To assemble the Wizard’s wardrobe for The Wizard of Oz, MGM costumers shopped at thrift stores to find clothes that projected “shabby gentility.” In an incredible coincidence, the previous owner of the coat they purchased was Wizard of Oz writer L. Frank Baum
When he died in 1977, Elvis Presley had $1,055,173.69 in a non-interest-bearing checking account
Chemotherapy drugs are designed to kill any rapidly dividing cells. Human hair follicles are some of the fastest-growing cells in the body, which is why most cancer patients lose their hair during treatment
The only state highway in the U.S. that prohibits motorized vehicles is M-185 on Mackinaw Island in Michigan. You can travel on foot, bicycle or horse
The first bumper stickers appeared prior to World War II and usually promoted political candidates. At that time, they weren’t adhesive-backed; they were affixed to the car bumper with wire
The state fish of Hawaii is the humuhumunukunukuapua’a. The Hawaiian name roughly translates to “the fish with a pig-like nose” - It's English name is the Reef Triggerfish
The last state to ban eugenics based castration was Oregon in 1983 - The last castration took place in 1978. A woman died in the program during a hysterectomy at age 29 in 1975. Eugenics, in the broadest sense, means taking action to improve the human gene pool, but often meant practices that aimed to rid societies of people of color, people with disabilities, and people deemed less intelligent
The two busiest commercial ports in the United States do not border the Atlantic or Pacific, but the Gulf of Mexico: They’re in New Orleans and Houston
The Beach Boys were the founders of "surf rock"; however, only Dennis Wilson knew how to surf, and he died of drowning in 1983
A cricket’s ears aren’t located on its head, but just above the knee on its front legs
The Pony Express only lasted a single year before the transcontinental telegraph made the route unnecessary
Stephen Perry patented his idea for the rubber band in 1845 - The London businessman came up with the invention after Charles Goodyear introduced rubber to the world in 1839
Chocolate chip cookies were made by mistake when the chocolate in the cookie did not melt properly
The United Kingdom was the first nation to issue adhesive postage stamps; as a result, today British postage stamps are the only ones in the world that do not indicate their country of origin
Henri Breault, a pediatrician from Windsor, Ontario, invented the child-resistant medicine cap in 1967
The first registered domain name was symbolics.com, registered on March 15, 1985
The first documented bank notes come from China. The bills were one-foot-square pieces of white deerskin with colorful borders, and were used as early as 118 BC
Within an hour’s drive of Neuquén in southwestern Argentina lie three important paleontologic sites, each home to record-breaking finds from about 90 million years ago, including Argentinosaurus huinculensis, considered the world’s largest dinosaur (coming in at 130 feet long and 60 feet tall), Giganotosaurus carolinii, thought to be the world’s largest carnivorous dinosaur (46 feet long), and fossilized footprints so large that locals once used them as community barbeque pits
Octopuses have no bones, their bodies are incredibly flexible - They can slither through openings not much bigger than their eyeballs
If a foreign-born female gives birth on an airplane in U.S. airspace, or on a ship within 12 nautical miles of the U.S. coast, her child automatically becomes a U.S. citizen - citizenship is not conferred to the parents
Opossums are the only marsupials native to North America
Although both aardvarks and anteaters feed on ants, they’re members of different families and live in different areas of the world - anteaters are found in Central and South America, while aardvarks are native to Africa
Although oil is known as “black gold,” it isn’t black to begin with - When it spurts from the ground, crude is most often dark green
Jupiter has 63 moons
Today, about five percent of the entire U.S. potato crop goes to make McDonald’s French fries
Pearls dissolve in vinegar
In the 1920’s and early 1930’s, French surgeon Serge Voronoff perfected the technique of transplanting testicle tissue from various primates into men, supposedly to increase longevity and sex drive. Discredited by the 1940’s, the once-fashionable procedure had a cocktail named after it: the ‘Monkey Gland’ (gin, orange juice, grenadine and absinthe)
NEWS FEED:
In September 2010, the Romanian Senate rejected a proposal by two legislators to regulate, and tax, fortune-tellers and "witches," even though the government is otherwise desperately seeking new sources of revenue. A prominent witch had complained about potential record-keeping burdens on the "profession," but one of the bill's sponsors told the Associated Press he thinks opposition came from lawmakers who were frightened of having spells and curses placed on them
As an alternative to the surgical scalpel, zapping a penis with electricity can produce a cleaner cut and with much less blood, according to a team of doctors from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in Taiwan. Best of all, their July report noted, since the experiments were too risky for ordinary test volunteers, they performed all procedures on themselves
