STRANGE FACTS - 4
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
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.)
Steve Young, the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, is the great-great-grandson of Mormon leader Brigham Young.
A rhinoceros' horn is made of compacted hair.
Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
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.
Revolvers cannot be silenced, due to all the noisy gasses which escape the cylinder gap at the rear of the barrel.
Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
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.
Of the six men who made up the Three Stooges, three of them were real brothers (Moe, Curly and Shemp.)
The pet ferret (Mustela putorias furo) was domesticated more than 500 years before the house cat.
"Hara kiri" is an impolite way of saying the Japanese word "seppuku" which means, literally, "belly splitting."
"Race car" is a palindrome.
Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son.
The longest U.S. highway is route 6 starting in Cape Cod, Massachusetts going through 14 states, and ending in Bishop, California.
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.
The little bags of netting for gas lanterns (called 'mantles') are radioactive--so much so that they will set off an alarm at a nuclear plant.
"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.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain.
Gerald Ford pardoned Robert E. Lee posthumously of all crimes of treason.
The band "Duran Duran" got their name from an astronaut in the 1968 Jane Fonda movie "Barbarella."
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.
Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
The dome on Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, conceals a billiards room. In Jefferson's day, billiards were illegal in Virginia.
In most watch advertisments 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.)
Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a belly button. It was eliminated when he was sewn up after surgery.
The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
Every photograph of an American atomic bomb detonation was taken by Harold Edgerton.
Dr. Samuel A. Mudd was the physician who set the leg of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth, and whose shame created the expression for ignominy, "His name is Mudd."
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.
Compact discs read from the inside to the outside edge, the reverse of how a record works.
The 'Screwdriver' was invented by oilmen, who used the tool to stir the drink.
The term "Mayday" is used for signaling for help. It comes from the French term "M'aidez" whichis pronounced "MayDay" and means, "Help Me."
The Boston University Bridge (on Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts) is the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train traveling under a car driving under an airplane.
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33.
February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
The first Ford cars had Dodge engines.
Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
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.
Pearls melt in vinegar.
Ninety eight per cent of the weight of water is made up from oxygen.
A fully loaded supertanker travelling at normal speed takes a least twenty minutes to stop.
A flush toilet exists that dates back to 2000 BC.
No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.
Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages the suit.
Former US President Ulysses S. Grant had the boyhood nickname 'Useless'.
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.
Russians generally answer the phone by saying, 'I'm listening.'
Until 1967, LSD was legal in California.
In the 40's, the Bich pen was changed to Bic for fear that Americans would pronounce it 'Bitch.'
Termites eat wood twice as fast when listening to heavy metal music.
The NY phone book had 22 Hitlers before WWII. The NY phone book had 0 Hitlers after WWII.
John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.
The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps.
Men leave their hotel rooms cleaner than women do.
While performing her duties as queen, Cleopatra sometimes wore a fake beard.
Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
If you multiply 526,315,789,473,684,210 with any number you will always find the original number in the result!
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. |
