Trivia and Brain Twisters

12 Useless Trivia Facts
How Smart are you?
Abraham Lincoln and JFK Compared
Tips for a Lifetime
The Story Behind 'Taps'
Tax Facts
Unusual Patron Saints
Odd Inventions 11/5/2001
Good luck, Mr. Gorsky
Phobias 10/17/2002

Stuff you probably didn't know... 11/18/02
Stuff You Didn't Know II 11/3/2002
Only in America
Life in the 1500's
Unusual Book Titles 7/26/2003
Unusual Online Catalogs
Death-related and Morbid Trivia (on it's own page)
Amusing Condom Names Around the World
Strange Festivals Around the World

And for a thorough book on Trivia, how about 2201 Trivia Facts (that ought to about do it, don't you think?) Click on the image to the left to buy this book from Amazon.com.

12 Useless Trivia Facts

(answers at the end)

1. What separates "60 Minutes," on CBS from every other TV show?
2. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
3. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?
4. What do 100% of all lottery winners do?
5. In a recent survey, Americans revealed that this was their favorite smell.
6. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?
7. What do bullet proof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser printers all have in common?
8. This is the only food that doesn't spoil.
9. There are more collect calls on this day than any other day of the year.
10. What trivia fact about Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) is most ironic?
11. 40% of all people who come to a party in your home do this?
12. What's unique about the Beatle's song "Eleanor Rigby"?

ANSWERS:

1 No theme song.
2 Their birthplace. This is propinquity.
3 Obsession
4 Gain weight.
5 Banana
6 One thousand
7 All invented by women.
8 Honey
9 Father's Day
10 He was allergic to carrots.
11 Snoop in your medicine cabinet.
12 The Beatles did not play a single note in the song.

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How Smart are you?

Read this sentence:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Now count aloud the F's in that sentence. Count them ONLY ONCE; do
not go back and count them again. See below...

Answer below...

There are six F's in the sentence. Look closely!
One of average intelligence finds three of them. If you spotted four, you're above average. If you got five, you can turn your nose at most anybody. If you caught six, you are a genius. There is no catch. Many people forget the OFs. The human brain tends to see them as "V's" instead of "F's".
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Stuff you probably didn't know...

Famous People Trivia:

	American inventor and diplomat Benjamin Franklin compiled a list of more than 200 synonyms for "drunk" including cherry-merry, nimptopsical and soaked.
	Susan Lucci is the daughter of Phyllis Diller.
	Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar with Midnight Cowboy. Her entire role lasted only six minutes.
	George Washington grew marijuana in his garden.
	Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.
	Leonardo Da Vinci invented scissors, also, it took him 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.
	John Wilkes Booth's brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln's son.
	Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
	Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he might be retarded.
	Both Hitler and Napoleon were missing one testicle.
	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.
	Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps.
	Pamela Anderson Lee is Canada's Centennial Baby, being the first baby born on the centennial anniversary of Canada's independence.
	Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy on Scooby-Doo.
	Lorne Greene had one of his nipples bitten off by an alligator while he was host of "Lorne Greene's Wild Kingdom."
	David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the movie.
	Elvis had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron; in honor of his brother.
	The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the name of the Don McLean song.) and Getty Lee (of Rush) wrote "Go for Soda" performed by co-Canadian Kim Williams.
	Shakespeare invented the word "assassination" and "bump."
	Marilyn Monroe had six toes.
	Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
	In 1944, Fidel Castro was voted Cuba's best schoolboy athlete. A left-handed pitcher, Castro was later given a tryout by the Washington Senators but was turned down by the baseball club.

Animal Trivia:

	The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
	A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
	A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
	Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
	A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
	There are more chickens than people in the world.
	It's possible to lead a cow upstairs...but not downstairs.
	The sloth (a mammal) moves so slowly that green algae can grow undisturbed on it's fur.
	In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs.
	A whale's penis is called a dork.
	A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.
	Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
	Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs only have about ten.
	A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
	A rat can last longer without water than a camel.
	Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
	Human birth control pills work on gorillas.
	Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
	Chocolate kills dogs! True, chocolate effects a dogs heart and nervous system, a few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.
	A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!
	A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.
	A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.
	A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
	The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
	Polar bears are left-handed.
	The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds, that makes the catfish rank #1 for animal having the most taste buds.
	A cockroach will live nine days without its head, before it starves to death.
	The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off.
	Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
	Butterflies taste with their feet.
	Elephants are the only animals that can't jump.
	An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
	Starfish haven't got brains.
	Camel's milk does not curdle.
	An animal epidemic is called an epizootic.
	Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.
	The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
	When opossums are "playing 'possum," they are not "playing." They actually pass out from sheer terror.
	A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.
	All porcupines float in water.
	A polar bear's skin is black. Its fur is not white, but actually clear.
	If you keep a Goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white.
	A snail can sleep for 3 years.
	In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
	The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
	Some insects can live up to a year without their heads.
	A female salamander inseminates herself. At mating time, the male deposits a jellylike substance containing the sperm. The female draws the jelly into herself.

