd been the one that was there." The jury took 20 minutes to convict Newton and recommended a 30-year sentence.

18. A Texan convicted of robbery worked out a deal to pay $9600 in damages rather than serve a two-year prison sentence. For payment, he gave the court a forged check. He got his prison term back, plus eight more years.

19. A man was arrested and charged with the robbery—of vending machines. The man posted bail, entirely in quarters.

20. A teenager in Belmont, New Hampshire robbed the local convenience store. Getting away with a pocket full of change, the boy walked home. He did not realize, however, that he had holes in both of his pockets. A trail of quarters and dimes led police directly to his house.

21. A judge in Louisville decided a jury went "a little bit too far" in recommending a sentence of 5,005 years for a man who was convicted of five robberies and a kidnapping. The judge reduced the sentence to 1,001 years.

22. Eugene-Francois Midocq, a French thief and outlaw, evaded the police for years, turned police spy, joined the force as a detective, and ultimately used his knowledge of crime to establish a new crime-fighting organization, the Surete.

23. Tyson Mitchell of Iowa City, Iowa walked into the police station, for some reason that nobody understands, and asked the dispatcher if he was wanted for any crimes. He was and was also arrested, on the spot. But wait! There's more! The police found several bags of cocaine in his pocket.

24. Organized crime is estimated to account for 10% of the United States' national income.

25. In a stroke of irony, the maximum security prison in St. Albans, Vermont, was responsible in 1996 for sending out public relations brochures enticing tourists to visit Vermont.

26. A guy wearing pantyhose on his face tried to rob a store in a mall. When security came, he quickly grabbed a shopping bag and pretended to be shopping, forgetting that he was still wearing the pantyhose. He was captured and his loot was returned to the store.

27. A man robbed a convenience store and ran out with a bag full of cash. He got down the street and realized he had left his car keys on the counter. When he returned to the store, he was promptly arrested.

28. Eleven days before the statute of limitations was to expire on the Brink's robbery in Boston, Massachusetts, that netted nearly $3 million in January 1950, one of the robbers confessed and betrayed his fellow robbers.

29. Spies must always know how to go underground—it's in the nature of their job. But during World War I, Heinrich Albert, a German operative in the United States, failed miserably at this task. The guy was carrying in his briefcase plans to sabotage American factories. So what does he do? He takes the New York City subway and manages to leave his briefcase on the train! American agents following him recovered the documents.

30. Airport security personnel find about six weapons a day searching passengers.

31. Sawney Beane, his wife, 8 sons, 6 daughters, and 32 grandchildren were a family of cannibals that lived in the caves near Galloway, Scotland in the early 17th Century. Although the total number is not known, it is believed they claimed over 50 victims per year. The entire family was taken by an army detachment to Edinburgh and executed, apparently without trial.

32. Police in Radnor, Pennsylvania, interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message "He's lying" was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the "lie detector" was working, the suspect confessed.

33. An unidentified man, using a shotgun like a club to break his former girlfriend's windshield, accidentally shot himself to death when the gun discharged, blowing a rather large hole in his stomach.

34. A drunk security man asked a colleague at the Moscow bank they were guarding to stab his bullet-proof vest to see if it would protected him against a knife attack. It didn't, and the 25-year-old guard died of a heart wound.

35. A San Diego man sued the city for emotional trauma during a concert when he saw women using the men's rest room.

36. A young criminal walked into a bank and quietly handed the teller a note demanding several thousand dollars. Disguised, the man could have easily gotten away. However, he had idiotically written the note on a piece of his own stationery; it included his full name and address.

37. T'Chacka Mshinda Thorpe, 25, was arrested in Lynchburg, Va., in May and charged with possession of cocaine after a brief chase; police caught up to him after Thorpe tripped on his low-riding baggy pants, fell, and fractured his femur.

38. Edney Raphael, 39, running from a stabbing in Philadelphia with a bloody knife in his hand, was captured following a foot chase; he had turned his head to see where the officers were and run smack into a parking meter.

39. A 20 year old protester was arrested in Montana after he assaulted a congress women from Iowa with a salmon.

40. Student Robert Ricketts, 19, had his head bloodied when he was struck by a Conrail train. He told police he was trying to see how close to the moving train he could place his head without getting hit.

41. The words were tattooed across the forehead of Wayne Black, a suspected thief. When confronted by police, Black insisted he wasn't Wayne Black. To prove it, he stood in front of a mirror and insisted he was Kcalb Enyaw.

42. [Pagemaker's Note: I don't know if the following individuals can actually be considered criminals, but, what the heck...]Three monkeys hurled bananas and crab apples at cars on Interstate 95, then fled into the woods, police said. Police believe the monkeys escaped while being taken to the state fair in Richmond or a circus in North Carolina. State Trooper Mike Scott was flagged down Sunday by a driver who had pulled over near Jarratt. "When I walked up to the car, it looked like a banana had been smeared on the side," Scott said. The woman told him a monkey had thrown the fruit about a mile back. "I started laughing," Scott said. But he drove to the scene of the attack and found a van and a station wagon on the side of the highway. "A man said, 'I know this sounds crazy, but a monkey threw an apple at our car,'" Scott said. Just then, something hit the van. "Lo and behold there were three brown monkeys in an oak tree throwing crab apples," Scott said. The primates jumped down, ran across the highway and escaped into more trees.

43. A Linthicum, Maryland woman, dressed only in bra and panties, lost her balance while putting down linoleum in her home and fell smack into the glue that was spread on the floor, according to Battalian Chief John M. Scholz of the county Fire Department. She became stuck to the floor (mistake one) but somehow managed to free herself after awhile and called the emergency number 911. When the EMTs arrived they found her sitting on her couch (mistake number two). She was now glued to her couch. She had crossed her legs (mistake number three). Her legs were now glued together. And they also found her cordless phone glued to her hand. Crews, using solvent-dipped sterile gauze pads, eventually freed her legs, hands and extremities. She refused to be taken to the hospital.

[edit] Food and Drink

1. If you would like to make a Siberian happy, give him a horse-meat steak.

2. A black cow is a chocolate soda with chocolate ice cream. The term dates from the Roaring Twenties, although it also came to be used to describe a root beer float. Another term for a black cow was a mud fizz.

3. The cashew is part of a fruit that grows in tropical regions called 'a cashew apple'. After harvesting, the cashew apple keeps for only 24 hours before the soft fruit deteriorates. The cashew apple is not commercially important since it spoils quickly, but local people love the fruit. To harvest the nut, the ripe apple is allowed to fall to the ground where natives easily gather it. The apple and nut are separated.

4. South Pittsburgh, Tennessee, better known as "The Cornbread Capitol of the World," has an old ordinance pertaining to the cooking of this southern staple. The law declares: "Cornbread isn't cornbread unless it be made correctly. Therefore, all cornbread must be hereby made in nothing other then a cast iron skillet." Those found in violation of this ordinance are to be fined one dollar.

5. The Ritz cracker was introduced to markets in 1934, but gourmets had to wait until 1953 for the invention of cheese in a can.

6. The fortune cookie was invented in 1916 by George Jung, a Los Angeles noodlemaker.

7. A man named Ed Peterson is the inventor of the Egg McMuffin.

8. Although the combination of chili peppers and oregano for seasoning has been traced to the ancient Aztecs, the present blend is said to be the invention of early Texans. Chili powder today is typically a blend of dried chilies, garlic powder, red peppers, oregano, and cumin.

9. Americans eat an average of 18 pounds of fresh apples each year. The most popular variety in the United States is the Red Delicious.

10. An apple, onion, and potato all have the same taste. The differences in flavor are caused by their smell. To prove this - pinch your nose and take a bite from each. They will all taste sweet.

11. Mr. Peanut was invented in 1916 by a Suffolk, Virginia schoolchild who won $5 in a design contest sponsored by Planters Peanuts.

12. John Kellogg invented corn flakes, for a patient with bad teeth. Charles Post invented Grape Nuts. Dr. Kellogg was the manager of a Michigan health spa and Post was a patient. The spa was founded by Sylvester Graham...inventor of the Graham cracker and pioneer of the early 1800s movement to eat more bran.

13. The secret recipe for Coca Cola, code-named "Merchandise 7X" is kept under lock and key in a vault in the SunTrust Bank Building in Atlanta, Georgia, the home of Coke inventor Dr. John S. Pemberton and current world headquarters of Coca Cola International.

14. In South Africa, termites are often roasted and eaten by the handful, like pretzels or popcorn.

15. Table salt is the only commodity that hasn’t risen dramatically in price in the last 150 years.

16. Burger King® uses approximately 1/2 million pounds of bacon every month in its restaurants.

17. There are more than 200 kinds of chili peppers, none of which belong to the pepper family.

18. Ice cream was originally made without sugar and eggs.

19. The Chinese used to open shrimp by flaying the shells with bamboo poles. Until a few years ago, in factories where dried shrimp were being prepared, "shrimp dancers" were hired to tramp on the shells with special shoes.

20. Native Americans never actually ate turkey; killing such a timid bird was thought to indicate laziness.

21. For decades, there's been a hard-fought and usually close battle between Coke and Pepsi in the United States...with each claiming some regional pockets of leadership. But globally it's no contest - Coca-Cola sales far outstrip sales of Pepsi-Cola internationally.

22. The famous Chef Wolfgang Puck chose the Italian word "Spago" as the name for his popular chain of restaurants. In Italian - spago = "String" or "Twine" - slang for spaghetti.

23. Grand Rapids, Michigan is the "SpaghettiOs Capital of the World" because per-capita consumption is highest in that city, per the Franco-American Company. Reportedly, there are more than 1,750 "O's" in a 15-ounce can of SpaghettiOs.

24. Pigturducken is a pig, stuffed with a turkey, which is stuffed with a chicken, deep fried in oil, which is usually put into something similar to a horse trough over propane burners.

25. Carbonated water, with nothing else in it, can dissolve limestone, talc, and many other low-Moh's hardness minerals. Coincidentally, carbonated water is the main ingredient in soda.

26. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat more than 22 pounds of tomatoes every year. More than half this amount is eaten in the form of ketchup and tomato sauce.

27. In Bavaria, beer isn't considered an alcoholic drink but rather a staple food.

28. Beer is made by fermentation cause by bacteria feeding on yeast cells and then defecating. In other words, it's a nice tall glass of bacteria doo-doo.

29. Americans eat an average of 18 pounds of fresh apples each year. The most popular variety in the United States is the Red Delicious.

30. Spam stands for Shoulder Pork and hAM.

31. The estimated number of M & M’s sold each day in the United States is 200,000,000.

32. Spirit of proof strength was the technical standard by which strength was measured until 1st January, 1980. Hundreds of years ago, spirit of this strength was proved when Whiskey and gunpowder were mixed and ignited. If the gunpowder flashed, then there was enough Whiskey in the mixture to permit ignition. Such Whiskey was held to have been proved - i.e. "tested". If the spirit was weaker than this, then ignition did not take place and the Whiskey failed the "test". The amount of black powder used was the same amount as was, and indeed still is, used to "proof" the barrels of smooth-bore fire-arms.

33. In medieval England beer often was served with breakfast.

34. Researchers in Denmark found that beer tastes best when drunk to the accompaniment of a certain musical tone. The optimal frequency is different for each beer, they reported. The correct harmonious tone for Carlsberg Lager, for example, is 510-520 cycles per second.

35. Grapes explode when you put them in the microwave.

36. Only food that does not spoil: honey.

37. The average McDonald's Big Mac bun has 198 sesame seeds on it.

38. Before it was unsolicited email, Spam was a luncheon meat. It is so resistant to spoilage that, if kept in the closed can, it may well outlast eternity and will certainly live longer than you. Believe it or not it was first promoted as a health food. In Korea it comes in gift boxes, and placed end to end, all the Spam ever sold would circle the Earth more than ten times.

39. The famous baby appearing on jars of Gerber baby food is actually a girl named Ann Turner. The picture was drawn by artist Dorothy Hope Smith in 1928.

40. There are more than 15,000 different kinds of rice.

41. Rice is the main food for half of the people of the world.

42. As much as 50 gallons of Maple Sap are used to make a single gallon of Maple Sugar.

43. Dairy products account for about 29% of all food consumed in the U.S.

44. Turkey contains an amino acid called tryptophan, which can cause sleepiness (warm milk also contains tryptophan).

45. When Gerber baby foods began to sell in parts of Africa, they continued to use their usual packaging, with the cute baby on the front. They didn't realize until later that where they were selling it, it was a common practice to help illiterate people buy things by putting pictures on the wrapper of what was inside.

46. Wine will spoil if exposed to light, hence tinted bottles.

47. Over a third of all pineapples come from Hawaii.

48. A hard-boiled egg will spin. An uncooked or soft-boiled egg will not.

49. Herring is the most widely eaten fish in the world.

50. Sliced bread was introduced under the Wonder Bread label in 1930.

51. Opera stars Nellie Melba and Luisa Tetrazzini are famous for more than singing. They are also known for food that has been named after them. Nellie Melba (peach melba and melba toast) and Luisa Tetrazzini (chicken tetrazzini).

52. The letters VVSOP on a cognac bottle stand for - Very Very Superior Old Pale.

53. When it originally appeared in 1886 - Coca Cola was billed as an "Esteemed Brain Tonic and Intellectual Beverage".

54. Ovaltine, the drink was from milk, malt, egg and cocoa, was developed in 1904 in Berne, Switzerland. It was originally named Ovomaltine. A clerical error changed it when the manufacturer registered the name.

55. In the late 1970s, Coca-Cola Co. boycotted the NBC late-night comedy show "Saturday Night Live" for several years. The giant soda company was retaliating against a frequent character of comedian John Belushi's, a Greek restaurant owner, who repeatedly said to customers, "No Coke... Pepsi," thus saying the rival company's name dozens of times throughout each skit.

56. The first macaroni factory in the United States was established in 1848. It was started by Antoine Zegera in Brooklyn, New York.

57. The five favorite U.S. school lunches nationwide, according to the American School Food Service Association, are, in order, pizza, chicken nuggets, tacos, burritos, and hamburgers.

58. The flesh of the puffer fish (fugu) is considered a delicacy in Japan. It is prepared by chefs specially trained and certified by the government to prepare the flesh free of the toxic liver, gonads, and skin. Despite these precautions, many cases of tetrodotoxin poisoning are reported each year in patients ingesting fugu. Poisonings usually occur after eating fish caught and prepared by uncertified handlers. The end result, in most cases, is death.

59. The number 57 on a Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of varieties of pickle the company once had.

60. Fanta Orange is the third largest selling soft drink in the world.

61. "Colonial goose" is the name Australians give to stuffed mutton.

62. "Cook's Illustrated" conducted blind taste testings of vanillas, and the staff was surprised to find that, in baked goods, expensive, aromatic vanillas performed almost exactly the same as the cheaper brands of real vanilla. The differences virtually disappeared during cooking.

63. "0 & Wine" magazine reported that in Japan, squid is the most popular topping for Domino's pizza.

64. Well, before WWII, Twinkies used to have bananna cream in them; but because of the battle at Pearl Harbor, we had a shortage of bananas and had to switch to plain vanilla. It's been that way ever since then. (Update- Recently Hostess re-introduced the Bananna Twinkie)

65. Beer foam will go down by licking your finger then sticking it in the beer.

66. Chocolate not only does not promote tooth decay, it might prevent it. According to the American Dental Association, milk chocolate contains ingredients, such as calcium and phosphate, that might modify acid production in the mouth that leads to cavities. Some oils in chocolate might also prevent tooth decay. Chocolate does contain sugar, of course, but these are simple sugars that are less harmful than the complex sugars contained in other foods.

67. According to the head chef at the United Nations, the president of Iceland eats fish every day for lunch. Additionally, the queen of Denmark has a taste for Japanese food, and Pres. Bill Clinton has a passion for chicken.

68. According to the National Safety Council, coffee is not successful at sobering up a drunk person, and in many cases it may actually increase the adverse effects of alcohol.

69. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans eat more than 22 pounds of tomatoes every year. More than half this amount is eaten in the form of ketchup and tomato sauce.

70. Alcoholic lemonade is outselling premium bottled lagers in United Kingdom pubs, according to a report in "NASFT Showcase" magazine.

71. Ancient Greeks and Romans believed asparagus had medicinal qualities for helping prevent bee stings and relieve toothaches.

72. 86 is one of many codes once used by soda fountain employees to communicate quickly among themselves. Code 33 meant a cherry-flavored Coke, Code 19 meant a banana split, and Code 86 meant they were out of a particular item. As a result, if a cook "86'd" an order, it meant he was canceling it.

73. Sixty cows can produce a ton of milk a day.

74. Worcestershire Sauce is basically an Anchovy ketchup.

75. For beer commercials, they add liquid detergent to the beer to make it foam more.

76. When tea was first introduced in the American colonies, many housewives, in their ignorance, served the tea leaves with sugar or syrup after throwing away the water in which they had been boiled.

77. From 1941 until 1950, violet was part of the color mixture for "M&M's" Plain Chocolate Candies. Violet was replaced by tan.

78. Gatorade was named for the University of Florida Gators where it was first developed.

79. Budweiser Beer, known in much of the world by the ad slogan "The King of Beers", is known as "The Beer of Kings" in The Czech Republic. There are two beers that are trademarked Budweiser. The one known as the "King of Beers" is the American brand while the Czech brand is the one known as the "Beer of Kings". They are NOT the same brand and there is a friendly rivalry between them. If I remember correctly, and its quite possible I don't, the American brand was trademarked first but somehow the Czech beer retained rights to its name. I don't think they are both available in the same country.

80. You should not eat a crawfish with a straight tail. It was dead before it was cooked.

81. A turkey should never be carved until it has been out of the oven at least 30 minutes. This permits the inner cooking to subside and the internal meat juices to stop running. Once the meat sets, it's easier to carve clean, neat slices.

82. During the Middle Ages, almost all beef, pork, mutton, and chicken were chopped fine. Forks were unknown at the time and the knife was a kitchen utensil rather that a piece of tableware.

83. Brussels sprouts are called Brussels sprouts because they were discovered in Brussels.

84. The Chuck E. Cheese franchise was created by Atari, a restaurant combining robotic animals and arcade games with family meals. They name the franchise a Pizza Time Theater. Chuck E. Cheese was first opened in 1977.

85. There are 2,000,000 different combinations of sandwiches that can be created from a SUBWAY menu.

86. Lithiated Lemon was the creation of Charles Griggs from Missouri, who introduced the lemon-lime drink in 1929. Four years later he renamed it 7-Up. Sales increased significantly.

87. Only men were allowed to eat at the first self-service restaurant, the Exchange Buffet in New York, opened in 1885. Customers ate standing up.

88. Milk delivered to the store today was in the cow two days ago.

89. The wheat that produces a one-pound loaf of bread requires 2 tons of water to grow.

90. In Australia, the popular McOz Burger combines 100 percent Australian beef, cheese, tomato, beetroot, lettuce, and cooked onions on a toasted bun. This burger was created by Australian McDonald’s restaurant owners, and became a permanent menu item after a successful promotional period in 1998.

91. Most common sports drinks are the equivalent of sugar-sweetened human sweat. That is, they have the same salt concentration as sweat (but are less salty than your blood). An increase of as little as 1% in blood salt will cause you to become thirsty.

92. Under U.S. federal guidelines, there should be 21 to 25 jumbo shrimp in a pound.

93. The MAI TAI COCKTAIL was created in 1945 by Victor Bergeron, the genius of rum, also known as Trader Vic. The drink got its name when he served it to two friends from Tahiti, who exclaimed "Maitai roa ae!" which in Tahitian means out of this world - the best!

94. Every year, Bavarians and their guests drink 1.2 million gallons of beer during Oktoberfest. The first Oktoberfest was in 1810 and celebrated the marriage of King Ludwig Iof Bavaria.

95. Many wonder what the difference is between jelly, preserves, jam, and marmalade. In all cases, jelly is the common denominator. Jelly is fruit juice with added sugar, cooled and congealed, usually by the addition of gelatin or pectin. Preserves preserve the largest percentage of the original fruit, containing whole chunks of it in addition to jelly. Jam is jelly plus fruit pulp. Marmalade has bits of fruit and the rinds in a jelly. Although the orange variety is most common, it is often made from other citrus fruits. Spread either of the four on toast, add a nice cup of tea, and you have one sweet treat.

96. Flamingo tongues were a common delicacy at Roman feasts.

97. According to Hershey's Chocolate Company, Valentine's Day ranks fourth in candy sales, behind Halloween, Christmas and Easter.

98. Chicago, Illinois is the candy capital of the world. Chicago has more chocolate manufacturers within a small radius than any other place in the world. This dates back to the 1800's when Chicago was a national hub for transportation and manufacturing, in addition to being very close to sources for key candy ingredients — milk and corn syrup, it was also convenient to ship candy products to either coast from Chicago.

99. Today companies like Brach's Confections, Ferrara Pan Candy Co., Tootsie Roll Industries, American Licorice, and Archibald Candy still call Chicago home. Mars, Inc. and Nestle also have manufacturing plants in Chicago.

100. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

101. Strawberry Pop Tarts may be a cheap and inexpensive source of incendiary devices. Toasters which fail to eject Pop Tarts cause the Pop Tarts to emit flames 10-18 inches in height.

102. Dunkin' Donuts serves about 112,500 doughnuts each day.

103. Europeans drink more wine than Americans. France and Italy produce over 40% of all wine consumed in the world.

104. The "last meal" for Death Row inmates has became embedded in the American death-penalty ritual. Reporters have dutifully recorded the last meal menus: John Wayne Gacy had fried chicken and strawberries; Ted Bundy passed on steak and eggs; James Smith, executed in Texas in 1990, requested a "lump of dirt" (request was denied); Missouri inmate Lloyd Schlup asked for venison and hare (request was granted).

105. A tenth of the 7 million tons of rice grown in the U.S. each year goes into the making of beer.

106. According to the National Safety Council, coffee is not successful at sobering up a drunk person, and in many cases it may actually increase the adverse effects of alcohol.

107. There are more than 7,000 varieties of apples grown in the world. The apples from one tree can fill 20 boxes every year. Each box weighs an average 42 pounds.

108. Soy milk, the liquid left after beans have been crushed in hot water and strained, is a favorite beverage in the East. In Hong Kong, soy milk is as popular as Coca-Cola is in the U.S.

109. There are professional tea tasters as well as wine tasters.

110. There are thousands of varieties of shrimp, but most are so tiny that they are more likely to be eaten by whales than people. Of the several hundred around the world that people do eat, only a dozen or so appear with any regularity in the United States.

111. Spinach is native to the area of Iran, but didn't spread to other parts of the world until the beginning of the Christian era.

112. There are two types of asparagus: green and white. One of the most popular varieties of green asparagus is named after Martha Washington, the wife of George Washington.

113. Thin-skinned lemons are the juiciest.

114. Though most people think of salt as a seasoning, only 5 out of every 100 pounds produced each year go to the dinner table.

115. Goat milk is used to produce Roquefort cheese.

116. Carrots were first grown as a medicine not a food. The Ancient Greeks called carrots "Karoto".

117. It takes more than 500 peanuts to make one 12-ounce jar of peanut butter.

118. In Australia, the Number 1 topping for pizza is eggs. In Chile, the favorite topping is mussels and clams. In the United States, it's pepperoni.

119. Over 15 billion prizes have been given away in Cracker Jacks boxes.

120. The Chinese developed the custom of using chop sticks because they didn't need anything resembling a knife and fork at the table. They cut up food into bite-sized pieces in the kitchen before serving it. This stemmed from their belief that bringing meat to the table in any form resembling an animal was uncivilized and that it was inhospitable, anyway, to ask a guest to cut food while eating.

121. The first frozen foods were launched back in the mid-1920s. (Of course, the microwave to cook them in took a while longer!) Clarence Birdseye came up with the idea from his work with the US government surveys of fish and wildlife in Labrador in 1912 and 1915. While working on the surveys, he noted that the natives preserved their fish in ice. He claimed: "I saw natives catching fish in fifty below zero weather, which froze stiff as soon as they were taken out of the water. Months later, when they were thawed out, some of those fish were still alive." Birds Eye's first products were individually boxed packages of peas, cherries, berries, spinach, fish, and meats. Birds Eye products, of course, are still sold.

122. The National Sausage and Hot Dog Council says when kids were asked what they would like on their hot dogs if their moms weren't watching, 25 percent said they would prefer chocolate sauce.

123. A bushel of apples weighs about 42 pounds.

124. The color of a chile is no indication of its spiciness, but size usually is - the smaller the pepper, the hotter it is.

125. The Southern dish "Chitlins" is made up of pigs' small intestines.

126. The dark meat on a roast turkey has more calories than the white meat.

127. The most widely eaten fruit in America is the banana.

128. The first U.S. consumer product sold in the old Soviet Union was Pepsi-Cola.

129. Sometimes vanilla ice cream looks as if it has bits of chocolate in it, as if only that could make the flavor acceptable. What are those dark specks, anyway? If you thought they might be parts of vanilla beans, you're right. But they're only the flavorless residue of the bean. Companies put them in just for show, to prove that they used real beans and not artificial flavor.

130. What is the difference between a yam and a sweet potato? According to the Mayo Clinic dietician, a true yam is a large, starchy root that can get up to 100 pounds. It is native to Africa and Asia and is seldom available in the USA. The sweet potato is a native American plant. It was a staple for early settlers and was actually brought to Europe by Columbus. There are two varieties of sweet potatoes: One is moist and orange-fleshed, the other is drier and yellow. The orange-fleshed potato is commonly - and incorrectly - called a yam. This common practice has resulted in confusion when it comes to labels. Some stores incorrectly label the darker of the two sweet potatoes as being a yam, and they list the nutrient content for yams. True yams have no vitamin A. So consumers mistakenly think that the product has no vitamin A, even though it actually does. Consumers are most likely eating sweet potatoes - and sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and fiber.

131. Juan Metzger, a former Dannon Co. executive, is credited with putting fruit in yogurt. Metzger was recognized for suggesting the addition of fruit at the bottom of containers of the dairy product to improve its taste. The first flavor was strawberry. Metzger's father, Joe, co-founded Dannon Co. in the Bronx in 1942.

132. Ice Cream Sundaes were created when it became illegal to sell ice cream with flavored soda on a Sunday in the Evanston, Illinois during the late 19th century. Some traders got round it by serving it with syrup instead, calling it an 'Ice Cream Sunday' and eventually replacing the final 'y' with an 'e' to avoid upsetting religious leaders.

[edit] Geography

1. The exact geographic center of the United States is near Lebanon, Kansas. 2. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel - which crossing Chesapeake near its mouth, at Norfolk, Virginia - uses a combination of bridge spans and tunnels. Manmade islands allow the roadway to enter the tunnels beneath the Bay's shipping channels. 3. The only nation whose name begins with an "A", but doesn't end in an "A" is Afghanistan. 4. Given their sheer volume, ninety-nine percent of the living space on the planet is found in the oceans. The average depth of the oceans is 2.5 miles (4 km). The deepest point lies in the Mariana Trench, 6.8 miles (10.9 km) down. By way of comparison, Mount Everest is only 5.5 miles (8.8 km) high. 5. Ninety percent of all volcanic activity occurs in the oceans. In 1993, scientists located the largest known concentration of active volcanoes on the sea floor in the South Pacific. This area, the size of New York state, hosts 1,133 volcanic cones and sea mounts. Two or three could erupt at any moment. 6. According to NASA, the U.S. has the world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S. can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes. 7. Zion, Illinois - located on the shores of Lake Michigan north of Chicago - was founded by the followers of John Alexander Dowie, whose Christian Catholic Church disapproved of pharmacies, doctors, theaters or dance halls. Smoking, drinking and the eating of pork also was prohibited in town. 8. The U-S Park Service says the older Old Faithful gets, the more the geyser at Yellowstone National Park slows down. In the 1950s, it erupted every 62 minutes. Lately, it's been erupting every 77 minutes. Some experts say Old Faithful may someday just stop. 9. At 840,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world. It is 3 times the size of Texas. By comparison Iceland is only 39,800 square miles. 10. According to experts, large caves tend to "breathe"; they inhale and exhale great quantities of air when the barometric pressure on the surface changes, and air rushes in or out seeking equilibrium. 11. The surface area of the Earth is 197,000,000 square miles. 12. Forty six percent of the world's water is in the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic has 23.9 percent; the Indian, 20.3; the Arctic, 3.7 percent. 13. The state of Oregon has one city named Sisters and another called Brothers. Sisters got its name from a nearby trio of peaks in the Cascade Mountains known as the Three Sisters. Brothers was named as a counterpart to Sisters. 14. The Dominican Republic was called Santo Domingo when it first gain independence. 15. The Chang Jiang river is the fourth longest river in the world. 16. Bore-hole seismometry indicates that the land in Oklahoma moves up and down 25cm throughout the day, corresponding with the tides. Earth tides are generally about one-third the size of ocean tides. 17. Ireland currently has the fastest growing economy in Europe - the economy grew by 40% from 1993-1997. It is for this reason that the country is referred to as the Celtic Tiger. 18. There are more psycho-analysts per capita in Buenos Aires than any other place in the world. 19. The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq. miles/4,53 sq. km. 20. Female aristocrats on the island of Portugese Timor in Malaya, indicate their status by notching their ears. 21. China's largest city is Shanghai. 22. The U.S. mint in Denver, Colorado is the only mint that marks its pennies. 23. The original fifty cent piece in Australian decimal currency had around $2.00 worth of silver in it before it was replaced with a less expensive twelve sided coin. 24. On a trip to the South Sea islands, French painter Paul Gauguin stopped off briefly in Central America, where he worked as a laborer on the Panama Canal. 25. Guam has seven public elementary schools. 26. Nepal's flag isn't rectangular. Or square. It's two triangles, sorta. 27. Newfoundland's time zone is half an hour off of all the others. So are Iran's, bits of India's, Afghanistan's, Burma's, and Nauru's. And some other islands. Like Australia. 28. The Republic of San Marino is the world's smallest republic (24 sq. miles) and possibly the oldest state in Europe (founded 4th century AD, according to tradition.) 29. Mount St. Helens dropped 1,313 feet in 1980. 30. There is a prison in Ossining, New York named "Sing Sing." 31. Rome is considered "The Eternal City." 32. If you could cut out the United States, its center of gravity would be at Friend, Nebraska. 33. In downtown Lima, Peru, there is a large brass statue dedicated to Winnie-the-Pooh. 34. Antarctica is the only continent that does not have land areas below sea level. 35. Alaska is the only state without a state motto. 36. In Brazil, Christmas is celebrated with fireworks. 37. Portugal is the world's largest producer of cork. The country has regulations protecting cork trees dating back to 1320. During the 1920’s and 30’s, it became illegal to cut down the trees other than for essential thinning and removal of old non-producing trees. 38. La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia is the highest capital in the world. Ski resorts there operate only on weekends during the South American summer (November to March). At an elevation of over 17,000 feet, it is too cold to operate during the South American winter. 39. Using satellite-surveying techniques, scientists have determined that Los Angeles, California is moving east. At a rate estimated to be about one-fifth on an inch per year, the city is moving closer to the San Gabriel Mountains. 40. Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonald's. 41. Although people in the majority of countries of the world drive on the right side of roads, there are some fifty nations in which people drive on the left. These include England and many former English colonies such as Australia and New Zealand—but not the U.S. or Canada. There are several non-English countries where people also drive on the left including Japan. 42. The Hudson River along the island of Manhattan flows in either direction depending on the tide. 43. Despite a population of over a billion, China has only about 200 family names. 44. The San Blas Indian women of Panama consider giant noses a mark of great beauty. They paint black lines down the center of their noses to make them appear longer. 45. The chiao is an official unit of currency in China. Also known as jiao, it is a copper-zinc coin that is one-tenth of a yuan and equal to 10 fen. 46. There are only three world capitals that begin with the letter "O" in English: Ottawa, Canada; Oslo, Norway; and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. 47. Only five countries in Europe touch only one other: Portugal, Denmark, San Marino, Vatican City, and Monaco. 48. Devon is the only county in Great Britain to have two coasts. 49. The many sights that represent the Chinese city of Beijing were built by foreigners: the Forbidden City was built by the Mongols, the Temple of Heaven by the Manchurians. 50. The world's largest democracy is India, with a much larger population than the United States and pretty good turn-out in elections, although it also has lots of election violence. Democracy is the fastest-spreading form of government worldwide. 51. Reversing Falls is in Canada, where the St. John River flows into the Bay of Fundy at St. John, New Brunswick. The rapids at this juncture flows normally at low tide, backwards at high tide. Between tides there is a 15-minute period in which the river is placid and boaters sail by very quickly. 52. Iowa has more independent telephone companies than any other state. 53. Australia is the richest source of mineral sands in the world. 54. The German Bundestag, or Parliament, has 672 members and is the world's largest elected legislative body. 55. Dominica, Mexico, Zambia, Kiribati, Fiji and Egypt all have birds on their flags. 56. The smallest 'country' in the world to have its own top-level domain name is Norfolk Island, off the coast of Australia. 57. The only borough of New York City that isn't an island or part of an island is the Bronx. 58. People in Sweden, Japan, and Canada are more likely to know the population of the United States than are Americans. 59. Shortest Intercontinental Commercial Flight in the world is from Gibraltar (Europe) to Tangier (Africa.) Distance 34 miles, flight time 20 minutes. 60. The official, neutral name of Switzerland, which has multiple official languages, is the latin "Confederation Helvetica", or the Helvetic Confederation, thus the "CH" on license plates, stickers and e-mail addresses. 61. The smallest state in the US has also the longest name. The official name of Rhode Island is Rhode Island and Plantation Provinces. 62. The city of Istanbul straddles two separate continents, Europe and Asia. 63. Australia is the richest source of mineral sands in the world. 64. The largest country in Africa is the Sudan. The Arc of the Covenant is said to be located in Axum, Ethiopia. 65. Since the 1930’s the town of Corona, CA has buried, and lost, all 17 of its time capsules. 66. West Virginia consists of those counties of Virginia which refused to secede from the Union at the start of the Civil War. Maine used to be part of Massachusetts. The original colonies made all kinds of land claims for the frontier west of them. 67. The most remote island in the world is Tristan da Cunha, which is above the sub-Antarctic zone. 68. French speaking residents of Belgium are called Walloons. 69. There are 3,900 islands in the country Japan, the country of islands. 70. Mississippi Facts: 71. MCW in Columbus was the first state college for women in the country established in 1884. 72. The McCoy Federal Building in Jackson is the first federal building in the U.S. named for an African American. 73. John Stetson learned hatmaking in Dunn's Falls. 74. The oldest field game in America is Stickball founded by the Choctaw Indians of Philadelphia. 75. Alcorn State University in Lorman is the oldest black land grant college in the world. 76. The International Checkers Hall Of Fame is in Petal. 77. Cartoonist Rick London (London's Times) is from Lumberton. 78. Resin Bowie, the inventor of the Bowie knife is buried at Pt. Gibson. 79. The Vicksburg National Cemetery is the second oldest in the country. 80. The Mississippi Legislature passed one of the first laws in 1839 to protect the property rights of married women. 81. Coca Cola was founded by Joseph A. Biedenharn in Vicksburg. 82. Mississippi was the first state to outlaw imprisonment of debtors. 83. Belzoni is the Catfish Capital of the world. 84. The company that makes Icee Drinks is in Edwards. 85. Peavey Electronics in Meridian is the world's largest manufacturer of musical amplification equipment. 86. The first PTA was in Crystal Springs. 87. Football great Walter Peyton was from Columbia. 88. The birthplace of Elvis was in Tupelo. 89. The oldest Holiday Inn is in Clarkesdale. 90. The King and Queen of the Gypsies are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery in Meridian. 91. The 4-H Club started in Holmes County. 92. In New Zealand, the Presidential highway links the towns of Gore and Clinton. Gore is also known as the Brown Trout Capital of the World and New Zealand's country music capital. 93. The forest of Canadian Lake District is so dense that during winter the snow stays on top of the trees and the forest floor stays bare. 94. In Calama, a town in the Atacama Desert of Chile, it has never rained. 95. In Papua New Guinea there are villages within five miles of each other which speak different languages. 96. In the Andes, time is often measured by how long it takes to smoke a cigarette. 97. In May 1948, Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Ngauruhoe, both in New Zealand, erupted simultaneously. 98. Without any greenhouse effect, Earth would be cold and lifeless with an average temperature of 0.4 degrees Fahrenheit. 99. In 1825 Upper Peru became Bolivia. 100. Seoul, the South Korean capital, just means "the capital" in the Korean language. 101. Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined. 102. England is smaller than New England. 103. The Sphinx sits on guard over the Great Pyramids. 104. The Nile river flows North. 105. The largest city in Africa is Cairo in Egypt. 106. Thailand used to be called Siam. 107. The Sahara desert is expanding half a mile south every year. 108. The largest island in the Mediterranean sea is Sicily. 109. Norway contains the largest icefield in Europe. 110. The three winter months in the southern hemisphere are June, July and August. 111. The largest lake in South America is Lake Maracaibo. 112. Zanzibar is known as "Spice Island." 113. The city of Dallas is known as "The Big D." 114. Honolulu boasts the only royal palace in the U.S. 115. Spains biggest source of income is tourism. 116. Katmandu is the capital of Nepal. 117. Pittsburgh was named for a British prime minister. 118. In ancient Japan public contests were held to see who in a town could break wind loudest and longest. Winners were awarded many prizes and received great acclaim. 119. The Pole of Inaccessibility is pretty darn inaccessible. It's the point on the continent of Antarctica that is farthest in all directions from the seas that surround it. It lies on the Polar Plateau. The term "Pole of Inaccessibility" is also sometimes used to refer to the point in the Arctic Ocean equidistant from the surrounding landmasses (approximately 400 miles from the North Pole, which should tell you how hard it is to track down Santa Claus in his off-season). 120. Several nations (Norway, Australia, New Zealand, France, Great Britain, Chile, and Argentina) have advanced claims on sections of the continent of Antarctica. The United States does not recognize any claims. 121. There is a resort town in New Mexico called "Truth or Consequences." 122. Mongolia is the largest landlocked country. 123. The national anthem of the Netherlands "Het Wilhelmus," is an 'acrostichon.' The first letters of each of the fifteen verses represent the name "Willem Van Nassov." 124. Toronto’s original name was York, but it had another name long before that. The area near the shores of Lake Ontario was called "the meeting place" by the Ojibway of Southern Ontario. Their word: Toronto. 125. US Route 66 ran from Chicago to Los Angeles, approximating the course of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, a railroad which, we might mention, no longer goes to any of those three towns. 126. There are more Irish in New York City than in Dublin, Ireland; more Italians in New York City than in Rome, Italy; and more Jews in New York City than in Tel Aviv, Israel. 127. There are more people in New York City (7,895,563) than there are in the states of Alaska, Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Hawaii, Delaware, and New Mexico combined. 128. The smallest country in Central America is El Salvador. 129. Adolf Hitler had planned to change the name of Berlin to Germania. 130. Persia changed its name to Iran in 1935. 131. Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States in 1789. 132. The country of Costa Rica does not have an army. 133. The Philippines consist of 7,100 islands. 134. The first people to arrive on Iceland were Irish explorers, in 795 A.D. 135. The royal house of Saudi Arabia has close to 10,000 princes and princesses. 136. When the Eiffel Tower was built in 1884, Parisians referred to it as "the tragic lamppost" and nearly universally hated it. 137. The Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. has 365 steps, representing every day of the year. 138. The twin towers of New Yorks World Trade Center contain 208 elevators. Elevators rank as the safest form of transportation, boasting only one fatality every 100 million miles traveled. Stairs, in comparison, are five times more dangerous. 139. Ellis Island opened to begin the processing of what would amount to more than 20 million immigrants to the United States in 1892. The immigration center was also used as a deportation station, and later, a Coast Guard Station, and then, a national park. Ellis Island is now a museum. 140. Residents of the Havasupai Indian Reservation in Northern Arizona get their mail delivered by mule. 141. Los Angeles and San Francisco become 2.5 inches closer together each year because they are on opposite sides of the San Andreas fault. 142. Australia's new parliament house in the nation's capital Canberra is one of the largest buildings in the southern hemisphere. The building covers nearly 15 per cent of a 32 hectare site and boasts 4500 rooms. Its floor space is approximately 250,000 square meters. 143. Forty six percent of the world's water is in the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic has 23.9 percent; the Indian, 20.3; the Arctic, 3.7 percent. 144. The state of Oregon has one city named Sisters and another called Brothers. Sisters got its name from a nearby trio of peaks in the Cascade Mountains known as the Three Sisters. Brothers was named as a counterpart to Sisters. 145. South Africa produces two-thirds of the world's gold. 146. St. Petersburg, FL once had 427 consecutive days of sunshine. 147. The smallest island with country status is Pitcairn in Polynesia, at just 1.75 sq miles/4,53 sq km. 148. The volume of water in the Amazon river is greater than the next eight largest rivers in the world combined. 149. Surprisingly, there was a time that the Vatican owned shares of the Watergate complex in Washington DC, the Pan American building in Paris, and the Hilton hotel in Rome. 150. If global warming forecasts are true, the island country of Tuvalu might cease to exist within 100 years. 151. Pennsylvania has more covered bridges than any other state. Vermont, a much smaller state, claims a greater density of covered bridges. (More bridges per square mile). Parke County, Indiana, claims more covered bridges than any other county, but Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, comes in second. 152. Arguably the largest state in the world, Western Australia covers one-third of the Australian continent. It spans over 2.5 million square kilometers (1 million square miles). 153. On international license plates Spain is represented by the letter E for Espana.

