270 Fun Facts

Welcome to the new Fun Facts page! The title pretty much explains it. 8)

1. Every day is about 55 billionths of a second longer than the day before it
2. No piece of normal sized paper can be folded in half more than 7 times
3. If an Amish man has a beard, he is married
4. Scuba divers cannot pass gas at depths of 33 feet or below
5. The lion costume in the film Wizard of Oz was made from real lions
6. More than 90% of plane crashes have survivors
7. Watching television can act as a natural painkiller for children
8. The egg came first
9. Native Hawaiian women are not allowed to cook
10. The Himilayas cover one-tenth of the Earth’s surface
11. Walt Disney was afraid of mice
12. The first known marketer of the flushing toilet was Thomas Crapper (lol!)
13. The average bed is home to over 6 billion dust mites
14. The average chocolate bar has 8 insect legs in it
15. The total combined weight of the worlds ant population is heavier than the weight of the human population
16. The deadliest war in history excluding WWII was a civil war in China in the 1850’s in which the rebels were led by a man who thought he was the brother of Jesus Christ
17. Happy Birthday (the song) is copyrighted
18. Abe Lincoln bought 50 cents worth of cocaine in 1860
19. A German WWII submarine sunk do to malfunction of a toilet
20. The largest living thing on the face of the Earth is a mushroom underground in Oregon, it measures 3 and a half miles in diameter
21. 9 out of 10 people think Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. This isn’t true; Joseph Swan did
22. The population of the world can live within the state boundaries of Texas
23. Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the Egyptian tombs of pharoahs has been tasted by archeaologists and found edible
24. Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel with over 50,000 words, none of which containing the letter “e”
25. On average, a 4-year-old child asks 437 questions a day
26. An average person falls asleep in 7 minutes
27. A human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year
28. In “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, the dwarfs’ names are the same as the 7 stages of cocaine addiction
29. You share your birthday with about 9 million other people in the world
30. The word “democracy” is banned in online chat rooms in China
31. House flies have a life span of 2 weeks
32. There are no poisonous snakes in Maine
33. The electric chair was invented by a dentist
34. The longest one syllable word in the English dictionary is “screeched”
35. Sherlock Holmes never said “Elementary, my dear Watson.”
36. There are approximately 50 Bibles sold every minute across the world
37. The average person laughs 15 times a day
38. If all the Coca-Cola vending machines in the U.S. were stacked one on top of each other, the pile would be 420 miles high
39. It is estimated that at any one time. 0.7% of the world’s population are drunk
40. Licking a stamp leads to the consumption of 1/10 of a calorie
41. Your odds of being killed in a tornado are 1 in 2 million
42. Carnivorous animals will not eat another animal that has been struck by lightning
43. The leg muscles of a locust are 1,000 times more powerful than an equal weight of a human muscle
44. Sound travels 4 times faster in water than air
45. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket
46. Knowledge is growing so fast that 90% of what we will know in 50 years time, will be discovered in those 50 years
47. When glass breaks, the cracks move at speeds up to 3,000 miles per hour
48. Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man
49. There has never been an earthquake in North Dakota
50. Hawaii is moving closer to Japan at a rate of 4 inches per year
51. Sunlight can penetrate clean ocean water to a depth of 250 feet
52. Starfish don’t have brains
53. It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open
54. An octopus’ eye pupil is rectangular
55. Hummingbirds are the only animals able to fly backwards
56. There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world
57. Every minute, 30-40,000 dead skin cells fall from your body
58. A crocodile’s tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth
59. Sharks are immune to cancer
60. Giraffes are unable to cough
61. A cockroach can live for several weeks without its head
62. Ants do not sleep
63. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over 1 million descendents
64. All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn’t like being seen wearing them in public.
65. A giraffe has a 20-inch tongue.
66. The US has used military force a number of times, but has only actually declared war 5 times (the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II).
67. Only humans sleep on their backs.
68. 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.
69. Abraham Lincoln was the only U.S. president to hold a patent. It was for an invention to buoy boats over shallow rivers.
