Strange true facts

  • Water is much drier than sand according to molecular view
  • The term “bank teller” originated in the wake of the 1929 stock market crash, when banks began hiring low-paid workers to “tell” frenzied mobs of depositors that their money was gone.
  • The brand name “Jelly Belly” was created in 1982 after Nancy Reagan made a much-publicized quip about her husband gain weight by 20 pounds.
  • The Service Revenue internal audits 87 percent of women who claim breast implants as tax deductions.
  • Scandinavian berserkers used to cut out the eyes before battle to spare themselves the sight of the carnage they invariably wrought.
  • Human tonsils can bounce higher than a rubber ball of similar weight and height, but only for the first 30 minutes after they were abducted.
  • Comedy duo Cheech and Chong were originally known as Spic and Span before changing due to pressure from Chicano organizations.
  • The city of Slaughter, Texas (population: 11,284), never had a homicide within its borders.
  • Rubbing Tabasco on his upper lip before bedtime is an effective remedy for temporary sleep apnea.
  • British pop singer Baby Spice is the great-great-great-grandniece of Archduke William Pinkley-Hogue of Standishfordshire, making her 103rd line for the throne of England.
  • The curved shape of a hockey stick is a throwback to prehistoric use of mastodon tusks in a similar game.
  • A Native American tribe in South Dakota collects bottle caps left by campers, using them as currency.
  • Several banks in the region now recognize the caps as legal tender.
  • Fish have “dandruff” caused by flaking skin, and it is impossible to filter all traces of it from drinking water.
  • Butterflies can not fly during an earthquake.
  • The first case of a cold was diagnosed in 1611 in Stratford, England. The patient? John Common, who by chance gave his cold to William Shakespeare who said the new disease exacerbated his lovesickness, thereby inspiring several of his sonnets will remember most.
  • “Hello Kitty” began as part of a covert propaganda campaign originally proposed by Prime Minister Tojo WWII.
  • When heat, women hippos secrete an oil with a flavor similar to strawberries. Kalahari bushmen use the oil to make flat bread treats for children.
  • If an average scrotal of man were stretched until all its wrinkles were ironed out, it could hold a basketball.
  • The ingestion of small doses of ink over a long period of time will change your eye color slightly.
  • To commemorate the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, U.S. manufacturers of playing cards “staff” replaced with “hearts” as the costume fourth bridge. The world soon followed.
  • In 1960, a then unknown Dan Rather auditioned for the voice of cartoon character Dudley Do-Right but was turned down by animator / director Jay Ward.
  • When subjected to an electric current of 50 volts, a cat’s tail always points north.
  • If current trends continue, by 2215 years will outnumber the dwarves “normal sized” people.
  • Scientists estimate that sleep lost due to daylight saving time reduces the average life span of almost two full months.
  • In late 90s, Microsoft secretly developed its own version of Linux, but discarded after researchers quality control was deemed “too stable.”
  • No team in NCAA basketball for a school in the capital of his state, has never won the national championship.
  • The African black rhinoceros excretes its own weight in dung every 48 hours.
  • The first three names for baby girls born in China last year were Huan Yue, Jia Li and – unlikely as it seems – Buffy.
  • Peter Maas, creator of the character Serpico, got the name of his character from an ultra-expensive, highly prized Malaysian liqueur made from fermented viper venom.
  • Shortly before his execution, Timothy McVeigh constructed a scale model of the Lincoln Memorial with soda crackers.
  • There have been four documented cases of humans who have wintered in an entire winter.
  • Strains of bacteria similar to E. coli were found in used printer cartridges – but only in cyan. Scientists have no explanation.
  • The four different people at various times, tried – and failed – to become the Guinness Book of World Records “Human Milkshake Volcano” by drinking five gallons of milk, then fit the Six Flags Screaming Eagle roller coaster all shared the same birthday: September 18, 1970.
  • The Australian aborigine language has over 30 words for “dust.”
  • Anyone convicted of animal cruelty in Sedalia, Missouri, is sentenced to imprisonment for one month in the county animal shelter.
  • Fewer divorces occur in families where the children wake their parents before 6 am Saturday.
  • A concept car designed by Ford for the film Blade Runner was produced in limited quantities and sold as “Harrison Ford”.
  • John F. Kennedy was an accomplished ventriloquist.
  • A bad case of laryngitis forced Abraham Lincoln’s lips sync the Gettysburg Address. The speech was actually delivered by an aide hidden beneath the stage.
  • An important organization of anthropologists has predicted that by the year 5000, humans will have two rectums, but only one nostril.
  • For over a decade, the number of drive-by shootings has been directly proportional to the increase in gas prices.
