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Home Updated: 10/30/04 Facts

It's amazing what you find when searching for other things. Over the years, we have collected interesting facts from various sources in hopes that one day they will have an animal edition of Who Want's To Be a Millionaire.
Regis: For $32,000, in Norse mythology, who was known as the god of mischief?
Us: Grrrrrrlll!
Regis: You are correct, how did you know it was Loki?
Us: Wregghis, Grrrllll Grwwwlll Grwl Groooowwll Ggggrrrlll Grwll Grwwwwlllll
Note, since you humans do not have a Rosetta Stone for Wolf-Speak, I'll translate:
Regis, ever see a depiction of Odin or Thor? Next time, take a gander at who is at their side protecting them. Obviously we knew it was Loki!

Now, since we do not have access to the same resources you humans do, we have not been able to verify everthing on this list. Therefore, we do not hold all of these items to be correct. If you see any that are obviously wrong (and you can prove it), please let us know. Any additions are also welcome.

Thanks to A.T., T.J. and Lars we have some corrections to the facts list. The Den appreciates their assistance and diligence.

  1. All dogs today have descended from wolves (better than monkeys! 8^)
  2. The mortality rate for wolf pups is over 50 percent
  3. Wolves have webbed feet and are excellent swimmers
  4. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 placed wolves under federal protection
  5. The largest wolf on record was captured in Alaska and weighed in at 175 pounds
  6. Wolves can bite through 11-gauge steel fabric
  7. The front paws of wolves have 5 digits - including a dew claw - and their back paws have four digits
  8. Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.
  9. Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
  10. The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.
  11. No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.
  12. Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
  13. You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
  14. Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older.
  15. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
  16. The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache.
  17. A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
  18. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating 1 olive from each salad served in first-class.
  19. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
  20. Look at the number four on a clock face that uses Roman numerals. If the clock is made correctly then the Roman numeral four is wrong. The standard and correct way to write the Roman numeral four is "IV," but the traditional way to show it on a clock face is "IIII." Legend has it that a clock was made for a British king. When he saw the clock he mis- informedly corrected the clock maker who re-did the clock face to show a "IIII" instead of an "IV" thus not risking offending the king. Other clock makers followed suit so as not to embarrass the king. Now it is the traditional way to make clocks.
  21. Every episode of "Seinfeld" contains at least one Superman.
  22. Hummingbirds can't walk.
  23. June Foray, the voice of Talking Tina from the classic Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll", was also the voice of Rocky the talking squirrel from "Rocky & Bullwinkle".
  24. The dunce cap of schoolhouse fame originates from a paper cone that was placed on the heads of accused witches during the Middle Ages. When Joan of Arc was martyred, she was wearing one of them.
  25. Despite the hump, a camel's spine is straight.
  26. "Rhythm" and "syzygy" are the longest English words without vowels.
  27. There is no mention of Adam and Eve eating an apple in the Bible.
  28. The largest eggs in the world are laid by a shark.
  29. Jacques Cousteau invented scuba gear while in the French resistance during World War II.
  30. More people are killed each year from bees than from snakes.
  31. "Halloween" took place in the town of Haddonfield, Illinois but almost all the cars in the film had California license plates.
  32. A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
  33. There are more nutrients in the cornflake package itself than there are in the actual cornflakes.
  34. Peanuts are used in the production of dynamite.
  35. The bubbles in Guiness Beer sink to the bottom rather than float to the top like all other beers. No one knows why.
  36. Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy on "Scooby-Doo."
  37. Soda water does not contain soda.
  38. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
  39. "Smithee" is a pseudonym that filmmakers use when they don't want their names to appear in the credits.
  40. The lifespan of a tastebud is ten days.
  41. Bob May played the Robot on "Lost In Space" (1965-68) and Dick Tufeld was the voice.
  42. Crocodiles swallow stones to help them dive deeper.
    43. A.T. Correction: actually alligators don't swim in very deep water to begin with and they weigh alot anyway. However, they do swallow rocks to help grind up the food within their stomachs.
    This is correct, based on research this is the main reason the rocks are swallowed. I am guessing this is similar to the reason why birds consume small pebbles. I did find this blurb from research on the web which confirms the digestion aid theory and refines the diving theory to address dive speed and floatation.
    Web research: They [crocodiles] also swallow rocks, which help to grind bones, shells, and hair. At any given time, an adult crocodile's stomach may contain ten to fifteen pounds of rocks. Rocks not only aid digestion; they also help crocs submerge quickly and float with a minimum of body showing above the water line.
