Fun facts #3

1. In a normal lifetime an American will eat 200 pounds of peanuts and 10,000 pounds of meat.
2. A new book is published every 13 minutes in America.
3. America's best selling ice cream flavor is vanilla.
4. Every year the sun loses 360 million tons.
5. Because of Animal Crackers, many kids until they reach the age of ten, believe a bear is as tall as a giraffe.
6. The Gulf Stream could carry a message in a bottle at an average of 4 miles per hour.
7. The bulls-eye on a dartboard must be 5 feet 8 inches off the ground.
8. The doorbell was invented in 1831.
9. The electric shaver was patented on November 6, 1928.
10. Japan is the largest exporter of frog's legs.
11. There are seven points on the Statue of Liberty's crown.
12. Napoleon was terrified of cats.
13. The first Lifesaver flavor was peppermint.
14. The typical American eats 263 eggs a year.
15. The parking meter was invented by C.C. Magee in 1935.
16. The oldest known vegetable is the pea.
17. Jack is the most common name in nursery rhymes.
18. The avocado has the most calories of any fruit.
19. The first zoo in the USA was in Philadelphia.
20. France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese.
21. Minus 40 degrees Celsius is exactly the same as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit
22. The snake can see through its transparent eye lids when they are closed
23. A notch in a tree will remain the same distance from the ground as the tree grows
24. Europeans in the Middle Ages used to call coffee the "Arabic Wine"
25. Honeybees have hair on their eyes
26. The shortest English word that contains the letters A, B, C, D, E, and F is "feedback."
27. The state of California raises the most turkeys out of all of the states.
28. George Washington Carver invented peanut butter.
29. Iceland was the first country to legalize abortion in 1935.
30. The dumbest domesticated animal is the turkey.
31. Russia has the most movie theaters in the world.
32. The most fatal car accidents occur on Saturday.
33. The Eiffel Tower has 1792 steps.
34. The mongoose was barred live entry into the U.S. in 1902.
35. Goldfish swallowing started at Harvard in 1939.
36. Dry fish food can make goldfish constipated.
37. The stall closest to the door in a bathroom is the cleanest, because it is the least used.
38. Toilet paper was invented in 1857.
39. Alaska could hold the 21 smallest States.
40. Before Prohibition, Schlitz Brewery owned more property in Chicago than anyone else, except the Catholic church.
41. If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.
42. Kermit the Frog is left-handed.
43. Nondairy creamer is flammable.
44. The car in the foreground on the back of a $10 bill is a 1925 Hupmobile.
45. If you can see a rainbow you must have your back to the sun.
46. 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.
47. It's rumored that sucking on a copper penny will cause a breathalyzer to read 0. Myth Busters on the Discovery Channel proved this wrong.
48. The ship, the Queen Elizabeth 2, should always be written as QE2. QEII is the actual queen.
49. The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself."
50. Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church.
51. When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home to a sellout crowd, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.
52. Ohio is listed as the 17th state in the U.S., but technically it is Number 47. Until August 7, 1953, Congress forgot to vote on a resolution to admit Ohio to the Union.
53. When Saigon fell, the signal for all Americans to evacuate was Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" being played on the radio.
54. The pet ferret was domesticated more than 500 years before the house cat.
55. The dome on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, conceals a billiards room. In Jefferson's day, billiards were illegal in Virginia.
56. The most common speed limit sign in the United States is 25 m.p.h.
57. At any one time, there are 100 million phone conversations going on in the United States.
58. The world's record for continuous pogo stick jumping is 41 hours.
59. The Ottoman Empire once had seven emperors in seven months. They died of (in order): burning, choking, drowning, stabbing, heart failure, poisoning and being thrown from a horse.
60. You can make edible cheese from the milk of 24 different mammals.
61. Sir Isaac Newton, who invented Calculus, had trouble with names to the point where he would forget his brothers' names.
62. In medieval Thailand, they had moveable type printing presses. The type was made from baked oxen dung.
63. By law, employees do not have to wash hands after sneezing.
64. The average American consumes enough caffeine in one year to kill a horse.
65. More American workers (18%) call sick on Friday than any other day of the week. Tuesday has the lowest percent of absenteeism (11%).