[edit] History

1. The first man to distill bourbon whiskey in the United States was a Baptist preacher, in 1789. 2. The Aztec Indians of Mexico believed turquoise would protect them from physical harm, and so warriors used these green and blue stones to decorate their battle shields. 3. More than 5,000 years ago, the Chinese discovered how to make silk from silkworm cocoons. For about 3,000 years, the Chinese kept this discovery a secret. Because poor people could not afford real silk, they tried to make other cloth look silky. Women would beat on cotton with sticks to soften the fibers. Then they rubbed it against a big stone to make it shiny. The shiny cotton was called "chintz." Because chintz was a cheaper copy of silk, calling something "chintzy" means it is cheap and not of good quality. 4. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt wore garments made with thin threads of beaten gold. Some fabrics had up to 500 gold threads per one inch of cloth. 5. The ancient Egyptians recommended mixing half an onion with beer foam as a way of warding off death. 6. The Chinese, in olden days, used marijuana only as a remedy for dysentery. 7. "Scientific America" carried the first magazine automobile ad in 1898. The Winton Motor Car Company of Cleveland, OH, invited readers to "dispense with a horse". 8. In France - Captain Sarret made the first parachute jump from an airplane in 1918. 9. The first paperback book was printed - by Penguin Publishing in 1935. 10. In 1956 the phrase, "In God We Trust", was adopted as the U.S. national motto. 11. Henry Ford flatly stated that history is "bunk." 12. The first Eskimo Bible was printed in Copenhagen in 1744. 13. The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 Mission on 11 December 1972. "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind." 14. Virginia O'Hanlon Douglas was the eight-year-old girl who, in 1897, asked the staff of The New York Sun whether Santa Claus existed. In the now-famous editorial, Francis Church assured Virginia that yes, indeed, "there is a Santa Claus." 15. The first dictionary of American English was published on April 14th, 1828, by - who else? - Noah Webster. 16. No automobile made after 1924 should be designated as antique. 17. John Hancock was the only one of fifty signers of the Declaration of Independence who actually signed it on July 4. 18. The first United States coast to coast airplane flight occurred in 1911 and took 49 days. 19. Escape maps, compasses, and files were inserted into Monopoly game boards and smuggled into POW camps inside Germany during W.W.II; real money for escapees was slipped into the packs of Monopoly money. 20. Values on the Monopoly gameboard are the same today as they were in 1935. 21. Incan soldiers invented the process of freeze-drying food. The process was primitive but effective — potatoes would be left outside to freeze overnight, then thawed and stomped on to remove excess water. 22. The first wooden shoe comes from the Netherlands. The Netherlands have many seas so people wanted a shoe that kept their feet dry while working outside. The shoes were called klompen and they had been cut of one single piece of wood. Today the klompen are the favorite souvenir for people who visit the Netherlands. 23. When airplanes were still a novel invention, seat belts for pilots were installed only after the consequence of their absence was observed to be fatal - several pilots fell to their deaths while flying upside down. 24. Limelight was how we lit the stage before electricity was invented. Basically, illumination was produced by heating blocks of lime until they glowed. 25. False eyelashes were invented by the American film director D.W. Griffith while he was making his 1916 epic, "Intolerance". Griffith wanted actress Seena Owen to have lashes that brushed her cheeks, to make her eyes shine larger than life. A wigmaker wove human hair through fine gauze, which was then gummed to Owen's eyelids. "Intolerance" was critically acclaimed but flopped financially, leaving Griffith with huge debts that he might have been able to settle easily - had he only thought to patent the eyelashes. 26. On November 29, 1941, the program for the annual Army-Navy football game carried a picture of the Battleship Arizona, captioned: "It is significant that despite the claims of air enthusiasts no battleship has yet been sunk by bombs." Today you can visit the site—now a shrine—where Japanese dive bombers sunk the Arizona at Pearl Harbor only nine days later. 27. Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time. 28. During the California Gold Rush of 1849 miners sent their laundry to Honolulu for washing and pressing. Due to the extremely high costs in California during these boom years it was deemed more feasible to send the shirts to Hawaii for servicing. 29. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Egyptian men never became bald. The reason for this, Herodotus claimed, was that as children Egyptian males had their heads shaved, and their scalps were continually exposed to the health-giving rays of the sun. 30. In 1893, Chicago hired its first police woman. Her name was Marie Owens. While the city was progressive in its hiring practices, Chicago's female police officers were not allowed to wear uniforms until 1956.

31. In ancient times, any Japanese who tried to leave his homeland was summarily put to death. In the 1630's, a decree in Japan forbade the building of any large ocean-worthy ships to deter defection. 32. The Ramses brand condom is named after the great pharaoh Ramses II who fathered over 160 children. 33. England's first great industry was wool. Its export had become the nation's largest source of income by the late Middle Ages. 34. The British once went to war over a sailor’s ear. It happened in 1739, when Britain launched hostilities against Spain because a Spanish officer had supposedly sliced off the ear of a ship’s captain named Robert Jenkins. 35. Alexander Hamilton and his son, Philip, both died on the same spot, and both during duels. Philip went first, 3 years before his father would be killed in that same field by Aaron Burr. 36. Florence Nightingale served only two years of her life as a nurse. She contracted fever during her service in the Crimean War, and spent the last 50 years of her life as an invalid. 37. Emir Beysari (1233-1293), an Egyptian of great wealth, drank wine from gold and silver cups, yet he never in all his life used the same cup twice. 38. The first European to visit the Mississippi River was DeSoto. 39. Human skulls had been used as drinking cups for hundreds of years. The muscles and flesh were scraped away, the bottom was hacked off and then they were suitable to hold any beverage. 40. The first Bowie knife was forged at Washington, Arkansas. 41. All the dirt from the foundation to build the World Trade Center in NYC was dumped into the Hudson River to form the community now known as Battery City Park. 42. Louis XV was the first person to use an elevator: in 1743 his "flying chair" carried him between the floors of the Versailles palace. 43. The last words spoken from the moon were from Eugene Cernan, Commander of the Apollo 17 Mission on 11 December 1972. "As we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came, and, God willing, we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind." 44. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great; Hearts - Charlemagne; and Diamonds - Julius Caesar. 45. The best working light-bulb a LONG time ago was a thread of sheep's wool coated with carbon. 46. Salim (1569-1627, heir to the throne of India, had 4 wives when he was only 8 years of age. 47. Spiral staircases in medieval castles are running clockwise. This is because all knights used to be right-handed. When the intruding army would climb the stairs they would not be able to use their right hand which was holding the sword because of the difficulties of climbing the stairs. Left-handed knights would have had no troubles, except left-handed people could never become knights because it was assumed that they were descendants of the devil. 48. Charles de Gaulle's final words were, "It hurts." 49. Alexander the Great was an epileptic. 50. Shakespeare spelled his OWN name several different ways. 51. Historians report that the Roman Emperor Gaius (Caligula) (AD 37-41) was so proud of his horse that he gave him a place as a senate consul before he died. 52. Napoleon constructed his battle plans in a sandbox. 53. Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps. 54. The Tower of London, for which construction was begun in 1078 by William the Conqueror, once housed a zoo. It also has served as an observatory, a mint, a prison, a royal palace, and (at present) the home of the Crown Jewels. 55. In the original architectural design, the French Cathedral of Chartes had six spires (It was built with two spires). 56. Vincent Van Gogh painted a picture a day in the last 70 days of his life. 57. It took 20,000 men 22 years to build the Taj Mahal. 58. It took 214 crates to transport the Statue of Liberty from France to New York in 1885. 59. Fourteen years before the Titanic sank, novelist Morgan Robertson published a novel called "Futility". The story was about an ocean liner that struck an iceberg on an April night. The name of the ship in his novel - The Titan. 60. George Washington, who was nearly toothless himself, was meticulous with the teeth of the six white horses that pulled his presidential coach. He had their teeth picked and cleaned daily to improve their appearance. 61. Once upon a time, in the little state of Rhode Island, they were electing a state legislature. There was a thrifty Federalist farmer who started for the polls late in the afternoon and, on the way, heard the squealing of a pig. He looked around to see the pig with its head caught in the mesh of an old wire fence. Hogs often will kill and eat a trapped pig. So the farmer stopped to rescue the porker and was too late at the polls. Now, wait a minute. The Federalist farmer was too late to vote, and, the election was decided by a one-vote margin in favor of the Democrats. If the farmer had been at the voting place in time, the Democrat would not have been elected. One vote. At the following session of the legislature (these were the days when the legislatures elected our Senators) a Democrat was sent to the Senate from Rhode Island by a one-vote margin in the legislature. Try to keep up with this. The legislator was elected by one vote and his one vote elected a Senator. And in the United States Senate the vote that we should go to war with England was carried by the one Democrat margin. So the Revolutionary War was fought because, a Rhode Island pig got caught in a fence. One vote. A vote was taken on which would be the national language - English or German. English by one vote. Dr. George Benson of Harding College traced this sequence: One morning in 1844 a grain miller in De Kalb County, Indiana, was walking toward his mill. It was election day, but he had work to do and did not intend to vote. Before he reached the mill, however, he was stopped by friends who persuaded him to go to the polls. As it happened the candidate for whom he voted won a seat in the state legislature, by a margin of one vote. When the Indiana Legislature convened, the man elected from De Kalb cast the deciding vote that sent Edward Allen Hannegan to the United States Senate. Then, in the United States Senate the question of statehood for the great state of Texas came up, the result was a tie vote. But Senator Hannegan, presiding as President pro tempore, cast the deciding vote from the chair. So the Lone Star state of Texas was admitted to the Union because a miller in De Kalb County, Indiana, went ten minutes out of his way to cast his one vote, just one vote. Thomas Jefferson was elected President by one vote in the Electoral College. So was John Quincy Adams. And so was Rutherford B. Hayes, elected President, by one vote. One vote gave statehood to California, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. All those people in all those states are Americans because of somebody's one vote. Kentucky came into the Union as a slave state, by the casting of one majority vote in the Constitutional Convention. Had it not been for the one vote, Kentucky would have entered the Union a free state. If it had, Missouri, largely settled by Kentuckians, would have done likewise. In that event there probably never would have been a war between the states. And closer to home the Draft Act of World War II, passed in the House of Representatives, by just one vote. One vote. In St. Johns, Michigan, the race for City Council (two seats, four candidates) was a one-vote wonder. The top three candidates were separated by one vote each. Election results showed Bates with 27%, Hanover with 27% and Huard with 27%. Mark Bates had one more vote than Heather Hanover, who had one more vote than Roland Huard. 62. The military salute is a motion that evolved from medieval times, when knights in armor raised their visors to reveal their identity. 63. Civil War General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson has two separate burial sites. His left arm, which was amputated after the battle of Chancellorsville was buried on a nearby farm. A week later, Jackson died and was buried in Lexington, Virginia. 64. The first advertisement printed in English in 1477 offered a prayer book. The ad was published by William Caxton on his press in Westminster Abbey. No price was mentioned, only that the book was "good chepe." 65. Czar Paul 1 banished soldiers to Siberia for marching out of step. 66. Time magazine's "Man of the Year" for 1938 was Adolf Hitler. 67. Louis XIV had forty personal wigmakers and almost 1000 wigs. 68. Before 1863, postal service in the United States was free. 69. The practice of exchanging presents at Christmas originated with the Romans. 70. New York was the first state to require the licensing of motor vehicles. The law was adopted in 1901. 71. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the first American to have plumbing installed in his house, in 1840. 72. Seating on the first scheduled inter-city commuter airplane flight consisted of moveable wicker chairs. There were 11 of them on the first Ford Tri-Motors. After several years, Ford replaced them with aluminum framed leather chairs. 73. President George Washington oversaw construction of the White House, but he never lived there. It was our second President, John Adams, elected in 1796, who first lived in the White House. His term was almost over by the time he moved in, and only six rooms had been finished. 74. Queen Supayalat of Burma ordered about 100 of her husband's relatives clubbed to death. She did this to ensure the throne to her husband. 75. Suspension of the construction of the Washington Monument, at the 153 foot level, was forced by the anti-Catholic Know-Nothing movement, which was offended by Pope Pius IX's gift of a block of marble from Rome's Temple of Concord. The suspension lasted 26 years. Work resumed in 1880 and the monument was completed in 1888. 76. The 1,340-foot-long wall that gave New York's Wall Street its name was only 12 feet tall and erected in 1653 by Dutch colonists to protect against their enemies. 77. Pope Paul IV, who was elected on 23 May 1555, was so outraged when he saw the naked bodies on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that he ordered Michelangelo to paint on to them. 78. American astronomer, mathematician, clock-maker, surveyor and almanac editor Benjamin Banneker has been called the "first black man of science." Banneker took part in the original survey of Washington, DC. His almanac was published 1792 to 1797. 79. The Aztec Indians in Central America used animal blood mixed with cement as a mortar for their buildings, many of which still remain standing today. 80. While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes wore a fake beard. 81. The Coliseum received its name not for its size, but for a colossal statue of Nero that stood close by, placed there after the destruction of his palace. 82. In 1778, fashionable women of Paris never went out in blustery weather without a lightning rod attached to their hats. 83. In Northern parts of China it was once a common practice to shave pigs. When the evenings got cold the Chinese would take a pig to bed with them for warmth and found it more comfortable if the pig was clean-shaven. 84. Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it's known as Tennessee. 85. The traditional symbol of the pawnbroker—three golden balls—is thought to be derived from the coat of the arms of the Medici family, who ruled Italian city of Florence between the 15th and 16th centuries. The symbol was spread by the Lombards—Italian bankers, goldsmiths, and moneylenders who set up businesses in medieval London. 86. When the U.S. War Department was established in 1789, there were 840 soldiers in the regular army. Their job was to supervise public lands and guard the indian frontier. 87. In 1907 the first taxicab took to the streets of New York City. 88. WWI flying ace Jean Navarre attacked a zeppelin armed with only a kitchen knife. 89. Catherine the Great relaxed by being tickled. 90. Despite his great scientific and artistic achievement, Leonardo Da Vinci was most proud of his ability to bend iron with his bare hands. 91. Louisa May Alcott, author of the classic "Little Women," hated kids. She only wrote the book because her publisher asked her to. 92. Soldiers arrived to fight the Battle of Marne in World War I - not on foot or by military airplane or military vehicle - but by taxi cabs. France took over all the taxi cabs in Paris to get soldiers to the front. 93. The U.S. Automobile Association was formed in 1905 for the purpose or providing "scouts" who could warn motorists of hidden police traps. 94. On June 8, 1959, in a move a postal official heralded as "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world," the Navy submarine U.S.S. Barbero fired a guided missile carrying 3,000 letters at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Mayport, Florida. "Before man reaches the moon," the official was quoted as saying, "mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles." History proved differently, but this experiment with missile mail exemplifies the pioneering spirit of the Post Office Department when it came to developing faster, better ways of moving the mail.... however, they don't mention if the 3,000 letters were ever delivered. 95. Chrysler built B-29's that bombed Japan, Mitsubishi built Zeros that tried to shoot them down. Both companies now build cars in a joint plant called Diamond Star. 96. New Zealand was the first place in the world to allow women to vote. The state of South Australia was next, in 1894, and it was also the first place to allow women to stand for parliament. 97. The Taj Mahal complex in India was built between 1631 and 1634 at a cost of about 40-million rupees. 98. The first telephone exchange opened on January 28, 1878, in New Haven, Connecticut. 99. In the late 30's, a man named Abe Pickens of Cleveland, Ohio, attempted to promote world peace by placing personal calls to various country leaders. He managed to contact Mussolini, Hirohito, Franco and Hitler (Hitler, who didn't understand English, transferred him to an aide). He spent$10,000 to "give peace a chance." 100. A female pharaoh was unknown in Egypt before Hatshepsut, who had herself portrayed in male costume, with a beard and without breasts. 101. After being forced to state in public that the earth does not rotate, Galileo is said to have muttered under his breath, "But it does move." 102. History's first recorded toothpaste was an Egyptian mixture of ground pumice and strong wine. But the early Romans brushed their teeth with human urine, and also used it as a mouthwash. Actually, urine was an active component in toothpaste and mouthwashes until well into the 18th century - the ammonia it contains gave them strong cleansing power. 103. The 16th century astronomer Tycho Brahe lost his nose in a duel with one of his students over a mathematical computation. He wore a silver replacement nose for the rest of his life. 104. "Hot cockles" was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. It was a game in which the other players took turns striking the blindfolded player, who had to guess the name of the person delivering each blow. "Hot cockles" was still a Christmas pastime until the Victorian era. 105. Civil War General Stonewall Jackson died when he was accidentally hit by fire from his own troop. 106. When Napoleon wore black silk handkerchiefs around his neck during a battle, he always won. At Waterloo, he wore a white cravat and lost the battle and his kingdom. 107. Original 'Indian Yellow' was obtained at Monghyr, a town in Benghal, from the urine of cows which had been fed on mango leaves. It was found in the bazaars of Panjab in the form of large balls, having an offensive urinous odor. True Indian yellow has been absent from the market for some time; its production is said to have been prohibited in 1908. Present day Indian yellow colors are made of synthetic pigments, alternatives that are less fugitive and less offensive to the nose. 108. The steel industry, in 1943, introduced the 5-day, 40 hour work week. Henry Ford adopted it in 1926. 109. 1892 By Presidential Proclamation 1.8 million acres of Crow Indian reservation in Montana were opened to White settlers. The U.S. government had induced the Crow to give up a sizable portion of their land in the mountainous western area of Montana. The Crow received 50 cents per acre for their land. 110. DaVinci is best remembered as the painter of the Mona Lisa (1504?)and The Last Supper (1495). But he's almost equally famous for his astonishing multiplicity of talents: he dabbled in architecture, sculpture, engineering, geology, hydraulics and the military arts, all with success, and in his spare time doodled parachutes and flying machines that resembled inventions of the 19th and 20th centuries. 111. DaVinci made detailed drawings of human anatomy, which are still highly regarded today. 112. DaVinci wrote notebook entries in mirror (backwards) script, a trick that kept many of his observations from being widely known until decades after his death. It is believed that he was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with what Leonardo observed. 113. When Gaius Caesar was a boy, Roman soldiers affectionately nicknamed him "little boots" for the boy-sized military footwear he sported. 114. Although most people think that Napoleon was short, he was actually five feet six inches tall (1.676 meters), an average height for a Frenchman in those days. 115. The German Kaiser Wilhelm II had a withered arm and often hid the fact by posing with his hand resting on a sword, or by holding gloves. 116. Napoleon took 14,000 French decrees and simplified them into a unified set of 7 laws. This was the first time in modern history that a nation's laws applied equally to all citizens. Napoleon's 7 laws are so impressive that by 1960 more than 70 governments had patterned their own laws after them or used them verbatim. 117. More than 5,600 men died while building the Panama Canal. Today, it takes more than 8,000 workers to run and maintain the canal. It takes a ship an average of 33 hours to travel the length of the canal. 118. Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the first American to have plumbing installed in his house, in 1840. 119. While the world was busy welcoming the arrival of the twentieth century on December 31, 1900, a forceful gale on England's Salisbury Plain blew over one of the ancient monumental stones at Stonehenge. 120. In 1555, Ivan the Terrible ordered the construction of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. He was so thrilled with the work done by the two architects that he had them blinded so they could never be able to build anything else more beautiful. 121. The ancient Etruscans painted women white and men red in the wall paintings they used to decorate tombs. 122. When Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco into England in the early 1600's, King James I wrote a booklet against it. I guess that makes King James the founding father of the "Just Say No" campaign. 123. The dirt road that General Washington and his soldiers took to fight off General Clinton during the Battle of Monmouth was called the Burlington Path. 124. All of the officers in the Confederate army were given copies of Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, to carry with them at all times. Robert E. Lee, among others, believed that the book symbolized their cause. Both revolts were defeated. 125. Marco Polo was born on the Croatian island of Korcula (pronounced Kor-Chu-La). 126. Karl Marx was targeted for assassination when he met with two Prussian officers in his house in Cologne in 1848. Marx had friends among the German labor unions, and he was considered a threat to the autocrats. Dressed in his bathrobe, he forced the officers out at the point of a revolver, which, it turned out, was not loaded. 127. The right arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty crossed the Atlantic Ocean three times. It first crossed for display at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition and in New York, where money was raised for the foundation and pedestal. It was returned to Paris in 1882 to be reunited with the rest of the statue, which was then shipped back to the U.S. 128. In 1878 Wanamaker's of Philadelphia was the first U.S. department store to install electric lighting. 129. Playing cards were issued to British pilots in WWII. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape. 130. The first telephone book ever issued contained only fifty names. It was published in New Haven, Connecticut, by the New Haven District Telephone Company in February, 1878. 131. The first time an enormous amount of clothing was needed all at once was during the Civil War, when the Union needed hundreds of thousands of uniforms for its troops. Out of this need came the ready-made clothing industry. 132. Traffic engineering was not developed in London, New York or Paris, but rather in ancient Rome. The Romans, of course, were noted road builders. The Appian Way, for example, stretched 350 miles from the Eternal City to Brundisium. In Rome itself there were actually stop signs and even alternate-side-of-the-street parking. 133. Until the 19th century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia. 134. "John has a long mustache" was the coded-signal used by the French Resistance in WWII to mobilize their forces once the Allies had landed on the Normandy beaches. 135. The State of Nevada first legalized gambling in 1931. At that same time, the Hoover Dam was being built and the federal government did not want its workers (who earned 50 cents an hour) to be involved with such diversions, so they built the town of Boulder City to house the dam workers. To this day, Boulder City is the only city in Nevada where gambling is illegal. Hoover Dam is 726 feet tall and 660 feet thick at its base. Enough rock was excavated in its construction to build the Great Wall of China. Contrary to old wives' tales, no workers were buried in the dam's cement. 136. Unfortunately Gaius grew up and became emperor, incongruously retaining his boyhood diminutive. "Little boots" in Latin is "Caligula." As you may know, he was a bloodthirsty, sadistic fiend. 137. Before winning the election in 1860, Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections for various offices. 138. Houses were first numbered in Paris in 1463. In Britain, numbering did not appear until 1708, on a street in London's Whitechapel area. 139. In ancient Greece, courtesans wore sandals with nails studded into the sole so that their footprints would leave the message "Follow me". 140. In 1937 the emergency 999 telephone service was established in London. More than 13,000 genuine calls were made in the first month. 141. In 1974 there were 90 tornadoes in the U.S. in one day. 142. Satirist Jonathan Swift suggested in his essay "A Modest Proposal" that the children of the poor be sold as food to feed the rich. This shocking essay is one of the best examples of satire you'll find. 143. Akhbar the Great Mughal routed the Hindus under Hemu by turning their elephants against them at the battle of Panipat in the Hindu revolt. 144. When the first U.S. Congress set the president's pay at $25,000 per year they established the vice president's salary of $5,000. 145. At the outbreak of World War I, the American air force consisted of only fifty men. 146. Before all-porcelain false teeth were perfected in the mid-19th century, dentures were commonly made with teeth pulled from the mouths of dead soldiers following a battle. Teeth extracted from U.S. Civil War soldier cadavers were shipped to England by the barrel to dentists. 147. King Charles VII, who was assassinated in 1167, was the first Swedish king with the name of Charles. Charles I, II, III, IV, V, never existed. No one knows why. To add to the mystery, almost 300 years went by before there was a Charles VIII (1448-57). 148. Lafayette was a major general in the United States at the age of 19. Lafayette's whole name takes up an entire line on a page: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. 149. Many hundreds of years ago when the well-known style of Irish dancing began in the country side of Ireland, most houses of the poor - and that means most houses - only had a dirt floor which was not a lot of use for dancing on if you were holding a ceildh (pronounced kay-lee and meaning party - more or less). So in order to make the dancing easier the owners of the house which was holding the party would take the doors off their hinges and lay them on the floor. There was just enough room on each door for two people to dance, providing they did not fling their arms about - hence the original name for Irish dancing - Door Dancing. 150. In a tradition dating to the beginning of the Westminster system of government, the bench in the middle of a Westminster parliament is two and a half sword lengths long. This was so the government and opposition couldn't have a go at each other if it all got a bit heated. 151. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the first minimum wage in the United States. The new law, considered controversial at the time, established at.25 cents per hour minimum wage and a maximum 44 hour work week for minors. 152. In Britain, the law was changed in 1789 to make the method of execution hanging. Prior to that, burning was the modus operandi. The last female to be executed by burning in England was Christian Bowman. Her crime was making counterfeit coins. 153. A painting of the Madonna in Fiorano Castle, Italy, escaped without even being scorched when invading soldiers set the castle afire, yet all the rest of the building was destroyed. 154. U.S. Army doctor D.W. Bliss had the unique role of attending to two U.S. presidents after they were shot by assassins. In 1865 he was one of 16 doctors who tried to save Abraham Lincoln, and in 1881 he supervised the care of James Garfield. 155. King Tut's tomb contained FOUR coffins. The third coffin was made from 2,500 pounds of gold. And in today's market is worth approximately $13,000,000. 156. The very first enclosed shopping mall was and is Valley Faire in Appleton, Wisconsin. Not in Minnesota as most people believe. Appleton is also famous for being the birth place of Harry Houdini and the first city in America to use Hydro-electric power in homes. 157. It is a well known trivial fact that Neil Armstrong was the first man to step onto the moon. However, many do not know that he stepped onto the moon with his left foot. 158. Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it is known as Tennessee. 159. While Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee in 1912, a would-be assassin fired a bullet into the right side of his chest. Much of the force of the slug was absorbed by the President's eyeglasses case and by the 50 page speech he was carrying double-folded in his breast pocket. Nevertheless, the bullet lodged itself just short of his lung, and, dripping in blood, Roosevelt pulled himself up to the podium. He asked the crowd to please "...be very quiet and excuse me from making a long speech. I'll do the best I can, but there's a bullet in my body... I have a message to deliver, and I will deliver it as long as there is life in my body." He spoke for 90 minutes, but was unable to refer to his text due to the gaping hole which the bullet had torn through it. 160. In the 15th century, scholars in China compiled a set of encyclopedia that contained 11,095 volumes. 161. New York's Central Park opened in 1876. 162. Minna Braun, a nurse in Berlin, Germany, was pronounced dead from an overdose of sleeping pills and, as was customary in suicides, was buried in an open grave (The next day the coffin's nailed lid was opened to permit identification of the body), and the girl was found to be alive. She recovered and returned to her nursing duties. (Oct. 28, 1919) 163. What would eventually become one of the world's most prestigious museums, the Louvre Museum opened in Paris in 1793. Until the French Revolution, the King's art collection had been strictly for the private pleasure of the Court, but revolutionary leaders decided to open the collection to the public. Among some of its most famous art pieces, the Louvre houses, the Joconde (Mona Lisa), Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and the Liberty Leading the People. 164. Ishi had made it very clear before he died that he did not want to be autopsied. However, his wishes were ignored and his body was autopsied and the brain removed and sent to the Smithsonian, where scientists were collecting brains for a study of brain size and race. After 83 years, the Smithsonian is finally returning the brain of Ishi to his closest relatives so they can bury his remains. 165. Ishi's remains will be given to representative of the Redding Rancheria and the Pit River Tribe, two Native American groups from Northern California. Ishi was actually a Yahi-Yana Indian. Smithsonian officials decided that the two tribes were the closest living relatives and truly represented the Yana descendants. 166. While the world was busy welcoming the arrival of the twentieth century on December 31, 1900, a forceful gale on England's Salisbury Plain blew over one of the ancient monumental stones at Stonehenge. 167. Spartacus led the revolt of the Roman slaves and gladiators in 73 A.D. 168. Seat belts became mandatory on U.S. cars on March 1, 1968. 169. There were 57 countries involved in World War II. 170. Socrates committed suicide by drinking poison hemlock. 171. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950. 172. A B-25 bomber airplane crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945. 173. India tested its first nuclear bomb in 1974. 174. After the great fire of Rome in A.D. 64, the emperor Nero ostensibly decided to lay the blame on Christians residing in the city of Rome. These he gathered together, crucified, covered in pitch (tar), and burnt alive. He walked around his gardens admiring the view. 175. Most people know that the reign of Czar Nicholas II of Russia ended in tragedy, but few know that's how it started as well. At his coronation, presents were given to all the people who attended. As the gifts were being handed out, a rumor started that there weren't enough to go around and a stampede started. Hundreds of women and children were killed. 176. The first known item made from aluminum was a rattle—made for Napoleon III in the 1850s. Napoleon also provided his most honored guests with knives and forks made of pure aluminum. At the time the newly discovered metal was so rare, it was considered more valuable than gold. 177. General Henry Heth (1825-1888) leading a confederate division in the Battle of Gettysburg, was hit in the head by a Union bullet, but his life was saved because he was wearing a hat two sizes too large, with newspaper folded inside the sweatband. The paper deflected the bullet, and the general, unconscious for 30 hours, recovered and lived another 25 years. 178. During the American revolution, more inhabitants of the American colonies fought for the British than for the Continental Army. 179. During the Crimean War, the British Army lost ten times more troops to dysentery than to battle wounds. 180. During the Renaissance blond hair became so much de rigueur in Venice that a brunette was not to be seen except among the working classes. Venetian women spent hours dyeing and burnishing their hair until they achieved the harsh metallic glitter that was considered a necessity. 181. During the Renaissance, fashionable aristocratic Italian women shaved their hair several inches back from their natural hairlines. 182. During the Spanish American War in 1898 there were 45 stars on the American flag. 183. During World War II the original copies of the U. S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence was taken from the Library of Congress and kept at Fort Knox, Kentucky. 184. During World War II, the U.S. Navy had a world champion chess player, Reuben Fine, calculate - on the basis of positional probability - where enemy submarines might surface. 185. On June 13th 1944, a single Tiger tank headed by Captain Michael Wittman stopped the advance of the entire British 7th armored division (the famous 'desert rats') in the town of Villers Bocage, Normandy. This has been the deadliest single action in the entire war and stopped the British offensive, planned by Montgomery, to break through German lines. Wittman died later in August fighting against 12 Canadian Sherman tanks. 186. Five members of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's family were killed at the Battle of little Big Horn. They were Tom and Boston, two half-brothers, Harry Armstrong Reed, a nephew and a brother-in-law, James Calhoun. 187. In 1865 opium was grown in the state of Virginia and a product was distilled from it that yielded 4 percent morphine. In 1867 it was grown in Tennessee: six years later it was cultivated in Kentucky. During these years opium, marijuana and cocaine could be purchased legally over the counter from any druggist. 188. The Roman emperor Commodos collected all the dwarfs, cripples, and freaks he could find in the city of Rome and had them brought to the Coliseum, where they were ordered to fight each other to the death with meat cleavers. 189. High-wire acts have been enjoyed since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Antique medals have been excavated from Greek islands depicting men ascending inclined cords and walking across ropes stretched between cliffs. The Greeks called these high-wire performers neurobates or oribates. In the Roman city of Herculaneum there is a fresco representing an aerialist high on a rope, dancing and playing a flute. Sometimes Roman tightrope walkers stretched cables between the tops of two neighboring hills and performed comic dances and pantomimes while crossing. 190. John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son. 191. There was a "pony express" in Persia many centuries before Christ. Riders on this ancient circuit, wearing special colored headbands, delivered the mails across the vast stretch of Asia Minor, sometimes riding for hundreds of miles without a break. 192. It was only after 440 A.D. that December 25 was celebrated as the birth date of Jesus Christ. 193. The first aerial photograph was taken from a balloon during the U.S. civil war. 194. Olive oil was used for washing the body in the ancient Mediterranean world. 195. In 1801, 20 percent of the people in the U.S. were slaves. 196. Slaves under the last emperors of China wore pigtails so they could be picked out quickly. 197. Dinner guests during the medieval times in England were expected to bring their own knives to the table. 198. It is estimated that a few years after Columbus discovered the New World, the Spaniards killed off 1.5 million Indians. 199. The Fish Bowl was invented by Countess Dubarry, Mistress of King Louis XV (Born 1710 Died 1774) 200. Leonardo DaVinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pinewood, 77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in) in the year 1506. 201. Today the painting hangs in the Musee du Louvre, Paris, France. 202. DaVinci's name for the painting was La Gioconda. Named for the wife of Francesco del Giocondo; 1503-06 203. Who posed for the painting? Dr. Lillian Schwartz of Bell Labs suggests that Leonardo painted himself, and was able to support her theory by analyzing the facial features of Leonardo's face and that of the famous painting, She digitized both the self-portrait of the artist and the Mona Lisa. She flipped the self-portrait and merged the two images together using a computer. She noticed the features of the face aligned perfectly. 204. When Elizabeth I of Russia died in 1762, 15,000 dresses were found in her closets. She used to change what she was wearing two and even three times an evening. 205. Napoleon, the famous French general, was not born in France. He was born on the Mediterranean island of Corsica of Italian parents. 206. When he resigned in 1923 because of illegal behavior in the Teapot Dome Affair, Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall was offered an appointment to the Supreme Court by President Harding. In 1931, Fall was tried and found guilty of conspiracy to defraud. 207. Jahangir, a 17th-century Indian Mughal ruler, had 5,000 women in his harem and 1,000 young boys. He also owned 12,000 elephants. 208. China was the first country to introduce paper money (in 812), but it wasn't until 1661 that a bank (Banco-Sedlar of Sweden) issued banknotes. 209. If the arm of King Henry I of England had been 42 inches long, the unit of measure of a "foot" today would be fourteen inches. But his arm happened to be 36 inches long and he decreed that the "standard" foot should be one-third that length: 12 inches. 210. Napoleon's nemesis, the Duke of Wellington, was an accomplished yo-yo player. At that time, the yo-yo was known as a "bandalore." 211. When Thomas Jefferson became U.S. President in 1801, 20 percent of all people in the young nation were slaves. 212. Early Egyptians wore sandals made from woven papyrus leaves. 213. The Marquis de Lafayette, America's Revolutionary War ally, named his only son George Washington Lafayette. 214. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the fathers of communism, wrote 500 articles for the "New York Tribune" from 1851 to 1862. 215. While Theodore Roosevelt was campaigning in Milwaukee in 1912, a would-be assassin fired a bullet into the right side of his chest. Much of the force of the slug was absorbed by the President's eyeglasses case and by the 50 page speech he was carrying double-folded in his breast pocket. Nevertheless, the bullet lodged itself just short of his lung, and, dripping in blood, Roosevelt pulled himself up to the podium. He asked the crowd to please "...be very quiet and excuse me from making a long speech. I'll do the best I can, but there's a bullet in my body... I have a message to deliver, and I will deliver it as long as there is life in my body." He spoke for 90 minutes, but was unable to refer to his text due to the gaping hole which the bullet had torn through it. 216. Karl Marx was targeted for assassination when he met with two Prussian officers in his house in Cologne in 1848. Marx had friends among the German labor unions, and he was considered a threat to the autocrats. Dressed in his bathrobe, he forced the officers out at the point of a revolver, which, it turned out, was not loaded. 217. Ishi was believed to be the last of the Yahi, a tribe of Native Americans living in California that were wiped out by disease and massacres. In the early part of the twentieth century (1911), he became a sensation when he wandered out of the woods near Oroville. Ishi was taken to the University of California at San Francisco where he lived and worked (as a janitor) in the anthropology museum, helping researchers to document the Yahi language, until his death from tuberculosis in 1916. His name, Ishi, was given to him by the anthropologists. Linguists believe it was his tribe's word for "man."