  43. Discovered while researching previous item: Crocodiles are neither male nor female when they are conceived. Gender is determined by the temperature in their nests when the eggs reach a critical stage of development. Warm or cold nests produce females. Intermediate nests produce males.
  44. When opossums are playing opossum, they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
  45. Liquid paper was invented by Mike Nesmith's (of the Monkees) mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, in 1951.
  46. The turkey was wrongly named after what was thought to be it's country of origin.
  47. More money is printed daily for the Monopoly game than by the U.S. Treasury.
  48. There is a city called Rome on every continent.
  49. The screwdriver was invented before the screw.
  50. Four people played Darth Vader: David Prowse was his body, James Earl Jones did the voice, Sebastian Shaw was his face and a fourth person did the breathing.
  51. Flying from London to New York by Concord, due to the time zones crossed, you can arrive 2 hours before you leave.
  52. The names of the three wise monkeys are: Mizaru: See no evil, Mikazaru: Hear no evil, and Mazaru: Speak no evil.
  53. There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia.
  54. John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre and was found in a warehouse. Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and was found in a theatre.
  55. The spaceship 'Valley Forge' from "Silent Running" (1971) actually got it's name from the location used to film some of its interiors; a decommissioned aircraft carrier named the U.S.S. Valley Forge.
  56. Anteaters prefer termites to ants.
  57. Nine pennies weigh exactly one ounce.
  58. If you pause "Saturday Night Fever" at the "How Deep Is Your Love" rehearsal scene, you will see the camera crew reflected in the dance hall mirror.
  59. Every Swiss citizen is required by law to have a bomb shelter or access to a bomb shelter.
  60. It takes 8.5 minutes for light to get from the sun to earth.
  61. Spain literally means 'the land of rabbits.'
  62. Jean-Claude Van Damme was the alien in the original "PREDATOR" in almost all the jumping and climbing scenes.
  63. Earth is the only planet not named after a God.
  64. If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.
  65. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
  66. Pamela Lee-Anderson is Canada's Centennial Baby, being the first baby born on the centennial anniversary of Canada's independence.
  67. Non-dairy creamer is flammable.
  68. Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.
  69. Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.
  70. The car in the foreground on the back of a $10 bill is a 1925 Huptmobile.
  71. In the Andes, time is often measured by how long it takes to smoke a cigarette.
  72. Actor Tommy Lee Jones and vice-president Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
  73. Brazil got its name from the nut, not the other way around.
  74. A species of earthworm in
  75. Dr. Seuss and Kurt Vonnegut went to college together. They were even in the same fraternity, where Seuss decorated the fraternity house walls with drawings of his characters.
  76. Turkey's often look up at the sky during a rainstorm. Unfortunately some have been known to drown as a result.
  77. Albert Brooks's real name is Albert Einstein.
  78. The bat on the Bacardi symbol is there because the soil where the sugar cane grows is fertile from the excessive guano (bat droppings.)
  79. Kathleen Turner was the voice of Jessica Rabbit, and Amy Irving was her singing voice.
  80. Catgut comes from sheep not cats.
  81. A lion's roar can be heard from five miles away.
  82. Talk show host Montel Williams had a nose job.
  83. Due to gravitational effects, you weigh slightly less when the moon is directly overhead.
  84. If you can see a rainbow you must have your back to the sun. If you don't, you can't see it.
  85. St. Bernards, famous for their role as alpine rescue dogs, do NOT wear casks of brandy around their necks.
  86. Sharon Stone was the first "Star Search" spokes model.
  87. It's rumored that sucking on a copper penny will cause a breath-alyzer to read 0.
  88. Clark Gable used to shower more than 4 times a day.
  89. There are only three cities that are named exactly after the state they are located in: Maine, ME; New York, NY; and Wyoming, WY.
  90. The launching mechanism of a carrier ship that helps planes to take off could throw a pickup truck over a mile.
  91. Bela Lugosi died during the filming of "PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE". Director Edward D. Wood Jr. used a taller relative who held a cape in front of his face so the audience wouldn't know the difference so he could complete filming.
  92. Only female mosquitoes bite.
  93. A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.
  94. The placement of a donkey's eyes in its' heads enables it to see all four feet at all times.
  95. Walt Disney named Mickey Mouse after Mickey Rooney, whose mother he dated for some time.
  96. There is about 200 times more gold in the world’s oceans, than has been mined in our entire history.
  97. By raising your legs slowly and laying on your back, you can't sink in quicksand.
  98. The name of the Vulcan's heaven is Sha Ka Ree, this is a play on the name Sean Connery who was considered for the part of Sarek, Spock's father.