70. Vikings used the skulls of their enemies as drinking vessels.
71. About one-third of recorded CDs are pirated.
72. Elvis was an avid gun collector. His collection of 40 weapons included M-16s and a Thompson submachine gun.
73. The harmonica is the world’s best-selling music instrument.
74. A piano covers the full spectrum of all orchestra instruments, from below the lowest note of the double bassoon to above the top note of the piccolo.
75. A grand piano can be played faster than an upright (spinet) piano.
76. There are more than 10,000 varieties of tomatoes.
77. Carrots have zero fat content.
78. The shortest war on record took place in 1896 when Zanzibar surrendered to Britain after 38 minutes.
79. Since 1495, no 25-year period has been without war.
80. The doors that cover US nuclear silos weigh 748 tons and opens in 19 seconds.
81. The very first bomb that the Allies dropped on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
82. When killed in battle, Japanese officers were promoted to the next highest rank.
83. In the 40’s, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it ‘Bitch.’
84. Dry cereal for breakfast was invented by John Henry Kellogg at the turn of the century
85. People with higher number of moles tend to live longer than people with lesser number of moles.
86. When filming summer scenes in winter, actors suck on ice cubes just before the camera rolls – it cools their mouths so their breath doesn’t condense in the cold air.
87. Thinking about your muscles can make you stronger.
88. Grapefruit scent will make middle aged women appear six  years younger to men.
89. Women blink twice as many times as men do.
90. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
91. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue.
92. The life span of a taste bud is 10 days.
93. The world’s youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
94. The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream.
95. After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp.
96. If you ate too many carrots you would turn orange.
97. A baby is born every seven seconds.
98. The foot is the most common body part bitten by insects.
99. The typical person goes to the bathroom 6 times a day.
100. A domestic cat can frighten a black bear to climb a tree.
101. Mosquitoes have 47 teeth.
102. A group of unicorns is called a blessing.
103. A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
104. A group of owls is called a parliament.
105. A group of ravens is called a murder.
106. A group of bears is called a sleuth.
107. More people are killed annually by donkeys than in airplane crashes.
108. Animal breeders in Russia once claimed to have bred sheep with blue wool.
109. Penguins are the only bird that can leap into the air like porpoises.
110. India has 50 million monkeys.
111. By some unknown means, an iguana can end its own life.
112. There are more insects in ten square feet of a rain forest than there are people in Manhattan.
113. Zebras can’t see the color orange.
114. The largest toy distributor in the world is McDonald’s.
115. Pearls melt in vinegar.
116. Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.
117. The first owner of the Marlbolo Company died of lung cancer.
118. The oldest breed of dog is the Saluki.
119. The bee hummingbird of Cuba is the smallest bird in the world.
120. An ostrich can run up to 70 km/h (43mph).
121. An annoyed camel will spit at a person.
122. The world’s smallest dog is the Chihuahua, which means “tiny dog in the sky.”
123. Pea crabs (the size of a pea) are the smallest crabs in the world.
124. 75% of wild birds die before they are 6 months old.
125. The pig is rated the fourth most intelligent animal but are mentioned only twice in the Bible
126. Sheep are mentioned 45 times and goats 88 times in the Bible. Dogs are mentioned 14 times and lions 89 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned.
127. Pork is the world’s most widely-eaten meat.
128. In Denmark there are twice as many pigs as people.
129. Dinosaurs did not eat grass: there weren’t any at that time.
130. The coyote is a member of the dog family and its scientific name, “canis latrans” means barking dog.
131. A giraffe can clean its ears with its 50cm (20 in) tongue.
132. A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle – a group of geese in the air is a skein.
133. The South American giant anteater eats more than 30,000 ants a day.
134. It is impossible to out-swim a shark – sharks reach speeds of 70 km/h (44 mph). Humans can run about 35 km/h (21 mph).
