Just The Facts

I’m a facts freak so a Google of strange facts unearthed some gems. In fact, they can be found at strangefacts.com.
Here’s a few:
The sloth (a mammal) moves so slowly that green algae can grow undisturbed on its fur.
• Cat urine glows under a black-light.
• The world’s termites outweigh the world’s humans 10 to 1.
• The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
• Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland.
• A hedgehog’s heart beats 300 times a minute on average.
• Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
• The placement of a donkey’s eyes in its head enables it to see all four feet at all times.
• Human teeth are almost as hard as rocks.
• A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in just one night.
• Ancient Egyptians slept on pillows made of stone.
• Until 1796, there was a state in the United States called Franklin. Today it’s known as Tennessee.
• The Earth weighs around 6,600,000,000,000,000,000,000 tons (5,940 billion billion metric tons).
• A cockroach can live several weeks with its head cut off - it dies from starvation.
• Every time you lick a stamp, you’re consuming 1/10 of a calorie.
• The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.
• It’s against the law to pawn your dentures in Las Vegas.
• One in every 4 Americans has appeared on television.
• The average American/Canadian will eat about 11.9 pounds of cereal per year.
• It’s against the law to burp, or sneeze in a certain church in Omaha, Nebraska.
• You’re born with 300 bones, but when you get to be an adult, you only have 206.
• Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
• Over 10,000 birds a year die from smashing into windows.
• The state of Florida is bigger than England.
• There are more than one million animal species on Earth.
• In Natoma, Kansas, it’s illegal to throw knives at men wearing striped suits
• In England, in the 1880’s, “Pants” was considered a dirty word.
• Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
• The blesbok, a South African antelope, is almost the same color as grape juice.
• The average person laughs 13 times a day.
• Dogs can hear sounds that you cant.
• Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women.
• It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them.
• Of all the words in the English language, the word set has the most definitions.
• A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans.
• Every 45 seconds, a house catches on fire in the United States.
• The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth.

Copyright Christopher Blackburn 2009