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FACTS OF THE MONTH:
Young termites lick the rear ends of adult termites for the nutritional value.
Advice columnists Abagail Van Buren (Dear Abby) and Ann Landers are twin sisters.
| from MISNOMER
WEEK:
The story goes that Alexander Graham Bell beat Elisha Gray to the patent office by two hours, thus receiving the patent for the telephone. However, ten years later the patent examiner admitted in a sworn affidavit to having taken a $100 bribe from Bell, accepting a loan from Bell's attorney, and giving Bell the details of Gray's submission. In an eighty-year study of over 200,000 ostriches, there was not one reported instance of an ostrich burying its head in the sand. Ironically, Barry Manilow's hit "I Write the Songs" was not written by Manilow. Despite the myth, New York City officials have only reported ever finding one alligator in their sewers, a 125-pounder back in 1935. The Battle of Waterloo was fought four miles away from Waterloo. The actual name of the Colosseum in Rome is the Flavian Ampitheatre. The name of the dogs-playing-poker painting is "No Monkeying". |
The British royal family are distantly related to Vlad the Impaler, the real-life inspiration for Dracula.
Handshakes transmit viruses seven time more effectively than sneezes.
After the Vice President, the presidential line of succession goes: Speaker of the House, president pro tempore of the Senate, then each of the Cabinet secretaries, in order of their department's creation.
The "Dead Man's Hand" that Wild Bill Hickok was supposedly holding when he was killed was two pair, aces over eights.
"GoodFellas" holds the movie record for most uses of the 'f'-word (246). Second place goes to "Scarface" (206).
Pugsley on the original cartoon version of "The Addams Family" was voiced by a young Jodie Foster.
Sperm can live in a woman's body for up to five days.
What Eisenhower called the Columbine when he was president we now call Air Force One.
Continental drift amounts to nearly two centimeters a year.
On the clearest night under perfect conditions, you can see about 4000 stars with the naked eye.
A lightning bolt is only two inches wide, but anywhere between 200 feet and 20 miles long, and contains enough voltage to light a 100-watt bulb for three months.
The national flag of the Dominical Republic is the only one with a bible on it.
There are more hundred dollar bills in Russia than there are in the United States.
England is smaller than New England.
Grasshopper blood is white.
A cucumber is 96% water.
The bloodhound is the only animal whose evidence is admissible in an American court.
Roman general Marc Antony lost a naval battle when sucker fish attached themselves to the oars of the ship, preventing his sailors from moving it.
The large disk used in Tiddlywinks is called a squidger.
Alcohol is added to soap to make it clear.
In medieval England, a moment was defined as 1½ minutes.
The two highest official I.Q.s ever recorded belong to women.
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