  99. The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.
  100. Blonde beards grow faster than darker beards.
  101. The first time the word "hell" was spoken on TV was in an original "STAR TREK" episode entitled "City on the Edge of Forever". The exact quote was "...let's get the hell out of here...", spoken by William Shatner.
  102. From the age of thirty, humans gradually begin to shrink in size.
  103. Roosters can't crow if they can't fully extend their necks. 
  104. If a surgeon in Ancient Egypt lost a patient while performing an operation, his hands were cut off.
  105. Ancient drinkers warded off the devil by clinking their cups.
  106. All of the officers in the Confederate army were given copies of Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, to carry with them at all times. Robert E. Lee, among others, believed that the book symbolized their cause. Both revolts were defeated. 
  107. Human hair and fingernails do not continue to grow after death.
  108. The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
  109. The Nobel Prize resulted from a late change in the will of Alfred Nobel, who did not want to be remembered after his death as a propagator of violence - he invented dynamite.
  110. Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
  111. Pogonophobia is the fear of beards.
  112. Robert E. Lee, of the Confederate Army, remains the only person, to date, to have graduated from the West Point military academy without a single demerit.
  113. James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger of his right hand.
  114. Oak trees do not have acorns until they are fifty years old or older.
  115. In Ancient Peru, when a woman found an 'ugly' potato, it was the custom for her to push it into the face of the nearest man.
  116. 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.
  117. The magic word "Abracadabra" was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever.
  118. The 'Hundred Years War' lasted 116 years.
  119. The first inter-racial kiss on TV was in an original "STAR TREK" episode entitled "Plato's Stepchildren". The kiss was between Nichelle Nichols and William Shatner.
  120. No animal, once frozen solid (i.e., water solidifies and turns to ice) survives when thawed, because the ice crystals formed inside cells would break open the cell membranes. However there are certain frogs that can survive the experience of being frozen. These frogs make special proteins, which prevent the formation of ice (or at least keep the crystals from becoming very large), so that they actually never freeze even though their body temperature is below zero Celsius. The water in them remains liquid: a phenomenon known as 'supercooling.' If you disturb one of these frogs (just touching them even), the water in them quickly freezes solid and they die.
  121. It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.
  122. It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary.
  123. The United States government keeps its supply of silver at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY.
  124. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
  125. Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eyes."
  126. Most Americans' car horns beep in the key of F.
  127. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to SLOW a film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.
  128. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never phoned his wife or his mother. They were both deaf.
  129. Soweto in South Africa was derived from SOuth WEst TOwnship.
  130. The car manufacturer Henry Ford was awarded Hitler's Supreme Order of the German Eagle.
  131. The Andy Griffth Show was the first spin-off in TV history. It was spun-off from the Danny Thomas Show.
  132. On 15 April 1912 the SS Titanic sunk on her maiden voyage and over 1,500 people died. Fourteen years earlier a novel was published by Morgan Robertson which seemed to foretell the disaster. The book described a ship the same size as the Titanic which crashes into an iceberg on its maiden voyage on a misty April night. The name of Robertson's fictional ship was the Titan.
  133. Walt Disney's autograph bears no resemblance to the famous Disney logo.
  134. Other than humans, black lemurs are the only primates that have blue eyes.
  135. There were no squirrels on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts until 1989.
  136. Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan.
  137. While at Havard University, Edward Kennedy was suspended for cheating on a Spanish exam.
  138. Barbie's full name is Barbra Millicent Roberts.
  139. Montpelier, Vermont is the only U.S. state capital without a McDonalds.
  140. The correct response to the Irish greeting, "Top of the morning to you," is "and the rest of the day to yourself."
  141. 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.
  142. Residents of the island of Lesbos are Lesbosians, rather than Lesbians. (Of course, lesbians are called lesbians because Sappho was from Lesbos.)
  143. The Chinese ideogram for 'trouble' depicts two women living under one roof'.
  144. It is a criminal offence to drive around in a dirty car in Russia.
  145. Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them use to burn their houses down -- hence the statement "to get fired."
  146. The childrens' nursery rhyme 'Ring-a-Round-The-Rosies' actually refers to the Black Death which killed about 30 million people in the fourteenth-century.