  • Two-thirds of everyone coriander comes from a single valley in Italy.
  • As the volume of Internet traffic has increased, the friction of the electrons passing around the planet has increased the overall global temperature .07 degrees.
  • Contrary to popular belief, white is not the healthiest part of an egg. This is actually the shell.
  • A comprehensive multi-year study using pattern recognition software determined that Millard Fillmore was president of the most common identifiable U.S. seen in cloud formations.
  • Baking soda and vinegar will make your fluffy scrambled eggs.
  • The first prototype defibrillators delivered 1,200 joules of electrical energy instead of the classic 360, sometimes causing corpses to sit for a moment, as if they were alive.
  • The ancient Egyptians used molted cobra skins as condoms.
  • Thanks to his anal sphincter muscle, the Mongolian tapir is capable of creating high tones that can be heard by dogs nearly 30 miles away.
  • Customs officials have dogs that are trained to distinguish between Cuban cigars and all other cigars.
  • Archimedes’ screw was the basis for the invention of the holder of the Max Factor lipstick torsion.
  • A Tokyo inventor has developed a laptop whose battery is recharged by energy generated from the movement of the user’s mouse, but Sony lawyers have successfully blocked any attempt to produce a product using technology.
  • Female black cats can actually see their shadows in the night.
  • Ballpoint pens were invented by a scientist from Michigan to try to reduce the number of birds killed for their quills.
  • Glamorous movie star Brad Pitt already had a summer job warning signs at the entrance of the coal mines.
  • U.S. Army doctors in World War I was aware of the properties of germ fight against rodent saliva and carried hamsters in their medical bags to sterilize wounds in the field.
  • A first draft of the Declaration of Independence included a line by Benjamin Franklin inviting King George to “kisse our collective ass.”
  • Nearly three percent of the ice in glaciers in Antarctica penguin urine.
  • The sound made when a duck passes gas is the opposite of its quack sound accurate, if it does both at the same time, there is no audible noise.
  • Contrary to their popular image as singles, the average librarian has 5.9 random sex partners per year.
  • The rhesus monkey is the only animal that can be taught to hum a tune.
  • With the exception of a small 200-square-mile section of Antarctica, every square kilometer of dry land on earth was trampled by at least one human being.
  • In the weightlessness of space a frozen pea will explode if it comes in contact with Pepsi.
  • The electricity used by modern appliances is causing a change in the magnetic field of the Earth.
  • In the year 2327, the North Pole will be located in mid-Kansas, while the South Pole will be just off the coast of East Africa.
  • The idea for “tribbles” in “Star Trek” came from gerbils, since some gerbils are actually born pregnant.
  • Male rhesus monkeys often hang from tree branches by their amazing prehensile penises.
  • Johnny Plessey 0331 hit for the Cleveland Spiders in 1891, although he spent the entire season batting with a rolled up, lacquered copy of the Toledo Post-Dispatch.
  • Spreading a small amount of dog feces on an insect bite will relieve the itching and swelling.
  • The Boeing 747 can fly upside down if it was not for the fact that the wings shear off when trying to overthrow him.
  • The trucking company Elvis Presley worked at a young man was owned by Frank Sinatra.
  • The only golf course on the island of Tonga has 15 holes, and there is no penalty if a monkey steals your golf ball.
  • Legislation passed during WWI making it illegal to say “Gesundheit” to a sneezing has never been repealed.
  • Manatees possess vocal chords which give them the ability to speak like humans, but do not because they have no ears with which to hear the sound.
  • Divers can not pass gas at depths of 33 feet or less.
  • Catfish are the only animals that naturally have an odd number of whiskers.
  • Replying more than 100 times for the same piece of spam e-mail will overwhelm the sender’s system and interfere with their ability to send spam, no more.
  • Polar bears can eat as much as 86 penguins in one sitting.
  • The first McDonald’s opened its doors in 1952 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and featured the McHaggis sandwich.
  • Air Force F-117 fighter uses aerodynamics discovered during research into how bumblebees fly.
  • Silly Putty was “discovered” that the residue left after the first latex condoms were produced. It is not widely available for obvious reasons.
  • About one-sixth of your life happens every Wednesday.
  • The skin needed for elbow transplants must be taken from the scrotum of a cadaver.
  • The sport of jai alai originated from a game played by Incan priests who held cats by their tails and swung at leather balls.
    Cats instinctively catch the ball with their claws, allowing players to catch them.
  • Purr of a cat has the same love of improving the frequency that the voice of singer Barry White.
  • The typewriter was invented by Hungarian immigrant Yuiop Qwert, who left his “signature” on the keyboard.

    • sources–www.topfive.com/amazingtruefacts.shtml