Random Facts

[nwnicwilli]

All/most of these facts were obtained from a book called "Randomest Facts Ever" 2010. Multiple authors, contact me for information.

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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 national anthem of Greece has 158 verses. No one in Greece has memorized all 158 verses.

 

The only real person to be a Pez head was Betsy Ross.

 

The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE.

 

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

 

There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

 

There are more chickens than people in the world.

 

There are only four words in the English language which end in "-dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

 

Tigers have stripped skin, not just stripped fur.

 

Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

 

When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.

 

Who's that playing the piano on the "Mad About You" theme? Paul Reiser himself.

 

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

 

You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

 

8 Hz is the resonating frequency of a chinkens skull.

 

A whale can explode after its dead if its been out of the water for a certian amount of time.

 

People can control their dreams.

 

We have at least a million dreams in one night but we forget most of them.

 

If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

 

You're more likely to be a target for mosquitoes if you consume bananas.

Edited January 29, 2011 by nwnicwilli

[Keanumoreira]

I only knew four of those from the top of my head ,lol.

[nwnicwilli]

If an octopus is hungry enough it will eat its own tentacles.

 

The creamy middle of a Twinkie is not cream at all but mostly Crisco, which is vegetable shortening.

 

By the first century B.C., Romans were practicing various forms of plastic surgery to repair noses, eyes, lips, and teeth. Roman physician Cornelius Celsus (c. 25 B.C.-A.D. 50) also describes procedures such as circumcision reversal and even breast reduction in men.

 

100,000,000,000 tons of dynamite would have to be detonated every second to match the energy produced by the sun.

 

During his second run for presidency, Teddy Roosevelt was shot by a would-be assassin while giving a speech in Milwaukee. He continued to deliver his speech with the bullet in his chest.

 

President George Washington didn’t have enough money to get to his own inauguration so he had to borrow $600 from his neighbor.

 

Shells and stones on the Aztecs' ritual blades symbolized the faces of the gods for which the sacrificial hearts were intended. They would sacrifice between 10,000 to 50,000 victims per year. Under the rule of Montezuma II, 12,000 victims were sacrificed in one day.

 

 

Facebook is not only beating MySpace traffic, but it is also the second-ranked site overall in the U.S. behind Google

 

According to one report, it would take 800 marijuana joints to kill a person—but the cause of death would be carbon monoxide poisoning.

 

Romans discovered that mixing lead with wine not only helped preserve wine, but also gave it a sweet taste and succulent texture. Chronic lead poisoning has often been cited as one of the causes of the decline of Rome.

 

Humans stand little chance of surviving a shark attack. One of the most startling incidents of a shark attack occurred in Tasmania, Australia, in 1993. Terri Cartwright died instantly when a 15-foot Great White bit her in half as her horrified family watched from a boat. She was last seen in its mouth. Part of her leg and a piece of her wet suit were later found.

 

The banana tree is not a true fruit at all but a giant herb and the banana is actually its berry.

 

South American Titi monkeys are rare among primates because they are monogamous.

 

The three best known Western names in China are Jesus Christ, Elvis Presley, and (president) Richard Nixon.

 

Prehistoric stone monuments called “dolmens” have been found over the graves of the dead in northwest Europe. Anthropologists speculate they have been placed over graves to keep vampires from rising.

 

Although Nero (A.D. 37-68) insisted he wanted to commit suicide honorably, he actually had himself killed by an attendant.

 

On average, someone in the U.S. is killed by a drunk driver every 40 minutes.

[nwnicwilli]

Hearing is probably the best of all of a shark’s senses. Some sharks can hear prey in the water from 3,000 feet away.

 

Money isn't made out of paper; it's made out of cotton.

 

Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it would digest itself.

 

The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.

 

A raisin dropped in a glass of freshchampagne will bounce up

and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

 

Every person has a unique tongue print.

 

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

 

AAAAAAAAAND:

For you ladies out there: Most lipstick contains fish scales.

[nwnicwilli]

A tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion will make it instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

 

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb

 

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

 

Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples.

 

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

 

Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

 

Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a space suit damages them.

[DeathWarrior]

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.

 

The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than that of modern humans.

 

The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.

 

Diet Coke was only invented in 1982.

 

The favorite color of most males is blue (that includes me).

 

315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

 

Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.

 

The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

 

The Spartans really did kick their Persian missionary down their well, and Athenians executed theirs.

 

The most destructive weapon known to be created in human history is Tsar Bomba, a Soviet nuke with the capability of a 100 megaton blast radius. I've also read somewhere that it would be able to wipe out the all of the UK.

[nwnicwilli]

^ Personally like your second to last fact.

[nwnicwilli]

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.

[TheSwedishPancake]

Another random banana fact: Bananas are actually going extinct. There's a disease that's affected virtually every banana (and banana tree) in the world that causes them not to produce seeds. Most bananas you buy at the store today are artificially grown.

 

Edit: To DeathWarrior: I bet that doctor felt terrible a few decades later. :/

Edited January 29, 2011 by TheSwedishPancake

[nwnicwilli]

Other than humans, black lemurs are the only primates that have blue eyes.

 

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

 

Russians generally answer the phone by saying, ‘I’m listening.’

Edited January 29, 2011 by nwnicwilli