More than 8 million Americans seriously consider suicide each year
Less than 3% of Fortune 500 companies CEOs are female
A typical British office worker spends an average of 50 hours a year cleaning out junk emails from their workplace email accounts
World's largest frog: The South African Goliath, which grows to about a foot in length and can weigh as much as 2.5 pounds
The 1904 Summer Olympics, held in St. Louis, Missouri, included contests in greased pole climbing, rock throwing, and mud fighting
Most common name for a privately-owned boat in the United States: "Escape" ("Wet Dream" is ranked 7th)
Mount Everest is growing at a rate of half an inch a year, meaning that a climber today would have to go 28 inches further to reach the summit than Sir Edmund Hillary did in 1953 when, at the age of 33, he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first humans known to reach the peak
Canada occupies most of North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean, and is the second largest country in the world by total area -- Canada shares the world's longest common border with the United States (this border is also the world's longest undefended border)
Canada and the United States are each others largest trading partners -- for example, most of the oil imported by the U.S. comes from Canada, while the U.S. exports most of its automobiles to Canada
Percent of adult Americans who cannot name the Prime Minister of Canada: 89% (Prime Minister of Canada: Stephen Harper)
On average, 1 in 30 American births results in twins
Kathleen Casey of Philadelphia was born at 12:01 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, on January 1, 1946 -- she was the first birth recorded for that year, and the first official "baby boomer"
In Birmingham, England it is illegal to have sex on the steps of any church after sundown
"Female breasts" are not considered "private parts" under state law upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court
In London, England it is illegal to have sex, day or night, on a parked motorcycle
Alexander Hamilton and John Adams were among several founders of the United States who protested against having political parties, both expressing fear that it would lead to a division in society that would not be able to be bridged even in critical moments
Andrew Jackson referred to himself as a "Jeffersonian Democrat" during his presidential campaign -- Thomas Jefferson described Jackson as a "dangerous man"
In March 2009, a hiker in the German town of Landshut found a human skeleton in a treetop -- it was later determined these were the remains of a man who had committed suicide 30 years earlier by tying himself to the tree and shooting himself -- a note he had left behind at the time of his "disappearance" described his plan and the man's belief that he would not be missed
Color most visible to the human eye from the greatest distance: Yellow
In 1811, Scottish surgeon Charles Bell described how each of the five senses had a corresponding spot in the brain
Your teeth start growing six months before you are born -- these "teeth buds" will eventually form a human child's first set of teeth (1 in 2000 newborns has at least one tooth already visible at birth)
Approximately 1% of people worldwide self-identify as having no sexual desire
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans claim they have had sex with a co-worker
1 in 4 Americans live with an incurable sexually transmitted disease
Both Barack Obama and John McCain, who vied for the U.S. presidency in 2008, were born outside the continental United States -- Obama was born in Hawaii and McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, a U.S. naval base
A 2009 study of children aged 10-13 years showed the number that felt uncomfortable or reluctant to talk to their parents nearly doubled among the 13-year-olds
Blood-sucking hookworms inhabit about 700 million people worldwide
Earth is the only planet on which water can exist in liquid form on the surface
More than 1000 viruses have been identified as a cause for the common cold in humans
Monday, September 28, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
JUMPING THE GOLDFISH
More than one-third of the world is currently at war
Since 1495, no twenty-five year period has been without war
Half the world's population is under age 25
There are more televisions in the U.S. than people in the U.K.
