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Random Facts
I love anything random. Especially if they're stupid, random, but true trivial facts. Ask my friends- whenever there is an awkward silence (which I absolutely hate) I'll just state some random fact and then everyone will start laughing. It happens a lot. I don't get it- what is so dang funny about a dime having 118 ridges! Try annoying (or impressing) some of your own friends with these random facts that I've collected over the years...
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear
A crocodile
cannot stick out its tongue
A dime has
118 ridges around the edge
A dragonfly
has a life span of 24 hours
A goldfish
has a memory span of 3 seconds
A 'jiffy' is
actually a unit of time for 1/100th of a second
A shark is
the only fish that can blink with both eyes
A snail can
sleep for three years
Al Capone's
business card said he was a used furniture dealer
All 50
states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the 5
dollar bill, but you can't see all of them
Almonds are
a member of the peach family
An ostrich's
eye is bigger than it's brain
Babies are
born without kneecaps- they don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of
age
Butterflies
taste with their feet
Cats have
over 100 vocal sounds- Dogs have about 10
'Dreamt' is
the only word in the English language ending with 'mt'
February
1865 is the only month in recorded history that did not have a full moon
If the
population of China walked past you, in single file, the line would never end
because of the rate of reproduction
If you are
an average American, in your whole life you will spend an average of 6 months
waiting at red lights
In the last
4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated
It's
impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
Leonardo Da
Vinci invented scissors
Maine is the
only state whose name has only one syllable
No word in
the English language rhymes with month, silver, or purple
On a
Canadian 2 dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an
American flag
Only 2 words
in the English language have all five vowels in order- abstemious and facetious
Only 4 words
in the English language end with 'dous'- tremendous, horrendous, stupendous,
hazardous
Our eyes are
always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing
Peanuts are
one of the ingredients of dynamite
Rubber bands
last longer when refrigerated
'Stewardesses' is the longest word typed with only the left hand- 'lollipop'
with your right
The average
person's left hand does 56 percent of the typing
The bible
does not say there were 3 wise men- only that there were 3 gifts
The cruise
liner QE2 moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns
The
microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate
bar melted in his pocket
The stomach
has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks- otherwise it would digest
itself
The winter
of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid
There are
293 ways to make change for a dollar
There are
more chickens in the world than people
There is no
Betty Rubble in the Flintstones chewable Vitamins
Tigers have
striped skin, not just striped fur
'Typewriter'
is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the
keyboard
Winston
Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance
Women blink
almost twice as much as men
111,111,111 multiplied by
111,111,111=12,345,678,987,654,321
35% of the people who use
personal ads for dating are already married
40% of all people at a party
will snoop in your medicine cabinet
A duck’s quack doesn’t echo and
nobody knows why
A keyboard does not have a ¢
key, but the typewriter does
Ancient Clans that needed to get
rid of unwanted people without killing them would set fire to their houses,
hence the expression “getting fired”
Bulletproof vests, fire escapes,
windshield wipers, and laser printers were all invented by women
Coca-Cola was originally green
Each king in a deck of playing
cards represents a great king from history: Spades=King David,
Hearts=Charlemagne, Clubs=Alexander the Great, Diamonds=Julius Caesar
Ever day more money is printed
for Monopoly than the US Treasury
Half of all Americans live
within 50 miles of their birthplace
Hershey’s kisses are called that
because the machine that makes them looks as if it is kissing the conveyor belt
Honey is the only food that
doesn’t spoil
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 in
battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of
natural causes.
If you put a raisin in a glass
of champagne it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom
If you were to spell out
numbers, you would have to go up to one thousand before you found the letter ‘A’
In Scotland a new game was
invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden… and so the word GOLF
entered the English language
In Shakespeare’s time,
mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes,
the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer. Hence the phrase “goodnight,
sleep tight.”
Intelligent people have more
zinc and copper in their hair
It is impossible to lick you
elbow
It was the way in Babylon 4,000
years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply
his son-in-law with as much mead as he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and
because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month,
which we know today as the honeymoon
Many years ago in England, pub
frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim or handle of their ceramic cups.
When they needed refill, they used the whistle to get some service. The phrase
‘wet your whistle’ is inspired by this practice.
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs
Bunny) was allergic to carrots
Men can generally read smaller
print than women can; women can usually hear better
Months that begin on Sunday will
always have a “Friday the 13th”
ONE person in two BILLION lives
to be 116 or older
Only two people signed the
Declaration of Independence on July 4th (John Hancock and Charles
Thompson) Most of the rest signed on August 2nd , though the last
signature wasn’t added until 5 years later.
Pearls melt in vinegar
The average number people
airborne over the Unite States at any given hour is 61,000
The cost of raising a medium
sized dog to the age of eleven is $6,400
The fingerprints of koalas and
humans are virtually indistinguishable; so much that they can be confused at a
crime scene (and why would a koala be at a crime scene?)
The first couple to be shown in
bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone
The first novel ever written on
typewriter was Tom Sawyer
The highest point in
Pennsylvania is lower that the lowest point in
Colorado
The most popular boat name is
‘obsession’
The percentage of Africa that is
wilderness is 28%
The percentage of North America
that is wilderness is 38%
The state with the highest
percentage of people who walk to work is Alaska
The world’s youngest parents
were 8 and 9 and lived in China 1910
The youngest pope was 11 years
old
There are more cattle than
people in Texas
There are more chickens in the
world than people (may they never revolt)
There are more collect calls
placed on Father’s Day than any other day of the year
Those San Francisco cable cars
are the only mobile National Monuments
And finally, one more random fact… At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!