The biggest bell is the "Tsar Kolokol," cast in the Kremlin in 1733. It
weighs 216 tons, but alas, it is cracked and has never been rung.
Thanks to Bruce Lenart
(memorial@injersey.com)
of Toms River, New Jersey.
(Deb & Jen Note: The bell was being stored in a Moscow shed which
caught fire. To "save" it the caretakers decided to throw water on the
bell. This did not succeed -- the water hit the heated metal and a giant
piece immediately cracked off, destroying the bell forever.)
A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
Thanks to Lucy Mcgill (mclucy@tartarus.uwa.edu.au)
of Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
Thanks to Anna Creech (creechal@aslan.emu.edu) of
Harrisonburg, Virginia.
The Ramses brand condom is named after the great phaoroh Ramses II who
fathered over 160 children.
Noah Tal Kaufman (jgcg51c@prodigy.com) of Winnetka,
Illinois.
There is a seven letter word in the English language that contains ten
words without rearranging any of its letters, "therein": the, there, he,
in, rein, her, here, here, ere, therein, herein.
You would have to count to one thousand to use the letter "A" in the
English language to spell a whole number.
Thanks to C.C. Young of Phoenix, Arizona.
The only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name
Beard.
Thanks to Matt Wray
(matt_wray@wow.com) of Detroit,
Michigan.
Ants cannot chew their food, they move their jaws sidewards, like a
scissor, to extract the juices from the food.
The letters H I O X in the Latin alphabet is the only ones that look
the same if you turn them upside down or see them from behind.
Thanks to Oerjan and Arild
(kramer@hinux.hin.no) of Tromsoe,
Norway.
The little hole in the sink that lets the water drain out, instead of
flowing over the side, is called a "porcelator."
Thanks to Jim Taylor (jimat@netzone.com) of Tempe, Arizona.
When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home to a
sellout crowd, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.
Thanks to Kevin Whitaker of Chandler, Arizona.
Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered
blood donors.
Thanks to Rob
Norman
(robn@fma.com) of
Edinburgh,
Scotland,
United
Kingdom.
The metal part of a
lamp that
surrounds the
bulb and supports the shade is called
a
harp.
Thanks to
Akatersky
(akatersky@aol.com) of
Walnut
Creek,
California.
The metal part at the end of a pencil is twenty percent sulfur.
John Larroquette of "Night Court"
and "The
John
Larroquette Show" was the narrator
of "The
Texas
Chainsaw
Massacre."
Thanks to
Marty
McKee
(mmckee@wkio.com)
of
Champaign,
Illinois.
Meursault, the title character in
Albert Camus'
famous novel The
Stranger, had a first name,
Patrice, which
was mentioned only in
Camus' personal
journals.
Thanks to Anne Sherry (gwydion@trucom.com) of St. Louis,
Missouri.
Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting while he was alive, Red
Vineyard at Arles.
Thanks to Bill Schoonover of Woodbridge, Virginia.
The floral emblem of
Western Australia
is Mangles'
Kangaroo Paw; the state animal is
the
numbat; and the
state bird is the
black swan.
Thanks to
John
Taylor
(sculler@bunbury.iap.net.au)
of
Bunbury,
Western Australia,
Australia.
Pig
Useless
Facts
A pig's penis is shaped like
a
corkscrew.
Thanks to Jocelyn
Clarke
(clarke@magnet.fsu.edu)
of
Tallahassee,
Florida.
It is physically impossible for pigs to look
up into the
sky.
Skin is thickest is at the back -- 1/6 of
an inch.
The
most
sensitive finger is the
forefinger.
Thanks to Dennis
Lim
(dns@epic.net)
of
Manila,
Philippines.
Alaska is the most northern, western
and
eastern
state; it also has the highest
latitude,the most
eastern
longitude and
the most western longitude.
Thanks to
Robert
Degerberg
(degerberg@aol.com)
of
Gladwyne,
Pennsylvania.
The word denim comes from 'de
Nimes', or
from Nimes, a place in
France.
Dublin comes from the
Irish Dubh Linn
which means
Blackpool
Scottish is the
language
called Gaelic, whereas Irish is
actually called
Gaeilge.
Thanks
to Conor Tee of Dublin,
Ireland.
The
characters Bert and Ernie
on Sesame Street were
named after Bert the cop
and
Ernie the taxi driver
in Frank Capra's
"Its A Wonderful
Life"
Thanks to Andy
Kushner
(maggie@mosquito.com)
of
Voorhees,
New Jersey.
