Fast Facts
October 16, 2006
- The Japanese national anthem has the oldest lyrics, which are from the ninth century, but the music itself dates to 1880.
The ostrich has only two toes, unlike most birds, which have three or four.
In a tradition dating back to the beginning of the Westminster system of government, the bench in the middle of a Westminster parliament is 2 1/2 sword lengths long. This was so the government and opposition couldn’t have a go at each other if it got a bit heated.
In Alaska, it is illegal to shoot at a moose from the window of an airplane or other flying vehicle.
The Bible has been translated into Klingon.
William Pitt, elected in 1783, was England’s youngest prime minister at the age of only 24.
World champion chess player Reuben Fine helped the United States calculate where enemy submarines might surface based on positional probability.
In 1801, 20 percent of the people in the United States were slaves.
The kiwi, national bird of New Zealand, can’t fly. It lives in a hole in the ground, is almost blind and lays only one egg each year. Despite this, it has survived for more than 70 million years.
Buzz Aldrin was the first man to pee his pants on the moon.
In Washington, D.C., no building can be built taller than the Washington Monument.
When a coffee seed is planted, it takes five years to yield consumable fruit.
More than 200 varieties of watermelon are grown in the United States.
