Saturday, September 4, 2010

Fun Facts For Saturday...!


Let's take a little time out this weekend for some silliness.

I'm not talking about the type that we see daily from the newscasters or the papers...but the kind of silliness that can help get through the tough times!

I used to do this all the time, but haven't done it in a while. Good for a change of pace, don't you think?

Did You Know?

Monday is the only day of the week that has an anagram: dynamo

It takes 4,000 grains of sugar to fill a teaspoon.

Your thumbnail grows more slowly than any of your fingenails.

Each employee at Ben & Jerry's headquarters gets three pints of free ice cream a day.

The smallest, shallowest ocean on Earth: The Arctic Ocean.

A buffalo can jump as high as six feet off the ground.

The ball on top of a flagpole is called a "truck."

Democrats are more likely than Republicans to own a cat.

SUV drivers are twice as likely to talk on a cellphone as drivers of other kinds of cars.

Shakespeares's daughter was illiterate.

A pineapple is actually a very big berry.

A potato's closest edible relative is the eggplant.

The Great Salt Lake is six times saltier than seawater.

40% of our Army personnel are members of an ethnic minority.

A parrot can not get appendicitis....they don't have one.

The world's largest consumer of sugar is Coca-Cola.

Dividing something into squares is known as graticulation.

The first health food store opened in Boston in 1830.

The first animated characters on TV commercials were the Ajax pixies.

75% of the trees in Australia are eucalyptus.

There are about as many nerve cells in your brain as there are stars in our galaxy (give or take a billion).

75% of stage and screen actors do not use their real names.

Mormon leader Brigham Young had 56 kids by 27 wives.

President Lyndon Johnson had an aunt named Frank.

There are enough calories in a Big Mac to run a vacuum cleaner for 98 minutes.

One cord of wood (4 ft x 4 ft x 8 ft) will make 75 million toothpicks.

The first chalkboard was used in school in 1714.

Cranberries get their name from Crane-berry - they grow on a stalk that looks like a crane's neck.

The largest living thing on Earth is an underground mushroom in Oregon. It is 3.5 miles across.

The origin of the term bridal shower comes from English brides who used to buy "bride ale" for their wedding guests.

Sahara comes from the Arabic word Sahra, which means desert.

During 33 seasons on the air, Mr. Roger's trolley traveled more than 100 miles on its track.

The traditional gift for 44th wedding anniversary is....groceries.

Think surfing is dead? Nope! There are over 17 million surfers around the world.

Sweden has a ski-thru McDonalds!

There is 10,800 feet of film in a two-hour movie.

The 2001 Federal Tax cut added 14,368 pages to the U.S. Tax Code.

The official state dance of Utah is the Square Dance.

31% of men say they look at other women when with their significant other. 62% of women say their significant others do.

After a three-week vacation, your IQ can drop by as much as 20%.

Monkeys given paint and paper on which to draw will scream in anger when an unfinished work is taken from them. But they don't object to having a finished painting taken.

Most parrots are left-handed (footed maybe?!).

Dolphins can hear underwater sounds from as far as 15 miles away.

If you count one star a second, you won't get out of our own galaxy in over 2,000 years.

A man once lost his car in a parking garage for two years. The tab: $3,400.00

In the year 2000, Tiger Wood's caddie made $1 million.

Detroit has more 'registered' bowlers than any other American city.

It takes 10 pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese.

The little statue on the grill of every Rolls Royce car has a name: "Spirit of Ecstasy."

The sale of hearing aids rose 40% when President Reagan got his.

The city of Edinburgh, Scotland is built on top of an extinct volcano.

Lions and Tigers can't purr. Cougars can.

The first vertebra of your neck is called the 'Atlas,' because it holds up your head.

The handle of a bucket is actually called a 'bail.'

The slang term 'hootch' came from the Hootchinoo Indians, who made liquor so strong that it knocked out many of the first white settlers who tried it.

Baby seahorses are called 'colts.'

Lead melts at a temperture of 620 degrees F; tin at 446 F. Mix them together & they melt at 356 degrees F.

During his lifetime, Shakespeare's last name was spelled 83 different ways. Shakespeare himself spelled it 10 different ways.

Number of documented deaths by piranha: 0

Mississippi Bay is actually off the coast of Yokohama, Japan

Longest name in the Bible: Mahershalalhashbaz (Isaiah 8:1)

There are only four countries on Earth with one-syllable names: Chad, France, Greece & Spain.

There are over 15,000 miles of neon lights along the Las Vegas strip.

The rare red coral of the Mediterranean is actually blue.

The gray whale is actually black.

The Atlantic salmon is actually a member of the trout family.

The Caspian Sea and the Dead Sea are both actually lakes.

The horseshoe crab is more closely related to spiders than crabs.

The Douglas fir is actually a pine tree.

Now, I don't have any idea what you can use any of this information for...but if you ever need it you now have it! See? You just never know what you may pick up when you visit the Hermit!

Now, my friends, let's get some fresh coffee and sit outside for a bit! I'll be quiet now, I promise!

9 comments:

Ben in Texas said...

Good morning sir and add to your list

By the time a person is 35 years old, she/he begins losing about 7,000 brain cells a day which are never replaced.

Maybe that explains the popularity of the internet?

Wonder how long a Blond can use the internet before she is completely helpless and lost?

Coffee on the rear deck this morning?

Dizzy-Dick said...

Very interesting list. I enjoy facts and trivia. Good reading to start my Saturday.

Mechanic in Illinois said...

My favorite is "Don't bring a knife to a gun fight". Thanks for another great lesson.

Mayberry said...

The flag pole "truck" comes from nautical terminology. The topmost part of a mast on a sailing vessel is called the truck, and they're named for the mast they're on: "fore truck", "main truck", and "mizzen truck" on a 3 masted ship. Thought you might enjoy that salty tid bit!

HermitJim said...

Hey Ben...
At least now I know what causes my condition! I didn't know this...

Thanks for coming by and adding to the list!


Hey Dizzy...
Never know what kind of information you might pick up! Thanks, my friend, for dropping in today!


Hey Mechanic...
Applies to many situations, that's for sure!

I appreciate the visit today!


Hey Mayberry...
See, I didn't know that! In fact, until I found this list...I didn't know that the ball was called a "truck"!

I learned something new today!

Marjie said...

So, these would beg a large number of questions, the first of which would be, just how fat are the Ben & Jerry's employees and their families? And who has the time to count grains of sugar? Of course Shakespeare's daughter was illiterate; she decided 85 ways to spell her last name was 84 too many. Now I have to go ponder more...

Kathie said...

Hi Jim,

Really enjoyed this list. As far as you promising to be quiet! Don't you ever, love your blog and the interesting posts.
The only one I knew a bit about was the dolphins and sound, because they try to keep dolphins who are herded into the Cove at Taiji Japan, away ( the rescuers) by sound.

HermitJim said...

Hey Marjie...
Does sort of make you wonder, doesn't it? I love finding all this stuff, because I always seem to learn something new!

Hey, thanks for coming by today!


Hey Kathie...
I don't think there's much chance I'll ever shut up for long...especially if I have an audience other than just my cats!

Glad that you enjoy these little list and the information they contain. I always try and be entertaining, even if it's only a little bit!

I appreciate you coming by today! Glad to hear that all went well at your doctor's visit!

Anonymous said...

Good post and Smart Blog
Thanks for your good information and i hope to subscribe and visit my blog Ancient Greece Art and more Subsistence in The Early Iron Age in Ancient Greece thanks again admin