Mr. Spock's blood type was T-Negative.
Thanks
to
John
B.
Sterner
III
(jbs@dana.ucc.nau.edu)
of
Flagstaff,
Arizona.
The Dutch town of Abcoude is the
only
reasonably
sized town/city in the world whose
name
begins
with
ABC.
Thanks to Jarno Peschier of
Utrecht,
the
Netherlands.
New Jersey has a spoon museum
featuring over
5,400
spoons from every state and
almost
every
country.
Thanks to
Alex
Dornburg.
Bad Luck Geography Useless Facts
Eleven square miles of southwest Kentucky (Fulton County) is cut off
from the rest of the state by the Mississippi River. If you wish to
travel from this cut off section to the rest of the state or vice-versa,
you must first cross a bordering state.
Thanks to Mark (2102438@mcimail.com) of Colorado
Springs, Colorado.
Point Roberts in Washington State is cut off from the rest of the
state by British Columbia, Canada. If you wish to travel from Point
Roberts to the rest of the state or vice versa, you must pass through
Canada, including Canadian and U.S. customs.
Thanks to Bob Hart (rahart@hctc.com) of Hoodsport, Washington.
Coin Ridges Useless Facts
A quarter has 119 grooves around the edge.
Thanks to Doug Benson of Kansas City, Kansas.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
Thanks to Mark Deneen (markdeneen@pgh.nauticom.net)
of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The only city in the United
States
to celebrate Halloween on the
October 30 instead of
October 31
is
Carson City, Nevada. October 31
is Nevada Day and is celebrated with
a
large street
party.
Thanks to Erik
H.
Skulstad
(skulstad@imap1.asu.edu)
of
Phoenix,
Arizona.
There is actually a word for a 64th
note --
a
hemidemisemiquaver.
Thanks to Garrett Downen (downen@hevanet.com) of Portland,
Oregon.
Useless Facts Ya'll
Kept
Sending
Us
On an American one-dollar bill, there
is an
owl in
the upper left-hand corner of the
"1" encased in the
"shield"
and a
spider hidden in the front upper right-hand
corner.
No words
in the
English language rhyme with orange, silver
or purple.
A
peanut is not
a nut; it is a legume.
It's
impossible to sneeze with
your eyes
open.
"Evian" spelled backvards
is naive.
The plastic
things on
the end of shoelaces are called
aglets.
Maine is the
toothpick
capital of the
world.
"Bookkeeper" and "bookkeeping" are
the only
words in the
English language with
three consecutive
double
letters.
Paul
McCartney's mother was a midwife.
Thanks to Thomas
Pelkmann (102354.303@compuserve.com) of
Munich, Germany.
The phrase "sleep tight" originated when mattresses were set upon ropes woven through the bed frame. To remedy sagging ropes, one would use a bed key to tighten the rope.
The A&W of root beer fame stands for Allen and Wright.
A baby eel is called an elver, a baby oyster is called a spat.
The name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box is Bingo
Thanks to Kris Gleisner (kpbiz@cdsnet.net) of Grants Pass,
Oregon.
The arteries and veins surrounding
the
brain stem
called the "circle of Willis" looks like
a stick person
with
a large
head.
Thanks to
Jeff
Browndyke
(cogito@premier.net)of
Baton
Rouge,
Louisiana.
Welsh mercenary bowmen in the medieval period only wore one shoe at a time.
On a trip to the South Sea Islands, French painter Paul Gauguin stopped
off briefly in Central America, where he worked as a laborer on the Panama
Canal.
The gene for the Siamese
coloration in animals such
as cats,
rats or rabbits is heat
sensitive.
Warmth produces a lighter
color than
does cold. Putting tape temporarily
on
Siamese rabbit's
ear will make
the fur on that ear lighter than on
the other
one.
There are only 12
letters in the
Hawaiian
alphabet.
Charles de Gaulle's final words
were, "It
hurts."
The
words 'sacrilegious' and 'religion' do not
share the
same etymological
root.
Thanks to Peter
Bacon
(kato@cts.com) of
San
Diego,
California.
"John has a long moustache" was
the
coded-signal
used by the French Resistance in
WWII to mobilize
their
forces once the
Allies had landed on the
Normandy
beaches.
Thanks
to
Dominic
(mfgxugdr@fs1.art.man.ac.uk)
of
the
Isle of Wight, United Kingdom.
Gatorade was named
for
the
University of Florida Gators where it
was
first
developed.
Thanks to Nancy of
Rumson,
New
Jersey.