135. The sailfish is the fastest swimmer, reaching 109 km/h (68 mph).
136. The slowest fish is the Sea Horse, which moves along at about 0.016 km/h (0.01 mph).
137. Dolphins can reach 60 km/h (37 mph).
138. Of the 650 types of leeches, only the Hirudo medicinalis is used for medical treatments.
139. The heart of a blue whale is the size of a small car.
140. The tongue of a blue whale is as long as an elephant.
141. The scales of a crocodile are made of ceratin, the same substance that hooves and fingernails are made of.
142. A crocodile’s tongue is attached to the roof of its mouth and cannot move it.
143. A snail has two pairs of tentacles on its head. One pair is longer than the other and houses the eyes. The shorter pair is used for smelling and feeling its way around.
144. The heaviest crustacean ever found was a lobster weighing 19 kg (42 lb), caught in 1934.
145. The largest jellyfish ever caught measured 2,3 m (7’6″) across the bell with a tentacle of 36 m (120 ft) long.
146. The largest giant squid ever recorded was captured in the North Atlantic in 1878. It weighed 4 tons. Its tentacles measured 10 m (35 ft) long.
147. The giant squid has the biggest eyes of any animal: its eyes measure 40 cm (16 in) in diameter.
148. Domestic cats purr at about 26 cycles per second, the same frequency as an idling diesel engine.
149. Sharks are immune to all known diseases.
150. Sharks and rays also share the same kind of skin: instead of scales, they have small tooth-like spikes called denticles. The spikes are so sharp that shark skin has long been used as sandpaper.
151. Animals also are either right-handed or left-handed. Polar bears are left-handed – and so is Kermit the Frog.
152. There are 701 types of pure breed dogs.
153. There are about 54 million dogs in the US, and Paris is said to have more dogs than people.
154. Some bird species, usually flightless birds, have only a lower eyelid, whereas pigeons use upper and lower lids to blink.
155. Fish and insects do not have eyelids – their eyes are protected by a hardened lens.
156. Flatfish (halibut, flounder, turbot, and sole) hatch like any other “normal” fish. As they grow, they turn sideways and one eye moves around so they have two eyes on the side that faces up.
157. Measured in straight flight, the spine-tailed swift is the fastest bird. It flies 170 km/h (106 mph). Second fastest is the Frigate, which reaches 150 km/h (94 mph).
158. The word millionaire was first used by Benjamin Disraeli in his 1826 novel Vivian Grey.
159. If you stack one million US$1 bills, it would be 110m (361 ft) high and weight exactly 1 ton.
160. A million dollars’ worth of $100 bills weighs only 10 kg (22 lb).
161. One million dollars’ worth of once-cent coins (100 million coins) weigh 246 tons.
162. TIP is the acronym for “To Insure Promptness.”
163. The term “Blue Chip” comes from the colour of the poker chip with the highest value, blue.
164. Nessie, the Loch Ness monster is protected by the 1912 Protection of Animals Acts of Scotland. With good reason – Nessie is worth $40 million annually to Scottish tourism.
165. Of the more than $50 billion worth of diet products sold every year, almost $20 billion are spent on imitation fats and sugar substitutes.
166. Annual global spending on education is $80 billion.
167. US and European expenditure on pet food is $17 billion per year.
168. The global expenditure on healthcare and nutrition is $13 billion.
169. Money notes are not made from paper, it is made mostly from a special blend of cotton and linen.
170. In 1932, when a shortage of cash occurred in Tenino, Washington, USA, notes were made out of wood for a brief period. The wood notes came in $1, $5 and $10 values.
171. The world’s largest coins, in size and standard value, were copper plates used in Alaska around 1850. They were about a metre (3 ft) long, half-a-metre (about 2 ft) wide, weighed 40 kg (90 lb), and were worth $2,500.
172. The first credit card was issued by American Express in 1951.
173. About 30% of consumers use their credit card as their main means of buying Christmas goodies, 70% do not save to buy Christmas gifts and 86% of consumers do their Christmas shopping during December.