Food Trivia:

	Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
	Almonds are a member of the peach family.
	Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.
	Five Jell-O flavors that flopped: celery, coffee, cola, apple, and chocolate.
	When it was first introduced in 1929, 7-UP contained lithium which is currently used only by prescription to treat manic depression. 7-UP was originally called Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.
	A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate.
	The 57 on Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of ingredients in the sauce.
	A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continually from the bottom of the glass to the top.
	Non-dairy creamer is flammable.
	Did you know that there are coffee-flavored PEZ?
	Blueberry Jelly Bellies were created especially for Ronald Reagan.
	The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it.
	Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.
	Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
	Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.
	Every time you lick a stamp, you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
	There are an average of 178 sesame seeds on a McDonald's Big Mac bun.
	Pound for pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars.
	The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and Budweiser, in that order.
	When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25 miles per year.
	Q. This is the only food that doesn't spoil. A. Honey
	Coca-Cola was originally green.
	Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
	The can opener was invented forty-four years after canned food.
	There are more than 1,000 chemicals in a cup of coffee. Of these, only 26 have been tested, and half caused cancer in rats.

Language Trivia:

	The longest one-syllable word in the English language is screeched."
	No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
	There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
	Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula"
	"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
	There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and silver!
	Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand.
	The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
	The combination "ough" can be pronounced in nine different ways. The following sentence contains them all: "A rough-coated, dough-faced, thoughtful ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough; after falling into a slough, he coughed and hiccoughed."
	"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. alternately:
	"Go," is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
	The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA.
	The verb "cleave" is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.
	The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
	Facetious and abstemious contain all the vowels in the correct order, as does arsenious, meaning "containing arsenic."
	The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead".
	Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."
	The sentence "the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter in the English language.
	The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with.
	The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
	TYPEWRITER, is the longest word that can be made using the letters on only one row of the keyboard.
	The word racecar and kayak are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left.
	No word in the English language rhymes with month.
	The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
	The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."
	The Bible has been translated into Klingon.

Location (Geography, Politics) Trivia:

	During a sea battle in the third century B.C., the Carthaginians defeated the Romans by catapulting earthenware pots full of poisonous snakes onto the decks of their ships.
	A $2 tax was proposed in the Rhode Island legislature in the 1970s on every act of sexual intercourse.
	One of every four people who attempt to climb Mt. Everest are killed in the process.
	An ordinance in City Grove, California, makes it a misdemeanor to kill or threaten a butterfly.
	The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.
	Texas is also the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.
	The only nation whose name begins with an "A," but doesn't end in an "A" is Afghanistan.
	In Lebanon it is legal to have sex with a female animal, but illegal with a male one.
	Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
	The United States has never lost a war in which mules were used.
	"Hang On Sloopy" is the official rock song of Ohio.
	Donald Duck comics were banned in Finland because he doesn't wear pants.
	If you bring a raccoon's head to the Henniker, New Hampshire town hall, you are entitled to receive $.10 from the town.
	The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
	In Cleveland, Ohio, it's illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.
	Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California.
	City with the most Rolls Royce's per capita: Hong Kong
	State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
	Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
	Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

Biology and Anatomical Trivia:

	Under the proper conditions of moisture and heat, the flesh of a buried body will turn to soap. Known as adipocere, this strange substance is a chemical much like baking soda mixed with fat (and thus almost identical in composition to soap) and is called "grave wax" by undertakers. For years the corpse of William von Ellenbogen, a soldier whose body turned to adipocere after he was killed in the Revolutionary War, was on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
	A female orgasm is a powerful painkiller (because of the release of endorphins), so headaches are in fact a bad excuse not to have sex.
	Every year, 11,000 Americans injure themselves while trying out bizarre sexual positions.
	5% of Americans lose their virginity to animals.
	Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
	Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed people do.
	The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night.
	Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks otherwise it will digest itself.
	Every person has a unique tongue print.
	Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
	Babies are born without knee caps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.
	Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
	If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
	If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.
	The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.
	Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
	Humans, dolphins and one species on chimpanzee are the only species that have sex for pleasure.
	On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.
	The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE.
	It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
	You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.
	Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.

