July 10, 1998
1. The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses
every letter in the alphabet.
2. Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
3. A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
4. 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.
5. The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National
Monuments.
6. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a
letter is uncopyrightable.
7. Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.
8. Did you know that there are coffee flavored PEZ?
9. 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.
10. The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus
the name of the Don McLean song.)
11. When opossums are playing 'possum, they are not "playing." They
actually pass out from sheer terror.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
15. 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.
16. Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted
people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence
the expression "to get fired."
17. 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.
18. "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English
language.
19. The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in
the 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."
20. Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes
them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
21. 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.
22. An ostrich's eye is bigger that its brain.
23. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
24. 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.
25. David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars.
He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to
be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the
movie.
26. The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for
the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
27. 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.
28. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for
each gallon of diesel that it burns.
29. Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
30. The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point
in Colorado.
31. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
32. 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.
33. No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has
ever won a Superbowl.
34. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To
Beaver".
35. The only two days of the year in which there are no professional
sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day
after the Major League All-Star Game.
36. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
37. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
38. In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a hunting
license.
39. It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a
year's supply of footballs.
40. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for
dating are already married.
41. There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's Big Mac
bun.
42. The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.
43. Pound for pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars.
44. The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola,
and Budweiser, in that order.
45. When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25
miles per year.
46. It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.
47. The Bible has been translated into Klingon.
48. Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the
palms of their hands.
49. Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the
sale of vodka.
50. Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived
immigrants.
51. On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every
year.
52. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the
world's nuclear weapons combined.
53. Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California.
54. Average age of top GM executives in 1994: 49.8 years Average age
of the Rolling Stones: 50.6.
55. Elephants can't jump. Every other mammal can.
56. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
57. Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple,
and chocolate.
58. According to one study, 24% of lawns have some sort of lawn
ornament in their yard.
courtesy
of John Freeman