Fact 1. Asparagus comes in three colors: green, white and purple.
Fact 2. Asthma affects one in fifteen children under the age of eighteen.
Fact 3. Astronauts get taller when they are in space.
Fact 4. Astronomers once believed a planet named Vulcan existed between Mercury and the Sun.
Fact 5. At 120 miles per hour, a Formula One car generates so much downforce that it can drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel.
Fact 6. At just four years old Mozart was able to learn a piece of music in half an hour.
Fact 7. At least 7% of all health care costs in the United States are attributed to smoking.
Fact 8. At lift off, US space shuttles weight about 4.5 million pounds.
Fact 9. At one time the group “Grateful Dead” were called “The Warlocks.”
Fact 10. At one time, pumpkins were recommended for removing freckles
Fact 11. At one time, Pumpkins were recommended for the removal of freckles and curing snake bites.
Fact 12. At the 1960 Winter Olympic Games, Walt Disney was head of the committee that organized the opening day ceremonies.
Fact 13. At the equator the Earth spins at about 1,038 miles per hour.
Fact 14. At the White House, president John Adams was said to be the first to display fireworks there.
Fact 15. Atari had to bury millions of unsold “E.T.” game cartridges in a New Mexico desert landfill in 1982.
Fact 16. Atlantic salmon can jump as high as 4.5 meters out of the water.
Fact 17. Australia has had stamps that actually look like gems. In 1995 and 1996 they used a special technology to make the stamps look like diamonds and opals.
Fact 18. Australian Graham Barker extracted his own belly button fluff every day for 18 years acquiring a record-breaking amount of fluff. He hopes to accumulate enough fluff to stuff a pillow.
Fact 19. Austria was the very first country to use postcards starting in 1869.
Fact 20. Author Dr. Seuss wrote the book “Green Eggs and Ham” because the editor made him a bet that he could not write a book, which contained less than fifty words.
Fact 21. Author Robert May considered the names of Reginald and Rollo before he settled on “Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer.”
Fact 22. Automobile building is the largest manufacturing industry in the world.
Fact 23. Average age of top GM executives in 1994: 49.8 years. Average age of
the Rolling Stones: 50.6.
Fact 24. Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
Fact 25. Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.
Fact 26. Average number of days a West German goes without washing his underwear: 7
Fact 27. Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.
Fact 28. Avery Laser Labels are named after company founder R. Stanton Avery.
Fact 29. Aztec emperor Montezuma had a nephew, Cuitlahac, whose name meant “plenty of excrement.”
Fact 30. Babies that are exposed to cats and dogs in their first year of life have a lower chance of developing allergies when they grow older.
Fact 31. Babies that wear disposable diapers are five times more likely to get a diaper rash than babies wearing a cotton diaper.
Fact 32. Babies who wear disposable diapers are five times more likely to develop diaper rash than those that wear cotton diapers.
Fact 33. Baby donkeys or baby mules are also known as “Foals.”
Fact 34. Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.
Fact 35. Back in 1796, dimes were called dismes.
Fact 36. Back in 1919, the Russian transplant pioneer Serge Voronoff made headlines by grafting monkey testicles onto human males.
Fact 37. Back in 1953, it took 27 hours to make one Marshmallow Peep. Now it takes only six minutes.
Fact 38. Badminton originates from a sport in India called “poona.”
Fact 39. Ballroom dancing is a course at Brigham Young University in Utah.
Fact 40. Bamboo plants can grow up to 36 inches in a day.
Fact 41. Bananas contain a natural chemical which can make a person happy. This same chemical is found in Prozac.
Fact 42. Bananas trees are not really trees. They are considered to be giant herb plants.
Fact 43. Bananas were discovered by Alexander the Great in 327 B.C. when he conquered India.
Fact 44. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.
Fact 45. Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball.
Fact 46. Barney, the famous dinosaur that entertains kids is from Dallas.
Fact 47. Baseball games between college teams have been played since the Civil War.
Fact 48. Baseball was the first sport to be pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Fact 49. Basketball great Wilt Chamberlain never fouled out of a game.
Fact 50. Basketball superstar Wilt Chamberlain holds 56 NBA records.
Fact 51. Basketball was invented by Canadian James Naismith in 1891.
Fact 52. Baskin Robbins once made ketchup ice cream. This was the only vegetable flavoured ice cream produced. However, they discontinued it since they thought it would not sell well.
Fact 53. Baskin Robbins plain vanilla ice cream is the number one selling flavour and accounts for a quarter of their sales.