Miscellaneous Trivia:

	It takes fifteen months of instruction at the Pentagon's School of Music to turn out a bandleader but merely thirteen months to train a jet pilot.
	An 1898 novel by Morgan Robertson foretold the sinking of the Titanic, 14 years before the great ship went down. In Robertson's book, a ship full of wealthy and powerful people is on its maiden voyage when it strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic on an April night and sinks. The two ships shared many other eerie similarities. The most interesting is the name of the ship in Robertson's book: the Titan.
	Pearls melt in vinegar.
	Beer was not sold in bottles until 1850. Before then, if you wanted beer, you had to bring it home from the local tavern in a bucket made especially for it.
	A person who is lost and starving can obtain nourishment by chewing on his shoes, provided they are made of leather.
	In the late nineteenth century doctors discovered a Mexican porter named Paul Rodrigues who had a horn more than 4" long protruding from the upper part of his forehead.
	Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people.
	Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive.
	Clinophobia is the fear of beds.
	The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
	Astronauts cannot cry. In space, there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow.
	Q. What occurs more often in December than any other month? A. Conception.
	On an American one-dollar bill, there is a spider hidden in the front upper right-hand corner.
	The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television was Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
	Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US
	Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.
	Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
	Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
	Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.
	Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
	The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
	The youngest pope was 11 years old.
	First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
	In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile services (two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.
	The "save" icon on Microsoft Word shows a floppy disk, with the shutter on backwards.

	Murphy's Oil Soap is the chemical most commonly used to clean elephants.
	There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
	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.
	More people are killed by donkeys annually than are killed in plane crashes.
	The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA.'
	Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
	40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.
	During the chariot scene in 'Ben Hur' a small red car can be seen in the distance.
	On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
	Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of cotton. Before the 1950's it was made from hemp--the stem and leaves of a marijuana plant.
	If the population of China walked past you in single file, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction
	American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first-class.
	China has more English speakers than the United States.
	Did you know you share your birthday with at least 9 other million people in the world.
	If Barbie were life-size her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal human's neck.
	Feb 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
	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.
	The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
	There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
	One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers-they saw it as competition.
	You know that you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider
	In ancient Egypt, Priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies, including their eyebrows and eyelashes.
	In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.
	Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
	The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
	Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts Charlemagne, and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
	111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
	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.
	Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired."
	Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
	The nursery rhyme Ring Around the Rosy is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosy..."), these sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("...a pocket full of posies..."), People who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("...ashes, ashes, we all fall down!")
	The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."
	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.
	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.
	The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
	If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
	No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl.
	The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".
	The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game.
	It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.
	Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.
	The world's termites outweigh the world's humans 10 to 1.
	Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.
	Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.
	On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.
	In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's nuclear weapons combined.
	Average age of top GM executives in 1994: 49.8 years. Average age of the Rolling Stones: 50.6.
	The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.
	According to one study, 24% of lawns have some sort of lawn ornament in their yard.
	Internationally, Baywatch is the most popular TV show in history.
	It was the custom among men in Rome, when swearing to tell the truth, to place one's right hand on one's testicles. The English word "testimony" is related to this custom.
	Coffee is the world's second largest item of international commerce. Petroleum is the first.
	Percentage of Americans that want to change their bodies in some way: 75%. Percentage of Americans that would want to change their intelligence: 13%.
	Before he settled on Mark Twain, Samuel Clemens wrote under the names Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass, Sergeant Fathom and W. Apaminondas Adrastus Blab.
	An igloo will stand up to modern artillery better than a concrete barricade. Additionally, the are almost invisible from the air and can't be spotted by infrared sensors.
	Blackbeard the pirate would put slow-burning fuses under his tricorn hat to wreath his head in black smoke and frighten his opponents.
	Singer Tina Turner believes that in a former life she was Queen Hatshepsut, ruler of Egypt from 1503 to 1482 B.C.
	In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
	In 1980 the yellow pages listed a funeral Home under "frozen foods".
	It would take half the people in the United States between the ages of 18 and 45 to run the nation's telephone system if it were not computerized.
	Jacques-Yves Cousteau invented the aqualung while fighting underground with the French during WWII. Today, the aqualung (AKA SCUBA) lets divers breathe underwater.
	German chemist Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus while he was examining urine. He was looking for the philosopher's stone (the magic elixir needed to change baser metals into gold).
	Windmills were probably unknown in Europe until the twelfth century when returning Crusaders brought knowledge of them back. After that, they became familiar landmarks in Holland, England, France and Germany.
	Before the Vikings discovered Iceland the Irish did. In 795 A.D. Irish explorers established a colony, but it didn't last. When the Vikings arrived 80 years later the Irish were gone.

Many school children mistakenly believe that Christopher Columbus first discovered America. Actually, it was quite a bit before Columbus, in the 1st century B.C. that a land mass between Europe and Asia is mentioned in Strabo's Geography.

Before you go quoting Darwin, you might be interested to know that the idea of natural selection was first advanced in the 5th century B.C. in a poem entitled On Nature, by Empedocles of Acragas. And that similar theories have been discussed in several historic documents after him.

In Germany, between 1860 and 1864, Johann Reis made and demonstrated a device which he called a telephone. In doing so he came up with a model that transmitted most of the features of human speech over a wire - 12 years before Alexander Graham Bell applied for his patent.

It is true that electric lights were burning in England well before Thomas Edison burnt the midnight oil to invent them. It was in 1878 that Joseph Swan produced the first successful filament lamp inside a vacuum bulb.