There are four states where the first letter of the capital city is the
same letter as the first letter of the state: Dover, Delaware; Honolulu,
Hawaii; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Thanks to Gabe Ware (tware2@ix.netcom.com) of Concord,
Massachusetts.
There are four cars and eleven lightposts on the back of a ten-dollar bill.
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought at neighboring Breed's Hill.
Thanks to Chris
Luckett (luckett@hookup.net)
of Dundas, Ontario, Canada.
Former U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater attended the opening night ceremonies and
festivities at Bugsy Siegel's famous Las Vegas casino. They left him out of the movie
Bugsy. He is pissed.
Thanks to Tom McMurray (chartpro@gate.net) of Florida.
Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
ABBA got their name by taking the first letter from each of their first
names (Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-frid.)
Thanks to Dheeraj Dasari
(dxdst+@pitt.edu) of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
The first electric
Christmas
lights were
created by a telephone company PBX
installer.
Back in the
old days,
candles were used to decorate
Christmas trees. This was
obviously
very
dangerous. Telephone
employees are trained to be safety
concious. This
installer
took the
lights from an old switchboard,
connected them
together, strung them on
the tree,
and hooked them to
a
battery.
Thanks to
Bob
Dorrell
(dorrell@ns.net)
of
Sacramento,
California.
What five digit number, when
multiplied
by the
number 4, is the same number with the
digits in
reverse order?
21978;
21978 x 4 = 87912.
Thanks to Larry Bridge
of
Gilbert,
Arizona.
A robin's egg is blue, but if you put it in vinegar for thirty days it
turns yellow.
Thanks
to
Allan
Lewis
(monninm@solutions.net)
of
Winnipeg,
Manitoba, Canada.
White-Out was invented by
the
mother of
Mike Nesmith, formerly of the Monkees.
Thanks to Chris Kelly of Skokie, Illinois.
E.T. Doll Useless Facts
It was illegal to sell ET dolls
in
France because
there is a law against selling dolls
without
human
faces.
Thanks to Matt Wray of
Detroit,
Michigan.
The hundred
billionth
crayon made by Crayola was
Perriwinkle Blue.
Montana
mountain goats
will butt heads so hard
their hooves fall
off.
Spider Monkies like
banana
daquiries.
Thanks to Molly
Morgan of
Columbus,
Ohio.
The coast line around Lake Sakawea
in North
Dakota is
longer than the California
coastline along
the
Pacific
Ocean.
Thanks to Mark
Muggli
(amuggli@btigate.com)
of
Bismarck,
North
Dakota.
Sylvia Miles had the
shortest
performance ever
nominated for an Oscar with "Midnight
Cowboy." Her
entire role lasted
only six minutes.
Thanks
to
Boris.
The legbones of a
bat are so thin that no bat
can
walk.
Thanks to
Charisma
(charisma@mnl.sequel.net)
of
Manila,
Philippines.
Fossilized dinosaur droppings are called coprolites, and
are
actually
fairly common.
Thanks to
T.L. Rhodes.
School busses in the
United
States are Chrome Yellow and used
to be Omaha
Orange.
Thanks to
M.
B.
MacLeod,
Jr.
(malcolmm@nando.net)
of
Smithfield,
North
Carolina.
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.
Thanks to Ron
Lapointe
(lapointe@saturn.execulink.com)
of
Woodstock,
Ontario, Canada.
The tailless dinner jacket
was
invented in
Tuxedo Park, New York. Thus it is called
the "tuxedo
dinner
jacket"
and is named after the town...not the other
way
around.
Thanks
to Rebecca Foster of Ithaca,
New
York.
Cranberries are sorted for ripeness by
bouncing them;
a fully
ripened cranberry can
be dribbled like
a
basketball.
Thanks
to
Perri
Mongan
(coastcat@mnsinc.com)
of
Silver
Spring, Maryland.
The giant squid has the
largest
eyes in the
world.
Thanks to Allison Murray of
Wollongong, New
South Wales,
Australia.
Rhode Island is the
smallest state
with the
longest name. The official name, used on
all
state documents,
is Rhode
Island and Providence
Plantations.
Thanks to
Peter
Cassels
(pcassels@ix.netcom.com)
of
San
Francisco, California.
The chemical formula
for
Rubidium
Bromide is RbBr. It is the only chemical formula
known
to be
a
palindrome!
Thanks to Pacha Nambi
of
Seattle,
Washington.
The numbers '172' can be found on
the
back of
the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at
the base of
the
Lincoln
Memorial.
Soldiers from every country salute with
their
right
hand.
