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!
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
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 collixe; 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 inches 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
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
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%
Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.
Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
Back in the mid to late 80's, an IBM compatible computer wasn't considered a hundred percent compatible unless it could run Microsoft's Flight Simulator.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
It takes about a half a gallon of water to cook macaroni, and about a gallon to clean the pot
Cat's urine glows under a black light.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
In the great fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down but only 6 people were injured
Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
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.
Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds.
Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book in every Dewey-decimal category.
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
A person afflicted with hexadectylism has six fingers or six toes on one or both hands and feet.
A poll of 3,000 Americans found that for 41 percent, the thing they're most afraid of is speaking before a group of people. 32 percent stated they were afraid of heights.
A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her coffee.
About 10% of the world's population is left-handed.
Air pollution may contribute to two percent of all deaths in the US, some 50,000 cases per year. A nine-year study of US cities showed a strong correlation between death rates and periods of significant pollution.
America's first nudist organization was founded in 1929, by 3 men.
Based on a US Justice Department study conducted between 1992 and 1996, workplace violence troubles 1.7 million Americans a year. Number of workers attacked or threatened per thousand: Police officers: 306, Private security guards: 218, Taxi drivers: 184, Prison guards: 117, Bartenders: 91, Mental health professionals: 80, Gas station attendants: 79.
Catholic Popes who died during sex: Leo VII (936-9) died of a heart attack, John VII (955-64) was bludgeoned to death by the husband of the woman he was with at the time, John XIII (965-72) was also murdered by a jealous husband, Pope Paul II (1467-71) allegedly died while being sodomized by a page boy.
For drinking, washing, etc., an average American uses 168 gallons of water per day. The average American residence uses 107,000 gallons per year.
For the 66% of American's who admit to reading in the bathroom, the preferred reading material is "Reader's Digest."
Forty-six US federal agencies have officers with the authority to carry firearms and arrest people.
Fourteen percent of the one million citizens of Nairobi, Kenya carry the AIDS virus. Some 20% of the Kenyan military is infected. (1997)
Hans Christian Andersen, Cher, Tom Cruise, Albert Einstein, Whoopie Goldberg, Greg Louganis, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Gen. George S. Patton, are (were) all dyslexics.
Humans are the only animals that copulate face to face.
In 1894 there were only 4 automobiles in the US.
In 1960, an estimated 4,000 people were over 100 years old in the U.S. By 1995 the number had jumped to : 55,000.
In most American states, a wedding ring is exempt by law from inclusion among the assets in a bankruptcy estate. This means that a wedding ring cannot be seized by creditors, no matter how much the bankrupt person owes.
Isaac Newton, Peter Tchaikovsky and Annie Lennox were all born on Christmas.
Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte both suffered from epilepsy.
Julius Caesar, Martin Luther and Jonathan Swift all suffered from Ménièr's disease. It is a disorder of the hearing and balance senses causing hissing, roaring or whistling sounds to be perceived.
Men commit suicide three times more frequently than women do. But women attempt suicide two to three times more often than men.
Midgets and dwarfs almost always have normal-sized children, even if both parents are midgets or dwarfs.
Monday's Child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child has to work for its living, But a child that's born on the Sabbath Day, Is fair and wise and good and gay.
More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
Number of people who starved to death in 1997: 20,000,000.
Offered a new pen to write with, 97% of all people will write their own name.
Over 80% of professional boxers have suffered brain damage.
Texas was one of the first states to adopt capital punishment by lethal injection -- in 1977.
The ashes of the average cremated person weigh nine pounds.
The average bank teller loses about $250 every year.
The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.
The average person laughs about 15 times a day.
The average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in a lifetime.
The kiss that is given by the bride to the groom at the end of the wedding ceremony originates from the earliest times when the couple would actually make love for the first time under the eyes of half the village!
The New York phone book had 22 Hitlers listed before World War II ... and none after.
The number of triplets born in the US in 1994 (4,594) was more than triple the number born in 1971 (1,034), an increase attributed to older age of the mothers and the use of fertility-enhancing drugs and techniques.
