Fast Facts
October 31, 2007
So far, man has survived on Earth for two million years. The dinosaurs lasted 150 million years.
Nell Gwynne always referred to her lover, King Charles II, as “”Charles the third.”” Her two previous lovers had also been called Charles.
In artist Emanuel Leutze’s famous 1851 painting “”Washington Cross the Delaware,”” Leutze used the Rhine in his native Germany as his model.
The highest wave ever recorded was 112 feet high and seen in the North Pacific in 1933.
New York and Connecticut once banned nine-pin bowling. But because the ban did not apply to bowling in general, a 10th pin was added to get around the law.
The world’s first popular elected female head of state was Sirimauo Bandranaike of Sri Lanka, in 1960.
A fully mature oak tree sheds about 700,000 leaves every year.
The town of Tidikelt, in the Sahara Desert, went 10 years without rainfall.
The International Skating Union recognizes 48 different types of figure-eights.
Whenever he’s in town and available, Woody Allen plays clarinet with a jazz band every Monday evening at The Carlyle (formerly Michael’s Pub) on Madison Avenue in New York.
Dried-out sharkskin is so rough that it was once commonly used as sandpaper.
The Apple I computer system was introduced in 1976 for the devilish price of $666.
The two top-selling item categories in a typical grocery store are carbonated drinks and milk.
Unless worn down by chewing, a rodent’s teeth will grow continuously, rendering the animal unable to eat.
Maple trees in Europe can’t be tapped for sap; the colder weather there prevents the sap from forming properly.
The tie-dye process popularized in the 1960s was originally devised in ancient China.
