Amazing-But-True-Facts
Molecularly speaking, water is
actually much drier than sand.
The term "bank teller" originated in the wake
of the 1929 stock market crash, when banks began hiring low-paid workers
to "tell" throngs of frantic depositors that their money
was gone.
The brand name "Jelly Belly" was created in
1982 after Nancy Reagan made a much-publicized quip about her husband's
20-pound weight gain.
The Internal Revenue Service audits 87 percent of women
who claim breast implants as tax deductions.
Scandinavian berserkers used to cut out their eyes before
battle to spare themselves the sight of the carnage they invariably
wrought.
The city of Slaughter, Texas (population: 11,284), has never had a homicide
occur within its boundaries.
Rubbing Tabasco on one's upper lip before bedtime is
an effective temporary cure for sleep apnea.
British pop singer Baby Spice is the great-great-great-great-great-great-grandniece
of Archduke William Pinkley-Hogue of Standishfordshire, making her
103rd in line for the throne of England.
The curved shape of a hockey stick is a throwback to
prehistoric use of mastodon tusks in a similar game.
A Native American tribe in South Dakota collects bottle
caps left by campers, using them as currency. Several banks in the
area now recognize the caps as legal tender.
Fish have "dandruff" caused by flaking skin,
and it is impossible to filter all traces of it from drinking water.
Moths are unable to fly during an earthquake.
The first case of the common cold was diagnosed in 1611
in Stratford, England. The patient? John Common, who coincidentally
gave his cold to William Shakespeare who said the new malady exacerbated
his lovesickness, thereby inspiring several of his most fondly remembered
sonnets.
"Hello Kitty" began as part of a covert propaganda
campaign originally proposed by Prime Minister Tojo during World War
II.
When in heat, female hippopotami secrete an oil with
a flavor similar to strawberries. Kalahari bushmen use the oil to make
flat-bread treats for children.
If an average human scrotum were stretched until all
its wrinkles were smoothed out, it could hold a basketball.
Ingesting small doses of ink over an extended period
of time will change your eye color slightly.
To commemorate ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, U.S. playing card
manufacturers replaced "staffs" with "hearts" as the
fourth suit in the deck. The world soon followed.
In 1960, a then-unknown Dan Rather auditioned for the
voice of cartoon character Dudley Do-Right but was turned down by animator/director
Jay Ward.
When subjected to an electric current of at least 50
volts, a cat's tail always points toward the north.
If the current trend continues, by the year 2215 midgets
will outnumber "normal-sized" people.
Scientists estimate that sleep lost due to daylight saving
time reduces the average lifespan by nearly two full months.
In the late '90s, Microsoft secretly developed its own
version of Linux, but shelved it after quality control researchers
deemed it "too stable."
No NCAA basketball team from a school located in its
state's capital has ever won the national championship.
The African black rhinoceros excretes its own weight
in dung every 48 hours.
The top three names for female babies born in China last
year were Huan Yue, Jia Li and -- unlikely as it seems -- Buffy.
Peter Maas, creator of the character Serpico, got his
character's name from an ultra-expensive, highly-prized Malaysian liqueur
made from fermented viper venom.
Shortly before his execution, Timothy McVeigh constructed
a scale model of the Lincoln Memorial with soda crackers.
There have been four documented cases of humans who have
hibernated through an entire winter.
Strains of bacteria similar to E. coli have been found in spent printer cartridges
-- but only in the cyan ones. Scientists have no explanation.
The four different people who, at various times, tried
-- and failed -- to become the Guinness Book of World Records' "Human
Milkshake Volcano" by drinking five gallons of milk and then riding
the Six Flags Screaming' Eagle roller coaster all shared the same birthday:
September 18, 1970.
The Australian aborigine language has over 30 words for "dust."
Anyone convicted of animal cruelty in Sedalia, Missouri,
is sentenced to a month's confinement in the county animal shelter.
Fewer divorces occur in families in which the children
wake their parents before 6 a.m. on Saturdays.
A futuristic automobile designed by Ford for the movie
Blade Runner was produced and sold in limited quantities as the "Ford
Harrison."
John F. Kennedy was an accomplished ventriloquist.
A bad case of laryngitis forced Abraham Lincoln to lip-sync
the Gettysburg Address. The speech was actually delivered by an aide
hidden beneath the stage.
A prominent organization of anthropologists has predicted
that by the year 5000, humans will have two rectums, but only one nostril.
For over a decade, the number of drive-by shootings has
been directly proportional to increased gas prices.
Two-thirds of all the world's coriander comes from a
single valley in Italy.
As the sheer volume of Internet traffic has increased,
the friction of the electrons passing around the planet has increased
the overall global temperature by .07 degrees.
Contrary to popular belief, the white is not the healthiest
part of an egg. It's actually the shell.
A comprehensive multi-year study using pattern-recognition
software determined that Millard Fillmore is the most common identifiable
U.S. president seen in cloud formations.
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