Your mouth produces about 2 pints of saliva a day
Most burglaries in the U.S. occur in the winter, and during the day
A RadioShack store is located within 5 minutes of where 94% of all Americans either live or work
In 2005, 12% of newlyweds met online
Your body has ten times as many bacteria cells than human cells
Internationally, "Baywatch" is the most popular television show in history
At present, even the most powerful computer cannot process as many instructions as 0.1 gram of a goldfish brain
When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red
If people in the U.S. took an IQ test today and it was scored in the same way as people were assessed 50 years ago, 90% would be considered geniuses
Of all restaurants opened in the U.S., 90% fail within the first year-- of the the remaining 10%, over 90% of them will fail in the second year
An office desk has about 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat
The three wealthiest families in the world have more assets than the combined wealth of the world's 48 poorest nations
The 6 universal facial expressions: happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, anger and surprise
Name for the space between your eyebrows: Glabella
Day of the week most American workers report sick to their employer: Friday (second most popular day for American absenteeism from work is Monday)
American workers are least likely to skip work on Tuesday, while the most productive workday for American workers is Wednesday
Ohio is officially listed as the 17th state in the United States but technically it is 47th -- until August 7, 1953 Congress forgot to vote on a resolution to admit Ohio to the Union
If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white
40% of all indigestion remedies sold worldwide are purchased by Americans
Sweden has more telephones per capita than any other country
You can start a fire with ice -- ice can be shaped into a lens, then held so that natural sunlight is concentrated and beamed onto flammable materials such as brush and straw
Human deaths attributed to coconuts annually outnumber deaths attributed to shark attacks
Every three minutes, someone on Earth reports seeing an Unidentified Flying Object
"London broil" is not a cut of beef, but rather a method of cooking
In the U.S., sales of Rolaids, Alka-Seltzer and Tums increase by more than 20% during the month of December
Currently in the United States, African-Americans are incarcerated at a rate that is five times higher than the rate of incarceration of Blacks in South Africa during Apartheid
In the United States, whites account for 52% of crack cocaine users while Blacks account for 38%, yet 88% of those jailed for use or possession of crack cocaine are Black and just 4% are white
Globally, you are most likely to be murdered at 11 p.m. -- the murder rate climbs steadily starting at 6 p.m., peaks at 11 p.m., and then begins a gradual decline with the lowest rate being about an hour after dawn
Globally, autopsy statistics reveal that victims tested positive for alcohol intoxication in the following cases:
Percent of U.S. foreign aid that returns to the United States directly in exports to the nations receiving aid: nearly 80% (for example, the U.S. may give aid to a nation and, as a contingent to the assistance contract, then sell that same nation crops grown in the U.S. that the recipient nation pays for with the aid money)
Since 1495, no twenty-five year period has been without war
Half the world's population is under age 25
There are more televisions in the U.S. than people in the U.K.
Your mouth produces about 2 pints of saliva a day
Most burglaries in the U.S. occur in the winter, and during the day
A RadioShack store is located within 5 minutes of where 94% of all Americans either live or work
In 2005, 12% of newlyweds met online
Your body has ten times as many bacteria cells than human cells
Internationally, "Baywatch" is the most popular television show in history
At present, even the most powerful computer cannot process as many instructions as 0.1 gram of a goldfish brain
When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red
If people in the U.S. took an IQ test today and it was scored in the same way as people were assessed 50 years ago, 90% would be considered geniuses
Of all restaurants opened in the U.S., 90% fail within the first year-- of the the remaining 10%, over 90% of them will fail in the second year
An office desk has about 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat
The three wealthiest families in the world have more assets than the combined wealth of the world's 48 poorest nations
The 6 universal facial expressions: happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, anger and surprise
Name for the space between your eyebrows: Glabella
Day of the week most American workers report sick to their employer: Friday (second most popular day for American absenteeism from work is Monday)
American workers are least likely to skip work on Tuesday, while the most productive workday for American workers is Wednesday
Ohio is officially listed as the 17th state in the United States but technically it is 47th -- until August 7, 1953 Congress forgot to vote on a resolution to admit Ohio to the Union
If you keep a goldfish in a dark room, it will eventually turn white
40% of all indigestion remedies sold worldwide are purchased by Americans
Sweden has more telephones per capita than any other country
You can start a fire with ice -- ice can be shaped into a lens, then held so that natural sunlight is concentrated and beamed onto flammable materials such as brush and straw
Human deaths attributed to coconuts annually outnumber deaths attributed to shark attacks
Every three minutes, someone on Earth reports seeing an Unidentified Flying Object
"London broil" is not a cut of beef, but rather a method of cooking
