Fun Facts and Fun Trivia

Facts we find come here first to be sorted, checked for accuracy and duplicates before being posted to one of the category pages.

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Another name for a Microsoft Windows tutorial is 'Crash Course'!

Canada is an Indian word meaning 'Big Village'.

By partially filling saucers with vinegar and distributing the saucers around a room, you can eliminate odors.

Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar were both epileptic.

During World War II Canadian scientists secretly developed biological weapons which were later taken over by the USA. Anthrax was one.

During World War II the U.S. government used 260 million pounds of instant coffee.

During World War II, bakers in the United States were ordered to stop selling sliced bread for the duration of the war on January 18, 1943. Only whole loaves were made available to the public. It was never explained how this action helped the war effort.

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

An artificial hand , with fingers moved by cogwheels and levers, was designed in 1551 by Frenchman Ambroise Paré. It worked so well that a handless cavalryman was able to grasp the reins of his horse.

An Athens legislator named Solon passed a law in the 6th century that let fathers sell their fornicating daughters into slavery.

Cellophane is not made of plastic. It is made from a plant fiber, cellulose, which has been shredded and aged.

Castor oil is used as a lubricant in jet planes.

Car airbags kill 1 person for every 22 lives that they save.

First-cousin marriages are legal in Utah, so long as both parties are 65 or older!

Fifteen people are known to have been crushed to death tilting vending machines towards them in the hope of a free can of soda.

Lloyd's of London began as Edward Lloyd's coffeehouse.

Local calls using a coin-operated phone in the U.S. cost only 5 cents everywhere until 1951.

Lou Gehrig earned a total of $316,000 during his 17 year career with the New York Yankees. In 1992, a fan paid $363,000 for a Yankee jersey that Gehrig wore during the 1927 season.

Louis XVI of France was captured at Varennes in June 1791 while trying to flee his country. He was stopped at an inn when he tried to pay with a coin that carried his likeness.

Louisa Adams, wife of John Quincy Adams, was the first and only foreign-born first lady.

Lovebirds are small parakeets who live in pairs. Male and female lovebirds look alike, but most other male birds have brighter colors than the females.

Lovers in Liberty Corner, New Jersey, should avoid satisfying their lustful urges in a parked car. If the horn accidentally sounds while they are frolicking behind the wheel, the couple can face a jail term.

Luther Crowell invented the paper bag in 1867.

MacDonalds fries are made with beef flavoring. mmmmmmm.

Madonna suffers from garophobia (the fear of thunder).

Maine is the only state in the United States whose name has one syllable.

Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind between 1926 and 1929. In her early drafts, the main character was named "Pansy O'Hara" and the O'Hara plantation we know as Tara was called "Fountenoy Hall."

One 75-watt light bulb gives off more light than three 25-watt light bulbs.

One American of every 16 will have one of the Top 12 most common last names.

One beaver can cut down as many as 216 trees per year.

One in every 2000 babies is born with a tooth.

One in every 9000 people is an albino.

One in every four Americans has appeared on television.

One in fourteen women in America is a natural blonde. Only one in sixteen men is.

One million tons of oil is equivalent to about 13,000,000,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.

One of the greatest soldiers in history, Alexander the Great, was tutored by the greatest thinker of all time, Aristotle.

One of the holiest Christian holidays is named after a pagan goddess. The name "Easter" derives from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre, who governed the vernal equinox.

One of the largest carriers of hepitius B is diner mints.

One of the many Tarzans, Karmuala Searlel, was mauled to death by a raging elephant on set.

One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers (they saw it as competition).

One out of every 43 prisoners escapes from jail. 94% are recaptured.

One penny doubled everyday becomes over 5 million dollars in just 30 days.

One plain milk chocolate candy bar has more protein than a banana.

One pound of tea can make 300 cups of the beverage.

Snails produce a colorless, sticky discharge that forms a protective carpet under them as they travel along. The discharge is so effective that they can crawl along the edge of a razor without cutting themselves.

Snakes are immune to their own poison.

Snakes have two sex organs... in case one drops off in their fervent attempt to trick females into mating.

'Soldiers disease' is a term for morphine addiction. The Civil War produced over 400,000 morphine addicts.

Some biblical scholars believe that Aramaic (the language of the ancient Bible) did not contain an easy way to say 'many things' and used a term which has come down to us as 40. This means that when the bible -in many places -refers to '40 days,' they many days.

Some cultures kiss by biting off each other's eyelashes.

Some horticulturists suspect that the banana was the earth's first fruit. Banana plants have been in cultivation since the time of recorded history. One of the first records of bananas dates back to Alexander the Great's conquest of India

Large clouds can store enough water for 500000 showers

Some people have more bones in their feet than others.

Some reconstituted tobacco contains the same ingredients found in a fart.

Somebody actually timed a rattlesnake mating session that lasted 22.75 hours.

Sometime around 1050 some English boys looking for a diversion blew up an old cow bladder and began to kick it around. The new game would go on to be called soccer.

Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

Wedding cake was originally thrown at the bride and groom, instead of eaten by them.