Moisture, not air, causes superglue
to
dry.
Thanks to
Tim
H. (tlh@iwaynet.net)
of
Columbus,
Ohio.
Charles Lindbergh took only four
sandwiches
with him on
his famous transatlantic
flight.
Sarsaparilla is the
root that
flavors root
beer.
Thanks to
Susan
Shirley
(susan545@scrtc.blue.net)
of
Edmonton,
Kentucky.
A full moon always
rises
at
sunset.
Thanks to Loren
Fisher
(lorfis@eclipse.net)
of
Somerville, New Jersey.
If you are locked in a completely sealed
room,
you
will die of carbon dioxide
poisoning first before you will
die
of
oxygen deprivation.
Thanks
to
Joe
Don
of
Boston, Massachusetts.
Moon was Buzz Aldrin's
mother's
maiden
name. (Buzz Aldrin was the second man
on the
moon
in
1969.)
Thanks to
John
Cafarella
(syyentz@aol.com)
of New
York, New
York.
The only two Southern state capitals
not
occupied by
Northern troops during the
American Civil War were
Austin,
Texas and
Tallahasse, Florida.
Thanks to Brandon Bedair
of
Richardson,
Texas.
Rabbits love licorice.
Thanks
to
David
M.Carrasco of West Covina, California.
Ogdensburg,
New
York is
the only city in the United States situated on
the
St.
Lawrence
River.
Thanks to
Rick
Dilcox
(dilcott@northweb.com)
of
Ogdensburg,
New York.
Sitcom Theme
Music
Useless
Facts
Who's that playing the piano on
the "Mad
About
You" theme? It's Paul Reiser
himself. And Greg Evigan
sang the
"My Two
Dads" theme.
Thanks to
Jordon
Davis
(jdavis@law.emory.edu)
of
Atlanta,
Georgia.
Kelsey Grammer sings and plays the
piano
for the
theme song of Fraiser.
Alan Thicke, the father in the
TV
show Growing
Pains wrote the theme songs for The
Facts
of
Life and Diff'rent Strokes.
Thanks
to
Jeff
Somerville (jeff@oxford.net)
of
Tillsonburg, Ontario,
Canada.
A Macintosh LC575 has 182 speaker holes.
Thanks to Marc Farrell.
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.
Thanks
to
John
Hopkin
(jhopkin@icanect.net)
of
Liverpool,
England, United Kingdom.
Panama hats come from Ecuador not Panama.
Human birth control pills work on gorillas.
Thanks to Leah Smith of Arlington,Virginia.
Lenard Skinner was the name of the gym teacher of the boys who went on to form Lynyrd Skynyrd. He once told them, "You boys ain't never gonna amount to nothin'." Ronnie Van Zant decided to keep the name, but change the spelling, as a joke on his former teacher.
M & M's were developed so that soldiers could eat candy without getting
their fingers sticky.
Richard Nixon's favorite drink was a dry martini.
The Grateful Dead were once called The Warlocks.
The license plate number of the Volkswagon that appeared on the cover
of the Beatles Abbey Road album was 281F.
Pinocchio was made of pine.
Thanks to Susan
Shirley
(susan545@scrtc.blue.net)
of
Edmonton,
Kentucky.
Jethro Tull is not the name of the
rock
singer responsible for such songs as
"Aqualung" and
"Thick as a
Brick." Jethro Tull is the name of the band. The singer is
Ian
Anderson. The original Jethro Tull was an English horticulturalist
who
invented the seed
drill.
Thanks to Nelson LeDuc of
Bountiful,
Utah.
The Real Names of Gilligan's Island
Characters Useless Facts
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.
Thanks to Mark A. Lathrop of Phoenix,
Arizona.
The skipper's real name on Gilligan's Island is Jonas
Grumby. It was mentioned once in the first episode on their radio's
newscast about the wreck.
Thanks to Steven Bankes (sbankes@ix.netcom.com)
of
Chicago, Illinois.
The Professor's real name was Roy
Hinkley, Mary Ann's last name was Summers and Mrs. Howell's maiden name
was Wentworth.
Thanks to Richard Hunt (dxg015@mail.connect.more.net)
of
Dellwood, Missouri.
Alma mater means bountiful mother.
A Holstein's spots are like fingerprints -- no two cows have the same
pattern of spots.
Glass flutes do not expand with humidity so their owners are spared
the nuisance of tuning them.
Thanks to Leah Smith (smith.leah@epamail.epa.gov) of
Arlington,Virginia.
