INTERESTING FACTS

• Americans collectively eat one hundred pounds of chocolate every second
• People who studies laughter are called a “gelotologists.”
• Adolf Hitler was one of the people that was responsible in the creation of the Volkswagen Beetle. He came up with the idea of producing a car that was cheap enough for the average German working man to afford.
• Chameleons can move their eyes independently. One eye can be looking forward and one eye backward at the same time
• Bruce Lee was so fast, that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That is the opposite of the norm
• Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress
• In 1953, racecar driver Tim Flock raced at Nascar with a monkey in the seat beside him
• Taipan snakes have 50 times more toxic than a cobra snake
• Influenza caused over twenty-one million deaths in 1918
• English sailors were referred to as “limeys” because sailors added lime juice to their diet to combat scurvy
• Ukrainian people celebrate Christmas on January 7th, which is the Orthodox Christmas Day
• Gorillas are considered apes, not monkeys. The way to distinguish between an ape and a monkey is that apes do not have tails
• Early Romans used to use porcupine quills as toothpicks
• The longest human beard on record is 17.5 feet, held by Hans N. Langseth who was born in Norway in 1846
• Honey is used sometimes for antifreeze mixtures and in the center of golf balls
• The size of a raindrop is around 0.5 mm - 2.5 mm, and they fall from the sky on average 21 feet per second.
• In the United States, the first cookbook was published in 1796 and it contained a recipes for watermelon rind pickles
• The word “walkman” was included in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986
• A headache and inflammatory pain can be reduced by eating 20 tart cherries
• There is an area located off the south-eastern Atlantic coast of the United States called the “Bermuda Triangle.” It is known for a high rate of unexplained losses of ships, small boats, and aircraft, which has led some people to believe that this triangle has supernatural powers
• State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
• Some toothpastes and deodorants contain the same chemicals found in antifreeze
• The Shroud of Turin is the single most studied artifact in human history
• Smartest dogs: 1) Scottish border collie; 2) Poodle; 3) Golden retriever
• The sperm count of an average American male compared to thirty years ago is down thirty percent
• Humpback whales are capable of living up to 95 years
• The 1912, a wrestling match in Stockholm between Finn Alfred Asikainen and Russian Martin Klein lasted more than 11 hours. Klein eventually won, but was to tired to participate in the championship match
• Manitoulin Island is the largest island in a fresh water lake. It is located in Canadian Lake Superior
• Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
• The Chinese politician Mao Zedong refused to ever brush his teeth and instead just washed his mouth with tea
• The Super Bowl is broadcast to over 182 countries in the world
• Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour
• In 1884, Dr. Hervey D. Thatcher invented the milk bottle.
• Some Ribbon worm will eat themselves if they cannot find food. This type of worm can still survive after eating up to 95% of its body weight
• The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable.”
• Singer Chaka Khan came out with a line of chocolates called “Chakalates.”
• In a day 34,000 children die every day from causes that are related to poverty and hunger
• In 2002, the most popular boat name in the U.S. was Liberty
• One out of 20 people have an extra rib
• 44% of kids watch television before they go to sleep
• In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was first established for the specific purpose to combat the counterfeiting of money
• Istanbul, Turkey is the only city in the world located on two continents
• In 1967, the IMAX film system was invented by Canadian Ivan Grame Ferguson to premier at Expo 67.
• Approximately 40% of the U.S. paper currency in circulation was counterfeit by the end of the Civil War
• Every three days a human stomach gets a new lining
• In 1873, Colgate made a toothpaste that was available in a jar
• The Kodiak, which is native to Alaska, is the largest bear and can measure up to eight feet and weigh as much as 1,700 pounds
• The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley
• Mars is the home of Olympus Mons, the largest known volcano in our solar system
• The Gastric Flu can cause projectile vomiting
• The second best selling game of all time is Jenga. Jenga is a Swahili word, meaning “to build.”
• Cinderella is known as Rashin Coatie in Scotland, Zezolla in Italy, and Yeh-hsien in China
• The name Wendy was made up for the book “Peter Pan.”
• The fur of the binturong, also known as the “Asian Bear Cat,” smells like popcorn. The scent is believed to come from a gland located near the tail
• In 1894 the first big Coke sign was found on the side of a building located in Cartersville, Georgia, and still exists today
• The longest distance a deepwater lobster has been recorded to travel is 225 miles
• Orcas (killer whales), when traveling in groups, breathe in unison
• The Great Pyramids used to be as white as snow because they were encased in a bright limestone that has worn off over the years
• NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
• Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again: 80%
• Paul Hunn holds the record for the loudest burp, which was 118.1 decibels, which is as loud as a chainsaw
• A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana
• There are six million parts in the Boeing 747-400.
