123 Questions & Answers

Do Peoples Bodies Change Because of Where They Live?

2008-07-12T09:12:00.001-07:00

In some cases, yes. The Indians of the Andes Mountains, on the west coast of South America, have developed bodies which are different from ours in order to survive where they live. At 17,000 feet above sea level, where these Indians live, we would find it very hard to breathe, but they do not.

The Indians' bodies have adapted in several ways. First, their lungs have grown bigger than ours, which means they can inhale and exhale more air with each breath. Then, too, they have about two quarts more blood in their systems than we do. They also have bigger red corpuscles to carry the oxygen. And their hearts are 20% bigger than ours.

The Indians also have shorter arms and legs to give the heart less distance to pump the blood, and smaller hands and feet, resulting in less of an area to be exposed to the cold.

What Decides If You Will Be a Boy or a Girl?

2008-07-12T09:11:00.002-07:00

There were two special chromosomes in you when you were just beginning life as a fertilized egg. These are called sex chromosomes. Scientist have named them the X chromosome and Y chromosome.

A woman's egg cell contains only an X chromosome, while a man's sperm cell Y contains either an X or a Y. If the woman's egg cell is fertilized by a sperm cell with an X chromosome, the fertilized egg will have two X's and the baby will be a girl. But if the sperm cell has a Y chromosome, creating both an X and a Y in the fertilized egg, then the egg will develop into a boy.

How Are You Like Your Parents?

2008-07-12T09:11:00.001-07:00

Every parent, human, animal, or plant, passes down certain characteristics to their children so that these offspring will resemble them, but not be exactly like them. This passing down of characteristics is called heredity.

When you began life as an egg produced by your mother and fertilized by your father, you came with a pre-packaged set of "directions" on how to grow and what to look like. These "directions" made you grow into a child rather than a dog or a plant, since each of those parents prepackage "directions" for their offspring as well.

All these "directions" are contained in 46 tiny body cells called chromosomes. Of these 46, 23 come from your father and 23 from your mother. These chromosomes carry tiny particles from each of your parents with all the characteristics you could inherit from them. These particles, called genes, are the detailed "directions" that decide not only what you will look like, your physical traits, but also what you will be able to learn your mental traits.

Among the physical traits you inherit from your parents are your general build, your skin color, your eye color and shape, your hair color and texture, straightness or curliness, plus the shape and size of your nose, ears, hands, and feet.

Among the mental traits you inherit are your ability to learn, plus talent in special fields such as art, music, mechanics, or science.

In addition, you inherit emotional traits, how you respond to certain situations or feelings, how easily you get upset or how calm you stay.

All these traits, however, are greatly influenced by your environment, the world you live in, what your parents and teachers teach you, and what you learn from your community.

There are, however, certain physcial traits that your parents may have now that you cannot inherit. For example, if your father has a scar that he got when he fell playing tennis, you would not inherit it. However, if he was born with a birthmark on his back, you might inherit that. If your mother had an operation to shorten or turn up her nose, you would inherit her old nose, not her new one. However, if she had freckles on that nose, you might inherit them.

The interesting things about your 23 pairs of chromosomes is that each pair of genes gives "directions" for only one particular trait. Your father may have given you a gene for blonde hair and your mother for brown hair. In many cases, one gene is more powerful than the other. This is called the dominant gene.

So if you have brown hair, that means that your mom's brown-haired gene was the dominant one, and your father's blonde-haired gene was the weaker, or recessive one. If your eyes are blue like your father's and not brown like your mother's, then you know that your father's gene for eye color was the dominant one and your mother's gene for brown eyes was recessive.

When Will You Stop Growing?

2008-07-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Girls reach their full height when they are about 18 years old, but boys keep growing taller for a few more years.

There are two periods in your life when you grow very rapidly. The first period began right after you were born and lasted until you were about six months old. The second period occurs when you reach your early teens. Girls grow faster than boys until they become teen-agers, then boys catch up and grow faster and stronger.

Your head stops growing earlier than the rest of you. When you were a newborn baby, you looked as if you were almost all head. By the time you were 10, your head was nearly full size.

The bones of your arms and legs were short when you were a baby. When you reached the age of 9, your bones started to grow rapidly and will keep growing until you reach your full height.

Besides growing taller, your body changes in other ways. When a boy is about 13 years old, his voice begins to get deeper and he may begin to grow a beard. About the age of 13, a girl's body begins to look and function like a woman's. Inside the bodies of both teen-age girls and boys, important changes are taking place, changes that make it possible for boys and girls, when they are older, to become fathers and mothers.

How Do You Grow?

2008-07-12T09:09:00.000-07:00

When you eat, your food is broken down and sent to the cells of your body. These cells take in the food and grow bigger. Then each cell divides and becomes two cells exactly like itself. Each cell divides again, making four cells, and so on. This cell division goes on day and night. As the number of cells in your body becomes greater, you grow bigger and bigger.

When you are about 20 years old, a change takes place. Your plan for growing up is completed. From then on, your body stops growing taller, but the foods you eat keep your body in good running order, and help repair any worn-out parts. After you reach your full height, you may get fatter or thinner, but you won't get any taller.

When Did You First Start To Grow?

2008-07-11T20:34:00.002-07:00

About nine months before you were born, you started to grow from just two cells. One cell, a sperm cell, came from your father. The other cell, an egg cell, came from your mother.

These two cells joined together inside your mother's body and formed a new cell called a fertilized egg. This cell was the very beginning of a whole human being, you.

When you were only a fertilized egg, you were about the size of the head of a pin!

Why Is Your Body Warm?

2008-07-11T20:34:00.001-07:00

When you feel hot or cold, you are actually feeling the temperature of your blood. Since you are considered a warm-blooded animal (along with birds and other mammals), your body maintains an average temperature of 98.6° Fahrenheit (37.0° Celsius), no matter what the temperature is around you. Each species of warm-blooded animals has its own normal body temperature. Your normal body temperature is maintained by a part of your brain called the hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus, along with controlling hunger and thirst, is actually a "temperature center," which receives messages from nerves in your skin and deep in your body. It regulates the temperature of your blood by burning food to generate body heat when the air outside is cold, and cools your blood when the temperature outside is too hot.

Shivering and other physical activity also generate body heat in cold weather, while sweating and panting cools you off in hot weather. So whenever there is a change in the temperature of your blood, your body makes some adjustment to get it back to normal.

Cold-blooded animals (all those except mammals and birds), on the other hand, do not have this built-in brain control over their body temperature and must resort to other means. Reptiles, for example, crawl into the sun to warm up and seek the shade when they are hot. Some fish increase the action of their muscles to generate body heat.

Your body temperature does vary during the day. It is lowest in the morning, rises in the late afternoon, and falls again while you sleep!

Does Everyone Have the Same Blood Type?

2008-07-11T20:33:00.002-07:00

Everyone's blood isn't exactly the same, but this important fact was not known to scientists until 1900. Before then, blood transfusions were given from person to person without any thought to blood types. When it was discovered that in about half the cases, the patient got worse after a transfusion, and sometimes even died, scientists began to study why.

They learned that blood could be grouped, or typed, according to the presence or absence of a substance called antigens on the outside of the red blood cells. These antigens, if mixed with other "foreign" antigens, can cause the blood to clump, or stick together. This destroys the red blood cells, blocks the small blood vessels, and can cause serious illness or death.

But scientists also discovered that some blood types can be safely mixed without this harmful result. Therefore, when blood transfusions need to be given, hospitals today first perform a cross match, a mixing of some of the patient's blood with that of a donor, to be certain that the two types won't clump.

The four different blood types have been named type 0, A, B, and AB.

Type 0 blood has been found to mix safely with all the other types and has been called the "Universal Donor"!

How Does Blood Clot?

2008-07-11T20:33:00.001-07:00

When you cut yourself, blood flows out of the wound. That blood contains, in addition to red blood cells and white blood cells, tiny structures called platelets. These platelets pile up around the wound, then combine with other substances in the blood plasma (liquid) and chemicals in the damaged tissue to form long sticky threads called fibrin.

Fibrin threads crisscross each other and form a kind of dam to trap the blood. This dam is a solid plug, or clot. A clot that forms over a wound on the surface of your skin is called a scab.

Because these platelets and clotting substances are always present in your blood, you may wonder why your blood does not clot while it is flowing through your body. That is because the clotting substances are inactive while your blood is circulating through the smooth walls of your blood vessels. If they were active, the blood would clot and block your circulation, a dangerous condition.

Each person's blood clots at different speeds. Those whose blood clots very slowly or not at all have a dangerous disease known as hemophilia. Doctors consider hemophilia a man's disease, because very few women have ever had it. But a mother who shows no signs of the disease can transmit it to her sons.

A person can lose as much as half of all the blood in his body and still live!

How Does Your Blood Protect You?

2008-07-11T20:32:00.000-07:00

Your blood has special cells in it that fight disease and infections. These cells, called white blood cells, are produced in your bone marrow, the, soft tissue that fills the inside of your bones. White blood cells work like an army to attack and kill harmful germs that get into your body.

When an infection develops on your skin, for example, the bone marrow produces more white blood cells than usual. These white cell "soldiers" move to the area where the germs are and actually chew them up and destroy them. They also eat away at the tissue around the germ, and soften and liquefy it. The white cells then break apart and, along with the destroyed germs and liquefied tissue, form the thick yellow-white substance called pus. The pus oozes out of the infection slowly and dries up as the wound heals.

Even though white blood cells are necessary to the body, too many of them can cause a disease called leukemia, a cancer of the blood!

Is Your Blood Really Red?

2008-07-10T09:21:00.003-07:00

Blood looks as if it is solid red, but it really is not. If you look at blood under a microscope, you will see that it is made up of four different parts: plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

The plasma, which is the actual fluid, is a yellowish-white liquid. It contains the red blood cells, the white blood cells, and platelets, along with proteins, minerals, digested food, and wastes.

However, there are more red blood cells in the blood than any of these other substances, and it is the hemoglobin, a red pigment, in the red blood cells that gives your blood its color.

Your blood has 18 billion (18,000,000,000) red blood cells in it!

How Does Blood Get Around Your Body?

2008-07-10T09:20:00.002-07:00

Your heart is a kind of pump which sends blood to all parts of your body, since none of your cells can work or grow without it.

Blood has three main functions: it carries food and oxygen to permit your body's cells to work and grow; it carries wastes from these cells to organs which take them out of your body; and it helps fight germs that make you sick.

As your blood travels throughout your body doing these important jobs, it follows a definite route through tubes called blood vessels.

There are three main kinds of blood vessels: arteries, veins, and capillaries. When the blood is pumped out of your heart, it goes into your largest arteries, then moves into the smaller arteries, and into the capillaries. Capillaries are like bridges between your arteries and veins. They are such tiny blood vessels that you can't see them without a microscope. But these capillaries serve a very important purpose. They are like "traders," for it is through their thin walls that blood "trades," or exchanges food and oxygen for the waste materials that these body cells do not need.

Blood travels from the capillaries into tiny veins and then into larger and larger veins. Finally, the largest veins take the blood back to your heart. The round trip that blood makes is a continuous one which goes on and on while a person is alive. Each round trip from the heart, through the body, and back to the heart again takes less than one minute. And this round trip is made thousands of times each day.

If all the blood vessels in your body were straightened out and placed end to end, they would be 100,000 miles long, or long enough to go around the equator four times!

How Much Blood Do You Have in Your Body?

2008-07-10T09:20:00.001-07:00

The amount of blood in a person's body depends on how big he or she is, and surprisingly enough, on where that person lives.

For example, if you weigh about 80 pounds, you have about 2.5 quarts of blood in your body, while your 160-pound father has about five quarts, or twice as much. When you were an infant, perhaps about one month old, you had only about ten ounces of blood in your body.

If you live in high mountain areas where there is less oxygen in the air, you might have up to two more quarts of blood in your body. This additional blood is necessary to capture the extra oxygen your body needs to work and grow at greater altitudes.

What Is a Nerve?

2008-07-10T09:19:00.001-07:00

The billions of cells whose job it is to keep your body informed of conditions outside and inside it are called nerve cells, or neurons. Neurons transmit messages throughout the body by passing signals, or impulses, from one to the other.

Sensory neurons are nerve cells which carry impulses from the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin to the brain and spinal chord. They allow us to see and hear, smell and taste, and tell us whether we are hot or cold, and let us feel pleasure or pain.

Motor neurons are nerve cells which carry these impulses from the brain to the muscles in the body, telling them to sit, stand, run, or talk.

Still other neurons work automatically, without signals from the brain. These neurons keep your heart beating, your blood flowing, your lungs breathing, and your stomach digesting food — all automatically, with no command from your brain.

Some impulses travel through your body at a speed of more than 300 feet per second, while others go as slowly as 1.5 feet per second!

What Are You Really Made Of?

2008-07-10T09:18:00.000-07:00

All living things on earth, plants or animals, have one thing in common they are all made up of cells. Your entire body, your bones, your muscles, your skin, your blood, your teeth, your nerves, your hair, contains more than 10 million million (10,000,000,000,000) cells! Most of these cells are so tiny that you can see them only under a microscope. For example, your red blood cells are so tiny that 5,000,000 of them would fit inside a drop of blood the size of this letter a.

Different parts of your body are made up of different kinds of cells, and each kind does a special job that no other kind of cell can do. For example, muscle cells in your eyeballs move your eyes across this page you are reading, than nerve cells in your eyes send messages to your brain of what you have read. Red blood cells carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body to help them grow as you are reading, while white blood cells are busy fighting off the bacteria that could make you too sick to go on reading.

Some cells are so tiny that even the most modern electron microscope, which magnifies 200,000 times and can enlarge an ant to a length of mile, cannot show the details of these tiny cells!

10 Religions You Never Knew Existed

2008-07-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Cheondoism

Cheondoism is a 20th-century Korean religious movement that has its origins in a peasant rebellion in 1812. Cheondoist theology is basically monotheistic, pantheistic and panentheistic. Cheondoism is rooted in Korean shamanism and Korean Buddhism, with elements drawn from Christianity. It has become so popular in Communist North Korea that it is now the leading religion there. The religion believes that God exists in each of us and that we should all strive to make earth a paradise. It attempts to transform the believers into intelligent moral beings with a high social consciousness. [Image above: Cheondoism central temple]

Mazdakism

Mazdakism is a religion founded by Mazdak, a socialist Persian (Iranian) reformer in the 6th century BC. He claimed to be a prophet (similar to Mohammed 1,200 years later) and instituted communal possessions and social welfare programs. The two distinguishing factors of Mazdak’s teaching were the reduction of the importance of religious formalities — the true religious person being the one who understood and related correctly to the principles of the universe — and a criticism of the strong position of Zoroastrian clergy, who, he believed, had oppressed the Persian population and caused much poverty. Despite the concepts of good conduct and Pacifism, the followers of Mazdak raided the palaces and harems of the rich, removing the valuables to which they believed they had equal rights.

Builders of the Adytum

Builders of the Adytum (or BOTA for short) is a religion created in California by Dr. Paul Foster Case. The religion teachs its adherants by correspondence but also has bases around the world where people meet and perform religious ceremonies. Most of the beliefs and teachings are based on esoteric psychology, occult tarot, Hermetic Qabalah, Astrology, and meditation techniques. BOTA is not a strictly Christian organization, nor is it Jewish. B.O.T.A believes that the Qabalah is the mystical root of both ancient Judaism and the original Christianity, but people of all faiths are accepted if they are mystically inclined. The clip above features BOTA member Sonia Choquette.

Asatru

Asatru is a revival of ancient Nordic religion based upon polythesitc faith and mythic tales. According to the religion, there are four key deities and several minor gods. Adherents usually live in communities called Kindreds. They ascribe to the “Nine Noble Virtues” as a model for their lives. While the original Norse would have participated in animal sacrifice, modern worshipers offer mead, a honey-wine, to the gods. Major holidays revolve around the changing seasons with Yule being the most important. It is celebrated in late December and continues for twelve days.

Eckankar

Eckankar was established by American John Paul Twitchell in 1965. It is a monotheistic faith, which worships the divine spirit “Eck.” Eckankar is similar to some Eastern religions in its belief that the soul is constantly reincarnated until it achieves spiritual liberation. The religion teaches that spiritual growth is only possible through special meditative exercises similar to yoga. Through these practices, the soul can escape the physical form and enter the Sugmad, or spiritual realm. Successful completion of one’s spiritual journey results in a reunification with Eck.

Jainism

Jainism was founded in India over 2500 years ago. It survives today with approximately four million believers, called J. This polytheistic faith preaches that many gods exist alongside humans in a complex hierarchy. The Jain gods are symbolic of common human ideas. Similar to Buddhism, the goal of “Jain Life” is to achieve spiritual perfection and free the soul from the cycle of rebirth. Those who succeed in this endeavor are called jinas. Jain worship centers on icons and numerous Jain temples in India contain images of the 24 tirthankaras, revered spiritual leaders. Offerings are frequently made to these images as part of Jain ritual. Meditation and monasticism are also key features of Jainism.

Aladura

Founded in the early 20th century, this religion is based around so-called “prophet healing” churches in Africa. It claims around one million adherents, mostly in Nigeria. Aladura is directly related to the Anglican movement of Christianity. It was founded as a response to missionary movements in Africa. The religion emphasizes divine healing and a strict moral code. Its practices mix Anglican traditions with African rituals. Many ritual objects are involved in the practice, and the faiths leaders are known as prophets who are entrusted with healing believers through rituals and prayer.

Cao Dai

This Vietnamese religion combines elements of Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Catholicism. It was founded in 1926 and claims up to 6 million adherents. Believers worship a vast array of saints, which includes such notable figures as Julius Caesar and Pericles. The ecclectic nature of Cao Dai complements its idealistic mission to create a more tolerant world. Adherents see all humans as sharing a divine heritage. The practicies of this faith are somewhat occult and derived from Taoist traditions. Believers hold seances in addition to group prayer and elaborate ritual ceremonies.

Unification Church

Established in South Korea in 1954, the Unification Church ascribes to a unique interpretation of Christianity. Its 3 million believers praise the faith’s founder Sun Myung Moon, the religion’s founder, as the Messiah and ascribe to a doctrine known as the “Divine Principle”. This doctrine emphasizes duality in nature and the harmonious union of masculine and feminine. Subsequently, the aim of the Unification Church is to create “true families,” which is often achieved through mass weddings. These unions are also a means of fulfilling the faith’s version of God’s purpose, which is to experience joy and love through life. True joy and love can only be achieved by creating a perfect, sinless family. Only in this way does the Unification Church believe the Kingdom of God can be created. While there is no description of an afterlife, the faith preaches that the spirit will live for all eternity.

Falun Gong

Falun Gong is a recent religious movement with roughly three million practitioners. It was founded in China in 1992 by Li Hongzhi. It combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism with traditional Chinese folklore. Falun Gong aims to obtain mental and spiritual renewal through meditation. Adherents practice special exercises to awaken their center of spiritual energy and rid themselves of physical and spiritual ailments. The faith has received extensive criticism from the Chinese government, which initially saw the new cult as a threat. Outsiders also tend to ridicule Falun Gong’s contention that antagonistic space aliens are manipulating world leaders.

10 Amazing Facts About Dreams

2008-07-09T09:28:00.000-07:00

10. Blind People Dream

People who become blind after birth can see images in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any images, but have dreams equally vivid involving their other senses of sound, smell, touch and emotion. It is hard for a seeing person to imagine, but the body’s need for sleep is so strong that it is able to handle virtually all physical situations to make it happen.

9. You Forget 90% of your Dreams

Within 5 minutes of waking, half of your dream if forgotten. Within 10, 90% is gone. The famous poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, woke one morning having had a fantastic dream (likely opium induced) - he put pen to paper and began to describe his “vision in a dream” in what has become one of English’s most famous poems: Kubla Khan. Part way through (54 lines in fact) he was interrupted by a “Person from Porlock“. Coleridge returned to his poem but could not remember the rest of his dream. The poem was never completed.

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
[…]

Curiously, Robert Louis Stevenson came up with the story of Doctor Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde whilst he was dreaming. Wikipedia has more on that here. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein was also the brainchild of a dream.

8. Everybody Dreams

Every human being dreams (except in cases of extreme psychological disorder) but men and women have different dreams and different physical reactions. Men tend to dream more about other men, while women tend to dream equally about men and women. In addition, both men and women experience sexually related physical reactions to their dreams regardless of whether the dream is sexual in nature; males experience erections and females experience increased vaginal blood flow.

7. Dreams Prevent Psychosis

In a recent sleep study, students who were awakened at the beginning of each dream, but still allowed their 8 hours of sleep, all experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days. When finally allowed their REM sleep the student’s brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage. [Source]

6. We Only Dream of What We Know

Our dreams are frequently full of strangers who play out certain parts - did you know that your mind is not inventing those faces - they are real faces of real people that you have seen during your life but may not know or remember? The evil killer in your latest dream may be the guy who pumped petrol in to your Dad’s car when you were just a little kid. We have all seen hundreds of thousands of faces through our lives, so we have an endless supply of characters for our brain to utilize during our dreams.

5. Not Everyone Dreams in Color

A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white. The remaining number dream in full color. People also tend to have common themes in dreams, which are situations relating to school, being chased, running slowly/in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident. It is unknown whether the impact of a dream relating to violence or death is more emotionally charged for a person who dreams in color than one who dreams in black and white. [Source]

4. Dreams are not about what they are about

If you dream about some particular subject it is not often that the dream is about that. Dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. The unconscious mind tries to compare your dream to something else, which is similar. Its like writing a poem and saying that a group of ants were like machines that never stop. But you would never compare something to itself, for example: “That beautiful sunset was like a beautiful sunset”. So whatever symbol your dream picks on it is most unlikely to be a symbol for itself.