Wesley Snipes installed public telephones while struggling to become an actor in New York.

Wet sand weighs less than dry sand.

Whale hunting is strictly prohibitted throughout the entire state of Oklahoma.

Whales can never focus both their eyes on the same object at once

What word can you take the first letter of, put it as the last letter, and make it the past tence of the original word? Answer: Eat (ate)

Wheat is the world's most widely cultivated plant; grown on every continent except Antarctica.

When a coffee seed is planted, it takes five years to yield consumable fruit.

When a male skier falls down, he tends to fall on his face. A woman skier tends to fall on her back.

When a person dies, hearing is generally the last sense to go. The first sense lost is usually sight. Then follows taste, smell, and touch.

Intel is a shortened name for Integrated Electronics. The company's founders wanted to use the full name when they went into business in 1968, but it was already in use.

During the 6 years that the TSA has been screening passengers, none of its employees anywhere has discovered a single terrorist.

Largest collection of traffic cones by David Morgan; 137 different types - 2/3 of the designs ever made.

Most fingers and toes on a living person; 25 digits each, Pranamya and Devendra have 12 fingers and 13 toes.

Loudest burp Paul Hunn of from London, recorded a burp of 104.9 decibels - as loud as a pneumatic drill.

Most live rattlesnakes held in the mouth; Jackie Bibby held 10 rattlesnakes by their tails in his mouth.

Most cockroaches eaten; Ken Edwards of England ate 36 cockroaches in one minute.

Most Ferrero Rocher chocolates eaten in one minute; Reuben Williams ate five Ferrero Rocher chocolates.

Heaviest car balanced on the head John Evans balanced a 159.6 kg (352 lb) Mini on his head for 33 seconds.

Largest collection of air-sick bags; Niek Vermeulen has 5,180 sickness bags from 1,003 different airlines.

Longest leg hair; Wesley Pemberton had the world's longest leg hair at 5 inches (12.7 cm).

Tablecloths were originally meant to be used as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating.

Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult.

The Nobel Peace Prize medal depicts three naked men with their hands on each other's shoulders!

A lightning bolt generates temperatures five times hotter than those found at the sun's surface!

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times.

Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch T.V for 3 hours.

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

The state of Florida is bigger than England.

In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals.

What common everyday occurrence is composed of 59% nitrogen, 21% hydrogen and 9% dioxide?
A fart.

A full seven percent of the entire Irish barley crop goes to the production of Guinness beer.

A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

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

The male gypsy moth can "smell" the virgin female gypsy moth from 1.8 miles away.

A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.

Women shoplift more often than men; the statistics are 4 to 1.

While sleeping, one man in eight snores, and one in ten grinds his teeth.

US Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina set a filibuster record in the U.S. Senate on August 19, 1957. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes.

US Presidents who died on July 4th: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died in 1826, James Monroe died in 1831.

The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

Wayne's World was filmed in two weeks.

Dartboards are made out of horsehairs.

Certain frogs can be frozen solid then thawed, and continue living.

Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size, "L.A."

Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.

A group of unicorns is called a blessing.

Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman.

John Lennon's first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.

The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India.

Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

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

Gilligan of Gilligan's Island had a first name that was only used once, on the never-aired pilot show. His first name was Willy.

The dial tone of a normal telephone is in the key of "F".

Non-dairy creamer is flammable.

If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.

The lifespan of a taste buds ten days.

In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first, and only, home run.

Before Prohibition, Shlitz Brewery owned more property in Chicago than anyone else, except The Catholic Church.

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

Kermit the Frog is left-handed.

Beelzebub, another name for the devil, is Hebrew for "Lord of the Flies", and this is where the book's title comes from.

Dr. Seuss and Kurt Vonnegut went to college together. They were even in the same fraternity, where Seuss decorated the fraternity house walls with drawings of his strange characters.

The term "devil's advocate" comes from the Roman Catholic church. When deciding if someone should be sainted, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view.

John Larroquette of "Night Court" and "The John Larroquette Show" was the narrator of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

The Les Nessman character on the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati wore a band-aid in every episode. Either on himself, his glasses, or his clothing.

Coca-Cola was originally green.

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

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 the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.

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

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

Average number of days a West German goes without washing his underwear: 7.

Smartest dogs: 1) Scottish border collies; 2) Poodle; 3) Golden retriever. Dumbest: Afghan hound.

The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.

First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

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

Only President to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy for Profiles in Courage.

The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."

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

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.

The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six feet for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosey is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey..."), these sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of poseys..."), People who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all fall down!")

The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

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

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

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 longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.

An ostrich's eye is bigger that its brain.

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."

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

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.

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

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."

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321.

The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.

Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades -King David, Clubs -Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, and Diamonds -Julius Caesar.

When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.

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 airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)

Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?

Hang On Snoopy is the official rock song of Ohio. (Note Real title is "Sloopy")

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is 'uncopyrightable'.

The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.

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

Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again: 80%

Percentage of American women who say they'd marry the same man: 50%

Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.

Percentage of Americans who have visited Disneyland/Disney World: 70%.

City with the most Rolls Royces per capita: Hong Kong.

State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.

Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%