• The first TONKA truck was made in 1947

• In the U.S., over one million gallons of cosmetics, drinks, and lotions are sold that contain aloe in them per year
• Sugar Bear (the mascot for Golden Crisps cereal) was born in 1963
• The Tonle Sap River in Cambodia flows north for almost half the year and then south for the rest of the year
• Japanese research has concluded that moderate drinking can boost IQ levels
• For more than 3,000 years, Carpenter ants have been used to close wounds in India, Asia and South America
• Baskin Robbins plain vanilla ice cream is the number one selling flavour and accounts for a quarter of their sales
• Elizabeth Taylor has appeared on the cover of Life magazine more than anyone else
• The typical lead pencil can draw a line that is thirty five miles long
• The word “toy” comes from an old English word that means “tool.”
• Smokers are twice as likely to develop lower back pain than non-smokers
• Humans are born with 300 bones in their body, however when a person reaches adulthood they only have 206 bones. This occurs because many of them join together to make a single bone
• 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
• In 1960 there were 16,067 gambling slots in Nevada. By 1999, this number rose to 205,726 slots which would be one slot for every 10 people residing there
• 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 light bulbs to complete an orbit.
• The two factories of the Jelly Belly Candy Company produces approximately 100,000 pounds of jelly beans a day. this amounts to about 1,250,000 jelly beans an hour
• Pucks hit by hockey sticks have reached speeds of up to 150 miles per hour
• The “naked recreation and travel” industry has grown by 233% in the past decade
• The Planters Peanut Company mascot, Mr. Peanut, was created during a contest for schoolchildren in 1916
• Most lipstick contains fish scales
• The sentence “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter in the english language
• The expression cooked “al dente” means “to the tooth.” What this means is that the pasta should be somewhat firm, and offer some resistance to the tooth, but should also be tender
• Of married couples, 70% of men and 60% of women have cheated on their spouse
• No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times
• More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes
• The first couple to be shown on a sitcom sleeping in the same bed was “Mary Kay and Johnny.”
• Asthma affects one in fifteen children under the age of eighteen
• A one ounce milk chocolate bar has 6 mg of caffeine
• Throughout the South, peanuts were known as “Monkey Nuts,” and “Goober peas,” before the civil war
• Scallops have approximately 100 eyes around the edge of its shell
• In 1810, Peter Durand invented the tin can for preserving food
• The fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth is called Arachibutyrophobia
• Men in their early twenties shave an average of four times a week
• Colour is not an indicator for the taste or ripeness in cranberries
• Each year there are approximately 20 billion coconuts produced worldwide
• A chicken with red earlobes will produce brown eggs, and a chicken with white earlobes will produce white eggs
• Not all polar bears hibernate; only pregnant females polar bears do
• There is a restaurant in Stockholm that only offers all-garlic products. They even have a garlic cheesecake
• Serving ice cream on cherry pie was once illegal in Kansas
• Superman The Escape rollercoaster, located in California at Six Flags Magic Mountain, goes from 0 to 100 miles per hour in only 7 seconds
• Five thousandths of a millimeter is the tolerance of accuracy at the LEGO mould factories
• 2.5 cans of Spam are consumed every second in the United States
• In 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna held an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg. updated
• A meteor has only destroyed one satellite, which was the European Space Agency’s Olympus in 1993.
• The Koala bear is not really a bear, but is really related to the kangaroo and the wombat.
• One gallon of pure maple syrup weighs 11 pounds
• Instead of a Birthday Cake, many Russian children are given a Birthday Pie
• The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system in India, employing over 1.6 million people
• The word “comet” comes from the Greek word “kometes” meaning long hair and referring to the tail
• The average price for a major league baseball game in 2004 is $19.82
• The hydra, which is related to the jellyfish, can grow its body back in a couple of days if it is cut in half
• The deepest mine in the world is the East Rand mine, which goes to a depth of about 3,585 metres
• Native Indians have been known to paint their doors blue, which they believe keeps the bad spirits out
• Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.
• It would take about fourteen and half million notes of currency to build a mile high stack
• Chinese Crested dogs can get acne
• It costs about 3 cents to make a $1 bill in the United States
• Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”
• The cross bow was invented by the Chinese and records of its usage goes back to as far as the Three Kingdom Period (220 a.d.-280 a.d.).
• It is estimated that by the end of 2000, there has been 142,600 tonnes of gold mined in the world
• One-third pound stalk of broccoli contains more vitamin C than 204 apples
• The Flintstones cartoon was the first thirty-minute cartoon to be aired during prime time
• The abbreviation Xmas for the word Christmas is of Greek origin. Since the word for Christ in the Greek language is Xristos, which starts with the letter “X,” they started putting the X in place of Christ and came up with the short form for the word Christmas 
• Dipsomania refers to an insatiable craving for alcoholic beverages