3. Quitters have more vivid dreams

People who have smoked cigarettes for a long time who stop, have reported much more vivid dreams than they would normally experience. Additionally, according to the Journal of Abnormal Psychology: “Among 293 smokers abstinent for between 1 and 4 weeks, 33% reported having at least 1 dream about smoking. In most dreams, subjects caught themselves smoking and felt strong negative emotions, such as panic and guilt. Dreams about smoking were the result of tobacco withdrawal, as 97% of subjects did not have them while smoking, and their occurrence was significantly related to the duration of abstinence. They were rated as more vivid than the usual dreams and were as common as most major tobacco withdrawal symptoms.” [Source]

2. External Stimuli Invade our Dreams

This is called Dream Incorporation and it is the experience that most of us have had where a sound from reality is heard in our dream and incorporated in some way. A similar (though less external) example would be when you are physically thirsty and your mind incorporates that feeling in to your dream. My own experience of this includes repeatedly drinking a large glass of water in the dream which satisfies me, only to find the thirst returning shortly after - this thirst… drink… thirst… loop often recurs until I wake up and have a real drink. The famous painting above (Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening) by Salvador Dali, depicts this concept.

1. You are paralyzed while you sleep

Believe it or not, your body is virtually paralyzed during your sleep - most likely to prevent your body from acting out aspects of your dreams. According to the Wikipedia article on dreaming, “Glands begin to secrete a hormone that helps induce sleep and neurons send signals to the spinal cord which cause the body to relax and later become essentially paralyzed.”

Bonus: Extra Facts

1. When you are snoring, you are not dreaming.
2. Toddlers do not dream about themselves until around the age of 3. From the same age, children typically have many more nightmares than adults do until age 7 or 8.
3. If you are awakened out of REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, you are more likely to remember your dream in a more vivid way than you would if you woke from a full night sleep.

Did you know...?

2008-07-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Small children spend 50% of their sleep time dreaming. Adults spend 20% of the night dreaming while senior citizens spend only 15% of the night dreaming.

Infants spend up to 8 hours a day in REM sleep.

Children do not appear in their own dreams until the ages of 3 or 4.

In a recent sleep study, students who were awakened at the beginning of each dream, but still allowed their 8 hours of sleep, all experienced difficulty in concentration, irritability, hallucinations, and signs of psychosis after only 3 days. When finally allowed their REM sleep the students brains made up for lost time by greatly increasing the percentage of sleep spent in the REM stage.

The blind dream more prominently in sound, smell, touch and emotion.

People who became blind after birth claim to see in their dreams.

Snoring ceases during the dream-state.

The bible contains more than 700 dreams and visions.

The Rock Classic "Yesterday" came to Paul McCartney in a dream

The story of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde was a dream that Robert Louis Stevenson had.

Every body’s favorite monster, Frankenstein came to Mary Shelly in a dream.

There are 8 recorded cases of survivors and would be passengers who dreamed of the sinking of the Titanic - before it sank!

Mark Twain dreamed of his brother's death in a river boat accident - before it actually happened!

We have the sewing machine thanks to Elias Howe who dreamed of how to make it work.

Albert Einstein claims that "Einsteins Theory" came to him in a dream.

Great Facts - 3

2008-07-08T09:25:00.001-07:00

Indonesia consists only of islands - 13,667 total

During World War II, the very first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo

People who ride on roller coasters have a higher chance of having a blood clot in the brain

The tallest freestanding sculpture in the world is Chief Crazy Horse in South Dakota, USA

Marie Curie, the Nobel prize winning scientist who discovered radium, died of radiation poisoning

898 tornadoes were recorded to have occurred in the United States in the year 2000.

The word Popcorn is derived from the middle English word "poppe," which means "explosive sound"

The food that is digested in your stomach is called "chyme."

Alcohol beverages have all 13 minerals necessary for human life

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses everyletter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to Test telex/twxcommunications)

The word housekeeping was invented by Shakespeare

The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sportsgames (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after theMajorLeague All-Star Game.

In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured

Lack of sleep can affect your immune system and reduce your ability to fight infections

All dogs are the descendant of the wolf. These wolves lived in eastern Asia about 15,000 years ago

It is not possible to tickle yourself. The cerebellum, a part of the brain, warns the rest of the brain that you are about to tickle yourself. Since your brain knows this, it ignores the resulting sensation

Parma ham is only Parma ham if it is made in the Parma region of Italy. The British chain supermarket Asda, made and packaged its own "Parma ham" and was successfully sued by the real Parma ham people (Parma Ham Trade Association)

With winds of 50 miles per hour, The Statue of Liberty sways three inches and the torch sways five inches

A famous bullfighter, Lagarijo, killed 4,867 bulls in the 19th century.

Police detectives have used snapping turtles to help them locate dead bodies

In most advertisements, including newspapers, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10

The national sport of Japan is sumo wrestling

The early occurrence of a fetus yawning is at eleven weeks after conception

In a month, a fingernail grows an eighth of an inch

Edward VIII did not officially become the King of England as he abdicated the throne to marry an American divorcee

The book "Little Red Riding Hood" was banned in 1990 by two school districts in California. They did this because in the book there was a picture of a basket that had a bottle of wine in it

The reason why golf balls have dimples on them is because it helps in the ball to move a farther distance by reducing drag

Americans consume the most peanut butter in the world

Celtic warriors sometimes fought their battles naked, their bodies dyed blue from head to toe

To make butter more attractive in colour, carrot juice was used by people in the Middle Ages

Early hockey games allowed as many as 30 players a side on the ice

Most fleas do not live past a year old

It takes seven to ten days to make a jelly belly jellybean

Some asteroids have other asteroids orbiting them

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the males head off

There is enough concrete in the Hoover Dam to pave a two lane highway from San Francisco to New York

Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day

Every 238 years, the orbits of Neptune and Pluto change making Neptune at times the farthest planet from the sun

There is a certain species of kangaroo that is only 2.5 centimetres long when it is born

In a lifetime, the average house cat spends approximately 10,950 hours purring

The real name of Toto the dog in "The Wizard Of Oz" was Terry

Stannous fluoride, which is the cavity fighter found in toothpaste is made from recycled tin

It takes 12 honeybees to make one teaspoon of honey

Thomas Watson, who was the chairman of IBM in 1943 predicted that their would probably only be a world market for five computers.

The largest hamburger cooked in the world weighed in at 6,040 pounds

The first lighthouse was in Alexandria in 290 B.C

Heinz first started making ketchup in 1876 and the recipe has remained the same ever since

The largest wedding chapel in Las Vegas is the Viva Las Vegas Chapel, which can seat 100 people

The most popular name for a pet in the United States is Max

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

The largest shopping mall in the world is the West Edmonton Mall located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

The CN Tower located in Toronto, Ontario Canada took a total construction time of 40 months to complete at an original cost of $63 million

The 20th president of the United States, James Garfield, was able to write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other at the same time

The country of Andorra has a zero percent unemployment rate

In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles

A woman has approximately 4.5 litres of blood in her body, while men have 5.6 litres

In India, pickled ginger, minced mutton and a cottage cheese like substance are popular pizza toppings

Oral-B were the first toothbrushes to go to the moon when they were aboard the Apollo 11 mission

A maple tree is usually tapped when the tree is at least 45 years old and has a diameter of 12 inches

In 1998, a law passed in the U.S. state of Virginia allows drivers to keep their road kill, as long as they report it within 12 hours. updated

A language becomes extinct in this world every two weeks

An acre of trees can remove about 13 tons of dust and gases every year from the surrounding environment

The decomposition point of Olive Oil is 220 degrees Celsius

Ten radishes only contain eight calories

Annually a thousand people are killed by scorpions in Mexico

Every year, 100 million sharks are killed by people

Tug of war was an Olympic event from 1900-1920

Of all the countries, Brazil has the most plant species, with over 56,000

One female mouse can produce up to 100 babies a year

Impotence is grounds for divorce in 26 U.S. states

Women who are romance novel readers are reported to make love 74% more often with their partners than women who do not read romance novels.

The average lifespan of a human taste bud is ten days

The monogram "RR" for Rolls-Royce has never been altered, except for when Sir Henry Royce passed away in 1933. Then it was changed from red to black.

People with darker skin will not wrinkle as fast as people with lighter skin

Fido means faithful in Latin

Pebbles cereal was actually named after the shape of the cereal and not the Pebbles Flintstone character

A group of kangaroos is called a mob

Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.

Every three seconds, a new baby is born

More than 260,000 people have been killed by volcanic activity since 1700 AD.

The only predator that polar bears have are humans

Many insects can carry 50 times their own body weight

The last land battle of the U.S. Civil War was fought in Texas

Annually 7 million tons of textiles and clothing is thrown out. Out of this, only 12% is used again or recycled

A scorpion can have up to 12 eyes

A snake charmer in Bangladesh once found 3,500 poisonous cobras and their eggs hidden underneath the floors of two suburban homes

The IRS employees tax manual has instructions for collecting taxes after a nuclear war

There are approximately fifty Bibles sold each minute across the world

The pectin that is found in apples aids in lowering cholesterol levels

Post-It Notes, which are adhesive notes, were invented while looking for a way to improve the acrylate adhesive found in tapes

Crayola Crayons currently has over 120 different crayon colours

Odontophobia is the fear of teeth

The width of a tornado can range from less than ten yards to more than a mile.

In Johannesburg, the average car will be involved in an accident once every four years.

The youngest actress to be nominated as best actress is Keisha Castle-Hughes who was nominated at just 13 years old

The Taj Mahal was actually built for use as a tomb

According to studies, an average roll of toilet paper lasts about five days in the bathroom

Almonds are members of the peach family

The oldest known disease in the world is leprosy

A fall of 30 feet can be survived my most cats

The largest member of the dolphin family are orcas

In 1477, the first diamond engagement ring was given to Mary of Burgundy by Archduke Maximillian of Austria

The hormone replacement drug "Premarin" is made from the urine of pregnant horses

TWIX Caramel Cookie Bars were first introduced in 1979

Nintendo was first establish in 1889 and they started out making special playing cards

People over the age of fifty will start to lose their dislike for foods that taste bitter

In Kentucky, 50 percent of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers

Elephants have been known to learn up to 60 commands

On average 1,668 gallons of water are used by each person in the United States daily

Copper is the second most used metal in the world.

Milton Bradley originally wanted to name the game Twister, Pretzel; but he could not since the name was copyrighted

According to studies, men prefer to have white bedrooms and women prefer to have blue bedrooms

If someone was to fly once around the surface of the moon, it would be equal to a round trip from New York to London

St. Patrick never really drove out any snakes from Ireland. This story was an analogy of how he drove paganism out of Ireland

Fat is important for the development of children and normal growth

The most common seasonings found in American homes are chili powder, cinnamon, and seasoned salts

People who have eaten beetles say that it tastes like apples

Montreal was named after a local mountain "Mont Royal."

Millie the White House dog earned more than 4 times as much as President Bush in 1991. And, rightfully so

In an average lifetime, a person will spend 4 years travelling in an automobile and six months waiting at a red light.

A small drip from a faucet can waste up to 50 gallons of water daily, which is enough water to run a dishwasher twice on a full cycle

Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during W.W.I

The longest Monopoly game ever played was 1,680 hours long, which is seventy straight days

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

Over 1,600 people in North America have been victims of trunk entrapment (being locked inside of a car trunk)

A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair

In 1992, when EuroDisney first opened in France, the public beat some of the park characters because at the time most people had been against the park being built

A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second. Thus the saying, I will be there in a jiffy.

There is a muppet named Kami that appears on the South African version of the T.V. show "Sesame Street" that is HIV-positive

There are approximately one hundred million people in the United States that have a chronic illness

The oldest working Post Office in the world is located in the village of Sanquer, located in the Scottish Lowlands. It has been operating since 1712

Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church

Approximately three jars of peanut butter are sold every second

In Australia, the average person uses 876 gallons of water daily. In Switzerland they use only 77 gallons of water per person daily

Every person has a unique tongue print

Hair will fall out faster on a person that is on a crash diet

In 1890, there was no sunshine for the whole month of December in Westminster in London.

Charles Darwin spent 39 years studying earthworms

The Boeing 737 is nicknamed the Fat Albert

Florida has twice as many lightning injuries and deaths than any other state

Chocolate can be fatal to dogs. Chocolate contains a chemical theobromine, which is poisonous to dogs

In China, there is a species of yam that is used to make a dye

Annually, approximately 46 millions Cokes, five million pounds of french fries, and seven million hamburgers are consumed at Walt Disney World Resort

The Chihuahua Desert is the largest desert in North America, and is over 200,000 square miles

Every continent begins and ends in the same letter. eg AfricA, EuropE

Baseball games between college teams have been played since the Civil War

The real name of actress Whoopi Goldberg is Caryn Elaine Johnson

Researches have discovered that eating five or more apples a week is linked to better functioning of the lungs

Boeing completed more than 15,000 hours of wind-tunnel testing on the first 747

The most popular ethnic food in the United States is Italian food

Parts of the Dead Sea Scrolls appeared for sale in the June 1, 1954 issue of the Wall Street Journal

If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction

The YKK that you see on zippers stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha which is the name of the founder of the zipper manufacturing company in Japan

The theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters is "Sweet Georgia Brown."

27% of female lottery winners hid their winning ticket in their bras

To lose one pound of fat, a person has to burn approximately 3,500 calories

In 1969, the American side of Niagara Falls was stopped completely for several months

The name for insect poop is frass

A can of Pepsi has 41 grams of sugar. This amount to about seven teaspoons of sugar

Montreal is actually located on an island

There are over 2,000 species of butterflies in the rainforests of South America

The world record for the number of body piercings on one individual is 702, which is held by Canadian Brent Moffat

Before toilet paper was invented, French royalty wiped their bottoms with fine linen

The earliest known example of an organized market for equities dates from Rome, second century B.C

There are over 2,000 different species of cactuses

Each day 400 gallons of recycled blood are pumped through the kidneys

Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale ofvodka.

Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning

Bananas were discovered by Alexander the Great in 327 B.C. when he conquered India

Levan, which is located in Utah, got its name from "navel" which is levan spelt backwards. It was named this because it is in the center of Utah

Approximately one out of four injuries by athletes involve the wrist and hand

Former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836

Musk is extracted from the bottom of a civet, and is used as an ingredient to make perfumes.

The first human heart transplant happened on December 3, 1967. Unfortunately the patient only lived for eighteen days, succumbing in the end to pneumonia

In New York City there are 6,374.6 miles of streets

The sound made by the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe is so loud that it can be heard 40 miles away

Ancient Egyptians used to think having facial hair was an indication of personal neglect

In Czechhoslovakia, there is a church that has a chandelier made of human bones

The largest hotel in the world is the MGM Grand, which has 5,034 rooms and is located in Las Vegas, Nevada

The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets

The fleshy bulbs on each side of your nose are called the Alea (AY-lee) singular Ala (AY-luh)

Male koalas mark their territory by rubbing their chests on a tree. Male koalas have a dark scent gland in the middle of their chest

An octopus has three hearts

Roses generally need around 6 hours of sunlight to grow properly.

Buttermilk does not contain any butter, but is a cultured milk product which is usually made from fat free milk

Pineapples were first called "anana", which is Caribbean for "excellent fruit."

Human birth control pills work on gorillas

The tallest woman that ever lived was Zeng Jinlian who was 8 feet 2 inches tall of China. Shed died at the age of 17

An adult "Gold Frog" measures to be 9.8 millimeters in body length

Each day, anywhere from 35-150 species of life go extinct

Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never telephoned his wife or mother because they were both deaf

Alexander the Great made his troops eat onions as he believed it would prove their vitality

Bill Russell was the first black head coach of a major league pro sports team

In 1945, a seven ounce bathroom cup was the first item Tupperware marketed

Central air conditioners use 98% more energy than ceiling fans.

The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache

Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better

Everyday, U.S. business use enough paper to circle the Earth over 20 times

The Welwitschia plant can live up to 1,000 years

The dromedary camel can drink as much as 100 litres of water in just 10 minutes

According to the American Institute of Stress, job stress approximately costs the U.S. industry over $300 billion dollars per year

It takes 72 minutes for the restaurant at the top of the CN Tower to make one revolution

Coffee beans were chewed for more than 400 years before the first cup of coffee was brewed

All of the Peking ducks in the United States are descendents from three ducks and one drake imported to Long Island, New York in 1873

The first British ship to use the SOS distress signal was the Titanic

The Spring peeper (a frog) can survive the winter season with 65% of its body water as ice

Studies have shown that the scent of Rosemary can help in better mental performance and make individuals feel more alert

The search engine Google got its name from the word "googol," which refers to the number one with a hundred zeros after it

The Goliath beetle is about the size of your fist and can weigh as much as 3-4 ounces

If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create explosion that is equal to an atomic bomb

Humans have about the same number of hair follicles as a chimpanzee has

Studies indicate that listening to music is good for digestion

The Chihuahua was named after the Mexican state where they were discovered

There are no snakes in New Zealand

The most popular grown bulbs are tulips

Every day the human stomach produces about 2 liters of hydrochloric acid

The country of Bolivia is named after a fighter Simon Bolivar

Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite

The first state to give the right to women to vote was Wyoming

In 1949 UNICEF produced the first charity Christmas card. The picture shown on the card was painted by a seven year old girl

Archeologists report that cannabis was most likely the first plant cultivated by humans. Cannabis was used for linen, paper, and garments

The garfish has green bones

Women who drink more than two cups of coffee a day have a higher chance of developing osteoporosis

The banana was officially introduced in 1876 in the U.S. at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. The bananas were wrapped in tinfoil and were sold for 10 cents each

A yawn usually lasts for approximately six seconds

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married

The food that people crave the most is cheese

Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury

The only animal, besides humans that can get leprosy is the Armadillo

In 1894, the carnival made its debut in North America

The artist Vincent Van Gogh sliced part of his ear off in madness

According to Scientists, vampire bat saliva is the best known medicine for keeping blood from clotting.

People from North America prefer pickles with warts, where as Europeans prefer pickles with no warts

People that suffer from gum disease are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack

Close to 50% of the water used in a home originates from the bathroom

After the Krakatoa volcano eruption in 1883 in Indonesia, many people reported that, because of the dust, the sunset appeared green and the moon blue. The moon was said to appear blue for almost two years.

The country with the highest consumption of chocolate per capita is Switzerland, with 22 pounds per person, per year

In China, September 20 is "Love Your Teeth Day."

Actor Richard Gere was considered to play the role of John McClane in the movie Die Hard. Bruce Willis played the part instead

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, and 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)

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur

Left-handed people are better at sports that require good spatial judgment and fast reaction, compared to right-handed individuals

Half of a cup of figs will give you just as much calcium as half a cup of milk

A "hairbreadth away" is 1/48 of an inch

In 1281, the Mongol army of Kublai Khan tried to invade Japan but were ravaged by a hurricane that destroyed their fleet

Walt Disney was afraid of mice

Studies show that couples that smoke during the time of conception have a higher chance of having a girl compared to couples that do not smoke

The reason why some people get a cowlick is because the growth of their hair is in a spiral pattern, which causes the hair to either stand straight up, or goes to a certain angle

Approximately 50% of Americans admit they have ran a red light

In 1755, the first Canadian post office opened in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The fist Deputy Postmaster General was American inventor Benjamin Franklin who was later dismissed for sympathizing with the American revolutionary cause

Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California.

On average, 90% of the people that have the disease Lupus are female

Unlike other four legged mammals, kangaroos cannot walk backwards

The itch from a mosquito bite can be soothed by cutting open a clove of garlic and rubbing it on the bite

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

Most American car horns honk in the key of F

A superstition in baseball is to never lend your bat to anyone or you will be jinxed

Bats always turn left when exiting a cave

Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air

In 1998, approximately 1.6 billion tree seedlings were planted in the United States. This amounts to about five trees per American

There are species of fish that can walk on land in search of water when its water source dries up. Some can survive as long as three days on land such as the snakehead fish

Racecar driver Lee Petty once left a pitstop and did a full lap at Nascar with a pit crew member still on the hood

The first fashion house to be set up was in 1858 by Charles Worth. He opened his store in Paris with the idea of having pre-made gowns presented on models to his customers

St. Patrick explained the Holy Trinity to King Laoghaire, using the shamrock to illustrate the trinity

More twins are born in the Western world than in the Eastern world

Nine egg yolks have been found in one chicken egg

The record for the longest Monopoly game played in a bathtub is ninety-nine hours

The flea can jump 350 times its body length, that is like a 6 foot-tall human jumping the length of 7 football fields

The 1988 move "Big" which was directed by Penny Marshall was the first movie by a female director to gross over $100 million domestically

When the Galileo Probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere, it was traveling at a speed of 106,000 miles per hour. This is the fastest impact speed ever achieved by a man-made object.

In 1972, a gorilla by the name of "Koko" was taught ASL (American Sign Language) for the deaf. By the year 2000, the gorilla could understand approximately 2,000 English words

3000 children die every day in Africa because of malaria

The reason why hair turns gray as we age is because the pigment cells in the hair follicle start to die, which is responsible for producing "melanin" which gives the hair colour

Approximately 125 people die in the United States from an anaphylaxis to foods each year

The word "vamp" is used to describe the upper front top of a shoe

Construction on the White House began in October of 1792

A galactic year is 250 million Earth-years. This is the time it takes for our solar system to make one revolution around the Milky Way Galaxy.

Leonardo da Vinci was dyslexic, and he often wrote backwards

The male platypus has poisonous spurs on its legs

Polar bears can smell seal from 20 miles away

Canadians Scott Abbott and Chris Haney invented Trivial Pursuit. They were planning on playing Scrabble and realized that some of the pieces were missing so they came up with the idea of making their own game; Trivial Pursuit

On average, there is about three molecules of ozone for every 10 million air molecules.