[edit] Odd Inventors

1. So many visitors were taking his cigars, so Thomas Edison devised a plan to discourage the practice. He had several boxes of cigars custom-made with cabbage leaves. But when the offensive smelling stogies were delivered to his office, his secretary sent them on to his home where his wife went ahead and packed the items in his luggage, and the offensive items accompanied Mr. Edison on his business trip. This just goes to show you that even a genius can't outsmart his wife. 2. Henry Waterman, of New York, invented the elevator in 1850. He intended it to transport barrels of flour. 3. John Greenwood, also of New York invented the dental drill in 1790. 4. The corkscrew was invented by M.L. Bryn, also of New York, in 1860. 5. Electrical hearing aids were invented in 1901 by Miller R. Hutchinson, who was (you guessed it) from New York. 6. Dr. Jonas Salk developed the vaccine for polio in 1952, in New York (aaah!). 7. Four wheel roller skates were invented by James L. Plimpton in 1863. Can you guess where? 8. The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, "Mary had a little lamb." 9. In the early 1800s, a French silk weaver called Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented a way of automatically controlling the warp and weft threads on a silk loom by recording patterns of holes in a string of cards. 10. In 1843, a mathematician, Ada Byron, published the first computer programs. She based them on Jacquard's punch-card idea. Her programs were for the first general-purpose mechanical digital computer, that was just invented by Charles Babbage. 11. As an advertising gimmick, Carl Meyer, nephew of lunch meat mogul Oscar Meyer, invented the company's "Wienermobile". On July 18, 1936, the first Oscar Mayer "Wienermobile" rolled out of General Body Company's factory in Chicago. The Wienermobile still tours the U.S. today. 12. Gutenburg invented the printing press in the 1450's, and the first book to ever be printed was the Bible. It was, however, in Latin rather than English. 13. Jeanne Pierre Francois Blanchard built the first parachute and tested it using a dog. He put the dog in a basket equipped with his invention and then dropped it from a hot air balloon. It was a giant step forward for aviation history, but a giant step backwards in establishing the dog as man's best friend. 14. The toothbrush was invented in 1498. 15. The waffle iron was invented August 24, 1869. 16. The alarm clock was not invented by the Marquis de Sade, as some suspect, but rather by a man named Levi Hutchins of Concord, New Hampshire, in 1787. Perversity, though, characterized his invention from the beginning. The alarm on his clock could ring only at 4 am. Rumor has it that Hutchins was murdered by his wife at 4:05 am on a very dark and deeply cold New England morning. 17. Craven Walker invented the lava lamp, and its contents are colored wax and water. 18. In 1916, Jones Wister of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania invented a rifle for shooting around corners. It had a curved barrel and periscopic sights. 19. The same man who led the attack on the Alamo, Mexican Military General, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, is also credited with the invention of chewing gum. 20. The parachute was invented by Leonardo da Vinci in 1515. 21. The guillotine was originally called a louisette. Named for Antoine Louis, the French surgeon who invented it. It became known as the guillotine for Joseph Ignace Guillotin, the French physician who advocated it as a more merciful means of execution than the noose or ax. 22. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors. 23. Lazy Susans are named after Thomas Edison's daughter. He invented it to impress a gathering of industrialists and inventors. 24. Cyano-acrylate glues (super glue) were invented by accident. The researcher was trying to make optical materials, and would test their properties by putting them between two prisms and shining light through them. When he tried the cyano-acrylate, he couldn't get the prisms apart. 25. A device invented as a primitive steam engine by the Greek engineer Hero, about the time of the birth of Christ, is used today as a rotating lawn sprinkler. 26. A machine has been invented that can read printed English books aloud to the blind, and it can do so at speed half again as fast as normal speech. 27. Games Slayter, a Purdue graduate, invented fiberglass. 28. Teflon was discovered in 1938. 29. Alfred Nobel used a cellulose adhesive (nitrocellulose) as the chemical binder for nitroglycerin, which he used in his invention of dynamite. 30. At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, Richard Blechyden, and Englishman, had a tea concession. On a very hot day, none of the fairgoers were interested in hot tea. Blechyden served the tea cold—and invented iced tea. 31. At the turn of the century, most light bulbs were hand-blown, and the cost of one was equivalent to half a day's pay for the average U.S. worker. 32. Camel's-hair brushes are not made of camel's hair. They were invented by a man named Mr. Camel. 33. Carbonated beverages became popular in 1832 after John Mathews invented an apparatus for charging water with carbon dioxide gas. 34. Western Electric invented the loudspeaker which was initially called "loud-speaking telephone." 35. Phone service was established at the White House one year after its invention. President Rutherford B. Hayes was the first to have phone service (1877-81). 36. Fifteen years after its invention in 1876, there were five million phones in America. Fifteen years after its invention, more than 33 million wireless phones were in the U.S. 37. According to U.S. law, a patent may not be granted on a useless invention, on a method of doing business, on mere printed matter, or on a device or machine that will not operate. Even if an invention is novel or new, a patent may not be obtained if the invention would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the same area at the time of the invention. 38. While Eleanor Abbott of San Diego, California was recuperating from polio in the 1940s, she occupied herself with devising games and activities for youngsters who had polio. One of her inventions was called "Candy Land." Her young friends liked the game so much, she submitted it to Milton Bradley Company where it was immediately accepted. Since then, CANDY LAND has been recognized internationally as a "child's first game." 39. The modern zipper, the Talon Slide Fastener, was invented in 1913 but didn't catch on until after World War I. The first dresses incorporating the zipper appeared in the 1930's. 40. Bavarian immigrant Charles August Fey invented the first three-reel automatic payout slot machine, the Liberty Bell, in San Francisco in 1899. 41. In 1966, Elliot Handler, one of the co-founders of Mattel, Inc. and part of the Barbie doll empire, was the inventor of Hot Wheels®. Handler experimented with axles and rotating wheels being attached to tiny model cars. The innovative gravity-powered car he developed had special low-friction styrene wheels. Hot Wheels® have been clocked at speeds of up to 300 miles per hour. 42. Dr. John Gorrie of Appalachicola, Florida, invented mechanical refrigeration in 1851. He patented his device on May 6, 1851. There is a statue which honors this "Father of Modern Day Air Conditioning" in the Statuary Hall of the Capitol building in Washington, DC. 43. Electrical hearing aids were invented in 1901 by Miller R. Hutchinson. 44. Eli Whitney made no money from the cotton gin because he did not have a valid patent on it. 45. The British import Spirograph was introduced in the United States in 1967 by Kenner and has racked up millions of dollars in sales. It was invented by a British electronics engineer, Denys Fisher, who was inspired to create the toy while doing research on a new design for bomb detonators for NATO. 46. The Chinese invented eyeglasses. Marco Polo reported seeing many pairs worn by the Chinese as early as 1275, 500 years before lens grinding became an art in the West. 47. The classic toy wagon was designed by Antonio Pasin, who founded his company in 1918. Pasin wanted to give his wagons a modern flair, and chose the word "radio" for what was then a new form of communication, and "flyer" for the wonder of flight — hence, "Radio Flyer." 48. The coffee filter was invented by Melissa Bentz, in Germany in 1908. She pierced holes in a tin container, put a circular piece of absorbent paper in the bottom of it and put her creation over a coffee pot. 49. Ferdinand Porsche, who later went on to build sports cars bearing his own name, designed the original 1936 Volkswagen. 50. In 1889, the first coin-operated telephone, patented by Hartford, Connecticut inventor William Gray, was installed in the Hartford Bank. Soon, "pay phones" were installed in stores, hotels, saloons, and restaurants, and their use soared. Local calls using a coin-operated phone in the U.S. cost only 5 cents everywhere until 1951. 51. The first commercial vacuum cleaner was so large it was mounted on a wagon. People threw parties in their homes so guests could watch the new device do its job. 52. The first VCR, made in 1956, was the size of a piano. 53. Inventor Hugh Moore's paper cup factory was located next door to the Dixie Doll Company in the same downtown loft building. The word Dixie printed on the company's door reminded Moore of the story he had heard as a boy about "dixies," the ten dollar bank notes printed with the French word dix in big letters across the face of the bill by a New Orleans bank renowned for its strong currency in the early 1800s. The "dixies," Moore decided, had the qualities he wanted people to associate with his paper cups, and with permission from his neighbor, he used the name for his cups - "Dixie Cups". 54. It has been determined that less than one patented invention in a hundred makes any money for the inventor. 55. It was Swiss chemist Jacques Edwin Brandenberger who invented cellophane, back in 1908. 56. James J. Ritty, owner of a tavern in Dayton, Ohio, invented the cash register in 1879 to stop his patrons from pilfering house profits. 57. James Ramsey invented a steam-driven motorboat in 1784. He ran it on the Potomac River, and the event was witnessed by George Washington. 58. The monkey wrench is named after its inventor, a London blacksmith named Charles Moncke. 59. The paper clip was patented by Norwegian inventor Johan Vaaler in 1899. Because Norway had no patent law at the time, he had to travel to Germany where he received his patent in 1900. His U.S. Patent was granted in 1901. 60. The pop top can was invented in Kettering, Ohio by Ermal Fraze. 61. The power lawn mower was invented by Ransom E. Olds (of Oldsmobile fame) in 1915. 62. The rickshaw was invented by the Reverend Jonathan Scobie, an American Baptist minister living in Yokohama, Japan, built the first model in 1869 in order to transport his invalid wife. Today it remains a common mode of transportation in the Orient. 63. The shoestring was invented in England in 1790, Prior to this time all shoes were fastened with buckles. 64. The single blade window cleaning squeegee was invented in 1936 by Ettore Sceccone and is still the most common form of commercial window cleaning today. 65. The Super Ball® was born in 1965, and it became America's most popular plaything that year. By Christmas time, only six months after it was introduced by Wham-O, 7 million balls had been sold at 98 cents apiece. Norman Stingley, a California chemist, invented the bouncing gray ball. In his spare time, he had compressed a synthetic rubber material under 3,500 pounds of pressure per square inch, and eventually created the remarkable ball. It had a resiliency of 92 percent, about three times that of a tennis ball, and could bounce for long periods. It was reported that presidential aide McGeorge Bundy had five dozen Super Balls® shipped to the White House for the amusement of staffers. 66. Roulette was invented by the great French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It was a by product of his experiments with perpetual motion. 67. The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was albino. 68. Edison improved the incandescent lamp in 1879, but he didn't actually invent it. Sir Humphrey Davy is reputed to be the true inventor of the electric light. He passed electricity through a platinum wire and caused an arc lamp to glow as early as 1802. However, Davy did not pursue the discovery. By the time Edison entered the scene, arc lamps had been burning for several decades, but were limited by short life spans. Edison developed a long-lasting filament light in 1877, and in 1879 produced the first long-lasting light bulb. 69. The man who invented shorthand, John Gregg, was deaf. 70. The state of Maine was once known as the "Earmuff Capital of The World". Earmuffs were invented there by Chester Greenwood in 1873. 71. Because he felt such an important tool should be public property, English chemist John Walker never patented his invention — matches. 72. California police in the 1920s thought they had gotten the drop on a moonshiner. They raided what they thought was a still and found, instead, inventor Philo T. Farnsworth, working on something that was later to become television. 73. The hypodermic needle was invented in 1853. It was initially used for giving injections of morphine as a painkiller. Physicians mistakenly believed that morphine would not be addictive if it by-passed the digestive tract. 74. Thomas Edison’s first major invention was the quadruplex telegraph. Unlike other telegraphs at the time, it could send four messages at the same time over one wire. 75. Inventor Gail Borden, Jr. invented condensed milk in the 1850's. 76. After his death in 1937, Guglielmo Marconi, inventor of the wireless telegraph was honored by broadcasters worldwide as they let the airwaves fall silent for two minutes in his memory. 77. Bryan J. Patrie, a Stanford graduate student invented the Watercolor Intelligent Nightlight, which informs bleary-eyed midnight bathroom-goers whether the toilet seat is up or down... without turning on a blinding light. Patrie introduced the device in the early 1990's. He explained, "When you get within five feet of the dark commode, it will sense your motion. It looks to see if the room is dark. Then it looks upward by sending out an infrared beam. If it gets a reflection, it knows the seat is up. If it is, the red light comes on." 78. Pez was invented in 1927 by Eduard Haas, an Austrian anti-smoking fanatic, who marketed peppermint-flavored PEZ as a cigarette substitute. The candy gets its name from the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminze. Haas brought the candy to the U.S. in 1952. It bombed, so he reintroduced it as a children's toy, complete with cartoon heads and fruity flavors. One of the most secretive companies in the U.S., PEZ won't even disclose who currently owns the company. 79. In the year 1886, Herman Hollerith had the idea of using punched cards to keep and transport information, a technology used up to the late 1970's. This device was constructed to allow the 1890 census to be tabulated. In 1896 the Tabulating Machine Company was founded by Hollerith. Twenty-eight years later, in 1924, after several take-overs the company became known as International Business Machines (IBM). 80. The Nobel Prize resulted from a late change in the will of Alfred Nobel, who did not want to be remembered after his death as a propagator of violence - he invented dynamite. 81. The shoe string was invented in England in 1790. Until then shoes were fastened with buckles. 82. Germany holds the title for most independent inventors to apply for patents. 83. Noxema, the skin cream invented in 1914 by Baltimore pharmacist George Bunting, was originally sold as "Dr. Bunting's Sunburn Remedy." Mr. Bunting changed the name to Noxema after a customer enthusiastically told him the cream had "knocked out his eczema." Thus, the cream that "knocks eczema" became "Noxema". 84. George Eastman, inventor of the Kodak camera, hated having his picture taken. 85. Root Beer was invented in Biloxi, Mississippi, in 1898 by Edward Adolf Barq, Sr. 86. Because Napoleon believed that armies marched on their stomachs, he offered a prize in 1795 for a practical way of preserving food. The prize was won by a French inventor, Nicholas Appert. What he devised was canning. It was the beginning of the canned food industry of today. 87. Bavarian immigrant Charles August Fey invented the first three-reel automatic payout slot machine, the Liberty Bell, in San Francisco in 1899. 88. Venetian blinds were invented in Japan. 89. Benjamin Franklin was also the first person to try to electrocute a turkey. This experiment didn't work. The bird lived and it was America's Renaissance man who ended up absorbing the jolt. "I meant to kill a turkey," said the shocked inventor, "and instead, I nearly killed a goose." 90. The horse race starting gate is a Canadian invention, designed in the early 1900s by Philip McGinnis, a racetrack reporter from Huntingdon, Quebec. The device proved popular because it prevented arguments caused when horses started prematurely. 91. The Direct Action Committee, a group pushing for nuclear disarmament, invented the peace symbol in 1958. The forked symbol is actually a composite of the semaphore signals "N" and "D," to stand for nuclear disarmament. 92. Diet Coke was only invented in 1982. 93. Fifty years ago the B. F. Goodrich Company, the American corporation known for its automobile tires, thought it was really on to something. Its engineers came up with the prototype of an atomic golf ball. The ball, with a radioactive core, would be easy to locate with a Geiger counter if hit into the rough. But the company abandoned the invention as unworkable. 94. The wristwatch was invented in 1904 by Louis Cartier. 95. American sculptor, Alexander Calder, rigged the front door of his Paris apartment so that he could open it from his bathtub. 96. The first prototype of the sound-proof phone booth was built in 1877. Mr. Watson, Alexander Graham Bell's trusty assistant, used a bunch of bed blankets around a box. He created the booth to prevent his landlady from listening in on his conversations. 97. Some callers didn't like using the early phone booths because the doors would get stuck, forcing users to fight their way out. 98. The commercial wireless phone was first introduced in Chicago in 1982 by Ameritech. 99. The first mobile car phones were located in the car's trunk, taking up nearly half of the space. 100. When Alexander Graham Bell died on August 4, 1922, millions of phones went dead. In Bell's honor, all phones served by the Bell System in the USA and Canada went silent for one minute. 101. One of the first telephone answering machines was developed in Switzerland during the 1950's. It took three days to install. 102. Two days before Alexander Graham Bell married Mabel Hubbard in 1877, he gave her 99 percent of his company shares as a wedding gift. He kept a mere ten for himself. 103. Naugahyde, plastic "leather" was created in Naugatuck, Connecticut. 104. As of 1940, total of ninety patents had been taken out on shaving mugs. 105. It took three years of constant printing to complete Johann Gutenberg's famous Bible, which appeared in 1455 in two volumes, and had 1,284 pages. He reportedly printed 200 Bibles, of which 47 still exist. 106. Madame Alexander dolls were the creation of Beatrice Alexander Behrman, the daughter of Russian immigrants. Mrs. Behrman, whose father operated New York's first doll "hospital," started making dolls in 1923, and her creations soon became famous for their molded heads and limbs, lifelike eyes, rooted hair and elaborate costumes. Mrs. Behrman sold the company to several New York investors in 1988, two years before she died at age 95. But America's first and only remaining doll manufacturer has not compromised her high standard of quality and unique craftsmanship. Today, most of the company's manufacturing is still done in Harlem, New York, and more than 500,000 dolls a year are sold. 107. Dr. Samuel Langley was able to get many model airplanes to fly, but on December 8, 1903, Langley's "human carrying flying machine", the aerodrome plunged into the Potomac River near Washington D.C., in front of photographers who were assembled to witness the event. Reporters around the country made fun of the idea that people could fly and nine days later, Wilbur and Orville Wright proved them wrong. 108. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola. 109. When using the first pay telephone, a caller did not deposit his coins in the machine. He gave them to an attendant who stood next to the telephone. Coin telephones did not appear to 1899. 110. Spacewar is generally considered to be the first video game. Programmed in 1962 by MIT student Steve Russell, Spacewar was a simple game with ASCII graphics where two players would blast lasers at each other. At the time, the game only ran on massive, million-dollar mainframes the size of a small house. Spacewar was circulated to other computer labs across the country, but only nerdy college students with access to mainframes could play it. 1962 was also the year in which University of Utah student Nolan Bushnell received his first exposure to video games, playing Spacewar in the University's computer lab. Bushnell spent the next seven years trying to reproduce Spacewar on a smaller, less expensive computer. When it was finally completed in 1971, Bushnell's Spacewar variation (dubbed "Computer Space"), bombed. For one thing, people found it too complicated. Bushnell gave up on it, quit his job at Ampex and founded Atari in 1972. Bushnell originally wanted to name the company Syzygy, but the name was already taken by a roofing company. That same year, Magnavox quietly released the Odyssey, the first home video game system. It had a game similar to Pong, and Magnavox later sued Atari for "copying" it (they won). Bushnell and Atari engineer Al Alcorn placed a prototype of their game in Andy Capp's Tavern, a Sunnyvale, California bar. Alcorn began work a home version of Pong. His project was code named "Darlene" after a female coworker that worked with Alcorn at the time. In the fall of 1974, Alcorn began developing the "Darlene" system. Several months later Atari released Home Pong. 111. While known as a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer, Leonardo da Vinci was the first to record that the number of rings in the cross section of a tree trunk reveal its age. He also discovered that the width between the rings indicates the annual moisture. 112. Self-made millionaire Cyrus Field championed the idea of a telegraph from England to Newfoundland. Britain quickly agreed to subsidize. Congress went along by a one-vote margin. That was in 1856. Laying cable was tough. It kept breaking. The first line - two years later - died almost immediately. But 10 years later, there were two working lines. Communications changed forever. 113. The first lightweight luggage designed for air travel was conceived by aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. 114. Donald F. Duncan, the man who made the yo-yo an American tradition, is also credited with popularizing the parking meter and introducing Good Humor "ice cream on a stick. 115. Eastman Kodak's Brownie camera cost $1.00 when it was introduced in 1900. 116. Sylvan N. Goldman of Humpty Dumpty Stores and Standard Food Markets developed the shopping cart so that people could buy more in a single visit to the grocery store. He unveiled his creation in Oklahoma City on June 4, 1937. 117. Frederick Winthrop Thayer of Massachusetts and the captain of the Harvard University Baseball Club received a patent for his baseball catcher's mask on February 12, 1878. 118. The first coin operated machine ever designed was a holy-water dispenser that required a five-drachma piece to operate. It was the brainchild of the Greek scientist Hero in the first century AD. 119. Ornithologists often use Scotch tape to cover cracks in the soft shells of fertilized pigeon eggs, allowing the eggs to hatch. Scotch tape has also been used as an anti-corrosive shield on the Goodyear Blimp. 120. Q-TIPS Cotton Swabs were originally called "Baby Gays." In 1922, Leo Gerstenrang, an immigrant from Warsaw, Poland, who had served in the U.S. Army during World War I and worked with the fledgling Red Cross Organization, founded the Leo Gerstenrang Infant Novelty Co. with his wife, selling accessories used for baby care. After the birth of the couple's daughter, Gerstenrang noticed that his wife would wrap a wad of cotton around a toothpick for use during their baby's bath and decided to manufacture a ready-to-use cotton swab. Gerstenrang developed a machine that would wrap cotton uniformly around each blunt end of a small stick of carefully selected and cured non-splintering birch wood, package the swabs in a sliding tray type box, sterilize the box, and seal it with an outer wrapping of glassine (later changed to cellophane). The phrase "untouched by human hands" became widely known in the production of cotton swabs. 121. The world's first underground railway, between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street - with trains hauled by steam engines - was opened by the Metropolitan Railway on January 10th 1863. The initial section was six km (nearly four miles) in length, and provided both a new commuter rail service and an onward rail link for passengers arriving at Paddington, Euston and King's Cross main line stations to the City of London. 122. The City and South London Railway opened the world's first deep-level electric railway on December 18th, 1890, from King William Street in the City of London under the River Thames to Stockwell. 123. Today, the London Underground Limited (LUL) is a major business with 2.5 million passenger journeys a day, nearly 500 trains, serving over 260 stations, around 16,000 staff and vast engineering assets. 124. Average scheduled train speed (including station stops) 20.5 mph (33 kmh). 125. Maximum tunnel depth below mean sea level is 70ft (21.3m) 126. Maximum tunnel depth below ground level is 221ft (67.4m) 127. According to company lore, Ole Evinrude, a Norwegian immigrant, got the idea for an outboard motor while on a picnic with his sweetheart Bessie. They were on a small island in Lake Michigan, when Bessie decided she wanted some ice cream. Ole obligingly rowed to shore to get some, but by the time he made it back the ice cream had melted. So Ole built a motor that could be attached to his rowboat, and founded the Evinrude company in 1909. 128. The first underground and underwater rail system in the world, the New York City Subway, began operating in 1904. Almost 8,000 men participated in building the 21-mile (33.6 km) route. The project's chief engineer was William Barclay Parsons. 129. The safety pin was patented in 1849 by Walter Hunt. He sold the patent rights for $400. 130. An Englishman invented Scotland's national dress - the kilt. It was developed from the philamore - a massive piece of tartan worn with a belt and draped over the shoulder - by English industrialist Thomas Rawlinson who ran a foundry at Lochaber, Scotland in the early 1700s and thought a detachable garment would make life more comfortable for his workers. 131. It is recorded that the Babylonians were making soap around 2800 B.C. and that it was known to the Phoenicians around 600 B.C. These early references to soap and soap making were for the use of soap in the cleaning of textile fibers such as wool and cotton in preparation for weaving into cloth. 132. Disc Jockey Alan Freed popularized the term "Rock and Roll." 133. The patent number of the telephone is 174465. 134. George Washington Carver invented peanut butter. 135. The Roman civilization invented the arch. 136. Benjamin Franklin was the inventor of the rocking chair. 137. King Gilette spent 8 years trying to invent and introduce his safety razor. 138. Thomas Edison had a collection of over 5,000 birds. 139. Ben Franklin Facts: - Benjamin Franklin had poor vision and needed glasses to read. He got tired of constantly taking them off and putting them back on, so he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He had two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in a single frame. Today, we call them bifocals. 140. He was the youngest son of a youngest son of a youngest son of a youngest son. 141. He was the first American philosopher and the first American ambassador. 142. He invented the harmonica, the rocking chair, the street lamp, the lightning conductor, and the Franklin stove - to name a few. 143. He originated the first circulating library. 144. He is the originator of Daylight Saving Time. 145. He originated the first street-cleaning department. 146. He was the first reformer of English spelling. 147. He is the father of modern dentistry. 148. He organized the first fire department. 149. He was the founder of the Democratic party. 150. He established the modern post-office system. 151. He was a pioneer of the modern voting system for Congress. 152. Dutch engineers have developed a computerized machine that allows a cow to milk itself. Each cow in the herd has a computer chip in its collar. If the computer senses that the cow has not been milked in a given period of time, the milk-laden animal is allowed to enter the stall. The robot sensors locate the teats, apply the vacuum devices, and the cow is milked. The machine costs a mere $250,000 and is said to boost milk production by 15%. 153. On November 23, 1835, Henry Burden of Troy, New York, developed the first machine for manufacturing horseshoes. Burden later oversaw the production of most of the horseshoes used by the Union cavalry during the Civil War. 154. On the first neon sign, the word neon was spelled out in red by Dr. Perley G. Nutting, 15 years before neon signs became widely used commercially. 155. Out of the 11 original patents made by Nikola Tessla, for the generation of hydroelectric energy, 9 are still in use, (unchanged) today. 156. The windmill originated in Iran in AD 644. It was used to grind grain. 157. Russian submarine designers are building military submarines out of concrete. Because concrete becomes stronger under high pressure, (C-subs) could settle down to the bottom in very deep water and wait for enemy ships to pass overhead. Concrete would not show up on sonar displays (it looks just like sand or rocks), so the passing ships would not see the sub lurking below. 158. Two French toolmakers were the first engineers to put the engine in the front of the car. This gave the car better balance, made it easier to steer, and made it much easier to get all your luggage in. 159. The first umbrella factory in the U.S. was founded in 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland. 160. In the early 1950's, Denver architect Temple H. Buell, often called the Father of the Mall, conceived of and built one of the first shopping malls in the U.S.: the Cherry Creek Mall. 161. During one four-year period, Thomas Edison obtained 300 patents, or one every five days. 162. The Wright Brothers spent time observing the flight of the buzzard to help them solve the mystery of flight. They realized that the bird retained balance in the air by twisting the tips of it's wings. By creating a wing warping method based upon this observation, the brothers were able to obtain a remarkable degree of maneuverability. 163. The game that would become Scrabble was created by an unemployed architect, Alfred Mosher Butts in the early 1930s. He called it Lexiko, then Criss Cross Words and then sold the rights to James Brunot. In 1948 it was renamed Scrabble and was manufactured in a converted school house in Connecticut. Bruno sold the game to Selchow and Righter, who were bought out by Coleco in 1987, and in 1989 Milton Bradley bought it. More than 100 million Scrabble games have been sold worldwide. 164. Rubber bands were first made by Perry and Co. of London in 1845. 165. In 1832 the Scottish surgeon Neil Arnott devised water beds as a way of improving patients' comfort. 166. In 1769 the British designer Edward Beran enclosed wooden slats in a frame to adjust the amount of light let into a room. These became known as venetian blinds from their early use over Italianate windows. 167. George Seldon received a patent in 1895 - for the automobile. Four years later, George sold the rights for $200,000. 168. You could milk about six cows per hour by hand, but with modern machinery, you can milk up to 100 cows per hour. 169. Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972), the mother of 12 children, had good reason to improve the efficiency and convenience of household items. A pioneer in ergonomics, Gilbreth patented many devices, including an electric food mixer, and the trash can with step-on lid-opener that can be found in most households today. 170. Direct-dial, coast-to-coast telephone service began as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey, called his counterpart in Alameda, California. 171. Kleenex tissues were originally used as filters in gas masks. 172. The toilet was invented by an Englishman named Thomas Crapper.

[edit] Medical

1. Medical researchers contend that no disease ever identified has been completely eradicated. 2. The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples. 3. No one seems to know why people blush. 4. In 1972, a group of scientists reported that you could cure the common cold by freezing the big toe. 5. The number one cause of blindness in the United States is diabetes. 6. The adult human heart weighs about ten ounces. 7. People who laugh a lot are much healthier than those who don't. Dr. Lee Berk at the Loma Linda School of Public Health in California found that laughing lowers levels of stress hormones, and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds have it best - they laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day. 8. People who have a tough time handling the stress of money woes are twice as likely to develop severe gum disease, a new study finds. 9. Between 25% to 33% of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light. 10. Of the 206 bones in the average human adult's body, 106 are in the hands and feet. (54 in the hands and 52 in the feet) 11. In 1815 French chemist Michael Eugene Chevreul realized the first link between diabetes and sugar metabolism when he discovered that the urine of a diabetic was identical to grape sugar. 12. Approximately 16 Canadians have their appendices removed, when not required, every day. 13. Sumerians (from 5000 BC) thought that the liver made blood and the heart was the center of thought. 14. Men have more blood than women. Men have 1.5 gallons for men versus 0.875 gallons for women. 15. The first Band-Aid Brand Adhesive Bandages were three inches wide and eighteen inches long. You made your own bandage by cutting off as much as you needed. 16. The human brain stops growing at the age of 18. 17. In 1977, a 13 year old child found a tooth growing out of his left foot. 18. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 18 million courses of antibiotics are prescribed for the common cold in the United States per year. Research shows that colds are caused by viruses. 50 million unnecessary antibiotics are prescribed for viral respiratory infections. 19. It takes an interaction of 72 different muscles to produce human speech. 20. The first known heart medicine was discovered in an English garden. In 1799, physician John Ferriar noted the effect of dried leaves of the common plant, digitalis purpurea, on heart action. Still used in heart medications, digitalis slows the pulse and increases the force of heart contractions and the amount of blood pumped per heartbeat. 21. Blood is red only in the arteries after it has left the heart and is full of oxygen. Blood is a purplish, blue color in the veins as it returns to the heart, thanks to having picked up carbon dioxide and other wastes from the body's cells. In fact, your blood is red throughout only half your body. When cut, of course, the blood always appears red because it is instantly exposed to oxygen outside the body. 22. Contrary to popular belief, hemophiliacs do NOT bleed to death from minor cuts. This rare disease, which affects only males (it is carried by females, but they don't exhibit symptoms), involves an impairment in blood clotting—not an absolute inability to clot. Hemophiliacs today may take clotting serums and often lead fairly normal lives. 23. During his or her lifetime, the average human will grow 590 miles of hair. 24. The average Human bladder can hold 13 ounces of liquid. 25. You lose enough dead skin cells in your lifetime to fill eight five-pound flour bags. 26. Your thumb is the same length as your nose. 27. The storage capacity of human brain exceeds 4 Terrabytes. 28. The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland was a symbolic character for the hat makers in towns of the late 1800's. The large felt hats of the day had supports made out of lead. The lead caused an organic form of psychosis (brain damage) to develop in the hat makers causing them to be declared crazy. 29. Although your system cannot digest gum like other foods, it won't be stuck inside of you forever. It comes out with other waste your body can't use. 30. The substance that human blood resembles most closely in terms of chemical composition is sea water. 31. The right lung takes in more air than the left lung. 32. A woman's heart beats faster than a man's. 33. The brain requires 25 percent of all oxygen used by the body. 34. There are 10 trillion living cells in the human body. 35. Females have 500 more genes than males, and because of this are protected from things like color blindness and hemophilia. 36. Homo sapiens shouldn't feel too high and mighty, even though they currently dominate the Earth. After all, they are covered with flesh that medical scientists have determined bears an important resemblance to Silly Putty. The specific gravity of your skin and the gooey stuff is close enough that doctors have actually used Silly Putty to align and test CAT scan machines. 37. The short-term memory capacity for most people is between five and nine items or digits. This is one reason that phone numbers were kept to seven digits for so long. 38. Studies shown by the Psychology Department of DePaul University show that the principal reason to lie is to avoid punishment. 39. People who have never been married are seven and a half times more likely than married people to be admitted to a psychiatric facility. 40. Cephalacaudal recapitulation is the reason our extremities develop faster than the rest of us. 41. "Soldiers disease" is a term for morphine addiction. The Civil War produced over 400,000 morphine addicts. 42. Dogs and humans are the only animals with prostates. 43. A study by researcher Frank Hu and the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who snore are at an increased risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. 44. Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman is considered to be the godfather of the modern vaccine era. Having created nearly three dozen vaccines - more than any other scientist, Hilleman is also credited with saving more lives than any other scientist. Probably best known for his preventive vaccine for mumps, Hilleman has also developed vaccines for measles, rubella, chicken pox, bacterial meningitis, flu and hepatitis B. 45. If you combined all the muscles in an average human in to one muscle, the force it would be capable of producing is about 2,000 tonnes. 46. Fluoridated toothpaste came about as the result of a discovery made in Naples, Italy in 1802, when local dentists noticed yellowish-brown spots on their patient's teeth - but no cavities. Subsequent examination revealed that high levels of fluoride in the water caused the spots and prevented tooth decay, and that less fluoride protected teeth without causing the spots. It took a while for the discovery to be implemented; the first U.S. fluoridated water tests didn't take place until 1915, and Crest, the firth toothpaste with fluoride in it didn't hit stores until 1956. 47. According to the Journal of American Medical Association, as of 1998, more than 100,000 Americans die annually from adverse reactions to prescription drugs. 48. You can see a candle flame from 50 Kilometers on a clear, dark night. You can hear the tick of a watch from 6 meters in very quiet conditions. You can taste one gram of salt in 500 liters of water (.0001M). You can detect one drop of perfume diffused throughout a three-room apartment. You can detect the wing of a bee falling on your cheek from a height of one centimeter. 49. Gold salts are sometimes injected into the muscles to relieve arthritis. 50. Undertakers report that human bodies do not deteriorate as quickly as they used to. The reason, they believe, is that the modern diet contains so many preservatives that these chemicals tend to prevent the body from decomposition too rapidly after death. 51. Captain Cook lost 41 of his 98 crew to scurvy (a lack of vitamin C) on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768. By 1795 the importance of eating citrus was realized, and lemon juice was issued on all British Navy ships. 52. During a kiss as many as 278 bacteria colonies are exchanged. 53. A passionate kiss uses up 6.4 calories per minute. 54. Drinking water after eating reduces the acid in your mouth by 61 percent. 55. Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete. 56. Hailed as a wonder drug in the late nineteenth century, cocaine was outlawed in the United States in 1914. 57. The lens of the eye continues to grow throughout a person's life. 58. The little lump of flesh just forward of your ear canal, right next to your temple, is called a tragus. 59. The first drug that was offered as a water-soluble tablet, was aspirin in 1900. 60. There have been cases of people dying from paper cuts. The paper cut gets infected, and without proper treatment you can die from the infection. 61. Over 25% of Zaire is infected with a form of the Ebola virus that does not kill. 62. There are more than one form of the Ebola virus. Different strains are named after the area they were discovered in. 63. It only takes 7 lbs of pressure to rip off your ears. 64. Brain surgery is done with the patient still awake. The brain has no nerves therefore it has no sensation. The person is put to sleep to open the skull but after that the person wakes up to see the operation be completed. 65. A new born baby breathes five times faster than an adult man. 66. Smoking makes it almost impossible for a male to have a natural erection and it shrinks the penis. It also reduces the mobility of sperm. 67. A follicle that is more oval in shape will produce curlier hair, which, when viewed under a microscope, is more "flat" in appearance than a straight hair, which is "round". 68. Although it's only 2% of our body weight, the brain uses 20% of all oxygen we breathe, 20% of the calories we take in, and 15% of the body's blood supply. 69. Did you know that you can actually die from a broken heart? Studies have shown that people who had experienced great loss or sadness can develop cracks in their heart which could lead to death. 70. Every person has a unique tongue print. 71. Queen Victoria eased the discomfort of her menstrual cramps by having her doctor supply her with marijuana. 72. In 1990, a 64-year old Hartsville, Tennessee, woman entered a hospital for surgery for what doctors diagnosed as a tumor on her buttocks. What surgeons found, however, was a four-inch pork chop bone, which they removed. They estimated that it had been in place for five to ten years. The woman could not remember sitting on it, or eating it for that matter. 73. In Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in the late 50's thru early 70's, there was a dentist named Dunat Yelle. 74. Americans spend an estimated $500 million each year on allergy treatments. 75. Sarin, the nerve gas believed to have been used in a Tokyo subway attack, can be made by anyone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry using easily obtainable chemicals and a formula readily available on the Internet. The agent, a type of organophosphate pesticide, causes paralysis by interfering with the breakdown of acetylcholine at nerve junctions. (If you do this, don't blame me when you get put on death row.) 76. Blonde beards grow faster than darker beards. 77. By age sixty, most people have lost half of their taste buds. 78. One group, the Hunza in Northwest Kashmir, reportedly have not experienced cancer. The group is also said to have unusual longevity. 79. In 1918 and 1919, a world epidemic of simple influenza killed 20 million people in the United States and Europe. 80. If you lock your knees while standing long enough, you will pass out. 81. During a lifetime, one person generates more than 1,000 pounds of red blood cells. 82. An itch is a stimulus affecting the nerve endings between the dermis and epidermis; scientists liken it to a form of pain. But that's neither here nor there. It's usually caused by histamine released in the epidermis. Scratching stops it, either by interfering with the nerve impulses or by temporarily damaging the nerves themselves. 83. Scientists have identified more than 300 viruses capable of bringing fatal diseases to insects. The organisms are believed to be entirely different than those that cause disease in humans, and are thus harmless to man. 84. Devoid of its cells and proteins, human blood has the same general makeup as sea water. 85. From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size. 86. Despite accounting for just one-fiftieth of body weight, the brain burns as much as one-fifth of our daily caloric intake. 87. Your jaw muscle is the most powerful muscle in your body. 88. Hay fever is the sixth most prevalent chronic condition in the United States. 89. Human blood travels 60,000 miles per day on its journey through the arteries, arterioles and capillaries and back through the venules and veins. 90. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter had an operation for hemorrhoids while he was in office. 91. Lead poisoning is known as plumbism. 92. Lacrimal fluid lubricates the eyes. 93. The iris membrane controls the amount of light that enters your eye. 94. The hardest bone in the human body is the jawbone. 95. The most common non-contagious disease in the world is tooth decay. 96. Mouth ulcers are the most common human affliction. 97. Corpses don't decompose as fast as they used to because of all of the chemicals and additives we eat now. 98. The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing. 99. Skin is the largest organ of the human body. 100. Between the ages of 30 and 70, you nose may lengthen and widen by as much as half an inch. 101. The sense of touch: electrical impulses travel from the skin toward the spinal cord at a rate of up to 425 feet per second. 102. You blink every 2-10 seconds. As you focus on each word in this sentence, your eyes swing back and forth 100 times a second, and every second; the retina performs 10 billion computer-like calculations. 103. Each red blood cell lives an average of 4 months and travels between the lungs and other tissues 75,000 times before returning to the bone marrow to die. 104. The average square inch of skin holds 650 sweat glands, 20 blood vessels, 60,000 melanocytes, and during the summer months, six or seven mosquito bites. 105. The lens of the human eye continues to go throughout a person's life. 106. If you squeezed out all of the bacteria from your intestines, you could almost fill up a coffee mug. 107. Several well documented instances have been reported of extremely obese people flushing aircraft toilets whilst still sitting on them. The vacuum action of these toilets sucked the rectum inside out. 108. When honey is swallowed, it enters the blood stream within a period of 20 minutes. 109. Pain travels through the body at 350 feet per second. 110. The hardest substance in the human body is enamel. 111. Sometimes when you belch, a little bit of your stomach acids comes along. This makes for a very disgusting and burning burp. 112. Your hearing is less sharp if you eat too much. 113. The human kidney consists of over 1 million little tubes with a total length of about 40 miles in both kidneys. 114. Urine was once used as a detergent for washing. 115. Electrical stimulation in certain areas of the brain can revive long lost memories. 116. Ever wonder how a mortician keeps a dead person's mouth shut? Undertakers pass a suture through he nasal septum and tie it to the lower lip. Or the use an injector needle gun to place wires into the lower and upper jaws; these are then twisted together to close the mouth. 117. The average person can go as many as eleven days without water. That's assuming a mean temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit. 118. Human lungs are 100 times easier to blow up than a standard toy balloon. But they tend to make lousy party favors. 119. Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by Bayer. 120. The kidneys filter about 500 gallons of blood each day. 121. A person breathes 7 quarts of air every minute. 122. Spontaneous human combustion is the process of the body's temperature becoming heated to the point that the body simply bursts into flame and incinerates. No one knows the actual cause of why this happens. Some blame a chemical reaction within the body, others blame supernatural causes.