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Abraham Lincoln and JFK compared

Consider this...

And remember that it's ALL COMPLETELY TRUE...

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both wives lost children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

Both were shot in the head.

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

Both were succeeded by Southerners.

Both successors were named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.

Both names comprise fifteen letters.

Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.

Booth and Oswald were both assassinated before their trials.
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Only in America...

	...can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.
	...are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.
	...do people order double cheese burgers, a large fry, and a diet coke.
	...do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.
	...do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and leave useless things and junk in boxes in the garage.
	...do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.
	...do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

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Tips for a Lifetime

Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

Use a meat baster to "squeeze" your pancake batter onto the hot griddle - perfect shaped pancakes every time.

To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard-boiling.

Run your hands under cold water before pressing Rice Krispies treats in the pan - the marshmallow won't stick to your fingers.

To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, bring them to room temperature and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before squeezing.

To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stove-top - skillet will be much easier to clean now.

Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato-based sauces - no more stains.

When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead - no white mess on the outside of the cake.

If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato - it absorbs the excess salt for an instant "fix me up".

Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator - it will keep for weeks.

Brush beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful, glossy finish.

Place a slice of apple in hardened brown sugar to soften it back up.

When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corns natural sweetness.

To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh - if it rises to the surface, throw it away.

Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.

Don't throw out all that leftover wine: Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

If you have problem opening jars: Try using latex dishwashing gloves.

They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.

To get rid of itch from mosquito bite: try applying soap on the area for instant relief.

Ants, ants, ants everywhere ... Well, they are said to never across a chalk line. So get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants tend to march - see for yourself.

Use air-freshener to clean mirrors: It does a good job and better still, leave a lovely smell to the shine.

When you get a splinter, reach for the scotch tape before resorting to tweezers or a needle. Simply put the scotch tape over the splinter, then pull it off. Scotch tape removes most splinters painlessly and easily.

NOW Look what you can do with Alka Seltzer:

	Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush, and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous china.
	Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets.
	Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.
	Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka-Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).
	Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka-Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.
	If your VCR has a year setting on it, which most do, you will not be able to use the programmed recording feature after 12/31/99. Don't throw it away. Instead set it for the year 1972 as the days are the same as the year 2000. The manufacturers won't tell you. They want you to buy a newY2k VCR. Pass this along to all your friends.

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Life in the 1500's

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and were still smelling pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the odor.

Baths equaled a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."
________________

Houses had thatched roofs. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the pets - dogs, cats - and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. So, they found if they made beds with big posts and hung a sheet over the top, it addressed that problem. Hence those beautiful big four poster beds with canopies.
___________________

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor". The wealthy had slate floors which would get slippery in the winter when wet. So they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed at the entry way, hence a "thresh hold."
___________________

They cooked in the kitchen in a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They mostly ate vegetables and didn't get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been in there for a month. Hence the rhyme, "Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old."

Sometimes they could obtain pork and would feel really special when that happened. When company came over, they would bring out some bacon and hang it to show it off. It was a sign of wealth and that a man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and "chew the fat."
__________________

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food. This happened most often with tomatoes, so they stopped eating tomatoes - for 400 years.

Most people didn't have pewter plates, but had trenchers - a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms got into the wood. After eating off wormy trenchers, they would get "trench mouth."
__________________

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the "upper crust."
_________________

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a "wake."
_________________

England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So, they would dig up coffins and would take their bones to a house and reuse the grave. In reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on their wrist and lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night to listen for the bell. Hence on the "graveyard shift" they would know that someone was "saved by the bell" ... or he was a "dead ringer".
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The Story Behind 'Taps'

It all began in 1862 during the Civil War, when Union Army Captain Robert Ellicombe was with his men near Harrison's Landing in Virginia. The Confederate Army was on the other side of the narrow strip of land.

During the night, Captain Ellicombe heard the moan of a soldier who lay mortally wounded on the field. Not knowing if it was a Union or Confederate soldier, the captain decided to risk his life and bring the stricken man back for medical attention.

Crawling on his stomach through the gunfire, the captain reached the stricken soldier and began pulling him toward his encampment. When the captain finally reached his own lines, he discovered it was actually a Confederate soldier, but the soldier was dead. The captain lit a lantern. Suddenly, he caught his breath and went numb with shock. In the dim light, he saw the face of the soldier. It was his own son. The boy had been studying music in the South when the war broke out. Without telling his father, he enlisted in the Confederate Army.

The following morning, heartbroken, the father asked permission of his superiors to give his son a full military burial despite his enemy status. His request was partially granted. The captain had asked if he could have a group of Army band members play a funeral dirge for the son at the funeral. That request was turned down since the soldier was a Confederate. Out of respect for the father, they did say they could give him only one musician.

