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99 Amazing Facts for People Who Like Amazing Facts
By Alvin Ward
1. In 1939, Hitler's nephew
wrote an article called "Why I Hate My Uncle." He came to the U.S., served in the Navy, and settled on Long Island.
2. Furbies were banned from
the National Security Agency's Maryland
headquarters in 1999. It was feared the toys might repeat national security
secrets.
3. Mark Twain invented a
board game called Mark Twain's Memory Builder: A Game for Acquiring and
Retaining All Sorts of Facts and Dates.
4. In 1991, Wayne Allwine,
the voice of Mickey Mouse, married Russi Taylor—the voice of Minnie.
5. Carly Simon's dad is the
Simon of Simon and Schuster. He co-founded the company.
6. When the mummy of Ramses
II was sent to France
in the mid-1970s, it was issued a passport. Ramses' occupation? "King
(deceased)."
7. On an April day in 1930,
the BBC reported, "There is no news." Instead they played piano
music.
8. Johnny Cash's "A Boy
Named Sue" was penned by beloved children's author Shel Silverstein.
9. Ben & Jerry learned
how to make ice cream by taking a $5 correspondence course offered by Penn State.
(They decided to split one course.)
10. The word "PEZ"
comes from the German word for peppermint—PfeffErminZ.
11. Failed PEZ flavors
include coffee, eucalyptus, menthol, and flower.
12. In the 1970s, Mattel sold
a doll called "Growing Up Skipper." Her breasts grew when her arm was
turned.
13. Before Sally Ride became
the first American woman in space, a reporter asked, "Do you weep when
things go wrong on the job?"
14. In the 1980s, Pablo
Escobar's Medellin Cartel was spending $2,500 a month on rubber bands just to
hold all their cash.
15. The giant inflatable rat
that shows up at union protests has a name—Scabby.
16. When the computer mouse
was invented, it was called the "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display
System."
17. The inventor of the AK-47
has said he wishes he'd invented something to help farmers instead — "for
example a lawnmower."
18. The Vatican Bank is the
world's only bank that allows ATM users to perform transactions in Latin.
19. The duffel bag gets its
name from the town of Duffel, Belgium, where
the cloth used in the bags was originally sold.
20. James Avery ("Uncle
Phil" on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air) was the voice of Shredder on the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.
21. At Fatburger, you can
order a "Hypocrite"—a veggie burger topped with crispy strips of
bacon.
22. When asked who owned the
patent on the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk said, "Well, the people. There is
no patent. Could you patent the sun?"
23. The Q in Q-tips stands
for quality.
24. Editor Bennett Cerf
challenged Dr. Seuss to write a book using no more than 50 different words. The
result? Green Eggs and Ham.
25. Norwegian skier
Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset on why he didn't win gold at the 2010 Olympics: "I
think I have seen too much porn in the last 14 days."
26. When asked why he chose
the name Piggly Wiggly, founder Clarence Saunders said, "So people will
ask that very question."
27. A sequel called
Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian was written but never produced.
28. After an online vote in
2011, Toyota
announced that the official plural of Prius was Prii.
29. In his book, Dick Cheney
says his yellow lab Dave was banned from Camp David
for attacking President Bush's dog Barney.
30. Lyme disease is named
after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where several cases were
identified in 1975.
31. Reno
is farther west than Los Angeles.
32. William Faulkner refused
a dinner invitation from JFK's White House. "Why that’s a hundred miles
away," he said. "That’s a long way to go just to eat."
33. In 1907, an ad campaign
for Kellogg's Corn Flakes offered a free box of cereal to any woman who would
wink at her grocer.
34. Why did the FBI call Ted
Kaczynski "The Unabomber"? Because his early mail bombs were sent to
universities (UN) & airlines (A).
35. As part of David
Hasselhoff's divorce settlement, he kept possession of the nickname
"Hoff" and the catchphrase "Don't Hassle the Hoff."
36. "Jay" used to
be slang for "foolish person." So when a pedestrian ignored street
signs, he was referred to as a "jaywalker."
37. Duncan Hines was a real
person. He was a popular restaurant critic who also wrote a book of hotel
recommendations.
38. The only number whose
letters are in alphabetical order is 40 (f-o-r-t-y).
39. Obsessive nose picking is
called rhinotillexomania.
40. "Silver Bells"
was called "Tinkle Bells" until co-composer Jay Livingston’s wife
told him "tinkle" had another meaning.
41. Michael Jackson's 1988
autobiography Moonwalk was edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
42. How did Curious George
get to America?
He was captured in Africa by The Man With the
Yellow Hat — with his yellow hat.
43. In the early stage
version of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s faithful companion Toto was replaced by
a cow named Imogene.
44. Tobias Fünke's
"nevernude" condition on Arrested Development is real. It's called
"gymnophobia" — the fear of nude bodies.
45. Hawaiian Punch was
originally developed as a tropical flavored ice cream topping.
46. Andy's evil neighbor Sid
from Toy Story returns briefly as the garbage man in Toy Story 3.
47. Jacuzzi is a brand name.
You can also buy Jacuzzi toilets and mattresses.
48. During a 2004 episode of Sesame Street,
Cookie Monster said that before he started eating cookies, his name was Sid.
49. Roger Ebert and Oprah
Winfrey went on a couple dates in the mid-1980s. It was Roger who convinced her
to syndicate her talk show.