  147. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
  148. The Les Nessman character on the TV series WKRP in Cincinnati wore a band-aid in every episode. Either on himself, his glasses, or his clothing.
  149. Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan carries the designation M-1, named so because it was the first paved road anywhere.
  150. Some Eskimos have been known to use refrigerators to keep their food from freezing.
    A.T. Correction: This is impossible if they are using refrigerators as we know them. according to thermodynamics, a refrigerator requires that the outside temperature be warmer than the inside to work, not the other way around. They may be using devices of another design and incorrectly calling them refridgerators.
  151. Ralph Lauren's original name was Ralph Lifshitz.
  152. Lizzie Borden was acquitted.
  153. Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom."
  154. Cat urine glows under a black light.
  155. Chrysler built B-29's that bombed Japan. Mitsubishi built the Zeros that tried to shoot them down. Both companies now build cars in a joint plant call Diamond Star.
  156. On the new one hundred dollar bill the time on the clock tower of Independence Hall is 4:10.
  157. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.
  158. The national flag of Italy was designed by Napoleon Bonaparte.
  159. Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the deaths of their cats.
  160. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
  161. Hindu men believe(d) it to be unluckily to marry a third time. They could avoid misfortune by marrying a tree first. The tree ( his third wife ) was then burnt, freeing him to marry again.
  162. The province of Alberta in Canada has been completely free of rats since 1905.
  163. Melanie Griffith's mother is actress Tippi Hendren, best known for her lead role in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.
  164. Lady Astor once told Winston Churchill 'if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee'. His reply ' if you were my wife, I would drink it!'
  165. 142857 is a cyclic number, the numbers of which always appear in the same order but rotated around when multiplied by any number from 1 to 6. 142857 * 2 = 285714 142857 * 3 = 428571 142857 * 4 = 571428 142857 * 5 = 714285 142857 * 6 = 857142
  166. King Kong is the only movie to have its sequel (Son of Kong) released the same year (1933).
  167. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
  168. The only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name Beard.
  169. There are no clocks in Las Vegas casinos.
  170. In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam." Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty," but he did say, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott."
  171. Chop-suey is not a native Chinese dish, it was created in California by Chinese immigrants.
  172. John Larroquette of "Night Court" and "The John Larroquette Show" was the narrator of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."
  173. A dragonfly has a lifespan of twenty-four hours.
  174. A ten-gallon hat holds three-quarters of a gallon.
  175. On an American one-dollar bill, there is an owl in the upper left-hand corner of the "1" encased in the "shield" and a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
  176. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
  177. "Evian" (the bottled water) spelled backwards is "naive."
  178. Bingo is the name of the dog on the Cracker Jack box.
  179. There are four cars and eleven light posts on the back of a ten-dollar bill.
  180. Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.
  181. It was illegal to sell ET dolls in France because there is a law against selling dolls without human faces.
  182. The numbers '172' can be found on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.
  183. In the film 'Star Trek : First Contact', when Picard shows Lilly she is orbiting Earth, Australia and Papa New Guinea are clearly visible .. but New Zealand is missing.
  184. George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.
  185. If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning before you will die of oxygen deprivation.
  186. 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.
  187. Panama hats come from Ecuador not Panama.
  188. Human birth control pills work on gorillas.
  189. Cheryl Ladd (of Charlie's Angels fame) played the voice, both talking and singing, of Josie in the 70s Saturday morning cartoon "Josie and the Pussycats."
  190. Lynyrd Skynard was the name of the gym teacher of the boys who went on to form that band. He once told them, "You boys ain't never gonna amount to nothin'."
  191. Gilligan of Gilligan's Island had a first name that was only used once, on the never-aired pilot show. His first name was Willy. The skipper's real name on Gilligan's Island is Jonas Grumby. It was mentioned once in the first episode on the radio newscast about the wreck. The Professor's real name was Roy Hinkley, Mary Ann's last name was Summers and Mrs. Howell's maiden name was Wentworth.
  192. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
  193. During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in the distance.
  194. Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been over mixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
  195. Alexander the Great was an epileptic.
  196. The lead singer of The Knack, famous for "My Sharona," and Jack Kevorkian's lead defense attorney are brothers, Doug & Jeffrey Feiger.
  197. When young and impoverished, Pablo Picasso kept warm by burning his own paintings.
  198. The name for Oz in the "Wizard of Oz" was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N, and O-Z, hence "Oz."
  199. Elvis had a twin brother named Jesse Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron; in honor of his brother.