The captain chose a bugler. He asked the bugler to play a series of musical notes he had found on a piece of paper in the pocket of his dead son's uniform. This wish was granted. This music was the haunting melody we now know as "Taps" that is used at all military funerals.

These are the words to "TAPS":
Day is done,
Gone the sun,
From the lakes,
From the hills,
From the sky.
All is well.
Safely rest.
God is nigh.
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Unusual Book Titles

The Romance of Leprosy; 1949
Original Tricks with Cigars; 1927
Straight Talk About Surgical Penis Enlargement; 1993
The Nature and Tendency of Balls, Seriously and Candidly Considered in Two Sermons; 1818
Gay Bulgaria; 1964
Not Worth Reading; 1914
So Your Wife Came Home Speaking In Tongues! So Did Mine!; 1973
The Benefits of Farting Explained; 1727
Performing Goats; 1895
New Guinea Tapeworms and Jewish Grandmothers; 1981
How to Cook Roadkill: Gourmet Cooking; 1987
Old Age: Its Cause and Prevention; 1912
How To Be Happy Though Married; 1885
How To Forgive Your Ex-Husband; 1983
Male Sexuality: The Atlantis Position; 1982
Dildo Kay; 1940
I Was Hitler's Maid; 1953
Girls of the Pansy Patrol; 1931
Shy Men, Sex, and Castrating Women by Claude Balls; 1985
The Social History of the Machine Gun; 1975
A Do-It-Yourself Submachine Gun; 1995
Fish Who Answer the Telephone; 1937
The Romance of Proctology; 1938
"The history and development of this much neglected branch of surgery from its earliest times to the present day."
Exercise in the Bath; 1938
Explosive Spiders and How to Make Them; 1881
Pyrotechnicist Scoffern shows how to make an artificial spider that, when touched, should go off with a bang.
Knight Life: Jousting in the United States; 1978
Teach Yourself Sex; 1951
Teach Yourself Alcoholism; 1975
How To Become a Schizophrenic; 1992
How To Avoid Huge Ships; 1993
How To Abandon Ship; 1942
How To Do It; or, Directions for Knowing or Doing Everything Needful; 1864
It's a Gas! A Study of Flatulence; 1991
Wrestling for Gay Guys; 1994
For anyone looking to perk up their fitness routine, self-defense, or erotic prowess.
Hand Grenade Throwing as a College Sport; 1918
The British Library's only copy was regrettably "destroyed by bombing."
The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving; 1997
How to Cook Husbands; 1899
The Gentle Art of Cooking Wives; 1900
Recollections of Squatting in Victoria; 1833
How Nell Scored; 1929
The Bright Side of Prison Life; 1897
Lesbian Nuns, Breaking the Silence; 1985
Walled Up Nuns and Nuns Walled In; 1895
Fashion is Spinach; 1938
A letter to the Man Who Killed My Dog; 1956
Freedom Must Not Stink; 1947
The Sunny Side of Bereavement; n.d.
The Practical Embalmer; 1900
Sex After Death; 1983
Daddy Was an Undertaker; 1952
Do-it-Yourself Coffins: For Pets and People; 1997
Public Performances of the Dead; 1865
Phone Calls From the Dead; 1979
By His Own Hand: A Study of Cricket's Suicide; 1991.
The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination; 1986.
Who's Who in Barbed Wire; 1970.
The Madam as Entrepreneur: Career Management in House Prostitution; 1979.
Correct Mispronunciations of Some South Carolina Names; 1981.
Manhole Covers of Los Angeles; 1974.
Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun; 1995.
Three Weeks in Wet Sheets; 1856.
Be Married and Like It; 1937.
Pranks With the Mouth; 1879.
Build Your Own Hindenburg; 1983.
Mated With A Clown; 1884
Our Lady of the Potatoes; 1995
The Joy of the Upright Man; 1619
My Invisible Friend Explains the Bible; 1971
Follow Your Broken Nose; 1950
The Great Pantyhose Crafts Book; 1982
Pernicious Pork; or, Astounding Revelations of the Evil Effects of Eating Swine Flesh; 1903
Thirty-six Reasons for Believing in Everlasting Punishment; 1887
1587. A Year of No Importance; n.p.
Life and Laughter 'midst the Cannibals; 1926
The Encyclopedia of Medical Ignorance; 1984
Optical Chick Sexing; 1954
Enjoy Your Chameleon; n.d.
Spider Communication; 1982
Man: The Prodigy and Freak of Nature; 1907
Romance of the Gas Industry; 1922
The Lull Before Dorking; 1871
My Poor Dick: 1988
How to Pick Pockets. A Treatise on the Fundamental Principle, Theory and Practice of Picking Pockets; n.d.
Hash for the Benefit of Tired Readers; 1896
Preserving Dick - Mary D.R. Boyd. Philadelphia, Pa. Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1867. Richard's dogged determination does not go unrewarded.
Ball Punching - Tom Carpenter. Athletic Publications, 1923 'World's Champion All-Round Ball Puncher', but then balls usually are round, aren't they?
Games You Can Play With Your Pussy - Ira Alterman Watertown, Mass.: Ivory. Tower Pub. Co 1885
Penetrating Wagner's Ring - John L. DiGaetano New York: Da Capo, 1978; An in-depth study of the great composer's Meisterwerk.
Fifty Years with the Rod - John Stirling. Phillip Allan, 1929. An exhausting half-century described by the President of the Scottish Anglers' Association.
Camping Among Cannibals - Alfred St. Johnston. Macmillan, 1883. Dangerous exploits by an eccentric explorer
The Coming Disaster Worse Than the H-bomb, Astronomically, Geologically and Scientifically Proven. The Coal Beds, Ice Ages, Tides, and Coming Soon, a Great Wave and Flood Caused by a Shift of the Axis of the Earth From the Gyroscopic Action of Our Solar System; 1954. Washington, DC
How To Do Cups and Balls - The Vampire Press, 1946
Levitation for Terrestrials - Robert Kingsley Morison, Ascent, 1977
Knife Throwing: A Practical Guide - Harry K. McEvoy, Rutland, VT.: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1973
Play With Your Own Marbles - J.J. Wright, S.W Partridge, c.1865
Fishing for Boys - J.H. Elliott, Harrap, 1961
Erections on Allotments - George W. Giles and Fred M. Osborn, Central Allotments Committee, n.d.
The Dark At The End Of The Bong, by Bob Newland
Your Friend, The Computer Hacker, by Carolyn Meinel
Industrial Hemp: Fiber, Food and Fuel for the Future, by Chris Conrad
How I Invented Soft-Core Pornography, by Paul Krassner,
Masturbational Insanity, by Th. Metzger
The Living Dead: New Identities In The New Age, by John Q. Newman
Destroy all Goo-Goos, by Th. Metzger
How to Throw Profitable College House Parties, by Greg Heitz
Come Again, Nurse
By Jane Grant
Robert Hale, 1960
The Joy of Chickens
By Dennis Nolan
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1981
'A history and celebration of the chicken, rare and common' (Publisher's catalogue)
The Golden Fountain: Complete Guide to Urine Therapy
By Coen van der Kroon
Banbury: Amethyst Books, 1996
What to Say When You Talk to Yourself
By Shad Helmstetter
Scottsdale, Ariz,: Grindle Press, 1982
Life and Love in the Aquarium
By C.H. Peters
New York: Empire Tropical Fish Import Co., 1934
Rubbing Along in Burmese
By Anon
Simla: Directorate of Welfare and Education, Adjutant General's Branch GHQ, 1944
Careers in Dope
By Dan Waldrof
Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, 1973
Movie Stars in Bathtubs
By Jack Scagnetti
Middle Village, NY: Jonathan David Publishers, 1975