A person uses approximately fifty-seven sheets of toilet paper each day

The Barbie doll has more than 80 careers

James Buchanan was the only unmarried president of the United States

The Stanley Cup originally was only seven and a half inches high

In 1991, during an attempted political coup on Russian President Boris Yelstin, food supplies had dwindled down at the parliament buildings so they ordered Pizza Hut to deliver pizzas

Some people drink the urine of pregnant women to build up their immune system

The five Olympic rings represent the five continents linked together in friendship

Ray Kroc bought McDonalds for $2.7 million in 1961 from the McDonald brothers

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs

Shark cartilage has been used to make artificial skin for human burn victims

The first person to die in the electric chair was William Kemmler, an ax murderer from New York on August 6, 1890

Finland has 187,888 lakes and 179,584 islands

The average adult has approximately six pounds of skin

A crocodile can open and close its jaw but cannot move it side to side

There are over 1,000,000 swimming pools in Florida, eventhough the ocean is no farther than 80 miles away

99% of the blueberries that are produced in the United States are produced in the state of Maine

On May 9, 1999 approximately 600,000 gallons of whiskey flowed into the Kentucky River during a fire at Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg

Thomas Jefferson had three achievements placed on his headstone at his request, "Here Was Buried Thomas Jefferson/Author Of The Declaration Of American Independence/Of The Statute Of Virginia For Religious Freedom/And Father Of The University of Virginia.? He never mentioned being President of the United States

Humans and cows have the same gestation period, which is about nine months

In the Victoria era, red tulips were a declaration of love

The sport Lacrosse was initially played by Native American Indians. They played the sport to prepare for war

It takes a sloth up to six days to digest the food it eats

According to Scandinavian traditions, if a boy and girl eat from the same loaf of bread, they are bound to fall in love

In 1796, Napoleon was only 26 years old when he took command of the French Army of Italy

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

The expression "Tying the Knot" comes from an old Roman custom where the brides clothes were tied up all in knots and the groom was supposed to untie the knots

Snake is a delicacy in China

In 1999, All Nippon Airlines, had one of its jets fully decorated with Pokemon characters from nose to tail on its exterior

The Dead Sea has been sinking for last several years

Uranus has 27 moons

Actress Sally Field was paid $4,000 a week for her role in the TV show The Flying Nun

More pollution is emitted from the average home compared to the average car.

The snow leopard protects itself from extreme cold when it sleeps by wrapping its 3-foot-long tail around its nose

Only 4% of babies are born on their actual due date

In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile Services(two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number theotherchannel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, butnochannel 1.

A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for approximately sixty-nine years

There are more Subway restaurants in Canada than there are McDonald restaurants

The CN Tower, in Toronto, is the tallest freestanding structure in the world with a height of about 553 metres

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II 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."

Construction on the Leaning Tower of Pisa began on August 9th, 1173

President Lyndon Johnson used to smoke three packs of cigarettes a day

The Tibetan name for Mount Everest is Chomolungma

The word "laser" stands for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission by radiation."

In a lifetime, on average a honey bee produces 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey

There are 315 species of parrot in the world

The TV show Doctor Who, when it was popular, had an audience of 110 million people

The cost to build the Empire State Building was $40,948,900

A person who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day will on average lose two teeth every ten years

Wasps that feed on ferment occasionally get drunk and pass out

The largest cereal company in the world is Quaker Oats, located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA

The first Olympic games only had one event - a foot race

Colonel Sanders traveled over 250,000 miles a year visiting various parts of his Kentucky Fried Chicken Empire

Some desert snails have been known to sleep for three to four years

Over 80% of the brain is water

From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size

Jackrabbits can reach a speed of fifty miles per hour and can leap as far as twenty feet

There are 40 official jelly belly flavours

Early sewing machines were destroyed by mobs or workers who felt their jobs were threatened by automation

In 1992, the Antarctic Ozone hole was larger than the continent of North America.

Someone gets divorced every ten to thirteen seconds

There is a certain type of Hawk Moth caterpillar from Brazil that inflates its thorax, which makes its head look like a head of a snake when it feels it is in danger or alarmed

The CIA has made a disk camera that is as big as a quarter. This gadget can take many pictures at a time when the disk is opened.

The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows."

In Hong Kong, delivery times are primarily influenced by traffic conditions on elevators. It often takes drivers longer to travel vertically than horizontally, as access to elevators is so congested during "high peak" hours. This is due to the volume of people residing in high rises

The ancient Greeks had a fascination with the planet Mars. They attributed the planet to Ares, their god of war, because of its red colour

The only lizard that has a voice is the Gecko

In Israel, religious law forbids picking your nose on Sabbath

In twins, there is a great chance that one will be left handed

In the 1920's, Q-Tips were invented by Leo Gerstenzang who got the idea after watching his wife clean their baby's ears with cotton stuck onto a toothpick.

In the Pacific Islands when people get burns they often use a banana leaf as treatment

Acorns were used as a coffee substitute during the American Civil War

An airplane mechanic invented Slinky while he was playing with engine parts and realized the possible secondary use for the springs. Barbie was invented by Ruth Handler after watching her daughter play with baby dolls imagining then in grown up roles

When the female grasshopper lays eggs, she covers her eggs with a pasty liquid that protects the eggs throughout the winter

The longest recorded duration of a total solar eclipse was 7.5 minutes.

On average, an American makes three pounds of garbage in a day

Even if you eat food standing on your head, the food will still end up in your stomach

Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

The most common name in the world is Mohammed

Apple seeds are poisonous as they contain a cyanide compound

The word breakfast was coined due to the fact that after sleeping for hours, we are "breaking our fast."

The cardigan was originally made to be a military jacket made of knitted wool

The month of December is the most popular month for weddings in the Philippines

The deepest cave in the world is the "Lamprechtsofen-Vogelshacht" cave which can be found in Salzburg, Austria. The cave is 5,354 feet deep

The capital of Vermont, Montpelier is the only state capital in the United States that does not have a McDonalds

The longest engagement lasted 67 years, and the couple ended up marrying when they were 82 years old

Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears. never stop growing

Milk and cheese can aid in the reduction of tooth decay

On average, a strawberry has 200 seeds on it

Coconuts kill more people in the world than sharks do

The average person spends two weeks of their life kissing

Research has indicated that indoor pollution is 10 times more toxic than outdoor pollution

Eating a banana at night can help in falling asleep

The stapler was invented in Spring Valley, Minnesota.

The first television newscaster was Kolin Hager, who used to broadcast farm and weather reports in 1928

Pixie, a Siberian Husky, gave birth to 7 puppies, one of which was bright green

Back in 1953, it took 27 hours to make one Marshmallow Peep. Now it takes only six minutes

On average, an ear of a corn has 16 rows and approximately 800 kernels

The green ring that is formed around the yolk of eggs that have been cooked too long is formed by the chemical reaction from the iron in the yolk and the sulphur in the white part of the egg

The silk that is produced by spiders is stronger than steel

The first president to have a picture taken was John Quincy Adams

Some brands of toothpaste contain glycerin or glycerol, which is also an ingredient in antifreeze

1 in 2000 babies are born with a tooth that is already visible

It was during World War II that clothes with elastic waists were introduced. This is because the metal used in zippers was badly needed for the war

In 1902, the game table tennis was brought to the U.S. from Europe by Parker Brothers

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes themlooks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

The fat from sheep, which is called tallow can be used to make soap and candles

Next to bone marrow, hair is the fastest growing tissue in the human body

Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns

When playing competitive darts the player must be 7 feet 9 1/4 inches back from the dartboard. Also the board must be 5 feet 8 inches above the floor

In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak

Earthworms have 5 hearts

If all the gold sitting in the oceans and seas were mined, every person on this plant would get about 20 kilograms of gold each.

To make an espresso 42 coffee beans are needed

The oil that is found in poison ivy is called "urushiol."

Of all the days of the week, the most popular day for people to eat ice cream is Sunday

The first museum in Moscow that was set up in 1791 was the Natural History Laboratory at Moscow University. This later was changed to the Zoological Museum

A surfer once sued another surfer for "stealing his wave." The case was thrown out because the court was unable to put a price on "pain and suffering" endured by the surfer watching someone else ride "his" wave

Many people in parts of China eat insects. Some common insects are bean worms, scoprions, and locusts

The largest dog in the world is the Irish Wolfhound

Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a fifty thousand-word novel, "Gadsby," without any word containing the letter "e."

The projection light used for IMAX theaters can be seen from space.

The human liver performs over 500 functions

Ballroom dancing is a course at Brigham Young University in Utah

The word "maverick" came into use after Samuel Maverick, a Texan, refused to brand his cattle. Eventually any unbranded calf became known as a Maverick

Finnish folklore states that when Santa comes to Finland to deliver gifts, he leaves his sleigh behind and rides on a goat named Ukko instead

More than $1 billion is spent each year on neck ties in the United States

In the 18th century, potatoes were given out as a dessert. They were served in a napkin, salted and hot

The only poisonous birds in the world are the three species of Pitohui. The Hooded Pitohui from Papua New Guinea is the most deadliest out of the three

Pretzels were originally invented for Christian Lent. The twists of the pretzels are to resemble arms crossed in prayer

The American Airlines Center in Dallas has more toilets per capita than any other sports and entertainment venue in the country

After 8 months, babies are more likely to get a diaper rash

The first modern toothbrush was invented in China. Its bristles came from hogs hair or the mane of a horse that were then put into ivory handles

The New Zealand Kiwi bird cannot fly

66% of wedding cards are hand delivered by people

Heavier lemons produce more, and tastier, juice

The leading cause of poisoning for children under the age of six in the home is liquid dish soap

The same amount of calories are burned by doing 6 sessions that are 5 minutes each of an activity and doing 1 session of that activity for 30 minutes

General William Booth is the founder of the Salvation Army

Iguanas can stay under water for up to thirty minutes

The fastest flying butterfly is the Monarch, which has been clocked with a speed as high as 17 miles per hour

Egyptian pyramid builders used to eat a lot of garlic because they thought it would increase their strength

The average office document gets copied 19 times

In just the first 56 days of life, the larva of the polyphemus moth eats about 86,000 times its birthweight

Every hour one billion cells in the body must be replaced

American actor Jack Nicholson, and American singer Bobby Darrin were raised believing their grandmothers were their mothers and their mothers were their older sisters

The first Ford cars had Dodge engines

The average height of an NBA basketball player is 6 feet 7 inches

One in five Americans move homes every year

The chocolate chip cookie was invented in 1933

The capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou

A catfish has about 100,000 taste buds

The Liberty Bell was the first mechanical slot machine, which was invented by Charles Fey, a car mechanic in 1895.

A Russian man who wore a beard during the time of Peter the Great had to pay a special tax

The silkworm moth has lost the ability to fly ever since it has been domesticated

The first cheerleaders in the U.S. were men

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P

The odds of having quadruplets are 1 in 729,000

In 1965, the price for an issue of TV Guide was 15 cents

In 1565 In St. Augustine, Florida the first orange trees were planted

Nose prints are used to identify dogs, much like humans use fingerprints

In the United States, six tubs of Cool Whip, a brand of whipping cream, are sold every second

The most popular chocolate bar in the United Kingdom for the last 15 years has been Kit Kat

White-Out was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham, who is the mother of Michael Nesmith from the "The Monkees."

There are over 2,000 different types of cheese in the world

The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world

Owls swallow their prey whole because they have no teeth. After approximately 12 hours they cough up the feathers, bones, and fur in a shape of a football pellet

Historically, a blue ribbon has been awarded for first prize

Seventy-one percent of households report they have at least one snorer. Forty-five percent of those surveyed admit they snore, 35% said their partner snores, 12% said their child snores and 9% reported their pet snores

The original meaning of the word grocer was referring to a person who traded food in wholesale. These people would usually sell in large quantities, or by the "gross."

Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas

Actress Michelle Pfeiffer was the first choice to play Clarice Starling in the movie "Silence of the Lambs." She turned down the role because she found it too scary

The White House has 35 bathrooms, 3 elevators, 132 rooms, and 412 doors in it

Due to the deforestation of the forests in North China, over one million tons of sands blows into Beijing from the Gobi desert. It sometimes causes the sky to turn yellow.

Cows are able to hear lower and higher frequencies better than human beings

Approximately 60% of the water used by households during the summer is used for watering flowers, and lawns

The largest diamond that was ever found was 3106 carats.

In 1970, Chip maker Intel purchased a pear orchard to build their corporate headquarters on

The mating call of a male toadfish, who are underwater, is so loud that it can be heard by humans above water

The most popular jelly belly jellybean flavour is buttered popcorn

The Nike swoosh was invented by Caroline Davidson back in 1971. She received $35 for making the swoosh. The first shoe with the swoosh was introduced in 1972

Slaves under the last emperors of China wore pigtails so they could be picked out quickly

A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out

Kiwis are the only known bird to have nostrils located at the tip of their beak

An adult esophagus can range from 10 to 14 inches in length and is one inch in diameter

A squash ball moving at 150 kilometers per hour has the same impact of a .22 bullet

Telephonophobia is the fear of telephones

The word alligator comes from the Spanish word El Lagarto, which means "The Lizard."

While still in college, Bill Gates and Paul Allen once built a special purpose machine called "Traff-O-Data." It was a machine that would analyze information gathered by traffic monitors. They never found any buyers.

The citric acid found in lemon juice is said to be able to dissolve a pearl

Robert Southey wrote the story "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" in 1834

The tallest woman in the world is American Sandy Allen who is 7 feet 7 inches

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class

Astronauts get taller when they are in space

Only 5 to 10 percent of cheetah cubs make it to adulthood

Dentyne gum was invented in 1899 by a druggist from New York named Franklin V. Canning

It takes about three hours for food to be broken down in the human stomach

When former Texas Governor James Hogg was on his deathbed he made a special request that a pecan tree be planted at the head of his grave instead of a tombstone. The governor passed away on March 2, 1906, which is Texas Independence Day. The pecan tree is now the state tree of Texas

In a year, there are 60,000 trampoline injuries that occur in the U.S

There is an organization called SCROOGE in Charlottesville, Virginia that stands for Society to Curtail Ridiculous, Outrageous, and Ostentatious Gift Exchanges. This was formed to keep gift giving affordable and simple

The first World Series baseball playoffs occurred in 1903

Archipelago is the word to describe a large group of islands that are located close together

The life expectancy of a garbage disposal is about 5 to 10 years

In the original movie "101 Dalmatians," there are exactly 6,469,952 spots on all 101 Dalmatians as they are shown in 113,760 frames of the film combined

The average North American car contains 300 pounds of plastics

A person who is a specialist in wine making is called an oenologist

You can only smell 1/20th as well as a dog

The number one cause of rabies in the United States are bats

The music for "The Star Spangled Banner" comes from a British drinking song named "Anacreon."

27 percent of U.S. male college students believe life is "a meaningless existential hell." (big surprise, eh?)

Close to fifty percent of the bacteria in the mouth lives on the surface of our tongue

Less than 1% of the women in the world will ever be able to wear a diamond that is the size of a carat or more

Ketchup originated in China as a pickled fish sauce called ke-tsiap

An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

In Britain, The Red Lion is the most common name for a pub

In 1997, the record for the highest skydive by a dog at 4,572 feet was established by a dog named Brutus

The majority of burglaries occur during the daytime when people are not home

Traditionally, wild cabbage was used as an aphrodisiac

Tiger Woods was introduced to golf at nine months of age by his father

A person will burn 7 percent more calories if they walk on hard dirt compared to pavement

It would take 29 million years for a car travelling 100 miles per hour to reach the nearest star

Blue Jays can imitate the calls of hawks

There are over three trillion craters on the moon, with some being having a diameter over three feet

In India, a 9-year-old girl was "married" to a stray dog, which tribal custom requires in order to protect a child whose first tooth appears on the upper gum

There is now an ATM at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, which has a winter population of two hundred people

In Canada, men are three times more likely than women to have seen a doctor in the last year

The most expensive spice in the world is saffron

In one night, an adult hippopotamus eats approximately 150 pounds of grass

The U.S. paid Russia $7.2 million for Alaska in 1867

Cows can detect odors up to five miles away

There are about 125 million multiples (twins, triplets, etc.) worldwide

Arthur Giblin was the inventor of the first "flushable" toilet

Consuming chocolate was once considered a sin during the 16th and 17th century. During that time it was provided in the form of a drink and since drinking wine during lent was a sin, so was drinking chocolate

Approximately 40% of the states in the U.S. have severe, or extreme pollution problems

Wendel Clark holds the record for the longest span between NHL All-Star appearances, with 13 years (1986-1999)

Ancient Egyptians believed that onions would keep evil spirits away

Dill seeds are so small that approximately 10,000 dill seeds would be required to make an ounce

To make one pound of whole milk cheese, 10 pounds of whole milk is needed

If all the insects in the world were put on a scale, they would out weigh all creatures

Women smile more than men do

A ripe cranberry will bounce. Another name for a cranberry is bounceberry

Termites work 24 hours per day -- they do not sleep

The Romans used to clean themselves with olive oil since they did not have any soap. They would pour the oil on their bodies, and then use a strigil, which is type of blade, to scrape off any dirt along with the oil

The act of stretching and yawning is referred to as pandiculation

In the 1960 movie "Psycho" by Alfred Hitchcock, chocolate syrup was used to show the blood in the shower scene

Carolyn Shoemaker, famous astronomer, has discovered 32 comets and approximately 300 asteroids

The longest fangs of a snake are found on the Gaboon Viper (Bitis gabonica), and can reach over 2 inches in length

Once a human reaches the age of 35, he/she will start losing approximately 7,000 brain cells a day. The cells will never be replaced

The only king without a moustache in a deck of cards is the king of hearts

Approximately 100,000 people get married in Las Vegas each year

Amish people do not believe in the use of aerosal air fresheners

Coca-cola used to use the slogan "Good to the last drop," in 1908. This slogan was later used by Maxwell House

The blind cavefish is born with eyes, but they fall off as the fish grows

In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies including their eyebrows and eyelashes

The Indian election in 1984 was the largest election of any country. Over 379,000,000 voters were eligible to vote at over 480,000 polling stations

A single chocolate chip gives enough energy to a human being to walk 150 feet

There are 54 bones in your hands including the wrists

The name for Oz in "The Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."

The town of Churchill, Manitoba, located in Canada, is known as the "Polar Bear Capital of the World"

Amtrak is the combination of the words "American" and "Track"

On average, an American relocates 11 times in their life

Fires onland generally move faster uphill than downhill

The cartoon character Popeye was actually based on a real person named Frank "Rocky" Fiegel who was a tough guy who was quite similar to Popeye physically

Frisbee got its name from William Russel Frisbee, who was a pie baker. He used to sell his pies in a thin tin pan, which had Frisbee written on it. When Walter Frederick Morrison thought of the idea of making saucer like disks to play catch, he visited the campus of Yale and noticed people there were using the pie pan to play catch so he therefore renamed his invention to Frisbee

Some arthritis medications contain gold salts, which is used as an anti-inflammatory

Lemon juice can aid in reducing the swelling caused by insect bites

LSD is made from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a type of fungus

DC-10, the name of an airplane stands for "Douglas Commercial."

In approximately 18 months, the papaya tree can grow to be 20 feet tall

Parrots cannot eat chocolate because it is poisonous to their body

Americans are responsible for generating roughly 20% percent of the garbage in the world

Termites are roasted and eaten like popcorn in South Africa

The official state tree of Illinois is The White Oak

It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year'ssupply of footballs.

In 1971, the postal code was introduced in Ottawa, Ontario

The tridacna clam can grow up to four feet long and weigh up to 500 pounds

The state that has the most diners in the world is New Jersey, which is referred to as the "Diner Capital of the World."

Approximately 1-2 calorie are burned a minute while watching T.V

The first recipe for a lasagna type dish was found to be from a British cookbook in the 14th century. Therefore, Italians were not the first ones to come up with the popular dish as believed

Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older

If an identical twin grows up without having a certain tooth, the other twin will most likely also grow up with that tooth missing

Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but he declined

According to legend, tea originated in China when tea leaves accidentally blew into a pot of boiling water

When you sneeze, all your bodily functions momentarily stop, including your heart

Kite flying is a professional sport in Thailand

Urine from men?s public urinals was sold as a commodity in Ancient Rome. It was used as a dye and for making clothes hard

All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5.00 bill

1 out of 350,000 Americans get electrocuted in their life

New Mexico is known as the "Land of Enchantment."

In 1890, Scott Paper produced the first toilet paper to be available on a roll

An elephant in the wild can eat anywhere from 100 - 1000 pounds of vegetation in a 16 hour period

Some of the other names that were thought of for the dwarfs in the Disney movie "Snow White" were Awful, Dirty, Shifty, Hotsy, and Jumpy

In the U.S., over 35 million people have used some sort of illegal drug in the last year

96% of candles that are purchased are by women

The oldest bird on record was Cocky, a cockatoo, who died in the London Zoo at the age of 82

A cow averages 40,000 jaw movements a day

The reason the soft drink Dr Pepper is called that is because the inventor Wade Morrison named it after Dr. Charles Pepper who had given him his first job

Annually 17 tons of gold is used to make wedding rings in the United States

Sex acts like a natural antihistamine, in can clear up a stuffy nose

Women on average live seven years longer than men do

A British term for slot machine is "fruit machine" or "one-armed bandit."

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin

Even though the rose does not bear any fruit, the rose hips have more Vitamin C than most vegetables and fruits

In 1946 Danon Yogurt were the first to add fruit to commercially produced yogurt in U.S

The first domain name ever registered was Symbolics.com on March 15, 1985.

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class

The first flavour of a cheese ball was called "Cheddy Blue."

Over 500 million gallons of Kool-Aid drink are consumed each year

The waste produced by one chicken in its lifetime can supply enough electricity to run a 100-watt bulb for five hours

Hydrogen solid is the most dense substance in the world, at 70.6g/cc

Missouri has been to most NCAA tournaments than any other college without reaching the final four

The hump of a camel can weigh up to 35 kilograms

Lake Malawi has the largest number of fish species in the world

The country of Fiji is made up of 332 islands

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City

The word "sophomore" means "sophisticated moron."

Jim Bristoe, an American, invented a 30-foot-long, 2-ton pumpkin cannon that can fire pumpkins up to five miles.

