Useless but interesting facts:

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." uses every

letter in the alphabet. (Was developed by Western Union to Test

telex/twx communications)

Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.

A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why.

In the 1940s, the FCC assigned television's Channel 1 to mobile

Services(two-way radios in taxicabs, for instance) but did not

re-number the other channel assignments. That is why your TV set has

channels 2 and up, but no channel 1.

The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter

is uncopyrightable.

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.

The airplane Buddy Holly died in was the "American Pie." (Thus the

name of the Don McLean song.)

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.

111,111 x 111,111 = 12345654321

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in

the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in

the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if

the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural

causes.

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."

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.

"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the

Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber

machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded

into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it

got "the whole 9 yards."

Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them

looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.

An ostrich's eye is bigger that it's brain.

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.

David Prowse was the guy in the Darth Vader suit in Star Wars. He

spoke all of Vader's lines, and didn't know that he was going to be

dubbed over by James Earl Jones until he saw the screening of the

movie.

The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the

"General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.

The Pentagon, in Arlington, Virginia, has twice as many bathrooms as

is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia

still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for

blacks and whites.

The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each

gallon of diesel that it burns.

Cat's urine glows under a blacklight.

Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won

a Superbowl.

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.

Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

It takes 3,000 cows to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's

supply of footballs.

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are

already married.

Pound for pound, hamburgers cost more than new cars.

The 3 most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and

Budweiser, in that order.

When Heinz ketchup leaves the bottle, it travels at a rate of 25 miles

per year.

Humans are the only primates that don't have pigment in the palms of

their hands.

Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of

vodka.

Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived

immigrants.

On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.

In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world's

nuclear weapons combined.

Reno, Nevada is west of Los Angeles, California.

Elephants can't jump. Every other mammal can.

The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

Internationally, Baywatch is the most popular TV show in history.