66. Enough beer is poured every Saturday across America to fill the Orange Bowl.
67. A newborn expels its own body weight in waste every 60 hours.
68. Whales die if their echo system fails.
69. Florida's beaches lose 20 million cubic yards of sand annually.
70. Naturalists use marshmallows to lure alligators out of swamps.
71. It takes a ton of water to make a pound of refined sugar.
72. Weevils are more resistant to poisons in the morning than at night.
73. Cacao, the main ingredient of chocolate is the most pest-ridden tree in the jungle.
74. In deep space most lubricants will disappear.
75. America once issued a 5-cent bill.
76. The only vehicle legally allowed to pass a funeral procession is a government owned vehicle: a mail truck.
77. The average person can live 11 days without water.
78. In 1221 the daughter of Genghis Khan ordered the killing of the entire population of the city of Nishapur (about 60,000) in one hour. The order came after her husband killing. (Moguls claim that 1.7 million were killed)
79. There are 35 million digestive glands in the stomach.
80. In 1800 only 50 cities on earth had a population of more than 100,000.
81. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball
82. More steel in the US is used to make bottle caps than to manufacture automobile bodies.
83. It is possible for any American citizen to give whatever name he or she chooses to any unnamed mountain or hill in the United States.
84. King Henry III of France, Louis XVI of France and Napoleon all suffered from ailurophobia--fear of cats.
85. Before 1850 golf balls were made of leather and stuffed with feathers.
86. Clocks made before 1687 had only one hand, and hour hand.
87. The motto of the American people, "In God We Trust," was not adopted as the national slogan until 1956.
88. More Americans have died in automobile accidents than have died in all the wars ever fought by the United States.
89. The ampersand (&) was once a letter of the English alphabet. The ampersand (&) did not use to be a letter of the English alphabet - it was the last letter of the Latin alphabet
90. The principality of Monaco consists of 370 acres.
91. There are more than 40,000 characters in Chinese script.
92. During the time of Peter the Great, any Russian man who had a beard was required to pay a special tax.
93. The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television was Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
94. Coca-Cola was originally green.
95. Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. treasury.
96. The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters (I was thankfully corrected by a friend: The Hawai'ian alphabet has 13 letters, A, E, I, O, U, H, K, L, M, N, P, W, ' (which is called an okina).
97. Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
98. The amount American Airlines saved in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class: $40,000.
99. City with the most Rolls Royces per capita: Hong Kong.
100. State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska.
101. Percentage of Africa that is wilderness--28%. Percentage of North America that is wilderness--38%.
102. Average number of days a German goes without washing his underwear: 7.
103. Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again: 80%.
104. Percentage of American women who say they'd marry the same man: 50%.
105. Cost of raising a medium size dog to the age of 11: $6,400.
106. Average people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.
107. Average lifespan of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
108. The only President to win a Pulitzer Prize: John Kennedy for "Profiles in Courage."
109. The youngest Pope was 11 years old.
110. Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
111. First novel ever written on a typewriter: "Tom Sawyer."
112. A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why. (This was challenged and proved wrong by the TV show "Mythbusters")
113. 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 (This is an urban myth. Despite a collection of more than 3.7 million books, this library is not sinking. Thanks to GG for this correction)
114. 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.
115. 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 leg front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. George Washington statues have one leg in the air, for example. If the horse has all 4 legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.
116. Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th. The last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
117. The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are useable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. Told that this was an urban legend. In fact, several parts of the German and later the Swiss Autobahn system were indeed designed to be auxiliary military airports.
118. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
119. The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
120. The first airline, DELAG, was established on October 16, 1909, to carry passengers between German cities by Zeppelin airships. Up to November 1913, more than 34,000 people had used the service.
121. Titanic was running at 22 knots when she hit the iceberg
122. The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; '7' was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. 'UP' indicated the direction of the bubbles
123. Francis Scott Key was a young lawyer who wrote the poem, 'The Star Spangled Banner', after being inspired by watching the Americans fight off the British attack of Baltimore during the War of 1812. The poem became the words to the national anthem
124. 