[edit] Musicians

1. The Motown female group The Supremes, which dominated the pop charts in the 1960's, was originally called The Primettes. 2. According to Margaret Jones, author of a Patsy Cline biography, there are a dozen places in Virginia that could claim to be the hometown of the nomadic Cline. Her family moved 19 times before she was 15. 3. When the Yardbirds broke up in 1968, Jimmy Page was left to honor the band's commitments, performing as The New Yardbirds. The group eventually evolved into Led Zeppelin. 4. At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father's father-in-law and his own grandpa. 5. The brass family of instruments include the trumpet, trombone, tuba, cornet, flügelhorn, French horn, saxhorn, and sousaphone. While they are usually made of brass today, in the past they were made of wood, horn, and glass. 6. Most toilets flush in E flat. 7. The rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd took their name from a high school teacher named Leonard Skinner who had suspended several students for having long hair. 8. According to Beatles producer George Martin, Neal Hefti's catchy composition of the 1960's "Batman" Emmy-winning theme song inspired George Harrison to write the hit song "Taxman." 9. At the tender age of 7, the multi-award-winning composer and pianist Marvin Hamlisch ("The Way We Were," "The Sting") was one of the youngest students ever admitted to the renowned Juilliard School of Music in New York City. 10. In the band KISS, Gene Simmons was "The Demon", Paul Stanley was "Star Child", Ace Frehley was "Space Man", and Peter Criss was "The Cat. 11. The song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was written by George Graff, who was German, and was never in Ireland in his life. 12. The famous Russian composer Aleksandr Borodin was also a respected chemistry professor in St. Petersburg. 13. In 1992, Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon, better known to country music fans as singer/comedienne Minnie Pearl, was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President George Bush. In 1994, Minnie became the first woman to be inducted into the Comedy Hall of Fame. She was too frail and sick to attend the ceremony, and so good friend and comedian George Lindsey ("Goober") accepted the award for her. She died in 1996 at age 83. 14. Bill Haley and the Comets, one of rock and roll's pioneer groups actually began their career's as Bill Haley's Saddle Pals - a country music act. 15. The voice of Tony the Tiger is Thurl Ravenscroft, who also sang the "Rotten Mr. Grinch" song in the movie, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas". He was also narrator for Disney's "A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion" album. He performed for many Disney attractions including: voice of Fritz the parrot in "The Enchanted Tiki Room, " lead singer in "Grim Grinning Ghosts" in the Haunted Mansion, narrator on Monorail. He was the voice for the Disneyland LP based on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride. The flip side of this LP contained a number of sea chanties he sang. 16. In 1939 Irving Berlin composed a Christmas song but thought so little of it that he never showed it to anybody. He just tossed it into a trunk and didn't see fit to retrieve it until he needed it for a Bing Crosby-Fred Astaire movie, HOLIDAY INN 10 years later. Bing Crosby was a staunch Catholic and at first refused to sing the song because he felt it tended to commercialize Christmas. He finally agreed, took eighteen minutes to make the recording, and then the "throw-away" song become an all-time hit. Crosby's version has sold over 40 million copies. All together, this song has appeared in 750 versions, selling 6 million copies of sheet music and 90,000,000 recordings ,just in the United States and Canada. You might not recognize the song from the movie HOLIDAY INN...or from the composer's name of Irving Berlin. But you're bound to know it because it's on everyone's list of Christmas favorites: WHITE CHRISTMAS. 17. Dark Side of The Moon (a Pink Floyd album) stayed on the top 200 Billboard charts for 741 weeks! That is 14 years. 18. Brian Setzer, of the Brian Setzer Orchestra, started out in a garage band called Merengue. 19. "Mr. Mojo Risin" is an anagram for Jim Morrison. 20. The horse's name in the song Jingle Bells is Bobtail. 21. No one knows where Mozart is buried. 22. The Beatles featured two left handed members, Paul, whom everyone saw holding his Hoffner bass left handed, and Ringo, whose left handedness is at least partially to blame for his 'original' drumming style. 23. Tommy James was in a New York hotel looking at the Mutual of New York building’s neon sign flashing repeatedly: M-O-N-Y. He suddenly got the inspiration to write his #1 hit, 'Mony Mony' 24. Tickets for Frank Sinatra's first solo performance at the Paramount Theatre in New York City in 1942, sold for 35 cents each. 25. Jim Morrison found the name "The Doors" for his rock band in the title of Aldous Huxley's book "The Doors of Perception", which extolls the use of hallucinogenic drugs. 26. The Granny Smith apple was used as the symbol for the Beatles' Apple Records label. 27. Verdi wrote the opera Aida at the request of the khedive of Egypt to commemorate the opening of the Suez canal. 28. Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song "Happy Birthday". 29. John Lennon named his band the Beatles after Buddy Holly's 'Crickets.' 30. The Beatles played the Las Vegas Convention Center in 1964. Some 8,500 fans paid just $4 each for tickets. 31. Jonathan Houseman Davis, lead singer of Korn, was born a Presbyterian, but converted to Catholic because his mother wanted to marry his stepfather in a Catholic church. He was also a member of his high school's bagpipe band. (For those of you who have been to Hume Lake's Christian Camps, if you know Cliff, the guy in charge, he was the guy who taught Jonathan Davis to play the bagpipe.) 32. "When I'm Sixty Four" was the first song to be recorded for the Sgt. Pepper album. "Within You Without You" was the last. 33. Jazz began in the 20th century, when bands in New Orleans began to apply the syncopated rhythms of ragtime to a variety of other tunes. In the first days of jazz, ensemble playing was emphasized. Only gradually did jazz come to be based on improvised solos. 34. The song with the longest title is 'I’m a Cranky Old Yank in a Clanky Old Tank on the Streets of Yokohama with my Honolulu Mama Doin’ Those Beat-o, Beat-o Flat-On-My-Seat-o, Hirohito Blues' written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1943. He later claimed the song title ended with "Yank" and the rest was a joke. 35. Nick Mason is the only member of Pink Floyd to appear on all of the band's albums. 36. The Beatles appear at the end of "The Yellow Submarine" in a short live action epilogue. Their voices for the cartoon movie were done by Paul Angelis (Ringo), Peter Batten (George), John Clive (John), and Geoffrey Hughes (Paul). 37. When the producers approached the Beatles about this film, the group, which hated the TV cartoon show of them, agreed to it only as a easy way of completing their movie contract. As such, they contributed only a few old songs and four quickly produced numbers, Only a Northern Song, Hey Bulldog, All Together Now, and It's All Too Much. However, when they saw the finished film, they were so impressed by it that they decided to appear in a short live action epilogue to the film. 38. Peter Batten was a deserter from the British Army at the time of the creation of the film. In the final weeks of production, he was arrested for desertion, and Paul Angelis had to finish voicing the part of George. 39. In every show that Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks) did there was at least one song about rain. 40. The Beatles song 'A day in the life' ends with a note sustained for 40 seconds. 41. "Memory," has become a contemporary classic. It's been recorded more than 600 times, including as international hit recordings for such artists as Barbra Streisand, Barry Manilow and Judy Collins, among many others. It's most recent incarnations underline its diverse and universal appeal: as a #1 dance smash by European chanteuse Natalie Grant, and as a duet for Placido Domingo and Natalie Cole during a live telecast of the tenor's world tour. 42. Elvis Presley's hit recording of "Love Me Tender" entered Billboard's pop charts in October 1956. It stayed on the charts for 19 weeks, and was in the Number 1 spot for five of those weeks. The song, from Presley's debut film with the same title, was adapted from the tune "Aura Lee," which had been written back in 1861. 43. An eighteenth-century German named Matthew Birchinger, known as the little man of Nuremberg, played four musical instruments including the bagpipes, was an expert calligrapher, and was the most famous stage magician of his day. He performed tricks with the cup and balls that have never been explained. Yet Birchinger had no hands, legs, or thighs, and was less than 29 inches tall. 44. Montgomery is the birthplace of music great Nat King Cole, pop singers Clarence Carter and Toni Tenille, Metropolitan Opera singer Nell Rankin, and blues legend Willie Mae Big Mama Thornton. 45. Beethoven's Fifth, was the first symphony to include trombones. 46. EMI stands for ' Electrical and Musical Instruments'. 47. The only musical instrument you play without touching it is called the theremin. The technology is simple: when activated, the theremin generates a sonic field around a small antenna that sticks out vertically from the top. When you put your hand closer to the antenna, the sound field is broken and the unit emits a high-pitched, electronic wail-that's the music. Different varieties of pitch are achieved by placing your hand closer to the antenna and moving it away. When your hand approaches the antenna, a low pitch will be created. As your hand gets nearer the antenna, the pitch becomes higher. (It's easily recognized for its spooky "ooo-eee-ooo" sound. You know it if you've heard the Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations.") 48. Brian Epstein, a record store owner in London, was asked by a customer for a copy of the record, "My Bonnie", by a group known as The Silver Beatles. He didn’t have it in stock so he went to the Cavern Club to check out the group. He signed to manage them in a matter of days and renamed them The Beatles. 49. In 1976 Rodrigo's 'Guitar Concierto de Aranjuez' was No 1 in the UK for only three hours because of a computer error. 50. George Anthiel composed film scores, but earlier in his life he had been an avant garde composer. In 1924 his "Ballet mecanique" was performed at Carnegie Hall. The work was scored for a fire siren, automobile horns, and an airplane propeller. After only a few minutes of this racket, an aging gentleman in the orchestra seats tied his handkerchief to his cane and began waving a white flag. 51. The Beach Boys formed in 1961. 52. The Beatles performed their first U.S. concert in Carnegie Hall. 53. Brian Epstein managed The Beatles to superstardom. 54. The leading female singer in an opera is called the prima donna. 55. Elvis Presley received his U.S. army discharge on March 5, 1960. 56. Mass murderer Charles Manson recorded an album called "Lie." 57. Vaudevillian Jack Norworth wrote "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in 1908 after seeing a sign on a bus advertising BASEBALL TODAY - POLO GROUNDS. Norworth and his friend Albert von Tilzer (who write the music) had never been to a baseball game before his song became a hit sing-along. 58. The Japanese national anthem is expressed in only four lines. The Greek anthem runs 158 verses. 59. John Philip Sousa enlisted in the Marines at age 13. He worked as an apprentice in the band. 60. At age 14, George Harrison joined his friend Paul McCartney's band, the Quarry Men, led by John Lennon. 61. Dances with twisting motions accompanied jazz as far back as Jelly Roll Morton. The Paul Williams Saxtet - a sax-intensive jazz combo - recorded a two-sided 78 called "The Twister." Chubby Checker wasn't even the first man to record the song "The Twist." Hank Ballard was, in 1959. 62. At age 15, Jerry Garcia swapped his birthday accordion for an electric guitar. 63. At age 4, Mozart composed a concerto for the clavier. 64. At age 22, Jerry Lee Lewis married for the third time. His bride? His thirteen year old cousin. 65. In 1764 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played for the Royal Family at Versailles in France. He was even given the honor of standing behind the Queen at dinner - Mozart was only eight years old. 66. Through the mid-1500s in France, the lute was still the favorite instrument, but in 1555, Balthazar de Beujoyeux, the first famous violinist in history, brought a band of violinists to Catherine's de Médicis court and made violin music popular. 67. Paul McCartney's younger brother, Michael, formed a group of his own, known as "The Scaffold" and goes by the name "Mike McGear". He is mentioned in the lyric of "Let 'Em In" as "Brother Michael" (available on McCartney's "Wings At The Speed Of Sound" album). 68. The Beatles held the Top Five spots on the April 4th, 1964 Billboard singles chart. They're the only band that has ever done that. 69. The most recorded song of all time - with more than 2,000 versions - is 'Yesterday'. Included on the 'Help!' soundtrack, it was number one for four weeks in 1965.

[edit] Myths

1. One legend claims stealing someone's shadow (by measuring it against a wall and driving a nail through its head) can turn the victim into a vampire.

2. Avoid people who talk to themselves. According to Ukrainian legend, that could indicate a dual soul and the second one doesn't die! Also watch out for the seventh son of a seventh son, a person born with a red caul (amniotic membrane covering the head), or a child born with teeth. A vampire can result if a cat or dog walks over a fresh grave, a bat flies over the corpse, or the person has died suddenly as a result of suicide or murder. Unfinished business can also cause a body to rise, as can inadequate burial rites, including a grave that is too shallow.

3. Most vampires are described in folklore as flushed and ruddy, with swollen bodies and bloated faces. Often, they can be identified because they're sitting up in the grave.

4. According to folklore, there are a number of ways to protect yourself from vampires, including the ever-popular wearing of garlic or a religious symbol. You can slow a vampire down by giving him something to do, like pick up poppy seeds or unravel a net. (They're quite compulsive.) Cross water and he can't follow. If you can find the body, give it a bottle of whiskey or food so it doesn't have to travel. If that doesn't work, either shoot the corpse (may require a silver bullet) or drive a stake through the heart. And remember, the vampire won't enter your dwelling unless invited.

5. Trivia is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and the crossroads.

6. In Dante's "Inferno" the Ninth Circle of Hell is reserved for those who betray family or country. The denizens of this deepest circle, who are frozen in ice, include Judas (betrayer of Christ) and Cassius and Brutus (betrayers of Julius Caesar).

7. Abe Silverstein, who headed NASA's Space Flight Development Program, proposed the name Apollo for the space exploration programs in the 1960's. He chose that legendary Greek name because the virile Apollo was a god who rode through the skies in a magnificent golden chariot. The precedent of naming manned spacecraft for mythological gods had been set earlier with Project Mercury, also named by Silverstein.

8. Some people consider the $1 bill unlucky because there are so many 13's on it: 13 stars, 13 stripes, 13 steps, 13 arrows and even an olive branch with 13 leaves on it. Of course the $1 bill is unlucky - if it was lucky it would be a $100 bill.

9. The name of the legendary Lady Godiva's horse - Aethenoth

10. An artificial spider and web are often included in the decorations on Ukrainian Christmas trees. A spider web found on Christmas morning is believed to bring good luck.

11. When visiting Finland, Santa leaves his sleigh behind and rides on a goat named Ukko. Finnish folklore has it that Ukko is made of straw, but is strong enough to carry Santa Claus anyway.

12. According to legend, if a hare crosses a person's path as he starts out on a journey, the trip will be unlucky and it's best to return home and start again. If a pregnant woman sees a hare, her child may be born with a hare-lip. If a hare runs down the main street of a town, it foretells a fire. Cornish legend says that girls who die of grief after being rejected by a lover turn into white hares and haunt their former beaus.

13. Ancient Greeks wove marjoram into funeral wreaths and put them on the graves of loved ones. The wreaths served as prayers for the happiness of the deceased in a future life.

14. Breaking of a glass is traditional in some wedding ceremonies. This custom symbolizes different things. To some its the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and for some its the represents the fragility of a relationship.

15. In Greek culture, brides carry a lump of sugar in their wedding glove. It's supposed to bring sweetness to their married life.

16. Placing a wreath on a grave is part of an ancient belief it was necessary to provide comforts for the dead and give them gifts in order for their spirits to not haunt the mourners. The circular arrangement represents a magic circle which is supposed to keep the spirit within its bounds.

17. The Sphinx at Giza in Egypt is 240 feet long and carved out of limestone. Built by Pharaoh Khafre to guard the way to his pyramid, it has a lion's body and the ruler's head.

18. The Vikings believed that the Northern lights which are seen from time to time in the north sky were caused by the flashing armor and spears of Odin's handmaidens as they rode out to collect warriors slain in battle.

19. One gift-giving taboo in China is the giving of straw sandals, which are associated with funerals, and therefore considered bad luck.

20. Crossing one's fingers is a way of secretly making the sign of the Cross. It was started by early Christians to ask for divine assistance without attracting the attention of pagans.

21. One sign of rain that farmers once searched for was for their pigs to pick up sticks and walk around with them in their mouths.

22. During the Civil War, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant believed that onions would prevent dysentery and other physical ailments. He reportedly sent the following message via wire to the War Department: "I will not move my army without onions." Within a day, the U.S. government sent three trainloads of onions to the front.

23. Contrary to popular belief, there are almost no Buddhists in India, nor have there been for about a thousand years.

24. On the stone temples of Madura in southern India, there are more than 30 million carved images of gods and goddesses.

25. One superstition says that if a girl leaves her house early on Valentine's Day and the first person she meets is a man, then she will be married within three months.

26. Less romantic was the old historical opinion that Valentine's Day is a good day to prepare eels for the purposes of magic. Eating an eel's heart was once believed to enable a person to see into the future.

27. The reason one wears a wedding ring on the third finger is that (tradition says) there is supposed to be a vein which goes directly from that finger to the heart—i.e., the seat of love. Also, not everyone wears that wedding ring on the third finger of the LEFT hand. In some traditions, such as the Jewish one, it is worn on the right hand. Also, I'm given to understand that nuns ("brides of Christ") wear a wedding ring, again on the right hand.

28. To prevent evil spirits from entering the bodies of their male children, parents dressed them in blue. Blue was chosen because it's the color of the sky and was therefore associated with heavenly spirits.

29. Girls weren't dressed in blue, apparently because people didn't think that evil spirits would bother with them. Eventually, however, girls did get their own color: pink. Pink was chosen because of an old English legend which said that girls were born inside of pink roses.

30. The famous Citgo sign near Fenway Park in Boston is maintained not by Citgo, but by Boston's historical society.

31. In the 1700's you could purchase insurance against going to hell, in London England.

32. The Aztec Indians of Mexico believed turquoise would protect them from physical harm, and so warriors used these green and blue stones to decorate their battle shields.

33. Black cats are considered lucky in England.

34. Long ago, the people of Nicaragua believed that if they threw beautiful young women into a volcano it would stop erupting.

35. In medieval times, thunderstorms were believed by some to be the work of demons. So when it stormed, bell ringers would go up into the bell towers to ring the consecrated bells in an effort to stop the storm. This practice didn't always work out well for the bell ringer.

36. No one knows where the expression "to grin like a Cheshire cat" originated, but it wasn't with Carroll. The Cheshire cat is a well-known character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but the expression, meaning a sneering smile that shows the gums, existed long before he wrote the book. There is no such breed of cat.

37. Superstition says that the left side is the wrong side of the bed.

38. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love.

39. The ace of spades in a playing card deck symbolizes death.

40. The dove is considered the symbol of peace.

41. Ra was the sun god of ancient Egypt.

42. The mythical figure Father Time carries an hourglass and a scythe.

43. It's a myth that owls don't hunt in the daytime because they can't see in daylight. It's just that rats and mice, the main items on owl menus, are most active after dark.

44. Many sailors believe a cat on board a ship means a lucky trip.

45. The mythical Scottish town of Brigadoon appears for one day every 100 years.

46. January is named for the Roman god Janus.

47. Influenza got its name from that fact that people believed the disease was because of the evil "influence" of stars.

48. During the middle ages, it was widely believed that men had one less rib than woman. This is because of the story in the Bible that Eve had been created out of Adam's rib.

49. The seven deadly sins (sins serious enough to kill one's soul) are currently anger, envy, pride, sloth, lust, gluttony, and covetousness. They haven't always been so, however. Originally, there were eight deadly sins (as proposed by Avagrius of Pontus). The eight (in order of increasing severity) were gluttony, lust, avarice, sadness, anger, apathy, vainglory, and pride. Gregory the Great later decided that vainglory and pride were too much alike to be counted separately and combined them. He added envy. Later still, the Roman Catholic Church decided sadness wasn't a sin, and added sloth. Somewhere along the way, apathy was dropped as well.

50. Hindu men once believed it to be unluckily to marry a third time. They could avoid misfortune by marrying a tree first. The tree (his third wife) was then burnt, freeing him to marry again.

51. When christening a ship, instead of using champagne, the Vikings would sacrifice a human being.

52. The Vikings also thought the spirits of the murdered person would guide and guard the craft.

[edit] Plants

1. The leaves of the Victorian water lily are sometimes over six feet in diameter. 2. Orchids are grown from seed so small that it would take thirty thousand to weigh as much as one grain of wheat. 3. At last count there were about 226,000 trees in New York's Central Park. 4. The Curly Redwood Lodge is one of northern California’s most unique lodges. It was built from one curly redwood tree that produced 57,000 board feet of lumber. The tree - cut down in 1952 - was 18 feet 2 inches at the trunk. Curly redwood is unique because of the curly grain of the wood, unlike typical straight grained redwood. 5. The Mexican Jumping Bean is not a bean. It is actually a thin-shelled section of a seed capsule containing the larva of a small gray moth called the jumping bean moth (Laspeyresia saltitans). 6. The average ear of corn has eight-hundred kernels arranged in sixteen rows. 7. Trees do not have life expectancies like humans. Some in California are believed to be four-thousand years old or more. How can trees live so long? The simple answer is that they're not as complex as people. So, as long as conditions are right, trees continue to live and grow, until something interrupts it. 8. In ancient religions, the Norsemen considered the mistletoe a baleful plant that caused the death of Baldur, the shining god of youth. 9. Carrageenan is a common ingredient in ice cream and toothpaste. Carrageenan is seaweed. A purple, edible seaweed, also known as Irish moss, that's found along the coasts of Northern Europe and North America. It's used as a suspending agent in foods, pharmaceuticals and liquids, as a clarifying agent for beverages, and in controlling crystal growth in frozen confections. 10. A single coffee tree yields only one pound of roasted, ground coffee annually. 11. Bamboo can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour period. 12. Kudzu is not indigenous to the South, but in that climate it can grow up to six inches a day. 13. The shape of plant collenchyma cells and the shape of the bubbles in beer foam are the same - they are orthotetrachidecahedrons. 14. American colonists discovered that superior candles could be made from the fruit of a squat bush growing in the sand dunes along the New England seashore. The small, grayish bayberry was picked, crushed, and boiled. It had to be skimmed several times before the pale, nearly transparent, green fat was sufficiently refined. Bayberry candles were highly prized, because so much labor and so many berries were needed to make just one candle. 15. Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older. 16. A person standing under an oak tree is 16 more times liable to be hit by lightning than if he had taken refuge beneath a beech tree. The oak tree has vertical roots which provide a more direct route to ground water. 17. The partridge berry is a botanical Siamese twin. Each berry develops from 2 flowers. 18. The giant sequoia, which produces millions of seeds, can take 175 to 200 years to flower. No other organism takes this long to mature sexually. 19. There are an estimated 285,000 species of flowering plants on Earth compared to 148,000 for all other plants. Flowering plants are very important because they provide food for herbivores - plant-eating animals - and for humans. 20. Leaves of the Sumatra breadfruit tree are notched when they first form, yet have no indentations when the leaves mature. 21. The Sitka spruce is Britain's most commonly planted tree. 22. The squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium), when brushed by a passerby, ejects its seeds and a stream of poisonous juice that stings the skin. 23. The Saguaro Cactus, found in the Southwestern United States doesn't grow branches until it is 75 years old. 24. Lightning keeps plants alive. The intense heat of lightning forces nitrogen in the air to mix with oxygen, forming nitrogen oxides that are soluble in water and fall to the ground in rain. Plants need nitrates to survive, so without lightning, plants could not live. 25. Pine, spruce, or other evergreen wood should never be used for barbecuing. These woods, when burning or smoking, can add harmful tar and resins to the food. Only hardwoods should be used for smoking and grilling, such as oak, pecan, hickory, maple, cherry, alder, apple, or mesquite, depending on the type of meat being cooked. 26. Heroin is derived from the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, which means the poppy that brings sleep. 27. An ear of corn averages 800 kernels in 16 rows. A pound of corn consists of approximately 1,300 kernels. 100 bushels of corn produces approximately 7,280,000 kernels. Corn is produced on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica. 28. The tree dictated on the Lebanese flag is a Cedar. 29. Of the 15,000-odd known species of orchids in the world, 3,000 of them can be found in Brazil. 30. The telegraph plant of Asia has leaves that flutter constantly, even when there is no breeze. 31. The giant puffball, lycoperdon giganteum, produces 7,000,000,000,000 spores, each of which could grow into a puffball a foot in diameter and collectively cover an area of 280,000 square mile, greater than the size of Texas. Fortunately, only one of the spores actually becomes a puffball, and all the others die. 32. The slippers plant (bulbo stylis) of Haiti looks like a pair of fuzzy slippers. 33. The primary purpose of growing rice in flooded paddies is to drown the weeds surrounding the young seedlings. Rice can, in fact, be grown in drained areas. 34. The fragrance of flowers is due to the essences of oil which they produce. 35. While known as a painter, sculptor, architect, and engineer, Leonard da Vinci was the first to record that the number of rings in the cross section of a tree trunk revealed its age. He also discovered that the width between the rings indicated the annual moisture. 36. The bark of a redwood tree is fireproof. Fires that occur in a redwood forest take place inside the trees. 37. A plant in central Australia, the candlesticks of the sun, grows a candle-shaped flower once every 7 years. 38. The woman's tongue of Zanzibar is a plant with pods full of seeds which rattle continuously. 39. The Siberian larch accounts for more than 20% of all the worlds trees.

[edit] Science and Technology

1. In the Durango desert, in Mexico, there's a creepy spot called the "Zone of Silence." You can't pick up clear TV or radio signals. And locals say fireballs sometimes appear in the sky. 2. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox, Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T. 3. Bill Gates' first business was Traff-O-Data, a company that created machines which recorded the number of cars passing a given point on a road. 4. Uranus' orbital axis is tilted at 90 degrees. 5. The final resting-place for Dr. Eugene Shoemaker - the Moon. The famed U.S. Geological Survey astronomer, trained the Apollo astronauts about craters, but never made it into space. Mr. Shoemaker had wanted to be an astronaut but was rejected because of a medical problem. His ashes were placed on board the Lunar Prospector spacecraft before it was launched on January 6, 1998. NASA crashed the probe into a crater on the moon in an attempt to learn if there is water on the moon. 6. Outside the USA, Ireland is the largest software producing country in the world. 7. The first fossilized specimen of Australopithecus afarenisis was named Lucy after the paleontologists' favorite song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," by the Beatles. 8. Figlet, an ASCII font converter program, stands for Frank, Ian and Glenn's LETters. 9. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. 10. Every year about 98% of atoms in your body are replaced. 11. Hot water is heavier than cold. 12. Plutonium - first weighed on August 20th, 1942, by University of Chicago scientists Glenn Seaborg and his colleagues - was the first man-made element. 13. If you went out into space, you would explode before you suffocated because there's no air pressure. 14. The radioactive substance, Americanium - 241 is used in many smoke detectors. 15. The original IBM-PCs, that had hard drives, referred to the hard drives as Winchester drives. This is due to the fact that the original Winchester drive had a model number of 3030. This is, of course, a Winchester firearm. 16. Sound travels 15 times faster through steel than through the air. 17. On average, half of all false teeth have some form of radioactivity. 18. Only one satellite has been ever been destroyed by a meteor: the European Space Agency's Olympus in 1993. 19. Starch is used as a binder in the production of paper. It is the use of a starch coating that controls ink penetration when printing. Cheaper papers do not use as much starch, and this is why your elbows get black when you are leaning over your morning paper. 20. Sterling silver is not pure silver. Because pure silver is too soft to be used in most tableware it is mixed with copper in the proportion of 92.5 percent silver to 7.5 percent copper. 21. A ball of glass will bounce higher than a ball of rubber. A ball of solid steel will bounce higher than one made entirely of glass. 22. A chip of silicon a quarter-inch square has the capacity of the original 1949 ENIAC computer, which occupied a city block. 23. An ordinary TNT bomb involves atomic reaction, and could be called an atomic bomb. What we call an A-bomb involves nuclear reactions and should be called a nuclear bomb. 24. At a glance, the Celsius scale makes more sense than the Fahrenheit scale for temperature measuring. But its creator, Anders Celsius, was an oddball scientist. When he first developed his scale, he made freezing 100 degrees and boiling 0 degrees, or upside down. No one dared point this out to him, so fellow scientists waited until Celsius died to change the scale. 25. At a jet plane's speed of 1,000 km (620mi) per hour, the length of the plane becomes one atom shorter than its original length. 26. The first full moon to occur on the winter solstice, Dec. 22, commonly called the first day of winter, happened in 1999. Since a full moon on the winter solstice occurred in conjunction with a lunar perigee (point in the moon's orbit that is closest to Earth), the moon appeared about 14% larger than it does at apogee (the point in it's elliptical orbit that is farthest from the Earth). Since the Earth is also several million miles closer to the sun at that time of the year than in the summer, sunlight striking the moon was about 7% stronger making it brighter. Also, this was the closest perigee of the Moon of the year since the moon's orbit is constantly deforming. In places where the weather was clear and there was a snow cover, even car headlights were superfluous. 27. According to security equipment specialists, security systems that utilize motion detectors won't function properly if walls and floors are too hot. When an infrared beam is used in a motion detector, it will pick up a person's body temperature of 98.6 degrees compared to the cooler walls and floor. If the room is too hot, the motion detector won't register a change in the radiated heat of that person's body when it enters the room and breaks the infrared beam. Your home's safety might be compromised if you turn your air conditioning off or set the thermostat too high while on summer vacation. 28. Western Electric successfully brought sound to motion pictures and introduced systems of mobile communications which culminated in the cellular telephone. 29. On December 23, 1947, Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., held a secret demonstration of the transistor which marked the foundation of modern electronics. 30. The wick of a trick candle has small amounts of magnesium in them. When you light the candle, you are also lighting the magnesium. When someone tries to blow out the flame, the magnesium inside the wick continues to burn and, in just a split second (or two or three), relights the wick. 31. Time slows down near a black hole; inside it stops completely. 32. Tiny dust particles surround a comet. They are swept into a long tail by the solar wind, which consists of subatomic particles speeding from the sum at speed of hundred of miles per second. 33. To an observer standing on Pluto, the sun would appear no brighter than Venus appears in our evening sky. 34. Traveling at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, light take 6 hours to travel from Pluto to the earth. 35. A brown dwarf is a very small, dark object, with a mass less than 1/10 that of the Sun. They are 'failed stars', globules of gas that have shrunk under gravity, but failed to ignite and shine as stars. 36. A bucket filled with earth would weigh about 5 time more than the same bucket filled with the substance of the sun. However, the force of gravity is so much greater on the sun that the man weighing 150 pounds on our planet would weigh 2 tons on the sun. 37. A car traveling at a constant speed of 60 miles per hour would take over 48 million years to reach the nearest star (other than our sun), Proxima Centauri. This is about 685,000 average human lifetimes. 38. A cosmic year is the amount of time it takes the sun to revolve around the center of the Milky Way, about 225 million years. 39. A day on the planet Mercury is twice as long as its year. Mercury rotates very slowly but revolves around the sun in slightly less than 88 days. 40. A dog was killed by a meteor at Nakhla, Egypt, in 1911. The unlucky canine is the only creature known to have been killed by a meteor. 41. You know the three physical dimensions, and the fourth dimension, time. For years, people have speculated about other dimensions. Experts in theoretical physics now say the major theories about the universe make sense together - and all the math seems to work - if there are 10 dimensions. 42. A scientist at Michigan State University has calculated that the production of a single hen egg requires about 120 gallons of water, a loaf of bread requires 300 gallons, and a pound of beef, 3,500. 43. Portland cement is used for underwater work. It hardens because of a chemical reaction it has with the water, not because the water mixed with it evaporates. The amount of water that reacts with the cement is crucial for this process, and the physical structure of this cement enables it to control exactly how much water gets into the reaction. So it doesn't matter at all how much water surrounds the cement as long as it has enough to set. 44. Dating back to the 1600's, thermometers were filled with Brandy instead of mercury. 45. The first "technology" corporation to move into California's Silicon Valley was Hewlett-Packard, in 1938. Stanford University engineers Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard started their company in a Palo Alto garage, with $1,538. Their first product was an audio oscillator bought by Walt Disney Studios for use in making Fantasia. 46. The first U.S. census to be tallied by computer was in 1950. UNIVAC did the tallying. 47. Rain contains vitamin B12. 48. ENIAC, the first electronic computer, appeared 50 years ago. The original ENIAC was about 80 feet long, weighed 30 tons, had 17,000 tubes. By comparison, a desktop computer today can store a million times more information than an ENIAC, and 50,000 times faster. 49. From bridges to rebar, rust is everywhere. According to a recent study, the annual cost of metallic corrosion in the U.S. is approximately $300 billion. The report, by Battelle, Columbus, Ohio, and the Specialty Steel Industry of North America, Washington, D.C., estimated that about one-third of that cost could be avoided through broader application of corrosion-resistant material and "best anti-corrosive practice" from design through maintenance. 50. From the smallest microprocessor to the biggest mainframe, the average American depends on over 264 computers per day. 51. The first man-made item to exceed the speed of sound is the bull whip our leather whip. When the whip is snapped, the knotted end makes a "crack" or popping noise. It is actually causing a mini sonic boom as it exceeds the speed of sound. 52. The hardness of ice is similar to that of concrete. 53. A full moon always rises at sunset. 54. A bowl of lime Jell-O, when hooked up to an EEG machine, exhibited movement which is virtually identical to the brain waves of a healthy adult man or woman. 55. If the world were tilted one degree more either way, the planet would not be habitable because the area around the equator would be too hot and the poles would be too cold. 56. The opposite of a "vacuum" is a "plenum." 57. In 1980, Namco released PAC-MAN, the most popular video game (or arcade game) of all time. The original name was going to be PUCK MAN, but executives saw the potential for vandals to scratch out part of the P in the games marquee and labeling. 58. Clothes that are dried outside DO smell better because of a process called photolysis. What happens is this: sunlight breaks down compounds in the laundry that cause odor, such as perspiration and body oils. 59. Clouds fly higher during the day than the night. 60. Dirty snow melts faster than clean. 61. Back in the mid to late 80's, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator, probably because of the fact that it is one of the hardest programs to get running. 62. Some early TV screens did emit excessive X-rays, as did computer monitors, but that was fixed long ago. Doctors suggest that at worst, sitting too close might cause some temporary eye fatigue—the same for reading with insufficient light—but no permanent damage, no matter what your mother claimed. 63. A "fulgerite" is fossilized lightning. It forms when a powerful lightning bolt melts the soil into a glass-like state. 64. If you stand in the bottom of a well, you would be able to see the stars even in the daytime. 65. STASI, the East German secret police organization, devised a devilishly clever way to prevent someone from giving them the slip during the Cold War: they managed to synthesize the scent of a female dog in heat, which they applied to the shoes of the person under surveillance. Then they simply had a male dog follow the scent. 66. Experiments conducted in Germany and at the University of Southampton in England show that even mild and incidental noises cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate. It is believed that this is why surgeons, watchmakers, and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by noise. The sounds cause their pupils to change focus and blur their vision. 67. A downburst is a downward blowing wind that sometimes comes blasting out of a thunderstorm. The damage looks like tornado damage, since the wind can be as strong as an F2 tornado, but debris is blown straight away from a point on the ground. It's not lofted into the air and transported downwind. 68. On December 2, 1942, a nuclear chain reaction was achieved for the first time under the stands of the University of Chicago’s football stadium. The first reactor measured 30 feet wide, 32 feet long, and 21.5 feet high. It weighed 1,400 tons and contained 52 tons of uranium in the form of uranium metal and uranium oxide. Although the same process led to the massive energy release of the atomic bomb, the first artificially sustained nuclear reaction produced just enough energy to light a small flashlight. 69. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top. This is because the carbonation in the drink gets pockets of air stuck in the wrinkles of the raisin, which is light enough to be raised by this air. When it reaches the surface of the champagne, the bubbles pop, and the raisin sinks back to the bottom, starting the cycle over. 70. Bacteria, the tiniest free-living cells, are so small that a single drop of liquid contains as many as 50 million of them. 71. The proper name of earth's satellite is Luna. The grammar books say that "moon" (and likewise "earth" and "sun") should be lower case, with the exception of when "earth" is in a list with other planets. The earth is Terra; the sun is Sol. This is where we get the words "extraTERREstrial" and "SOLar". 72. At any given time, there are 1,800 thunderstorms in progress over the earth's atmosphere. 73. Compact discs read from the inside to the outside edge, the reverse of how a record works. 74. Because of the rotation of the earth, an object can be thrown farther if it is thrown west. 75. The fastest moon in our solar system circles Jupiter once every seven hours - traveling at 70,400 miles per hour. 76. George Ellery Hale was the 20th century's most important builder of telescopes. In 1897, Hale built a 40 inch wide telescope, the largest ever built at that time. His second telescope, with a sixty inch lens, was set up in 1917 and took 14 years to build. During the 14 years Hale became convinced that he suffered from "Americanitis" a disorder in which the ambitions of Americans drive them insane. During the building of his 100 inch lens Hale spent time in a sanatorium and would only discuss his plans for the telescope with a "sympathetic green elf". 77. Hale's 100 inch lens built in the early 1900s was the largest solid piece of glass made until then. The lens was made by a French specialist who poured the equivalent of ten thousand melted champagne bottles into a mold packed with heat maintaining manure so that the glass would cool slowly and not crack. 78. The shockwave from a nitroglycerine explosion travels at 17,000 miles per hour. 79. The planet Saturn has a density lower than water. If there was a bathtub large enough to hold it, Saturn would float. 80. Earth's atmosphere is, proportionally, thinner than the skin of an apple. 81. The first portable calculator placed on sale by Texas Instruments weighed only 2-1/2 pounds and cost a mere $150. (1971) 82. Carolyn Shoemaker has discovered 32 comets and approximately 800 asteroids. 83. Because of the salt content of the Dead Sea, it is difficult to dive below its surface. 84. The planet Venus has the longest day. 85. The first atomic bomb exploded at Trinity Site, New Mexico. 86. All organic compounds contain carbon. 87. Three astronauts manned each Apollo flight. 88. Out of all the senses, smell is most closely linked to memory. 89. There are 7 stars in the Big Dipper. 90. Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. 91. The speed of sound must be exceeded to produce a sonic boom. 92. The nearest galaxy to our own is Andromeda. 93. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is predicted to topple over between 2010 and 2020. 94. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature. 95. Blood is 6 times thicker than water. 96. Dissolved salt makes up 3.5 percent of the oceans. 97. Three stars make up Orion's belt. 98. Glaciers store about 75% of the world's freshwater. In Washington State alone, glaciers provide 470 billion gallons of water each summer. 99. To an observer standing on Pluto, the sun would appear no brighter than Venus appears in our evening sky. 100. Traveling at the speed of 186,000 miles per second, light take 6 hours to travel from Pluto to the earth. 101. A car traveling at a constant speed of 60 miles per hour would take over 48 million years to reach the nearest star (other than our sun), Proxima Centauri. This is about 685,000 average human lifetimes. 102. Scientists recently announced the discovery of a new planet orbiting a star that's practically next door - relatively speaking. There's also the possibility that the system might contain a second planet. The star, Epsilon Eridani, is only 10.5 light years away — which is just down the block in astronomical terms — making it the nearest star known to have such a planet. The new planet appears similar to Jupiter, but half again as big. The discovery was made by a team of researchers led by scientists at the McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas at Austin. 103. A cosmic year is the length of time it takes the sun to complete one revolution around the center of the Milky Way galaxy. That's approximately 225 million earth years. 104. The sun is estimated to be between 20 and 21 cosmic years old. 105. It takes a plastic container 50000 years to start decomposing. 106. Lab tests can detect traces of alcohol in urine six to 12 hours after a person has stopped drinking. 107. Sound at the right vibration can bore holes through a solid object. 108. The color black is produced by the complete absorption of light rays. 109. There are 3 golf balls sitting on the moon. 110. The Sun has a diameter of 864,000 miles. 111. Air is denser in cold weather. A wind of the same speed can exert 25 percent more force during the winter as compared to the summer. 112. An iceberg contains more heat than a match. 113. Every cubic mile of seawater holds over 150 million tons of minerals. 114. A temperature of 70 million degrees Celsius was generated at Princeton University in 1978. This was during a fusionism experiment and is the highest man-made temperature ever. 115. Bacteria can reproduce sexually. 116. The pressure at the center of the Earth is 27,000 tons per square inch. 117. There are five tillion trillion atoms in one pound of iron. 118. German chemist Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus while he was examining urine. 119. The densest substance on Earth is the metal "osmium." 120. The clock at the National Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C., will gain or lose only one second in 300 years because it uses cesium atoms. 121. Vineger was the strongest acid known in the ancient times. 122. A shrimp has more than a hundred pair of chromosomes in each cell nucleus. 123. About 500 meteorites hit the Earth each year. The largest known meteorite was found at Grootfontein in Namibia, southwest Africa, in 1920. It is 9 feet (2.75m) long and 8 feet (2.43m) wide. 124. According to experts, large caves tend to "breathe"; they inhale and exhale great quantities of air when the barometric pressure on the surface changes, and air rushes in or out seeking equilibrium. 125. Because of a large orbital eccentricity, Pluto was closer to the sun than Neptune between January 1979 and March 1999. 126. The whirling cloud, a flat cloud hovering over the peak of an extinct volcano, Mount Jirinaj in Indonesia, affected by hot air rising from the crater, spins swiftly around and around. 127. The Earth gets heavier each day by tons, as meteoric dust settles on it. 128. The earth rotates on its axis more slowly in March than in September. 129. The first man-made insecticide was DDT. 130. We are in the middle of an ice age. Ice ages include both cold and warm periods; at the moment we are experiencing a relatively warm span of time known as an "interglacial period." Geologists believe that the warmest part of this period occurred from 1890 through 1945 and that since 1945 things have slowly begun freezing up again. 131. In Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift described the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, giving their exact size and speeds of rotation. He did this more than 100 years before either moon was discovered.

