Fast Facts

October 8, 2007

William Howard Taft is the only U.S. president who also served as chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Very tall buildings naturally lean toward the course of the sun.

The actual title of the famous 1872 painting known as “”Whistler’s Mother”” is “”Arrangement in Gray and Black, No. 1.””

“”The Grand Ole Opry”” is the longest-running radio show in the United States.

The elephant and donkey symbols for the Republican and Democratic parties were created by cartoonist Thomas Nast.

There is a town named Santa Claus in Indiana.

There is a monument to the seagull in Salt Lake City. Seagulls are credited with saving the crops from crickets in 1848.

A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

Your thumb is the same length as your nose.

The Hudson River, which runs alongside Manhattan, can run in either direction depending on the tide.

False eyelashes were invented so they could be used in D.W. Griffith’s 1916 silent film classic “”Intolerance.””

Michael Jackson owns the rights to South Carolina’s state anthem.

Robin Hood’s friend Little John was really named John Little.

The full medical description of a black eye is “”bilateral periorbital haematoma.””

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