There are about 61,300 pizza restaurants in the United States of America

To tell if a egg is fully cooked or raw, just spin it. If the egg wobbles then it is still raw, and if it easily spins it is fully cooked

Used in art the word "sfumato" refers to the subtle blending of an outline by gradually blending one tone into another

There is a species of bird, Antpitta avis canis Ridgley, that barks like a dog

The flu pandemic of 1918 killed over 20 million people

Approximately 20% of Americans have a passport

The Nobel prize was first awarded in 1901

The reason why milk is white is because it contains a protein called Casein, which is white. Milk also contains fat, which is also white

After twenty-seven years, Betty Rubble made her debut as a Flintstones Vitamin in 1996

When telephone companies first began hiring telephone operators, they chose teenage boys for the job. They switched to women because the teenage boys were wrestling instead of working and pulling pranks on callers

In a lifetime, the heart pumps about one million barrels of blood

The Sears Tower in Chicago contains enough steel to build 50,000 automobiles

The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, "Mary had a little lamb."

There are 400 species of bacteria in the human colon

On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.

In the 20th century, over three million people have died from earthquakes

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open

People still cut the cheese shortly after death

In ancient Egypt, the only person who was allowed to wear cotton was the High Priest

Blueberries have more antioxidents than any other fruit or vegetables

The Mount Horeb Mustard Museum which is located in Wisconsin has the biggest collection of prepared mustards. They have approximately 4,000 different jars and tubes from all over the world

Bananas trees are not really trees. They are considered to be giant herb plants

Sponge Candy was invented in Buffalo, NY

When the volcano Krakatoa off the Java islands exploded in 1883, it was so loud that it woke some people up in South Australia

Pearls are rarely found in North American oysters

The average cocoon contains about 300-400 metres of silk

Lake Nicaragua boasts the only fresh-water sharks in the entire world

Boxing champion Gene Tunney taught Shakespeare at Yale University

The most popular pickle is the Dill pickle

Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for about 180,000 deaths per year

Every year approximately 3,000 people choke to death

Cow is a Japanese brand of shaving foam

The fastest running bird is the Ostrich, which has been clocked at 97.5 kilometres per hour

When the divorce rate goes up in the United States, toy makers report that the sale of toys also rise

Q-Tip Cotton Swabs were originally called Baby Gays

The Pacific island of Tonga once issued a stamp that was banana shaped

A mole can dig a tunnel three hundred feet long in a single night

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher

The only commercial aircraft that is able to break the sound barrier is the Concorde.

U.S. Postal Service processes 38 million address changes each year

In 1984, Ronald Reagan declared the month of July to be "National Ice Cream Month."

The small intestine in the human body is about 2 inches around, and 22 feet long

In 1905, the first pizzeria in the U.S. opened in New York City

In the early nineteenth century some advertisements claimed that riding the carousel was good for the circulation of blood

For the blockbuster movie "The Terminator," O.J. Simpson was considered to play the role of the Terminator, but producers did not choose him as they thought he would not be taken seriously

The actor who played the T-1000 in Terminator 2 (Robert Patrick) and the lead singer of Filter are brothers

The sole purpose of a drone bee is to mate with the queen bee

There are more plastic flamingos in America than real ones

Walt Disney had a fear of mice

Cleopatra married two of her brothers

In an average lifetime, people spend four years traveling in cars and six months waiting for red light to turn green

At one time, pumpkins were recommended for removing freckles

In just one drop of liquid, 50 million bacteria can be present

The Montreal Canadians hockey team has won the most Stanley Cups with 24

Nylon is a man-made fibre that is made from coal and petroleum

When the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, received an alarming number of threatening letters, soon after her husband became President at the height of the Depression, the Secret Service insisted that she carry a pistol in her purse

Swiss engineer George de Mestral, who got the idea after noticing burrs were sticking to his pants after his regular walks through the woods, invented Velcro.

Bees can communicate with other bees by dancing. Their dance can alert other bees as to which direction and the distance nectar and pollen is located

The steepest street in the world is Baldwin Street located in Dunedin, New Zealand. It has an incline of 38%

One billion pounds of pasta would need approximately 2,021,452,000 gallons of water to cook it. This is equivalent to 75,000 Olympic-size swimming pools

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously

The average Super Bowl party has 18 people

An ant can detect a movement through 5 centimeters of earth

One out of 200 women is colorblind

On average, the rainfall across the Amazon is 7 feet annually.

Passion fruits have a tranquilizing effect on the body

It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky

A snail can sleep for 3 years

"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt"

There is a large brass statue of Winnie-the-Pooh in Lima, Peru

In 1982, Larry Walters tied 24 weather balloons to his lawn chair in Los Angeles and climbed to an altitude of 16,000 feet

Centuries ago in India, a person could get their nose chopped off for breaking the law

The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in Jello

The total number of steps in the Eiffel Tower are 1665

The amount of blood a female mosquito drinks per serving is five millionths of a liter

An adult porcupine has approximately 30,000 quills on its body, which are replaced every year

The name for Ivory Soap was inspired by a verse from the Bible. Harley Proctor got though of the name when the minister read from Psalms 45:8, "All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces whereby they have made thee glad."

A survey done by Clairol 10 years ago came up with 46% of men stating that it was okay to color their hair. Now 66% of men admit to coloring their hair

The name of the squiggly line "~" is called a tilde

In 1747, the first American mention of the Christmas tree occurred. However, it was a not a tree but instead a pyramid made out of wood and decorated with apples and evergreen boughs

There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada

The study of ants is called Myrmecology

In the United States, you are more likely to be killed by a bee sting than a shark attack

Coca-Cola was the first soft drink to be consumed in outer space

Frozen food can be just as nutritious as fresh food

Fourteen people die each day from asthma in the United States

The average amount of time spent kissing for a person in a lifetime is 20,160 minutes

The human body has approximately 37,000 miles of capillaries

The most expensive shoes in the world are ruby slippers located in Harrods in London, which cost $1.6 million, has a full time security guard. The shoes are made from platinum thread and has 642 rubies in them. It took over 700 hours to produce the shoe

Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star

The city of Denver was originally chosen to host the 1976 Winter Olympics, but had to withdraw because Colorado voters rejected to finance it

The longest bout of sneezing recorded was by Donna Griffith. It began in January 13 1981 and continued until September 16 1983 and lasted for 978 days

The Taj Mahal, located in Agra, India, was actually built for use as a tomb by Mogul ruler Shah Jehan for his wife, Arjuman Banu Begum

In 1943, the July issue of "Transportation Magazine" had an article entitled "1943 Guide to Hiring Women."

Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge

Scientists with high-speed cameras have discovered that rain drops are not tear shaped but rather look like hamburger buns.

Ancient Egyptian women used to wear perfume cones made of wax that would melt in the heat letting out a nice fragrance

Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday." This is the festival that New Orleans, Louisiana is famous for having every year

There was once a fish caught in Delaware Bay with a watch still ticking inside

In Singapore, it is illegal to sell or own chewing gum

During the female orgasm, endorphines are released, which are powerful painkillers. So headaches are in fact a bad excuse not to have sex

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes

The nut "filbert" got its name from St. Philbert which is celebrated on August 22nd, which is also when the nut matures

Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his head

Some species of dolphin sleep with one eye open

The chewing gum Juicy Fruit has 10 calories. This is approximately the same as a bite of whole wheat bread

In ancient Egypt, doctors used jolts from the electric catfish to reduce the pain of arthritis

In order to scare away predators, Giant petrels, a type of seabird, throw up all over the intruder

Elvis Presley used to be a truck driver before he started singing

The average cow produces about 2,305 gallons of milk each year

Former U.S. president Ronald Reagan worked as a lifeguard in his youth at a beach near Dixon, Illinois and saved over 77 lives

In 2000, there were 1,579,566 drug arrests in the United States. Of those, close to half were for marijuana

Just like fingerprints, every cats nose pad is different

Popeye is 34 years old, weighs 158 lbs, and is 5 feet 6 inches tall

Researchers have shot footage of Orcas (killer whales) attacking and killing great white sharks

The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca Cola, and Budweiser, in that order

One bushel of wheat can make enough sandwiches that you could eat three sandwiches a day for over six months

In 1992, approximately 750 deaths occurred in the United States due to workplace violence

In the movie "Babe", the piglet was played by over 30 different piglets they outgrew the part so quickly during the production of the film

Research indicates that people prefer the colour blue for their casual clothing

The leading cause of deaths for children between the ages of 1 and 4 are motor vehicle crashes

The first toilet being flushed in a motion picture was in the movie "Psycho."

The human brain has about 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) neurons

One acre of wheat can produce enough bread to feed a family of four people for about ten years

Queen Victoria used marijuana, to help relieve menstrual cramp pain

On a ship a toilet is called a head

About 1 in 5,000 North Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue

Approximately 10.5 gallons of water is used in a dishwasher. Washing the dishes by hand can use up to 20 gallons of water

The thing that hangs from the top of the beak of a turkey is called the snood

Ticks can be as small as a grain of rice and grow to be as big as a marble

An American chews an average of 300 sticks of gum in a year

Most cows give more milk when they listen to music

Giant flying foxes, which are a type of bat, that live in Indonesia have wingspans of nearly six feet

Heavier lemons contain more and tastier juice

Since 1950, over 230 million eggs of Silly Putty have been sold

Oral-B is a combination of oral hygiene and the letter B, which stands for the word better

Frank Wathernam was the last prisoner to leave Alcatraz prison on March 21, 1963

A blink lasts approximately 0.3 seconds

In 1903 Mary Anderson invented the windshield wipers

Both Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, U.S. presidents, were peanut farmers at one time

A cow releases about 125 gallons of gas per day

The Apollo 17 crew were the last men on the moon

Spartacus led the revolt of the Roman slaves and gladiators in 73 B.C

The Mexican version of the Tooth Fairy is known as the Tooth Mouse, which takes the tooth and leaves treasures in its place

In a day the blue whale calf drinks approximately 130 gallons of milk

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do

All racehorses in the U.S. celebrate their birthday on January 1st

A person would have to drink more than 12 cups of hot cocoa to equal the amount of caffeine found in one cup of coffee

The oldest documented footwear found was a 8,000 year-old sandal found in a cave located in Missouri, USA

Broccoli was first introduced into France during the royal marriage of Catherine de Medici to Henry II of France

By federal law, for a noodle to actually be a noodle it must have 5.5 percent egg solids in it, otherwise it cannot be called a noodle

The first female guest host of Saturday Night Live was actress Candace Bergen

The human heart beast roughly 35 million times a year

People that use mobile phones are 2.5 time more likely to develop cancer in areas of the brain that are adjacent to the ear they use to talk on the mobile phone

Turkeys can have heart attacks. When the Air Force was conducting test runs and breaking the sound barrier, fields of turkeys dropped dead because of heart attacks

The act of sneezing is referred to as sternutation

The average medium size piano has about 230 strings

A study revealed that men that were born with a low birth weight were less likely to get married

It takes about 63,000 trees to make the newsprint for the average Sunday edition of The New York Times

On average, you would need 12.5 gallons of milk to make one gallon of ice cream

A leech can gorge itself up to a maximum of five times its body weight

There are places in Saskatchewan called Elbow, Eyebrow, and Drinkwater

A butterfly has to have a body temperature greater than 86 degrees to be able to fly

The beeswax that is produced by Honey bees comes from eight paired glands that are located on the underside of their stomach

People in low-income homes spend 50% more time playing video games than people in high-income homes

Lighthouse keepers were nicknamed "wickies" because they tended the lamps wick

Taco Bell serves over 35 million consumers each week in the USA

During the Roman times, people used urine, called lotium in Latin, as a hair product

There are approximately 90 people that have been frozen after their death.

The smallest will ever written was 3.8 cm in diameter. It had 40 words written on it and was signed by two witnesses

The length of a human esophagus is 25 centimeters

In 1942 the Jello company introduced Cola flavored jello, which only lasted a year

Males account for 60% of toy injuries that occur in the U.S

The company "Sony" was originally called "Totsuken." They felt the name "Sony" would be easier to pronounce. The name was invented by a cross between the name "sonus" and "sonny." The name sound and sonic are derived. Sonny was used to represent a young man or boy, which would show a energetic young company

The Red Cross is called the Red Crescent in Arab countries

The Olympics were originally held for the Greek god Zeus

The oldest inhabited house in Scotland is the Traquair Castle. The castle has had 27 kings as visitors

Four billion pounds of watermelon were grown in the United States in 1999

Wham-O manufactured twenty-thousand hula-hoops a day at the peak of hula-hoop popularity in 1958

JELL-O was declared The "Official State Snack" of Utah in January 2001

Elvis Presley was obsessed with brushing his teeth

When the Statue of Liberty was moved from France to the United States, 214 crates were used to transport it. The Statue was also reduced to 350 pieces

There are approximately 2000 thunderstorms that are active at the same time which results in 100 lightning flashes a second.

In-vitro babies are born in Australia more than any other country in the world

Uranus? winter and summer seasons last the equivalent of 21 Earth years

More people die from eating sharks then from being eaten by them. This is due to a poison in shark meat

The murder rate in the United States is about four times greater than in Japan. In Japan, no private citizen can buy a handgun legally

The rarest chocolate bar in the world is the Porcelana bar. There are only 20,000 of these bars produced a year, and they sell for $90 per pound

The reason why locusts swarm are because when they are in groups, a "hot-spot" behind their hind legs is stimulated, which in turn causes their destructive nature. A large swarm of locusts can eat eighty thousand tons of corn in a day

There are an equivalent number of cows and people in Friesland, Netherlands

Centipedes always have an uneven pairs of walking legs

A chicken once had its head cut off and survived for over eighteen months, headless

The largest diamond found in the United States was a 40.23 carat white diamond. It was found in 1924 and nicknamed the "Uncle Sam."

Following directions off the Internet and chemicals obtained from a mail order company, a team of U.S. scientists created an identical copy of the polio virus.

Every day, the Hubble telescope transmits enough data to fit 10,000 standard computer disks

The average number of people that go to a party for the Super Bowl is 17

The amount of Kit Kat chocolate bars that are made at the York factory every 15 minutes are enough to outstack the Eiffel Tower

The skin of a shark is made up of "tiny teeth" which are called dermal denticles

The strongest gust of wind was recorded at the Mount Washington Observatory on April 12th, 1934, and measured 231 miles per hour.

The company Chanel claims that every 30 seconds, somewhere in the world, a bottle of Chanel No 5 is sold

In their lifetime, house cats spend approximately 10,950 hours purring

The reason why bubbles are round is because this is the most efficient shape that the soap film can take for the amount of air trapped inside

It is very common for babies in New Zealand to sleep on sheepskins. This is to help them gain weight faster, and retain their body heat

From 1526 to 1707, the first six Mogul emperors of India ruled in unbroken succession from father to son

A one kilogram packet of sugar will have about 5 million grains of sugar

Bats emit ultrasonic sounds to communicate with each other

Rats can survive up to 14 days without any food

Canola oil is actually rapeseed oil but the name was changed in Canada for marketing reasons

Three consecutive strikes in bowling is called a turkey

In a year, about 90 million jars of Skippy Peanut Butter are sold. This works out to three jars sold every second

In a lifetime, an average man will shave 20,000 times

The Pentagon has 284 restrooms

From 1967-1976, the town of Tororo located in Uganda had thunder 251 out of the 365 days in a year for those years.

Children grow faster in the springtime than any other season during the year

Another name for licorice is "Sweet Wood" or "Spanish Juice."

The reason the Animal Crackers box is designed with a string handle is because when the popular circus theme was introduced in 1902 they thought it would also be a good idea to package them with a string as a Christmas novelty so they could be hung from Christmas trees

Sheep can detect other sheep faces like humans do. They can remember up to 50 sheep faces

The loudest insect in the world is the male cicadas, which are like crickets. When they rub their abdomens, the sound made can be heard from 1300 feet

Each year 96 billion pounds of food is wasted in the U.S

In the past 60 years, the groundhog has only predicted the weather correctly 28% of the time. The rushing back and forth from burrows is believed to indicate sexual activity, not shadow seeking

Pretzel snacks have been around for over 1300 years. A European monk invented the snack using used leftover bread dough

Sharks are capable of surviving on average six weeks without eating. The record observed in an aquarium is fifteen months by a species of shark known as the "swell shark."

The destruction of the Berlin Wall began when private citizens began to demolish entire sections of the Wall without interference from government officials on November 9, 1989

Most American women have their first baby when they are 24.3 years old

Frogs do not need to drink water as they absorb the water through their skin

A group of larks is called an exaltation

The Kool Aid Man used to be known as "Pitcher Man" when he was first introduced in 1975

Wheel of Fortune star Vanna White holds the record for putting her hands together approximately 140,000 times to clap

Men sweat more than women. This is because women can better regulate the amount of water they lose

Research has indicated that approximately eleven minutes are cut off the life of an average male smoker from each cigarette smoked

The triangular shape that Toblerone chocolates are packaged in, is protected by law

In 1945, the first "floating ice cream parlor" was built for sailors in the western Pacific. This "floating ice cream parlour" could produce ten gallons of ice cream every seven seconds

The formula for Coca-cola has never been patented

The average day is actually 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.09 seconds. We have a leap year every four years to make up for this shortfall

Before its name was changed, the African Penguin used be called the Jackass Penguin because of its donkey-like braying call

During the high feeding season, it has been estimated that an adult blue whale can eat up to 40 million krill in one day. (Krill are shrimp like creatures)

Pound for pound, leopards are said to be seven times stronger than humans

One average, men spend 60 hours a year shaving

Botanically a rhubarb is a vegetable. It was changed to a fruit in 1947 by a U.S. Custom Court

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

The movie that grossed the most money that was adapted from a T.V. cartoon is Scooby-Doo

There are five million scent receptors located in a human beings nose

When Coca-Cola was invented, American tourists that visited Spain were surprised to see that Coke was three times as expensive as a glass of brandy

Some silkworms can spin cocoons that contain more than two miles of silk

The mother of famous astronomer Johannes Kepler was accused of being a witch

At one time, Pumpkins were recommended for the removal of freckles and curing snake bites

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies

Approximately 200 pets are buried in a pet cemetery out of the thousands of pets that die each day

The average Hostess Twinkie is 68 percent air as measured by volume according to university researchers

In Haiti, only 1 out of every 200 people own a car. This is ironic considering approximately 33% of the country's budget on import is spent on equipment for fuel and transportation.

Every U.S. bill regardless of denomination costs just 4 cents to make

About 30% of American admit to talking to their dogs or leaving messages on their answering machines for their dogs while they are away

A duck�s quack doesn�t echo, and no one knows why

Caterpillar means "hairy cat" in Old French

The ostrich has two toes on each feet which gives it greater speed

On September 3, 1970, a hailstone was found in Coffeyville, Kansas that was eight inches in diameter and weighed 1.67 pounds.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus is the longest English word that consists strictly of alternating consonants and vowels

It can take up to a month for a rattlesnake to re-supply its venom

Close to 3 billion movie tickets are sold in India every year

The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left

There were approximately 2,228 people on board the Titanic when it sank. Of this, only 706 people survived

An elephant can live up to the age of seventy, or in some cases even more

The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world

Elephants can't jump. Every other mammal can.

The name "cranberry" comes from German and Dutch settlers. The berry was intially called "crane berry." The reason it was called this was because when the flowers bloom, the petals of the flowers twist backwards and look very much like the head of a crane. Eventually the name was shortened down to be "cranberry."

In New Mexico, over eleven thousand people have visited a tortilla chip that appeared to have the face of Jesus Christ burned into it

On average, he ratio of yellow kernels to white kernals in a bag of popcorn is 9:1

The first toilet stall in a public washroom is the least likely to be used. It is also the cleanest

In 1955, only 330 Volkswagen Beetle's were sold at a price of $1800 each in the United States.

Printed on the tablet being held by the Statue of Liberty is July IV, MDCCLXXVI

The country of Fiji is made up of 332 islands

Orville Wright, a pilot, was involved in the first aircraft accident. His passenger, a Frenchman, was killed.

The first company to mass produce teddy bears was the Ideal Toy Company

Princess Anne from the British royal family competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics

Brazil produces the most oranges in the world

Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.

The eyeball of a human weighs approximately 28 grams

A human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it is been decapitated

Witchcraft means "Craft of the Wise Ones."

500,000 kids in the US live in same sex households

In July 1874, a swarm of Rocky Mountain locusts flew over Nebraska covering an area estimated at 198,600 square miles. It is estimated that the swarm contained about 12.5 trillion insects. These insects became extinct thirty years later

Tropical rainforests cover about 7% of the Earth and receive over 80 inches of rain every year

The feet have approximately 250,000 sweat glands

Approximately 7.5% of all office documents get lost

The desert tortoise can live without having to drink any water. It extracts the water it needs from the vegetation it eats

There were 13 couples celebrating their honeymoon on the Titanic

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear

There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball

Elvis Presley had a twin brother named Jesse Garon Presley who died at birth

Robert Wadlow is the tallest man recorded in history. He grew to be eight feet and eleven inches and weighed 490 pounds when he died

Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball

Research indicates that plants grow healthier when they are stroked.

France is known as the perfume capital of the world

According to psychologists, the shoe and the foot are the most common sources of sexual fetishism in Western society

Constipation is caused when too much water is absorbed in the large intestine and the feces become dry

One ton of grapes can produce 720 bottles of wine

Eating about twenty tart cherries a day could reduce inflammatory pain and headache pain

In 2001, the five most valuable brand names in order were Coca-Cola, Microsoft, IBM, GE, and Nokia

Milk chocolate was invented in Switzerland by David Peter in 1876

In November 1999, two women were killed by a lightning bolt. The underwire located in their bras acted as a electrical conductors, and when the lightning bolt hit the bra they left burn marks on their chest

Basketball was invented by Canadian James Naismith in 1891

Over 100,000 birds and sea animals are killed every year due to plastic garbage

The big toe is the foot reflexology pressure point for the head

85% of weddings are held in a synagogue or church

The sport of surfing originated in Hawaii

It is possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs

Before soccer referees started using whistles in 1878, they used to rely on waving a handkerchief

Tobacco kills more Americans each year than alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, homicide, suicide, car accidents, fire and AIDS combined

The best time for a person to buy shoes is in the afternoon. This is because the foot tends to swell a bit around this time

Dead cells in the body ultimately go to the kidneys for excretion

Americans, on average, spend 18% of his or her income on transportation as compared to only 13% spent on food

There are some species of snails that are venomous. Their venom can be fatal to humans

The first box of Crayola that was ever sold had the same eight colours that are sold in the box today consisting of red, blue, yellow, green, violet, orange, black and brown. The box was sold for a nickel in 1903

A turtle can breathe through its butt.