The states of Washington and Montana still execute prisoners by hanging.
The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
The vocabulary of the average person consists of 5,000 to 6,000 words.
Three chemicals are used to execute criminals by lethal injection. First, Sodium Thiopental is injected, causing the inmate to fall into a deep sleep. The second chemical agent, Pancuronium Bromide, a muscle relaxer, follows. This causes the inmate to stop breathing due to paralyses of the diaphragm and lungs. Finally, Potassium Chloride is injected, stopping the heart
US presidents who have been assassinated: Abraham Lincoln in 1865, James A. Garfield in 1881, William H. McKinley in 1901, and John F. Kennedy in 1963.
US Presidents who never attended college: Grover Cleveland, Abraham Lincoln, Harry S Truman, and George Washington.
US Presidents who never had children: George Washington, known as the "Father of the Country," James Madison, Andrew Jackson, James Polk, James Buchanan, and Warren Harding.
US Presidents who never held any other elective office: U. S. Grant, William H. Taft, Herbert Hoover, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
US Presidents who owned slaves : George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant.
US presidents who served an entire term without a vice president: John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, and Chester Arthur.
US presidents who were survived by their fathers: John F. Kennedy and Warren Harding.
Where did the whole business of the stork delivering babies come from? To avoid the details of conception and childbirth, Scandinavian mothers used to tell their children that the stork delivered babies. The stork was a natural choice for the Scandinavians. Many houses had storks' nests on them, which gave the story credibility in children's eyes. Further adding to the appeal of the stork, is the bird's fidelity. Not only do storks return year after year to the same nests, but they are monogamous too. Storks also take care of their elderly or sick parents, an added benefit for parents trying to develop similar traits in their children. In the 19th century, Hans Christian Andersen popularized the Scandinavian legend by including it in his fairy tales, and in the 20th century, cartoons helped introduce it to children.
Can picking your nose kill you? Sure picking your nose can kill you, but it's not easy. Truth is, a picking obsession is much more likely to cost you your friends than your life. The deadly threat of nose picking comes from the fact that the vein that takes blood away from your nose connects with ones that also drain your brain. So if you pick too vigorously, you could break skin and expose your system to the germs on your finger. Those germs could then cause an infection, which might spread through the blood vessels and clog up the vein that drains your brain. As a result, your brain could fill up like a water balloon and you could die.
Why is a wedding ring worn on the ring finger? The Western practice of wearing a wedding ring on the third finger (not including the thumb) began in Greece in the third century B.C. The Greeks believed that there was a vein, named the "vein of love," that ran from what we now call the ring finger directly to the heart. As a result, they placed the ring that symbolized love on that finger. Later, the Romans, adopting Greek science, copied the custom and took it one step further. Roman physicians used their ring fingers to stir medicine, believing that since the ring finger was connected to the heart, it could detect toxicity.
What a Difference a Century Makes
In the summer of 1900...
The average life expectancy in the United States was 47.
Only 14% of the homes in the United States had a bathtub.
Only 8% of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11.
There were only 8,000 cars in the US and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
California was only the 21st most populated state in the Union. Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California With a mere 1.4 million residents,
The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower
The average wage in the US was 22 cents an hour.
The average US worker made between $200 and $400 per year.
More than 95% of all births in the United States took place at home.
90% of all US physicians had no college education.
Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."
Sugar cost four cents a pound. Eggs were 14 cents a dozen. Coffee cost 15 cents a pound.
Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.
The five leading causes of death in the US were:
1.Pneumonia and influenza
2.TB
3.Diarrhea
4.Heart disease
5.Stroke
The American flag had 45 stars.
Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.
The population of Las Vegas Nevada was 30. The remote desert community was inhabited by only a handful of ranchers and their families.
Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics hadn't been discovered yet.
Scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been invented.
There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.
One in 10 US adults couldn't read or write. Only 6% of all Americans had graduated from high school.
Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at corner drugstores. According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and the bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health.
