Random facts

My kind of list when I want to zone out.
#20 reminds me of anger that fuels action.
#70 cracks me up.

2. Between 1912 and 1948, art competitions were a part of the Olympics. Medals were awarded for architecture, music, painting, and sculpture.

4. The ampersand symbol is formed from the letters in et—the Latin word for "and."

9. Before George W. Bush took office, some Clinton staffers canvassed the White House offices and removed the W key from over 60 keyboards.

11. The German word kummerspeck means excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

12. The collective noun for a group of pugs is a grumble.

13. 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.

15. On an April day in 1930, the BBC reported, "There is no news." Instead they played piano music.

16. Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" was penned by beloved children's author Shel Silverstein.

17. Ben & Jerry learned how to make ice cream by taking a $5 correspondence course offered by Penn State. (They decided to split one course.)

18. The word "PEZ" comes from the German word for peppermint—PfeffErminZ.

20. Before Sally Ride became the first American woman in space, a reporter asked, "Do you weep when things go wrong on the job?"

22. The inventor of the AK-47 has said he wishes he'd invented something to help farmers instead — "for example a lawnmower."

23. The Vatican Bank is the world's only bank that allows ATM users to perform transactions in Latin.

26. At Fatburger, you can order a "Hypocrite"—a veggie burger topped with crispy strips of bacon.

27. 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?"

28. The Q in Q-tips stands for quality.

29. Editor Bennett Cerf challenged Dr. Seuss to write a book using no more than 50 different words. The result? Green Eggs and Ham.

30. The act of stretching and yawning is called pandiculation.

31. Sea cucumbers eat with their feet.

38. 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.

39. Why did the FBI call Ted Kaczynski "The Unabomber"? Because his early mail bombs were sent to universities (UN) & airlines (A).

40. Obsessive nose picking is called rhinotillexomania.

62. Dolly Parton once entered a Dolly Parton look-a-like contest—and lost.

71. For one day in 1998, Topeka, Kansas, renamed itself "ToPikachu" to mark Pokemon's U.S. debut.

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.

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.

82. Before Stephen Hillenburg created SpongeBob SquarePants, he taught marine biology.

86. President Nixon was speaking at Disney World when he famously declared, "I am not a crook."

90. The male giraffe determines a female's fertility by tasting her urine. If it passes the test, the courtship continues.

102. Garbage trucks in Taipei play Beethoven's "Fur Elise" to let people know it's time to bring the trash out.

108. In the 1880s, a baboon worked as a signalman for nine years on a South African railroad. He was paid in brandy and never made a mistake.

114. "Jay" used to be slang for "foolish person." So when a pedestrian ignored street signs, he was referred to as a "jaywalker."

116. The only number whose letters are in alphabetical order is 40 (f-o-r-t-y).
via {mental floss}

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