The rarest coffee in the world is Kopi Luwak, which is found in Indonesia. It cost about $300 a pound

The average America online user spends 70 minutes day online

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 1945. He later claimed the song title ended with ?Yank? and the rest was a joke

People of Ancient China believed that swinging your arms could cure a headache

In 1938, Cliquot Club ginger ale was the first soft drink to be canned

The largest apple pie ever baked was forty by twenty three feet

Roughly 44% of junk mail is thrown away unopened

Catfish have tastebuds located on their whiskers

The laundry detergent Tide, has a market share of about forty percent market

A Canadian, Troy Hurtubise, spent $100,000 and almost went bankrupt building a RoboCop style suit so that he could withstand a bear attack

The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, andBudweiser, in that order.

The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League all-stars Game

In the United States, 8.5 million cosmetic surgical and non-surgical procedures were done in the year 2001

The Bible has been translated into Klingon.

Ian Fleming named his character "James Bond" after real-life ornithologist and author

Most dinosaurs walked on their toes.

On December 17 1991, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Miami Heat 148-80, the largest margin of victory in an NBA game

There are mirrors on the moon. Astronauts left them so that laser beams could be bounced off of them from Earth. These beams help give us the distance to the moon give or take a few metres.

The U.S. army packs Tabasco pepper sauce in every ration kit that they give to soldiers

The trunk of an elephant can hold up to two gallons of water

Every year, an igloo hotel is built in Sweden that has the capacity to sleep 100 people

During the holiday season, approximately $220 million worth of Poinsettias are sold

A newborn kangaroo weighs approximately 0.03 ounces and is small enough to fit in a teaspoon

When Scott Paper Co. first started manufacturing toilet paper they did not put their name on the product because of embarrassment

The most senior crayon maker Emerson Moser retired after making 1.4 billion crayons for Crayola. It was then that he revealed that he was actually colorblind

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point inColorado.

Scientists have determined that having guilty feelings may actually damage your immune system

"Go." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language

There are more than 250,000 rivers in the United States, which amounts to 3.5 million miles of rivers

Forty-one percent of women apply body and hand moisturizer at least three times a day

Pretzel that have no salt on them are called "baldies."

The 1912 Olympics was the last Olympics that gave out gold medals that were made entirely out of gold

Monopoly is the best-selling board game in the world

There was a book written fourteen years before the sinking of the Titanic happened titled "Futility" by Morgan Robertson. This book was remarkably similar to the tragedy that happened to the Titanic in 1912

One ounce of chocolate has about 20 mg of caffeine in it

A giraffe can go longer without water than a camel

Vikings, after killing their enemies, used their skulls as drinking vessels

Studies have shown that classical music helps cows produce more milk

Two out of five people end up marrying their first love

The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters

The name "Muppet" was coined by Jim Henson. The word was made from a combination of the word "marionette" and "puppet."

In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years

The Christmas season begins after sunset on December 24th and lasts until January 5th. This is also known as the Twelve Days of Christmas

Mosquitoes are attracted to the color blue more than any other color

In Italy, Santa Claus is known by the name Babbo Natale

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

When blue whales are first born, they gain as much as 200 pounds a day while they are calves

Families who do turn off the television during meals tend to eat healthier. This was regardless of family income, or education

About 25 percent of all the energy consumed in the US is from natural gas

American novelist Mark Twain was the first known author to submit a typed manuscript

If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb

Canada is the only country not to win a gold medal in the Summer Olympic games while hosting the event

The sound made by the toadfish when mating underwater is so loud that it can be heard by humans on the shore

In America, approximately 20% of children between the ages of 2 - 7 have televisions in their rooms

Traveling by air is the safest means of transportation.

In 1996, toy company Mattel released a "Harley Davidson" Barbie. This dolls distinctive feature is a birth mark on her face that changes position with every new release of the doll

The most common injury caused by cosmetics is to the eye by a mascara wand

There have been close to 200 coups and counter-coups in the country of Bolivia

On average, pigs live for about 15 years

Roughly 42% of people in the United Kingdom snore

No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl

Beluga whales which are also called "white whales" are not born white. They are born grey in color, and by the age of six become completely white

Tiger Woods is the first athlete to has been named "Sportsman of the Year" by magazine Sports Illustrated two times

The eight most popular foods to cause food allergies are: milk, eggs, wheat, peanuts, soy, tree nuts, fish, and shellfish

Club Direct, a travel insurance company in Britain, provides insurance plans for protection from falling coconuts

There are some bananas that are red instead of yellow

Only one out of every three people wash their hands when leaving a public bathroom

570 gallons of paint would be needed to paint the outside of the White House

Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day

Every three seconds a baby is born somewhere in the world

The total mileage driven by all U-Haul trucks in a year is enough to move a person from the Earth to the moon five times a day for an entire year

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every fivemust be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips intimes ofwar or other emergencies.

Pluto was discovered on February 10, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh

Termites have been around for over 250 million years

The average person changes their career every 13 years

The New York Yankees have appeared in the World Series a league leading 38 times and won 26 titles

Approximately 18 billion disposable diapers end up in landfills each year. These diapers can takes as long as 500 years to finally decompose

Over 4.5 billion sticks have Trident gum have been chewed. If the stick of gum were laid out end to end they could circle the globe approximately 1.8 times

Oak trees can live 200 or more years

The brain of an ant has about 250,000 brain cells

About 26 per cent of all indoor water used by households in Sydney, Australia are for laundry

A rainbow can occur only when the sun is 40 degrees or less above the horizon

If you spray an antiseptic spray on a polar bear, its fur will turn purple

Over $7 billion a year is spent on chocolates by consumers

During World War II, Russians used dogs strapped with explosives to blow up German tanks. They trained the dogs to associate the tanks with food and ended up destroying about 25 German tanks using this method

Butterflies taste with their feet

St. Louis, Missouri was the first U.S. city to host the summer Olympics in 1904

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law whichstated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than yourthumb.

Every year Alaska has about 5,000 earthquakes, 1,000 of which measure above 3.5 on the Richter scale

A fetus develops fingerprints at eighteen weeks

It takes about a half a gallon of water to cook macaroni, and about a gallon to clean the pot

The cornea is the only living tissue in the human body that does not contain any blood vessels

In the U.S. peanuts account for 66% of all snack nuts

There are approximately 7,000 feathers on an eagle

Sharks can sense a drop of blood from a mile away

As a defense mechanism, the North American Opossum closes its eyes and becomes totally limp. Basically it plays dead

The longest town name in the world has 167 letters

A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 m.p.h

A cesium atom in an atomic clock that beats over nine billion times a second.

The mythical Scottish town of Brigadoon appears for one day every one hundred years

Kermit the frog delivered the commencement address at Southampton College located in the state of New York in 1996

In World War II, the German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet

The phrase "Often a bridesmaid, but never a bride," actually originates from an advertisement for Listerine mouthwash from 1924

Over 50% of lottery players go back to work after winning the jackpot

The largest cultivated crop in the United States is corn

Walt Disney holds the record for the most Oscar nominations with sixty-four

On average, Americans eat one hundred acres of pizza a day. This amounts to about three hundred fifty slices per second

As an iceberg melts, it makes a fizzing sound because of the compressed air bubbles popping in the ice

The Arctic Ocean covers an area of about 14,056,000 sq miles

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

Most toilets flush in E flat

Bile produced by the liver is responsible for making your feces a brownish, green colour

At one time the group "Grateful Dead" were called "The Warlocks."

Bats can detect food up to 18 feet away and what type of insect the food may be using their sense of echolocation

At the equator the Earth spins at about 1,038 miles per hour

People whose mouth has a narrow roof are more likely to snore. This is because they have less oxygen going through their nose

In one day, a human sheds 10 billion skin flakes. This amounts to approximately two kilograms in a year

On average, an American home has 3-10 gallons of hazardous materials

On average, 35 meters of hair fibre is produced on the adult scalp

Dalmatian puppies do not have any spots on them when they are born. They actually develop them as they get older

Male goats will pee on each other in order to attract mates

A dog by the name of Laika was launched into space aboard the Russian spacecraft Sputnik 2 in 1957

In 2002, dogs have killed more people in the U.S. than the Great White shark has killed in the past 100 years

The study of twins is known as gemellology

On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper right-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner

During one seven year period, Thomas Edison obtained approximately three hundred patents. In is whole life he obtained over one thousand patents.

When Black Jack Ketchum was hung back in 1901 in Clayton New Mexico, the noose actually ended up taking his head off. The head had to be sewn back on so Black Jack could be buried properly

Every 40,000 children are killed by fires

The highest recorded speed of a sneeze is 165 km per hour

In 1985, a pregnant women was falsely accused of shoplifting a basketball

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere

The adult electric eel can produce a five hundred volt shock, which is enough to stun a horse

When the are in danger, kangaroos will beat the ground loudly with their hind feet

To manufacture a new car approximately 148,000 liters of water is needed.

In 410 A.D. Alaric the Visigoth demanded that Rome give him three thousand pounds of pepper as ransom

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis invented a special diaper for babies that has a pocket

Honeybees use the sun as a compass which helps them navigate

An average driver spends approximately 2 hours and 14 minutes kissing in their car in a lifetime

In gangster slang, a boxing match that is fixed is called a "barney."

Ten amazing facts about your brain

2008-07-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Your brain uses less power than your refrigerator light

The brain uses 12 watts of power. Over the course of a day, your brain uses the amount of energy contained in two large bananas. Curiously, even though the brain is very efficient, it's an energy hog. It is only 3 per cent of the body's weight, but consumes 1/6 (17 per cent) of the body's total energy. Most of its energy costs go into maintenance; the added cost of thinking hard is barely noticeable.

Frequent jet lag can damage memory

Jet lag is not simply annoying; in repeated doses it can be dangerous to your brain's health. People who often cross many time zones can experience brain damage and memory problems. This probably results from the stress hormones released during jet lag that are known to damage the temporal lobe and memory. You probably don't need to worry because, unless you work for an airline, few people fly across multiple time zones more often than every two weeks. Shift workers are more likely to be at risk. Like repeated jet travel, frequent drastic changes in working hours are likely to cause stress on the body and brain.

Why you can't hear phone conversations in a noisy room

Talking on your mobile phone in a noisy place can be difficult. Your mobile makes the brain's task harder by feeding sounds from the room you're in through its circuitry and mixing them with the sound it gets from the other phone. This makes it a harder problem for your brain to solve because your friend's transmitted voice and the room noise are tinny and mixed together in one source. Cover the mouthpiece when you're trying to hear your caller and you'll stop the mixing.

Shoot-'em-up video games can help you to multitask

Sustained multitasking increases your ability to pay attention to many things at the same time. A significant source of practice is playing action video games where the aim is to shoot as many enemies as possible before they shoot you. These games make you distribute attention across the screen, and quickly detect and react to events. Playing Tetris (an early puzzle-based video game) doesn't have the same effect, perhaps because you have to concentrate on only one object at a time, rather than multitask. Does this mean that you should encourage your kids to play shoot-'em-up action games? We wouldn't go out of our way to expose kids to violent images, but at least you can take heart that video game-playing has positive effects.

The brain has a joke centre

Humour is hard to define, but we know it when we see it. One theory suggests that humour consists of a surprise - we don't end up where we thought we were going - followed by a reinterpretation of what came earlier to make it fit the new perspective.

To make it a joke instead of a logic puzzle, the result needs to be a coherent story that isn't strictly sensible in everyday terms. Some patients with damage to the frontal lobe of their brain, particularly on the right side, don't get jokes at all. Typically, this is because they have trouble with the reinterpretation stage of the process. For instance, given a joke with a choice of punchlines, they can't tell which one is funny.

There's a reason you remember those annoying songs

Having a song or, more often, part of a song stuck in your head is incredibly frustrating. But sequence recall has a special and useful place in our memories. We constantly have to remember sequences, from the movements involved in signing our name or making coffee in the morning, to the names of the exits that come before the motorway turn-off we take to drive home every day.

The ability to recall these sequences makes many aspects of everyday life possible. As you think about a snippet of song or speech, your brain may repeat a sequence that strengthens the connections associated with that phrase. In turn, this increases the likelihood that you will recall it, which leads to more reinforcement.

You could break this unending cycle of repeated recall and reinforcement - which may be necessary for the normal strengthening and cementing of memories - by introducing other sequences. Thinking of another song may allow a competing memory to crowd out the first one: find another infectious song and hope that the cure doesn't become more annoying than the original problem.

Sunlight makes you sneeze

Many people sneeze when they look into bright light. Why would we have such a reflex and how does it work? The basic function of a sneeze is fairly obvious: it expels substances or objects that are irritating your airways. The sneezing centre is located in the brainstem, in a region called the lateral medulla; damage to this site means that we lose the ability to sneeze.

Sneezing usually is triggered by news of an irritant that is sent through brain pathways and into the lateral medulla. This information gets to the brain from the nose through several nerves, including the trigeminal nerve, which carries a wide variety of signals from the face into the brainstem. It's a really crowded nerve, which might explain why bright light could induce a sneeze. A bright light, which would normally be expected to trigger pupil contraction, might also spill over to neighbouring sites, such as nerve fibres or neurons that carry nose-tickling sensations.

Bright light isn't the only unexpected sensation that is known to trigger sneezes; orgasm can also trigger sneezes in men. Fundamentally, a crossed-wire phenomenon, like the photic sneeze reflex, is possible because the circuitry of the brainstem is a jumbled, crowded mess.

You can't tickle yourself

When doctors examine a ticklish patient, they place his or her hand over theirs to prevent the tickling sensation. Why does this work? Because no matter how ticklish you may be, you can't tickle yourself.

This is because your brain keeps your senses focused on what's happening in the world; important signals aren't drowned out in the endless buzz of sensations caused by your actions. For instance, we are unaware of the feel of a chair and the texture of our socks, yet we immediately notice a tap on our shoulder.

To accomplish this goal, some brain region must be able to generate a signal that distinguishes our touch from someone else's. The cerebellum, or “little brain”, may be the answer. It is about 1/8 of our total brain size - a little smaller than our fist - and weighs about 4oz (113g). It is also the best candidate that scientists have for the part of the brain that predicts the sensory consequences of our own actions.

The cerebellum is in an ideal location for distinguishing expected from unexpected sensations. If a prediction matches the actual sensory information, then the brain knows that it's safe to ignore the sensation because it's not important. If reality does not match the prediction, then something surprising has happened - and you might need to pay attention.

Yawns wake up the brain

Although we associate yawning with sleepiness and boredom, its function appears to be to wake us up. Yawning expands our pharynx and larynx, allowing large amounts of air to pass into our lungs; oxygen then enters our blood, making us more alert. Many vertebrates do it, including all mammals and perhaps birds. It also has been observed in human foetuses after just 12 weeks of gestation. In non human primates, it is associated with tense situations and potential threats.

Think of yawns as your body's attempt to reach full alertness in situations that require it. They are contagious, as anyone who has attempted to teach a roomful of bored students knows. No one is sure why, though it might be advantageous to allow individuals quickly to transmit to one another a need for increased arousal. They are not contagious in non primate mammals, but the ability to recognise a yawn may be fairly general: dogs yawn in response to stressful situations and are thought to use yawning to calm others. You can even sometimes calm your dog by yawning.

Altitude makes the brain see strange visions

Many religions involve special visions that occurred at great heights. For example, Moses encountered a voice emanating from a burning bush on Mount Sinai and Muhammad was visited by an angel on Mount Hira. Commonly reported spiritual experiences include feeling and hearing a presence, seeing a figure, seeing lights (sometimes emanating from a person) and being afraid.

Similar phenomena are reported by mountain climbers, a group generally not thought to be very mystical. Could it be something about the mountains? Acute mountain sickness occurs above altitudes of 8,000ft (2,400m). Many of the effects are attributable to the reduced supply of oxygen to the brain. At 8,000ft or higher, some mountaineers report perceiving unseen companions, seeing light emanating from themselves or others, seeing a second body like their own, and suddenly feeling emotions such as fear. Oxygen deprivation is likely to interfere with brain regions active in visual and face processing, and in emotional events.

Great facts - 2

2008-07-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

In 75% of American households, women manage the money and pay the bills

In a year, an average person uses the toilet 2500 times a year

A honey bee has four wings

The Bank of America was originally called the Bank of Italy until the founder, Amedeo Giannini, changed the name in 1930

Other than London, Liverpool is the most filmed British city, and was used to film more than 140 films in 2002

The body of the average baby is 75% water

A Chinese Scientist discovered that the Earth is round during the Han Dynasty by measuring the sun and moon's path in the sky. He recorded this fact down in the imperial records but went unnoticed until it was unearthed recently but Chinese archaeologists.

Each year, Americans throw away 25 trillion Styrofoam cups

There are more than 2,000 different varieties of cheese in the world

On average, Guinness sells 7 million glasses of beer a day

An artist from Chicago named Dwight Kalb created a statue of Madonna made out of 180 pounds of ham

Reports from owners of cats and dogs indicate that 21% of dogs and 7% of cats snore

The scarlet tanager, a songbird native to Illinois, can eat as many as 2,100 gypsy-moth caterpillars in one hour

To make one raindrop of water, it takes approximately a million cloud droplets

At 120 miles per hour, a Formula One car generates so much downforce that it can drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel

The smallest bone in the human body is the stapes bone which is located in the ear

India used to be the richest country in the world until the British invasion in the early 17th Century

The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer

Some African tribes refer to themselves as "motherhoods" instead of families

Between 1902 and 1907, the same tiger killed 434 people in India

The word vaccine comes from the Latin word "vacca," which means cow. This name was chosen beacause the first vaccination was derived from cowpox which was given to a boy

James Bond is also known as Mr. Kiss-Kiss-Bang-Bang

A snail can crawl across a razor blade without getting injured. This is possible because they excrete a slime that protects them

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 murders by a woman are 612, by Countess Erzsebet Bathory of Hungary

Approximately 97.35618329% of all statistics are made up

The largest spider ever was the Megarachne which had a diameter of 50 cm. The fossil was found in Argentina

In Russia, when flowers are given for a romantic occasions, flowers are given in odds numbers as even number of flowers is given at funerals only

Next to man, the porpoise is the most intelligent creature on earth

The hippopotamus has the capability to remain underwater for as long as twenty-five minutes

The Australian box-jellyfish has eight eyes

In 1916, an elephant was tried and hung for murder in Erwin, Tennessee

A sheep, a duck and a rooster were the first passengers in a hot air balloon

The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma

In the UK, one third of accidental deaths that happen occur in the home

After the U.S Civil War, about 33%-50% of all U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit

Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined

The Hawaiian alphabet only has 12 letters

Tycho Brahe, a 16th century astronomer, 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

Termites do more damage in the U.S. ever year than all the fires, storms and earthquakes combined. They do an average of $750 million in damage annually

Burger King restaurants serve over 400 million ounces of orange juice annually

Each year the Pentagon estimates their computer network is hacked about 250,000 times annually

The first president to ride in an airplane was Franklin Roosevelt

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)

A tree in metropolitan area will survive for approximately eight years

The only flying saucer launch pad in the world is located in St. Paul, Alberta, Canada

The sex of a baby crocodile is determined by the temperature in the nest and how deeply the eggs are buried

Polar bears are left handed

Food can only be tasted if it is mixed with saliva

Walter Hunt patented the safety pin in 1849. He later sold the patent rights for only $400.

The coliseum in Rome was used regularly for about 400 years

Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults laugh on average only 15 times a day

The first formal rules for playing the sport of baseball required the winning team to score 21 runs

The University of Plymouth was the first university to offer a degree in surfing

Retail sales for soft drinks in the United States in 2001 were more than sixty billion dollars

Hens will produce larger eggs as they grow older

In Quebec, Canada, an old law states that margarine must be a different colour than butter

In the United States, about 33% of land is covered by forests

Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries

Shridhar Chillal from India is known to have the record for the longest fingernails in the world, which were each at least three feet long

In 1905, Chapman and Skinner in San Francisco invented the first portable electric vacuum.

Minimum wage was 0.25 per hour when it was first enacted in 1938

The conjunctiva is a membrane that covers the human eye

In 1785, the city of Paris removed bones from cemeteries to ease the overflow of dead people. They took these bones and stacked them in tunnels now known as the Catacombs. You can visit these tunnel attractions and work your way along long corridors, which are stacked with skulls and bones

It is estimated that over fifty-four million people died in World War II, which was the bloodiest war in history

Arabic numerals were not invented by Arabs, but were invented in India by the Hindus

Each year in America there are about 300,000 deaths that can be attributed to obesity

The first ever "World Summit on Toilets" was held in Singapore in November 2001

Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana

Researchers have developed odourless socks. The sock fabric is made by attaching molecules that contain chlorine called halamines to textile fibers

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the man who designed the Eiffel Tower, also designed the inner structure of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbour

In the 1985 Boise, Idaho mayoral election, there were four write-in votes for Mr. Potato Head

MS-DOS was originally calle QDOS and was bought of the author by Microsoft for a small fee. The rest is history

Marilyn Monroe had six toes

The Roman emperor Commodus was at one time going to change the name of Rome to Colonia Commodiana

The state of Alaska has almost twice as many caribou as people

Another way to say "every 9 years" is Novennial

In the spring of 1975, a baby in Detroit fell 14 stories and landed on Joseph Figlock, who was walking below. A few years later it happened again. Figlock and both babies survived

Close to fifty percent of Internet shoppers spend over five hours a week online

Los Angeles is the most polluted city in the USA

For people that are lactose intolerant, chocolate aids in helping milk digest easier

Using recycled aluminum cans and making news cans out of them saves 75% energy compared to making it from new material.