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Unusual Online Catalogs

BACKYARD BALLISITICS
- by William Gurstelle Build potato cannons, paper match rockets, Cincinnati fire kites, tennis ball mortars, and more dynamite devices

PANTIES DOWN! BEFORE MONEY DOWN!
- by Mac Horn An Erotic Travel Guide to the Philippines

"I WATCHED A WILD HOG EAT MY BABY!"
- by Bill Sloan A Colorful History of Tabloids and Their Cultural Impact

GUERRILLA GUNSMITHING
- by Ragnar Benson Quick and Dirty Methods for Fixing Firearms in Desperate Times

THE CLITORAL TRUTH
- by Rebecca Chalker The Secret World at Your Fingertips

SEX DRUGS AND THE TWINKIE MURDERS
- by Paul Krassner

PARANOID WOMEN COLLECT THEIR THOUGHTS
- Edited by Joan d'Arc

BE YOUR OWN DICK,
- by John Q. Newman Private Investigating Made Easy - Revised and Expanded Second Edition

THE REDNECK MANIFESTO
- by Jim Goad America's Scapegoats: How We Got That Way and Why We're Not Going to Take It Any More

Tax Facts

The Gettysburg address is 269 words, the Declaration of Independence is 1,337 words, and the Holy Bible is only 773,000 words. However, the tax law has grown from 11,400 words in 1913, to 7 million words today.

There are at least 480 different tax forms, each with many pages of instructions.

Even the easiest form, the 1040E has 33 pages in instructions, and all in fine print.

The IRS sends out 8 billion pages of forms and instructions each year. Laid end to end, they would stretch 28 times around the earth.

Nearly 300,000 trees are cut down yearly to produce the paper for all the IRS forms and instructions.

American taxpayers spend $200 billion and 5.4 billion hours working to comply with federal taxes each year, more than it takes to produce every car, truck, and van in the United States.

The IRS employs 114,000 people; that's twice as many as the CIA and five times more than the FBI.

60% of taxpayers must hire a professional to get through their own return.