Jersey,in the Channel Islands, United Kingdom, was the only place that
the Nazis occupied in Great Britain during World War II.
Top English soccer club Liverpool were formed because
their
local enemies,
Everton, couldn't pay the rent for their
stadium.
Therefore Liverpool took over at the
stadium (Anfield) and
became
England's top soccer team ever.
Thanks to
Paul Le Herissier of Jersey,
Channel Islands, United Kingdom.
The male gypsy moth
can
"smell" the virgin female gypsy moth from 1.8 miles
away.
Thanks
to Leland Brandt of New York, New
York.
In England, the Speaker
of the House is not allowed to
speak.
Thanks to John Hopkin
(jhopkin@icanect.net.)
The
"Hallelujah
Chorus" fits into the Easter portion of Handel's
Messiah, not
Christmas.
Over 30 million people in the US
"suffer" from diastima.
Diastima is having a gap
between your front
teeth.
Thanks to
Lee Richard
(lrickard@telerama.lm.com)
of
Tarentum, Pennsylvania.
In 1976 Sarah Caldwell became
the
first woman to conduct the Metropolitan Opera in
New
York
City.
Thanks to Kris Gleisner
(kpbiz@cdsnet.net) of Grants Pass, Oregon.
Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been hit by a lightning strike.
Reindeer milk has more fat than cow milk.
L.L. Useless Facts
The "L.L." in L.L. Bean stands for Leon Leonwood.
The "L.L." in L.L. Cool J stands for "Ladies Love."
Libya is the only country in the world with a solid, single-colored
flag -- it's green.
Thanks to Amy (awright@student.umass.edu) of
Amherst, Massachusetts.
Seoul, the South Korean capital, just means "the capital" in the Korean language.
Thanks to Fabian Plath.
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been
overmixing the soap
formula
causing excess air bubbles that made it
float. Customers wrote
and told how much they
loved that it floated, and
it has floated ever
since.
Thanks to Martin Funsch
(mjfunsch@tir.com) of
Burton,
Michigan.
The original fifty cent piece in Australian
decimal
currency had around $2.00 worth
of silver in it before it was
replaced
with a less expensive twelve-sided coin.
Thanks to Palcon (palcon@peg.apc.org) of Goondiwindi,
Australia.
There are eight different sizes of champagne bottle and the largest is called a Nebuchadnezzar, after the Biblical king who put Daniel's three friends into the oven.
The female ferret is referred to as a jill.
The word rodent comes from the Latin word 'rodere' meaning to gnaw.
Thanks to Simon Cage of Cambridge, England, United Kingdom.
Australian Rules Football was originally designed to give cricketers
something to play during the off season.
Thanks to Darren Coates
(dazza@break.com.au) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Alexander the Great was
an
epileptic.
Thanks to Darren Hart
(darrenh2@ix.netcom.com) of
Los
Angeles, California.
The lead singer of The Knack,
famous for
"My Sharona," and Jack Kevorkian's lead
defense attorney are
brothers,
Doug & Jeffrey Feiger.
Thanks to John Mozena
(moz19@alliance.net) of
Detroit,
Michigan.
Elizabeth Bacon Custer, wife of "The Boy
General"
is one of the few women buried at
the U.S. Military Academy at
West
Point, New York.
Thanks to Tom Burns
(burnstr@pionet.net ) of
McCook
Lake, South
Dakota.
"Freelance" comes from a knight whose lance was free for hire, i.e. not
pledged to one master.
Thanks to Dan McKinnon of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The only bone not broken so far during any ski accident is the one
located in the inner ear.
Thanks to Brian Mullins (mullinsb@cis.cmtx.com) of New
York, New York.
Michigan was the first state to have
roadside
picnic tables.
Thanks to
Jeff.
Elvis had a twin brother named Jesse Garon, who died at birth, which is
why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron; in honor of his brother.
Thanks to Japhy Bartlett (jakbart@novagate.com) of Whitehall,
Michigan.
Fitchburg, Massachusetts is the
second
hilliest city in the
US.
Thanks to
Scott
(mntokski@usa1.com)
of
Westboro,
Massachusetts.
During WWII the city of
Leningrad
underwent a
seventeen month German seige.
Unable to access
the city by
roads, the
Russians built a railroad across the ice on Lake
Lagoda to
get food and
supplies to the citizens.
Thanks to
"k.k." of
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin.
The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube
and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
Thanks
to
Paul
Anderson
of
Mooretown,
Ontario, Canada.