In a year, Americans eat approximately 20 billion pickles

Althaiophobia is the fear of marshmallows

There are are roughly 100 million single adults living in the USA

In the year 2000, there were approximately 11,000 injuries that were treated in a hospital in the U.S. that resulted from fireworks

Brazil is the largest producers of oranges in the world

4% of an apples is made up of minerals and vitamins, and over 80% is made up of water

From all the oxygen that a human breathes, twenty percent goes to the brain

In 1902, the coat hanger was invented Albert Parkhouse who was frustrated at the lack of hooks available to hang up his coat at work. His company thought it was a good idea and patented the invention and unfortunately, Parkhouse never received any money for his idea

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

The longest game of Monopoly played underwater is 45 days

In WWII, when allied armies reached the Rhine River the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it). Gen. Patton had himself photographed in the act

Peaches were once known as Persian apples

Dustin Phillips of the U.S. has the record for ketchup drinking. He drank a 14-ounce bottle of tomato ketchup through a ? inch straw in 33 seconds on September 23, 1999

Ninety-five percent of tropical fish sold in North America originate from Florida

The blackberry bush is also called the "bramble."

The city of Tokyo was originally called Edo

The sun shrinks five feet every hour

There have been 191 coops in Bolivia since it became a sovereign country in 1825

During World War II, Kit Kat was unavailable due to milk shortages, so the chocolate bar was made without milk

The first TV commercial advertisement was by the Bulova Watch company on July 1, 1941. The watch company paid $9.00 for an announcement that was 10 seconds long

Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated

A common custom in Spain is to eat one grape for each of the last 12 seconds of every year for good luck

Bill Gates began programming computers at age 13

Tobacco contains over 50 chemicals that can cause cancer

Sailors once thought that wearing a gold earring would improve their eyesight

The smallest bird in the world is the bee hummingbird. The bird is 2.24 inches long

A species of earthworm, "Megascolides australis," in Australia can grow up to fifteen feet in length

Hannibal, who was a soldier, had only one eye after getting a disease while attacking Rome

The full name of the Titanic ship is R.M.S. Titanic, which stands for Royal Mail Steamship

Electronic companies sell five times as many big-screen TVs during Super Bowl Week

Everyday approximately 35 meters of hair fibre is produced on the scalp of an adult

A U.S. company came out with a toilet night-light that sends out a green warning beacon when the seat is up

A little under one quarter of the people in the world are vegetarians

There are approximately 1300 species of scorpion but only 25 of them are deadly

An egg shell can have up to 17,000 tiny pores on its surface

A lifespan of an eyelash is approximately 150 days

66% of home based businesses are owned by women

There are approximately 60 muscles in the face

In 1924, Kleenex tissues were originally designed as a cold cream remover

A women from Berlin Germany has had 3,110 gallstones taken out of her gall bladder

Every second, 8000 Coca-Cola Company products are consumed in the world

If all the strawberries produced in California annually were put side by side, they would wrap around the Earth fifteen times

Devon, England has about 33,000 miles of hedgerows, more hedgerows than any other country

"Bookkeeper" is the only word in English language with three consecutive double letters

An average home creates more pollution than does the average car

Four out of five brides in the U.S. have a job

75-90% of primary physician visits are due to stress

The reason why the Canadian Arctic is called the "Land of the Midnight Sun" is because during the summer many communities have light 24 hours of the day. Many people have to cover their windows with tin foil to keep the light out when they sleep

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag

Teenage cosmetic surgeries nearly doubled in the USA between 1996 and 1998

A rocket-like device can be traced back to Ancient Greece when a flying steam-powered pigeon was built out of wood.

The Cincinnati Reds are the oldest professional baseball team

In 1871, horse cars were introduced. It was simply a car that was pulled over a track by a horse.

High Priests in ancient Egypt were the only ones who were allowed to wear garments made from cotton

Kellogg?s started selling their most famous product, Corn Flakes, in 1906

Chocolate was used as medicine during the 18th century. It was believed that chocolate could cure a stomach ache

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada has the largest bar per capita than anywhere else in the world

The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world before the construction of the Empire State Building in 1930

The first American celebration of St. Patricks Day was at Boston in 1737

The name of the popular sports drink Gatorade was named for the University of Florida Gators where it was developed

The largest employer in Central Florida is Walt Disney World. There are approximately 50,000 people working there

In his youth, United States president George W. Bush used to play for the Midland (Texas) Central Little League. He played the position of the catcher

The number of births that occur in India each year is higher than the entire population of Australia

Bobby Carpenter was the first American player to score 50 goals in a season

The word, tattoo originated from the Tahitain word "tattau" which means "to mark."

There was no punctuation until the 15th century

All babies are colour blind when they are born

Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a disease caused by ticks

There are approximately 9,000 taste buds on the tongue

A fetus starts to develop fingerprints at the age of eight weeks

The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose

Gorillas can catch human colds and other illnesses

On October 15, 1794, the first silver dollar coins were released to be circulated to the public

In one day, the Tootsie Roll Industry makes over 16 million lollipops

In many of the milk ads that are shown, a mix of thinner and white paint is used instead of milk

Baskin Robbins once made ketchup ice cream. This was the only vegetable flavoured ice cream produced. However, they discontinued it since they thought it would not sell well

In an year, an average person makes 1,140 phone calls

The strike note of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is e-flat

A Connecticut Toy maker, Herobuilders, sells action figures of President George W. Bush, Islamic militant Osama bin Laden, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, which are all major figures tied to the September 11, 2001 WTC attacks

Majority of brides plan their wedding for approximately 7 to 12 months

The word assassination was invented by William Shakespeare

Benjamin Franklin invented the rocking chair.

Persia changed its name to Iran in 1935

In the wild, the poinsettia flower can reach a height of 12 feet, and have leaves that are eight inches across.

Construction workers hard hats were first invented and used in the building of the Hoover Dam in 1933.

A study indicates that smokers are likely to die on average six and a half years earlier than non-smokers

On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag

TYPEWRITER, is one of the longest words that can be made using the letters only one row of the keyboard

Bill Gates donated close to $100 million to fight AIDS in India. As a percent of his total wealth, this would be comparable to him donating ten cents if he only had $60

In the U.S. there is, on average, three sex change operations per day

The American Airlines Sports Center, in Dallas, has most toilets per capita than any other sports and entertainment venue in the USA

In 1999, a three headed turtle was discovered by Lin Chi-Fa in his pond in Southern Taiwan

Approximately one out of every 55 women from Canada give birth in their car on the way to the hospital or clinic

The first United States president to visit China was Richard Nixon

The most popular show amongst baby boomers is Star Trek.

The first jet engine was invented by Frank Whittleof of England in 1930.

In a day, an elephant can drink 80 gallons of water

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in thePacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 calibermachine gunammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into thefuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9yards."

In 1948 and 1950 the oldest ears of popping corn were discovered. They were located in the Bat Cave of west central New Mexico. They ranged in size from smaller than a penny to approximately two inches, and were about 4,000 years old

The only real person to be a Pez head was Betsy Ross

It cost the soft drink industry $100 million a year for thefts committed involving vending machines

The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game

Watermelon is considered a good gift to give a host in Japan and China

The planet Venus spins opposite to the other planets in the solar system

During a typical human life span, the human heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times

Frog-eating bats identify edible frogs from poisonous ones by listening to the mating calls of male frogs. Frogs counter this by hiding and using short, difficult to locate calls

Dieting can cause bad breath since less saliva is produced which leads to dry mouth

At lift off, US space shuttles weight about 4.5 million pounds.

Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches

When an orange is shown in any of the "Godfather" movies, this means that someone is about to die or a close call is to occur.

Doctors in Canada use an adhesive similar to Krazy Glue instead of stitches, lowering the possibility of bacterial infection and minimizing scarring

Soil that is heated by geysers are now making it possible to produce bananas in Iceland

Chameleon is derived from the Greek, meaning "little lion."

The name Aspirin was invented from "A" in acetyl chloride. The "spir" comes from spiraea ulmaria which is the plant that they got the salicylic acid from, and the "in" was used because back then it was popular to end the name of medicines with "in."

About 30% of Canadians rely on getting their water from the ground for their domestic use

The eye of a human can distinguish 500 shades of the gray

There is a town in Norway called "Hell"

Most heart attacks occur between the hours of 8 and 9 am

No one in Greece has memorized all 158 verses

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds

May babies are on average 200 grams heavier than babies born in other months

Gloucestershire airport in England used to blast Tina Turner songs on its runways to scare birds away

The first German car to be built solely outside of Germany is the BMW Z3.

In China, fish is eaten more than three times what it is in the United States

The United Parcel Service shipped the killer whale Keiko (star of Disney movie "Free Willy") from Mexico City to Newport, Oregon in 1998

Hippos can live up to 40 years in the wild

The windiest place in the world is Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA. The highest wind was on April 12, 1934 when it reached 231 mph.

The first restaurant to open in Hollywood was the Musso & Frank Grill in 1919

Corn Flakes were invented after Will Keith Kellogg and his brother Dr. John Harvey Kellogg set about developing a nutritious cereal for the patients of a health resort in 1890

The three wealthiest families in the world have more assets than the combined wealth of the forty-eight poorest nations

Huge Moore, the inventor of Dixie cups got the idea for the name from a neighboring factory, the Dixie Doll Company

The turkey was once nominated to be the official bird of the United States

In 1958 the United States sent three mice into space named, Mia, Laska and Benji

On average, Americans spend five times more of their time in their cars than they do on vacation

Natural gas does not have any odor. In order to detect a gas leak, some gas companies add a chemical that smells similar like rotten eggs.

Spiders have claws at the ends of their legs

Warner Brothers Corset Company created the bra cup sizing system, which is now used universally used by manufacturers

In the U.S. 7 out of 10 homes use candles

Daytime dramas are called Soap Operas because they were originally used to advertise soap powder. In America in the early days of TV, advertisers would write stories around the use of their soap powder

It takes approximately 12 years for Jupiter to orbit the sun

98% of houses in the United States have at least one television set

Reserves from the Irish army were used as extras in the movie "Braveheart."

80% of people that are on weight loss programs exercise on average three times a week

The first Valentine candy box was invented by Richard Cadbury in the 1800's.

An olive tree can live up to 1500 years

96% of people put the peanut butter on first when making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

Scientists have actually performed brain surgery on cockroaches

Everyday, more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury

The Atlantic Ocean is saltier than the Pacific Ocean

By donating just one pint of blood, four lives can be saved

The biggest hamburger that was served was 8,266 pounds. It was made at the Burger Fest in Seymour, Wisconsin

The electric chair was invented by a dentist

Pilgrims did not eat potatoes for Thanksgiving as they thought they were poisonous

On average, a hen lays 300 eggs per year

BluBlocker sunglasses were developed with lenses that were used in the NASA space program for American astronauts

Pearls melt in vinegar

There are an estimated 2,500 collisions between birds and planes each year in the US

Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all the letters from the word "criminal." The second? William Jefferson Clinton

A chicken is 75% water

If you keep a Goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white

During his lifetime, artist Vincent Van Gogh only sold one of his paintings (The Red Vineyard)

Coffee has about five times the amount of caffeine as a can of Coke

It takes the Hubble telescope about 97 minutes to complete an orbit of the Earth. On average, the Hubble uses the equivilent amount of energy as 30 household lightbulbs to complete an orbit.

Approximately 850 peanuts make a 18 oz jar of peanut butter

The age of a saguaro cactus is calculated by its height

The most expensive animated movie is "Prince of Egypt", which cost $70 million to make

Koalas sleep up to 19 hours a day

The oldest roller coaster in the world is the Leap-The-Dips roller coaster located in Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania. The roller coaster was built in 1902

There are three golf balls sitting on the moon

You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25 milesper year.

The story of Mulan had been told in China for almost 1,500 years before Disney decided to make it into an animated movie

The name Santa Claus came from Saint Nicholas who was a bishop in the town of Myra, and was known to be very nice to children

Microsoft made $16,005 in revenue in its first year of operation

At the 1960 Winter Olympic Games, Walt Disney was head of the committee that organized the opening day ceremonies

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

The ruby red slippers in the movie "The Wizard of Oz" were sold off at an auction for $660,000

40 percent of the almonds in the world are used by manufacturers of chocolate

It takes eight and a half minutes for light to get from the sun to earth.

Olives, which grow on trees, were first cultivated 5,000 years ago in Syria

A person infected with the SARS virus, has a 95-98% chance of recovery

When explorers first arrived in Venezuela, they were reminded of Venice. They named the country "Little Venice", which translated into Spanish is Venezuela

Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister

Between 12%-15% of the population is left-handed

When a polar bear cub is born, it can not see or hear. It takes approximately a month for the cub to start to see and hear

Girls have more tastebud than boys

Dandelion root can be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute

Platypuses mate in the water

Julie Nixon, daughter of Richard Nixon married David Eisenhower, grandson of Dwight Eisenhower

The microwave oven was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The candlefish is so oily that it was once burned for fuel

A flea can jump 150 times its size. That is the same as a person able to jump up 1,000 feet in the air

Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, once pinned an opponent using only a single finger

The game of squash originated in the United Kingdom. It came about after a few boys, who were waiting for their turn to play racquets, knocked a ball around in a confined area adjoining the racquets court

Coca-Cola was originally green

When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." Theyactually pass out from sheer terror.

You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television

Lady Bugs really are not bugs. They are actually beetles and their correct name is The Ladybird Beetle

The name Reebok was named after the African Gazelle

The average human scalp has 100,000 hairs

New Jersey has a spoon museum that has over 5,400 spoons from across the world

Hydrogen is the most common atom in the universe

There is a town named Dildo in the province of Newfoundland, Canada

For every human in the world there are one million ants

The word "nerd" was first coined by Dr. Suess in the book "If I Ran to the Zoo."

The postage rate for a letter in 1693 was determined through how much light could pass through the letter. The postage rate would be more expensive if less light went through, and this process was called candling

The Sears Tower located in Chicago, Illinois is made up 76,000 tons of steel

Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots

There are more recreational golfers per capita in Canada than any other country in the world

Hitler and Napolean both had only one testical

The largest bill U.S. bill made is for $100,000

Playwright Shakespeare was only 18 years old when he married Ann Hathaway, who was 26 years old at the time

Wherever a person is standing in the state of Michigan in the United States, they are within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes

It only takes a male horse 14 seconds to copulate

The driest place on earth is Calama, in the Atacama Desert in Chile

After being picked an orange cannot ripen

The stomach of an adult can hold 1.5 liters of material

On average, a whole chicken from the grocery store weighs 3 pounds 12 ounces

A galactic year is 250 million Earth-years. This is the time it takes for our solar system to make one revolution around the Milky Way Galaxy.

Singer Paula Abdul used to be a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers

Fossilized bird droppings are one of the chief exports of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific

Water expands 9% when it is frozen

The first toilet tank ever seen on television was on Leave it to Beaver

The origin of apples traces back to the Middle East over 4,000 years ago

The colours yellow, red, and orange are used in fast food restaraunts because those are the colours that stimulate hunger

99% of pumpkins that are sold are sold for decoration

On Sunday, December 7, 1941 at 7:55 AM, the attack on Pearl Harbor commenced

If all the cars from the U.S. were taken and lined up from bumper to bumper, there would be enough cars to go to the moon from earth and back.

The elephant is the national animal of Thailand

A Canadian Tour company offers a two-day course in igloo building

Dairy cows can produce 20 to 35 gallons of saliva a day

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

When the Pez mint dispenser was first introduced it was meant to replace the activity of smoking

Gardening is said to be one of the best exercises for maintaining healthy bones

The speed of sound must be exceeded to produce a sonic boom.

A B-25 bomber airplane crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945

Over 600,000 people died as a result of the Spanish influenza epidemic

From all the vegetables, beets contain the most sugar

Smelling bananas can help a person lose weight

In Miami, Florida, roosting vultures have taken to snatching poodles from rooftop patios

Only female mosquitoes bite humans. Male mosquitoes live on natural liquids from plants and other resources

An estimated 690 million people live in Africa

The difference between horns and antlers is that horns never stop growing and antlers shed and grow every year

African Baobab tree's circumference can reach 180 feet. If the trunk is hollow, 20 people would be able to fit inside of it.

On average, the Pentagon uses 666 rolls of toilet paper in one day

The USS Abraham Lincoln has five gymnasiums on the ship and a basketball league with 22 teams

Found in Argentina, the ornate horned frog can eat an entire mouse with one swallow

Great Britain was the first country to issue postage stamps in 1840

During World War II, there was not enough sugar in the U.S. to make candy as it was sent to the troops overseas. At this time, popcorn was consumed three times more than its usual amount

The most famous movie theatre is the "Chinese Theatre" located in Los Angeles, USA

In the U.S., the sport that causes the most injuries among the age group of 15-24 is basketball

Oscar Wilde and his friends came up the with the word "dude." It came from the words "duds" and "attitude."

By weight, the sun is 70% hydrogen, 28% helium, 1.5% carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and 0.5% all other elements.

Melba toast is named after an Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba

Astronomers once believed a planet named Vulcan existed between Mercury and the Sun

Talc was used by cavemen 15,000 years ago as an ingredient added to make paint

Ants do not sleep

The only married couple to fly together in space were Jan Davis and Mark Lee, who flew aboard the Endeavor space shuttle from Sept 12-20, 1992

Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to enter space. She spent three days in space and completed forty-eight orbits of Earth

More than 3000 years ago children played with circular hoops made with grape vines. This toy was swung around the waist. Years later this toy was made by company called Wham-O and the Hula-Hoop was invented in 1958

The first subway system in America was built in Boston, Massachusetts in 1897.

Owls swallow their prey whole because they have no teeth. After approximately 12 hours they cough up the feathers, bones, and fur in a shape of a football pellet

Sharks have survived on earth for about 400 million years

Ukrainian monk, Dionysius Exiguus, created the modern day Christian calendar

The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, cruise ships, recorded music, theme parks, and spectator sports combined

Every 30 seconds a house fire doubles in size

An alligator has about 80 teeth in its mouth at one time. An alligator can go through 3,000 teeth in a lifetime

A starfish can turn its stomach inside out

The story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was written in 1939 for a store promotion by an advertising employee of the department store Montgomery Ward

Actor Charlie Chaplin made 81 movies over a career that spanned 50 years

The music group Simply Red got its name from band member Mick Hucknall, who has red hair

Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer

The lifespan of a rhinoceros is generally 50 years

41% of women apply body or hand moisturizer a minimum three times a day

The largest ice cream sundae was made with 4,667 gallons of ice cream, was 12 feet high and had 7000 pounds of toppings on it. This was made in Anaheim, California in 1985

The name of the award given to honor the best sites on the Internet is called "The Webby Award."

The United States Mint once considered producing donut-shaped coins.

A Hungarian named Ladislo Biro invented the first ballpoint pen in 1938.

Adolf Hitler loved chocolate cake

Many years ago, a fish was caught that was 33 inches long and seemed to be heavier than it should. When they cut the fish, fishermen found a full of bottle of ale inside it

George Washington grew hemp in his garden

In New York City, approximately 1,600 people are bitten by other humans annually

In 1980, Saddam Hussein received a key to the city of Detroit

The song "Strawberry Fields Forever" sung by the Beatles refers to an orphanage located in Liverpool

False Bay, on the southern tip of Africa and close to Cape Town, South Africa, is a breeding ground for great white sharks, which feed off the thousands of seals in the bay. However, it is the only area in the known world in which these sharks are known to breach - they attack the seals by coming up vertically, often leaping clear of the water with their prey in their mouths

In 1952, the first TV toy commercial aired. It was for Mr. Potato Head

In the United States, approximately seven billion pounds of chocolate and candy are manufactured each year

Mules have one horse and one donkey for a parent

On average, 350 squirts are needed from milking a cow to make a gallon of milk

On average, a baby in the United States will eat fifteen pounds of cereal in their first year of life

The name Hasbro was invented by the name of the founders: HASsenfeld BROthers

Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%. Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

Due to sugar shortages to make candy during World War II, movie theatre owners turned to popcorn, which is now the best selling snack at movie theatres today

A group of whales is called a pod or gam

Even though a polar bears fur looks white it is actually colourless and is made with hollow tubes. The reason the bear looks white is because the rough inner surface of the tubes make light scatter and reflect at many different angles which gives the white appearance

There is a type of coffin made that can be used as a wine rack or picnic table before its final use

One gallon of used motor oil can ruin approximately one million gallons of fresh water

After the Eiffel Tower was built, one person was killed during the installation of the lifts. No one was killed during the actual construction of the tower

Approximately 87% of dog owners say that when they watch T.V. their dog curls up beside them or at their feet

Bernd Eilts, a German artist, turns dried cow manure into wall clocks and small sculptures. He is now expanding his business to include cow dung wrist watches

People who meet their calcium need reduce their risk of developing kidney stones

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

The human heart weighs less than a pound

The first Life Saver flavour, which was peppermint, was invented in 1912 and it was called Pep-O-Mint

The average life span of a peasant during the medieval ages was 25 years

Before 1859, baseball umpires were seated in padded chairs behind home plate

On February 10, 1964 the first self-adhesive stamps were issued

The ocean sunfish can produce thirty million eggs at once

The highest point in France is Mont Blanc, located in the Alps.

The American Automobile association was formed in 1905 for the sole purpose of warning motorists of police speed traps

Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older

In England, a cigarette is referred to as a fag

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

In 1980, there was only one country in the world with no telephones - Bhutan

Moscow was founded in 1147 by Yury Dolgoruky

In 1976, fourteen banks merged to form a bank credit card called "Mastercharge." This was later renamed to what is now know as "Mastercard."

