Fast Facts
March 21, 2006
- The Finnish term “”saippuakauppias”” means “”soap seller”” in English. It is also a palindrome.
The odds are about 423-to-1 against becoming a millionaire in the United States.
Before 1859, baseball umpires sat behind home plate in rocking chairs.
Earthworms do not have eyes or ears.
Cinderella is known as “”Tuna”” in Finland.
Parrots have a particularly keen sense of hearing. During World War I, a group of them were kept on top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris to hear the sound of planes and warn of the approaching aircraft.
In case anyone asks you to name all of the letters on an eye chart, here they are: c, d, e f, l, o, p, t and z.
Lightning causes most forest fires.
Rudyard Kipling would write only with black ink.
There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower, 296 steps to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and 168 steps to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
Liberace once used the stage name Walter Busterkeys.
In China, the day the child is born it is considered 1 year old.
Men outnumber women in prison by 25-to-1 in the United States.
Mark Twain was the first writer to type a book manuscript. Working on a Remington Model No. 1 that he bought in 1874, he typed at a speed of 19 words per minute.
Kentucky Fried Chicken’s Colonel Sanders once tried to claim his white suits as a tax deduction, but the IRS wouldn’t allow it.
If Superman is faster than a speeding bullet, he travels at better than 4,000 feet per second – the speed of a bullet from a .22-caliber rifle.