Elton
John
Useless
Facts
Elton John's real name is
Reginald
Dwight. Elton
comes from Elton Dean, a
Bluesology sax
player. John
comes from Long
John Baldry, founder of Blues Inc. They
were the first
electric white
blues band ever seen in
England--1961
Thanks to
Barry W. Spadea
of Riverside, Rhode
Island.
Elton John's uncle
was a
professional soccer
player. He broke his leg playing for
Nottingham
Forest in the 1959
English FA Cup Final.
Thanks to
Even
Skoglund
(stud1108@student.uib.no)
of
Bergen,
Norway.
The word "boondocks" comes from the Tagalog (Filipino) word "Bundok,"
which means mountain.
Thanks to Jake Swann (Swann@vasia.com) of the Philippines.
Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks
otherwise it will digest itself.
Thanks to Michael Kidd (rkidd@abelink.com)
of Lincoln, Illinois.
The original plan for Disneyland included a Lilliputland.
S.O.S. doesn't stand for "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" -- It was just chosen by an 1908 international conference on Morse Code because the letters S and O were easy to remember and just about anyone could key it and read it, S = dot dot dot, O = dash dash dash..
The word "moose" was originally Algonquin.
The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows."
Pocahontas appeared on the back of the $20 bill in 1875.
Thanks to Jon Pickle (mindtrip@posh.internext.com.)
Donkey
and
Mule Useless Facts
When a female horse and male
donkey
mate, the offspring is called a
mule, but when a male horse and
female
donkey mate, the offspring is
called a hinny.
Thanks to
Emily
(Tigger7932@aol.com)
of
Pasadena,
California.
The way to get more mules is to mate
a male
donkey with a female
horse.
A donkey will sink in quicksand
but a
mule won't.
Sunburn Useless Facts
Turnips
turn green when
sunburnt.
Pigs,
walruses and light-colored horses
can be
sunburned.
A type of jellyfish found off the coast of England is the longest animal in the world.
When Voyager 2 visited Neptune it saw a small irregular white cloud that zips around Neptune every sixteen hours or so now known as "The Scooter".
Crows have the largest cerebral hemispheres, relative to body size, of any avian family.
Martha's Vineyard once had its own dialect of Sign Language. One deaf person arrived in 1692 and after that there was a relatively large genetically deaf population that had their own particular dialect of sign language. From 1692-1910 nearly all hearing people on the island were bilingual in sign language and English.
Random Ecclesiastical
Associations Useless
Facts
Mr. Rogers is an ordained
minister.
Hugh
"Ward Cleaver" Beaumont was an ordained
minister.
Thanks
to
Hazard
(hazard@covert-ops.com) of
Novato,
California.
Sir Isaac Newton was an ordained priest in
the
Church of England.
Thanks to Gavin Koh
(gkwk2@cam.ac.uk) of Cambridge,
England,
United Kingdom.
St. Bernard
is the patron saint
of
skiers.
The Old English word for "sneeze"
is
"fneosan."
John
Lennon's first girlfriend was named
Thelma
Pickles.
Thanks to
Liz
Scheps
(lizerd@leland.stanford.edu)
of
Stanford,
California.
According to the ceremonial customs of Orthodox Judaism, it is officially sundown when you cannot tell the difference between a black thread and a red one.
Woodpecker scalps, porpoise teeth and giraffe tails have all been used as money.
Cyano-acrylate glues
(Super glues) were invented
by
accident. The researcher was
trying to
make optical coating
materials,
and would test their properties by
putting them
between
two prisms and
shining light through them. When
he tried the
cyano-acrylate, he
couldn't get the prisms
apart.
Thanks to
Alan Hoyle
(alanh@unc.edu) of
Chapel Hill,
North
Carolina.
Most of the little
schoolhouses in the
U.S. of
yesteryear were painted
red because red was
the least expensive
paint
color.
Elizabeth I of England suffered
from anthophobia, a
fear of
roses.
Almost half the bones in your
body are in your hands
and
feet.
A flamingo can eat only when its
head is
upside
down.
Dalmatian dogs are born pure white, they don't
start
getting
spots until they are three
or four days old.
The
growth
rate of
some bamboo plants can reach three feet (91.44 cm)
per
day.
The Los
Angeles Rams were the first U.S. football team
to
introduce emblems on
their helmets.
The average
person falls asleep in seven
minutes.
The
average garden variety
caterpillar has 248 muscles in
its
head.
Thanks to Jason
Iler
(ilerj@math.orst.edu)
of
Corvallis,
Oregon.
