Fun_People Archive
15 May
Useless (and unsubstantiated) facts

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Wed, 15 May 96 23:15:44 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: Useless (and unsubstantiated) facts

[Not only are they useless and unsubstantiated (and amusing and irrelevant)
 but many are downright ludicrous.  Do you suppose ANY are true?  -psl]

Forwarded-by: Keith Bostic <bostic@bsdi.com>
Forwarded-by: glen mccready <glen@qnx.com>
Forwarded-by: Joe Bishop <joe@qnx.com>
Forwarded-by: Joe Braga <joeb@andyne.on.ca>

Amusing Irrelevant Facts

The oldest known goldfish lived to 41 years of age. Its name was Fred.

There is a town in Newfoundland, Canada called Dildo.

In Kentucky, 50% of the people who get married for the first time are
teenagers.

Kotex was first manufactured as bandages, during WWI.

If an orangutan belches at you, watch out. He's warning you to stay out of
his territory.

Einstein couldn't speak fluently when he was nine. His parents thought he
might be retarded.

In Los Angeles, there are fewer people than there are automobiles.

About a third of all Americans flush the toilet while they're still sitting
on it.

In 1984, a New Jersey man opened a summer camp for Cabbage Patch dolls.

You're more likely to get stung by a bee on a windy day that in any other
weather.

How can you tell when a gorilla is angry? It sticks its tongue out.

In 1976, a Los Angeles secretary formally married her 50-pound pet rock.
(Is that where "hard-on" started?)

In 1980, the Yellow Pages accidentally listed a Texas funeral home under
frozen foods.

1,200 college students streaked at the same time in Boulder, CO in 1974.

In 1977, a 13-year-old boy discovered a tooth growing on his left foot.

In 1983, a Japanese artist made a copy of the Mona Lisa completely out of
toast.

In the early '80s, a toad was discovered that meows instead of croaking.

In 1984, a Canadian farmer began renting ad space on his cows.

About 96% of all American children can recognize Ronald McDonald.

An average person laughs about 15 times a day.

Research indicates that mosquitoes are attracted to people who have recently
eaten bananas.

Penguins can jump as high as 6 feet in the air.

The most money ever paid for a cow in an auction was $1.3 million.

The average person is about a quarter of an inch taller at night.

A sneeze zooms out of your mouth at over 600 m.p.h.

The condom -- made originally of linen -- was invented in the early 1500s.

The first known contraceptive was crocodile dung, used by Egyptians in
2000 B.C.

Watch out for flying hockey pucks -- they travel at up to 100 mph.

America's first nudist organization was founded in 1929, by 3 men.

98% of American drivers think they drive better than anyone else.

When he's feeling amorous, the male sea otter grabs the female's nose with
his teeth.

In 1681, the last dodo bird died.

A Saudi Arabian woman can get a divorce if her husband doesn't give her
coffee.

The Neanderthal's brain was bigger than yours is.

Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland because he doesn't wear pants.

The average bank teller loses about $250 every year.

Howdy Doody had 48 freckles.

What color was Christopher Columbus's hair? Blonde.

In 1980, there was only one country in the world with no telephones --
Bhutan.

The most extras ever used in a movie was 300,000, for the film Gandhi in
1981.

Every person has a unique tongue print.

Your right lung takes in more air than your left one does.

When Bugs Bunny first appeared in 1935, he was called Happy Rabbit.

Women's hearts beat faster than men's.

Pollsters say that 40% of dog and cat owners carry pictures of the pets in
their wallets.

Bubble gum contains rubber.

You can only smell 1/20th as well as a dog.

In high school, Robin Williams was voted "Least Likely to Succeed."

Only 55% of all Americans know that the sun is a star.

The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing her hands in Jello.

The sex organ on a male spider is located at the end of one of its legs.

Even if you cut off a cockroach's head, it can live for several weeks.

Chicken soup was considered an aphrodisiac in the Middle Ages.

Most American car horns honk in the key of F.

The world population of chickens is about equal to the number of people.

Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his
head.

In 75% of American households, women manage the money and pay the bills.

A monkey was once tried and convicted for smoking a cigarette in South Bend,
Indiana.

About 70% of Americans who go to college do it just to make more money.

It's against the law to catch fish with your bare hands in Kansas.

Someone paid $14,000 for the bra Marilyn Monroe wore in Some Like It Hot.

Some toothpastes contain antifreeze.

Sigmund Freud had a morbid fear of ferns.

Millie the White House dog earned more than 4 times as much as Pres. Bush
in 1991.  And, rightfully so.

Bird droppings are the chief export of Nauru, an island nation in the
western Pacific. (only on Turdsday)

There are more plastic flamingos in America than real ones.

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

Lee Harvey Oswald's cadaver tag sold at an auction for $6,600 in 1992.

Mosquitos have teeth.

Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray. (Can you?)

Hypnotism is banned by public schools in San Diego.

The three best-known western names in China: Jesus Christ, Richard Nixon,
and Elvis Presley.

When snakes are born with two heads, they fight each other for food.

Most cows give more milk when they listen to music.

Captain Kangaroo won five Emmy awards.

27% of U.S. male college students believe life is "a meaningless existential
hell."

In 1980, a Las Vegas hospital suspended workers for betting on when patients
would die.

Aztec emperor Montezuma had a nephew, Cuitlahac, whose name meant "plenty
of excrement."

Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.

"Kemo Sabe" means "soggy shrub" in Navajo.

© 1996 Peter Langston