  200. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
  201. S.O.S. doesn't stand for "Save Our Ship" or "Save Our Souls" -- It was chosen by an 1908 international conference on Morse Code because the letters S and O were easy to remember and just about anyone could key it and read it, S = dot dot dot, O = dash dash dash.
  202. Crickets hear through their knees.
  203. Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
  204. A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
  205. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
  206. Heroin is the brand name of morphine once marketed by Bayer.
  207. U.S. Interstates which go north-south are numbered sequentially starting from the west with odd numbers, and Interstates which go east-west are numbered sequentially starting from the south with even numbers.
  208. A walla-walla scene is one where extras pretend to be talking in the background -- when they say "walla-walla" it looks like they are actually talking.
  209. 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.
  210. The phrase ' The 3 R's ' ( standing for 'reading, writing and arithmetic' ) was created by Sir William Curtis, who was illiterate.
  211. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.
  212. 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die throughout the movie.
  213. "Video Killed the Radio Star" was the very first video ever played on MTV.
  214. During World War II, W.C. Fields kept US $50,000 in Germany 'in case the little bastard wins'.
  215. According to Genesis 1:20-22 the chicken came before the egg.
  216. To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.
  217. Both Hitler and Napoleon were missing one testicle.
  218. A whale's penis is called a dork.
  219. A barnacle has the largest penis of any other animal in the world in relation to its size.
  220. Iguanas, koalas and Komodo dragons all have two penises.
  221. Jet lag was once called boat lag, back before jets existed.
  222. There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
  223. The Phillips-head screwdriver was invented in Oregon.
  224. Tomb robbers believed that knocking Egyptian sarcophagi's noses off would forestall curses.
  225. Mozart was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave.
  226. The allele for six fingers and toes is dominant in humans.
  227. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
  228. If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.
  229. Boris Karloff is the narrator of the seasonal television special "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
  230. Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
  231. Samuel Clemens's pseudonym "Mark Twain" was the nickname of a riverboat pilot about whom Clemens wrote a needless nasty satirical piece. Apparently, Clemens felt guilty later and adopted the nom de plume as some sort of expiation. The phrase "mark twain" from which the river pilot got his name does not mean two fathoms (twelve feet.)
  232. Steve Young, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, is the great-great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young.
  233. A rhinoceros' horn is made of compacted hair.
  234. Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
  235. The "Grinch" singer and voice of Tony the Tiger is a man named Thurl Ravenscroft.
  236. The famous split-fingered Vulcan salute is actually intended to represent the first letter ("shin," pronounced "sheen") of the word "shalom." As a small boy, Leonard Nimoy observed his rabbi using it in a benediction and never forgot it; eventually he was able to add it to "Star Trek" lore.
  237. Revolvers cannot be silenced, due to all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel.
  238. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
  239. The slogan on New Hampshire license plates is 'Live Free or Die'. These license plates are manufactured by prisoners in the state prison in Concord.
  240. Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp.)
  241. The pet ferret (Mustela putorias furo) was domesticated more than 500 years before the house cat.
  242. "Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting."
  243. "Race car" is a palindrome.
  244. Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
  245. The longest U.S. highway is route 6 starting in Cape Cod, Massachusetts going through 14 states, and ending in Bishop, California.
  246. The original copy of the Declaration of Independence is lost. The copy in Washington D.C. is what is referred to as a holograph. That is a term for a handmade copy of a document and is not the same as a laser produced hologram.
  247. The little bags of netting for gas lanterns (called 'mantles') are radioactive--so much so that they will set of an alarm at a nuclear reactor.
  248. "Speak of the Devil" is short for "Speak of the Devil and he shall come". It was believed that if you spoke about the Devil it would attract his attention and he would appear.
  249. An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.
  250. Gerald Ford pardoned Robert E. Lee posthumously of all crimes of treason.
  251. The band "Duran Duran" got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie "Barbarella."
  252. After human death, post-mortem rigidity starts in the head and travels to the feet, and leaves the same way it came -- head to toe.
  253. Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
  254. The dome on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, conceals a billiards room. In Jefferson's day, billiards were illegal in Virginia.
  255. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it's smiling.)
  256. Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.
  257. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
  258. Every photograph of an American atomic bomb detonation was taken by Harold Edgerton.
  259. Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth, and whose shame created the statement for ignominy, "His name is Mudd."
  260. Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman.
  261. The term "devil's advocate" comes from the Roman Catholic church. When deciding if someone should be sainted, a devil's advocate is always appointed to give an alternative view.
