Amazing facts website


Amazing Facts archive


Entries Comments



Lincoln, Abraham
  • John Wilke Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son. It took place shortly before Abraham Lincoln’s assassination
  • Lincoln was the first president to be assassinated
  • He was also the tallest president
  • Abraham Lincoln invented and patented a buoyancy adjustment system for steamboats
  • Lincoln was known as a storyteller and jokester, but he also suffered from depression
  • Lincoln used to keep his notes, letters and even his bills in his black tophat

nuclear
  • There are over 50 nuclear warheads and 9 nuclear reactors lost at sea. This was according to a study released in 1989 by Greenpeace environmental group and the Institute for Policy Studies
  • The United States have acknowledged losing a hydrogen bomb south of Japan in 1965

United States, USA, America
  • 26 of the American states have names originating from native Indian words, including Iowa which means “Sleepy Ones” and Texas meaning “Ally”

prisons
  • The United States has more than double the prison population of any other country. (Over 2.9 million people)
  • The Faroe Islands has a prison population of 9 inmates. This is because they ship most of them to Denmark, which is much like how England shipped inmates to Australia
  • In Abu Ghraib, only 3-5% of detainees were caught by the USA. The other 95% were handed in by foreigners for monetary rewards

roads
  • The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies
  • In Singapore, some of their highways can be converted to runways by removing potted plants from the median strip
  • In 2007, a Hokkaido inventor realized different pitches could be created by cutting grooves into roads – the result? Melody roads as you drive on them

telephone
  • An average American spends 2 years of her life talking on the phone
  • In the early days of the telephone, operators would pick up a call and use the phrase, “Well, are you there?”. It wasn’t until 1895 that someone suggested answering the phone with the phrase “number please?”
  • Half of the people in the world have never recieved or made a telephone call

advertisement
  • Some 30 sec adverts shown during the American NFL Superbowl cost more than full length feature films
  • Some advertisements have funny translations in Chinese:
  • A&W’s “That frosty mug sensation” became “Feel like your face is frozen”
  • American Express’ “Don’t leave home without it” became “Stay home with it”
  • Budweiser’s “When you say Budweiser, you’ve said it all” became “After Budweiser, you will not be able to speak”
  • Camel’s “I’d walk a mile for a Camel” translated as “A camel asked me to walk two kilometers”
  • KFC’s “Finger Licking Good” became “Tastes like human fingers”
  • Nike’s “Just do it” translates as “Have Sex!”
  • and finally, Wheaties’ “Breakfast of Champions” is “Breakfast of Mao”

money
  • Scientists in Dublin have found traces of cocaine on 100% of the Irish banknotes they tested
  • If you have 3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies, you have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins without being able to make change for a dollar
  • The numbers ’172′ can be found on the back of the U.S. $5 dollar bill in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial
  • On the old Canadian 2 dollar bill,the flag flying over the Parliament Building is NOT an American flag.Thanx Doug B. and Dwain

Y2K
  • The term Y2K was invented by David Eddie in June 1995 through the email
  • It was so feared that Clinton signed the Y2K Act in 1999 to limit the government’s liability
  • 1 in 10 people in the US believed that there will be another depression, that financial markets will collapse, that the national infrastructure will be crippled, and that martial law will be declared in some local areas. from Newsweek May4, 1998 p62
  • In making coding “Y2K complaint”, new errors are introduced at an average rate of one new error in every 14 lines of re-written code

turkey
  • Turkeys can reproduce without having sex. It’s called parthenogenesis
  • Native Americans didn’t actually eat turkey; killing such a timid bird was thought to indicate laziness
  • Only male turkeys gobble


« Older entries
Newer entries »