[collected 1997-10-1997]
Some pretty interesting facts!!
"I NEVER KNEW THAT!"
1. A mathematical wonder: 111,111,111 multiplied by 111,111,111
gives the result 12,345,678,987,654,321.
2. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs
in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in
the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the
horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
3.No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver,
and purple.
4. 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."
5. Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
6. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
7. Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July
4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on
August 2nd, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
8. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
9. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the
South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50
caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded
into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got
"the whole 9 yards."
10. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
11. The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
12. The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
13. The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
14. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
15. Until 1965, driving was done on the left-hand side on roads in
Sweden. The conversion to right-hand was done on a weekday at 5pm.
All traffic stopped as people switched sides. This time and day were
chosen to prevent accidents where drivers would have gotten up in the morning
and been too sleepy to realize that *this* was the day of the changeover.
16. The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during
World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
17. Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with rejoice."
18. In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never did say "Play it again, Sam."
19. Sherlock Holmes never did say "Elementary, my dear Watson."
20. More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
21. The term, "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye"
is from Ancient Rome. The only rule during wrestling matches was, "No
eye gouging." Everything else was allowed, but the only way to be
disqualified was to poke someone's eye out.
22. A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
23. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
24. Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that
makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
25. Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton.
26. Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
27. The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law
which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider
than our thumb.
28. An ostrich's eye is bigger that its brain.
29. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
DID YOU KNOW? (from 2003-08-05)
Butterflies taste with their feet.
A snail can sleep for three years.
It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the
back of the $5 bill.
Almonds are members of the peach family.
A dime has 118 ridges around its edge.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
never stop growing.
The average American spends an average of six years waiting for red lights.
If the population of China walked past you, in single file, the line
would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs have only about ten.
Babies are born without kneecaps, which don't appear until the child
reaches 2 to 6 years.
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament
building is an American flag.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube,
and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
Maine is the only state with a one-syllable name.
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