[edit] Sports

1. Billiards great, Henry Lewis once sank 46 balls in a row. 2. Golf-great Billy Casper turned golf pro during the Korean War while serving in the Navy. Casper was assigned to operate and build golf driving ranges for the Navy in the San Diego area. 3. Four men in the history of boxing have been knocked out in the first eleven seconds of the first round. 4. Mark McGwire's record-setting 70 home runs in the 1998 season traveled a total of 29,598 feet, enough to fly over Mount Everest. 5. Prior to 1900, prize fights lasted up to 100 rounds. 6. Not all Golf Balls have 360 dimples. There are some as high as 420. Thereare also all different kinds of dimple patterns. 7. Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery. 8. The Iditarod dog sled race - from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska - commemorates an emergency operation in 1925 to get medical supplies to Nome following a diphtheria epidemic. 9. In July 1934 Babe Ruth paid a fan $20 dollars for the return of the baseball he hit for his 700th career home run. 10. In 1969 a brief battle broke out between Honduras and El Salvador. Although tensions had been rough between the two countries, the reason for the war was El Salvador's victory over Honduras in the World Cup Soccer playoffs. Gunfire was exchanged for about 30 minutes before reason could prevail. 11. Horse racing is one of the most dangerous sports. Between 2 and 3 jockeys are killed each year. That's about how many baseball players have died in baseball's entire professional history. 12. Bulgaria was the only soccer team in the 1994 World Cup in which all 11 players' last names ended with the letters "OV." 13. Gene Sarazen, a golfer from several generations ago, set the record for the fastest golf drive: 120 mph. 14. Michael Sangster, who played in the 1960s, had tennis' fastest serve, once clocked at 154 mph. 15. In 1964 for the 10th time in his major-league baseball career, Mickey Mantle hit home runs from both the left and ride sides of the plate in the same game - setting a new baseball record. 16. Since 1896, the beginning of the modern Olympics, only Greece and Australia have participated in every Games. 17. Australian Rules football was originally designed to give cricketers something to play during the off season. 18. Baseball cards have been around since 1886. Modern cards, with high-resolution color photographs on the front and player statistics on the back, date from 1953. The photos are taken in the spring, with and without team caps, just in case the player is traded to another team. 19. Because of fears that the Japanese, who had attacked Pearl Harbor less than a month earlier, might attach California, the Rose Bowl game of 1942 between Oregon State and Duke University was moved east to Duke's hometown in Durham, North Carolina. It didn't, however, help the home team. Oregon won, 20-16. 20. Racehorses have been known to wear out new shoes in one race. 21. The home team must provide the referee with 36 footballs for each National Football League game. 22. Olympic Badminton rules say that the birdie has to have exactly fourteen feathers. 23. Many Japanese golfers carry "hole-in-one" insurance, because it is traditional in Japan to share one's good luck by sending gifts to all your friends when you get an "ace." The price for what the Japanese term an "albatross" can often reach $10,000. 24. Will Clark, professional baseball player, is a direct descendant of William Clark of Lewis and Clark. 25. The 1990 New York Yankee pitching staff set an all-time record with the fewest complete games, three. 26. Rick and Paul Reuschel of the 1975 Chicago Cubs combine to pitch a shutout, the first time brothers do this. 27. At 101, Larry Lewis ran the 100 yard dash in 17.8 seconds setting a new world record for runners 100 years old or older. 28. The silhouette on the Major League Baseball logo is Harmon Killebrew. 29. Superfly Jimmy Snuka was the first E.C.W. World Champ. 30. Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures. 31. Jackie Robinson was the only person to letter in four sports at UCLA. Of all of them, he supposedly liked baseball the least. 32. Kresimir Cosic is only non-American player in NBA Hall of Fame. 33. In 1986 Danny Heep became the first player in a World Series to be a designated hitter (DH) with the initials "D.H." 34. Pro golfer Wayne Levi was the first PGA pro to win a tournament using a colored (orange) ball. He did it in the Hawaiian Open in 1982. 35. Pittsburgh is the only city where all major sports teams have the same colors: Black and gold. 36. "Diddle for the middle" is a slang expression used for the start of a darts game. Opposing players each throw a single dart at the bull's eye. The person who is closest starts the game. 37. Eddie Gaedel was the 3'7' midget who played in only one game against the St. Louis Browns and the Detroit Tigers. In the second inning of a double-header, St. Louis manager, Zach Taylor, sent 3'7', 65-pound Eddie Gaedel up to bat. Gaedel stood in a crouch up at the plate, giving pitcher Bob Cain a strike zone of about one and a half inches. Gaedel was walked on four straight pitches. 38. Fastest round of golf (18 holes) by a team - 9 minutes and 28 seconds. Set at Tatnuck CC in Worcester in September 9, 1996 at 10:40am. 39. The National Hockey League has a rule that permits their players from taking aspirin. Strangely, there is no rule that says they can't drink or use illegal drugs. 40. Frank Mahovlich played for 3 different teams during his NHL career: Toronto, Detroit, and Montreal. For all three, he wore the number 27. 41. In the NHL in the 1960’s, the league decided that home teams would wear white, while visiting teams would wear their dark jerseys. The reasoning behind this was that it would be more difficult to keep white uniforms clean while on the road. 42. Rudyard Kipling, living in Vermont in the 1890's invented the game of snow golf. He would paint his golf balls red so that they could be located in the snow. 43. Honey is used as a center for golf balls and in antifreeze mixtures. 44. Before 1850, golf balls were made of leather and were stuffed with feathers. 45. Golfing great Ben Hogan's famous reply when asked how to improve one's game was: "Hit the ball closer to the hole." 46. Americans spend more than $630 million a year on golf balls. 47. The youngest American female to score an ace was Shirley Kunde in August 1943 at age 13. 48. The oldest player to score his age is C. Arthur Thompson (1869-1975) of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, who scored 103 on the Uplands course of 6,215 yd, age 103 in 1973. 49. The Tom Thumb golf course was the first miniature golf course in the United States. It was built it 1929 in Chattanooga, Tennessee by John Garnet Carter. 50. The Chinese Nationalist Golf Association claims the game is of Chinese origin (ch'ui wan - the ball hitting game) in the third or 2nd century BC. There were official ordinances prohibiting a ball game with clubs in Belgium and Holland from 1360. 51. Two golf clubs claim to be the first established in the United States: the Foxberg Golf Club, Clarion County, PA (1887) and St. Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, NY (1888). 52. The youngest golfer recorded to have shot a hole-in-one is Coby Orr (5 years) of Littleton, CO on the 103 yd fifth at the Riverside Golf Course, San Antonio, TX in 1975. 53. The United States Golf Association (USGA) was founded in 1894 as the governing body of golf in the United States. 54. Golf-great Billy Casper turned golf pro during the Korean War while serving in the Navy. Casper was assigned to operate and build golf driving ranges for the Navy in the San Diego area. 55. Before 1859, baseball umpires were seated in padded chairs behind home plate. 56. In 1910, A baseball with a cork center was used in a World Series game for the first time. The Philadelphia Athletics (managed by Connie Mack) and the Chicago Cubs (managed by P.K. Wrigley) played for the championship. 57. Roger Bannister was the first man to break the four-minute mile, however he did not break the four-minute mile in an actual race. On May 6, 1954, he ran 3:59.4 while being carefully paced by other runners. Bannister's quarter-mile splits were 57.5 seconds, 60.7, 62.3, and 58.9. Twenty-three days after Bannister had run the most famous mile of all time, his fellow Briton, Diane Leather, became the first woman to break five minutes with a 4:59.6 seconds, in Birmingham, England, on May 29, 1954. In the forty-plus years since the two British runners broke these significant marks, women's times have improved by a far higher percentage than men's. 58. Mark McGwire's record-setting 70 home runs in the 1998 season traveled a total of 29,598 feet. 59. A regulation soccer games is 90 minutes. 60. Ten events make up the decathlon. 61. The five Olympic rings represent the inhabited continents. 62. The Indianapolis 500 is run on Memorial Day. 63. O.J. Simpson rushed for 2,003 yards in 1973. 64. Jesse Owens won 4 gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. 65. Three consective strikes in bowling is called a turkey. 66. The theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters is "Sweet Georgia Brown." 67. Tokyo has the world's biggest bowling alley. 68. Canada beat Denmark 47-0 at the 1949 world hockey championships. 69. Six bulls are killed in a formal bullfight. 70. Boxing is considered the easiest sport for gamblers to fix. 71. In 1870, British boxing champ Jim Mace and American boxer Joe Coburn fought for three hours and 48 minutes without landing one punch. 72. Professional sumo wrestlers, called rikishi, must be quick on their feet and supple, but weight is vital to success as they hurl themselves at their opponents, aiming to floor them or push them outside the 15-foot fighting circle. 73. To bulk up, rikishi eat huge portions of protein-rich stews called chankonabe, packed with fish or meat and vegetables, plus vast quantities of less healthful foods, including fast food. They often force themselves to eat when they are full, and they have a nap after lunch, thus acquiring flab on top of their strong muscles, which helps to keep their center of gravity low. 74. The average rikishi tips the scales at about 280 pounds, but in 1988 the heaviest sumo westler ever recorded weighed in at a thundering 560 pounds. 75. The 1900 Olympics were held in Paris, France. 76. The Miami Dolphins were the last NFL team to go through a season unbeaten. 77. The city of Denver was chosen to host and then refused the 1976 Winter Olympics. 78. Baseball's home plate is 17 inches wide. 79. Boxing champion Gene Tunney taught Shakespeare at Yale University. 80. In the U.S., there are more then 10,000 golf courses. 81. Table tennis was originally played with balls made from champagne corks and paddles made from cigar-box lids. It was created in the 1880s by James Gibb, a British engineer who wanted an invigorating game he could play indoors when it was raining. Named "Gossima," the game was first marketed with celluloid balls, which replaced Gibb's corks. After the equipment manufacturer renamed the game "Ping-Pong" in 1901, it became a hot seller. 82. Scientists have estimated a fly ball will travel about seven feet further for every 1,000 feet of altitude. With an approximate elevation of 1,100 feet, Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona is the second highest facility in the major baseball leagues; only Coors Field in Denver, Colorado is higher.

[edit] Strange Laws

1. Theaters in Glendale, California can show horror films only on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

2. You can't plow a cotton field with an elephant in North Carolina.

3. In Lehigh, Nebraska it's against the law to sell donut holes.

4. Under the law of Mississippi, there’s no such thing as a female Peeping Tom.

5. Anti-modem laws restrict Internet access in the country of Burma. Illegal possession of a modem can lead to a prison term.

6. Lawn darts are illegal in Canada.

7. In Idaho a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds.

8. Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.

9. It is against the law to whale hunt in Oklahoma. (Think about it...)

10. A Venetian law decrees that all gondolas must be painted black. The only exceptions are gondolas belonging to high public officials.

11. In the state of Queensland, Australia, it is still constitutional law that all pubs (hotel/bar) must have a railing outside for patrons to tie up their horse.

12. According to law, no store is allowed to sell a toothbrush on the Sabbath in Providence, Rhode Island. Yet these same stores are allowed to sell toothpaste and mouthwash on Sundays.

13. Before the enactment of the 1978 law that made it mandatory for dog owners in New York City to clean up after their pets, approximately 40 million pounds of dog excrement were deposited on the streets every year.

14. Chewing gum is outlawed in Singapore because it is a means of "tainting an environment free of dirt."

15. The handkerchief had been used by the Romans, who ordinarily wore two handkerchiefs: one on the left wrist and one tucked in at the waist or around the neck. In the fifteenth century, the handkerchief was for a time allowed only to the nobility; special laws were made to enforce this. The classical heritage was rediscovered during the Renaissance.

16. For hundreds of years, the Chinese zealously guarded the secret of sericulture; imperial law decreed death by torture to those who disclosed how to make silk.

17. An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

18. By law, information collected in a U.S. census must remain confidential for 72 years.

19. Candy made from pieces of barrel cactus was outlawed in the U.S. in 1952 to protect the species.

20. A slander case in Thailand was once settled by a witness who said nothing at all. According to the memoirs of Justice Gerald Sparrow, a 20th century British barrister who served as a judge in Bangkok, the case involved two rival Chinese merchants. Pu Lin and Swee Ho. Pu Lin had stated sneeringly at a party that Swee Ho's new wife, Li Bua, was merely a decoration to show how rich her husband was. Swee Ho, he said, could no longer "please the ladies." Swee Ho sued for slander, claiming Li Bua was his wife in every sense - and he won his case, along with substantial damages, without a word of evidence being taken. Swee Ho's lawyer simply put the blushing bride in the witness box. She had decorative, gold-painted fingernails, to be sure, but she was also quite obviously pregnant.

21. In Breton, Alabama, there is a law on the town's books against riding down the street in a motorboat.

22. Connecticut and Rhode Island never ratified the 18th Amendment: Prohibition.

23. A few years back, a Chinese soap hit it big with consumers in Asia. It was claimed in ads that users would lose weight with Seaweed Defat Scented Soap simply by washing with it. The soap was sold in violation to the Japanese Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and was banned. Reportedly, the craze for the soap was so great that Japanese tourists from China and Hong Kong brought back large quantities. The product was also in violation of customs regulations. In June and July 1999 alone, over 10,000 bars were seized.

24. In most American states, a wedding ring is exempt by law from inclusion among the assets in a bankruptcy estate. This means that a wedding ring cannot be seized by creditors, no matter how much the bankrupt person owes.

25. In New York State, it is still illegal to shoot a rabbit from a moving trolley car.

26. Vermont, Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine are the four states in the U.S. that do not allow billboards. 27. Wetaskiwin, Alberta from 1917: "It's against the law to tie a male horse next to a female horse on Main Street." 28. Women were banned by royal decree from using hotel swimming pools in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, in 1979. 29. In Riverside, California, there is an old law on the city's books which makes it illegal to kiss unless both people wipe their lips with rose water. 30. In Saudi Arabia, a woman reportedly may divorce her husband if he does not keep her supplied with coffee. 31. In San Salvador, drunk drivers can be punished by death before a firing squad. 32. In Pennsylvania, Ministers are forbidden from performing marriages when either the bride or groom is drunk. 33. In seventeenth-century Japan, no citizen was allowed to leave the country on penalty of death. Anyone caught coming or going without permission was executed on the spot. 34. In Somalia, Africa, it's been decreed illegal to carry old chewing gum stuck on the tip of your nose. 35. In some smaller towns in the state of Arizona, it is illegal to wear suspenders. 36. In South America, it would be rude not to ask a man about his wife and children. In most Arab countries, it would be rude to do so. 37. Being rude to a telephone operator in Prussia was once a crime. In 1908, a respected citizen was reprimanded by the government after becoming exasperated with an operator and saying "My dear girl!" 38. In Thailand, the left hand is considered unclean, so you should not eat with it. Also, pointing with one finger is considered rude and is only done when pointing to objects or animals, never humans. 39. In Pakistan, it is rude to show the soles of your feet or point a foot when you are sitting on the floor. 40. It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland. 41. During the reign of Catherine I of Russia, the rules for parties stipulated that no man was to get drunk before 9 o'clock and ladies weren't to get drunk at any hour. 42. In 1845 Boston had an ordinance banning bathing unless you had a doctor's prescription. 43. Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego. 44. Texas is the only state that permits residents to cast absentee ballots from space. The first to exercise this right to vote while in orbit was astronaut David Wolf, who cast his vote for Houston mayor via e-mail from the Russian space station Mir in November 1997. 45. No building in DC may be taller than 13 floors. This is so that no matter where in the city you are, you can see the monument to our first president, Washington. 46. In Michigan it's illegal to place a skunk inside your bosses desk. 47. In Kentucky, it is illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket. 48. During the time that the atomic bomb was being hatched by the United States at Alamogordo, New Mexico, applicants for routine jobs like janitors, were disqualified if they could read. Illiteracy was a job requirement. The reason: the authorities did not want their trash or other papers read. 49. It's illegal in Alabama to wear a fake mustache that causes laughter in church. 50. In parts of Alaska, it's illegal to feed alcohol to a moose. 51. You're subject to fines and/or imprisonment for making "ugly faces" at dogs in Oklahoma. 52. In Utah, birds have the right of way on all highways. 53. Christmas was once illegal in England. 54. In Turkey, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, anyone caught drinking coffee was put to death. 55. It is illegal to hunt camels in the state of Arizona. 56. In Italy, it is illegal to make coffins out of anything except nutshells or wood. 57. "To prevent violence," it was at one time customary at certain phases of the moon to chain and flog inmates of England's notorious Bedlam Hospital. 58. In Milan, Italy, when an operator dialed a wrong number, the phone company fined the operator. 59. In Hartford Connecticut, it is illegal for a husband to kiss his wife on Sundays. 60. In December 1997, the state of Nevada (USA) became the first state to pass legislation categorizing Y2K data disasters as "acts of God"— protecting the state from lawsuits that may potentially be brought against it by residents in the year 2000. 61. A local ordinance in Atwoodville, Connecticut prohibits people from playing Scrabble while waiting for a politician to speak. 62. The state legislature in North Dakota has rejected a proposal to erect signs specifically warning motorists not to throw human waste onto the road side. Maintenance workers report at least 20 incidents of road crews being "sprayed with urine after rupturing urine-filled plastic bottles that became swollen in the hot sun." Opponents of the measure say they're afraid the signs would discourage tourism. 63. In most places, when a drawbridge is open, the only land vehicle that can claim priority over boats is a truck hauling the US mail. This option is seldom if ever exercised, of course. 64. In 1388, English Parliament banned waste disposal in public waterways and ditches. 65. In 1996, Christmas caroling was banned at two major malls in Pensacola, Florida. Apparently, shoppers and merchants complained the carolers were too loud and took up too much space. 66. In Atlanta, Georgia, it is illegal to tie a giraffe to a telephone pole or street lamp. 67. The ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, should always be written as QE2. QEII is the actual queen. 68. Quebec and Newfoundland are the only two provinces which do not allow personalized license plates. 69. A Chilean man who has been stopped from voting in three elections because officials keep insisting he is dead said he was tired of arguing and would never try to vote again. "I'm tired of complaining without any success. I think this is the last time I am going to bother," said Ernesto Alvear, 74. For the third time in an election, Alvear was told by officials in the port city of Valparaiso that he could not vote because, officially, he had been dead for almost 10 years. The mix-up was due to the death of another man with the same name, forcing Alvear to provide skeptical officials with documents proving he is alive. 70. During World War I, the punishment for homosexuality in the French army was execution. 71. During World War II, bakers in the United States were ordered to stop selling sliced bread for the duration of the war on January 18, 1943. Only whole loaves were made available to the public. It was never explained how this action helped the war effort. 72. In Sweden, when leaving someone's home, wait until you get to the doorway to step outside before putting on your coat. To do so earlier suggests you are eager to leave. When entering or departing a Russian home, it is considered very bad form to shake hands across the threshold. 73. In Germany, shaking hands with the other hand in a pocket is considered impolite. In Mali, men shake hands with women only if women offer their hand first. The handshake is often done with the left hand touching the other person's elbow as well. 74. During the time of Peter the Great, any Russian man who wore a beard was required to pay a special tax. 75. At the first professional baseball game, the umpire was fined 6 cents for swearing. 76. To pass U.S. Army basic training young female recruits must do 17 pushups in two minutes. Males must do 40 pushups in two minutes. 77. In Hartford, Connecticut, you may not, under any circumstances, cross the street walking on your hands. 78. Mailing an entire building has been illegal in the U.S. since 1916 when a man mailed a 40,000-ton brick house across Utah to avoid high freight rates. 79. Snoring is prohibited in Massachusetts unless all bedroom windows are closed and securely locked. It is also illegal to go to bed without first having a full bath. 80. Women in Florida may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner. 81. It is legal in North Dakota to shoot an Indian on horseback, provided you are in a covered wagon. 82. The mummified hand of a notary public, chopped off for falsely certifying a document, has been on display in the city hall of Munster, Germany, as a warning to other notaries for 400 years. 83. The curtain or veil used by some Hindus and Moslems to seclude or hide their women from strangers is called a "purdah." 84. Margaret Sanger was jailed for a month, in 1917, in a workhouse for founding a clinic that dispensed contraceptives. 85. In the Middle Ages, the highest court in France ordered the execution of a cow for injuring a human. 86. A girl, in the Vacococha tribe of Peru, to prepare her for marriage at the age of 12, is placed in a basket in the hut of her prospective in-laws and must remain suspened over an open fire night and day for 3 months. 87. The Spanish Inquisition once condemned the entire Netherlands to death for heresy. 88. During the eighteenth century, books that were considered offensive were sometimes punished by being whipped. 89. In the marriage ceremony of the ancient Inca Indians of Peru, the couple was considered officially wed when they took off their sandals and handed them to each other. 90. In 1968, a convention of beggars in Dacca, India, passed a resolution demanding that the minimum amount of alms be fixed at 15 paisa (three cents). 91. Because of heavy traffic congestion, Julius Caesar banned all wheeled vehicles from Rome during daylight hours. 92. Talking on a cellular phone while driving is against the law in Israel. 93. In Milan, Italy, there is a law on the books that requires a smile on the face of all citizens at all times. Exemptions include time spent visiting patients in hospitals or attending funerals. Otherwise, the fine is $100 if they are seen in public without a smile on their face. 94. The minimum age set in the U.S. Constitution for the President of the United States is 35. 95. In Athens, Greece, a driver's license can be taken away by law if the driver is deemed either "unbathed" or "poorly dressed". 96. Impotence is grounds for divorce in 24 U.S. states. 97. The murder rate in the Unted States is 200 times greater than in Japan. In Japan no private citizen can buy a handgun legally. 98. The movie 'Cleopatra', starring Elizabeth Taylor, was banned from Egypt in 1963 because she was a Jewish convert. 99. Golf was banned in England in 1457 because it was considered a distraction from the serious pursuit of archery. 100. It is illegal to marry the spouse of a grandparent in Maine, Maryland, South Carolina, and Washington, DC. 101. The son of a lowly bookie, Peter O'Toole attended a Catholic school where the nuns beat him to correct his left-handedness.

[edit] Odd Notices

1. Found on Axius Sno-Off Automobile Windshield cover: "Caution: Never drive with the cover on your windshield."

2. Found a box of Tampax Tampons: "Remove used tampon before inserting a new one."

3. Found on a box of Kellogg's Pop-Tarts: "Warning: Pastry Filling May Be Hot When Heated"

4. Found on the instruction sheet of a Conair Pro Style 1600 hair dryer: "WARNING: Do not use in shower. Never use while sleeping."

5. Found on Bat Man The Animated Series Armor Set Halloween costume box: "PARENT: Please exercise caution, mask and chest plate are not protective; cape does not enable wearer to fly."

6. Found in a television set's owner's manual: "Do not pour liquids into your television set."

7. Found on the handle of a hammer: "Caution: Do not use this hammer to strike any solid object."

8. Found on a butane lighter: "Warning: Flame may cause fire."

[edit] Surveys

1. The Average American/Canadian eats about 11.9lbs of cereal per year. 2. The Average American/Canadian drinks about 600 soda’s per year. 3. More People use blue toothbrushes then red ones. 4. According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners. 5. The average American family views television six hours each day. 6. About two hundred babies are born worldwide every minute. 7. Nobody yet has explained satisfactorily why couples who marry in January, February, and March tend to have the highest divorce rates. 8. Your statistical chance of being murdered is one in twenty thousand. 9. If you earn twenty thousand dollars a year, one minute of your time is worth a little more than seventeen cents. 10. The US Office of Consumer Affairs estimates 25 percent of ALL purchases result in some customer dissatisfaction. Yet two out of three people never complain because they don't think it'll help. Ironically, most businesses DO try to make good and value the feedback, especially from someone who doesn't make a habit of complaining. 11. One poll says one American in four has yet to ride in an airplane. As for the three out of four who have, most have flown several times. Incidentally, fewer than two percent have been "bumped" from a commercial flight. And for every person who prefers an aisle seat, there are three who prefer windows. 12. Five out of six people never keep diaries of any sort. Only six percent say they keep a daily diary, and many of these people are just Franklin Day Planner types, not real diarists. 13. Despite the fact that 77 percent of Americans go to the grocery store with a list, it's estimated that half of everything bought there is bought on impulse. Supermarkets report very strong sales of almost anything they stock at the check-out line. 14. More than one-third of us say our most difficult self-discipline challenge is weight, but almost as many cite spending. Coming in way behind these two are controlling our fears or our tempers, and fewer than two percent say their biggest challenge is smoking or drinking. 15. Two out of three people sleep on their sides, and they're about equally divided as to WHICH side. Of the remainder, slightly more sleep on their stomachs than sleep on their backs. 16. Forty percent of American adults cannot fill out a bank deposit slip correctly. 17. A survey finds that a quarter of all people who take a briefcase or something similar to work with them have got SOMETHING in it for self-defense. 18. Paranormal experts say people reach the peak of their ability to see ghosts when they're 7 years old. 19. Someone on Earth reports seeing a UFO every three minutes. In the U.S., reported sightings are most likely to occur in July, at 9 p.m. or 3 a.m. 20. Someone within 200 miles of your town claims to have had direct contact with a monster, ghost or other unexplainable being. 21. As many as nine out of ten people are right-handed, and the word for that side, "right," is derived from a variety of sources, all of which suggest strength. Left, on the other hand, comes from the Old English, lyft, for useless, weak. 22. The average New York City household generates 6.2 pounds of garbage each day. Every day, between 12,000 and 14,000 tons of solid waste are disposed at the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, New York. 23. The average human scalp has 100,000 hairs. 24. As much as six percent of the world's population may experience sleep paralysis, the inability to move and speak for several minutes after awakening. 25. Tide has 70 percent of the market share for detergent. 26. Forty percent of the American population has never visited a dentist. 27. A NUKE InterNETWORK poll found that 52 percent of Internet users have cut back on watching TV in order to spend more time online; 12 percent have cut back on seeing friends. 28. 10 Percent of men are left-handed while only 8 percent of women are left-handed. Male or female, all left-handed people are "in their right mind." 29. A 1997 Gallup poll found that about one in four American workers - 24 percent - said that if they could do so, they would fire their boss. 30. A recent Gallup poll shows that 69 percent of Americans believe they will go somewhere after death. 31. A recent study conducted by the Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, revealed that almost 90 percent of Americans label themselves as shy. 32. About 24 percent of alcoholics die in accidents, falls, fires, and suicides. 33. About 25 percent of all male Americans between the ages of ten and fifteen were "gainfully employed" at the turn of the century. By 1970, so few in that age bracket were employed that the U.S. Census Bureau did not bother to make inquiries about them. 34. About 60 percent of all American babies are named after close relatives. 35. August is the month when most baby's are born. 36. About 10 percent of the workforce in Egypt is under 12 years of age. Although laws protecting children are on the books, they are not well enforced, partly because many poverty-stricken parents feel forced to send their children out to help support the family. 37. Most humans can guess someone's sex with 95 percent accuracy just by smelling their breath. 38. Half of all men start to lose their hair by the time they turn 30. Everybody loses dozens of hairs a day - the key thing is whether or not they grow back. More than 40 percent of men wind up with significant hair loss. 39. According to one U.S. study, about 25 percent of all adolescent and adult males never use deodorant. 40. Focus group information compiled by CalComp revealed that 50 percent of computer users do not like using a mouse. 41. One in five American households move in a given year. The average American moves 11 times. But most of us - 61 percent - still live in the state we were born in. And big corporations report increasing resistance to transfers to new cities...with many people turning down promotions in order to stay put. 42. Before the Chinese take-over of Tibet in 1952, 25 percent of the males in the country were Buddhist monks. 43. By the end of the U.S. Civil War, 33 percent of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit. This was a devastating situation for a nation struggling to recover economically from such a destructive war. On July 5, 1865, the Secret Service was created as a part of the Department of the Treasury to help suppress counterfeit currency. 44. Cold pizza is fairly popular. A survey found 15 percent actually PREFER pizza this way, suggesting that the number who love hot pizza but don't mind eating the leftovers cold the next day must be quite high indeed. 45. It is estimated that 60 percent of home smoke detectors in use do not work because they don't have a battery in them or the battery in the detector no longer has any potency. 46. Two-thirds of men wear briefs, 22 percent wear boxers, and six percent don't wear underwear (I assume 6% did not answer). 47. Nearly 87 percent of the 103 people polled in 1977 were unable to identify correctly an unlabeled copy of the Declaration of Independence. 48. According to a major hotel chain, approximately the same numbers of men and women are locked out of their rooms. 32 percent are less than fully dressed. 49. The population divides approximately in half between AM and PM people. But early-birds have the edge - 56 percent routinely rise early while 44 percent stay up late. Medical studies, by the way, find that people tend to work more productively in the morning. 50. A recent Gallup survey showed that in the United States 8 percent of kissers kept their eyes open, but more than 20 percent confessed to an occasional peek. Forty-one percent said they experienced their first serious smooch when they were age thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen; 36 percent between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one. The most memorable kiss in a motion picture was in "Gone With The Wind" according to 25 percent of those polled. 51. Residential buildings use about 35 percent of all available electricity. 52. The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office. 53. Spaghetti is the favorite pasta shape, with 38 percent favoring it over other pasta shapes. The second favorite shape is elbow macaroni, at 16 percent. 54. In the United States, more than 25 percent of women's fashion dollars are spent on sizes 16 and up. 55. More than 50 percent of adults surveyed said that children should not be paid money for getting good grades in school. 56. More than a third of all adults hit their alarm clock's "snooze" button each morning, an average of three times before they get up. Those most guilty of snatching some extra sleep are those in the 25-34 age bracket, at 57 percent. 57. Ninety percent of U.S. households have at lease one remote control for the television; 8 out of 10 report losing it. 58. Canada is the largest importer of American cars. 59. Chocolate manufacturers use 40 percent of the world's almonds. 60. Each year approximately 250,000 American husbands are physically attacked and beaten by their wives. 61. Occasionally, hot dog sales at baseball stadiums exceed attendance, but typically, hot dog sales at ballparks average 80 percent of the attendance. 62. Of devout coffee drinkers, about 62 percent of those who are 35 to 49 years of age say they become upset if they don't have a cup of coffee at their regular time. Only 50 percent of those under age 35 become upset. 63. There are more telephones than people in Washington DC. 64. Only about 30 percent of teenage males consistently apply sun protection lotion when going poolside, compared to 46 percent of female teens. 65. Out of the 34,000 gun deaths in the U.S. each year, fewer than 300 are listed as "justifiable homicide," the only category that could include shooting a burglar, mugger, or rapist. 66. Executives work an average 57 hours a week, but just 22 percent say their hours are a major cause of stress. 67. Only 3 percent of Americans ages 18 to 21 attended college in 1890. 68. From the 1850's to the 1880's, the most common reason for death among cowboys in the American West was being dragged by a horse while caught in the stirrups. 69. Hawaii has the highest percentage of cremations of all other U.S. states, with a 60.6 percent preference over burial. 70. Hawaii is the only state in the United States where male life expectancy exceeds 70 years. Hawaii also leads all states in life expectancy in general, with an average of 73.6 years for both males and females. 71. Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids. 72. Over 15 billion prizes have been given away in Cracker Jacks boxes. 73. While the average cost of air travel is about $60 per hour, using an air-phone during that plane trip can cost as much as $160 per hour. 74. There have been several documented cases of women giving birth to twins who had different fathers, including cases where the children were of different races. To do so, the mother had to have conceived both children in close proximity. There has also been one recent case where a mother gave birth to unrelated "twins." In that instance, the mother underwent in vitro fertilization and had her own child and the embryo of another couple accidentally implanted in her. 75. In 1990 there were about 15,000 vacuum cleaner related accidents in the U.S. 76. Pediatricians estimate that 58 percent of their young patients go to child care or school even when ill, according to a Gallup survey. This despite the fact that 81 percent of mothers working full-time have stayed home at times to care for a sick child. 77. Per a "Newsweek" poll, 49 percent of American fathers described themselves as better parents than their dads. 78. Per a national survey, 80 percent of U.S. teachers in grades kindergarten through eighth grade have received chocolate as a gift from their students. 79. In 1915, the average annual family income in the United States was $687 a year. 80. In 1970 only 5 percent of the American population lived in cities. 81. In 1977, less than 9 percent of physicians in the U.S. were women. 82. In 1990 the life expectancy of the average American male was 72.7 years and 76.1 years for females. In 1900 the life expectancy was 46.6 for males and 48.7 for females. 83. In 1995, each American used an annual average of 731 pounds of paper, more than double the amount used in the 1980s. Contrary to predictions that computers would displace paper, consumption is growing. 84. In 1996, Americans bought only 12 inches of dental floss per capita. 85. In a 1996 poll, the top reason for filing for bankruptcy, as cited by 29 percent, is that filers are "overextended." Only 15 percent of bankruptcy filers cited job problems, and only 17 percent cited health problems. Divorce accounted for 12 percent of filings. Six percent simply said they couldn't stand bill collectors. 86. Per capita, it is safer to live in New York City than it is to live in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. 87. Police estimated that 10,000 abandoned, orphaned and runaway children were roaming the streets of New York City in 1852. 88. Results of a survey show that 76 percent of women make their bed every day, compared to 46 percent of men. 89. Adults spend an average of 16 times as many hours selecting clothes (145.6 hours a year) as they do on planning their retirement. 90. Half of all people who have ever smoked have now quit. 91. Seventy percent of house dust is made up of dead skin flakes. 92. Seventy-three percent of Americans are willing to wear clothes until the clothes wear out. The poll conducted by Louis Harris and Associates also revealed: 92 percent are willing to eliminate annual model changes in automobiles; 57 percent are willing to see a national policy that would make it cheaper to live in multiple-unit apartments than in single-family homes; 91 percent are willing to eat more vegetables and less meat for protein. 93. Since 1978, at least 37 people have died as a result of shaking vending machines, in an attempt to get free merchandise. More than 100 have been injured. 94. Since the Lego Group began manufacturing blocks in 1949, more than 189 billion pieces in 2000 different shapes have been produced. This is enough for about 30 Lego pieces for every living person on Earth. 95. Sixty percent of big-firm executives said the cover letter is as important or more important than the résumé itself when you're looking for a new job. 96. Statistically speaking, the most dangerous job in the United States is that of Sanitation Worker. Firemen and Policeman are a close second and third, followed by Leather Tanners in fourth. 97. Statistically, traveling by air is the safest means of transportation. Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport handles more than 73 million passengers a year, making it the busiest airport in the world. 98. The average person over fifty will have spent 5 years waiting in lines. 99. 40,000 Americans are injured by toilets every year. 100. According to the US Government people have tried nearly 28,000 different ways to lose weight. 101. Meteorologists claim they're right 85% of the time. 102. "Evaluation and Parameterization of Stability and Safety Performance Characteristics of Two and Three Wheeled Vehicular Toys for Riding." Title of a $230,000 research project proposed by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, to study the various ways children fall off bicycles. 103. 5,840 people with pillow related injuries checked into U.S. emergency rooms in 1992. 104. 8% of Americans twiddle their thumbs. 105. 75% of people wash from top to bottom in the shower. 106. The average American looks at eight houses before buying one. 107. 56% of the video game market is adults. 108. 55,700 people in the US are injured by jewelry each year. 109. The average US worker toils for two hours and 47 minutes of each working day just to pay income tax. 110. The average American pays more in taxes than for food, clothing and shelter put together. 111. Portion of Harvard students who graduate with honors: 4/5 112. Chances that a burglary in the US will be solved: 1 in 7. 113. Portion of land in the US owned by the government: 1/3 114. There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada. 115. In 1984, 13,126 people were arrested in Federal drug cases. 116. In 1790, the U.S. government conducted its first head count. The total population was just under four million (3,929,625). 117. As of 1983, an average of Three billion Christmas cards were sent annually in the United States. 118. Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people. 119. Conception occurs in December more than any other month. 120. The most popular name given to boat-owners’ boats is "Obsession". 121. They call it puppy love: An American Animal Hospital Association poll showed that 33% of dog owners admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages on an answering machine while away. 122. In the U.S., 54% of wireless phone users are men and 46% are women. 123. The number one reason people choose to buy a wireless phone is for safety (nearly 50% of those who own wireless phones purchased it for safety). 124. There are over 15,000 miles of lighted neon tubing in the many signs on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas. 125. Over 110,000 marriage licenses are issued in Las Vegas each year. There are no blood tests and no waiting period required and the Marriage License Bureau is open from 8 am till Midnight Sunday through Thursday and 24 hours a day on Friday and Saturday! The most popular wedding days are New Year's Eve and St. Valentine's Day. Settings range from Casino/Hotel Wedding Chapels to helicopter ceremonies high above the Las Vegas "Strip", or for those in a hurry to start the honeymoon - there are even Drive-Up Wedding Chapels. 126. You have to break a lot of eggs to serve breakfast in Las Vegas. At Caesar’s Palace alone, an average of 7,700 are prepared each day. With 2.8 million eggs delivered each year to that one resort. Caesars serves over 427 pounds of coffee each day and pours more than 3,000 ounces of orange juice every 24 hours. 127. The MGM Grand's 170,000-square-foot casino is larger than the playing field at Yankee Stadium. It contains more than 3,000 gaming machines. 128. It rains more often in London, England, on a Thursday than any other day of the week. 129. During the Christmas buying season, Visa cards alone are used an average of 5,340 times every minute in the U.S. 130. In the USA - more toilets flush at the half time of the Super Bowl than at any other time of the year. 131. Super Bowl Sunday is the most popular party day of the year — surpassing New Year's Eve. It is also the slowest weekend for weddings. 132. Super Bowl Monday sales of antacids increase by more than 20% over other Mondays. 133. Dominos Pizza sales typically double on Super Bowl Sunday. 134. Last year Americans ate more than 8.5 million pounds of tortilla chips on Super Bowl Sunday. 135. The Earth experiences 50,000 earthquakes a year. 136. A United Parcel Service delivery person typically makes up to 300 pickups or deliveries a day. That compares to someone doing 600 sets of step aerobics a day. 137. 68% of Americans who view computer commercials on TV that advertise a processor, such as the Pentium III, believe it speeds up your Internet connections. However, a modem does that. 138. By 1995 8 million U.S. households had computers with CD-ROM drives, a 1600% increase over 1990. 139. The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the USA is 1 in 15. 140. Most deaths in a hospital are between the times of 4pm and 6pm, the time when the human body is at its weakest. 141. In the US, the error rate for doctors prescribing the wrong medicine for their patient's ailment is 12%. 142. There are 10 doctors in the U.S. with the last name of 'Nurse'. 143. The standard escalator moves 120 feet per minute. 144. Nine out of 10 Americans tell pollsters they have NEVER had a professional massage. 145. During the heating months of winter, the relative humidity of the average American home is 13% nearly twice as dry as the Sahara Desert. 146. Pennies, plural, have value to most Americans. A penny, singular, does not. Almost half of Americans say they would not bother to bend over to pick up a penny on the street, but more than half of us report having stashes of pennies laying around the house. 147. Only 30% of us can flare our nostrils. 148. 21% of us don't make our bed daily. 5% of us never do. 149. Men do 29% of laundry each week. Only 7% of women trust their husbands to do it correctly. 150. 40% of women have hurled footwear at a man. 151. 85% of men don't use the slit in their underwear. 152. 67.5% of men wear briefs. 153. 85% of women wear the wrong bra size. 154. 3 out of 4 of us store our dollar bills in rigid order with singles leading up to higher denominations. 155. 13% of us admit to occasionally doing our offspring's homework. 156. 50% admit they regularly sneak food into movie theaters to avoid the high prices of snack foods. 157. 90% believe in divine retribution. 158. 10% believe in the 10 Commandments.(Only 10%?!) 159. 82% believe in an afterlife. 160. 45% believe in ghosts. 161. 13% (mostly men) have spent a night in jail. 162. 29% of us are virgins when we marry. 163. 58.4% have called into work sick when we weren't. 164. Over 50% believe in spanking - but only a child over 2 years old. 165. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals. 166. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled. 167. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily. 168. 35% give to charity at least once a month. 169. 69% eat the cake before the frosting. 170. When nobody else is around, 47% drink straight from the carton. 171. 85% of us will eat Spam this year. 172. 70% of us drink orange juice daily. 173. Snickers is the most popular candy. 174. 22% of us skip lunch daily. 175. 9% of us skip breakfast daily. 176. 66% of us eat cereal regularly. 177. 22% of all restaurant meals include French fries. 178. 14% of us eat the watermelon seeds. 179. Only 13% brush our teeth from side to side. 180. 45% use mouthwash every day. 181. 29% of us ignore RSVP. 182. 71.6% of us eavesdrop. 183. Less than 10% are trilingual. 184. 37% claim to know how to use all the features on their VCR. 185. 53% prefer ATM machines over tellers. 186. 56% of women do the bills in a marriage. 187. 2 out of 3 of us wouldn't give up our spouse even for a night for a million bucks. 188. 20% of us have played in a band at one time in our life. 189. 40% of us have had music lessons. 190. 44% reuse tinfoil. 191. 57% save pretty gift paper to reuse. 192. 66% of women and 59% of men have used a mix to cook and taken credit for doing it from scratch. 193. 53% read their horoscopes regularly. 194. 16% of us have forgotten our own wedding anniversary (mostly men). 195. 59% of us say we're average-looking. 196. 90% of us depend on alarm clocks to wake us. 197. 53% of us would take advice from Ann Landers. 198. 28% of us have skinny-dipped. 14% with the opposite sex. 199. 51% of adults dress up for a Halloween festivity. 200. On average, we send 38 Christmas cards every year. 201. 20% of women consider their parents to be their best friends. 202. 2 out of 5 have married their first love. 203. The biggest cause of matrimonial fighting is money. 204. Only 4% asked the parents' approval for their bride's hand. 205. 1 in 5 men proposed on his knees. 206. 6% propose over the phone. 207. 71% can drive a stick-shift car. 208. 45% of us consistently follow the speed limit. 209. 2/3 of us speed up at a yellow light. 210. 1/3 of us don't wear seat belts. 211. 22% leave the glob of toothpaste in the sink. 212. The typical shower is 101 degrees F. 213. Nearly 1/3 of US women color their hair. 214. 9% of women and 8% of men have had cosmetic surgery. 215. 53% of women will not leave the house without makeup on. 216. 58% of women paint their nails regularly. 217. 62% of us pop our zits. 218. 33% of women lie about their weight. 219. 10% of us claim to have seen a ghost. 220. 57% have had deja vu. 221. 49% believe in ESP. 222. 4 out of 5 of us have suffered from hemorrhoids. 223. 44% have broken a bone. 224. Only 30% of us know our cholesterol level. 225. 14% have attended a self-help meeting. 226. 15% regularly go to a shrink. 227. 78% would rather die quickly than live in a retirement home. 228. Significantly more black women die from heart disease than any other group. 229. 30% of us refuse to sit on a public toilet seat. 230. 54.2% of us always wash our hands after using the toilet. 231. 81.3% would tell an acquaintance to zip his pants. 232. It takes an average person fifteen to twenty minutes to walk once around the Pentagon. 233. The average life span of London residents in the middle of the 19th century was 27 years. For members of the working class, that number dropped to 22 years. 234. There are over 15,000 miles of lighted neon tubing in the many signs on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas. 235. The average IQ is 100, while 140 is the beginning of genius IQ. 236. 12% of men never use their car blinkers. 237. 44% of men tailgate to speed up the person in front of them. 238. 4 out of 5 sing in the car. 239. Every minute 47 Bibles are sold or distributed throughout the world. 240. In a century's time Islam had converted one-third of the world. 241. In the United States, deaf people have safer driving records than hearing people nationally. 242. One-fourth of the world's population lives on less than $200 a year. Ninety million people survive on less than $75 a year. 243. In the famous Parker Brothers game "Monopoly," the space on which a player has the greatest statistical chance of landing is Illinois Avenue. This is followed by the B&O Railroad, Free Parking, Tennessee Avenue, New York Avenue and the Reading Railroad. 244. Burns are second only to traffic accidents as the cause of accidental loss of life in the U.S.: about 6,000 fatal burns a year. 245. The U.S produces 19% of the world's trash. The annual contribution includes 20 billion disposable diapers, 2 billion razors and 1.7 billion pens. 246. More than 63 million Star Trek books, in more than 15 languages, are in print; 13 were sold every minute in the U.S. in 1995. 247. New York City has the largest black population of any city in the United States. It is followed by Chicago and Philadelphia. 248. No one knows how many people live in the country of Bhutan. As of 1975, no census had ever been taken. 249. In the United States, five million teeth are knocked out annually. 250. Every year, over 8800 people injure themselves with a toothpick. 251. There are more television sets in the United States than there are people in Japan. 252. On a bingo card of ninety numbers there are approximately 44 million ways to make B-I-N-G-O. 253. Researcherd don't know why, but people living in mountain states eat 30% more cookies than other people. 254. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, one person is killed annually painting stripes on the state's highways and roads. 255. In 1993 there were an estimated 64 million cats in the United States. 256. Half a billion people - about one of every eight - are suffering chronic malnutrition today. 257. People are marrying younger today than they did before the turn of the century. In the United States, in 1890, the average age of men at their first marriage was twenty-six years, compared with twenty-three today. For women, the corresponding figures are twenty-two then and just under twenty-one now. 258. Per capita, Canada has more doughnut shops than any other country. 259. In 1977, according to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, there were 14.5 telephone calls made for every 100 people in the entire world. 260. The photo most often requested from the U.S. National Archives is that of the meeting between Elvis Presley and President Nixon in 1970. Presley had requested that Nixon make him an honorary drug enforcement agent and Nixon accommodated him. 261. Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying. 262. Lost time in traffic could cost American businesses up to 100 billion dollars per year. 263. According to NASA, the U.S. has the world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S. can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes. 264. The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the USA is 1 in 15. 265. The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia. 266. Li is the family name for over 87 million People in China. 267. Americans use over 16,000 tons of aspirin a year. 268. The typical person swallows 295 during dinner. 269. The most common surname in Sweden is Johansson. 270. France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese. 271. The voltage of most car batteries is 12 volts. 272. The typical person goes to the bathroom 6 times a day. 273. The most common Spanish surname is Garcia. 274. In 1969, Iowa State College conducted a survey indicating that a parent's stress level at the time of conception is a major factor in determining the child's sex. The child is usually the same sex as the less stressed parent. 275. An eyebrow typically contains 550 hairs. 276. Hawaii has the highest percentage of cremations of all other U.S. states, with a 60.6 percent preference over burial. 277. Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids. 278. The Japanese cremate 93 percent of their dead, as compared to Great Britain at 67 percent and the United States at just over 12 percent. 279. Nearly half of all psychiatrists have been attacked by one of their patients. 280. About 24 percent of alcoholics die in accidents, falls, fires, and suicides. 281. About 25 percent of all male Americans between the ages of ten and fifteen were "gainfully employed" at the turn of the century. By 1970, so few in that age bracket were employed that the U.S. Census Bureau did not bother to make inquiries about them. 282. About 60 percent of all American babies are named after close relatives. 283. According to a 1995 poll, 1 out of 10 people admitted that they will buy an outfit intending to wear it once and return it. 284. According to a poll, only 29 percent of married couples agree on most political issues. 285. According to a poll, 39% of the people interviewed admitted that they snoop in their host's medicine cabinets. 286. According to Scientfic American magazine: if you live in the northern hemisphere, odds are that every time you fill your lungs with air at least one molecule of that air once passed thru Socrates lungs. 287. Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying. 288. Ten percent of men are left-handed while only 8 percent of women are left-handed. 289. Textbook shortages are so severe in some U.S. public schools that 71 percent of teachers say they have purchased reading materials with their own money. 290. Retirement planning time: Adults spend an average of 16 times as many hours selecting clothes (145.6 hours a year) as they do on planning their retirement. 291. A 1991 Gallup survey indicated that 49 percent of Americans didn't know that white bread is made from wheat. 292. The tail section of an airplane gives the bumpiest ride. 293. North America's most popular snack food is potato chips. 294. 69% of men say that they would rather break up with a girl in private rather than in public. 295. In 1916, 55% of the cars in the world were Model T Fords. 296. About 1 out of every 70 people who pick their nose actually eat their boogers. 297. Women shoplift more often than men; the statistics are 4 to 1. 298. For the 66% of American's who admit to reading in the bathroom, the preferred reading material is "Reader's Digest." 299. 67.5% of men wear briefs instead of boxers. 300. 57% of British school kids think Germany is the most boring country in Europe. 301. You are more likely to win the state lottery than to be attacked by a shark. 302. Statistically the safest age of life is 10 years old. 303. Automobiles take up about 24 percent of the total area of Los Angeles. 304. About 43% of convicted criminals in the U.S. are rearrested within a year of being released from prison. 305. There was a ratio of 35 women to one man in England mental asylums in 1971. However in England prisons, this ratio was the opposite. 306. Seven people have been struck by meteorite fragments. 307. Coffee is the second largest item on international commerce in the world. 308. People in Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world. 309. Odds that you'll be killed by a plane falling from the sky: one in 25 million. Odds that it will happen today: 1 in 7 trillion. 310. Boys who have unusual first names are more likely to have mental problems than boys with conventional names. Girls don't seem to have this problem. 311. Sweden has the least number of murders annually. 312. The 3 largest newspaper circulations are Russian. 313. Smoking accounts for at least 7% of all health care costs in the US. 314. The salt scattered on American highways each winter to keep cars from skidding on snow and ice represents 10 percent of the world's annual output of the mineral. 315. 53% of high school grads and 27% of college grads "get most of their information from TV." 316. The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office. 317. Most shark attacks are not deadly. Less than 20 percent of those attacked are killed. Contrary to popular belief, sharks don't tear their prey to pieces. After the initial attack, they tend to circle around waiting for the victim to die from blood loss. This gives time for rescue. Before you start having shark nightmares, however, remember this: More Americans are killed each year from bee-attack than from shark-attack. 318. The only country to register zero births in 1983 was the Vatican City. 319. Seven billion gallons of water are flushed down toilets in the U.S. every day. 320. The average raindrop reaches a top speed of 22 miles per hour.