In the U.S., sales of Rolaids, Alka-Seltzer and Tums increase by more than 20% during the month of December
Currently in the United States, African-Americans are incarcerated at a rate that is five times higher than the rate of incarceration of Blacks in South Africa during Apartheid
In the United States, whites account for 52% of crack cocaine users while Blacks account for 38%, yet 88% of those jailed for use or possession of crack cocaine are Black and just 4% are white
Globally, you are most likely to be murdered at 11 p.m. -- the murder rate climbs steadily starting at 6 p.m., peaks at 11 p.m., and then begins a gradual decline with the lowest rate being about an hour after dawn
Globally, autopsy statistics reveal that victims tested positive for alcohol intoxication in the following cases:
- Suicide -- 29%
- Unintentional injury death -- 39%
- Auto collision -- 40%
- Homicide -- 47%
Percent of U.S. foreign aid that returns to the United States directly in exports to the nations receiving aid: nearly 80% (for example, the U.S. may give aid to a nation and, as a contingent to the assistance contract, then sell that same nation crops grown in the U.S. that the recipient nation pays for with the aid money)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
MISERY LOVES COMPANY
World's largest country with just one time zone: China
Interest paid each day by the United States to China on debt owed: $500 million
A LIPOGRAM is a work of writing in which a particular letter or letters is purposely not used -- probably the most famous (and longest) lipogram is the 1939 novel by Ernest Vincent Wright, Gadsby, subtitled A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter E (Wright died at the age of 66 in 1939 on the same day the book was published)
Largest population of Muslims worldwide: Indonesia
The Misery Index was created by economist Arthur Okun in 1948 as an economic indicator to gauge the effect of a sour economy on the average citizen (rate of employment added to the rate of inflation) -- the Misery Index hit an all-time low in July 1953, at 3.74% and has recently hit an all-time high in June 2009, at 14.9%
ELEVATION is used to describe how far a point on land is above sea level; ALTITUDE is used to describe how far a point in the air is above sea level
Your hat size is determined by measuring the circumference of your head (in inches) and dividing by Pi (3.14)
Know Your -Isms:
The original dwarfs from the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the book Children's and Household Tales, published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, had no names -- it wasn't until 1937, when Walt Disney created the names of the dwarfs for the animated feature film version of the story, that the world was introduced to Sleepy, Happy, Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey
Beethoven counted exactly 60 coffee beans for each cup of coffee
A 2003 European study found that mothers whose first child was male are more likely to have miscarriages in subsequent pregnancies than mothers whose first child was female -- among those whose first baby was a girl, 73% successfully bore another child; among those whose first child was a boy, the number dropped to 53%
The French Legislative Assembly met for the first time during the French Revolution on October 1, 1791 -- the group of 745 lawmakers and representatives grouped themselves according to their political affiliation, and for no particular reason the more liberal members sat to the left of the speaker and the more conservative members sat to the right -- today "left wing" and "right wing" are still used to denote those same political affiliations
HONORARY U.S. CITIZENS
Only six non-native people have been named Honorary Citizens of the United States:
SIX THINGS YOU COULD NOT DO IN THE YEAR 2000
Every animal with four limbs, known as tetrapods, which include mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds, have five digits at the end of each limb or is descended from animals that did
The Queen of England owns all of the sturgeons, whales and dolphins that inhabit the waters surrounding the United Kingdom, stemming from an edict enacted in 1324 by King Edward II
Interest paid each day by the United States to China on debt owed: $500 million
A LIPOGRAM is a work of writing in which a particular letter or letters is purposely not used -- probably the most famous (and longest) lipogram is the 1939 novel by Ernest Vincent Wright, Gadsby, subtitled A Story of Over 50,000 Words Without Using the Letter E (Wright died at the age of 66 in 1939 on the same day the book was published)
Largest population of Muslims worldwide: Indonesia
The Misery Index was created by economist Arthur Okun in 1948 as an economic indicator to gauge the effect of a sour economy on the average citizen (rate of employment added to the rate of inflation) -- the Misery Index hit an all-time low in July 1953, at 3.74% and has recently hit an all-time high in June 2009, at 14.9%
ELEVATION is used to describe how far a point on land is above sea level; ALTITUDE is used to describe how far a point in the air is above sea level
Your hat size is determined by measuring the circumference of your head (in inches) and dividing by Pi (3.14)
Know Your -Isms:
- Accidentalism: the idea that all events are random
- Malism: the belief that the world is inherently evil
- Panspermism: the theory that life on Earth is derived from extraterrestrial germs
- Acosmism: the belief that the entire universe is not real
- Adamitism: the belief in being naked for religious reasons
The original dwarfs from the fairy tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the book Children's and Household Tales, published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, had no names -- it wasn't until 1937, when Walt Disney created the names of the dwarfs for the animated feature film version of the story, that the world was introduced to Sleepy, Happy, Doc, Grumpy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey
Beethoven counted exactly 60 coffee beans for each cup of coffee
A 2003 European study found that mothers whose first child was male are more likely to have miscarriages in subsequent pregnancies than mothers whose first child was female -- among those whose first baby was a girl, 73% successfully bore another child; among those whose first child was a boy, the number dropped to 53%
The French Legislative Assembly met for the first time during the French Revolution on October 1, 1791 -- the group of 745 lawmakers and representatives grouped themselves according to their political affiliation, and for no particular reason the more liberal members sat to the left of the speaker and the more conservative members sat to the right -- today "left wing" and "right wing" are still used to denote those same political affiliations
HONORARY U.S. CITIZENS
Only six non-native people have been named Honorary Citizens of the United States:
- British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1963)
- Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who aided the escape of Jewish people from the Nazis during WWII (1981)
- William and Hannah Callowhill Penn, British citizens who founded the Pennsylvania colony in the 17th century (1984)
- Mother Theresa, the Albanian-born Catholic nun who ministered to and cared for the sick in India from the 1950s to the 1990s (1996)
- The Marquis de Lafayette, a French noble who fought in the American Revolutionary War (2002)
SIX THINGS YOU COULD NOT DO IN THE YEAR 2000
- Find colors other than green on U.S. paper currency
- Visit a nation called East Timor
- Watch American Idol
- Access Wikipedia
- Listen to an iPod
- Watch YouTube
Every animal with four limbs, known as tetrapods, which include mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds, have five digits at the end of each limb or is descended from animals that did
The Queen of England owns all of the sturgeons, whales and dolphins that inhabit the waters surrounding the United Kingdom, stemming from an edict enacted in 1324 by King Edward II
Monday, September 7, 2009
PLASTIC FANTASTIC OCEAN
African elephants are the largest of all elephants with adult females weighing about 8,000 pounds and males weighing about 15,000 pounds -- the largest on record was an adult male that weighed 24,000 pounds -- an adult can be taller than a school bus and weigh as much as four cars, and have eyelashes the size of an adult human hand
Five popular foods that contain trace amounts of cyanide: cassava root, sorghum, spinach, almonds, and lima beans
Average number of words in a modern novel: 60,000
Blennophobia: Intense, unwarranted fear of slime
Recipe for slime: 2 cups water, 1/2 cup cornstarch, food coloring -- bring water to a boil in medium-sized saucepan; add food coloring and cornstarch while stirring constantly; remove from heat and allow to cool (do not eat)
Forty-one states and territories in the United States are at moderate to high risk for earthquakes -- Alaska experiences the largest number of large quakes each year, most located in uninhabited areas -- the largest earthquakes felt in the U.S. were along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri, where a three-month-long series of quakes from 1811 to 1812 included three that registered larger than a magnitude 8 on the Richter scale; these quakes were felt throughout the eastern U.S.
The first known find of a dinosaur fossil in the United States was in 1787, when Dr. Casper Wistar found a thigh bone in Gloucester County, New Jersey
Insects have existed for about 400 million years, and over time diversified into an estimated 5 million living species, dwarfing the diversity of all other animals combined
Albert Einstein did not speak fluently until about age 9, but by age 7 he was speaking out loud by quietly uttering the sentence to himself first and then only slightly audibly repeating the statement to whomever he was speaking
As a professor at Princeton, Einstein was known to wear the same suit everyday -- he actually owned several suits that were each exactly the same, which he later claimed enabled him to save time when choosing what to wear each day
The British Isles is the geographical name for the large group of islands- more than 6,000- off the northwest European coast, the two largest being Great Britain and Ireland (United Kingdom refers to four regions with differing amounts of autonomy: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland)
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is a slow, clockwise-spinning ocean current that stretches from the west coast of North America to Japan -- the gyre is home to two gigantic swirling masses of garbage, collectively known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- the Eastern Garbage Patch is located between Hawaii and California; the Western Garbage Patch is between Japan and Hawaii -- together they contain more than 100 million tons of garbage, about 90% of it plastic
Hagfish are long, tubular sea creatures that were long thought to be a kind of eel but are actually their own class of fish (some biologists believe that they are so unique, they should not even be classified as fish) -- 65 species of hagfish are found in cold ocean waters around the world and range in color from gray to blue or pink -- hagfish have no fins, no scales, no stomach, no jaws, a partial skull, no vertebrae, five hearts, and extremely poor eyesight
The first ten domain names ever registered:
symbolics.com (March 15, 1985)
bbn.com (April 24, 1985)
think.com (May 24, 1985)
mcc.com (July 11, 1985)
dec.com (September 30, 1985)
northrop.com (November 7, 1985)
xerox.com (January 9, 1986)
sri.com (January 17, 1986)
hp.com (March 3, 1986)
bellcore.com (March 5, 1986)
Marriage by any other name...