An elephant can be pregnant for up
to
two
years.
The two quickest goals scored in the NHL were
three
seconds
apart.
Dartboards are made out of
horsehairs.
Your
left lung is
smaller than your right lung to make
room for your
heart.
'Crack'
gets it name because it crackles when
you smoke it.
Heroin is
the brand name of
morphine once marketed by
Bayer.
Marijuana is
Spanish for 'Mary
Jane.'
Thanks to
Jarrod
Note
(jnote@ucsd.edu) of
San
Diego.
One of the many Tarzans, Karmuela Searlel, was mauled to death on the set by a raging elephant.
U.S. Interstates that run north-south are numbered
sequentially starting from the
west
with odd
numbers, and Interstates
which go east-west are numbered
sequentially
starting from the south
with even numbers.
Thanks
to Scott
Urman
(surman@us.oracle.com)
of
Redwood
Shores, California.
Today's cattle are descended from two species: wild aurochs -- fierce and agile herd animals that populated Asia, North Africa and Europe -- and eotragus -- an antelope-like, Asian forest creature.
The anteater, aardvark, spiny anteater (echidna), and scaly anteater
(pangolin) are completely unrelated - in fact, the closest relatives to
anteaters are sloths and armadillos, the closest relative to the spiny
anteater is the platypus, and the aardvark is in an order all by itself.
Thanks
to
Jeffrey
Scott
Nutall
(smeazel@sozo.com) of
Los
Angeles,
California.
There are 336 dimples on a
regulation
golf
ball.
Octopi have gardens.
The Beatles song
"Martha My
Dear"
was written by Paul McCartney about
his
sheepdog
Martha.
Thanks to Erin, Tina and
Patti
(PETT@gnn.com) of
Kansas
City,
Missouri.
"Ever think you're hearing something
in a
song, but
they're really
singing something else? The word for
mis-heard
lyrics is
'mondegreen,' and it
comes from a folk song in the
'50's. The
singer was
actually singing "They
slew the Earl of Morray
and laid him
on the
green," but this came off sounding
like 'They slew
the Earl of
Morray and
Lady Mondegreen.'"
Thanks
to
Jim
Goldman,
(jimphynn@interramp.com)
of
Langhorne,
Pennsylvania.
A walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking.
The youngest letters in the English language are "j," "v" and "w."
The Australian $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 notes are made out of plastic.
Cranberry Jello is
the only jello flavor that
comes from
real fruit, not artificial
flavoring.
Thanks to
Alan
Carpenter,
(Lmtuxinc@ix.netcom.com)
of
Baldwin,
Maryland.
A game of pool is referred to as a "frame."
Thanks to Grant Hamilton (hamilga@brandonu.ca) of Brandon,
Manitoba, Canada.
The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.
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 meant many days.
Thanks to Lee
D. Quinn (words@iop.com) of Freehold,
New Jersey.
The Soviet Sukhoi-34 is the first strike fighter with a toilet in it.
Thanks to Jeff "Squinky" More (squinky@ix.netcom.com).
The longest English word that can be typed using the top row of a
typewriter (allowing multiple uses of letters) is 'typewriter.'
Thanks to Rob Thomas
(rob@medusa.zetnet.co.uk)
of the United Kingdom.
When a giraffe's baby is born it falls from a height of six feet,
normally without being hurt.
Virgina Woolf wrote all her books standing.
Thanks to Sarah Stark of Spenge, Westphalia, Germany.
The tango originated as a dance between two men (for partnering practice.)
Leon Trotsky, the Russian Communist, was assassinated in Mexico City with an ice-axe. It went through his skull and he actually struggled with the assassin with the ice-ax stuck in his brain. The assassin had a hard time pulling it out for another blow.
"Video Killed the Radio Star" was the very first video ever played on MTV.
The pitches that Babe Ruth hit for his last-ever homerun and
that Joe DiMaggio hit for his first-ever homerun where thrown by the
same man.
Thanks to Matt White
(mttwhite@voicenet.com) of
Philadelpia, Pennsylvania.
A family of six died in Oregon during WWII as a result of a Japanese balloon bomb.
Thanks to Sid Fox (dodofox@msn.com) of Seattle,
Washington.
AM and PM stand for "Ante-Meridiem" and "Post-Meridiem," respectively, and A.D. actually stands for "Anno Domini" rather than "After Death."
Testicle Useless Facts
To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a
statement made by swearing on their testicles.
During conscription for WWII, there were nine documented cases of men
with three testicles.