[edit] TV and Movies

1. Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, was home to Rocky and Bullwinkle. 2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), the first film featuring the character Indiana Jones, was crawling with four-, eight-, and no-legged creatures: a. Number of boas, cobras and pythons used in the film: 7,500 b. Number of tarantulas: 50 c. Source of the name "Indiana Jones": it was the name of producer George Lucas' pet Malamute. 3. The first ever televised murder case appeared on TV in 1955, Dec. 5-9. The accused was Harry Washburn. 4. Twentieth Century-Fox studio cut all scenes showing physical contact between America's curly-haired darling Shirley Temple and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in "The Little Colonel" in 1934 to avoid social offense and to assure wide U.S. distribution. Pre-release showings of the film, particularly in the southern U.S., shocked audiences when the two actors touched fingers during their famous staircase dance sequence. 5. Beaver Cleaver graduated in 1953. 6. On Beaver Cleaver's US tour, he visited Albuquerque on a Tuesday. 7. Muppets creator Jim Henson first created Kermit in 1955 - as a lizard. He was made from Henson's mother's coat and two halves of a Ping-Pong ball (no flipper feet or eleven-point collar). 8. The person who performs the Muppets - Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal, and Grover is Frank Oz. Oz is also the voice of Star Wars Yoda. By the way, his real name is Frank Oznowicz. 9. The 1997 Jack Nicholson film - "As Good As It Gets", is known in China as "Mr. Cat Poop". 10. Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp.) 11. The writers of The Simpsons have never revealed what state Springfield is in. 12. A theater manager in Seoul, Korea felt that The Sound of Music was too long, so he shortened it by cutting out all the songs. 13. Bruce was the nickname of the mechanical shark used in the "Jaws" movies. 14. The original title of the musical "Hello Dolly!" was "Dolly: A Damned Exasperating Woman." Why did they change it? The original had such music, poetry, and pizzazz. 15. Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants. 16. A two hour motion picture uses 10,800 feet of film. Not including the previews and commercials. 17. For many years, the globe on the NBC Nightly News spun in the wrong direction. On January 2, 1984, NBC finally set the world spinning back in the proper direction. 18. In the Mario Brothers movie, the Princess' first name is Daisy, but in Mario 64, the game, her first name is Peach. Before that, it's Princess Toadstool. 19. "60 Minutes" is the only show on CBS that doesn’t have a theme song. 20. Dooley Wilson appeared as Sam in the movie Casablanca. Dooley was a drummer - not a pianist in real life. The man who really played the piano in Casablanca was a Warner Brothers staff musician who was at a piano off camera during the filming. 21. The TV sitcom Seinfeld was originally named "The Seinfeld Chronicles". The pilot which was broadcast in 1989 also featured a kooky neighbor named Kessler. This character later became known as Kramer. 22. In the movie 'Now and Then', when the girls are talking to the hippie (Brenden Fraser), and they get up to leave, Teeny (Thora Birch) puts out her cigarette twice. 23. In Hitchcock’s movie, "Rear Window", Jimmy Stewart plays a character wearing a leg cast from the waist down. In one scene, the cast switches legs, and in another, the signature on the cast is missing. 24. In the movie "Two Jakes," which is set in the 1940's, Jack Nicholson walks right by a BankOne automatic teller machine. Didn't know there were too many of those around in the 1940's. 25. In the movie "Bustin' Loose" where Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson take a group of underprivileged kids to the west coast, the car in which Cicely Tyson's boyfriend is pursuing them changes interior color from red to white and then back to red several times. 26. In the movie Ghost (Patrick and Demi) when Demi is making something on the pottery wheel her hands are covered in clay. But when her husband comes up behind her to give her a kiss she turns around and they are completely clean. 27. In Forrest Gump, when Forrest goes to see Jenny toward the end, in one scene, in Jenny's apartment, the iron is up, later, the iron is faced down steaming. 28. In the Disney movie Aladdin, when Aladdin is talking to Jasmine right before taking her on a carpet ride, Rajah attacks him. Aladdin says, 'Get back, kitty' or something like that. Then he whispers to Jasmine telling her to take off her clothes. 29. In the original "Star Wars: A New Hope", Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker, called out the name of actress Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia, instead of actually calling out "Leia" in the scene near the end where he gets out of his X-wing after destroying the Death Star. The error was never caught. 30. Danny Kaye was the third choice to play opposite Bing Crosby in the film "White Christmas" (1954). Fred Astaire, who had co-starred with Crosby in the earlier hit "Holiday Inn," was the original choice for Phil Davis, but he turned it down because, at age 55, he felt he was too old for the part. Donald O'Connor was next selected for the sidekick role, but he injured his back and couldn't dance for months. Kaye was quite miffed about being third in line, and also resented playing second banana to Crosby. The atmosphere on the film set was professional, but frosty. 31. David Niven and George Lazenby were the only two actors who played James Bond only once. 32. In "Cliff Hanger" when the girl is dangling off Stallone’s arm, the camera flashes to the chopper and the old man in the picture is laughing. 33. In White Christmas, there are 2 scenes with bloopers- first when the 2 sisters are talking, Rosemary Clooney pours coffee, then puts the pot down and the next time they show her she's pouring it again. And later, when the General and his granddaughter step into the ballroom, the granddaughter steps back out of the spotlight then a second later, she does it again. 34. The most popular sport as a topic for a film is boxing. 35. Scooby Doo's first real name is Scoobert. 36. The studios wanted Matthew McConaughey, the newest heartthrob in the industry, cast as hero Jack Dawson in the 1997 box office hit Titanic, but director James Cameron insisted on Leonardo DiCaprio. 37. According to lead Munchkin Jerry Maren, the "little people" on the set of The Wizard of Oz (1939) were paid $50 per week for a 6-day work week, while Toto received $125 per week. During filming, Toto was stepped on by one of the witch's guards, and had a double for two weeks. A second double was obtained, because it resembled Toto more closely. 38. In an episode of The Simpsons, Sideshow Bob's Criminal Number is 24601, the same as the Criminal number of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. 39. In every show that Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks) wrote, there is at least one song about rain. 40. From Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me — In the U.S., "shag" is far less offensive than in other English-speaking countries. Singapore briefly forced a title change to "The Spy Who Shioked Me." ("Shioked" means "treated nicely.") 41. Actress Halle Berry turned down the role of Annie, and Stephen Baldwin turned down the role of Jack in the 1994 "Speed". The blockbuster film catapulted Sandra Bullock as a major film actress, and greatly improved upon Keanu Reeve's box office appeal. 42. During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in the distance. 43. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World WarII were made of wood. 44. The first toy product ever advertised on television was Mr. Potato Head. Introduced in 1952, Mr. Potato Head took advantage of TV's explosive growth to gain access to tens of millions of newly "plugged-in" households. 45. In the Return of the Jedi special edition during the new Coruscant footage at the end of the film a stormtrooper can be seen being carried over the crowds. 46. Mrs. Clause's first name is Jessica in the movie "Santa Clause is Coming to Town". 47. The movie "Clue" has three different endings. Each ending was randomly chosen for different theaters. All three endings are present in the home video. 48. The longest film ever released was "****" by Andy Warhol, which lasted 24 hours. It proved, not surprisingly (except perhaps to its creator) an utter failure. It was withdrawn and re-released in a 90-minute form as 'The Loves of Ondine.' 49. What does U.F.C. champion Dan 'the beast' Severn have in common with former Hard-core champion Al Snow? In the ring, not too much. But in the movies, they both played a football player in the movie 'Rudy'. 50. Some television families' home addresses: The Simpsons - 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield; The Bunkers (All In The Family) - 704 Hauser, Queens; The Munsters - 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights 51. The first far eastern country to permit kissing in films was China. The first oriental screen kiss was bestowed on Miss Mamie Lee in the movie "Two Women in the House" (China, 1926). 52. The first female monster to appear on the big screen was Bride of Frankenstein. 53. The first black and white motion picture to be digitally converted to color was "Yankee Doodle Dandy", the 1942 biography of George M. Cohen. 54. For the movie "Mission To Mars", director Brian DePalma and crew needed to re-create the surface of the planet Mars. They chose the more than two million square feet of a 45-acre sand dune in Vancouver, Canada. To give the sand dune the color of the planet Mars, they covered it with over 15,000 gallons of red paint. 55. The Pentagon was allowed to choose some of the clothes that John Travolta wore in the movie "Broken Arrow" so that the military would be portrayed positively. 56. Several of the Bond girls, namely Ursula Andress, Shirley Eaton, Eunice Gayson, and Claudine Auger, were unable to match an alluring voice to their sexy physical attributes. For each of them, their lines were dubbed by aspirant actress Nikki van der Zyl, who later left the film industry to practice as a legal professional. On "Doctor No," van der Zyl did every female voice except Miss Moneypenny and a Chinese girl, and she also dubbed Raquel Welch's grunting in "One Million Years B.C." 57. The TV signals seen by New Jersey residents come almost exclusively from New York and Philadelphia, cities oriented to other states. New Jersey has less in the way of state media than any other state of its population. 58. In 1952, CBS made computer history by being the first to use a computer, the UNIVAC I, to forecast the U.S. presidential election. 59. In "The Wizard of Oz," Dorothy's last name is Gale. 60. The name of the Vulcan's heaven is Sha Ka Ree. 61. The last female to occupy the Number 1 spot on the Top Ten Box Office list was Julie Andrews in 1967; the top position has been filled by a female film performer only 12 times (by six actresses) since 1932, when the list was established. The other five females to hold the Number 1 box office position are Shirley Temple (four times), Doris Day (twice), Marie Dressler (twice), Betty Grable (once), and Elizabeth Taylor (once). Andrews was ranked Number 1 twice. 62. The 1987 film "Hot Rod Harlots" was promoted with this tag line: "Unwed! Untamed! Unleaded! Backseat Bimbos meet their Roadside Romeos." 63. Kathleen Turner was the voice of Jessica Rabbit, and Amy Irving was her singing voice. 64. In the film 'Star Trek : First Contact', when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth, Australia and Papua New Guinea are clearly visible... but New Zealand is missing. 65. Cheryl Ladd (of Charlie's Angels fame) played the voice, both talking and singing, of Josie in the 70s Saturday morning cartoon Josie and the Pussycats. 66. More than 150,000 feet (28+ miles) of film was used by David O. Selznick just to film the screen tests of potential actresses for the lead role of Scarlett O'Hara in his 1939 epic "Gone With the Wind". 67. "Cats" is based on fourteen poems of T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. 68. The original production of "Cats" opened at the New London Theatre, in the West End on May 11, 1981. Eight years later it celebrated both its birthday and another important milestone: it had become, after 3358 performances, the longest running musical in the history of the British theatre. 69. On Thursday, June 19, 1997, "Cats" became the longest running show in the history of Broadway. With the 6138th performance "Cats" passed "A Chorus Line" which staged the last production in April 1990. 70. "Cats" closed at the Winter Garden Theatre on 25 June, 2000. 71. The concept of a countdown before a rocket launch originated as a tension-building device in the 1929 movie "The Woman on the Moon". 72. Bambi was originally published in 1929 in German. 73. The first crime mentioned in the first episode of 'Hill Street Blues' was armed robbery. 74. Jean-Claude Van Damme was the alien in the original PREDATOR in almost all the jumping and climbing scenes. 75. Breath, by Samuel Beckett, was first performed in April, 1970. The play lasts thirty seconds, has no actors, and no dialogue. 76. Before Mickey Mouse, Felix the Cat was the most popular cartoon character. 77. Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo. 78. In the movie "Toy Story", the carpet designs in Sid's hallway is the same as the carpet designs in "The Shining." 79. The name of the 'Love Boat' was the 'Pacific Princess'. 80. In the movie "Speed" (1994) Twelve buses were used, including two which exploded; one for the freeway jump; one for high-speed scenes; and one used solely for 'under bus' shots. 81. The Peanuts were first animated in 1957 for a Ford Fairlane automobile commercial. 82. If you pause Saturday Night Fever at the "How Deep Is Your Love" rehearsal scene, you will see the camera crew reflected in the dance hall mirror. 83. When Walt Disney Productions released Return to Oz in (1985), it represented the longest time span that had ever occurred between the original and the remake of a film. 84. Skull island is the jungle home of King Kong. 85. At one time, the line "Let's get outta here" had been used in 84% of Hollywood movie productions. 86. The largest outdoor film set ever built was the Roman Forum used in The Fall of The Roman Empire (1964). It was 1,312 feet long by 754 feet wide, took 1,100 workers seven months to construct, and rose some 260 feet in the air. 87. The largest indoor film set ever built was the landing site for the UFO in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Constructed inside a 10 million cubic foot hangar in Mobile, Alabama. it was 450 feet long by 250 feet wide and was 90 feet tall. 88. Charlie Chaplin once reshot a scene in City Lights (1931) some 342 times before he felt he had gotten it right. In Some Like It Hot (1959), Marilyn Monroe required 59 takes on a scene in which her only line was "Where's the Bourbon?" Similarly, Stanley Kubrick required Shelley Duval to redo a scene 127 times in The Shining (1980). 89. The identification number of the Starship Enterprise is NCC-1701. 90. The most common telephone exchange number on television is 555. 91. Batman and Robin live in Gotham City. 92. Bill Cosby created Fat Albert and Weird Harold. 93. An anchor is tattooed on Popeye's arm. 94. Mr. Spock was second in command of the Starship Enterprise. 95. Mr. Munster's first name is Herman. 96. The 1st time the "f-word" was spoken in a movie was by Marianne Faithfull in the 1968 film, "I'll Never Forget Whatshisname." In Brian De Palma's 1984 movie, "Scarface," the word is spoken 206 times - an average of once every 29 seconds. 97. Screenwriter Joe Ezterhas was paid $3 million for his script, Basic Instinct, the highest amount ever paid to a screenwriter. 98. John Hughes wrote the script for Wierd Science (1984) in two days. He wrote The Breakfast Club (1984) in three days, and National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) in four days. 99. Sherlock Holmes is the most portrayed character on film, having been played by 72 actors in 204 films. The historical character most represented in films is Napoleon Bonaparte, with 194 film portrayals. Abraham Lincoln is the U.S. President to be portrayed most on film, with 136 films featuring actors playing the role. 100. The first James Bond movie was "Dr. No." 101. MASH stood for "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital." 102. Felix Leiter is James Bond's CIA contact. 103. The movie Cleopatra cost $28 million to make in 1963. 104. TV's top rated series from 1957 to 1961 was Gunsmoke. 105. The name of Popeye's adopted son is Swee'pea. 106. According to the folks at Disney - there are 6,469,952 spots painted on dogs in the original 101 Dalmatians. 107. Composer Richard Wagner was known to dress in historical costumes while writing his operas. He wasn't the only composer with quirks: Christopher Gluck would only write while seated in the middle of a field. And Gioacchino Rossini reportedly could only find inspiration by getting profoundly drunk. 108. The characters in "The Addams Family" did not have names in the "New Yorker" cartoons; Charles Addams created their names when the television series in the 1960s was developed. 109. The most-published playwright is Shakespeare. The second is Neil Simon. It's sort of hard to believe (at least for this writer) that Simon follows Shakespeare in terms of published works, but he does. Simon has produced more than 16 plays, including some that you've probably heard of, such as "The Odd Couple" and "Brighton Beach Memoirs." Sixteen plays doesn't sound like a lot, but Simon has done a few other things as well. He's written 18 books and 12 screenplays. 110. The 1997 Jack Nicholson film - "As Good As It Gets", is known in China as "Mr. Cat Poop". 111. Steve Martin's first movie was 'The Jerk'. 112. Smithee is a pseudonym that filmmakers use when they don't want their names to appear in the credits. 113. A scene in the original "Lethal Weapon" shows a suicide jumper and Riggs (Mel Gibson) handcuffed together on the roof of a building. As they jump the camera shot from below shows them(I assume the 2 stuntmen) joining hands and no handcuffs in the shot.

[edit] Words

1. The English-language alphabet originally had only 24 letters. One missing letter was J, which was the last letter to be added to the alphabet. The other latecomer to the alphabet was U. 2. "Fan" is an abbreviation for the word "fanatic." Toward the turn of the 19th century, various media referred to football enthusiasts first as "football fanatics," and later as a "football fan." 3. The proper name of our sole natural satellite is "the Moon" and therefore...it should be capitalized. The 60-odd natural satellites of other planets, however are called "moons" (in lower case) because each has been given a proper name, such as Deimos, Amalthea, Hyperion, Miranda, Larissa, or Charon. 4. The word "snorkel" comes from the German word "schnoerkel", which was a tube used by German submarine crews in WW2. The subs used an electric battery when traveling underwater, which had to be recharged using diesel engines, which needed air to run. To avoid the hazard of surfacing to run the engines, the Germans used the schnoerkel to feed air from the surface into the engines. 5. The name "fez" is Turkish for "Hat". 6. The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful plough man strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed." 7. "The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate. 8. "Jerkwater" is a railroad term. Until about fifty years ago, most trains were pulled by thirsty steam engines that needed to refill their boilers from water towers next to the tracks. But some towns were so small and inconsequential that they lacked a water tower. When trains stopped in those places, the crew had to find a nearby stream or well and, bucket-brigade style, "jerk" the water to the train. Those little dots on the map became known as jerkwater towns. 9. Incredible means not believable. Incredulous means not believing. When someone's story is truly incredible, you ought to be incredulous. 10. The terms "prime minister," "premier" and "chancellor" all refer to the leading minister of a government, and any differences from nation to nation stem from different systems of government, not from title definitions. 11. Tennis pro Evonne Goolagong's last name means "kangaroo's nose" in Australia's aboriginal language. 12. A "sysygy" occurs when all the planets of the our Solar System line up. 13. The most common letters in the English language are R S T L N E. Sound familiar? Watch an episode of "Wheel of Fortune"... 14. A "necropsy" is an autopsy on animals. 15. EEG stands for Electroencephalogram. 16. The English word pajamas has it's origin in Persian. It is a combination of the Persian words pa (leg) and jamah (garment). 17. The ZIP in zip code stands for "Zone Improvement Plan." 18. Yucatan, as in the peninsula, is from Maya "u" + "u" + "uthaan" meaning "listen how they speak," and is what the Maya said when they first heard the Spaniards. 19. Punctuation was not invented until the 1500's. 20. "Catch 22" has come to mean a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem. The original "Catch-22," in Joseph Heller's 1961 novel of the same name, is the catch that prevents a US Air Force pilot in World War II from asking to be grounded on the basis of insanity. The pilot knows that military regulations permit insane pilots to be grounded and not forced to fly further dangerous bombing missions. However, the regulation prevents airmen from escaping bombing missions by pleading insanity by stating that any airman rational enough to WANT to be grounded cannot possibly be insane and therefore is fit to fly. From the novel: a man "would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to: but if he didn't he was sane and had to." 21. The custom of saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes was first used by ancients when they believed that breath was the essence of life, and when you sneeze a part of you life is escaping. Evil spirits rush into your body and occupy the empty space. By saying "God bless you" the speaker is protecting the sneezer from that spirits. 22. Lycanthropy is a disease in which a man thinks he's a wolf. It is the scientific name for "wolf man" or, werewolf. 23. "Evian" spelled backwards is naive. 24. Author Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, who sometimes wrote under the name "The Duchess," observed in her novel "Molly Bawn" that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." The phrase has passed into the English language. 25. The "glair" is the white or clear part of an egg. The word glair comes from the Latin clarus, meaning "clear." 26. The longest word used by Shakespeare in any of his works is "honorificabilitudinitatibus," found in "Love's Labors Lost." Unfortunately he's no longer around to tell us what it means. 27. Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command "go hang yourself." 28. The right side of a boat was called the starboard side due to the fact that the astronavigators used to stand out on the plank (which was on the right side) to get an unobstructed view of the stars. The left side was called the port side because that was the side that you put in on at the port. This was so that they didn't knock off the starboard. 29. Ever wonder where the phrase "two bits" came from? Some coins used in the American colonies before the Revolutionary War were Spanish dollars, which could be cut into pieces, or bits. Since two pieces equaled one-fourth dollar, the expression "two bits" came into being as a name for 25 cents. 30. Montgomery Ward was the first to advertise "Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back" in 1874 — two years after Aaron Montgomery Ward, launched his first mail-order catalog. 31. OK is the most successful of all Americanisms. It has invaded hundreds of other languages and been adopted by them as a word. Mencken claims that US troops deployed overseas during WWII found it already in use by Bedouins in the Sahara to the Japanese in the Pacific. It was also the fourth word spoken on the surface of the moon. It stands for oll korrect, a misspelling of all correct. 32. When Coca-Cola began to be sold in China, they used characters that would sound like "Coca-Cola" when spoken. Unfortunately, what they turned out to mean was "Bite the wax tadpole". 33. Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired." 34. Pokemon stands for "pocket monster." 35. The name Ethiopia mean "land of sunburned faces" in Greek. 36. A coward was originally a boy who took care of cows. 37. MAFIA is an acronym for Morte Alla Francia Italia Anela, or "Death to the French is Italy's Cry" 38. The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows." 39. When a film is in production, the last shot of the day is the "martini shot," the next to last one is the "Abby Singer". 40. "Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting." 41. A bird watching term: peebeegeebee = a pied-billed grebe. 42. "Big cheese" and "big wheel" are Medieval terms of envious respect for those who could afford to buy whole wheels of cheese at a time, an expense few could enjoy. Both these terms are often used sarcastically today. 43. When two words are combined to form a single word (e.g., motor + hotel = motel, breakfast + lunch = brunch) the new word is called a "portmanteau." 44. The slash character is called a virgule, or solidus. A URL uses slash characters, not back slash characters. 45. "Corduroy" comes from the French, "cord du roi" or "cloth of the king." 46. In the Greek alphabet "X" is the first letter for the word Christ, "Xristos." Xmas means "Christ's mass." 47. If you come from Manchester, you are a Mancunian. 48. There are six words in the English language with the letter combination "uu." Muumuu, vacuum, continuum, duumvirate, duumvir and residuum. 49. The abbreviation "ORD" for Chicago's O'Hare airport comes from the old name "Orchard Field." 50. Telephone is derived from two Greek words, tele + phone, meaning far off voice or sound.(Tele, far off + phone, voice or sound). 51. The word for "name" in Japanese is "na-ma-e," in Mongolian "nameg." 52. "Polish" is the only word in the English language that when capitalized is changed from a noun or a verb to a nationality. 53. Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic." 54. Sheriff came from Shire Reeve. During early years of feudal rule in England, each shire had a reeve who was the law for that shire. When the term was brought to the United States it was shortened to Sheriff. 55. The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck. 56. The difference between a "millennium" and a "chiliad"? None. Both words mean "a period of one thousand years", the former from Latin, the later from Greek. 57. The stress in Hungarian words always falls on the first syllable. 58. The word for "dog" in the Australian aboriginal language Mbabaran happens to be "dog." 59. The side of a hammer is a cheek. 60. The initials for morning and evening are based on latin words—ante meridiem and post meridiem. "Ante," of course means "before" and "post" means "after." "Meridiem" means "noon." 61. The @ symbol has become an important part of e-mail culture. It separates the User Name from the Domain Name. All countries throughout the world use the same symbol but it obviously has a different name in other tongues. In English it is simply the 'at' sign. Here are just a few of the more endearing terms: 62. Italy: 'chiocciolina' - which, in Italian, means 'little snail' France: 'petit escargot' - also 'little snail' Germany: 'klammeraffe' - which means 'spider monkey'. Dutch: 'api' - a shortened version of 'apestaart' or 'monkey's tail'. Finland: 'miau' or 'cat's tail'. Norway: 'kanel-bolle', a spiral shaped cinnamon cake Israel: 'shtrudel' - following the pastry concept Denmark: 'snabel', an 'A' with a trunk. Spain: 'arroba'. the Spanish symbol for a unit of weight of about 25 pounds. 63. A "pogonip" is a heavy winter fog containing ice crystals. 64. The little bits of paper left over when holes are punched in data cards or tape are called Chad. 65. The loop on a belt that holds the loose end is called a "keeper". 66. Las Vegas means "the meadows" in Spanish. Ironically, the city in the desert was once abundant in water and vegetation. 67. The word "mullet" describes a hairstyle worn, particularly in the southern USA, which is characterized by short hair on the top and sides, with very long hair in the back. 68. "Quisling" is the only word in the English language to start with "quis." 69. The French equivalent of "Pumpkin" (our pet name) is calling them "Chou-Chou" which is little cabbage. 70. In ancient Egypt, the apricot was called the "egg of the sun." 71. The equivalent of calling someone a jerk in English is calling them a pickle in French. 72. Beets reminded early cooks of a bleeding animal when they cut them open, so they started calling them "beets." This was derived from the French word bête, meaning "beast." 73. The phrase "a red letter day" dates back to 1704, when holy days were marked in red letters in church calendars. 74. The phrase "guinea pig" originated when a tax was imposed on powder for wigs in England to help pay for the war with Napoleon. The list of those who had paid the guinea (one pound, one shilling) was posted on their parish church door. As they were the wealthy of the day, they became known as the guinea pigs. 75. Mothers were originally named mama or mommy (in many languages) because they have mammary glands. 76. The word "yo-yo" itself was a registered trademark of Duncan until 1965. 77. The expression "getting someone's goat" is based on the custom of keeping a goat in the stable with a racehorse as the horse's companion. The goat becomes a settling influence on the thoroughbred. If you owned a competing horse and were not above some dirty business, you could steal your rival's goat (seriously, it's been done) to upset the other horse and make it run a poor race. From goats and horses it was linguistically extended to people: in order to upset someone, "get their goat." 78. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower', because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the 'upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters. 79. In India and Iran, the part of the house reserved for women is called a "zenana." 80. Pregnant goldfish are "twits." 81. The word "alcatraz" is Spanish for "pelican". 82. The Chinese ideogram for 'trouble' depicts two women living under one roof'. 83. The alteration of the architectural appearance of a city by the construction of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings is known as "Manhattanization". The term refers to the New York borough Manhattan. 84. The first college to use the word "campus" to describe its grounds was Princeton. "Campus" is Latin for "field." 85. The English-language alphabet originally had only 24 letters. One missing letter was J, which was the last letter to be added to the alphabet. The other latecomer to the alphabet was U. 86. The phrase "jet lag" was once called "boat lag", back before airplanes existed. 87. Dr. Seuss coined the word "nerd" in his 1950 book "If I Ran The Zoo" 88. Mountains are formed by a process called orogeny. 89. A "quidnunc" is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip, otherwise, a busybody. 90. April Fools' Day has always been celebrated in Australia and it's easy to see why when you look at the list of Aussie words which mean 'fool', amongst their other amusing meanings: Boofhead: an idiot or a fool, sometimes with a big, ugly head too. Burke and Wills: rhyming slang - dills, as in, "They'd be Burke and Wills." - idiots or fools. From the surnames of two famous but ultimately doomed explorers of outback Australia. Dag: an amusing type of idiot or fool, usually a well intentioned jibe, "a bit of a dag". Dill: an idiot or a fool. Dip Stick: an idiot, a fool. Droob: slow witted or slow moving person, not too bright, a fool. Duffer: a silly or foolish person, also refers to one who steals sheep. Goose: a 'dead set' (real) fool. Nong: idiot, fool. Ratbag: a foolish type of eccentric. 91. Kyoto, which was the Japanese capital before Tokyo, means "old capital". 92. Hydroxydesoxycorticosterone and hydroxydeoxycorticosterones are the largest anagrams. 93. A chiropodist treats hands and feet. 94. Narcissism is the psychiatric term for self-love. 95. The boundary between two air masses is called a "front." 96. A nihilist believes in nothing. 97. A gynephobic man fears women. 98. A community of ants is called a colony. 99. A phonophobe fears noise. 100. The food of the Greek gods was called Ambrosia. 101. German is considered the sister language of English. 102. A horologist measures time. 103. Hairy people are called "hirsute." 104. "Almost" is the longest word in the English language with all the letters in alphabetical order. 105. "Diddle for the middle" is a slang expression used for the start of a darts game. Opposing players each throw a single dart at the bull's eye. The person who is closest starts the game. 106. "E" is the most frequently used letter in the English alphabet, "Q" is the least. 107. "Guddling" was the act of fishing with one's hands by reaching under stones along river banks. It is now an outdated term. 108. "Hagiology" is the branch of literature dealing with the lives and legends of saints. 109. "I am" is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. 110. "Kemo Sabe" reportedly means "soggy shrub" in Navajo. 111. "Lobster shift" is a colloquial term for the night shift of a newspaper staff. 112. "Mrs." is the abbreviation of Mistress, which originally was a title and form of address for a married woman. It was always capitalized. 113. White elephants were rare even in Siam (the modern Thailand). If you found one the emperor automatically owned it and you couldn't harm it. When the emperor wanted to punish someone, he gave him or her a white elephant as a "gift." They couldn't ride it or work it, but they still had to take care of it and clean up after it. And you know what elephants do besides eat. So the gift was useless. Hence the expression. 114. "To whinge" is Australian slang for "to complain constantly." 115. "Turnip" used to be a U.S. slang expression for a pocket watch. 116. "Romanji" is a system of writing Japanese using the Latin alphabet. 117. "Toboggan" is derived from the Algonquin language and loosely meant "instrument with which to drag a cord." 118. "Yakka" means "hard work" in Australian slang. 119. Graffito is the little-used singular of the much used plural word graffiti. 120. Hoi polloi is a Greek phrase meaning "the many". Hoi polloi are the masses. 121. The American Heritage Dictionary was once banned from the Eldon, Missouri library because it contained 39 "objectionable" words. 122. A "clue" originally meant a ball of thread. This is why one is said to "unravel" the clues of a mystery. 123. "criticaster" is an incompetent, inferior critic. 124. Ekistics is the science of human settlements, including city or community planning and design. 125. A greenish facial tint has long been associated with illness, as suggested by the phrase "green around the gills." As a person who is very envious is considered by many folks to be unwell, these people have been described as "green (or sick) with envy." 126. The word constipation (con sta PAY shun) comes from a Latin word that means "to crowd together." 127. The study of nose picking is called "rhinotillexomania." 128. The Ouija board is named for the French and German words for yes - oui and ja. 129. The explative, "Holy Toledo," refers to Toledo, Spain, which became an outstanding Christian cultural center in 1085. 130. The term "honeymoon" is derived from the Babylonians who declared mead, a honey-flavored wine, the official wedding drink, stipulating that the bride's parents be required to keep the groom supplied with the drink for the month following the wedding. 131. Scatologists are experts who study poop (a.k.a. crap, dung, dookie, dumps, feces, excrement, etc...). 132. A deltiologist collects postcards. 133. Women who wink at men are known as "nictitating" women. 134. A male witch is called a warlock. 135. The name of the point at which condensation begin is called the dew point. 136. Xenophobia is the fear of strangers or foreigners. 137. A notaphile collects bank notes. 138. A phrenologist feel and interpret skull features. 139. The abbreviation e.g. stands for "Exempli gratia", or "For example." 140. Ukulele means "little jumping flea" in Hawaiian. 141. Shakespeare is given credit by scholars for introducing as many as 10,000 words and phrases into written language, including "skim milk," "alligator," and "hobnob." But it's not at all certain that he made this many words up. Most were probably common terms for his time and he merely was the first to put them in written form in his plays and poems. Some scholars give him credit for thousands, but others say he actually coined only a few hundred. 142. "Acre" literally means the amount of land plowable in one day. 143. Would you believe that "on the nose" comes from radio? When broadcasting began, directors had to communicate with people on the air without making noise, so they developed hand signals. Time is always a key element in live broadcasts. The person at the mike needed to know if the program was on schedule. If things were "just right," the director signaled with a finger to the side of his or her nose. 144. "Doubleheader," which refers to two baseball games played back to back, was originally a railroad term that referred to two engines in a switching yard hooked up back to back on a single train. The train could also be called a "two-header." 145. "Mark twain" means "two fathoms." (A fathom, of course is six feet deep, so that's 12 feet.) When navigating a riverboat over the Mississippi River, a riverboat captain needs someone to call out the depth in tricky areas to ensure that the boat can make it through. If he hears "mark twain," he knows that the water is barely deep enough for the boat to pass. 146. Samuel Clemens, the creator of the adventuresome Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, took "Mark Twain" as his pen name. This was not because he WAS a riverboat captain, but because he once wanted very badly to be one. 147. The English word pajamas has it's origin in Persian. It is a combination of the Persian words pa (leg) and jamah (garment). 148. The word "puppy" comes from the French poupee, meaning "doll." 149. Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.' 150. The abbreviation for 1 pound, lb., comes from the astrological sign Libra, meaning balance.

