Quite Unknown to most peoples

CA Mani (Credit Analyst) (2814 Points)

30 November 2009  

  • A snail can sleep for three years.
  • Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants.
  • In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world's nuclear weapons combined.
  • Turtles can breathe through their butts.
  • Pearls melt in vinegar.
  • Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
  • You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
  • Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.
  • Most lipstick contains fish scales.
  • Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over a million descendants.
  • Close to 80% of people who watch the Super Bowl on television, only do so to view the commercials.
  • In the 1800's, people believed that gin could cure stomach problems.
  • It took approximately 2.5 million blocks to build the Pyramid of Giza, which is one of the Great Pyramids.
  • Thomas Edison designed a helicopter that would work with gunpowder. It ended up blowing up and also blew up his factory.
  • McDonalds calls frequent buyers of their food heavy users.
  • Americans ate eight million more orders of french fries and almost six million more hamburgers this year compared to last.
  • The Netherlands has built 800 miles of massive dikes and sea walls to hold back the sea.
  • One pair of rats has the potential for 15,000 descendants in a year. A female can produce up to twelve litters of twenty rats a year.
  • Male and female rats may have s*x twenty times a day.
  • The rat has been called the world's most destructive mammal - other than man.
  • Rats destroy an estimated 1/3 of the world’s food supply each year.
  • 25% of all fires of unknown origin are rat-caused.
  • 26% of all electric cable breaks and 18% of all phone cable disruptions are caused by rats.
  • The USA has more personal computers than the next 7 countries combined.
  • Members of the armed forces and the police cannot vote in the Dominican Republic.
  • US tops the world in plastic surgery procedures. Next comes Mexico.
  • 22% of American women aged 20 gave birth while in their teens. In Switzerland and Japan, only 2% did so.
  • Mexican women spend 15.3% of their life in ill health.
  • Most Zambians don't live to see their 40th birthday.
  • The Mall in Washington, D.C. is 1.4 times larger than Vatican City.
  • The women of Iceland earn two-thirds of their nation's university degrees.
  • American adults have been educated for the longest time.
  • The ten most generous countries are all in Europe.
  • 72% of people in Mali earn less than $1 per day.
  • The top 8 most developed countries all speak Germanic languages. Every such country is in the top 20.
  • More than 20% of the votes in the 2001 elections in Argentina were invalid.
  • You can be imprisoned for not voting in Fiji, Chile and Egypt - at least in theory.
  • 0.7% of Americans are currently in prison.
  • Saudi diplomats have 367 outstanding parking fines in Britain.
  • The average criminal sentence length is 137 years in Colombia.
  • Two-thirds of the world's kidnappings occur in Colombia.
  • America puts many more of its citizens in prison than any other nation.
  • Two-thirds of the world's executions occur in China.
  • Former enemies, America and Russia now have a great deal in common - they both lead the world in locking people up.
  • You're 66 times more likely to be prosecuted in the USA as in France.
  • The Chico, California, City Council enacted a ban on nuclear weapons, setting a $500.00 fine for anyone detonating one within city limits.
  • Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. It is 10 times more effective than valium.
  • All humans Are 99.9% genetically identical and 98.4% of human genes are the same as the genes of a chimpanzee.
  • For every 'normal' webpage, there are five p*rn pages.
  • Male bats have the highest rate of homos*xuality of any mammal.
  • Consuming chocolate was once considered a sin during the 16th and 17th century.
  • Coca-Cola used to contain cocaine when it was initially introduced.
  • Acorns were used as a coffee substitute during the American Civil War.
  • Chocolate was used as medicine during the 18th century. It was believed that chocolate could cure a stomach ache