Useless Stuff

• In Italy, syphilis is known as the French disease. In France, it is known as the Italian disease.
• Due to weather differences, the Eiffel tower can change up to 15cm in height from summer to winter.
• Roy Cleveland Sullivan survived seven lightning strikes. He commited suicide after a breakup.
• In Bulgaria, a head nod signifies a "no," while a head shake signifies a "yes."
• The stars on the Brazilian flag is what the sky of Rio de Janeiro looked like on 8:30AM, November 15th, 1889.

People

• Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
• Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
• Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like its kissing the conveyor belt.
• James Doohan, who plays Lt. Commander Montgomery Scott (Scotty) on Star Trek, is missing the entire middle finger on his right hand (lost it on D-Day).
• Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• Tommy Lee Jones and AL Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
• The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (thus the name of the Don McLean song)
• The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" movie was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white.
• 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."

Animals

• At any moment, there is a race horse being transported by an airplane.
• Snails can sleep for 3 years without eating.
• Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
• A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
• A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.
• A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why!!
• A Goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
• A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
• An Ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
• Polar bears are left handed. (source: Greenland's coat of arms)
• Armadillos always give birth to identical quadruplets conceived from a single fertilized egg. (from: armadillo node)
• Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of their hands.
• It's possible to lead a cow upstairs. . .but not downstairs.
• The cheetah is the only animal that cannot retract its claws.
• The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
• The fingerprints of Koala Bears are virtually indistinguishable from those of humans, so much so that they could be confused at a crime scene.
• The longest recorded flight of a chicken is thirteen seconds.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.

The English vocabulary

• "I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
• "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt."
• Of is the only word in which an "f" is pronounced like a "v".
• 'Stewardesses' is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
• The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "To get fired."
• No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
• The longest one syllable word in the English language is "screeched."
• The longest word with just one vowel: strengths
• The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
• The only English word with a triple letter: goddessship.
• The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is uncopyrightable.
• The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every letter in the alphabet. ( Developed by Western Union to test telex/two communications)
• The shortest -ology (study of) word: oology (the study of eggs.)
• The word with the longest definition in most dictionaries: set.
• There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous", tremendous, horrendous, stupendous and hazardous.

Food

• Almonds are a member of the peach family.
• Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
• If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.

Money

• A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
• All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the five dollar bill.
• If you have three quarters, four dimes, and four pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

Sports related

• It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs.
• No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl.
(Update: mikemoto points out: This was true until 2000 when the St Louis Rams beat the Tennessee Titans 23-16)
• The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games (MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League All-Star Game.
• Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.

Statistics of people

• The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
• It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
• Thirty-Five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

Locations

• Long Island produces over half of all ducks in the US.
• Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.
• Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
• The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
• New Jersey grows two-thirds of the world's eggplant. (source: food channel)

Governmental

• In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.
• Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.
• The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
• Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

Other stuff

• Pearls melt in vinegar.
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321.
• All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
• Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history.
  • Spades -- King David
  • Clubs -- Alexander the Great
  • Hearts -- Charlemagne
  • Diamonds -- Julius Caesar
• In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:08. (see also: 10:09, 10:10)
• Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases.
• There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.