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Little Known Facts
I hope you enjoy these Little Known Facts. If you have any Facts that you would like me to add to the list, please feel free to email them to me. Back to my Main Page.
- The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the alphabet. (Developed by Western Union to Test telex/twx communications)
- In every episode of Seinfeld, there is a Superman somewhere.
- Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
- A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
- Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?
- 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.
- The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
- Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.
- 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
- The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabbled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
- The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.)
- When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
- 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.
- 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.
- Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to bum their houses down hence the expression "to get fired."
- 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.
- The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the Pacific. When arming their aiplanes 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 that you thumb.
- An Ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.
- The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
- 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 name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
- The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940's, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.
- Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
- The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
- Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intraveinously.
- If you have three quaters, 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.
- No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl.
- The first toilet ever seen in television was on "Leave It To Beaver".
- The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game.
- Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
- The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
- In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.
- It take 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.
- Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
- There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's Big Mac bun.
- The world's termites outweigh the humans 10 to 1.
- Pound for pound, hambugers cost more than new cars.
- The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-cola, and Budweiser in that order.
- When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25 miles per year.
- It's possible to lead a cow upstairs... but not downstairs.
- The Bible has been translated into Klingon.
- Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.
- Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.
- On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
- In 10 minutes, a huricane releases more energy than all the world's nuclear weapons combined.
- Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California.
- Average age of top GM executives in 1994: 49.8 years. Average age of the Rolling Stones: 50:6.
- Elephants can't jump. Every other mammal can.
- The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
- Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple, and chocolate.
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