Taxes eat up 38.2% of the average family's income; that's more than for food, clothing, and shelter combined.
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Unusual Patron Saints

(According to The Best Book of Lists; Carlton Books, 1999)

Apollonia - Patron Saint of toothaches.

Fiacre - Patron Saint of venereal disease and taxi drivers.

Gengulf - Patron Saint of unhappy marriages.

Vitus - Patron Saint of comedians and mental illness.

Matthew - Patron Saint of accountants.

Bernardino of Siena - Patron Saint of advertising executives.

Luke - Patron Saint of butchers.

Marin de Porres - Patron Saint of hairdressers.

Joseph of Arimathea - Patron Saint of grave diggers and funeral directors.
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Amusing Condom Names Around the World

1. Billy Boy (Germany)

2. Enormex (U.K.)

3. Euroglider (Netherlands)

4. Happy Face (New Zealand)

5. Honeymoon Super Stimulation (Germany)

6. Jiffi Exciter (U.K.)

7. Licks (U.S.A.)

8. Mamba (Sweden)

9. Power Play (U.S.A.)

10. Skin Less Skin (Japan)
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Odd Inventions

1. The Tonya Tapper - A personal security steel club named after the notorious skater; suitable for all knee whacking purposes.

2. Sweet Jesus Chocolate - Tasty milk chocolate crucifix candies that ooze red jelly when bitten.

3. Insecticide Pantyhose - Bug resistant pantyhose sure to repel spiders, cockroaches, [and probably dates.]

4. Artificial Spray-On Dirt - For the yuppie whose tired of looking wuss in his luxury S.U.V. This is sure to provide that rugged four-wheeling look.

5. Drive-Through Window at Funeral Homes - For the more somber drive-by.

6. .45 Semiautomatic Telephone - A novelty phone sure to please the darkest sense of humor. The caller must hold the gun against their head to make a call; let the fun begin.

7. Bird Diaper - For Polly when potty training is not an option.

8. Snif-T-Panties - Women's underwear with built in fragrance to capture the right mood; scents include rose, banana, pickles, pizza and, of course, whiskey.

In the 1980's, French women Dominique Peignoux, Yvette Guys and Francoise Dekan marketed a musical napkin that was placed inside a baby's diaper and played "When the Saints Go Marching
In" as soon as it became wet.

William A. Calderwood of Peoria, Arizona patented helium filled furniture that would float to the ceiling when not in use to allow extra floor space and be pulled back down by a rope as needed.

It was in 1966 that America's Thomas J. Bayard invented a vibrating toilet seat, acting on the belief that physical stimulation of the buttocks is effective in relieving constipation.

James Moreau developed a brassiere in 1988 which surrounds the breasts with water, so that a buoyant force provides improved and independent support for each breast. A transparent version is suggested for those who wish to make a fashion statement.

In 1984, Inventor Timothy Zell developed a method of growing unicorns that are of higher intelligence and physical attributes, They are also said to be useful as a guard animal. What you may not want to know is the method involves surgical alteration of a one-week old goat, so that its two horn buds will grow together.

And Patents:

Scalp Cooling Device; December 6, 1938

Pantyhose Shaping Band for Cheeky Derriere Relief; January 18, 1979

Eye Protector for Chickens; December 10, 1902

Hay Fragrance; January 6, 1987

Saluting Device/Automatic Hat Tipper; March 10, 1896

Apparatus for Facilitating Childbirth by Centrifugal Force; November 9, 1965

Strange Festivals Around the World

CHEESE-ROLLING (U.K, May). Cheese-rolling has taken place on the slopes of Cooper's Hill, near Birdlip in Gloucestershire, since the 15th Century. When the cheese is released, competitors run down the hill and attempt to catch it before it reaches the bottom. The event was permanently cancelled when eight people were injured in 1992.

DAY OF THE DEAD (Mexico, 2 November). According to Indian folklore, this is the day when the deceased return to life. Families conduct macabre graveside picnics, offering food to the dead, and then tuck into a feast of their own, eating chocolate coffins, sugar wreaths and fancy breads adorned with skulls and crossbones.

GOTMARR FESTIVAL (India, September). During the full moon, the 45,000 inhabitants of Pandhura divide into two groups and start hurling rocks at one another until sunset. In 1989, there were 616 casualties, including four deaths as a result of the event.

GRANDMOTHERS' FESTIVAL (Norway, July). First held at Bodo in 1992, the festival sees grannies riding motorbikes, racehorses skydiving and scuba diving. The star of the inaugural event was 79-year-old Elida Anderson who became the world's oldest bungee-jumper.