50. Fredric Baur invented the
Pringles can. When he passed away in 2008, his ashes were buried in one.
51. When he appeared on Wait
Wait...Don't Tell Me!, Bill Clinton correctly answered three questions about My
Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.
52. The archerfish knocks its
insect prey out of over-hanging branches with a stream of spit.
53. There really was a
Captain Morgan. He was a Welsh pirate who later became the lieutenant governor
of Jamaica.
54. In 1961, Martha Stewart
was selected as one of Glamour magazine;s "Ten Best-Dressed College
Girls."
55. Alaska is the only state that can be typed
on one row of keys. (Go ahead and try typing the other 49 states. We'll wait.)
56. At the 1905 wedding of
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, President Teddy Roosevelt gave away the bride.
57. Sorry, parents. According
to NASA's FAQ page, "There are no plans at this time to send children into
space."
58. The German word
kummerspeck means excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally,
grief bacon.
59. The sum of all the numbers
on a roulette wheel is 666.
60. Only one McDonald's in
the world has turquoise arches. Government officials in Sedona, Arizona,
thought the yellow would look bad with the natural red rock of the city.
61. Brenda Lee was only 13
when she recorded "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree."
62. Asperger syndrome is
named for Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger, who described it in 1944. He
called his patients "Little Professors."
63. The term "lawn
mullet" refers to a neatly manicured front yard with an unmowed mess in
the back.
64. After OutKast sang
"Shake it like a Polaroid picture," Polaroid released this statement:
"Shaking or waving can actually damage the image."
65. In Peanuts in 1968,
Snoopy trained to become a champion arm-wrestler. In the end, he was
disqualified for not having thumbs.
66. In France, the
Ashton Kutcher/Natalie Portman movie No Strings Attached was called Sex
Friends.
67. The famous "Heisman
pose" is based on Ed Smith, a former NYU running back who modeled for the
trophy’s sculptor in 1934.
68. For $45, the U.S. Bureau
of Engraving and Printing will sell you a 5-lb bag with $10,000 worth of
shredded U.S.
currency.
69. Before going with Blue
Devils, Duke considered the nicknames Blue Eagles, Royal Blazes, Blue Warriors
and Polar Bears.
70. At an NOAA conference in
1972, Roxcy Bolton proposed naming hurricanes after Senators instead of women.
She also preferred "him-i-canes."
71. For one day in 1998, Topeka, Kansas, renamed
itself "ToPikachu" to mark Pokemon's U.S. debut.
72. Before settling on the
Seven Dwarfs we know today, Disney also considered Chesty, Tubby, Burpy, Deafy,
Hickey, Wheezy, and Awful.
73. The Dictionary of
American Slang defines "happy cabbage" as money to be spent "on
entertainment or other self-satisfying things."
74. Herbert Hoover was
Stanford's football team manager. At the first Stanford-Cal game in 1892, he
forgot to bring the ball.
75. The unkempt Shaggy of
Scooby-Doo fame has a rather proper real name—Norville Rogers.
76. If you open your eyes in
a pitch-black room, the color you'll see is called 'eigengrau.'
77. In 1965, a Senate
subcommittee predicted that by 2000, Americans would only be working 20 hours a
week with seven weeks vacation.
78. There are roughly 70
ingredients in the McRib.
79. A baby can cost new
parents 750 hours of sleep in the first year.
80. Winston Churchill's
mother was born in Brooklyn.
81. Brazil couldn't afford to send its athletes to
the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles.
So they loaded their ship with coffee and sold it along the way.
82. Before Stephen Hillenburg
created SpongeBob SquarePants, he taught marine biology.
83. New Mexico State's
first graduating class in 1893 had only one student—and he was shot and killed
before graduation.
84. George Washington
insisted his continental army be permitted a quart of beer as part of their
daily rations.
85. When Canada's Northwest
Territories considered renaming itself in the 1990s,
one name that gained support was "Bob."
86. President Nixon was
speaking at Disney World when he famously declared, "I am not a
crook."
87. In a study by the Smell
& Taste Research Foundation, the scent women found most arousing was Good
& Plenty candy mixed with cucumber.
88. In 1958, Larry King
smashed into John F. Kennedy's car. JFK said he’d forget the whole thing if
King promised to vote for him when he ran for president.
89. Before she wrote The
Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins was a writer for Clarissa Explains it All.
90. The male giraffe
determines a female's fertility by tasting her urine. If it passes the test,
the courtship continues.
91. Hell-o? Hell no! In 1997,
Kleberg County
in Texas
designated "Heaven-o" as its official new phone greeting.
92. Jim Cummings is the voice
of Winnie the Pooh. He calls sick kids in hospitals and chats with them in
character.
93. The first webcam watched
a coffee pot. It allowed researchers at Cambridge
to monitor the coffee situation without leaving their desks.
94. In 1979, Japan offered
new British PM Margaret Thatcher 20 "karate ladies" for protection at
an economic summit. She declined.
95. The Pittsburgh Penguins made Mister Rogers an
honorary captain in 1991.
96. In a 1917 letter to
Winston Churchill, Admiral John Fisher used the phrase "O.M.G."
97. Truman Show Delusion is a
mental condition marked by a patient's belief that he or she is the star of an
imaginary reality show.
98. During the first Super
Bowl in 1967, NBC was still in commercial when the second half kicked off.
Officials asked the Packers to kick off again.
99. Sea otters hold hands
when they sleep so they don't drift apart.
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