COLD SHOULDER: First recorded use of this phrase appeared in the novel The Antiquary, by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1816 -- etymologists disagree on its origin, with some arguing that Scott invented the term to refer to someone being dismissive and others arguing that it comes from the Middle Ages when dinner guests who stayed too long were given a "cold shoulder" of meat rather than a cooked one as a hint that it was time to leave
The Six Flags Amusement Park chain first opened in Arlington, Texas in 1961 and was named for the phrase "six flags over Texas" that referred to the six different governments that have ruled the state: Spain (1529-1685, 1690-1821), France (1685-1690), Mexico (1821-1836), Republic of Texas (1836-1845), Confederate States of America (1861-1865), United States of America (1845-1861, 1865-present)
Scientific name for the outermost layer of human skin: Stratum Corneum (also known as the "horny layer")
INTELLIGENT NAMES:
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) uses cryptonyms, or code names, to identify different countries, organizations, people, and entities in internal documents so as not to arouse suspicion or expose state secrets if the documents were ever leaked, lost or stolen -- here are some real-life cryptonyms that were leaked:
Before air travel, jet lag was unheard of, but the same physical phenomenon was referred to as "boat lag"
Of the more than 180 nations that issue their own currency, the United States is the only one whose paper money is all the same size
Paraguay has no coinage, only paper currency
Scientific term for the rumbling sound your stomach makes: Borborygmus (It's actually caused by fluid and gas moving in the intestines, not in the stomach -- borborygmus is an onomatopoeic word, meaning that it was formed by imitating what it attempts to describe)
Over the last two centuries, several countries have declared themselves neutral; they choose not to enter into any foreign war on any side, hoping thereby to avoid invasion, and to provide a "neutral" location where conflicts might be avoided or halted by diplomatic means -- the following seven neutral nations are members of the United Nations, all but one have standing armies, and most participate in United Nations peacekeeping missions:
Five popular foods that contain trace amounts of cyanide: cassava root, sorghum, spinach, almonds, and lima beans
Average number of words in a modern novel: 60,000
Blennophobia: Intense, unwarranted fear of slime
Recipe for slime: 2 cups water, 1/2 cup cornstarch, food coloring -- bring water to a boil in medium-sized saucepan; add food coloring and cornstarch while stirring constantly; remove from heat and allow to cool (do not eat)
Forty-one states and territories in the United States are at moderate to high risk for earthquakes -- Alaska experiences the largest number of large quakes each year, most located in uninhabited areas -- the largest earthquakes felt in the U.S. were along the New Madrid Fault in Missouri, where a three-month-long series of quakes from 1811 to 1812 included three that registered larger than a magnitude 8 on the Richter scale; these quakes were felt throughout the eastern U.S.
The first known find of a dinosaur fossil in the United States was in 1787, when Dr. Casper Wistar found a thigh bone in Gloucester County, New Jersey
Insects have existed for about 400 million years, and over time diversified into an estimated 5 million living species, dwarfing the diversity of all other animals combined
Albert Einstein did not speak fluently until about age 9, but by age 7 he was speaking out loud by quietly uttering the sentence to himself first and then only slightly audibly repeating the statement to whomever he was speaking
As a professor at Princeton, Einstein was known to wear the same suit everyday -- he actually owned several suits that were each exactly the same, which he later claimed enabled him to save time when choosing what to wear each day
The British Isles is the geographical name for the large group of islands- more than 6,000- off the northwest European coast, the two largest being Great Britain and Ireland (United Kingdom refers to four regions with differing amounts of autonomy: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland)
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is a slow, clockwise-spinning ocean current that stretches from the west coast of North America to Japan -- the gyre is home to two gigantic swirling masses of garbage, collectively known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- the Eastern Garbage Patch is located between Hawaii and California; the Western Garbage Patch is between Japan and Hawaii -- together they contain more than 100 million tons of garbage, about 90% of it plastic
Hagfish are long, tubular sea creatures that were long thought to be a kind of eel but are actually their own class of fish (some biologists believe that they are so unique, they should not even be classified as fish) -- 65 species of hagfish are found in cold ocean waters around the world and range in color from gray to blue or pink -- hagfish have no fins, no scales, no stomach, no jaws, a partial skull, no vertebrae, five hearts, and extremely poor eyesight
The first ten domain names ever registered:
symbolics.com (March 15, 1985)
bbn.com (April 24, 1985)
think.com (May 24, 1985)
mcc.com (July 11, 1985)
dec.com (September 30, 1985)
northrop.com (November 7, 1985)
xerox.com (January 9, 1986)
sri.com (January 17, 1986)
hp.com (March 3, 1986)
bellcore.com (March 5, 1986)
Marriage by any other name...
