35 Weird Facts You Never Heard Of
1. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
3. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
4. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
5. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
6. There are more chickens than people in the world.
7. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
8. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
9. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
10. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
12. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
13. All 50 States are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
14. Almonds are a member of the peach family.
15. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
16. Maine is the only State whose name is just one syllable.
17. There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
18. The characters "Bert" and "Ernie" on Sesame Street were named after "Bert the cop" and "Ernie the taxi driver" in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
19. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
20. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
21. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
22. In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
23. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
24. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula."
25. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
27. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
28. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
29. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
30. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
31. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
32. Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
33. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
34. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
35. "Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
36. People pay other people for suggesting good domain names
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longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched"
No. "Strengths" has the same number of letters but one more phoneme.
number 9 is incorrect.
see http://www.cdnpapermoney.com/English/BoC/Flag_Rumour.htm for close-ups of the flags on canadian bills. small "red ensign" flags can be confused for american flags if the detail is low. (list of flags flown in canada: http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/cpsc-ccsp/sc-cs/df5_e.cfm )
fact #9 is incorrect
"9. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag."
Why would the Canadian Parliament fly the american flag...just think about that. On the back of the Canadian 2 dollar bill the flag flying above Parliament is the pre-confederation Canadian flag seen here:
http://godscopybook.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/canadian_red_ensign_5.jpg
A few other errors.
> 2. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
No they aren't. Dynamite in general is an absorbent material saturated with nitroglycerin. Both nitrocellulose and diatomaceous earth have been used. There is no one definitive recipe, but Nobel's patent on dynamite makes no mention of peanuts or peanut oil.
> 3. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
No. There are 292 ways to make change, and even that requires you to use 50 cent pieces. To get 293 you need to count the dollar itself, which isn't really making change. If you only have quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies then there are 256 ways to make change for a dollar.
> 5. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
Most fish have a nictitating membrane, which does almost the same thing as blinking. I think that bottom dwelling fish can also blink, and I know I've seen a flounder with its eyes closed, so I don't believe this one either.
> 9. On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
Actually, you're thinking of the 10 dollar bill. It has the old Canadian flag with a union jack in the top left corner which is darker so it's possible to mistake it for a US flag.
http://www.cdnpapermoney.com/images/Support/Flag_0010.jpg
They fixed this in later bills.
> 11. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
Sporange is pretty close to orange, but if it's close enough to be considered a rhyme is open for debate.
> 12. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
But don't forget "daydreamt", "outdreamt", "redreamt", and "undreamt" as well. They'll help when playing Scrabble.
> 14. Almonds are a member of the peach family.
One that's actually correct. Also the rose is in the same family.
> 17. There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
"decapodous", "palladous", "vanadous", "amadous", "apodous", "vodous", "iodous", and "nodous" are all a bit technical, but still good enough for Websters to consider them to be English.
> 18. The characters "Bert" and "Ernie" on Sesame Street were named after "Bert the cop" and "Ernie the taxi driver" in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
That's a more difficult one for me to prove wrong. Since you didn't give any sources, why should I? A long time one of my old school teachers started a puppet club with Jim Henson. I think he was a bit embarrassed about it, but I still got to see the very first Ernie puppet and learn the the story for person who Ernie is based on (but I don't have permission from the people involved so I'm not comfortable making the details public).
> 25. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
That's a mayfly. A dragon fly can live up to four months. Even Wikipedia got this right.
> 26. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
Hardly. Go dig up "Drunken Goldfish and Other Irrelevant Scientific Research" for a description of experiments with goldfish memory -- goldfish that are taught something when drunk remember it when drunk (close to the same blood alcohol level), but not when sober. Regardless, goldfish can remember things for at least a few weeks.
> 30. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
So how does the speaker then break tie votes, or call on members to speak? Go watch the British House of Commons, or the House of Lords. The speaker will talk in both of them.
Other trivia:
No dogs are aloud in the British House of Lords. According to the rules, any animal guiding a blind person is considered to be a cat.