Fast Facts

[Hemidakota]

"Cotton candy's original name was "fairy fluff.""

[Lolgirl]

Jonathan,an 176 year old tortoise was recently discovered as the world's oldest animal.This after they identified him as the same tortoise in a photo taken during the Boer War.At the time of the photo Jonathan was already 70 years old.

[Hemidakota]

"The three central panels on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel tell the story of Adam and Eve"

[Hemidakota]

"Out of all the senses, smell is most closely linked to memory"

[Hemidakota]

"In the White House, there are appropriately 34-bathrooms."

[Hemidakota]

"Never mind what you saw in the film "The Poseidon Adventure." The biggest wave on record, reported by a reliable source, was estimated to have attained a height of 112 feet. It was measured, at some distance, I hope, by a tanker traveling between Manila and San Diego in 1933. The wind was blowing at 70 mph at the time."

[Hemidakota]

The most widely accepted legend associated to the discovery of coffee is of the goatherder named Kaldi of Ethiopia. Around the year 800-850 A.D., Kaldi was amazed as he noticed his goats behaving in a frisky manner after eating the leaves and berries of a coffee shrub. And, of course, he had to try them!

[Hemidakota]

Which earthquake was larger, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake or the 1964 Anchorage, Alaska, temblor?

The Anchorage earthquake had a magnitude of 9.2, whereas the San Francisco earthquake was a magnitude 7.8. This difference in magnitude equates to 125 times more energy being released in the 1964 quake and accounts for why the Anchorage earthquake was felt over an area of almost 500,000 square miles (1,295,000 square kilometers).

[Hemidakota]

The Seven Deadly Sins are lust, pride, anger, envy, sloth, avarice and gluttony.

[Hemidakota]

Charles Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll, wrote "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" after Alice Pleasance Liddell. It was to be believed he fell in love with her and asked the parents if he could some day marry her. The parents disconnected their friendship. Alice Liddell has 12 letters, as does the pen name Lewis Carroll. It's a coincidence he uses 2 r's where the 2 d's are, as with the 2 L's. Talk about obsessed!

[Hemidakota]

Julius Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte both suffered from epilepsy.

[Hemidakota]

In 1815 French chemist Michael Eugene Chevreul realized the first link between diabetes and sugar metabolism when he discovered that the urine of a diabetic was identical to grape sugar.

[Lolgirl]

Today,in 1843 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens was first published.

[Lolgirl]

Yuzuru Hiraga was a Japanese naval architect who was noted for his work on innovative warships such as the cruiser Yubari and Yamato for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

[Hemidakota]

A B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945.

[Hemidakota]

December 19, 324 — Licinius abdicates his position as Roman Emperor.

[Hemidakota]

A bomb dropped by the Allies on Berlin during World War II killed every animal in the Berlin Zoo except the elephant, which escaped and roamed the city. When a Russian commander saw hungry Germans chasing the elephant and trying to kill it, he ordered his troops to protect it and shoot anyone who tried to kill it.

[Hemidakota]

Babies are born without knee caps.

[Hemidakota]

The yo-yo was originally a weapon in the Philippines.

[Hemidakota]

Calculating DNA length for each person, it would stretch across the diameter of the solar system. 6 000 000 000 000 basepairx 0.6 nm x 1013 cell = 3.6x1016 metres

[Hemidakota]

The herring is the most widely eaten fish in the world. Nutritionally its fuel value is that equal to that of a beefsteak.

[Lolgirl]

The actual gift givers on Christmas are different in various countries:

England:Father Christmas

France:Pere Noel (Father Christmas)

Germany:Christkind (angelic messanger from Jesus) she is a beautiful fair-haired girl with a crown of shining candles.

Holland:St Nicholas

Russia:In some parts-Babouschka (a grandmotherly figure),other parts it is Grandfather Frost.

Scandinavia:A variety of Christmas gnomes.One is called Julenisse.

Spain and South America:The three kings

Italy:La Befana (a kindly old witch)

[Hemidakota]

All the coal, oil, gas, and wood on Earth would only keep the Sun burning for a few days

[Hemidakota]

When Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman became the first U.S. President to take office in the midst of a declared war.

[Hemidakota]

A teenager in Belmont, New Hampshire robbed the local convenience store. Getting away with a pocket full of change, the boy walked home. He did not realize, however, that he had holes in both of his pockets. A trail of quarters and dimes led police directly to his house.