The Mega Book of Useless Information. Noel Botham
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of false teeth.
• In the US, 166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year.
• Oklahoma is the US state with the highest population of Native Americans. It has no Indian Reservations.
• The Statue of Liberty’s fingernails weigh about 100lb apiece.
• In Kenya, they don’t drive on the right or left side of the street in particular, just on whichever side is smoother.
• The state of Maryland has no natural lakes.
• JELL-O [jelly] was declared the ‘official state snack’ of Utah in January 2001.
• Scandinavian folklore records that trolls only come out at night because sunlight would turn them to stone.
• 1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the Unites States.
• Wyoming Valley is so difficult to find because it is in Pennsylvania.
• After Canada and Mexico, Russia is the nearest neighbour to the United States. Siberia’s easternmost point is just 56 miles from Alaska. In fact, in the middle of the Bering Strait, Russia’s Big Diomede Island and the US’s Little Diomede Island are only two miles apart.
• The parents of the groom pay for the weddings in Thailand.
• One US state no longer exists. In 1784, the US had a state called Franklin, named after Benjamin Franklin. But four years later, it was incorporated into Tennessee.
• In Tibet, there is actually a practice called ‘polyandry’ where many men, usually brothers, marry a single woman.
• The coastline around Lake Sakawea in North Dakota is longer than the California coastline along the Pacific Ocean.
• Brooklyn is the Dutch name for ‘broken valley’.
• Danishes are called Vienna cakes in Denmark, and Spanish rice is unknown in Spain.
• Birkenhead Park was the inspiration for New York’s Central Park as it was the world’s first urban park.
• The city of Nottingham was the first city to have Braille signs in the UK.
• Minnesota has 99 lakes named Mud Lake.
• At the turn of the century, the New Brighton Tower (located atop the tower ballroom) was higher than the Blackpool Tower. The steel tower was taken down between 1919 and 1921.
• Fort Worth Texas was never a fort.
• Legend has it that, when Burmese women are making beer, they need to avoid having sex or the beer will be bitter.
• Kitsap County, Washington, was originally called Slaughter County, and the first hotel there was called the Slaughter House.
• Bagpipes, although identified with Scotland, are actually a very ancient instrument, introduced into the British Isles by the Romans.
• Saunas outnumber cars in Finland.
• Although Argentina’s name means ‘Land of Silver’, there is actually very little silver there. It was misnamed by explorers who thought they saw veins of the metal there.
• The state of California raises the most turkeys in the US.
• America’s first stock exchange was the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, established in 1791.
• Antarctica is visited by over 10,000 tourists a year.
• The Pony Express, one of the most famous chapters in US history, only lasted one year, from 1860 to 1861.
• There are four states where the first letter of the capital city is the same letter as the first letter of the state: Dover, Delaware; Honolulu, Hawaii; Indianapolis, Indiana; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• Andorra, a tiny country on the border between France and Spain, has the longest average lifespan: 83.49 years.
• Oregon has the most ghost towns of any state.
• Construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg started in 1015, but it was not until 1439 that the spire was completed.
• There are more Rolls-Royces in Hong Kong than anywhere else in the world.
• Japan has 130 times more people per square mile than the state of Montana.
• The most expensive commercial real estate in the world is in Tokyo. The second most expensive is 57th Street in New York City.
• Mt. Everest grows about 4mm a year: the two tectonic plates of Asia and India, which collided millions of years ago to form the Himalayas, continue to press against each other, causing the Himalayan peaks to grow slightly each year.
• The ant always falls over to its right side when intoxicated.
• Starfish don’t have brains.
• Turtles can breathe through their bottoms.
• Fish have no eyelids, as their eyes do not close.
• Seahorses are the only fish in which the head forms a right angle with the body.
• The pheasant originated in China.
• The arctic fox often follows the polar bear, feeding on the abandoned carcass of its kill.
• The stomach of a giraffe has four chambers.
• Baby squirrels are called kittens.
• A racoon appears to wash its food before eating it.
• The jaguar is the largest of the American big cats.
• The roadrunner is a member of the cuckoo family.
• The elephant is the only mammal able to kneel on all fours.
• The nesting site of penguins is called a rookery.
• Desert-living gerbils never need to drink, as they obtain all the moisture they need from the overnight dew on their food.
• The elephant is the only mammal able to kneel on all fours.
• The feet of the puffin are red in summer and yellow in winter.
• Coyotes mate for life.
• A female walrus is called a cow.
• A male guinea pig is called a boar.
• The Falabella is the world’s smallest breed of horse.
• Turkish van cats have a natural liking for water.
• A female mouse is called a doe.
• The dingo is the only carnivore native to Australia.
• In China the hedgehog is considered sacred.
• The Chinese crested dog is hairless.
• Dolphins are the only species, barring humans, which have sex for pleasure.
• The anal glands of the African civet cat secrete a strong-smelling substance used in perfume manufacture.
• The part of a snail’s body that remains inside the shell is called a mantle.
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