Thursday, January 19, 2006

I've Declared Today Useless Trivia Day...

I've decided to fill my head with as many useless facts as possible today in an attempt to be a big hit at the next party I attend. Here's what I discovered today...



  • The 'spot' on 7UP comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an albino.
  • The citrus soda 7-UP was created in 1929; "7" was selected because the original containers were 7 ounces. "UP" indicated the direction of the bubbles.
  • Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps.
  • The question mark came from a monk habit of writing the Latin word for question, quo, at the end of sentences. Over time, the letters were written vertically to save space and morphed into the ? we write today. Similarly, the exclamation point came from the Latin word "Lo", meaning something important that should be heeded. (Lo and behold...)
  • If one places a tiny amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and look like it is stinging itself to death. It spasms a lot.
  • The mask used by Michael Myers in the original Halloween was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
  • Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look alike contest.
  • In Gulliver's Travels Jonathan Swift described the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, giving their exact size and speeds of rotation. He did this more than one hundred years before either moon was discovered.
  • Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
  • Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. (This one is for Katherine.)
  • The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.
  • Apples are more efficient than caffeine in waking you up in the morning. (I'm not buying it.)
  • Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
  • Adolf Hitler's mother seriously considered having an abortion but was talked out of it by her doctor.
  • Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
  • The sound of E.T. walking was made by someone squishing their hands in jelly.
  • Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
  • All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
  • The almond is a member of the peach family.
  • Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
  • The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life."
  • A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. (This one was for Denise.)
  • Kermit the Frog is left-handed.
  • Nondairy creamer is flammable.
  • The fingerprints of koala bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene. (For anyone contemplating murdering someone, this may want to be something you keep in mind to throw the CSI guys off your trail.)
  • It is believed that Shakespeare was 46 around the time that the King James Version of the Bible was written. In Psalms 46, the 46th word from the first word is shake and the 46th word from the last word is spear.
  • When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home to a sellout crowd, the stadium becomes the state's third largest city.
  • In 1963, baseball pitcher Gaylord Perry remarked, "They'll put a man on the moon before I hit a home run." On July 20, 1969, a few hours after Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, Gaylord Perry hit his first, and only, home run.
  • It is impossible to lick your elbow. (I am SURE there are people somewhere that can do this, but I cannot verify it.)
  • At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow.
  • In Scotland, a new game was invented. It was entitled Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.... and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.

1 comment:

Mary said...

I knew about the almond and the non-dairy creamer NOT from one of these poll type deals.

I bet Gene Simmons could lick his elbow....