[edit] Wrecker World Records

1. What is billed as the world's largest weather vane sits on the shores of White Lake in Montague, Michigan. It's 48 feet tall with a 26-foot wind arrow and adorned with a 14-foot replica of a 19th-century Great Lakes schooner. 2. The world's largest coffee pot is located in Davidson, Saskatchewan. It measures 24 Feet(7.3 Meters) tall, is made of sheet metal and could hold 150,000 8 ounce cups of coffee. 3. The Tokyo World Lanes Bowling Center is the largest bowling establishment in the world. It has 252 lanes and one very tired pinsetter. 4. The World's Largest Catsup Bottle stands proudly next to Route 159, just south of downtown Collinsville, Illinois. This unique 170 ft. tall water tower was built in 1949 by W.E. Caldwell Company for the G.S. Suppiger catsup bottling plant. In 1995, due to the efforts of the Catsup Bottle Preservation Group, this piece of local history was saved from demolition and beautifully restored to its original appearance. 5. The longest Monopoly game ever played was 1,680 hours long, that's 70 straight days! 6. The longest Monopoly game in a bathtub was 99 hours long. 7. The highest wind velocity ever recorded in the United States was 231 miles per hour, on Mount Washington, New Hampshire, in 1934. 8. Howard Kinsey and Mrs. R. Roark, during a game of tennis, batted the ball back and forth 2001 consecutive times. 9. The World's Largest yo-yo resides in the National Yo-Yo Museum in Chico, California. Named "Big Yo," the 256-pound yo-yo is an exact scale replica of a Tom Kuhn "No Jive 3 in 1 Yo-Yo." Fifty inches tall and 31.5 inches wide, the yo-yo is made of California sugar pine, Baltic birch from the former USSR, and hardrock maple. It was first launched in San Francisco on October 13, 1979. 10. Victor Hugo's Les Miserables contains one of the longest sentences in the French language—823 words without a period. 11. The largest web-footed bird is the albatross. 12. On July 31, 1994, Simon Sang Sung of Singapore turned a single piece of dough into 8,192 noodles in 59.29 seconds! 13. At 12 years old, an African named Ernest Loftus made his first entry in his diary and continued everyday for 91 years. 14. Toronto, Ontario was home to the biggest swimming pool in the world in 1925. It held 2000 swimmers, and was 300ft x 75ft. It is still in operation. 15. In 1968, Steve McPeak traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles on a unicycle. The trip took him six weeks, but he planned for the long bike journey. He brought an extra tire and a spare heinie. 16. The biggest bell is the "Tsar Kolokol" cast in the Kremlin in 1733. It weighs 216 tons, but alas, is cracked and has never been rung. The bell was being stored in a Moscow shed which caught fire. To "save" it, caretakers decided to throw water on the bell. This did not succeed, as the water hit the superheated metal and a giant piece immediately cracked off, destroying the bell forever. 17. Shakespeare's most talkative character is Hamlet. None of his other characters have as many lines in a single play. (Falstaff, who appears in several plays, has more lines total). 18. The largest school in the world is a k-12 school in the Philippines, with an enrollment of about 25,000. 19. France had the first supermarket in the world. It was started by relatives of the people who started the Texas Big Bear supermarket chain. 20. If you walked the entire length of the China's Great Wall, you would be walking farther than the distance between New York City and Miami, Florida. The wall stretches for over 1,500 miles. The driving distance between New York and Miami is just over 1,250 miles. Provided you don't get lost. 21. In Muddy, Illinois, the post office measures only 7½ by 10½ feet, about the size of a garden shed. If it wasn't for a sign hanging above the door stating, "U.S. Post Office, Muddy, IL., 62965," finding the tiny, wooden building could be difficult. It is believed to be one of the smallest post offices in the United States. 22. Zaire is the world leader in cobalt mining, producing two-thirds of the world's cobalt supply. 23. The world's tallest mountains, the Himalayas, are also the fastest growing. Their growth - about half an inch a year — is caused by the pressure exerted by two of the earth's continental plates (the Eurasian plate and the Indo-Australian plate) pushing against one another. 24. The biggest hog ever recorded was a creature named Big Boy who weighed in at 1, 904 pounds. 25. Belgian driver Jenatzy was the first to reach a speed of over 100km/h in his electrically powered car 'La Jamais Contente' in 1899. 26. Never mind what you saw in the film "The Poseidon Adventure." The biggest wave on record, reported by a reliable source, was estimated to have attained a height of 112 feet. It was measured, at some distance, I hope, by a tanker traveling between Manila and San Diego in 1933. The wind was blowing at 70 mph at the time. 27. On December 15, 1998, the Mayer Kaplan Jewish Community Center in Skokie, Illinois attempted to set the inaugural world's record for largest number of dreidels to be spun at one time. At least 200 people were needed to set the record. 28. The shopping mall in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada has the largest water clock in North America. 29. Linn's Stamp News is the world's largest weekly newspaper for stamp collectors. 30. The Bible is the number one shoplifted book in America. 31. The duration record for a face-slapping contest was set in Kiev, USSR, in 1931 when a draw was declared between Bezbordny and Goniusch after 30 hours. 32. Did you know that the beam of light shining from the top of the Luxor hotel is the most powerful in the world. The equivalent of 40 billion candle power, the beam is visible to airplanes from a distance of 250 miles. 33. On March 16, 1970, a bidder at Sotheby & Company in London paid $20,000 for one glass paperweight. 34. Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries. 35. At the turn of the last millennium, Dublin Ireland had the largest slave market in the world, run by the Vikings. 36. The Stratosphere Hotel and Casino is 1,149 feet tall, making it the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. 37. The Rogun Dam is the world's highest. The only problem is that it's located in Vakhsh, Tajikistan. Even downtown Vakhsh is off the beaten tourist path. 38. The Pentagon is twice the size of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building in New York. It is one of the world's largest office buildings. 39. The smallest volcano in the world is Taal. 40. The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over a million people. 41. Bernard Clemmens of London managed to sustain a fart for an officially recorded time of 2 minutes 42 seconds. 42. The longest street in the world is Yonge Street, which starts in Toronto, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and winds its way north then west to end at the Ontario-Manitoba-Minnesota border. 43. The Bingham Canyon copper mine in Utah is the biggest manmade hole on Earth. It is more than a half-mile deep and 2.5 miles across. An astronaut can see this hole from the space shuttle with his bare eyes. 44. One of the world's tallest, fastest roller coasters: Buffalo Bill's 'Desperado'. 45. Westwood Studios' computer game 'Command and Conquer' is the most successful war game series of all time according to Guinness Book of World Records. 46. Behram, an Indian thug, holds the record for most murders by a single individual. He strangled 931 people between 1790-1840 with a piece of yellow and white cloth, called a ruhmal. The most by a woman is 610, by Countess Erzsebet Bathory of Hungary. 47. The world's biggest trap (called a bunker in Europe) is Hell's Half Acre on the 535 m 585 yd seventh hole of the Pine Valley course, Clementon, NJ, built in 1912 and generally regarded as the world's most trying course. 48. The deepest canyon in low relief territory is Hell's Canyon, dividing Oregon and Idaho. It plunges 7,900 ft from the Devil Mountain down to the Snake River. 49. The deepest canyon in the USA is Kings Canyon, East Fresno, CA, which runs through Sierra and Sequoia National Forests. The deepest point, that measures 8,200 ft, is in the Sierra National Park Forest section of the canyon. 50. The longest bout of sneezing recorded was by Donna Griffith. It began in January 1981 and continued until September 1983. It lasted for 978 days, and 4,687,514 gesundheits. 51. The mother of all mothers? The largest number of children born to one woman is recorded at 69. From 1725-1765 a Russian peasant woman gave birth to 16 sets of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets. 52. According to the Airport Council International, Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta, Georgia is the busiest airport in the world. Hartsfield served 73,474,298 passengers in 1998, followed by Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, and London's Heathrow. 53. The escalator in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia is the longest freestanding escalator in the world, rising 160 feet or approximately eight stories in height. 54. Andrzej Makowski is the youngest person on record to receive a driver's license. He received his license when he was just 14 years and 8 months old. 55. As of September 1998, the highest recorded mileage for a car was 1,615,000 miles for a 1966 Volvo P-1800. 56. The A & P was the first chain-store business to be established. It began in 1842. 57. Christianity has over a billion followers. Islam is next in representation with half this number. 58. Groundbreaking is set to happen later this year in Chicago, Illinois for a new skyscraper. 7 South Dearborn Avenue will rise to a height of 1,550 feet at its rooftop and an additional 450 feet of HDTV Antennas will be attached to it's roof. This architectural marvel was inspired by the mast of a racing yacht and will sit on a 200ft lot. Currently the world's tallest building is the Petronas Tower in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Petronas Towers measures 1,483ft. 59. The Corinthian columns in the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, are among the tallest in the world at 75 feet high, 8 feet in diameter, 25 feet in circumference, each built of 70,000 bricks. 60. The largest incense stick ever made was almost fifteen-feet long and six-inches thick. 61. Jackie Bibby holds the record for sitting in a bathtub with the most live rattlesnakes. He sat in a tub with 35 of them. 62. The total area of Denver International Airport is 53 square miles, twice the size of Manhattan Island, New York, and larger than the city boundary of Boston, Miami or San Francisco. 63. The greatest measured water discharge was an estimated 740,000-1,000,000 gallons by the Giant Geyser, in Yellowstone National Park. However, this estimate made in the 1950s, was only a rough calculation. 64. The world's largest art gallery is the Winter Palace and Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. Visitors would have to walk 15 miles to see the 322 galleries which house nearly 3 million works of art. 65. The first skyscraper in the United States was built in Chicago. 66. The company, Kodak, is the largest user of silver. 67. The world's largest bullfighting ring is in Mexico City. 68. The world's largest Gothic cathedral is in new York City. It is the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Avenue and 112th Street. The cathedral measures 601 feet long, 146 feet wide, and has a transept measuring 320 feet from end to end. 69. The world's longest suspension bridge opened to traffic on April 5, 1998. The 3,911-meter (12,831-feet) Akashi Kaikyo Bridge is 580 meters (1,900 feet) longer than the Humber Bridge in England, the previous record holder. 70. Lang Martin balanced seven golf balls vertically without adhesive at Charlotte, NC on 9 February 1980. 71. Boasting nearly 30 brewery locations, Nigeria has emerged as the largest beer-producing country in Africa. The continent's 8,000-year brewing history began with ancient Egyptian commercial brewing dynasties and still includes handmade tribal beers. 72. New York City has the most skyscrapers of any city in the world with 140. Chicago is a distant second at 68. The term "skyscraper" technically describes all habitable buildings with a height of more than 500 ft (152m). 73. The largest movie theater in the world, Radio City Music Hall in New York City, opened in December, 1932. It originally had 5,945 seats. 74. The largest pyramid in the world is not in Egypt but in Cholulu de Rivadahia, Mexico. It is 177 feet tall and covers 25 acres. It was built sometime between 6 and 12 AD. 75. The largest stained-glass window in the world is at Kennedy International Airport in New York City. It can be seen on the American Airlines terminal building and measures 300 feet long by 23 feet high. 76. Rainbow Bridge, Nature's abstract sculpture carved of solid sandstone, is the world's largest natural-rock span, 278 feet wide and 309 feet high. Technically, it is located in Utah just north of the Arizona state line, but "Arizona Highway's Travel Arizona" book cites it as a local attraction. 77. The greatest snowfall ever in a single storm was 189 inches at the Mount Shasta Ski Bowl in February, 1959. 78. In 1935, Jesse Owens set six track and field world records in less than one hour. 79. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History houses the world's largest shell collection, some 15 million specimens. A smaller museum in Sanibel, Florida owns a mere 2 million shells and claims to be the worlds only museum devoted solely to mollusks. 80. Karen Roman grew the world's largest cauliflower. It weighed 22 pounds. 81. Diane Sheer holds the record for licking the most stamps in a five minute period. She slobbered on 225 of the little things. 82. The most powerful earthquake to strike the United States occurred in 1811 in New Madrid, Missouri. The quake shook more than one million square miles, and was felt as far as 1,000 miles away. 83. Strangeray Springs cattle station in South Australia is the largest ranch in the world. It's area, 30,029 square kilometers, and is only slightly smaller than the European country of Belgium. 84. At 840,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world. It is 3 times the size of Texas. By comparison Iceland is only 39,800 square miles. 85. Most insects used in a film: 22 million bees in The Swarm. 86. Hawaii's Mount Waialeale is the wettest place in the world - it rains about ninety per cent of the time, about 480 inches per annum. 87. When stuntman and parachutist Dar Robinson leaped from the ledge of the 1,170 foot high CN Tower in Toronto, he was paid $150,000, the most ever for a single stunt. 88. Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author. 89. The CN Tower, in Toronto, is the tallest free standing structure in the world. 90. The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. 91. The Sahara desert has the highest sand dunes. 92. The world's widest river is the Amazon river. 93. The oldest public park in the U.S. is Boston Common. 94. The surface speed record on the moon is 10.56 miles per hour. It was set in a lunar rover. 95. The Angel of the North, Gateshead, UK, with a wingspan of 177 ft/54 m, is the largest sculpture of an angel in the world. 96. The oldest domestic cat was a male named Grandpa that lived to be 34 years, 2 months, and 4 hours. 97. The largest Great White Shark ever caught measured 37 feet and weighed 24,000 pounds. It was found in a herring weir in New Brunswick in 1930. The harmless Whale Shark, holds the title of largest fish, with the record being a 59-footer captured in Thailand in 1919.

[edit] Just Plain Random and Obviously Others

1. Approximately sixty circus performers have been shot from cannons. At last report, thirty-one of these have been killed.

2. The Boeing 767 aircraft is a collection of 3.1 million parts from 800 different suppliers around the world: fuselage parts from Japan, center wing section from Southern California, flaps from Italy.

3. A man irate about his income tax paid Uncle Sam with a plaster of Paris check that weighed several pounds. He wasn't all that bright, because once the government cashed the check, it was returned to him and he had to keep it for five years for his records.

4. On the new hundred dollar bill the time on the clock tower of Independence Hall is 4:10.

5. Parker Brothers prints about 50 billion dollars worth of Monopoly money in one year.

6. Calvin and Hobbes: Hobbes originally had pads on his hands and feet but Bill Waterson (the creator) found them too distracting and removed them.

7. It took Leo Tolstoy six years to write "War & Peace".

8. Charlie Brown's father was a barber.

9. Lucy and Linus (who where brother and sister) had another little brother named Rerun. (He sometimes played left-field on Charlie Brown's baseball team, [when he could find it!]).

10. In the name of art, Chris Burden arranged to be shot by a friend while another person photographed the event. He sold the series of pictures to an art dealer. He made $1750 on the deal, but his hospital bill was $84,000.

11. In Britain’s House of Commons, the government and opposition sides of the House are separated by two red lines. The distance between the lines is two swords’ lengths, a reminder of just how seriously the Brits used to take their politics.

12. The surface area of an average-sized brick is 79 cm squared.

13. In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become a year older on New Year's Day.

14. The diameter of the wire in a standard paper clip is 1 millimeter - or about 0.04 inch.

15. People generally say there are 365 days in a year. By a year, I mean this is the time period it takes the earth to travel around the sun: 365 days. Actually, however, it takes the Earth 365.25 days to make this trip. In other words, for every year we gain one-fourth of a day and every for years we gain an extra day. If nothing was done about this, our calendar would move backwards one full day every four years in relation to our seasons.

16. November 29 is National Sinky Day; a day to eat over one's sink and worship it.

17. Public typists work at typewriters charging about 14 cents per page. On a good day, a public typist earns about $3.50.

18. On average, there are 333 squares of toilet paper on a roll.

19. Halloween isn't an established holiday by law. It is traditional that Halloween is Oct. 31 no matter what day of the week it falls on. Halloween dates from 837 when Pope Gregory IV instituted All Saints or All Hallows Day on Nov. 1 to take the place of an earlier festival known as the Peace of the Martyrs. The day was set aside to honor all saints, known and unknown. Halloween then is a shortened form of All Hallows Eve - the evening before All Hallows Day. Certainly, you have a choice of celebrating it on Oct. 30, Saturday, if you wish. Many of the area parties will be held then rather than on Sunday. It's probably appropriate to say some people equate Halloween with the occult or Satanism and don't approve of it at all.

20. The numbers on opposite sides of a die always add up to 7.

21. In 1979, Namco released Pac-Man, the most popular arcade game of all time. Over 300,000 units were sold worldwide. More than 100,000 units are sold in the United States alone. Originally named Puck Man, the game was retitled after executives saw the potential for vandals to scratch out part of the letter P on the game's marquee, which might discourage parents from letting their children play. Pac-Man became the first video game to be popular with both males and females.

22. Elizabeth Goose, who lived in Massachusetts in the late 1600's, is credited by some with the nursery rhymes read to us as children. However, most of those rhymes existed before her time in the form of satirical poems and drinking songs. Some were based on actual events or characters. Charles Perrault, a Frenchman, published a collection of these rhymes in 1697 and an illustration accompanying the text showed an old woman telling stories, with the words "Mother Goose" appearing behind her. The book was eventually published in England and the United States and more rhymes were added with each new publication. It wasn't until the 1800's that a relative of Mrs. Goose claimed the stories originated with Elizabeth.

23. If you were born in Los Alamos, New Mexico during the Manhattan project (where they made the atomic bomb), your birth place is listed as a post office box in Albuquerque.

24. The St. Louis Gateway Arch had a projected death toll while it was being built. No one died.

25. The Hoover Dam was built to last 2,000 years. The concrete in it will not even be fully cured for another 500 years.

26. The "Calabash" pipe, most often associated with Sherlock Holmes, was not used by him until William Gillette (an American) portrayed Holmes on stage. Gillette needed a pipe he could keep in his mouth while he spoke his lines.

27. The Chinese national anthem is called "the march of volunteers."

28. "The Tale of Genji", a Japanese work from the early eleventh century, is considered by many scholars to be the world's first full novel. The novel was written by a woman: Murasaki Shikibu, or Lady Murasaki.

29. The reason wheels seem to spin backwards on a camera is because when you film something, you are really taking a series of still images and then replaying them so fast that the eye is fooled into thinking it is a continuous stream of images. The eye can see about 12-14 frames per second. Because of a physical law called the Nyquist Sampling Theorem you need to display frames twice as fast as the eye can see to fool it into seeing it as a continuous movie (Nyquist showed mathematically why that is true). So, imagine you have a wheel that is spinning exactly once every second. If you took a picture at the same rate, it would look like it is standing still. That's because it rotates exactly once every time you take a picture. Now take a picture just a little bit faster than 1 per second. Now every time you take a picture, the wheel has not quite made it all the way around; maybe it will have gone 350 degrees around, so it's 10 degrees behind the first frame. The next frame it will have gone another 350 degrees, making it now 20 degrees behind the first frame, and so on. When you play the film back, it will look like the wheel is moving backwards, even though you know it was going forwards. The opposite effect happens when you take pictures a bit slower than the rotation rate. It gets more complicated when the wheel does not rotate at a constant rate, like when a car accelerates. The next time you watch TV or go to the movies, watch the wheels as a car speeds up. You might see the wheel appear to go backwards, them stop, then go forwards, all while the car is moving forwards.

30. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

31. If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.

32. In the UPC, the lines—the Universal Product Code—hold 11 numbers, each of which is a code that describes the product. The size, weight, and manufacturer or distributor, for example, are each represented by a number. The numbers are in the form that computers can read, 0's (black lines) and 1's (white lines).

33. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

34. Eskimos never gamble.

35. 20252 is Smokey the Bear's own zip code.

36. 203 million dollars is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.

37. The external tank on the space shuttle is not painted.

38. If you had enough water to fill one million goldfish bowls, you could fill an entire stadium.

39. Zip code 12345 is assigned to General Electric in Schenectady, NY.

40. Success magazine recently declared bankruptcy.

41. The average ice berg weighs 20,000,000 tons.

42. The first crossword puzzle appeared in 1913 in an American paper called "World." It was devised by its editor Arthur Wynne. It was of 32 words and diamond shaped. There were no black boxes in the puzzle.

43. Some 30,000,000 Americans slave over crosswords in newspaper, journals, and paperback books.

44. The hardest crossword puzzles according to experts appear in two British papers: "The London Times" and "Observer." Only few readers can complete these and it takes them 2 to 3 hours. The record time for completing a "Times" puzzle was an incredible 3 minutes and 45 seconds by a British diplomat named Roy Dean in 1970.

45. The largest crossword puzzle ever published had 2631 clues across and 2922 clues down. It took up 16 sq. feet of space.

46. The strangest crossword ever made was by a British writer Max Beerbohm in 1940. He called it the "Impossible Crossword" and issued warning to puzzlers so they do not go crazy trying to solve it, as the clues were nonsensical and the answers didn't exist.

47. George Washington is the only man whose birthday is a legal holiday in every state of the U.S as of a few years ago.

48. acetwothreefourfivesixseveneightninetenjackqueenking Excluding the joker, if you add up the letters in all the names of the cards in the deck (Ace, two, three, four,...,king). the total number of letters is 52, the same as the number of cards in the deck.

49. Did you play with LEGO blocks when you were a kid? Since 1949, the LEGO company, based in Denmark, has produced more than 200,000,000,000 of the plastic elements that make up the Lego System. There are 102,981,500 ways to combine six of the 8-studed bricks of one color. The name LEGO did not come from the cry of an angry mother who couldn't get her kid to put down his toys and come to dinner: "LEGO of those bricks or I'll kill you!" It's from the Danish, "LEg GOdt," which means "play well."

50. The Statue of Liberty's mouth is 3 feet wide.

51. The father of the Pink Flamingo (the plastic lawn ornament) is Don Featherstone of Massachusetts. Featherstone graduated from art school and went to work as a designer for Union Products, a Leominster, Mass., company that manufactures flat plastic lawn ornaments. He designed the pink flamingo in 1957 as a follow up project to his plastic duck. Today, Featherstone is president and part owner of the company that sells an average of 250,000 to 500,000 plastic pink flamingos a year."I did it to keep from starving." - Don Featherstone (flamingo creator)

52. If China imported just 10% of it's rice needs- the price on the world market would increase by 80%.

53. Cleveland spelled backwards is "DNA level C".

54. When wearing a Kimono, Japanese women wear socks called "Tabi". The big toe of the sock is separated from the rest of the toes, like a thumb from a mitten.

55. The names of the two stone lions in front of the New York Public Library are Patience and Fortitude. They were named by then-mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

56. How valuable is the penny you found laying on the ground? If it takes just a second to pick it up, a person could make $36.00 per hour just picking up pennies.

57. Carnegie Mellon University offers bag piping as a major. The instructor James McIntosh, who is a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, and who began bag piping at the age 11.

58. The book of Esther in the Bible is the only book which does not mention the name of God.

59. The Douglas DC-3 passenger airplane was the first to make a profit carrying people.

60. There are 52 cards in a standard deck and there are 52 weeks in a year. There are 4 suits in a deck of cards and 4 seasons in a year. If you add the values of all the cards in a deck (jack=11 queen=12, etc.) you get a total of 365 the same as the number of days in a year.

61. The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear. Any cup-shaped object placed over the ear produces the same effect.

62. In 1982, the last member of a group of people who believed the Earth was hollow died.

63. A man named John Bellavia has entered over 5000 contests, and has never won a thing.

64. The famous painting of "Whistler's Mother" was once bought from a pawn shop.

65. Revolvers cannot be silenced because of all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel.

66. In 1961, Henry Matisse's painting Le Bateau hung upside down in New York's Museum of Modern Art. It remained upside down for forty-one days until someone noticed. It's estimated nearly 116,000 people passed in front of the painting before the error was noted.

67. The number 4 is the only number that has the same number of letters in its name as its meaning.

68. A standard 747 Jumbo Jet has 420 seats.

69. According to Dennis Changon, spokesman for the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, Canada - if all of the commercial planes in the world were grounded at the same time there wouldn't be space to park them all at gates.

70. If you lace your shoes from the inside to the outside the fit will be snugger around your big toe.

71. In 1931, an industrialist named Robert Ilg built a half-size replica of the Leaning Tower of Pisa outside Chicago and lived in it for several years. The tower is still there.

72. The first manager of the Seattle Space Needle, Hoge Sullivan, was acrophobic - fearful of heights. The 605 foot tall Space Needle is fastened to its foundation with 72 bolts, each 30 feet long. The Space Needle sways approximately 1 inch for every 10 mph of wind. It was built to withstand a wind velocity of 200 miles-per-hour.

73. The first revolving restaurant, The Top of the Needle, was located at the 500-foot level of the 605-foot-high steel-and-glass tower at the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle, Washington. It contained 260 seats and revolved 360 degrees in an hour. The state-of-the-art restaurant was dedicated on May 22, 1961.

74. The foundations of the great European cathedrals go down as far as forty or fifty feet. In some instances, they form a mass of stone as great as that of the visible building above the ground.

75. Police dogs are trained to react to commands in a foreign language; commonly German but more recently Hungarian.

76. The roads on the island of Guam are made with coral. Guam has no sand. The sand on the beaches is actually ground coral. When concrete is mixed, the coral sand is used instead of importing regular sand from thousands of miles away.

77. The Holland and Lincoln Tunnels under the Hudson River connecting New Jersey and New York are an engineering feat. The air circulators in the tunnels circulate fresh air completely every ninety seconds.

78. The official soft drink of the state of Nebraska - Kool-Aid.

79. Ivory Soap was originally named P&G White Soap. In 1879, Harley Proctor found the new name during a reading in church of the 45th Psalm of the Bible: "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad."

80. Studebaker still exists, but is now called Worthington.

81. 7.5 million toothpicks can be created from a cord of wood.

82. A McDonald's straw will hold 7.7ml, or just over one-and-a-half teaspoons of whatever you are drinking. This means that it would take 17,000 strawfuls of water to fill up a 34 gallon bathtub.

83. The original IBM punch-card is the same size as a Civil War era dollar bill.

84. BAND-AID Brand Adhesive Bandages first appeared on the market in 1921, however, the little red string that is used to open the package did not get added until 1940.

85. Jane Barbie was the woman who did the voice recordings for the Bell System.

86. Month after month, the little Bell Company lived from hand to mouth. No salaries were paid in full. Often, for weeks, they were not paid at all. In Watson's notebook there are such entries during this period as "Lent Bell fifty cents," "Lent Hubbard twenty cents," "Bought one bottle beer—too bad can't have beer every day."

87. When Bell's patent was sixteen months old, there were 778 telephones in use.

88. The first "Hello" badge used to identify guests and hosts at conventions, parties, etc. was traced back to September 1880. It was on that date that the first Telephone Operators Convention was held at Niagara Falls and the "Hello" badge was created for that event.

89. During the depths of the Depression, telephones in use fell from 16 to 13 per 100 population and by the late 1970's the number had surpassed 75 per 100 population.

90. Western Electric mass-produced color telephones for the first time in 1954.

91. In Japan, Western Electric first sold equipment in 1890, then in 1899 helped form the Nippon Electric Company (NEC). This was Japan's first joint venture with an American firm.

92. Northern Telecom, Alcatel N.V. and NEC all had roots in Western Electric.

93. The use of telephone answering machines became popular in 1974.

94. In the first month of the Bell Telephone Company's existence in 1877, only six telephones were sold.

95. In 1953, Sony Corporation obtained a transistor license from Western Electric Co. that led to its development of the world's first commercially successful transistor radio.

96. In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, "Well, are you there?". It wasn't until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase "number please?"

97. Sometimes, early telephone operators would get to know their customers so well, the customers would ask for a reminder call when it was time to remove a cake from the oven, leave the phone off the hook near their sleeping child when they left the house, hoping the operator would hear any cries of distress, request a wake up call before taking a long nap.

98. Just like today's computers, early telephones were very confusing to new users. Some became so frustrated with the new technology, they attacked the phone with an ax or ripped it out of the wall.

99. In the early 1880's some well-to-do telephone owners started the unusual trend of paying to have a theatre employee hold a telephone receiver backstage, transmitting live plays and operas into their living rooms.

100. The first transatlantic wedding took place on December 2, 1933.The groom was in Michigan. The bride, in Sweden. The ceremony took seven minutes and cost $47.50.

101. In the Catholic church, St. Gabriel, an archangel, is the patron saint of telecommunications.

102. The famous emergency hotline, whereby the President could have immediate contact with the Kremlin wasn't established until 1984. Prior to 1984, the only direct contact to the Kremlin was a cumbersome teleprinter link, supplying text messages that then had to be translated, responses drafted and sent back.

103. During President Lyndon Johnson's term, many people mis-dialed the White House number and instead reached the home of a New York housewife. Rose Brown had a near identical phone number. He wrote and thanked her for her diplomacy in receiving his highly sensitive calls and promised to return the favor when her friends and family accidentally dialed the White House.

104. A gator in the road is a huge piece of tire from a blow out on a truck, called a gator because the fly up when a truck runs one over and take out your air lines causing you to lose air and forcing your spring brakes to come on which causes a rather abrupt stop.

105. In 1997 a Menorah was built in Latrun, near the main Jerusalem-Tel Aviv highway. It was more than 60-feet tall, weighed 17 metric tons, and took up an area of 600-square meters. A rabbi was lifted in a crane each night of the holiday to light the candles on the menorah, which was made of metal pipes.

106. Before settling on the name of Tiny Tim for his character in "A Christmas Carol", three other alliterative names were considered by Charles Dickens. They were: Little Larry, Puny Pete and Small Sam.

107. Kwanzaa has seven basic symbols, which represent values and concepts reflective of African culture.

108. Mazao: Fruits, Nuts, and Vegetables

109. Mkeka: Place Mat

110. Vibunzi: Ear of Corn

111. Mishumaa Saba: The Seven Candles

112. Kinara: The Candleholder

113. Kikombe Cha Umoja: The Unity Cup

114. Zawadi: Gifts

115. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer was conceived by author Robert May in 1939. Two other names he thought of before deciding on Rudolph were Reginald and Rollo.

116. Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

117. The name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box is Bingo.

118. According to Scientific American magazine: if you live in the northern hemisphere, odds are that every time you fill your lungs with air at least one molecule of that air once passed thru Socrates lungs.

119. It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.

120. The U.S. Library of Congress has compiled a 232-source bibliography on the subject of when, properly speaking, centuries roll over. Almost all of the sources agree that the twentieth century will not end until December 31, 2000.

121. The Times Square "time ball" is named the "Star of Hope". It was specially made for this year and contains 504 glass crystals cut into triangles, 600 light bulbs, 96 big lights, and 92 mirrors.

122. The official time ball for the U.S. is on top of the U.S. naval Observatory in Washington, DC As early as 1845, the U.S. Navy dropped a time ball every noon from atop a building on a hill overlooking Washington, DC. People from many miles could set their watches at noon. Ships anchored in the Potomac River could check their chronometers.

123. Left-handed people are statistically more likely to be geniuses, and to be insane. Left-handedness is more common among writers and some kinds of artists. But lefties tend to be more accident-prone and on average don't live as long.

124. Did you know that Beetle from the comic strip 'Beetle Bailey' and Lois from the comic strip 'Hi and Lois' are brother and sister?

125. The newspaper serving Frostbite Falls, Minnesota, the home of Rocky and Bullwinkle, is the Picayune Intellegence.

126. The earliest recorded case of a man giving up smoking was on April 5, 1679, when Johan Katsu, Sheriff of Turku, Finland, wrote in his diary "I quit smoking tobacco." He died one month later.

127. A lead pencil is good for about 50,000 words.

128. 1960 was the last model year for Edsel and Desoto.

129. Woodbury Soap was the first product to show a nude woman in its advertisements. The year - 1936. The photo, by Edward Steichen, showed a rear full-length view of a woman sunbathing - wearing only sandals.

130. London's Millennium Dome, the largest of its kind in the world, is over one kilometer in circumference and covers over 80,000 square meters.

131. The Dome is supported by 43 miles of high-strength cable which holds up 100,000 square meters of fabric.

132. The translucent roof is 50 meters high at the center and strong enough to support a jumbo jet.

133. The Dome could contain two Wembley Stadiums or the Eiffel Tower on its side. You could even fit the Great Pyramid of Giza inside it.

134. St. Stephen is the patron saint of bricklayers.

135. It's rumored that sucking on a copper penny will cause a breathalyzer to read 0.

136. According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.

137. The car-making Dodge brothers Horace and John were Jewish, that's why the first Dodge emblem had a star of David in it.

138. Studebaker was the only major car company to stop manufacturing cars while making a profit on them.

139. The issue of leap year and the weirdness of February is always worth looking at because, coming so infrequently, who can remember the explanation for it from the last time? The earth revolves around the sun every 365.24 days, not an even 365. That produces an extra day's worth of hours every four years. We could distribute them as a bonus to everyone: a one-day time-out every fourth year in which the clock is stopped and we stay in bed all day. But we don't. Instead we add an extra day onto February. Why February? It was originally the last month on the Roman calendar and a logical place to stick the extra day. But Julius Caesar changed the first month to January, stranding February and its little peculiarity in the second spot.

140. The first person selected as the Time Magazine Man of the Year - Charles Lindbergh in 1927.

141. Kate "God Bless America" Smith sold more U.S. war bonds than anyone else during World War II. She sold $600 million worth.

142. The Nike "swoosh" logo was designed by University of Oregon student Carolyn Davidson in 1964, four years after business undergraduate Phil Knight and track coach Bill Bowerman founded the company they originally called Blue Ribbon Sports. Ms. Davidson was paid $35 dollars for her design.

143. If you need to dial the telephone and your dial is disabled, you can tap the button in the cradle. If, for example, you need to dial 911, you can tap the button 9 times, then pause, then tap once, then again.

144. Turning a clock's hands counterclockwise while setting it is not necessarily harmful. It is only damaging when the timepiece contains a chiming mechanism.

145. On June 10, 1958, a tornado was crashing through El Dorado, Kansas. The storm pulled a woman out of her house and carried her sixty feet away. She landed, relatively unharmed, next to a phonograph record titled "Stormy Weather."

146. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

147. The height and width of modern American battleships was originally determined by insuring they had to be able to go beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and through the Panama Canal.

148. Nobody knows where the body of Voltaire is. It was stolen in the nineteenth century and has never been recovered. The theft was discovered in 1864, when the tomb was opened and found empty.

149. Owing to a faulty cornerstone, the church of St. John in Barmouth, Wales, crashed in ruins a minute after it was finished. It was rebuilt, and the new edifice has endured to the present day.

150. A car operates at maximum economy, gas-wise, at speeds between 25 and 35 miles per hour.

151. A car that shifts manually gets 2 miles more per gallon of gas than a car with automatic shift.

152. A car uses 1.6 ounces of gas idling for one minute. Half an ounce is used to start the average automobile.

153. Many of us feel that we have at least one book in us. But the business of publishing and the process of creating and selling a book can be forbidding. In New York City, America's publishing capital, things have gotten so hectic that some agents are seeing several editors over the course of one lunch.

154. The Lord's Prayer appears twice in the Bible, in Matthew VI and Luke XI.

155. The Luxor Hotel (shaped like an Egyptian Pyramid) is 36 stories tall, required more than 150,000 cubic yards of concrete, six thousand construction workers and 18 months to build. It takes a specially designed window washing device 64 hours to clean the sides of the pyramid, which is covered by 13 acres of glass. The Luxor atrium is the world's largest and could comfortably hold nine Boeing 747 airplanes.

156. To prevent some numbers from occurring more frequently than others, dice used in crap games in Las Vegas are manufactured to a tolerance of 0.0002 inches, less than 1/17 the thickness of a human hair.

157. A 41-gun salute is the traditional salute to a royal birth in Great Britain.

158. At the height of the teddy bear's huge popularity in the early 1900s, there is record of one Michigan priest who publicly denounced the teddy as an insidious weapon. He claimed that the stuffed toy would lead to the destruction of the instincts of motherhood and eventual racial suicide.

159. Beatrix Potter created the first of her legendary "Peter Rabbit" children's stories in 1902.

160. The Sarah Winchester house, in San Jose, CA, is a truly bizarre piece of architecture. Mrs. Winchester, after losing first a daughter and then her husband to disease, consulted a medium to find the reason for her terrible luck. The medium advised her that there was a curse on her family, brought about by her husband's manufacturing of rifles when he was alive. To escape the curse, the medium advised, she should move West and build, and perhaps would live forever. Mrs. Winchester did just that, using the fortune she had inherited to buy a house and just keep building—adding on room after room for 36 years. Each room had 13 windows (the number was considered spiritual rather than unlucky) and many of the windows contained precious jewels. Other odd features of the house—intended to confuse evil spirits—included a staircase that went straight to a ceiling, doors that open onto two-story drops, a room with a glass floor, and a room without windows that - once entered - a person cannot leave without a key. The house contains 160 rooms, 2000 doors, and 10,000 windows, some of which open onto blank walls. There are also secret passageways.

161. If an object has no molecules, the concept of temperature is meaningless. That's why it's technically incorrect to speak of the "cold of outer space" - space has no temperature, and is known as a "temperature sink," meaning it drains heat out of things.

162. The gesture of a nose tap, in Britain, means secrecy or confidentiality. In Italy, a tap to the nose signifies a friendly warning.

163. In 1981 a guy had a heart attack after playing the game BERSERK - video gaming's only known fatality.

164. Mario, of Super Mario Bros. fame, appeared in the 1981 arcade game, Donkey Kong. His original name was Jumpman, but was changed to Mario to honor the Nintendo of America's landlord, Mario Segali.

165. Alcoholics are twice as likely to confess a drinking problem to a computer than to a doctor, say researchers in Wisconsin.

166. In the game Monopoly, the most money you can lose in one travel around the board (normal game rules, going to jail only once) is $26,040. The most money you can lose in one turn is $5070.

167. The Grand Coulee Dam in the state of Washington in the U.S., completed in 1942, was hailed in its time as a structure more massive than the Great Pyramid of Cheops.

168. The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

169. A 17th-century Swedish philologist claimed that in the Garden of Eden God spoke Swedish, Adam spoke Danish, and the serpent spoke French.

170. The Metro subway of Washington, DC, has several really deep stations. Its Forrest Glen station - in the Maryland suburbs - is 196 feet deep and has the longest subway escalator in the Western Hemisphere. But MOST of the subway stations in Leningrad are deeper than that.

171. Out of all of the postage stamps in the United States with people's faces on them, there is not one that has the picture of someone alive.

172. "Fine turkey" and "honeycomb" are terms used for different qualities and textures of sponges.

173. In order to sell his sets of Shakespeare door-to-door, David McConnell offered free perfume to his customers. He realized the perfume was more popular and began selling cosmetics door-to-door. This began the company that grew into Avon.

174. Some china is called "bone" china because some powdered animal bone is mixed in with the clay used to make this china: it gives the china a special kind of strength, whiteness, and translucency.

175. Russians are buying skateboards from the U.S. - but not for recreational purposes. They see them as an answer to some of the country's transportation needs, because the boards are less expensive than bicycles and require little storage space. The first boards went to school instructors so they could train pupils how to ride them.

176. The "black box" that houses an airplane's voice recorder is orange so it can be more easily detected amid the debris of a plane crash.

177. The Colgate Company started out making starch, soap, and candles.

178. In 1881, Procter & Gamble's Harley Procter decided that adding the word pure to his Ivory soap would give its sales a necessary shot in the arm. Analysis proved that Ivory was almost 100% pure fatty acids and alkali, the stuff that most soap is made of. Ivory's impurities were limited to 0.56%—0.11% uncombined alkali, 0.28% carbonates, and 0.17% mineral matter. Harley marked his soap 99 and 44/100% pure, deciding that using the exact number sounded more credible than rounding up to 100%.