     
125. Because radio waves travel at 186,000 miles per second and sound waves saunter at 700 miles per hour, a broadcast voice can be heard sooner 13,000 miles away than it can be heard at the back of the room in which it originated
126. Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know your there
127. The bagpipe was originally made from the whole skin of a dead sheep
128. Inventor Samuel Colt patented his revolver in 1836.
129. It has been recommended by dentists that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (two meters) away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush!
130. In ancient Rome it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose
131. It is possible to drown and not die. Technically the term 'drowning' refers to the process of taking water into the lungs, not to death caused by that process.
132. The first known heart medicine was discovered in an English garden. In 1799, physician John Ferriar noted the effect of dried leaves of the common foxglove plant, digitalis purpurea, on heart action. Still used in heart medications, digitalis slows the pulse and increases the force of heart contractions and the amount of b lood pumped per heartbeat.
133. Dry cereal for breakfast was invented by John Henry Kellogg at the turn of the century
134. During World War II, a German U-boat was sunk by a truck. The U-boat in question attacked a convoy in the Atlantic and then rose to see the effect. The merchant ship it sank had material strapped to its deck including a fleet of trucks, one of which was thrown in the air by the explosion, landing on the U-boat and breaking its back
135. Jeremy Bentham, a British philosopher who died in 1832,left his entire estate to the London Hospital provided that his body be allowed to preside over its board meetings. His skeleton was clothed and fitted with a wax mask of his face. It was present at the meeting for 92 years.
136. Diet Coke was only invented in 1982.
137. Methane gas can often be seen bubbling up from the bottom of ponds. It is produced by the decomposition of dead plants and animals in the mud.
138. There are more than 1,700 references to gems and precious stones in the King James translation of the Bible.
139. The E. Coli bacterium propels itself with a 'motor' only one-millionth of an inch in diameter, a thousand times smaller than the tiniest motors built to date by man. The rotation of the bacterial motor comes from a current of protons. The efficiency of the motor approaches 100 per cent.
140. Henry Ford produced the model T mostly in black because the black paint available at the time was the fastest to dry. Model T was available in other colors. The British factory for model T started producing them in Green as mentioned by the British Show QI.
141. At - 40 degrees Centigrade a person loses about 14.4 calories per hour by breathing.
142. Pet superstores now sell about 40 percent of all pet food
143. One million Americans, about 3,000 each day, take up smoking each year. Most of them are children.
144. In 1933, Mickey Mouse, an animated cartoon character, received 800,000 fan letters.
145. There are only four words in the English language which end in '-dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous
146. If you attempted to count to stars in a galaxy at a rate of one every second it would take around 3,000 years to count them all.
147. Less than 3% of Nestlé's sales are for chocolate.
148. The average person will spend two weeks over their lifetime waiting for the traffic light to change
149. More than 2500 left handed people are killed every year from using right handed products
150. It is estimated that at any one time, 0.7% of the world's population are drunk
151. The tip of a 1/3 inch long hour-hand on a wristwatch travels at 0.00000275 mph
152. Less than one per cent of the 500 Chinese cities have clean air, respiratory disease is China's leading cause of death.
153. The number of cars on the planet is increasing three times faster than the population growth
154. The X's that people sometimes put at the end of letters or notes to mean a kiss, actually started back in the 1000's when Lords would sign their names at the end of documents to other important people. It was originally a cross that they would kiss after signing to signify that they were faithful to God and their King. Over the years though, it slanted into the X
155. Nova Scotia is Latin for 'New Scotland.'
156. The collecting of Beer mats is called Tegestology.
157. Even though it is widely attributed to him Shakespeare never actually used the word 'gadzooks'.
158. Only 2 blue moons (the saying 'only once in a blue moon ' refers to the occurrence of two full moons during one calendar month) are to occur between now and 2001. Those times are January 1999 and March 1999
159. "Naked" means to be unprotected. "Nude" means unclothed
160. Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower', because in the time when al original print had to be set in individual letters, the 'upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case stored smaller, 'lower case' letters
161. In the 40's, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it 'Bitch.'