32 Things You Likely Didn't Know

email | July 26, 2003 | Anonymous

[Hildy]

1. A rat can last longer without water than a camel.

2. Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks or it will digest itself.

3. The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle.

4. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.

5. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate.

6. A duck's quack doesn't echo. No one knows why.

7. A 2 X 4 is really 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".

8. During the chariot scene in "Ben Hur," a small red car can be seen in the distance (and Heston's wearing a watch).

9. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily! (That explains a few mysteries....)

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

11. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

12. The number of possible ways of playing the first four moves per side in a game of chess is 318,979,564,000.

13. There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with orange, purple and silver.

14. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. There was never a recorded Wendy before.

15. The very first bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin in World War II killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

16. If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death. (Who was the sadist who discovered this??)

17. Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to s-l-o-w film down so you could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.

18. The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."

19. The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

20. 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.

21. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, so the called themselves Motorola.

22. Roses may be red, but violets are indeed violet.

23. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.
24. Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

25. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

26. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

27. Sherlock Holmes NEVER said, "Elementary, my dear Watson."

28. An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than three steps backwards while dancing!

29. The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.

30. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries.

31. Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

32. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!

[decimon]

Then don't ask about Alice Liddell and Lewis Carroll... you don't want to know.

I'd like to know as I can't find anything more than suggestion that there may have something untoward in his relations with children.

[4mycountry]

It is impossible for a human to lick their elbow.













70% of the people who read this will try and lick their elbow.

[4mycountry]

Try to lick. ******sigh******

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

This site is interesting:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/vol18/issue06/arts.lcarroll.html

[strela]

You don't see them much any more, but do you remember those two-piece disposable coffee cups that used to be popular? The bottom piece that held the disposable cup portion is called a zarf.

[decimon]

In the absence of any evidence that he hurt any child, or wished to, I'll go with Morton Cohen's take on it. Dodgson sounds to me like someone who'd be as innocent as a child if he could.

[gorush]

33. No two vertical lines are parallel.

[InvisibleChurch]

They probably meant the name "Schlumpfertikin", not Wendy.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Have you read Martin Gardner's "Anotated Alice"? It's well-worth the read.

[4mycountry]

A crocodile can't stick it's tongue out

Most lipstick contains fish scales

In every episode of Seinfeld, there is a Superman somewhere

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match

More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call

It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.

In the course of an average lifetime, you will, while sleeping, eat 70 assorted insects and 10 spiders.

Like finger prints, everyone's tongue print is different.

The sailfish is the fastest swimming fish, at 69 mph

People hate public speaking as much as they hate handling a snake

John Wayne's name at birth was Marion Morrison

A typical bolt of lightning heats the atmosphere to 50,000° F

Avacado contains twice as much protein as eggs or milk, and has more Vitamin A, B, and C.

MasterCard was originally called MasterCharge

Steven King wrote 5 books under the name Richard Bachman

The dodobird was made extinct by pigs

315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

It took Leonardo de Vinci 10 years to paint Mona Lisa's lips.

The first couple to be shown in bed together on TV: Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Coca-Cola was originally green

Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury

The state with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%

The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400

The average number of people airborne over the US at any given hour: 61,000

The first novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

If you were to spell out numbers, you would have to reach one thousand before you found the letter "a".

'60 Minutes' on CBS is the only show with no theme song.

Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers: all invented by women.

40% of all people at a party will snoop in your medicine cabinet.

111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

The youngest pope was 11 years old.

Your brain is 80% water.

Thomas Edison was afraid of the dark.

The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.

The White House was originally gray. The mansion was burned during the War of 1812. When it was rebuilt after the war, it was painted white to hide the smoke stains.

Soldiers do not march in step when going across bridges because they could set up a vibration which could be sufficient to knock the bridge down.

The word "Cranky" comes from the fact that early automobiles were crank started. Someone having trouble starting their car was certainly cranky.

President Kennedy was the fastest random speaker in the world with upwards of 350 words per minute.

The first female monster to appear on the big screen was Bride of Frankenstein.

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people.

You can’t fold a piece of paper, no matter how big it is, in half more than 8 times.

Every time you sneeze your heart stops one second.

[mc5cents]

And Cary Grant never said "Judy, Judy, Judy."

[Chad Fairbanks]

You can’t fold a piece of paper, no matter how big it is, in half more than 8 times.

Sure you can - if you have an iron handy...

[ErnBatavia]

16. If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

I'm going to remember this, for the next time I'm sitting outside having an adult juice while enjoying the evening. Scorpions are, unfortunately, not that uncommon here.

[decimon]

Have you read Martin Gardner's "Anotated Alice"? It's well-worth the read.

No, I haven't. And I haven't read Lewis Carroll as an adult so I'd have to start there. I'll add that to my list of things to do over the next ten lifetimes. :-)

[Squantos]

8 track was in the 60's.......his early radio design was picked up by motorola for cars........according to this link.........

http://www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/94.html


Ya'll stay safe !

[Hildy]

Let us know how it goes!

[ErnBatavia]

I will! I hate stomping them, because they're really gooey and Mrs. Bat doesn't like me tracking the gunk inside onto her new carpet.

[Old Professer]

We shall refrain from describing the "ta'int."

[Hildy]

understandable.

[Swordmaker]

It is impossible for a human to lick their elbow. 70% of the people who read this will try and lick their elbow.

Actually, it IS possible to lick one's own elbow. The proper procedure is listed below. Warning, this should only be attempted by professionals (*) and should not be done at home.

Materials and equipment:
Several large plastic drop cloths
A Skil, or other equivalent, make circular saw, preferably sanitized, although it may not make any difference...
A telephone.

Procedure:
Spread large plastic drop cloths around the room.
Unlock the doors.
Phone 911, leave phone off the hook.
Plug circular saw into wall socket.
Pull circular saw trigger and lock in 'on' position.
Place front of saw between shoulder and elbow and saw rapidly through upper arm in one swift motion.
Drop saw
Grab lower arm off floor
Quickly, raise arm to mouth
Orient arm so that elbow is directly in front of mouth.
Lick.

* Trained, professional idiots only...