Avocado is derived from the Spanish word 'aguacate' which is derived
from 'ahuacatl' meaning testicle.
Thanks to Derek Cheng (cderek@psd.symbol.com) of Fremont,
California.
Scientists found a whole new phylum of animal on a lobster's lip.
During WWII, Americans tried to train bats to drop bombs.
Penis Useless
Facts
A whale's penis is called a
dork.
Thanks
to Jenny Wanner
(jew998@lulu.acns.nwu.edu)
of
Evanston,
Illinois.
Some carnivores, rodents, bats and
insectivores
have
a penis bone, called a baculum.
Thanks to
Lara
Little
(ali00lbl@email.uncc.edu)
of
Charlotte,
North Carolina.
A barnacle has the largest penis
of
any other
animal in the
world in relation to its
size.
Thanks
to
Forrest Denson of Arlington,
Virginia.
Iguanas, koalas
and
Komodo dragons all have two
penises.
"I'd like clarify the
comment
about iguanas and komodo
dragons having two
penises. In fact,
they have
a single penis, but it
is split in two (pretty much
'Y'-shaped.)
This
organ is known as a
hemipenes. Snakes also share
this interesting
feature.
Apparently, the
dual penis is for ease of
left-handed or
right-handed mating. Also, at
least
in snakes, the
semen does not flow
through a vessel (like in
mammals), but rather,
a
groove."
Thanks to Shane
Simmons
(harv@community.net)
of
Fairfield,
California.
Some female hyenas have a pseudo-penis.
A winged penis was the city symbol of Pompeii, the ancient Roman resort
town destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius' eruption.
One way to tell seals and sea lions apart is that, sea lions have external ears and testicles.
Swahili is a combination of African tribal languages, Arabic and Portuguese.
A person from Glasgow is called a Glaswegian.
An enneahedron is solid with nine faces.
Armadillo Useless Facts
A pound of armadillo meat contains 780 calories.
Thanks to KoolKat of Fresno, California.
Most armadillos seen dead on the road did not get hit by the wheels. When an
armidillo is frightened it jumps straight into the air.
Thanks to
Jason Ganser
(jganser@mail.idt.net) of
Glendale,
Arizona.
Armadillos can be housebroken.
Thanks to Tock.
Armadillos have four babies at a time, always all the same
sex. They are perfect quadruplets, the fertilized cell split into
quarters, resulting in four identical armadillos.
Armadillos get an average of 18.5 hours of sleep per day.
Armadillos can walk underwater.
Armadillos are the only animal besides humans that can get leprosy.
Jet lag was once called boat lag, back before jets existed.
Sirimauo Bandranaike of Sri Lanka became the world's first popularly elected female head of state in 1960.
There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
Velcro was invented by a Swiss guy who was inspired by the way burrs attached to clothing.
The Egyptian hieroglyph for 100,000 is a tadpole.
The Phillips-head screwdriver was invented in Oregon.
The allele for six fingers and toes is dominant in humans. (Watch out Inigo Montoya...)
Orcas kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
Cleopatra
Useless
Facts
Cleopatra
used pomegranate seeds
for
lipstick.
Cleopatra's last name was
Ptolemy, and she was Greek
rather
than Egyptian.
If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.
The raised reflective dots in the middle of highways are called Botz dots.
The concerti on the two Voyager probes' information discs are performed by famed Canadian pianist Glenn Gould.
Reindeer like to eat bananas.
Between 1947 and 1959, 42 nuclear devices were detonated in the Marshall Islands.
Boris Karloff is the narrator of the seasonal television special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
Physicist Murray Gell-Mann named the sub-atomic particles known as quarks for a line in James Joyce's Ulysses, "Three quarks for Muster Mark!"
Steve Young, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, is the great-great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young.
A rhinoceros' horn is made of compacted hair.
Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
Jean Harlow was the first actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine.
Jesus Christ died at age 33.
And the original useless facts that started it all:
Starfish don't have brains.
Shrimps' hearts are in their heads.
| Acronyms from Logan Graves |
| Presidential Useless Facts |
Last updated February 20, 2000.
Created November 1995.
Disclaimer: These facts are not checked for accuracy. Please do notuse them in your doctoral thesis or your Inaugural Address until youhaveverified them on your own.
If you use these facts, send themout as a forward or otherwise publish them, please credit Deb and Jen's Land O' Useless Facts and include a link to our main URL: home.pacbell.net/jengod/uselessfacts/ Thanks!
Copyright © 1995-2002 by Deborah Henigson & Jennifer Godwin. All rights reserved.