RUNNING OF THE SHEEP (U.S., September) Reedpoint, Montana stages a gentle alternative to Spain's famous Running of the Bulls. Hundreds of sheep are released down Main Street for six blocks. There are also contests for the ugliest and pretties ewes while shepherds assemble to recite poetry.
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Stuff You Didn't Know II

• 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.
• Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.
• Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
• The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma.
• American car horns beep in the tone of F.
• No piece of paper can be folded more than 7 times.
• Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
• 1 in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
• You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
• Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older.
• The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
• The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache.
• A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother's first flight.
• American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating 1 olive from each salad served in first-class.
• Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise.
• The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
• Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.
• The 57 on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of varieties of pickles the company once had.
• The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
• Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
• The first owner of the Marlboro company died of lung cancer.
• Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
• Betsy Ross is the only real person to ever have been the head on a Pez dispenser.
• Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.
• Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.
• All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn't like being seen wearing them in public.
• Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
• The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in jelly.
• Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
• Average life span of a major league baseball: seven pitches.
• Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all the letters from the word: criminal.
• The second? William Jefferson Clinton
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
• The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
• There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
• All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
• All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.
• Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
• 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."
• A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
• It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
• In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
• The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon, and Elvis Presley.
• A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend, Indiana.
• In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles.
• About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they are still sitting on it.
• In Kentucky, 50 percent of the people who get married for the first time are teenagers.
• In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients would die.
• 27 percent of U.S. male college students believe life is "a meaningless existential hell."
• It is impossible to lick your elbow.
•A crocodile can't stick its tongue out.
• A shrimp's heart is in its head.
• In a study of 200,000 ostriches over a period of 80 years, no one reported a single case where an ostrich buried its head in the sand.
• It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
• A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.
• More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.
• Horses can't vomit.
• The "sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" is said to be the toughest tongue twister in the English language.
• If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out.
• Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
• Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.
• Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations, implemented on July 16, 1969, makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrial or their vehicles....?
• 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts.
• Most lipstick contains fish scales.
• Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different.
• A person afflicted with hexadectylism has six fingers or six toes on one or both hands and feet.
• America's first nudist organization was founded in 1929, by 3 men
• Barbers at one time combined shaving and haircutting with bloodletting and pulling teeth. The white stripes on a field of red that spiral down a barber pole represent the bandages used in the bloodletting.
• Humans are the only animals that copulate face to face.
• Midgets and dwarfs almost always have normal-sized children, even if both parents are midgets or dwarfs.
• The kiss that is given by the bride to the groom at the end of the wedding ceremony originates from the earliest times when the couple would actually make love for the first time under the eyes of half the village.
• Women shoplift more often than men; the statistics are 4 to 1.
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Good luck, Mr. Gorsky

On July 20, 1969, as commander of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module, Neil Armstrong was the first person to set foot on the moon. His first words after stepping on the moon, "That's one small step for a man, one giant

Leap for mankind," were televised to Earth and heard by millions. But just before he reentered the lander, he made the enigmatic remark: "Good luck, Mr. Gorsky."

Many people at NASA thought it was a casual remark concerning some rival Soviet Cosmonaut. However, upon checking, there was no Gorsky in either the Russian or American space programs. Over the years many people questioned Armstrong as to what the "Good luck Mr. Gorsky" statement meant, but Armstrong always just smiled.

On July 5, 1995, in Tampa Bay, Florida, while answering questions following a speech, a reporter brought up the 26 year old question to Armstrong. This time he finally responded. Mr. Gorsky had died and so Neil Armstrong felt he could answer the question.

In 1938 when he was a kid in a small Midwest town, he was playing baseball with a friend in the backyard. His friend hit a fly ball, which landed in his neighbor's yard by the bedroom windows. His neighbors were

Mr. and Mrs. Gorsky. As he leaned down to pick up the ball, young Armstrong heard Mrs. Gorsky shouting at Mr. Gorsky. "Sex! You want sex?! You'll get sex when the kid next door walks on the moon!"
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Phobias

Bogyphobia: Fear of bogies or the bogeyman.

Cacophobia: Fear of ugliness.

Eurotophobia: Fear of female genitalia.

Ithyphallophobia: Fear of seeing, thinking about or having an erect penis.

Peladophobia: Fear of bald people.

Pentheraphobia: Fear of mother-in-law.

Russophobia: Fear of Russians.

Syngenesophobia: Fear of relatives.

Trichopathophobia: Fear of hair.

Urophobia: Fear of urine or urinating.

Dextrophobia- Fear of objects at the right side of the body.

Alektorophobia- Fear of chickens.

Olfactophobia- Fear of smells.

Politicophobia- Fear or abnormal dislike of politicians.

Anablephobia- Fear of looking up.

Cypridophobia - Fear of prostitutes or venereal disease.

Medomalacuphobia- Fear of losing an erection.

Phronemophobia- Fear of thinking.

Dishabiliophobia- Fear of undressing in front of someone.

Mycophobia- Fear or aversion to mushrooms.

Octophobia - Fear of the figure 8.

Rhytiphobia- Fear of getting wrinkles.

Spacephobia- Fear of outer space.

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