179. Since most people are right-handed, the holes on men's clothes have buttons on the right - to make it easier for men to push them through the holes. Well, that's easy, but aren't women mostly right-handed too? Women's buttons are on the OPPOSITE side so their maids can dress them. When buttons were first used, they were expensive and only wealthy women had them. Since a maid faces the woman she is dressing, having the buttons on the left of the dress places them on the maid's right.

180. Each of the suits on a deck of cards represents the four major pillars of the economy in the middle ages: heart represented the Church, spades represented the military, clubs represented agriculture, and diamonds represented the merchant class.

181. The 3rd year of marriage is called the leather anniversary.

182. World Tourist day is observed on September 27.

183. Street Boulevard in Joplin, Missouri was named for Gabby Street, the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals in the early 1930's.

184. Liberace Museum has a mirror-plated Rolls Royce; jewel-encrusted capes, and the largest rhinestone in the world, weighing 59 pounds and almost a foot in diameter.

185. Mary Stuart became Queen of Scotland when she was only six days old.

186. Every queen named Jane has either been murdered, imprisoned, gone mad, died young, or been dethroned.

187. Four of the first six presidents of the U.S. were 57 years old when they were inaugurated. No other presidents have been inaugurated at that age.

188. Shampoo was first marketed in the USA in 1930 by John Breck, who was the captain of a volunteer fire department.

189. Vellum, a fine-quality writing parchment, is prepared from animal skin: lambs, kids, and very young calves. Coarser, tougher types are made from the skins of male goats, wolves, and older calves. Vellum replaced papyrus and was superseded by paper.

190. Catherine de Medici was the first woman in Europe to use tobacco. She took it in a mixture of snuff.

191. Historians claim that the first valentine was a poem sent in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London at the time. In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine's cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800's and now the date is very commercialized. The town of Loveland, Colorado, does a large post office business around February 14.

192. In 1969 the Navy spent $375,000 on an "aerodynamic analysis of the self-suspended flare." The study's conclusion was that the Frisbee was not feasible as military hardware.

193. In 1970, "MCI" stood for "Microwave Communications, Inc." No longer used as an acronym, it now stands alone.

194. The orange things that crossing guards, construction and high way workers, etc. wear is called a retroreflective vest, or "International Orange".

195. Roger Wrenn was the photographer who took the famous picture of General Douglas MacArthur wading ashore in the Philippines in October 1944.

196. If a person counted at the rate of 100 numbers a minute and kept counting for eight hours a day, five days a week, it would take a little over 4 weeks to count to one million and just over 80 years to reach a billion.

197. February is Black History Month.

198. WHAT CAN TELL ABOUT AN INTERSTATE HIGHWAY FROM ITS NUMBER? If it's an odd-number, it's a north-south route. Even-numbered Interstates run east-west. A three-digit number beginning with an even-number is a beltway while a three-digit number beginning with an odd-number is a bypass or spur.

199. Some people think that the stage musical Les Miserables runs a bit long, but it's a mere flash in time compared with one of the sentences in the novel on which it is based. Supposedly to make it easy to read, that 3-page, 823-word sentence is divided by 93 commas, 51 semicolons and 4 dashes.

200. By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand.

201. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

202. The numbers '172' can be found on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

203. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan, there was never a recorded Wendy before.

204. Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.

205. "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S relativity." -Albert Einstein (That one's for who the page is dedicated to...)

206. It would take 11 Empire State Buildings, stacked one on top of the other, to measure the Gulf of Mexico at its deepest point.

207. Nearly a quarter of all U.S. pet owners bring their pet on the job. Last June, 200 American companies participated in the first ever "Take Your Dog to Work Day".

208. Nobody knows who built the Taj Mahal. The names of the architects, masons, and designers that have come down to us have all proved to be latter-day inventions, and there is no evidence to indicate who the real creators were.

209. The Las Vegas MGM Grand's 170,000-square-foot casino is larger than the playing field at Yankee Stadium. It contains more than 3,000 gaming machines.

210. Buckingham Palace consists of 600 rooms.

211. Roman statues were made with detachable heads, so that one head could be removed and replaced by another.

212. Salt helped build the Erie Canal. A tax of 12 1/2 percent on New York State salt, plus tolls charged for salt shipments, paid for nearly half of the $7 million construction cost.

213. Superman dates back to June 1938, when he appeared in Action Comics No. 1. Batman arrived on the scene one year later in Detective Comics No. 27, appearing May 1939.

214. There is a house in Rockport, Massachusetts, built entirely of newspaper. The Paper House at Pigeon Cove, as it is called, is made of 215 thicknesses of newspaper. According to a 1995 survey, 7 out of 10 British dogs get Christmas gifts from their doting owners.

215. The first drive-in service station in the United States was opened by Gulf Oil Company - on December 1, 1913, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

216. The Pentagon building in Arlington, Virginia, has nearly 68,000 miles of telephone lines.

217. The Cairo Opera House was destroyed by fire in 1970. The Cairo fire station was located inside the same building.

218. The Pentagon is twice the size of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, and has three times the floor space of the Empire State Building in New York. It is one of the world's largest office buildings.

219. The Curly Redwood Lodge is one of northern California’s most unique lodges. It was built from one curly redwood tree that produced 57,000 board feet of lumber. The tree - cut down in 1952 - was 18 feet 2 inches at the trunk. Curly redwood is unique because of the curly grain of the wood, unlike typical straight grained redwood.

220. At age ninety, Peter Mustafic of Botovo, Yugoslavia, suddenly began speaking again after a silence of 40 years. The Yugoslavian news agency quoted him as saying, "I just didn't want to do military service, so I stopped speaking in 1920; then I got used to it."

221. A "hairbreadth away" is 1/48 of an inch.

222. Ever wonder where the term "Work Smarter...Not Harder" originated? Allan F. Mogensen, the creator of Work Simplification, coined the phrase in the 1930s. The 1990s equivalent term is probably Business Process Reengineering.

223. On dry, windy days, pollen can travel up to 500 miles.

224. Built in only 16 months between 1941 and 1942, the Pentagon is only 71ft tall, yet it has 5 floors, 17.5 miles of corridors, 150 stairways, 280 restrooms, 685 drinking fountains, 7,748 windows and workers replace more than 250 lightbulbs each day.

225. Because of its size, the Pentagon operates much like a small city; it has it's own shopping mall, bank, power plant, water and sewage facilities, fire station, police force, fast food restaurants and a "mayor".

226. At its peak in 1943, the Pentagon had a working population of about 33,000. Today about 23,000 employees work in the building.

227. The Procrastinators Club of America sends news to its members under the masthead "Last Month's Newsletter."

228. The National Lighter Museum in Guthrie, Oklahoma has nearly 20,000 pieces, representing over 85,000 years of lighters and fire starters. The only museum of its kind in the world, it is dedicated to collecting and preserving the history of the evolution of lighters.

229. Shakespeare's volume, Sonnets, contains 154 sonnets. Sonnets 1-126 are addressed to a male friend and sonnets 127-152 are addressed to a mysterious woman. Sonnets 153 and 154 fit in neither category.

230. The U.S standard railroad gauge (distance between rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches.

231. The U.S. Library of Congress has compiled a 232-source bibliography on the subject of when, properly speaking, centuries roll over. Almost all of the sources agree that the twentieth century does not end until December 31, 2000.

232. There are 6,272,640 square inches in an acre.

233. There are 63,360 inches in a mile.

234. There are more than 200 different types of Barbie Dolls.

235. A man irate about his income tax paid Uncle Sam with a plaster of Paris check that weighed several pounds. He wasn't all that bright, because once the government cashed the check, it was returned to him and he had to keep it for five years for his records.

236. Two objects have struck the earth with enough force to destroy a whole city. Each object, one in 1908 and again in 1947, struck regions of Siberia. Not one human being was hurt either time.

237. Hallmark makes cards for 105 different relationships.

238. If the Earth was smooth, the ocean would cover the entire surface to a depth of 12,000 feet.

239. Little known, and even less appreciated, the United States actually has a mothers-in-law day.

240. Young priests of the island of Leukas, Greece, to qualify for service at the temple of Apollo, were required in ancient Greece to don the wings of an eagle and plunge from Cape Dukato into the sea, a dive of 230 feet. It was assumed that the gods would eliminate those unfit, but no diver was ever injured, although the ordeal was performed for centuries.

241. The blueprints for the Eiffel Tower covered more than 14,000 square feet of drafting paper.

242. Elwood Edwards' voice is heard more than 27 million times a day (which comes to more than 18,000 times per minute). Edwards is the man behind those special 3 words (not "I love you") "You've got mail!". Back in 1989, Edwards' wife, Karen, was working in customer service for a little-known outfit in Vienna, Virginia called Quantum Computer Services. Quantum had an online service called Q-Link. Karen overheard the company's CEO, a young guy by the name of Steve Case, describe how he wanted to add a voice to its user interface. Her advice: "I said, 'Hey, you ought to try Elwood.'" Her husband had spent his entire career in local radio and TV. Edwards agreed to record four simple phrases on a run-of-the-mill cassette player: "Welcome!"; "File's done"; "Goodbye"; and, of course, "You've got mail!". Quantum changed its name to AOL and Edwards's voice debuted on AOL 1.0 in October 1989.

243. When the Titanic sank in 1912, hundreds of passengers were saved only because a Marconi wireless operator, David Sarnoff, reportedly picked up the ship's radio distress messages and alerted ships in the area. Sarnoff went on to become president of the first radio network, the National Broadcasting Company.

244. Pudden'head Wilson, the title character in Twain's novel about switched babies, is regarded by the townspeople as a fool because of his hobby of collecting finger impressions on glass. His strange pasttime, however, leads to his identification of a murderer and his revelation of an incident where two babies, one the son of a slave and one the son of a slaveholder, were switched.

245. It would take more than 150 years to drive a car to the sun.

246. In the 40's, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it 'Bitch.'

247. Snoopy stood on two legs for the first time in a 1958 strip.

248. Snoopy and Charlie Brown appeared together on the March 17th, 1967 cover of Life Magazine. The Apollo X astronauts took the duo into space in 1969.

249. Charlie Brown hits a game-winning home run on March 30, his first in 43 years. Unfortunately - he NEVER got to kick the football.

250. Charles Schulz was born November 26, 1922, to Carl and Dena Schulz of St. Paul, Minnesota. Within a week, however, Charles became known as "Sparky," christened by an uncle with a soft spot for Barney Google's horse "Sparkplug." Schulz never lost his nickname, proof of a life devoted to comics. Schulz died Saturday February 12th, 2000 - shortly after completing work on what was scheduled to be the last Sunday PEANUTS strip.

251. Ghosts appear in 4 Shakespearian plays; Julius Caesar, Richard III, Hamlet and Macbeth.

252. If you took a standard slinky and stretched it out it would measure 87 feet.

253. Rebecca Elizabeth Marier was the first woman to graduate "top of the class" at West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. The rankings are based on academic, military, and physical accomplishments.

254. Jean Marie Butler was the first woman graduate from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1980. She also was the first woman to graduate from any U.S. service academy.

255. Huckleberry Finn's remedy for warts was swinging a dead cat in a graveyard at midnight.

256. Three teaspoons make up one tablespoon.

257. Daisy is the name of Dagwood Bumstead's dog.

258. Dr. Jekyll's first name is Henry.

259. Camera shutter speed "B" stands for bulb.

260. The color black moves first in checkers.

261. Mario Puzo wrote "The Godfather."

262. The first American in space was Alan B. Shepard Jr.

263. IBM's motto is "Think."

264. Mr. Boddy is the murder victim in the game "Clue."

265. There are 225 spaces on a Scrabble board.

266. Aladdin's nationality was Chinese.

267. Sherlock Holmes archenemy was Professor Moriarty.

268. Superman's boyhood home was Smallville, Kansas.

Facts above may not be important, but they are very interesting, aren't they?

[edit] Fears

13, number- Triskadekaphobia.

666, number- Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia

8, number- Octophobia.

[edit] A

Abuse: sexual- Contreltophobia. Accidents- Dystychiphobia. Air- Anemophobia. Air swallowing- Aerophobia. Airborne noxious substances- Aerophobia. Airsickness- Aeronausiphobia. Alcohol- Methyphobia or Potophobia. Alone, being- Autophobia or Monophobia. Alone, being or solitude- Isolophobia. Amnesia- Amnesiphobia. Anger- Angrophobia or Cholerophobia. Angina- Anginophobia. Animals- Zoophobia. Animals, skins of or fur- Doraphobia. Animals, wild- Agrizoophobia. Ants- Myrmecophobia. Anything new- Neophobia. Asymmetrical things- Asymmetriphobia Atomic Explosions- Atomosophobia. Automobile, being in a moving- Ochophobia. Automobiles- Motorphobia.

[edit] B

Bacteria- Bacteriophobia. Bald people- Peladophobia. Bald, becoming- Phalacrophobia. Bathing- Ablutophobia. Beards- Pogonophobia. Beaten by a rod or instrument of punishment, or of being severely criticized- Rhabdophobia. Beautiful women- Caligynephobia. Beds or going to bed- Clinophobia. Bees- Apiphobia or Melissophobia. Bicycles- Cyclophobia. Birds- Ornithophobia. Black- Melanophobia. Blindness in a visual field- Scotomaphobia. Blood- Hemophobia, Hemaphobia or Hematophobia. Blushing or the color red- Erythrophobia, Erytophobia or Ereuthophobia. Body odors- Osmophobia or Osphresiophobia. Body, things to the left side of the body- Levophobia. Body, things to the right side of the body- Dextrophobia. Bogeyman or bogies- Bogyphobia. Bolsheviks- Bolshephobia. Books- Bibliophobia. Bound or tied up- Merinthophobia. Bowel movements: painful- Defecaloesiophobia. Brain disease- Meningitophobia. Bridges or of crossing them- Gephyrophobia. Buildings: being close to high buildings- Batophobia. Bullets- Ballistophobia. Bulls- Taurophobia. Bums or beggars- Hobophobia. Burglars, or being harmed by wicked persons- Scelerophobia. Buried alive, being or cemeteries- Taphephobia or Taphophobia.

C-

Cancer- Cancerophobia, Carcinophobia. Car or vehicle, riding in- Amaxophobia. Cats- Aclurophobia, Ailurophobia, Elurophobia, Felinophobia, Galeophobia, or Gatophobia. Celestial spaces- Astrophobia. Cemeteries- Coimetrophobia. Cemeteries or being buried alive- Taphephobia or Taphophobia. Ceremonies, religious- Teleophobia. Changes, making; moving- Tropophobia or Metathesiophobia. Chickens- Alektorophobia. Child, bearing a deformed; deformed people- Teratophobia. Childbirth- Maleusiophobia, Tocophobia, Parturiphobia, or Lockiophobia. Children- Pedophobia. Chinese or Chinese culture- Sinophobia. Chins- Geniophobia. Choking or being smothered- Pnigophobia or Pnigerophobia. Choking- Anginophobia. Cholera- Cholerophobia. Chopsticks- Consecotaleophobia. Church- Ecclesiophobia. Clocks- Chronomentrophobia. Clocks or time- Chronophobia. Clothing- Vestiphobia. Clouds- Nephophobia. Clowns- Coulrophobia. Coitus- Coitophobia. Cold or cold things- Frigophobia. Cold: extreme, ice or frost- Cryophobia. Cold- Cheimaphobia, Cheimatophobia, Psychrophobia or Psychropophobia. Color purple- Porphyrophobia. Color red or blushing- Erythrophobia, Erytophobia or Ereuthophobia. Color yellow- Xanthophobia. Color white- Leukophobia. Colors- Chromophobia or Chromatophobia. Comets- Cometophobia. Computers or working on computers- Cyberphobia. Confined spaces- Claustrophobia. Constipation- Coprastasophobia. Contamination, dirt or infection- Molysmophobia or Molysomophobia. Contamination with dirt or germs- Misophobia or Mysophobia. Cooking- Mageirocophobia. Corpses- Necrophobia. Cosmic Phenomenon- Kosmikophobia. Creepy, crawly things- Herpetophobia. Criticized severely, or beaten by rod or instrument of punishment- Rhabdophobia. Criticism- Enissophobia. Crosses or the crucifix- Staurophobia. Crossing streets- Agyrophobia or Dromophobia. Crowded public places like markets- Agoraphobia. Crowds or mobs- Enochlophobia, Demophobia or Ochlophobia. Crucifix, the or crosses- Staurophobia. Crystals or glass- Crystallophobia.

D-

Dampness, moisture or liquids- Hygrophobia. Dancing- Chorophobia. Dark or night- Nyctophobia. Dark place, being in- Lygophobia. Darkness- Achluophobia or Myctophobia, or Scotophobia. Dawn or daylight- Eosophobia. Daylight or sunshine- Phengophobia. Death or dying- Thanatophobia. Death or dead things- Necrophobia. Decaying matter- Seplophobia. Decisions: making decisions- Decidophobia. Defeat- Kakorrhaphiophobia. Deformed people or bearing a deformed child- Teratophobia. Deformity or unattractive body image- Dysmorphophobia. Demons- Demonophobia or Daemonophobia. Dental surgery- Odontophobia. Dentists- Dentophobia. Dependence on others- Soteriophobia. Depth- Bathophobia. Diabetes- Diabetophobia. Dining or dinner conversations- Deipnophobia. Dirt, contamination or infection- Molysmophobia or Molysomophobia. Dirt or germs, being contaminated with- Misophobia or mysophobia. Dirt or filth- Rhypophobia or Rupophobia. Dirty, being dirty or personal filth- Automysophobia. Disease- Nosophobia, Nosemaphobia or Pathophobia. Disease and suffering- Panthophobia. Disease, a definite- Monopathophobia. Disease, brain- Meningitophobia. Disease: kidney- Albuminurophobia. Disease, rectal- Rectophobia. Disorder or untidiness- Ataxophobia. Dizziness or vertigo when looking down- Illyngophobia. Dizziness or whirlpools- Dinophobia. Doctor, going to the- Iatrophobia. Doctrine, challenges to or radical deviation from official- Heresyphobia or Hereiophobia. Dogs or rabies- Cynophobia. Dolls- Pediophobia. Double vision- Diplophobia. Drafts- Aerophobia or Anemophobia. Dreams, wet- Oneirogmophobia. Dreams- Oneirophobia. Drinking- Dipsophobia. Drugs, new- Neopharmaphobia. Drugs or taking medicine- Pharmacophobia. Dryness- Xerophobia. Dust- Amathophobia or Koniophobia. Dust- Amathophobia. Duty or responsibility, neglecting- Paralipophobia. Dying or death- Thanatophobia.

E-

Eating or swallowing- Phagophobia. Eating or food- Sitophobia or Sitiophobia. Eating or swallowing or of being eaten- Phagophobia. Eight, the number- Octophobia. Electricity- Electrophobia. Englishness- Anglophobia. Erect penis- Medorthophobia. Erection, losing an- Medomalacuphobia. Everything- Panophobia, Panphobia, Pamphobia, or Pantophobia. Eyes- Ommetaphobia or Ommatophobia. Eyes, opening one's- Optophobia..

F-

Fabrics, certain- Textophobia. Failure- Atychiphobia or Kakorrhaphiophobia. Fainting- Asthenophobia. Fatigue- Kopophobia. Fearful situations: being preferred by a phobic- Counterphobia. Feathers or being tickled by feathers- Pteronophobia. Fecal matter, feces- Coprophobia or Scatophobia. Female genitals- Kolpophobia. Female genitalia- Eurotophobia. Fever- Febriphobia, Fibriphobia, Fidriophobia or Pyrexiophobia. Filth or dirt- Rhypophobia. Fire- Arsonphobia or Pyrophobia. Firearms- Hoplophobia. Fish- Ichthyophobia. Flashes- Selaphobia. Flogging or punishment- Mastigophobia. Floods- Antlophobia. Flowers- Anthrophobia or Anthophobia. Flutes- Aulophobia. Flying- Aviophobia or Aviatophobia or Pteromerhanophobia. Fog- Homichlophobia or Nebulaphobia. Food or eating- Sitophobia or Sitiophobia. Food- Cibophobia. Foreigners or strangers- Xenophobia. Foreign languages- Xenoglossophobia. Forests or wooden objects- Xylophobia. Forests- Hylophobia. Forests, dark wooded area, of at night- Nyctohylophobia Forgetting or being forgotten- Athazagoraphobia. France or French culture- Francophobia, Gallophobia or Galiphobia. Freedom- Eleutherophobia. Friday the 13th- Paraskavedekatriaphobia. Frogs- Batrachophobia. Frost, ice or extreme cold- Cryophobia. Frost or ice- Pagophobia. Functioning or work: surgeon's fear of operating- Ergasiophobia. Fur or skins of animals- Doraphobia.

G-

Gaiety- Cherophobia. Garlic- Alliumphobia. Genitals, particularly female- Kolpophobia. Genitalia, female- Eurotophobia. Germans or German culture- Germanophobia or Teutophobia. Germs or dirt, being contaminated with- Misophobia or mysophobia. Germs- Verminophobia. Ghosts or specters- Spectrophobia. Ghosts- Phasmophobia. Girls, young or virgins- Parthenophobia. Glass or crystals- Crystallophobia. Glass- Hyelophobia, Hyalophobia or Nelophobia. Gloomy place, being in- Lygophobia. God or gods- Zeusophobia. Gods or religion- Theophobia. Gold- Aurophobia. Good news, hearing good news- Euphobia. Gravity- Barophobia. Greek or Greek culture- Hellophobia. Greek terms- Hellenologophobia.

H-

Hair- Chaetophobia, Trichopathophobia, Trichophobia, or Hypertrichophobia. Halloween- Samhainophobia. Hands- Chirophobia. Handwriting- Graphophobia. Harmed by wicked persons; bad men or burglars- Scelerophobia. Heart- Cardiophobia. Heat- Thermophobia. Heaven- Ouranophobia or Uranophobia. Heights- Acrophobia, Altophobia, Batophobia, Hypsiphobia or Hyposophobia. Hell- Hadephobia, Stygiophobia or Stigiophobia. Heredity- Patroiophobia. Holy things- Hagiophobia. Home- Ecophobia. Home surroundings or a house- Oikophobia. Home, returning- Nostophobia. Home surroundings- Eicophobia. Homosexuality or of becoming homosexual- Homophobia. Horses- Equinophobia or Hippophobia. Hospitals- Nosocomephobia. House or home surroundings- Oikophobia. Houses or being in a house- Domatophobia. Hurricanes and tornadoes- Lilapsophobia. Hypnotized, being or of sleep- Hypnophobia.

I-

Ice or frost- Pagophobia. Ice, frost or extreme cold- Cryophobia. Ideas- Ideophobia. Ignored, being- Athazagoraphobia. Imperfection- Atelophobia. Inability to stand- Basiphobia or Basophobia. Infection, contamination or dirt- Molysmophobia or Molysomophobia. Infinity- Apeirophobia. Injections- Trypanophobia. Injury- Traumatophobia. Insanity, dealing with- Lyssophobia. Insanity- Dementophobia or Maniaphobia. Insects- Acarophobia or Entomophobia or Insectophobia. Insects that eat wood- Isopterophobia. Insects that cause itching- Acarophobia. Itching- Acarophobia.

J-

Japanese or Japanese culture- Japanophobia. Jealousy- Zelophobia. Jews- Judeophobia. Joint immobility- Ankylophobia. Jumping from high and low places- Catapedaphobia. Justice- Dikephobia.

K-

Kidney disease- Albuminurophobia. Kissing- Philemaphobia or Philematophobia. Knees- Genuphobia. Knowledge- Gnosiophobia or Epistemophobia.

L-

Lakes- Limnophobia. Large things- Megalophobia. Laughter- Geliophobia. Lawsuits- Liticaphobia. Learning- Sophophobia. Left-handed; objects at the left side of the body- Sinistrophobia. Leprosy- Leprophobia or Lepraphobia. Lice- Pediculophobia or Phthiriophobia. Light- Photophobia. Light flashes- Selaphobia. Lightning and thunder- Brontophobia or Karaunophobia. Lights, glaring- Photoaugliaphobia. Liquids, dampness or moisture- Hygrophobia. Locked in an enclosed place- Cleithrophobia, Cleisiophobia, or Clithrophobia. Lockjaw or tetanus- Tetanophobia. Loneliness or of being oneself- Eremophobia or Eremiphobia. Looking up- Anablephobia or Anablepophobia. Loud noises- Ligyrophobia. Love, sexual love- Erotophobia. Love play- Malaxophobia or Sarmassophobia. Love, falling or being in- Philophobia.

M- Machines- Mechanophobia. Mad, becoming- Lyssophobia. Many things- Polyphobia. Marriage- Gamophobia. Materialism- Hylephobia. Matter, decaying- Seplophobia. Meat- Carnophobia. Medicine, taking; or drugs- Pharmacophobia. Medicines, mercurial- Hydrargyophobia. Medicine, prescribing by a doctor- Opiophobia. Memories- Mnemophobia. Men, bad or burglars or being harmed by wicked persons- Scelerophobia. Men- Androphobia or Arrhenphobia or Hominophobia. Menstruation- Menophobia. Mercurial medicines- Hydrargyophobia. Metal- Metallophobia. Meteors- Meteorophobia. Mice- Musophobia, Murophobia or Suriphobia. Microbes- Bacillophobia or Microbiophobia. Mind- Psychophobia. Mirrors or seeing oneself in a mirror- Eisoptrophobia. Mirrors- Catoptrophobia. Missiles- Ballistophobia. Mobs or crowds- Demophobia, Enochlophobia or Ochlophobia. Moisture, dampness or liquids- Hygrophobia. Money- Chrometophobia or Chrematophobia. Moon- Selenophobia. Mother-in-law- Pentheraphobia. Moths- Mottephobia. Motion or movement- Kinetophobia or Kinesophobia. Moving or making changes- Tropophobia. Moving automobile or vehicle, being in- Ochophobia. Muscular incoordination (Ataxia)- Ataxiophobia. Mushrooms- Mycophobia. Music- Melophobia. Myths or stories or false statements- Mythophobia.

N-

Names or hearing a certain name- Onomatophobia. Names- Nomatophobia. Narrow things or places- Stenophobia. Narrowness- Anginophobia. Needles- Aichmophobia or Belonephobia. New, anything or novel- Kainophobia, Kainolophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, or Neophobia. Newness- Cainophobia, Cenophobia, Centophobia, or Cainotophobia. News: hearing good news- Euphobia. Night or dark- Nyctophobia. Night- Noctiphobia. Noise- Acousticophobia. Noises, loud- Ligyrophobia. Noises or voices, speaking aloud, or telephones- Phonophobia. Northern lights- Auroraphobia. Nosebleeds- Epistaxiophobia. Novelty or anything new- Kainophobia or Kainolophobia. Novelty- Cainophobia or Cainotophobia. Nuclear weapons- Nucleomituphobia. Nudity- Gymnophobia or Nudophobia. Number 8- Octophobia. Number 13- Triskadekaphobia. Numbers- Arithmophobia or Numerophobia.

O-

Objects, small- Tapinophobia. Ocean or sea- Thalassophobia. Odor, personal- Bromidrosiphobia, Bromidrophobia, Osmophobia or Osphresiophobia. Odor, that one has a vile odor- Autodysomophobia. Odors or smells- Olfactophobia. Official doctrine, challenges to or radical deviation from- Heresyphobia or Hereiophobia. Old people- Gerontophobia. Old, growing- Gerascophobia or Gerontophobia. Open spaces- Agoraphobia. Open high places- Aeroacrophobia. Operation, surgical- Tomophobia. Opinions- Allodoxaphobia. Opinions, expressing- Doxophobia. Others, dependence on- Soteriophobia. Otters- Lutraphobia. Outer space- Spacephobia.

P-

Pain- Algiophobia, Ponophobia, Odynophobia or Odynephobia. Paper- Papyrophobia. Parasites- Parasitophobia. Parents-in-law- Soceraphobia. Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth- Arachibutyrophobia. Pellagra- Pellagrophobia. Penis, erect- Medorthophobia. Penis, esp erect- Phallophobia. Penis, erect: seeing, thinking about or having- Ithyphallophobia. Penis, losing an erection- Medomalacuphobia. People- Anthropophobia. People in general or society- Sociophobia. People, deformed or bearing a deformed child- Teratophobia. Philosophy- Philsosphobia. Phobias- Phobophobia. Phobic prefering fearful situations- Counterphobia. Pins and needles- Belonephobia. Pins- Enetophobia. Place: locked in an enclosed place- Cleithrophobia, Cleisiophobia, or Clithrophobia. Place, being in a dark or gloomy- Lygophobia. Places, certain- Topophobia. Places, crowded public- Agoraphobia. Places, open high- Aeroacrophobia. Places or things, narrow- Stenophobia. Plants- Botanophobia. Pleasure, feeling- Hedonophobia. Poetry- Metrophobia. Pointed objects- Aichmophobia. Poison- Iophobia. Poisoned, being- Toxiphobia, Toxophobia, or Toxicophobia. Poliomyelitis, contracting- Poliosophobia. Politicians- Politicophobia. Pope- Papaphobia. Poverty- Peniaphobia. Praise, receiving- doxophobia. Precipices- Cremnophobia. Prescribing medicine for patients by a doctor- Opiophobia. Priests or sacred things- Hierophobia. Progress- Prosophobia. Property- Orthophobia. Prostitutes or venereal disease- Cypridophobia, Cypriphobia, Cyprianophobia, or Cyprinophobia. Punishment or flogging- Mastigophobia. Punishment by a rod or other instrument, or of being severely criticized- Rhabdophobia. Punishment- Poinephobia. Puppets- Pupaphobia. Purple, color- Porphyrophobia.

Q-

R-

Rabies- Cynophobia, Hydrophobophobia, Hydrophobia, Kynophobia, or Lyssophobia. Radiation or x-rays- Radiophobia. Railroads or train travel- Siderodromophobia. Rain- Ombrophobia or Pluviophobia. Rape- Virginitiphobia. Razors- Xyrophobia. Rat, great mole- Zemmiphobia. Rectum or rectal diseases- Proctophobia or Rectophobia. Red color or blushing- Erythrophobia, Erytophobia or Ereuthophobia. Relatives- Syngenesophobia. Religion or gods- Theophobia. Religious ceremonies- Teleophobia. Reptiles- Herpetophobia. Responsibility or duty, neglecting- Paralipophobia. Responsibility- Hypengyophobia or Hypegiaphobia. Ridiculed, being- Catagelophobia or Katagelophobia. Riding in a car- Amaxophobia. Right side, things on the right side of the body- Dextrophobia. Rivers- Potamphobia or Potamophobia. Road travel or travel- Hodophobia. Robbers or being robbed- Harpaxophobia. Rooms, empty- Cenophobia or Centophobia. Rooms- Koinoniphobia. Ruin- Atephobia. Running water- Potamophobia. Russians- Russophobia.

S-

Sacred things or priests- Hierophobia. Satan- Satanophobia. Scabies- Scabiophobia. School, going to school- Didaskaleinophobia. School- Scolionophobia. Scientific terminology, complex- Hellenologophobia. Scratches or being scratched- Amychophobia. Sea or ocean- Thalassophobia. Self, seeing oneself in a mirror- Eisoptrophobia. Self, personal odor- Bromidrosiphobia or Bromidrophobia. Self, being alone- Autophobia, Eremophobia, Eremiphobia or Isolophobia. Self, being dirty- Automysophobia. Self, being oneself- Autophobia. Self, being seen or looked at- Scopophobia or Scoptophobia. Self, being touched- Aphenphosmphobia. Self, that one has a vile odor- Autodysomophobia. Semen- Spermatophobia or Spermophobia. Sermons- Homilophobia. Sex- Genophobia. Sex, opposite- Heterophobia or Sexophobia. Sexual abuse- Agraphobia or Contreltophobia. Sexual intercourse- Coitophobia. Sexual love or sexual questions- Erotophobia. Sexual perversion- Paraphobia. Shadows- Sciophobia or Sciaphobia. Sharks- Selachophobia. Shellfish- Ostraconophobia. Shock- Hormephobia. Sin or of having committted an unpardonable sin- Enosiophobia or Enissophobia. Sin- Hamartophobia. Single: staying single- Anuptaphobia. Sinning- Peccatophobia. Sitting down- Kathisophobia. Sitting- Cathisophobia or Thaasophobia. Situations, certain- Topophobia. Skin disease- Dermatosiophobia. Skin lesions- Dermatophobia. Skin of animals, fur- Doraphobia. Sleep- Somniphobia. Sleep or being hypnotized- Hypnophobia. Slime- Blennophobia or Myxophobia. Slopes, steep- Bathmophobia. Small things- Microphobia, Mycrophobia. Smells or odors- Olfactophobia. Smothered, being or choking- Pnigophobia or Pnigerophobia. Snakes- Ophidiophobia or Snakephobia. Snow- Chionophobia. Social (fear of being evaluated negatively in social situations)- Social Phobia. Society or people in general- Anthropophobia or Sociophobia. Solitude- Monophobia. Sounds- Acousticophobia. Sourness- Acerophobia. Space, closed or locked in an enclosed space- Cleithrophobia, Cleisiophobia, Clithrophobia. Space, outer- Spacephobia. Spaces, confined- Claustrophobia. Spaces, empty- Cenophobia, Centophobia or Kenophobia. Spaces, open- Agoraphobia. Speak, trying to- Glossophobia. Speaking- Laliophobia or Lalophobia. Speaking aloud, voices or noises, or telephones- Phonophobia. Speaking in public- Glossophobia. Specters or ghosts- Spectrophobia. Speed- Tachophobia. Spiders- Arachnephobia or Arachnophobia. Spirits- Pneumatiphobia. Stage fright- Topophobia. Stairs or climbing stairs- Climacophobia. Stairways- Bathmophobia. Stand, inability to- Basiphobia or Basophobia. Standing upright- Basistasiphobia or Basostasophobia. Standing up- Stasiphobia. Standing up and walking- Stasibasiphobia. Stared at, being- Ophthalmophobia. Stars- Siderophobia or Astrophobia. Statements, false or myths or stories- Mythophobia. Staying single- Anuptaphobia. Stealing- Cleptophobia or Kleptophobia. Step-father- Vitricophobia. Steep slopes- Bathmophobia. Step-mother- Novercaphobia. Stings- Cnidophobia. Stooping- Kyphophobia. Stories or myths or false statements- Mythophobia. Strangers or foreigners- Xenophobia. Streets, crossing streets- Dromophobia. Streets- Agyrophobia. String- Linonophobia. Storm, thunder- Brontophobia. Stuttering- Psellismophobia. Suffering and disease- Panthophobia. Sun or sunlight- Heliophobia. Sunshine or daylight- Phengophobia. Surgeon's fear of operating: work or functioning- Ergasiophobia. Surgical operations- Tomophobia. Swallowing or eating- Phagophobia. Symbolism- Symbolophobia. Symmetry- Symmetrophobia. Syphillis (lues)- Luiphobia or Syphilophobia.

T-

Tapeworms- Taeniophobia. Taste- Geumaphobia or Geumophobia. Technology- Technophobia. Teenagers- Ephebiphobia. Teeth- Odontophobia. Telephones, noises or voices, or speaking aloud- Phonophobia. Telephones- Telephonophobia. Termites- Isopterophobia. Tests, taking- Testophobia. Tetanus or lockjaw- Tetanophobia. Theaters- Theatrophobia. Theology- Theologicophobia. Things, many- Polyphobia. Things, large- Megalophobia. Things or places, narrow- Stenophobia. Things, small- Microphobia or Mycrophobia. Thinking- Phronemophobia. Thunder- Ceraunophobia. Thunder and lightning- Astraphobia, Astrapophobia, Brontophobia or Keraunophobia. Tickled by feathers or feathers- Pteronophobia. Tied or bound up- Merinthophobia. Time or clocks- Chronophobia. Toads- Bufonophobia. Tombstones- Placophobia. Tornadoes and hurricanes- Lilapsophobia. Touched, being touched- Aphenphosmphobia, Haphephobia or Haptephobia or Chiraptophobia. Trains, railroads or train travel- Siderodromophobia. Travel or road travel- Hodophobia. Trees- Dendrophobia. Trembling- Ttremophobia. Trichinosis- Trichinophobia. Tuberculosis- Phthisiophobia or Tuberculophobia. Tyrants- Tyrannophobia.

U-

Ugliness- Cacophobia. Undressing in front of someone- Dishabillophobia. Urine or urinating- Urophobia.

V-

Vaccination- Vaccinophobia. Vegetables- Lachanophobia. Venereal disease or prostitutes- Cypridophobia, Cypriphobia, Cyprianophobia, or Cyprinophobia. Ventriloquist's dummy- Automatonophobia. Vertigo or dizziness when looking down- Illyngophobia. Virginity, losing one's- Primeisodophobia. Virgins or young girls- Parthenophobia. Vision: double vision- Diplophobia. Voices or noises, speaking aloud or telephones- Phonophobia. Voids or empty spaces- Kenophobia. Vomiting secondary to airsickness- Aeronausiphobia. Vomiting- Emetophobia.

W-

Waits, long- Macrophobia. Walking, standing up and- Stasibasiphobia. Walking- Ambulophobia, Basistasiphobia or Basostasophobia. Washing- Ablutophobia. Wasps- Spheksophobia. Water- Hydrophobia. Waves or wave like motions- Cymophobia or Kymophobia. Wax statues- Automatonophobia. Weakness- Asthenophobia. Wealth- Plutophobia. Weapons, nuclear- Nucleomituphobia. Weight, gaining- Obesophobia or Pocrescophobia. Wet dreams- Oneirogmophobia. Whirlpools or dizzyness- Dinophobia. White, the color- Leukophobia. Wild animals- Agrizoophobia. Wind- Ancraophobia or Anemophobia. Wine- Oenophobia. Witches and Witchcraft- Wiccaphobia. Women- Gynephobia or Gynophobia. Women, beautiful- Caligynephobia or Venstraphobia. Wooden objects or forests- Xylophobia. Words- Logophobia or Verbophobia. Words, long- Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia or Sesquipedalophobia. Work or functioning; surgeon's fear of operating- Ergasiophobia. Work- Ergophobia or Ponophobia. Worms- Scoleciphobia. Worms, being infested with- Helminthophobia. Wrinkles, getting- Rhytiphobia. Writing- Graphophobia. Writing in public- Scriptophobia.

X-

X-rays or radiation- Radiophobia.

Y-

Yellow color- Xanthophobia.

Z-

[edit] Songs To Sing On The Bus

In my experience, these songs will annoy the crap out of people on the bus, train, in the car, etc, etc, etc, etc... You get the point.

[edit] The Song That Never Ends

This song is, like, the most annoying song in the universe. People enjoy the effect it usually has on other people.

This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because— This is the song that doesn't end, Yes, it goes on and on, my friend Some people started singing it not knowing what it was, And they'll continue singing it forever just because—

And you just keep singing the same sentence over and over, oblivious to the people who tell you not to, until you get to your destination.

[edit] 99 Bottles

This is the most famous of the annoying bus songs, but The Song That Never Ends is, by far, the most annoying. There are many different versions of this song, and you choose the one depending on how obnoxious you want to be. The first one I will type is the least obnoxious, and the last one is the most obnoxious.

99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall. 98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 97 bottles of beer on the wall. 97 bottles of beer on the wall, 97 bottles of beer. Take one down, pass it around, 96 bottles of beer on the wall..............................

99 bottles of pop on the wall, 99 bottles of pop. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of pop on the wall. 98 bottles of pop on the wall, 98 bottles of pop. Take one down, pass it around, 97 bottles of pop on the wall. 97 bottles of pop on the wall, 97 bottles of pop. Take one down, pass it around, 96 bottles of pop on the wall..............................

And *obnoxious drumroll* the most obnoxious 99 Bottles...

99 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon on the wall, 99 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon. Take one down, pass it around, 98 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon on the wall. 98 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon on the wall, 98 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon. Take one down, pass it around, 97 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon on the wall. 97 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon on the wall, 97 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon. Take one down, pass it around, 96 bottles of Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper With Lemon on the wall..............................

See those periods at the end? You keep singing it, oblivious to all the people telling you to stop, until you get to zero, then you start singing The Song That Never Ends. *laughs evilly*