Sixty-two of the ninety-seven passengers aboard the Hindenburg escaped with their lives, including its captain. Thirty-five people on the aircraft were killed, as well as one member of the ground crew
The = sign was invented by 16th Century Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, who was fed up with writing "is equal to" in his equations. He chose the two lines because "noe 2 thynges can be moare equalle".
Deep Throat is reportedly the most profitable film ever. It was made for $25,000 and has grossed more than $600 million.
One in 18 people has a third nipple.
If a person bought 100 one-dollar lottery tickets every week for his adult life from age 18 to 75, that $296,400 investment would still only give him less than one chance in 100 of hitting the jackpot, according to the Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance.
A million dollars consists of 1,000,000 pieces of currency at approximately 2,200 lbs., or over a ton of money. A pound of U.S. currency notes, regardless of the denomination, contains 454 bills. U.S. currency is 2.61 inches wide x 6.14 inches long x .0043 inches thick.
(source:U.S. Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing)
According to the Evelyn Wood Institute, the average person reads between 200 and 400 words a minute.
It takes seven ordinary, home-style shuffles to mix a 52-card deck, but most people shuffle only three or four times, leaving many of the cards in their original sequence — according to Sharon Bertsch McGrayne in 365 Surprising Scientific Facts, Breakthroughs and Discoveries.
Similar to what Americans call ketchup,
Australian tomato sauce has it's own unique flavor and consistency. It can
be found in almost every Australian home, and used with almost every
savory item, particularly pies and barbecued meats.
The first fast-food hamburger chain in America was White Castle. Its first
restaurant opened in 1921 in Wichita, Kan. (McDonald`s didn`t open until
1955).
Americans eat more than 20 billion burgers each year. That`s 59 percent of
all sandwiches consumed.
There is often confusion about 20/20 vision.
Many people think wrongly that 20/20 is "perfect" vision. 20/20 vision
is a 100-year-old standard that means one can see at 20 feet what a "normal"
person is expected to see at 20 feet. 20/20 thus is a measurement of the
vision in one eye against a given standard. "Perfect" vision attainable
by humans is probably about 20/8, that is one can see at 20 feet what
we would need to see at 8 feet.
Researchers have found there are 270 million people in China sharing just
three surnames. The Li surname makes up 7.9% of the 1.3 billion population,
while Wang accounts for 7.4% and Zhang 7.1%. A total of 87% of the country's
population share only 100 surnames. The other popular names are Liu, Chen,
Yang, Zhao, Huang, Zhou, Wu, Xu, Sun, Hu, Zhu, Gao, Lin, He, Guo and Ma.
Alaska has almost twice as many caribou as people. The state's human population
numbers around 600,000, while there are over one million caribou in the
state.
Easter can never occur before March 22 or later than April 25.
A can of SPAMŽ is consumed in the U.S. every 3.1 seconds. On a per capita
basis, residents of Hawaii, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas and Alabama are the
most frequent consumers of SPAMŽ in the U.S. Hawaii leads the way with
6.7 million cans sold annually, which amounts to 5.5 cans per year per
Hawaiian. Today, SPAMŽ is sold in 41 countries and is trademarked in more
than 100 nations on six continents.
Of the 239 billion coupons distributed by the consumer packaged goods
industry in 2001, only 4 billion were redeemed.
Titanic was running at 22 knots when she hit the iceberg.
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.
Because radio waves
travel at 186,000 miles (299,274 km) per second and sound waves saunter
at 700 miles (1,126 km) per hour, a broadcast voice can be heard sooner
13,000 miles (20,917 km) away than it can be heard at the back of the
room in which it originated.
Mosquito repellents
don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors
so they don't know you're there.
The bagpipe was
originally made from the liver of a dead sheep.
Dentists have recommended
that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (2 m) away from a toilet to
avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
The first Ford cars
had Dodge engines.
In ancient Rome,
it was considered a sign of leadership to be born with a crooked nose.
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.
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.
Nutmeg is extremely
poisonous if injected intravenously.
Diet Coke was only
invented in 1982.
The YKK on the zipper
of your Levis stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world's
largest zipper manufacturer.
The liquid inside
young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.
The world's largest
McDonalds is located on I-44 at Vinita, Oklahoma. It goes from one side
of the interstate to the other, passing over the interstate.
Strawberries have
more vitamin C in them than oranges.
Dead Egyptian noblewomen
were given the special treatment of being allowed a few days to ripen,
so that the embalmers wouldn't find her too attractive.
Onions get their
distinctive smell by soaking up sulfur from the soil.
The 'rusticles'
on the model of the sunken Titanic were Cheeto's and bran flakes painted
with rust colored primer.
Any free-moving
liquid in outer space will form itself into a sphere, because of its
surface tension.
Ketchup is excellent
for cleaning brass, especially tarnished and corroded brass.
Raindrops aren't
actually teardrop shaped. They are rounded at the top and flat on the
bottom.
One Day on the planet
Pluto is about the length of a week on Earth.
The first police
force was established in Paris 1667.
Kermit the Frog
has 11 points on his collar around his neck.
A broken clock is
right at least twice a day.
American car horns
beep in the tone of F.
Playing cards in
India are round.
The shortest war
in history was between Zanzibar an England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered
after 38 minutes.
Each of us generates
about 3.5 pounds of trash a day. Most of it is paper.
The most collect
calls are made on Father's Day.
No piece of paper
can be folded more than 7 times.
Due
to precipitation, for a few weeks K2 is bigger than Mt Everest.