American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating 1 olive from each salad served in first-class

There are over 500 different types of bananas

In 1848, the first American pasta factory opened in Brooklyn, New York. The name of the man that opened it was Antoine Zerega

Albert Einstein was cremated and his ashes were spread over a river located in New Jersey

Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does

Men are four times more likely to be struck by lightning than women

The longest acceptance speech in the history of the Oscars was by Greer Garson in 1942. She received an Oscar for Best Actress for the movie Mrs. Miniver, and her speech was five minutes and 30 seconds long

Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older

Octopi change colours when they become frightened. Normally they are a brownish colour, but can change to green or blue when fear sets in

A "gelotologist" is a person who studies laughter

A 13-year-old boy in India produced winged beetles in his urine after hatching the eggs in his body

Fat is important for the development of children and normal growth

The state of California has more 7-Eleven stores than any other state. There are approximately 1,200 stores

The deepest underwater penguin dive is 1,772 feet by an Emperor Penguin

38% of Americans eat breakfast everyday

There are over 100 styles of BluBlocker sunglasses available on the market

When a predator is chasing an impala, a type of antelope, it runs in a zig zag formation jumping as high as three metres

David Rice Atchinson was President of the United States for exactly one day. This happened due to a glitch in American law at the time. new

To make one glass of orange juice, 50 glasses of water are needed to grow enough oranges to make the juice

Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air

Tomatina is the legendary Spanish tomato-throwing festival held in Bunol, Spain

Pigs have no sweat glands, which is why they stay in water or mud to keep cool

There is no element on Mendeleev's (the current) periodic table of elements abbreviated, either partially, or fully, with the letter J.

One of the Bond girls in the James Bond movie, "For Your Eyes Only," used to be a man

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket

In February 1878, the first telephone book was published in New Haven, Connecticut. The book was one page long and had fifty names in it.

Only President to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy for "Profiles in Courage"

Roman emperors ate flamingo tongues which were considered a delicacy. Also parrotfish livers, and pheasant brains were feasted on

In 2002, the most popular car color in North America was silver.

Forty percent of Americans iron their clothes while wearing their underwear or being completely naked

About 85% or product warning labels on household products are inadequate

The largest volcano known is on Mars: Olympus Mons, 370 miles wide and 79,000 feet high, is almost three times higher than Mount Everest

Mexican jumping beans jump because of moth larvae inside the bean

Women blink nearly twice as much as men

Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush

There are 691 drinking fountains in the Pentagon

Author Robert May considered the names of Reginald and Rollo before he settled on "Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer."

A study concludes that kids who snore do poorly in school

When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food

Chocolate maker Cadbury uses more than sixty thousand tonnes of cocoa each year, in the United Kingdom alone

There are more pigs than humans in Denmark

A human eyeball weighs an ounce

The "Mexican Hat Dance" is the official dance of Mexico

The first open heart surgery was performed by Dr. Daniel Hall Williams in 1893

The DNA of humans is closer to a rat than a cat

Peladophobia refers to the fear of bald people

One Neptune year lasts 165 Earth years

In the U.S., 75% of the pencils sold are painted yellow

A person that is struck by lightning has a greater chance of developing motor neurone disease

In Canada, the $1 and $2 come in the form of coins. The $1 is nicknamed a "loonie" because it contains a loon on it and the $2 is nicknamed the "twonie" because it is the equivalent of two "loonies."

Singer Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem

On average a business document is copied 19 times

Pigeons can see ultraviolet lights

The list of ingredients that make up lipstick include fish scales

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs inthe air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg inthe air,the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horsehasall four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

There are two credit cards for every person in the United States

An average person consumes the equivalent of 26 gallons of milk a year, including almost 28 pounds of cheese

65% of the candy that is produced in an year is consumed by American adults 18 years and older

The little circles of paper that are cut out after a paper has been punched by a hole puncher are called "chad."

Teflon is the most slipperiest substance in the world

The lifespan of a firefly is about seven days. During these days, they are busy trying to find a mate

A crocodile can run up to a speed of 11 miles per hour

Fried spiders taste like nuts

In one day, adult lungs move about 10,000 litres of air

Cows do not have any upper front teeth. Instead they have a thick pad on the top jaw

On average, Americans move to a new place eleven times in their lifetime

Energy is being wasted if a toaster is left plugged in after use

The Golden Gate Bridge was first opened in 1937

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange,silver or purple

In an episode of the 1962 cartoon The Jestons, Jane Jetson is talking through a video phone. The phone number of The Jetsons was VENUS-1234

Trees that are near street lights do not shed their leaves as fast as a tree that is in the country

No president of the United States was an only child

7-Eleven is the largest retail chain in the world. Click Here For More Details

A Singapore singing group by the name of "The Oriental Singers," sang non-stop for 74 hours and five minutes

Every 25 miles a car produces one pound of pollution.

There was a molasses flood in Boston on January 15, 1919 that killed 21 people and injured 150 people

There are over one billion people that are actively involved in rice growth

On April 4, 1974, John Massis of Belgium pulled two New York Long Island railroad passenger cars totaling 80 tons with a thick rope, with a small bit attached, using only his teeth

The oldest major soft drink in America is Dr. Pepper, which originated in Waco, Texas in 1885

Hockey pucks were originally made from frozen cow dung

In L.A., U.S.A., a man may legally beat his wife with a leather strap, as long as it is less than 2 inches wide

The Arctic Tern, which is a small bird, can fly a round trip from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back. This can be as long as twenty thousand miles per year. This is the longest migration for a bird

The word "America" comes from the European explorer "Amerigo Vespucci

Over 100 million birds die annually by crashing into glass windows in the United States

Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb was afraid of the dark

In 1933, Mickey Mouse is believed to have received 800,000 fan letters

Male rabbits are called "bucks," females are "does."

It took eleven years to built the Taj Mahal, (1632-1643)

Mangos are known throughout the world as the "King of Fruits."

The temperature of milk when it is coming out of a cow is about 36 degrees celsius

Wild Flamingos are pink because they consume vast quantities of algae and brine shrimp

The word "diastema" is the word for having a gap between your teeth

While digging, an Armadillo can hold its breath for up to six minutes

Of all the restaurants that are opened, 90% of them fail in the first year. Of the remaining ones that survive, 90% of those fail in the second year

The sun is approximately 75% hydrogen, 25% helium by mass

When a porcupine is born, its quills are soft and mostly white, but harden within hours

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 people have been injured

The first drug to be sold in the form of a tablet is Aspirin

The original name for butterfly was flutterby

There are approximately 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the human body

Great White sharks have about 3,000 teeth

Former U.S. President Franklin Pierce was arrested during his term as President for running over an old lady with his horse, but the charges were later dropped

The world record for time without sleep is 264 hours (11 days) by Randy Gardner in 1965

The giant squid is the largest animal without a backbone

There is enough water in American swimming pools to cover the whole city of San Francisco seven feet deep

215 jeans can be made with one bale of cotton

Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters

Pineapples were first introduced into Europe by Christopher Columbus

When a women is pregnant, her senses are all heightened

The Food and Drug Administration says the most common injury from cosmetics comes from scratching the eye with a mascara wand

It has been medically been proven that laughter is an effective pain killer

Cataloupes are named after the gardens of Cantaloupe, Italy where some belive this melon was first grown

In the 13th century, quality standards for paste were assigned by the Pope

In a year, the average person walks four miles to make his or her bed

The first television broadcast of the Oscars took place in 1953, hosted by Bob Hope on NBC

Most snakes have six rows of teeth

NASDAQ stand for, "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations."

An average women has 17 square feet of skin. When a women is in her ninth month of pregnancy she has 18.5 square feet of skin

The average American eats 35,000 cookies in his/her lifetime

The greatest snowfall ever in a single storm was 189 inches at the Mount Shasta Ski Bowl in February, 1959.

French astronomer Adrien Auzout had once considered building a telescope that was 1,000 feet long in the 1600s. He thought the magnification would be so great, he would see animals on the moon

The first email was sent out by Ray Tomlinson in 1971

The city of Chicago has the only post office in the world where you can drive your car through

The most overdue book in the world was borrowed from Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, England and was returned 288 years later

The average person can live about a month without eating any food, but can only live about a week without water

There are about 34,000 species of spiders

In 1968, Abbie Hoffman played with a yo-yo while testifying before a congressional committee. He was found in contempt

The biggest candy eaters are the Dutch, who average 65 pounds of candy per person in a year

55,700 people in the US are injured by jewelry each year

The first owner of the Marlboro Company, Wayne McLaren, died of lung cancer

American President Calvin Coolidge (1923-1929) used to like Vaseline being rubbed on his head while he ate breakfast in bed

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple

There was a 19th century Native American tribal chief who went under the name, "Not Able to Fornicate."

98% of brown bears in the United States are in Alaska

In 1657, the first chocolate house was opened in London, England

The Xerox company was initially called the Haloid Company

On average, Americans spend 33% of their life sleeping

One out of every five births in the United States are delivered by Cesarean section

In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die

Studies indicate that surgeons who listen to music while they operate improve in their performance

Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark

Thailand used to be called Siam

A sneeze can travel as fast as one hundred miles per hour

The Pentagon cost $49,600,000 to build in 1941

Desert snails can stay in their shell for up to three years

In the 19th century, it was common practice for a Japanese woman to dye their teeth black. They believed that this enhanced sex appeal and maintained healthier teeth

The revolving door was invented in 1888, by Theophilus Van Kannel.

The Lion King is the top grossing Disney movie of all-time with domestic gross intake of $312 million

The state that grows the most cranberries is Wisconsin. More than 300 million pounds of cranberries are grown in Wisconsin

The smallest frog is the "Brazilian baby frog", which is smaller than a dime

The idea of Christmas cards was invented by Englishman Henry Cole in 1843

Air is passed through the nose at a speed of 100 miles per hour when a person sneezes

A baby octopus is about the size of a flea when it is born

Britons eat over 22,000 tonnes of french fries a week

People from the United States eat the most chicken per person than anywhere else in the world

Sanskrit is considered as the mother of all higher languages. This is because it is the most precise, and therefore suitable language for computer software

The origins of the soldier term "G.I." is an abbreviation for "Government Issue," which was stamped on all government kits supplied to recruits in the US Army during World War II

Watermelons are a popular gift to bring to a host in China or Japan

Beethoven used to take hay baths to remedy the swelling he used to get in his legs

On average Americans spend 18% of their income on transportation

Of all the words Dr. Seuss made up in his storybooks, only one has stuck in the English vocabulary: grinch, which is refers to a killjoy -- and it took more than 20 years

Montreal has an underground city, which has over 2,000 shops and 26 kilometres of walkways. This is the largest underground network for any city

The official state mammal of Texas is the armadillo

The word Himalayas means the "home of snow."

A man filed a lawsuit against his doctor because he survived longer than what the doctor had predicted

One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today because cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers -- they saw it as competition. It is not chemically addictive as is nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine

It took approximately 2.5 million blocks to build the Pyramid of Giza, which is one of the Great Pyramids

The platypus uses its bill to find animals that it feeds on. Its bill can sense the tiny electric fields that their preys emit

Central Park located in New York has 125 drinking fountains

The largest school in the world is City Montessori School in India and has over 25,000 students in grade levels ranging from kindergarten to college

Washing machines use anywhere from 40 to 200 litres of water per load

Australia has had stamps that actually look like gems. In 1995 and 1996 they used a special technology to make the stamps look like diamonds and opals.

There are only four words in the English language which end in

Hummingbirds are the only animal that can fly backwards

In only eight minutes, the Space Shuttle can accelerate to a speed of 27,000 kilometres per hour.

In a study conducted regarding toilet paper usage, Americans are said to use the most toilet paper per trip to the bathroom, which was seven sheets of toilet paper per trip

German cockroaches can survive for up to one month without food and two weeks without water

George Washington had teeth made out of hippopotamus ivory

Americans write approximately 50 billion checks a year making it the second most frequent payment method used after cash

The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns

The amount of aluminum that Americans throw out in three months is enough to rebuild all American commercial planes

Humans breathe in and out approximately one litre of air in ten seconds

The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes

British scientists have found evidence that heart attacks increase significantly for people who watch soccer penalty shoot-outs

Fine-grained volcanic ash can be found as an ingredient in some toothpaste

The most disliked vegetable by Americans is Brussels sprouts

The first ice hotel was built in Swedish Lapland

A myrmecologist studies ants

Rice is thrown at weddings as a symbol of fertility

More than 90% of shark attack victims survive

The average temperature on Earth is 15 degrees celcius.

To produce a dozen eggs, a hen has to eat about four pounds of feed

Pollsters say that 40 percent of dog and cat owners carry pictures of the pets in their wallets

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". It did not sell well

In the United States, 80% of households have oatmeal in their kitchen

A cockroach can change directions up to 25 times in a second

In 1825, the first toilet was installed in the White House

Cricket chirping can tell the temperature outside. Counting how many times a cricket chirps in 15 seconds and then adding 40 to that number will approximately tell you what the temperature is in Fahrenheit

Every year, 50,000,000 automobiles are produced in the world.

Pikeville, Kentucky consumes the most Pepsi per capita then any other American city

After the death of the genius, Albert Einstein, his brain was removed by a pathologist and put in a jar for future study

Cubic Zirconia is 55% heavier than real diamonds.

The fastest speed a raindrop had reached when falling is seven miles per hour.

Battle Creek, Michigan is referred to as the "Cereal Bowl of America." The city produces the most breakfast cereals than any other city in the world

The stringy thing that is seen in egg whites is called "chalazae."

The city of Argentia which is located on Newfoundland's southwest coast, is Canada's most fog-bound community. It has 206 days of fog each year.

Seven percent of a humans body wieght is made up of blood

Most snails are hermaphrodites, meaning they have both female and male reproductive organs

Dogs can be trained to detect an upcoming epileptic seizure

American women, on average, spend 55 minutes per day getting showered, dressed, and groomed

Germany produces more than 5,000 varieties of beer and has about 1,300 breweries in country

In some parts of the Atacama Desert it has never rained

In 1681, the last dodo bird died

Strawberries are a member of the rose family

It is common in Israel and Egypt to eat watermelon with feta cheese

The most popular recipient of Valentine cards are school teachers

The average stay for a prisoner on Alcatraz, when it was used as a prison, was five years

Mickey Mouse is known as "Topolino" in Italy

Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific

About twenty-five percent of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light

In Japan, tipping at restaurants is not a norm. However, some restaurants might add a 5 - 10 % service charge to the bill

The first automobile racetrack in America was the 'Indianapolis Motor Speedway,' which had 3 million cobblestones.

A cow has four compartments in its stomach

The most popular place to burn candles in the house is the living room

In Japan, by the time man reaches the age of 60, he is commemorated with a special ceremony. This ceremony features the man wearing a red kimono, which denotes that he no longer has the responsibilities of being a mature adult

Men are four times more likely to be struck by lightning than women

The all-time most nominated Grammy artist with 77 nominations is Quincy Jones

In 1845, inventor Thomas Adams started the world's first chewing gum factory.

In 1693, the postage rate of a letter was determined by how much light went through the letter. The less the light went through the letter the more expensive the rate would be. This technique was referred to as candling

Polar bears can smell seals who are 20 miles away

Hair is made from the same substance as fingernails

Polar bears have been known to swim more than 60 miles without resting

Before 1883, the three-cent U.S. stamp was also used for advertising. The advertisment was located on the back of the stamp for various products

The largest ketchup bottle in the world is a 170 feet tall and is located in Collinsville, Illinois, USA. It was built in 1949 by the W.E. Caldwell Company as a water tower

Bo Jackson set a Monday Night Football record by rushing for 222 yards in one game against the Seattle Seahawks, including a 91-yard TD run

There are approximately 75,000,000 horses in the world

The fins of the Spiny Dogfish Shark are sometimes used as sandpaper for wood products

The Super Bowl is so popular that it is the number on at-home party event of the year

There was a time in Japan where a wife being left handed was a ground for divorce

The United States produces enough plastic film annually to cover the entire state of Texas

It is possible to get high by licking a toad. The Cane Toad produces a toxin called bufotenine to ward off predators. When licked, this toxin acts as a hallucinogen

Stinging insects kills approximately 25 people annually in the U.S

The first commercial microwave oven was called the "1161 Radarange" and was the size of a refrigerator

Chances of a women getting breast cancer are increased by excesseive use of alcohol

A common name for pincurls is also spitcurls because woman sometimes wet their hair with their saliva before curling it

The first hot air balloon flight traveled for 5.5 miles over Paris and lasted for 23 minutes

Birds do not sweat, as they do not have sweat glands

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan once wore a Nazi uniform while acting in a film during his Hollywood days. The name of the movie was "Desperate Journey," which was filmed in 1942

The town of Olney, Illinois celebrates a "Squirrel Day" festival to honour the 200 albino squirrels that live in the town. The festival includes a squirrel blessing by a priest

In the United States there are about three million honey producing colonies

Adult earwigs can float in water for up to 24 hours

January is named for the Roman god Janus. Janus was a temple god who could look forward and backward at the same time

Pepper was sold as individual grains during the Elizabethan times. The guards at the London docks had to sew up their pockets so they would not steal any of the pepper

On average, the life span of an American dollar bill is eighteen months

Shakespeare invented the word "assassination" and "bump."

A diet high in fat is said to impede memory

There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee. Of these, only 26 have been tested, and half-caused cancer in rats

Pound for pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars.

Every year approximately 2,500 left-handed people are killed by using object or machinery designed for right-handed people

The heart of an adult giraffe weighs on average 26 pounds

Two million red blood cells die every second

The first American astronaut in space was Alan B. Shepard Jr

The world record for donut eating is held by John Haight, who ate 29 donuts (52 ounces) in a little over six minutes

Hundreds of years ago, only the wealthy people used to wear underwear

Buffalo wings, got their name because the spicy chicken wings originated in Buffalo, New York

The board game Scrabble was originally called "Criss Cross Words" by inventor Alfred Butts

Men are more likely to be colorblind than women. About one of out of 12 men are colorblind

Edwin Armstrong invented FM radio in 1933. The first men to use FM radio to communicate with Earth from the moon's surface were named Edwin Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.

The MGM lion, whose name was Leo, lived in Memphis until his death

The Bible was written by over 40 authors over a period of 1500 years

The range of a medieval long-bow is 220 yards

Studies indicate that weightlifters working out in blue gyms can handle heavier weights

African heart-nosed bats can have such a keen sense of sound that they can hear the footsteps of a beetle walking on sand from six feet away

Many of the stars that were in the Poltergeist Trilogy had strange deaths

The sap of a banana plant leaves serious stains on hands and clothes that is extremely hard to remove

In Ireland, a prime minister is a called a Taoiseach

American President John Tyler had 15 children

Even though red roses looks the same, there are over 900 different types of red roses

People in France own more pets in the world per person than any other country

In a five card poker game there are 2,598,960 possible hands

The most common pear world-wide is the Bartlett. It is bell-shaped, sweet and soft with a light green colour

All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20

The average person falls asleep in about 12 to 14 minutes

Eighty percent of the Vanilla Beans which are used to make ice cream is grown in Madagascar

Annually, British people eat more than 15 pounds of beans

The largest known hailstone to have fallen was in Germany in 1925, which weighed close to four and a half pounds.

The Kraft company produces enough Cool Whip, a brand of whipping cream, in one year to fill the entire Grand Canyon

Karate actually originated in India, but was developed further in China

A seagull can drink salt water because it has special glands that filter out the salt

Elvis had a twin brother named Jesse Garon, who died at birth

95% of the entire lemon crop produced in the U.S. is from California and Arizona

There are more than 3000 documented caves located in the state of Tennessee

Soy crayons have been invented to replace wax crayons and one acre of soybeans can produce over 80,000 crayons

People drank gold powder mixed in with water in medieval Europe to relieve pain from sore limbs

Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of a game

Twit is the name given for a pregnant goldfish

A ear trumpet was used before the hearing aid was invented by people who had difficulty hearing

In 1982, a cactus in Phoenix, Arizona killed a man. David Grundman fired two shotgun blasts at a giant saguaro cactus that ended up falling on top of him

There are 293 steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa

The most popular American city for Kool-Aid sales is St. Louis, Missouri

A human embryo is smaller than a grain of rice at four weeks old

In 1923, the first neon sign was introduced in the U.S. Two neon signs were sold to a Packard car dealership for $24,000 which read, "Packard."

Silk was developed in China were it was kept a secret for more than two thousands years. Anyone found trying to smuggle silkworm eggs or cocoons out of the country was immediately put to death

Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been mixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since

Sir John Harington, the godson of Queen Elizabeth I, was the inventor of the toilet

The Popsicle was invented by 11 year-old Frank Epperson in 1905. He left his drink outside with a stir stick in it and he noticed that it had frozen. He applied for a patent in 1923 and named it "Epsicle." The name was later changed to Popsicle

In the U.S., approximately 46% of the chicken that is eaten by people comes from restaurants or other food outlets

An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to flow backwards

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado

There are only four words in the English language which end in"-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous

One pound of maple syrup can make eight pounds of candy or sugar

Uranus is the only planet that rotates on its side

The peanut is not a nut, it is actually a legume

Approximately 71% of American chocolate eaters prefer to eat milk chocolate

A colony of bees have to fly almost fifty-five thousand miles and tap two million flowers to make one pound of honey

Popped popcorn should be stored in the freezer or refrigerator as this way it can stay crunchy for up to three weeks

An office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet

In Czechoslovakia, there is a church that has a chandelier made out of human bones

The first fruit eaten on the moon was a peach

The name "Lego" came from the Danish word LEg Godt, which means "play well."