Fact 54. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
Fact 55. Bats can detect food up to 18 feet away and what type of insect the food may be using their sense of echolocation.
Fact 56. Bats emit ultrasonic sounds to communicate with each other.
Fact 57. Bats sleep during the day and feed at night. The place that bats sleep in is called the “roost.”
Fact 58. Battle Creek, Michigan is referred to as the “Cereal Bowl of America.” The city produces the most breakfast cereals than any other city in the world.
Fact 59. Because metal was scarce; the Oscars given out during World War II were made of plaster.
Fact 60. Bees can communicate with other bees by dancing. Their dance can alert other bees as to which direction and the distance nectar and pollen is located.
Fact 61. Beethoven used to take hay baths to remedy the swelling he used to get in his legs.
Fact 62. Before 1859, baseball umpires were seated in padded chairs behind home plate.
Fact 63. Before 1883, the three-cent U.S. stamp was also used for advertising. The advertisment was located on the back of the stamp for various products.
Fact 64. Before 1928, yo-yos used to be called bandalores in the United States.
Fact 65. Before air conditioning was invented, white cotton slipcovers were put on furniture to keep the air cool.
Fact 66. Before its name was changed, the African Penguin used be called the Jackass Penguin because of its donkey-like braying call.
Fact 67. Before soccer referees started using whistles in 1878, they used to rely on waving a handkerchief.
Fact 68. Before the 17th century, carrots used to be the colour purple.
Fact 69. Before the fur trade had started in Canada, it was estimated that there were over 6 million beavers.
Fact 70. Before toilet paper was invented, French royalty wiped their bottoms with fine linen.
Fact 71. Behram, an Indian thug, holds the record for most murders by a single individual. He strangled 931 people between 1790-1840 with a piece of yellow and white cloth, called a ruhmal. The most murders by a woman are 612, by Countess Erzsebet Bathory of Hungary.
Fact 72. Being lactose intolerant can cause chronic flatulence.
Fact 73. Belize is the only country in the world with a jaguar preserve.
Fact 74. Beluga whales which are also called “white whales” are not born white. They are born grey in color, and by the age of six become completely white.
Fact 75. Benjamin Franklin invented the rocking chair.
Fact 76. Bernd Eilts, a German artist, turns dried cow manure into wall clocks and small sculptures. He is now expanding his business to include cow dung wrist watches.
Fact 77. Better wine can be produced by the soil being of poor quality. This is because the vines have to “work” harder.
Fact 78. Between 12%-15% of the population is left-handed.
Fact 79. Between 1902 and 1907, the same tiger killed 434 people in India.
Fact 80. Between 1997-2002, there was an increase of 228% in cosmetic procedures in the United States.
Fact 81. Bhutan issued a stamp in 1973 that looked like a record and actually would play the Bhutanese national anthem if placed on a record player.
Fact 82. Bile produced by the liver is responsible for making your feces a brownish, green colour.
Fact 83. Bill Bowerman, the co-founder of the shoe company Nike, got his first shoe idea after staring at a waffle iron. This gave him the idea of using squared spikes to make the shoes lighter.
Fact 84. Bill Gates began programming computers at age 13.
Fact 85. Bill Gates donated close to $100 million to fight AIDS in India. As a percent of his total wealth, this would be comparable to him donating ten cents if he only had $60.
Fact 86. Bill Gates house was partially designed using a Macintosh computer. new
Fact 87. Bill Russell was the first black head coach of a major league pro sports team.
Fact 88. Billiards used to be so popular at one time that cigarette cards were issued featuring players.
Fact 89. Billie Jean by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist.
Fact 90. Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the Western Pacific.
Fact 91. Birds do not sweat, as they do not have sweat glands.
Fact 92. Black pepper is the most popular spice in the world.
Fact 93. Blood is such a good stain that Native Americans used it for paint.
Fact 94. BluBlocker sunglasses were developed with lenses that were used in the NASA space program for American astronauts.
Fact 95. Blue Jays can imitate the calls of hawks.
Fact 96. Blueberries have more antioxidents than any other fruit or vegetables.
Fact 97. Bo Jackson set a Monday Night Football record by rushing for 222 yards in one game against the Seattle Seahawks, including a 91-yard TD run.
Fact 98. Bobby Carpenter was the first American player to score 50 goals in a season.
Fact 99. Boeing completed more than 15,000 hours of wind-tunnel testing on the first 747.
Fact 100. Border collies are the most intelligent breed of dog.
Page topic: Cool, strange and interesting facts page 2
