Random Facts

• Dogs who bark continuously can get laryngitis, just like humans, but it takes longer. Canine vocal cords are thicker and take longer to get irritated.

• Karate’s pinnacle black belt came out of thrift rather than choice; it was cheaper to just dye the same belt again and again rather than replace it six times.

• Descartes was attracted to cross-eyed women.

• Talk about protective parenting. According to Mayan tradition, a mother should cover her newborn’s face for the first year of life in order to drive away evil spirits, a practice still carried out in rural Guatemala.

• Unable to prevent the use of the word “spam” to represent unwanted email messages, the Hormel company now uses all-capital letters in referencing its canned pork product.

• The @ sign was very close to being eliminated from the standard keyboard until 1971, when Ray Tomlinson wrote it into the code used to send the first email.

• “Cleaner shrimp” feed off the parasites that live on fish. To attract passersby in the market for a cleaning, the shrimp do a little dance. Fish taken in by the shrimps’ choreographed moves will respond by “striking a pose,” which signals the cleaner shrimp to start washing and waxing like an underwater car wash.

• The highest temperature ever recorded on earth was a searing 136° F. The scorcher occurred in Al Aziziyah, Libya on September 13, 1922.

• The disease known as “chicken pox” has nothing to do with poultry. It earned the name because it was originally thought to be a weak strain of smallpox.

• Horses and donkeys are of different species. In order to get what we call a “mule,” a horse and donkey must mate and have an offspring. Any offspring between two different species will be sterile and unable to reproduce.

• Tuesday Island, Wednesday Island, Thursday Island and Friday Island all exist in the Torres Strait off the coast of Australia.

• The Barcolo Manufacturing Company of Buffalo, New York, started the American tradition of the office “coffee break.” In 1902 they offered free coffee to their employees in order to boost morale, as well as a few free minutes in which to enjoy it.

• Only half of a dolphin’s brain sleeps at a time. The other half that’s awake makes the dolphin come up for air when needed to prevent drowning.

• Canada has more lakes than all other countries combined!

• The small “You Are Here” sticker that indicates your position on a map has a name — it’s called an ideo locator.

• Mushroom clouds can be created by any huge explosion; they aren’t specific to atomic blasts.

• The first cellular phone measured 9″ x 5″ and weighed 2.5 lbs. It was developed by Dr. Martin Cooper, who worked for Motorola.

• The original city to be the home for Disney World was NOT Orlando, Florida. It was St Louis, Missouri.

• The longest jellyfish on record measured 160 feet, more than half the length of a football field.

• Lions, tigers, and pumas rarely suffer from hairballs since their diet includes a fair amount of grass, as well as the bones of their prey. The combination helps thoroughly cleanse their digestive tracts.

• Taste buds aren’t just located on the tongue, but also on the roof of the mouth, and even in the front of the throat.