Female and male black bears cannot tolerate being around each other except when they breed

In 1998, Ten Speed Press publishing company published a book, "The Eat A Bug Cookbook" by David George Gordon that contains over 33 bug recipes

Twelve men have landed on and explored the moon

The football team Green Bay Packers comes from a meat packing company called Acme Packing

Unlike a frog a toad cannot jump

The average weight of a newborn baby is 7 lbs. 6 oz. For a triplet baby it is 3 lbs. 12 oz

Baseball was the first sport to be pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated

A group of tigers is called a streak

Hippos drink as much as 250 litres of water in any given 24 hour period

850 peanuts are needed to make an 18 oz. jar of peanut butter

The Beatles have sold more records than anyone else with over a billion worldwide

After the "Popeye" comic strip was launched in 1931, spinach consumption went up by thirty-three percent in the United States

The largest type of penguin is the Emperor Penguin which can stand to be almost 3.5 feet tall and weigh more than 90 pounds

Over 175 million cubic yards of earth was removed for the creation of the Panama Canal

7-Eleven was the first convenience store to have television advertising. The animated commercial ran in 1949 and had a singing rooster and owl

A honey bee strokes its wings about 11,500 times a minute

On average men spend 51 minutes a day grooming themselves

Sharks are so powerful that their bite can generate a force of up to 18 tons per square inch

The designated instrument for the city of Detroit is the accordion

Percentage of Americans who have visited Disneyland/Disney World: 70%

Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise

A sheep, a duck, and a rooster were the first passengers in a hot air balloon

On average, Americans spend $1300 on utility bills annually

The New York Stock Exchange started out as a coffee house

There are approximately 2,700 different species of mosquitoes

Colonel Sanders original white suit was auctioned off for $80,000 in February 2002

EPCOT stands for "Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow."

The reason why tattoos do not vanish even though we shed our skin is because the dye is injected deeper into the dermis part of the skin. It is only the epidermis that we shed

Over 170,000 Indians from 210 tribes live in the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest

Cashew nuts contain oil in the shell that is very irritating to the skin

A caterpillar grows roughly 27,000 times its size when it first emerges as an egg

Lightning strikes the Empire States Building about seven times a year

Snake venom is ninety percent protein

More than three thousand people work on research in Antarctica each year

The first product that the toy company Mattel came out with was picture frames

Scientists have discovered a way to make biodegradable plastic from plants by using genetic engineering.

The Earth orbits the Sun at a speed of about 108,000 km per hour

In 1897, Bayer, who is the makers of Aspirin, once marketed the drug heroin

In Australia, a common "Boxing day" activity is surfing

In 1986, a drunk fan got into a pace car at Talladega Superspeedway, and started joyriding on the track in front of a nationwide audience. The police cruisers who had to chase him around the track were not amused when they caught and arrested him

Mary Hart, the co-anchor of Entertainment Tonight, has each of her legs insured for one million dollars

The two top toys in 1950 were Silly Putty which sold for $1, and Crayola crayons which sold for 50 cents

The King Cobra has enough venom in its bite that it can kill up to 13 adults

Earl Dean developed the bottle design for Coca-Cola

The word "super" to a beekeeper refers to the hive box where the honey is stored

Only 23% of New Zealand families have more than two children

Deliberately infecting people with malaria has been used to cure different viral infections. The high fever will strengthen the immune system and fight the virus. In recent times this has been considered as a treatment to HIV

By partially filling saucers with vinegar and distributing the saucers around a room, you can eliminate odors

The only animals that are capable of turning their heads 180 degrees are from the genus Galago, such as the Tarsier

In the United States birds and planes collided more than 22,000 times between the years of 1990 and 1998

The average number of pillowcases washed a day at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas is 15,000

Over 40 million Americans have chronic bad breath

There are 158 verses in the Greek National Anthem

A regulation baseball has exactly 108 stitches

In a study that was done by the University of Chicago in 1907, it was concluded that the easiest color to spot is yellow. This is why John Hertz, who is the founder of the Yellow Cab Company picked cabs to be yellow

On average it takes a shark seven days to replace a tooth

The biggest religious building in the world is a Hindu Temple, Angkor Wat, located in Cambodia. It was built at the end of the 11th century

In Britain, there are approximately 50,000 pubs with 17,000 different names

Snails eat with a rasping mouth called a "radula," which has thousands of teeth

A dragonfly has a lifespan of for to seven weeks

Chewing on gum while cutting onions can help a person from producing tears

The majority of American models are skinnier than 98% of American women

The first jigsaw puzzle was created by map maker John Splisbury who mounted one of his maps on a sheet of hardwood. He proceeded to cut around the borders of each country use a fine saw

Owen Falls Lake is the largest man-made lake in the world

The patent number of the telephone is 174465.

On average, 81% of Americans 16 years of age and older watch television at least once in a day

If a raisin is dropped into a glass of champagne it will bounce up and down in the glass

Reptiles do not perspire, and do not have any oil glands

Eating chocolate three times a month helps people live longer as opposed to people who overeat chocolate or do not eat chocolate at all

There is a doggy disco held in Italy every year where owners can dance with their dogs

The average number of guests that attend a wedding in the U.S. is 189

In ancient Egypt, the dung beetle symbolized eternal rebirth and the Sun God Khepri

If a cockroach breaks a leg it can grow another one

Budweiser beer is named after a town in Czechoslovakia

Each day the sun causes about one trillion tons of water to evaporate

Actress Debra Winger helped to perform the voice of E.T. in the movie ?E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)."

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letteris uncopyrightable.

All penguins live south of the equator

There are more than 640 muscles in the human body

Airports that are at higher altitudes require a longer airstrip due to lower air density

Every second, two Barbie dolls are sold somewhere in the world

The Ice Cream cone was invented in the summer of 1904 by Charles Menches. It made its debut one year later at the St. Louis World Fair

The rhinoceros beetle can carry up to 850 times its weight on its back. This is equivalent to a person carrying over 50 mini-vans on their back

The game rugby was originated at Rugby school located in England in 1823. This happened when William Webb Ellis, while playing soccer, picked the ball up in his hands and started running with it

The first episode of the popular television sitcom Happy Days was titled "All The Way."

Scientists have discovered that the longer the ring finger is in boys the less chance they have of having a heart attack

When the body is resting, it takes in about 10 litres of air every minute

The smallest bone in the human body is the stirrup bone, which is located in the ear

George Washington had to borrow money to go to his own inauguration

There have been over fifty million Mr. Potato Heads sold since it came out in 1952

All of Chrysler's PT Cruisers are built in Mexico.

Movies approximately make five times more from video sales than ticket sales

There has only been 193,000 metric tonnes of gold discovered to date.

The word Lethologica describes the state of not remembering the word you want to say

In 1958, the United States Coast Guard off western Greenland measured the tallest known iceberg at five hundred and fifty feet

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere

Baby donkeys or baby mules are also known as "Foals."

When Sony introduced the walkman, it had a variety of different names in different countries. It was called "Soundabout" in the U.S., "Stowaway" in the U.K., and "Freestyle" in Australia

In Canada, the most productive day of the workweek is Tuesday

The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver"

Author Dr. Seuss wrote the book "Green Eggs and Ham" because the editor made him a bet that he could not write a book, which contained less than fifty words

Armadillos have four babies at a time, and they are always the same sex

The tallest mammal in the world is the giraffe

Obsessive nose picking is referred to as rhinotillexomania

The spider used in the 2002 movie Spider-Man was a Steatoda spider, not a black widow. The spider was given anaesthesia, and was then painted blue and red

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet

In ancient Greece, throwing an apple to a girl was a way to propose for marriage.. If the girl caught it, that would mean she accepts

Donkeys can live between 30 to 50 years in captivity

In the United States, approximately 25,000 eye injuries occur that result in the person becoming totally blind

Australian Graham Barker extracted his own belly button fluff every day for 18 years acquiring a record-breaking amount of fluff. He hopes to accumulate enough fluff to stuff a pillow

Every year, surgical tools are left in approximately 1,500 patients in the USA. Fatter patients are more prone to having a surgical tool left inside of them due to the additional amount of space in their bodies

Medical reports show that about 18% of the population are prone to sleepwalking

In Ancient Egypt, cats were often buried with their masters, or in a special cemetary for cats

In Ontario, an average household income of a golfer is greater than $60,000

The Danish company Lego, which began in 1932, first manufactured ironing boards, and stepladders

Mice will nurse babies that are not their own

Saturday is the most popular day for people to eat out in the United States

Singer Alice Cooper once had a live chicken thrown at him during a concert in Toronto. He threw the chicken back at the crowd and all the publicity surrounding the incident skyrocketed his singing career

Between 1997-2002, there was an increase of 228% in cosmetic procedures in the United States

Elmer Smith was the first player to hit a grand slam in a World Series

Ancient Egyptians used the spice Thyme to help preserve mummies

On average, an American family sends and receives 28 Christmas cards each year

In Belgium, 94% of children under the age of fourteen own LEGO products

In ancient Rome, lead poisoning was a prevalent disease amongst the wealthy because of their extensive use of lead. Many Roman women died because of lead poisoning caused by the use of make-up that contained lead

The famous jewelry store Tiffany & Co. was established on September 18, 1837 in New York City. The amount of sales that were made the first day were $4.98

Depending on the size, it can take an oyster anywhere from few months to many years to form a pearl

In one minute, the heart of a giraffe can pump 160 gallons of blood

Each day Americans 15 and over spend an average of 55 minutes of driving

Storks were a symbol of fertility in Europe and were considered to bring good luck

The largest pig on record was a Poland-China hog named Big Bill, who weighed 2,552 lbs

The parents of Albert Einstein were worried that he was mentally slow because it took him a long time to learn how to speak

A honey bee has four wings

Badminton originates from a sport in India called "poona."

In October 1973, Swedish sweet maker Roland Ohisson of Falkenberg was buried in a coffin made of nothing but chocolate

More than 100 professional cyclists participate in the Tour de France every year and the race is over 3,200 kilometers

In the United States, turkeys are mostly raised in California

The only state to grow pineapples is Hawaii

There are more than 50 different types of pumpkins. Some of them have names such as Munchkin, Funny Face, and Spooktacular

In order to mate, a male deep sea anglerfish will bite a female when he finds her. The male will never let go and will eventually merge his body into the female and spend the rest of his life inside the female mate. The males internal organs will disappear apart from the testes that are needed to for breeding

Tacoma Narrows Bridge which was located in Washington was nicknamed "Galloping Gertie" because of the unusual way it twisted and swayed with even with the slightest winds when people would drive on it. The bridge collapsed on November 7, 1940, fortunately no humans died, except for a dog

At least 7% of all health care costs in the United States are attributed to smoking

On September 7, 1997, the first flight of the F-22a occurred.

There are five years in a quinquennium

The average life span of a mosquito is two weeks

Eating 11 pounds of apples will make you gain one pound of weight

Slugs have 4 noses

The shark cornea has been used in eye surgery, since its cornea is similar to a human cornea

Singer Billy Joel tried to commit suicide when he was 21 by drinking furniture polish

The largest fish in the world is the whale shark. It can weigh several tons and grow to more than fifty feet in length

The fastest bird in the world is the Peregrine Falcon, which can reach speeds in excess of two hundred miles per hour

The world camel population is close to 19 million

The word "Denim" comes from the French phrase "serge de Nimes" which is a fabric made in a town located in southern France

February 17th, 1930, was the first flight by a cow in an airplane. The milk that was produced by the cow during the flight was put into containers and parachuted over the city of St. Louis

The most popular gift that teachers receive in the United States from their students is chocolate

The Bible has been translated into Klingon

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating arealready married.

Stewardesses is one of the longest words typed with only the left hand

If a lobster loses an eye or a claw it can usually grow a new one

The name for the sign "&" which represents the world "and" is ampersand

The Eiffel Tower weight is approximately 9441 tons

The first translation of the Bible into English was in 1382 A.D., by John Wycliff

The meaning of Siberia is "sleeping land."

Ancient Romans at one time used human urine as an ingredient in their toothpaste

Billie Jean by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist

Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, with a population of 1000 and a size 108.7 acres

Eyebrow hair lasts between 3-5 months before it sheds

An elephant cannot jump

Scientists say that babies that are breastfed are more likely to be slimmer as adults than those that are not breastfed

The reason why the Mexican sombrero hat is so wide is to provide shade for the entire body

Amazingly, goalies in the National Hockey League played without masks until the year 1959

According to research, the most productive workday is Tuesday and the least productive is Friday

The makers of Crayola produce over 2 billion crayons in a year

The human face is made up of 14 bones

Mangos are valued for their reputation as an aphrodisiac in countries such as Guatemala and India

There are over 9 million beef and dairy cattle in New Zealand

The coconut is the largest seed in the world

Basketball superstar Wilt Chamberlain holds 56 NBA records

In 1990, the largest watermelon ever grown was 262 pounds, by Bill Carson of Tennesse, USA

Some toothpastes contain antifreeze

During the Gold Rush in 1849, some people paid as much as $100 for a simple glass of water

The only English place that has a name that ends with an exclamation mark is "Westward Ho!"

In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a huntinglicense.

There are at least six universal facial expressions. They are: happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, anger and surprise

In the movie "The Exorcist" the vomit that (Regan) Linda Blair hurls at Father Damien Karras is thick pea soup

The Library of Congress, located in Washington D.C., is the largest library in the world

There is a substance in the skin of the African clawed frog that helps in fighting infection

The Sea of Tranquility on the moon is deeper than the highest mountain on Earth

The most popular vacation destinations for Americans in 1956 was Niagara Falls

In 1967, the first successful heart transplant was performed in Cape Town, South Africa

There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's Big Mac bun.

In one day, a queen bee can lay up to 1500 eggs in one day

"Pomology" is the science of growing an apple

The total number of episodes for the sitcom "I Love Lucy" was 180

The town with the most stop signs per capita than any other in the US: LaConner, Washington

There is a Harley-Davidson that was designed as an exact replica of a hamburger

The blue whale is the loudest animal on the earth. Its whistle can reach up to 188 decibels

Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple, andchocolate.

Mosquitoes prefer children over adults

Sharks are capable of going at least 6 weeks without eating; the record observed in an aquarium is 15 months by a species of shark known as the swell sharks)

When baby sharks are born, they swim away from their mothers right away and are on there own. In fact, their mothers might see them as prey

Soaking beans for twelve hours in water before they are cooked can reduce flatulence caused by beans

The vegetable that is eaten most by Americans is potatoes. On average, a person eats about 140 pounds of potatoes annually

In the dry valleys region of Antarctica, it has not rained in 2 million years according to scientists

Keeping your car tuned up is a good way to save on gas. A car that is tuned up is 9% more efficient on gasoline.

The venom of the king cobra is so deadly that one bite can kill twenty people or one elephant

There is a law in the state of Idaho that does not permit one citizen to give another citizen a box of candy that is heavier than 50 pounds

The kidneys filter over 400 gallons of blood each day

Another word to refer to old age is senectitude

The most popular meal ordered at restaurants in the U.S. is fried chicken

Kit Kat chocolate bar was introduced to the market in 1935

The average human head weighs about eight pounds

Fear of clowns is called coulrophobia

The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night

Common pesticides such as roach, termite and flea insecticide can be found in the bodies of majority of Americans

Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category

There is no tipping in Iceland

The founder of JC Penny had the middle name of Cash

Eating parsley after eating an onion can help in getting rid of onion breath

Gorilla gorilla gorilla is the scientific name for the animal gorilla

In the U.S. the most common excuse made to get out of paying a ticket is to say they missed the sign

On average, it is estimated that females injure themselves ten time more than males do while playing sports

A house cat spends 70% of its time sleeping

The first hair dryer was a vacuum cleaner that was used for drying hair

Whale eyes are the size of a grapefruit

Painting a house yellow or having a yellow trim helps in selling a house faster

On August 21st, 1911, someone stole the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world, from the Louvre Museum. It was recovered two years later

The Great Wall stretches for about 4,500 miles across North China

Frosted Flakes mascot "Tony the Tiger" has a wife, son (Tony Jr.) and daughter (Antoinette) that were used in early advertising commercials

The iron disulfide (Pyrite) is considered "fool's gold" because it looks very similar to gold.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intraveinously.

Smiling releases endorphins in the body, which makes people feel better

A dentist from Buffalo New York named Alfred P. Southwick invented the electric chair.

ABBA got their name by taking the first letter from each of their names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-frid.)

The space between your eyebrows is called the Glabella

Grapes are grown around the world more than any other fruit

The best selling game in history for coin-operated machines is Pac-Man

Google receives more than 200 million search queries a day, more than half of which come from outside the United States. Peak traffic hours to google.com are between 6 a.m. and noon PST, when more than 2,000 search queries are answered a second

There is a Hamburger hall of fame in Seymour, Wisconsin

The Olympic torch weighs about 3 pounds

The famous Christmas song "Jingle Bells" was written for a Thanksgiving program in 1857 by James Pierpont. At the time, the song was called "The One-Horse Open Sleigh."

The average bank teller loses about $250 every year

Initially golf balls were made out of wood. After that they were made out of leather which was stuffed with feathers

Russian I.M. Chisov survived a 21,980 plunge out of a plane with no parachute. He landed on the steep side of a snow-covered mountain with only a fractured pelvis and slight concussion

About 70 percent of Americans who go to college do it just to make more money

The oldest actor to win a Best Actor Oscar is Henry Fonda. He was 76 when he won it

Babies who wear disposable diapers are five times more likely to develop diaper rash than those that wear cotton diapers

The first lighthouse built in the USA was in Boston, MA in 1716

The Snickers chocolate bar was invented in 1930

When Nylons first went on sale in the United States in 1940, four million pairs were sold in only a few days

On average, a man spends about five months of his life shaving

Oprah Winfrey was the first black woman to anchor a newscast in Nashville at WTVF-TV

Ever year, Americans spend close to $25 billion on beer

In 1888, an Egyptian peasant discovered an estimated three hundred thousand mummified cats in Beni Hassan, Egypt. Of the cats that were not stolen once, the find was made public, the remaining mummified cats were shipped to Great Britain to be used as agricultural fertilizer

The smallest stamp in the world was issued in 1863 by the Columbian state of Bolivar and measured 9.5 x 8mm

There are over 1,800 known species of fleas

Ivory soap slogan "99-44/100% Pure" was cleverly invented by Harley Proctor who with the help of chemists determined that Ivory soap was only 56/100 pure. Proctor simply subtracted 56 from 100 and came up with "99-44/100% Pure"

The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA

Polar bears are left-handed

Brain damage will only occur if a fever goes above 107.6 degrees farenheit

It requires 63 feet of wire to make a Slinky toy

A female ferret can die if she goes into heat and cannot find a mate

Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy on the cartoon show "Scooby-Doo." Casey Kasem, being a strict vegetarian, also requested that Shaggy follow the same diet on the show

In the U.S., the milk production per dairy cow is approximately 12,000 pounds

In America, 38% of doctors are Indians

There are approximately 100 million acts of sexual intercourse each day

People with allergies can lower allergy reactions by laughing

Some farmers in Japan have learned to grow their watermelons into a square shape. They did this to conserve shelf space

The heaviest United States President was William Howard Taft who weighed 332 pounds

Tasmania is said to have the cleanest air in the world

Studies show that divorced women have more trouble starting new relationships than divorced men

Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?

An individual coral animal is called a polyp

There are dolphins that live in the Amazon River that are the colour pink

Navel oranges got their name because the bottom of this type of orange resembles a belly button or navel

Tohru Iwatani, the inventor of the video game Pac-Man, came up with the idea when he saw a pizza with a slice missing at a dinner party

One tree can filter up to sixty pounds of pollutants from the air each year.

In America, one out of every two marriages ends up in divorce

A chance of a woman having twins is increased after the age of 35. About 1 in 27 women will give birth to twins after this age. After 50 the chances of having twins is 1 in 9

The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight, and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated

The Hollywood sign was first erected in 1923. It was first erected as "Hollywoodland."

During his entire life, Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting, Red Vineyard at Arles

The first commercial chewing gum was sold in 1848 by John B. Curtis, who also made the gum. He called the gum "State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum."

Touching and stroking a plant will aid in it growing healthy

Average age of top GM executives in 1994: 49.8 years. Average age ofthe Rolling Stones: 50.6.

Business.com is currently the most expensive domain name sold for $7.5 million

31% of employees skip lunch entirely

Olive oil can help in lowering cholesterol levels and decreasing the risk of heart complications

Ho-Ho-Kus, a small town in New Jersey, is the only town in the United States of America that has two dashes in its name

Romans, in the third century, believed that the lemon was an antidote for all poisons

During the Easter season, 600 million Marshmallow Peeps are bought my Americans. The Marshmallow Peep is the most popular Easter candy besides chocolate

In the Great Fire of London in 1666, only six people were killed

During World War II, the 2nd Polish Corps had a brown bear named Wojtek, who helped move boxes of ammunition during the battle of Monte Cassino

In the United States, every year about 15 people die from dog bites

Sheep can survive for up to two weeks buried in snow drifts.Click Here For More Details

The Crayola colour flesh was changed to peach in 1962 because of the fact that people have many different skin colours

"Kemo Sabe" means "soggy shrub" in Navajo

7 out of 10 people believe in life after death

Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them would burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."

The largest coral reef in the world is the Great Barrier Reef located in Australia. The reef is approximately 2023 kilometers long

On a bottle of brandy VSOP stand for "Very Special Old Pale."

The word "dexterity", to do with skill is related to the right hand. The opposite of the word "deter" is "sinister", to do with evil, it is related to the left hand

Male sea horses are the ones that get impregnated rather than the females. Males have a pouch on their belly that provides incubation for the female?s eggs and they can have up to 1500 babies at one time

NASA scientists have concluded that the state of California is moving north and will collide with the state of Alaska in roughly 150 million years

The best selling chocolate syrup in the world is Hershey

The word Karate means, "empty hand."

There are some types of chocolates that are actually good for the arteries and heart

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair

The speed at which honey bees fly is at 15 miles per hour

The average life expectancy of an ant is about 90 days

The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns

In France, it is illegal for a person to kiss another on railways

The appliance that uses the most use of water in the home is the toilet

The first movie to ever cost $100 million to make is Terminator 2: Judgment Day in 1991

Adolf Hitler wanted to be an architect, but he failed the entrance exam at the architectural school in Vienna

In the first century, people used to drink goats milk to sweeten their breath

The first product that Sony came out with was the rice cooker

In the United States, ice cream is sold the most on a Sunday

Over the course of one year, a coffee tree only produces about 1.5 pounds of coffee

The substance that gives red wine and dark beer its color is said to have a positive effects on cholesterol and blood pressure

Tripolini pasta was named for the Italian conquest of Tripoli in Libya

The six official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish