Page 87 - The 'X' Zone Book of Triviology

o 75% of all wild birds die before they are 6 months old. o Americans spend about $30 billion per year trying to lose weight. o Highest temperature ever recorded at the South Pole: 8 degrees F. o Flies are the only flying insects that have two wings. All others have four. o The world’s first skateboard park was built in Port Orange, Florida, in 1976. o “Never insult seven men when all you’re packin’ is a six gun.” - Zane Grey o Average U.S. gas price in 1949: 27 cents per gallon. o Christmas Day in the Ukraine can be celebrated on December 25 or January 6. o The bite of a brown recluse spider can require over two months to heal. o Albert Einstein once used a $1,500 check from the Rockefeller Foundation as a bookmark, and then lost the book. o A typical American driver will honk the horn 15,250 times in their life. o In took 20,000 people 22 years to build the Taj Mahal. o A “gut feeling” is also called a splanchnic, relating to the splanchnic nerves of the intestinal area. o Busiest time of year for plastic surgeons: the Christmas season. o Rabbits love licorice. o Women have wider peripheral vision than men. o There are more than 16,400 parking meters in Manhattan. o In WWII, Japanese officers killed in battle were promoted to a higher rank. st o 1 man to walk around the world: Dave Kunste, in 1970. It took 4 years, 3 months, 16 days. o During a total solar eclipse the temperature can drop as much as 20 degrees F. o The pin that holds a hinge together is called a pintle. o About 27% of the food in developed countries is wasted each year. o Americans generate an extra 5 million tons of trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. o Pepper was so valuable during Elizabethan times that it was sold by the individual grain. o Crocodiles have tongues but they can’t stick them out. o The world’s tallest lighthouse: A 348-foot-high steel tower in Yokohama, Japan. o The Emmy award was originally called the Immy’s. It’s named after TV camera “imaging” tubes. o If you hit it hard enough with a hammer, it will shatter. o Half of the world’s population has seen at least one James Bond movie. o On average, there are eight peas in a pod. o In an average year, 311 New York residents report being bitten by a rat. o Approximately 165 million Easter cards are purchased each year in the U.S. o Babe Ruth’s salary in 1932: $80,000. Barry Bond’s in 2007: $15.5 million. o Most common surname on Long Island, Nova Scotia: Outhouse. o Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams are botanically unrelated. o Crime slang: “Getting a Valentine” in convict lingo means to receive a one-year jail sentence. o Before the year 1000, the word “she” didn’t exist in the English language. o Diameter of the wire in a standard paper clip: about 4 hundredths of an inch. o The Great Wall of China is wide enough for 10 people to walk side by side. o The only manmade structure you can see from outer space is the Great Wall of China. o The Carpenters won more Grammy awards for “Best Pop Group” than the Beatles ever did. o Plywood emits formaldehyde - it’s one of the home’s biggest indoor pollutants. o 80% of the people who het migraine headaches are women. o J Paul Getty - at one time, the richest man in the world - had a pay phone in his mansion.