Fact 1. The oil that is found in poison ivy is called “urushiol.”
Fact 2. The oldest actor to win a Best Actor Oscar is Henry Fonda. He was 76 when he won it.
Fact 3. The oldest bird on record was Cocky, a cockatoo, who died in the London Zoo at the age of 82.
Fact 4. The oldest documented footwear found was a 8,000 year-old sandal found in a cave located in Missouri, USA.
Fact 5. The oldest inhabited house in Scotland is the Traquair Castle. The castle has had 27 kings as visitors.
Fact 6. The oldest known disease in the world is leprosy.
Fact 7. The oldest major soft drink in America is Dr. Pepper, which originated in Waco, Texas in 1885.
Fact 8. The oldest roller coaster in the world is the Leap-The-Dips roller coaster located in Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania. The roller coaster was built in 1902.
Fact 9. The oldest working Post Office in the world is located in the village of Sanquer, located in the Scottish Lowlands. It has been operating since 1712.
Fact 10. The Olympic Flame was introduced in 1928 in Amsterdam.
Fact 11. The Olympic torch weighs about 3 pounds.
Fact 12. The Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and she provided twenty-five years of service.
Fact 13. The Olympics were originally held for the Greek god Zeus.
Fact 14. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter
is uncopyrightable.
Fact 15. The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable.”
Fact 16. The only animal, besides humans that can get leprosy is the Armadillo.
Fact 17. The only animals that are capable of turning their heads 180 degrees are from the genus Galago, such as the Tarsier.
Fact 18. The only bone fully grown at birth is located in the ear.
Fact 19. The only commercial aircraft that is able to break the sound barrier is the Concorde.
Fact 20. The only desert in Canada is located in Osoyoos, British Columbia.
Fact 21. The only English place that has a name that ends with an exclamation mark is “Westward Ho!”
Fact 22. The only flying saucer launch pad in the world is located in St. Paul, Alberta, Canada.
Fact 23. The only king without a moustache in a deck of cards is the king of hearts.
Fact 24. The only lizard that has a voice is the Gecko.
Fact 25. The only married couple to fly together in space were Jan Davis and Mark Lee, who flew aboard the Endeavor space shuttle from Sept 12-20, 1992.
Fact 26. The only poisonous birds in the world are the three species of Pitohui. The Hooded Pitohui from Papua New Guinea is the most deadliest out of the three.
Fact 27. The only popcorn museum in the world is lcoated in Marion, Ohio, USA.
Fact 28. The only predator that polar bears have are humans.
Fact 29. The only real person to be a Pez head was Betsy Ross.
Fact 30. The only real person to be a Pez head was Betsy Ross.
Fact 31. The only sound Seahorses make is a small clicking or popping sound during feeding or courtship.
Fact 32. The only South East Asian country that has never been colonized by a Western Power is Thailand.
Fact 33. The only species of turtle that lives in the open ocean is the sea turtle.
Fact 34. The only state to grow pineapples is Hawaii.
Fact 35. 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.
Fact 36. 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.
Fact 37. 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-stars Game.
Fact 38. The only woman that has appeared on a U.S. paper currency is Martha Washington.
Fact 39. The origin of apples traces back to the Middle East over 4,000 years ago.
Fact 40. The original meaning of the word grocer was referring to a person who traded food in wholesale. These people would usually sell in large quantities, or by the “gross.”
Fact 41. The original name for butterfly was flutterby
Fact 42. The origins of the soldier term “G.I.” is an abbreviation for “Government Issue,” which was stamped on all government kits supplied to recruits in the US Army during World War II.
Fact 43. The ostrich has two toes on each feet which gives it greater speed.
Fact 44. The Pacific island of Tonga once issued a stamp that was banana shaped.
Fact 45. The palms of your hands and the soles of your feet cannot tan, or grow hair.
Fact 46. The papaya tree is known as “the medicinal tree” in some cultures because it?s seeds and leaves have been used as ingredients in different medicines.
Fact 47. The parents of Albert Einstein were worried that he was mentally slow because it took him a long time to learn how to speak.
Fact 48. The patent number of the telephone is 174465.
Fact 49. The peanut is not a nut, it is actually a legume.
Fact 50. The pectin that is found in apples aids in lowering cholesterol levels.
Fact 51. The Pentagon cost $49,600,000 to build in 1941.
Fact 52. The Pentagon has 284 restrooms.
Fact 53. The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as is
necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the ste of Virginia still
had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and
whites.
Fact 54. 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.
Fact 55. The phrase “Often a bridesmaid, but never a bride,” actually originates from an advertisement for Listerine mouthwash from 1924.
Fact 56. 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.
Fact 57. The planet Venus spins opposite to the other planets in the solar system.
Fact 58. The Planters Peanut Company mascot, Mr. Peanut, was created during a contest for schoolchildren in 1916.
Fact 59. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
Fact 60. The platypus uses its bill to find animals that it feeds on. Its bill can sense the tiny electric fields that their preys emit.
