We live in a wonderful world, and this page tells will tell you interesting things about it that you may, or may not, have wanted to know, but which are essential knowledge for the quiz professional. If you come across any more, please let me have them.
As an example, here's something most of know about -
History Mystery:-
Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
Both of their wives lost children while living in the White House.
Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
Both Presidents were shot in the head.
Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.
Both Presidents were assassinated by Southerners.
Both Presidents were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
Both assassins were known by their three names.
Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
Lincoln was shot at the Ford Theatre.
Kennedy was shot in a car called a 'Lincoln' made by Ford.
Lincoln was shot in a theatre and his assassin ran and hid in a warehouse.
Kennedy was shot from a warehouse and his assassin ran and hid in a theatre.
Both assassins were shot before their trials.
A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with Marilyn Monroe.
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Things You Never Wanted To know
If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (I think I'll carry on waiting for the kettle to boil)
If you were unfortunate enough to break wind consistently for 6 years and 9 months, you'd produce enough gas to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (You'd also lose most of your friends)
The human heart creates enough pressure when pumping out to the body to be able to squirt blood 30 feet. (Just don't stand in my way)
A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig)
A cockroach can live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Good job really 'cos it wouldn't be able to find any food)
Banging your head against a wall for an hour will burn 150 calories. (It will also seriously shorten your life)
The female praying mantis initiates sex by ripping the male's head off as the male cannot copulate with his head attached. (I've lost my head in situations like that, too)
The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's equivalent to a human jumping the length of a football pitch. (This doesn't include overpaid football players of course as only their wives can get them to jump that far)
The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (Why? Surely everything it eats in the river tastes like mud)
Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (Doesn't everyone?)
On average, right-handed people live 9 years longer than left-handed people. (No figures are available for ambidextrous people but they are known to start taking out insurance policies when a left-handed friend dies)
Polar bears are left-handed. (Someone should tell them to switch hands. It'll prolong their life)
Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (That's good to know)
Humans and dolphins are the only animals that have sex for pleasure. (Someone please tell my wife before I run off with Flipper)
An ostrich's eye is actually bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that too)
* * * * *
The Human Body
It takes food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
One human hair can support 6.6 lb (3kg).
Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.
A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.
There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
Women blink twice as often as men.
The average man's penis is three times the length of his thumb.
The average person's skin weighs twice as much as their brain.
Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.
If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.
Women reading this will be finished now.
Men are still busy checking their thumbs.
The World
Alaska
Over half the coastline of the entire United States is in Alaska.
Amazon
The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply, whilst the Amazon River pushes so much water into the Atlantic that, more than 100 miles at sea off the mouth of the river, one can still take a dip in fresh water.
Antarctica
Antarctica is the only land on Earth that is not owned by any country.
90% of the world's ice covers Antarctica - this represents 70% of all the world's fresh water. Despite being covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it that is), Antarctica is the driest place on the planet and is essentially a desert, with an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi Desert and an average yearly precipitation of about 2 inches.
Brazil
Brazil was named after the nut, not the other way around.
Canada
Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined and its name is an Indian word meaning 'Big Village'.
Chicago
After Warsaw, Chicago has the second largest Polish population in the world.
Istanbul
Istanbul, Turkey, is the only city in the world located on two continents.
There are more weddings held in Istanbul each year than any other place on the globe - even Las Vegas, which comes second.
Pitcairn Island
Pitcairn Island, in Polynesia, at 1.75 square miles, lays claim to being the smallest island with the status of a country.
Sahara Desert
In the Sahara Desert, there is a town named Tidikelt, which did not receive a drop of rain for ten years. Technically though, the driest place on Earth is in the valleys of the Antarctic near Ross Island. There has been no rainfall there for 2 million years.
United States
The US Interstate System requires that one in every five miles must be straight so that the straight sections can be used as airstrips in time of war or emergency.
Siberia
Siberia contains 25% of the world's forests.
Why?
Why are buttons on the right hand side of a man's shirt but on the left hand side of a woman's blouse?
There appears to be no definitive answer for this but these may have contributed to the anomaly -
1) Stems from mens' coats being designed to be unbuttoned with the left hand while drawing their swords with their right.
2) The first buttoned jackets were modelled after the latching designs of armour, which were designed to stop a right-handed opponent from jamming a pike through the seam.
3) In the 19th century, well-heeled Victorian women generally didn't dress themselves, so their buttons were designed to be handled by servants, the majority of whom would have been right-handed. Wealthy men had servants to lay out their clothes but generally dressed themselves, so buttons on the right made more sense.