174. Excessive use of credit is cited as a major cause of non-business bankruptcy, second only to unemployment.
175. Statistics show that people with high, medium and low income groups spend about the same amount on Christmas gifts.
176. In the 1400s, global income rose only 0,1% per year; today it often tops 5%.
177. The average age of Forbes’s 400 wealthiest individuals is 63.
178. In 1955 the richest woman in the world was Mrs Hetty Green Wilks, who left an estate of $95 million in a will that was found in a tin box with four pieces of soap.
179. In 2001 the richest woman was Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of L’Oreal’s founder. She has a net worth of $14 billion (depending on how the stock market did today).
180. In 2000, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is the second wealthiest woman, with $5,2 billion.
181. Queen Elizabeth II is one of the 10th wealthiest women in the world.
182. The $ sign was designed in 1788 by Oliver Pollock.
183. The term “smart money” refers to gamblers who have inside information or have arranged a fix, the gambling term for insuring the outcome of an event by illegal methods.
184. Small-time gamblers who place small bet in order to prolong the excitement of a game are called “dead fish” by game operators because the longer the playing time, the greater the chances of losing.
185. In gambling language, for a gambling house a “sure-thing” is a wager that a player has little chance of winning; “easy money” is their profit from an inexperienced bettor, an unlucky player is called a “stiff.”
186. Australians are the heaviest gamblers in the world; an estimated 82% of Australians bet. That is twice as much per capita as Europeans or Americans. Yet, Australia, with less than 1% of the world population, has 20% of the world’s poker machines.
187. There are more than 7 million millionaires in the world.
188. 80% of millionaires drive second-hand cars.
189. In 1900, the price of gold was less than $40 per ounce. It reached $600 in 1930, now struggling to reach $400 per ounce.
190. If Los Angeles County was a country, it would be the 19th largest economy in the world.
191. If California was a country, it would be the 5th largest economy in the world.
192. Tobacco is a $200 billion industry, producing six trillion cigarettes a year – about 1,000 cigarettes for each person on earth.
193. In 1965, CEOs earned on average 44 times more than factory workers. In 1998, CEOs earned on average 326 times more than factory workers and in 1999, they earned 419 times more than factory workers.
194. The income gap between the richest fifth of the world’s people and the poorest measured by average national income per head increased from 30 to one in 1960, to 74 to one in 1998.
195. A third of the world’s people live on less than $2 a day, with 1,2 billion people living on less than $1 a day.
196. In the 17th century, wool fabrics accounted for about two-thirds of England’s foreign trade. Today, the leading wool producers are Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and China.
197. The NASDAQ stock exchange was totally disabled in on day in December 1987 when a squirrel burrowed through a telephone line.
198. In 1990, the word “recession” appeared in 1,583 articles in The Wall Street Journal.
199. Global sales of pre-recorded music total more than $40 billion.
200. Tourism is the world’s biggest industry, affecting 240 million jobs.
201. Millions of trees are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.
202. There are more than 150 million sheep in Australia, a nation of 17 million people.
203. New Zealand is home to 4 million people and 70 million sheep.
204. Football (soccer) is the most attended or watched sport in the world.
205. Boxing became a legal sport in 1901.
206. More than 100 million people hold hunting licences.
207. Jean Genevieve Garnerin was the first female parachutists, jumping from a hot air balloon in 1799.
208. In 1975 Junko Tabei from Japan became the first woman to reach the top of Everest.
209. The record for the most Olympic medals ever won is held by Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina. Competing in three Olympics, between 1956 and 1964, she won 18 medals.
210. The record for the most major league baseball career innings is held by Cy Young, with 7,356 innings.
211. The first instance of global electronic communications took place in 1871 when news of the Derby winner was telegraphed from London to Calcutta in under 5 minutes.
212. In 1898, one of the first programmes to be broadcasted on radio was a yacht race that took place in British waters.
213. Sports command the biggest television audiences, led by the summer Olympics, World Cup Football and Formula One racing.
214. Gymnasiums were introduced in 900BC and Greek athletes practised in the nude to the accompaniment of music. They also performed naked at the Olympic Games.
