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Some trivial stuff, interesting nevertheless. (This page is still under construction.)

  1. A rat can last longer without water than a camel can.
  2. An albatross can sleep while it flies. It apparently dozes while cruising at 25 mph.
  3. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
  4. The bones of a pigeon weigh less than its feathers.
  5. It takes 17 muscles to smile - 43 to frown.
  6. A cough releases an explosive charge of air that moves at speeds up to 60 mph.
  7. The shortest war on record, between Britain and Zanzibar in 1896, lasted just 38 minutes.
  8. Mexico City is the oldest capital city in the Americas.
  9. The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.
  10. Bats are the only mammals that can fly.
  11. The Atlantic Ocean is saltier than the Pacific Ocean.
  12. Camel's milk does not curdle.
  13. The symbol on the "pound" key (#) is called an octothorpe.
  14. The slanted line (/) that divides dates, fractions, choices, etc. is called a virgule.
  15. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.
  16. Hummingbirds are the only birds able to fly backwards.
  17. A group of owls is called a parliament.
  18. A group of frogs is called an army.
  19. A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
  20. A group of ravens is called a murder.
  21. A group of officers is called a mess.
  22. Shrimps' hearts are in their heads.
  23. Univerity of Oxford is the oldest university in the English speaking world.
  24. According to the Guiness Book of Records, 'floccinaucinihilipilification' is the longest real English word.
  25. The Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, or reef triggerfish, is Hawaii's unofficial state fish.
  26. Libya is the only country with a single-coloured (green) flag with no writing or decoration on it.
  27. The postage stamps of Britain are the only stamps in the world not to bear the name of the country of origin.
  28. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors and the parachute.
  29. The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
  30. The airport in La Paz, Bolivia is the world's highest airport.
  31. Nauru is the only country in the world with no official capital.
  32. Cleopatra's last name was Ptolemy, and she was Greek rather than Egyptian.
  33. A rhinoceros's horn is made of hair.
  34. 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.
  35. Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries.
  36. The word 'bookkeeper' is the only word in the English language with three, back-to-back double letter combinations.
  37. The dinosaur Stegosaurus grew to 9m in length but had a walnut-sized brain.
  38. Kolkata (Calcutta) in India is called the City of Palaces because of the abundance of European-style buildings.
  39. The Coconut Crab is the worlds largest arthropod, known for its ability to crack coconuts withs its strong pincers.
  40. The hippopotamus is considered to be the most dangerous animal in Africa, causing more deaths than lions, crocodiles and wild buffalos.
  41. The highest railway line in the world is in China. This Qinghai-Tibet railway line has its highest point 5,072m above sea level.
  42. Vatican city is the smallest country in the world.
  43. The largest employer in the world is the Indian railway system, employing over 1.5 million people.
  44. The Finnish word SAIPPUAKIVIKAUPPIAS - a soapstone seller - is the longest known palindrome in any language.
  45. There are only two sequences of four consecutive letters that can be found in the English language: "rstu" and "mnop." Examples of each are understudy and gymnophobia.
  46. One thousand is the first number which contains the letter 'A'.
  47. A googol is a 1 followed by 100 zeros.
  48. Stewardesses is the longest word that is typed with only the left hand.
  49. Typerwriter is the longest word that can be made using only one row of the keyboard .
  50. The 'Oxford comma' is an optional comma before the word 'and' at the end of a list.
  51. Scientifically, tomato is a fruit.
  52. Athens is the oldest capital in Europe.
  53. Kazakhstan is the world's largest landlocked country.
  54. A zebra is white with black stripes.
  55. Of all the words in the English language, the word 'set' has the most definitions.
  56. In the Gregorian calendar, a year divisible by 4 is a leap year - except years divisible by 100 and not divisible by 400. So, 2000 is a leap year while 1900 and 2100 are not leap years.
  57. A kangaroo can't jump unless its tail is touching the ground.
  58. The pupil in a goat's eye is rectangular in shape.
  59. The longest word which can be spelled without repeating a letter is 'uncopyrightable'.
  60. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
  61. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.
  62. Ethernet is a registered trademark of Xerox, Unix is a registered trademark of AT&T.
  63. The first words that Thomas A. Edison spoke into the phonograph were, "Mary had a little lamb."
  64. Spiders have transparent blood.
  65. An ant can lift 50 times its own weight.
  66. A bunch of bananas is called a hand while the individual bananas are called fingers.
  67. 'Dracula' is the most filmed story of all time.
  68. There are 48 teaspoons in a cup: three teaspoons make a tablespoon, with 16 tablespoons to a cup.
  69. A fresh egg will sink in water, but a stale one won't.
  70. The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows.



  
© 2011 Ranjit Vijayan. All rights reserved.