Fact 61. The Popsicle was invented by 11 year-old Frank Epperson in 1905. He left his drink outside with a stir stick in it and he noticed that it had frozen. He applied for a patent in 1923 and named it “Epsicle.” The name was later changed to Popsicle.
Fact 62. The popular chocolate bar “Three Musketeers” got its name because when it was first introduced in 1932 there were three individual bars. The flavours were strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla.
Fact 63. The postage rate for a letter in 1693 was determined through how much light could pass through the letter. The postage rate would be more expensive if less light went through, and this process was called candling.
Fact 64. The pound key (#) on the keyboard is called an octothorpe.
Fact 65. The production of toilet paper in China began in 1391, which was used for the Emperors.
Fact 66. The projection light used for IMAX theaters can be seen from space.
Fact 67. The property values on the Monopoly game board are the same today as they were in 1935.
Fact 68. The puma and the leopard are the highest jumping mammals. They are able to reach a height of 16.5 feet.
Fact 69. The purpose of tonsils is to destroy foreign substances that are swallowed or breathed in.
Fact 70. The quills of a porcupine are soft when they are born.
Fact 71. The range of a medieval long-bow is 220 yards.
Fact 72. The rarest chocolate bar in the world is the Porcelana bar. There are only 20,000 of these bars produced a year, and they sell for $90 per pound.
Fact 73. The rarest coffee in the world is Kopi Luwak, which is found in Indonesia. It cost about $300 a pound.
Fact 74. The real name of actress Whoopi Goldberg is Caryn Elaine Johnson.
Fact 75. The real name of Toto the dog in “The Wizard Of Oz” was Terry.
Fact 76. 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.
Fact 77. The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
Fact 78. The reason the Animal Crackers box is designed with a string handle is because when the popular circus theme was introduced in 1902 they thought it would also be a good idea to package them with a string as a Christmas novelty so they could be hung from Christmas trees.
Fact 79. The reason the soft drink Dr Pepper is called that is because the inventor Wade Morrison named it after Dr. Charles Pepper who had given him his first job.
Fact 80. The reason why bubble gum is pink is because the inventor only had pink colouring left. Ever since then, the colour of bubble gum has been predominantly pink.
Fact 81. The reason why bubbles are round is because this is the most efficient shape that the soap film can take for the amount of air trapped inside.
Fact 82. The reason why flamingos are pink is because they eat shrimp which have a red pigment.
Fact 83. The reason why golf balls have dimples on them is because it helps in the ball to move a farther distance by reducing drag.
Fact 84. The reason why hair turns gray as we age is because the pigment cells in the hair follicle start to die, which is responsible for producing “melanin” which gives the hair colour.
Fact 85. The reason why hair turns gray as we age is because the pigment cells in the hair follicle start to die, which is responsible for producing “melanin” which gives the hair colour.
Fact 86. The reason why locusts swarm are because when they are in groups, a “hot-spot” behind their hind legs is stimulated, which in turn causes their destructive nature. A large swarm of locusts can eat eighty thousand tons of corn in a day.
Fact 87. The reason why milk is white is because it contains a protein called Casein, which is white. Milk also contains fat, which is also white.
Fact 88. The reason why some people get a cowlick is because the growth of their hair is in a spiral pattern, which causes the hair to either stand straight up, or goes to a certain angle.
Fact 89. The reason why tattoos do not vanish even though we shed our skin is because the dye is injected deeper into the dermis part of the skin. It is only the epidermis that we shed.
Fact 90. The reason why the Canadian Arctic is called the “Land of the Midnight Sun” is because during the summer many communities have light 24 hours of the day. Many people have to cover their windows with tin foil to keep the light out when they sleep.
Fact 91. The reason why the Mexican sombrero hat is so wide is to provide shade for the entire body.
Fact 92. The reason why your nose gets runny when you are crying is because the tears from the eyes drain into the nose.
Fact 93. The record for the longest Monopoly game played in a bathtub is ninety-nine hours.
Fact 94. The record for the world?s worst drivers is a toss-up between two candidates: First, a 75-year-old man who received 10 traffic tickets, drove on the wrong side of the road four times, committed four hit-and-run offenses, and caused six accidents, all within 20 minutes on October 15, 1966. Second, a 62-year-old woman who failed her driving test 40 times before passing it in August, 1970 (by that time, she had spent over $700 in lessons, and could no longer afford to buy a car).
Fact 95. The Red Cross is called the Red Crescent in Arab countries.
Fact 96. The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, cruise ships, recorded music, theme parks, and spectator sports combined.
Fact 97. The revolving door was invented in 1888, by Theophilus Van Kannel.
Fact 98. The rhinoceros beetle can carry up to 850 times its weight on its back. This is equivalent to a person carrying over 50 mini-vans on their back.
Fact 99. The right lung of a human is larger than the left one. This is because of the space and placement of the heart.
Fact 100. The risk of cardiovascular disease is twice as high in women that snore regularly compared to women who do not snore. updated
Page topic: Cool, strange and interesting facts page 2
