Totally Useless Knowledge

Other Crud

Each of these facts probably deserves its own category, but I decided against it in order to save space and my sanity.

Starch is used as a binder in the production of paper. It is the use of a starch coating that controls ink penetration when printing. Cheaper papers do not use as much starch, and this is why your elbows get black when you are leaning over your morning paper.
Only 47 decimal places of pi would be sufficiently precise to inscribe a circle around the visible universe that doesn't deviate from perfect circularity by more than the distance across a single proton.
Hector Boiardi, an Italian immigrant, came to the United States in 1914 when he was only 17. Upon his arrival, he immediately got a job as a chef at New York's Plaza Hotel. After moving to Cleveland, he perfected his spaghetti and meatball recipe in 1929. His customers kept asking for bottles of his pasta sauce so they could have it at home, and he obliged. He then added cheeses and pasta to the sauce. The results were so popular that he started to sell the products in area stores, and later in stores outside the area. Boiardi remained an advisor in the canned pasta business until his death at age 87 in 1985. And yes, that is Hector's picture on the label.
The Quetzal is the national bird of Guatamala and is also their currency.(not the bird)
Did you know that you can give someone a rape without being arrested? Rape is a flowering herb of the mustard family, so even though the girl couldn't press charges, I don't think she'd ever want to see you again anyways
1997A.D. does not mean 1997 years after death. In fact, A.D. is an abreviation for anno Domini,which is latin for " in the year of our lord."
James Dillinger once broke out of a federal prison by making a fake gun out of soap. He carved the gun with a plastic spoon he stole from the cafeteria and used shoe polish to paint it black. The guard, thinking that the soap gun was real, gave Dillinger his own gun which he knew was loaded. Dillinger was then escorted by this guard out of the prison.
The Statue of Liberty is actually a statue of two different people. The face was that of Charlotte Bartholdi, the mother of the designer Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The sculptor's girlfriend, Jeanne-Emilie, was the model for the statue's arms and body.
Saudi Arabia has more stretches of desert than any other nation on earth, yet tons of sand from the rivers of Scotland are sent to the arabs every year. The reason? The fine sands from the desert are unsuitable for making concrete and for use in other forms of construction.
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village".
There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.
The original story from Tales of 1001 Arabian Nights begins, "Aladdin was a little Chinese boy."
The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard's fish was named Livingston.
The 'y' in signs reading "ye olde.." is properly pronounced with a 'th' sound, not 'y'. The "th" sound does not exist in Latin, so ancient Roman occupied (present day) England used the rune "thorn" to represent "th" sounds. With the advent of the printing press the character from the Roman alphabet which closest resembled thorn was the lower case "y".
The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
The glue on Israeli postage stamps is certified kosher.
The little bags of netting for gas lanterns (called 'mantles') are radioactive--so much so that they will set of an alarm at a nuclear reactor.
Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots
Each unit on the Richter Scale is equivalent to a power factor of about 32. So a 6 is 32 times more powerful than a 5! Though it goes to 10, 9 is estimated to be the point of total tectonic destruction (2 is the smallest that can be felt unaided.)
Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.
Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice."
In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam." Sherlock Holmes never said "Elementary, my dear Watson." Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty," but he did say, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott".
Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.
More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life"
The flag of the Philippines is the only national flag that is flown differently during times of peace or war. A portion of the flag is blue, while the other is red. The blue portion is flown on top in time of peace and the red portion is flown in war time.
Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.
If you are locked in a completely sealed room, you will die of carbon dioxide poisoning first before you will die of oxygen deprivation.
Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.
Sir Isaac Newton was an ordained priest in the Church of England.
A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
Money isn't made out of paper, it's made out of linen
Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eyes."
The ball on top of a flagpole is called the truck.
Barbie's full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
There are almost twice as many people in Rhode Island than there are in Alaska.
Bank robber John Dillinger played professional baseball.
If your eyes are six feet above the surface of the ocean, the horizon will be about three statute miles away.
Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula."
Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.
Cleo and Caesar were the early stage names of Cher and Sonny Bono.
Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.
Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.
White Out was invented by the mother of Mike Nesmith (Formerly of the Monkees).
Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated for an Oscar with "Midnight Cowboy." Her entire role lasted only six minutes.
Gilligan of Gilligan's Island had a first name that was only used once, on the never-aired pilot show. His first name was Willy. The skipper's real name on Gilligan's Island is Jonas Grumby. It was mentioned once in the first episode on their radio's newscast about the wreck.
Ivory bar soap floating was a mistake. They had been over mixing the soap formula causing excess air bubbles that made it float. Customers wrote and told how much they loved that it floated, and it has floated ever since.
On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament Building is an American flag.
Marvin Stone of Washington, D.C., patented the drinking straw on January 3, 1888.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
The youngest pope was 11 years old.
Iceland consumes more Coca-Cola per capita than any other nation.
Hang On Sloopy is the official rock song of Ohio.
There are coffee flavored PEZ.
The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history. Spades - King David, Clubs - Alexander the Great, Hearts - Charlemagne, and Diamonds - Julius Caesar.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The highest point in Pennsylvania is lower than the lowest point in Colorado.
Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.
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.
~~No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl~~ (This changed in 1999 when the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennesee Titans, but hey, it was a long run).
The first toilet ever seen on television was on "Leave It To Beaver".
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-stars Game.
The electric chair was invented by a dentist!
Windmills always turn counter-clockwise. Except for the windmills in Ireland!
The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old!
In space, astronauts cannot cry, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow!
There are more plastic flamingos in the U.S, than real ones!
A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate!
Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!