215. The very first Olympic race, held in 776 BC, was won by Corubus, a chef.
216. The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896. There were 311 male but no female competitors.
217. In his time, Michael Schumacher was the highest paid sportsman, ahead of Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer. (Not including sponsorship endorsements.)
218. The high jump method of jumping head first and landing on the back is called the Fosbury Flop.
219. Korfball is the only sport played with mixed teams, consisting of 4 men and 4 women.
220. The Major League Baseball teams use about 850,000 balls per season.
221. About 42,000 tennis balls are used in the plus-minus 650 matches in the Wimbledon Championship.
222. A baseball ball has exactly 108 stitches, a cricket ball has between 65 and 70 stiches.
223. A soccer ball is made up of 32 leather panels, held together by 642 stitches.
224. Basketball and rugby balls are made from synthetic material. Earlier, pigs’ bladders were used as rugby balls.
225. The baseball home plate is 17 inches wide.
226. Golf the only sport played on the moon – on 6 February 1971 Alan Shepard hit a golf ball.
227. Bill Klem served the most seasons as major league umpire – 37 years, starting in 1905. He also officated 18 World Series.
228. The oldest continuous trophy in sports is the America’s Cup. It started in 1851, with Americans winning for a straight 132 years until Australia took the Cup in 1983.
229. Volleyball was invented by William George Morgan of Holyoke, Massachusetts in 1895.
230. A badminton shuttle easily travels 180 km/h (112 mph).
231. Ferenc Szisz from Romania, driving a Renault, won the first Formula One Grand Prix held at Le Mans, France in 1906.
232. Scottish inventor John Logie Baird gave the first public demonstration of television in 1926 in Soho, London. Ten years later there were only 100 TV sets in the world.
233. Today there are more than 1,5 billion TV sets in use.
234. China has the most TV sets (300 million).
235. US citizens watch the most TV. By age 65, an American would have watched the equivalent of 9 years uninterrupted screening, viewing more than 20,000 TV commercials per year.
236. In the US there are more TV sets than telephones.
237. The first TV interview was made with Irish actress Peggy O’Neil in April 1930.
238. An ounce of chocolate contains about 20 mg of caffeine.
239. The name Joshua is Hebrew for ‘Jesus’.
240. The first toilet being flushed in a motion picture was in the movie Psycho.
241. Mark Twain didn’t even make it through elementary school.
242. Pilgrims did not eat with forks. They only used spoons, knives, and their fingers.
243. More steel in the United States is used to make bottle caps than to manufacture automobile bodies.
244. The city of Houston, Texas is built on a swamp and is slowly sinking.
245. The average person laughs 13 times a day.
246. The creator of the NIKE Swoosh symbol was paid only $35 for the design.
247. There is one slot machine in Las Vegas for every eight inhabitants.
248. A baby octopus is about the size of a flea at birth.
249. Cats cannot taste sweet things.
250. When a giraffe’s baby is born it falls from a height of six feet, normally without being hurt.
251. Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
252. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.
253. In 1895 Hampshire police handed out the first ever speeding ticket, fining a man for doing 6 mph.
254. Justin Timberlake’s half-eaten french toast sold for over $3,000 on eBay.
255. Club Direct, a travel insurance company in Britain, provides insurance plans for protection from falling coconuts.
256. Americans spend more than 5.4 billion dollars on their pets each year.
257. One gallon of used motor oil can ruin approximately one million gallons of fresh water.
258. Male monkeys lose the hair on their heads in the same way men do.
259. Spinach consumption in the US rose 33% after the Popeye comic strip became a hit in 1931.
260. It is possible to see a rainbow at night.
261. Eddie Cochran’s last recording before he died was Three Steps to Heaven.
262. Clocks made before 1660 had only one hand – an hour hand.
263. A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans.
264. In an average lifetime a person will walk the equivalent of three times around the world.
265. Honolulu is the only place in the United States that has a royal palace.

If you have a fact you want to share, leave a comment! 🙂