- Hypergamy: marriage into a higher social group
- Adelphogamy: marriage between siblings
- Deuterogamy: a second marriage after divorce
- Digamy: a second marriage after the death of a spouse
- Matrilocal: a married couple living close to the wife's parents
- Patrilocal: a married couple living close to the husband's parents
- Opsigamy: a marriage late in life
COLD SHOULDER: First recorded use of this phrase appeared in the novel The Antiquary, by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1816 -- etymologists disagree on its origin, with some arguing that Scott invented the term to refer to someone being dismissive and others arguing that it comes from the Middle Ages when dinner guests who stayed too long were given a "cold shoulder" of meat rather than a cooked one as a hint that it was time to leave
The Six Flags Amusement Park chain first opened in Arlington, Texas in 1961 and was named for the phrase "six flags over Texas" that referred to the six different governments that have ruled the state: Spain (1529-1685, 1690-1821), France (1685-1690), Mexico (1821-1836), Republic of Texas (1836-1845), Confederate States of America (1861-1865), United States of America (1845-1861, 1865-present)
Scientific name for the outermost layer of human skin: Stratum Corneum (also known as the "horny layer")
INTELLIGENT NAMES:
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) uses cryptonyms, or code names, to identify different countries, organizations, people, and entities in internal documents so as not to arouse suspicion or expose state secrets if the documents were ever leaked, lost or stolen -- here are some real-life cryptonyms that were leaked:
- AMQUACK: Che Guevara
- AMTHUG: Fidel Castro
- RTACTION: CIA
- KMFLUSH: Nicaragua
- PBPRIME: United States
- ODUNIT: U.S. Air Force
- ODOATH: U.S. Navy
- LCPANGS: Costa Rica
- KUFIRE: Intelligence
- KUGOWN: Propaganda
- Smith (England)
- Johnson (England)
- Williams (Wales)
- Brown (England)
- Jones (Wales)
- Miller (Scotland)
- Davis (England)
- Garcia (Mexico)
- Rodriguez (Mexico)
- Wilson (England)
Before air travel, jet lag was unheard of, but the same physical phenomenon was referred to as "boat lag"
Of the more than 180 nations that issue their own currency, the United States is the only one whose paper money is all the same size
Paraguay has no coinage, only paper currency
Scientific term for the rumbling sound your stomach makes: Borborygmus (It's actually caused by fluid and gas moving in the intestines, not in the stomach -- borborygmus is an onomatopoeic word, meaning that it was formed by imitating what it attempts to describe)
Over the last two centuries, several countries have declared themselves neutral; they choose not to enter into any foreign war on any side, hoping thereby to avoid invasion, and to provide a "neutral" location where conflicts might be avoided or halted by diplomatic means -- the following seven neutral nations are members of the United Nations, all but one have standing armies, and most participate in United Nations peacekeeping missions:
- Austria -- Neutral since 1955
- Costa Rica -- Neutral since 1949, the same year it became the first modern nation to abolish its army
- Finland -- After WWII Finland, which borders the former Soviet Union, declared neutrality to alleviate Cold War tensions
- Ireland -- Neutral since gaining independence in 1922 but unlike most other neutral nations it allows foreign military aircraft to fly over the country and to refuel at some Irish airports
- Sweden -- Has not fought a war since the Napoleonic War of 1814, making it the longest-running neutral nation
- Switzerland -- Neutral since 1815, making it the second longest-running neutral nation
- Turkmenistan -- Neutral since it gained independence from Russia in 1992 -- it has a standing army but does not participate in U.N. peacekeeping missions
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