  262. Compact discs read from the inside to the outside edge, the reverse of how a record works.
  263. The 'Screwdriver' was invented by oilmen, who used the tool to stir the drink.
  264. The term "Mayday" is used for signaling for help. It comes from the French term "M'aidez" which is pronounced "MayDay" and means, "Help Me."
  265. The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car driving under an airplane.
  266. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
  267. Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
  268. February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
  269. The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.
  270. Leonardo De Vinci invented the scissors.
  271. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
  272. The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".
  273. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers -- they saw it as competition. It is not chemically addictive as is nicotine, alcohol, or caffeine.
  274. Pearls melt in vinegar.
  275. Ninety eight per cent of the weight of water is made up from oxygen.
  276. A fully loaded supertanker traveling at normal speed takes a least twenty minutes to stop.
  277. A flush toilet exists that dates back to 2000 BC.
  278. No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.
  279. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.
  280. Former US President Ulysses S. Grant had the boyhood nickname 'Useless'.
  281. Boys who have unusual first names are more likely to have mental problems than boys with conventional names. Girls don't seem to have this problem.
  282. Russians generally answer the phone by saying, 'I'm listening.'
  283. Until 1967, LSD was legal in California.
  284. In the 40's, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it 'Bitch.'
  285. Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music.
  286. The NY phone book had 22 Hitlers before WWII. The NY phone book had 0 Hitlers after WWII.
  287. There is a town in Texas called 'Ding Dong.'
  288. John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.
  289. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
  290. Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps.
  291. Men leave their hotel rooms cleaner than women do.
  292. While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes wore a fake beard.
  293. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
  294. If you multiply 526,315,789,473,684,210 with _any_ number you will always find the original number in the result!
  295. If the population of the Earth continued to increase at its present rate indefinitely, by 3530 A.D. the total mass of human flesh and blood would equal the mass of the Earth. By 6826 A.D. it would equal the mass of the known universe.
  296. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
  297. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
  298. The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing
  299. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
  300. There are more chickens than people in the world.
  301. Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
  302. The longest one-syllable word in the English language is "screeched." CORRECTION: actually ties with "strengths"
  303. All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
  304. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver or purple.
  305. "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
  306. All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
  307. Almonds are a member of the peach family.
  308. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
  309. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
  310. The only words in the English language, which end in "dous" are: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
  311. Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula"
  312. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
  313. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
  314. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
  315. Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
  316. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life"
  317. A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
  318. A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds
  319. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
  320. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. (DON'T try this at home!)
  321. The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
  322. In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
  323. There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
  324. The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.
  325. The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.
  326. A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death.
  327. A polar bear's skin is black. Its fur is not white, but actually clear.
  328. Elvis had a twin brother named Aaron, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aaron; in honor of his brother.
  329. Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
  330. Donkeys kill more people annually than are killed in plane crashes.
  331. STEWARDESSES is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
  332. Shakespeare invented the word "assassination" and "bump."
  333. Marilyn Monroe had six toes.
  334. If you keep a Goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.
  335. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
  336. Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do.
  337. The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language.
  338. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.
  339. The words racecar, kayak, and level are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.
  340. A snail can sleep for 3 years.
  341. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
  342. A dentist invented the electric chair. (Does that really surprise any of us?)
  343. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world, with a population of 1000 and a size of 108.7 acres.
  344. Did you know you share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world?
  345. No president of the United States was an only child.
  346. During his/her lifetime, the average American eats between 2 and 3 tons of food.
  347. It is impossible to lick your elbow.
    Lars from Quizmaster Correction: Lars provided a the following Guinness World Records which indicates that this fact is not true:
    Contrary to popular urban legend, it is quite possible to lick your own elbow. Guinness World Records receives about five claims a day for this and we would like to stress the following point: being able to lick your own elbow is not, in any sense, a world record. - Thanks for the correction!
  348. A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out.
  349. A shrimp's heart is in their head.
  350. People say "Bless you" when you sneeze because when you sneeze, your heart stops for a millisecond.
  351. It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
  352. Between 1937 and 1945 Heinz produced a version of Alphabetic Spaghetti especially for the German market that consisted solely of little pasta swastikas.

    353. T.J. Correction: Finding it hard to believe, T.J. did some research and produced this link which refutes this factoid.
    Our appreciation to T.J. for getting to the bottom of this one.

  353. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
  354. Rats and horses can't vomit.
  355. The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
  356. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.
  357. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
  358. Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
  359. Let me guess, you tried to lick your elbow