Useless trivia 101...

Ok, here's the thing. I have been hurting for a post-worthy topic lately. (And I've noticed a lot of you out there have gone through similar creative droughts lately... The timing is kinda funny.) And while commenting over at Jay's I thought of a way to spend some time combing through the crap in my head and post something for you crazy kids.

And since I am reknowned in my circle of friends as being a trivia head, I decided to compose a post of 101 random facts that have lodged in my brain. (Seriously, I should work for Parker Brothers coming up with cards for Trivial Pursuit!) And so here are 101 pretty much totally, utterly, and completely useless facts. You can probably go out on a search of the encyclopedic knowledge on the internet and verify this crap, but I'm telling you, this is the crap that was already trapped in my head. Enjoy! (The template on my blog prevents the numbers from showing up as anything other than bullet-points, but trust me, there are 101.)

Here we go!

1. The longest word in the standard English language (which does not include things like scientific names, etc.) is "flauccipaucinihilipilification" which is pronounced 'flossy-possy-nee-hil-a-pill-if-ic-ation' and means "to estimate something as worthless."
2. Aardvarks have tubular teeth.
3. Triscadecaphobia is the fear of the number 13.
4. Proportional to it's size, the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body.
5. There are no nerve endings in the brain.
   
6. (For Markus) Annually, sharks attack more males than females. Scientists have yet to uncover an explanation for this.
7. A male spider's penis is located at the end of one of it's legs.
8. At birth, a human baby has 300 bones. As an adult, the same human will have only 206 bones.
9. Ironically, Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words.
10. The average adult has between 40 and 50 billion fat cells. In each person the number of fat cells is fixed, fluctuations in the size of those fat cells accounts for size changes during weight loss or gain.
    
11. Wearing earphones for one hour causes the naturally occurring bacteria in the ear to multiply at 17 times greater speed.
12. Evolutionarily, the purpose of earwax is to keep small bugs from nesting in the ear.
13. Brain cells are the only cells in the entire human body that do not regenerate.
14. Pigeons have 8 different methods of navigation, if they lose the use of one or more senses, they are still able to navigate and find a destination through the use of their other tools.
15. The human kidney filters contaminants from the blood by filtering it through a series of tiny tubes that total nearly 40 miles in length.
16. A human's tongue print is as unique as his/her fingerprint.
17. At any given moment, there are approximately 15,ooo people in a coma in the U.S.
18. George Washington died the last hour of the last day of the last week of the last month of the last year of the 18th century.
19. Actor Steve McQueen encouraged his karate teacher to pursue a career in acting. The teacher? Chuck Norris.
20. It is possible to housebreak an armadillo.
21. Early Native Americans never ate turkeys. To kill such a timid bird was thought of as "lazy."
    
22. The average peapod contains 8 peas.
23. Most grandfather clocks with metal pendulums lose time in warm weather. This phenomenon occurs because most solids expand when heated. In the case of the clock, the higher temperature makes the metal pendulum longer, and thus slower.
24. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.
25. The fish bowl was invented by one of the mistresses of Louis XV.
26. Bamboo can grow up to three feet in a 24 hour period.
27. An oak tree does not produce acorns until it is over 50 years old.
28. Jupiter is by far the largest planet in our solar system, it is so big that all of the other planets could fit together inside a hollow Jupiter.
29. The act that Americans and the English refer to as a "French kiss" is known to the French as an "English kiss."
30. The word "Movado" means "dance" in Espironto.
31. To date, scientists have not yet figured out how a cat purrs.
32. Peppermint is a common household remedy for upset stomachs.
33. The human eye is the only organ that has reached it's full size at the time of birth.
34. Orca whales are capable of killing sharks by diving to great depths, swimming up under the shark, and ramming it in the soft underside. This tactic causes the shark to explode.
35. A duck's quack does not echo.
36. (For Brenda) The official state beverage of North Carolina is milk.
37. (For Hollywood) Chili is the official state dish of Texas.
38. Only female mosquitoes bite.
39. The first item ever to be commercially sold with a barcode on the packaging was Wrigley's gum.
40. Tooth enamel is the hardest substance produced by the human body.
41. The femur is the strongest bone in the human body.
    
42. Spider's silk has more than 5 times the tensile strength of spun steel of the same gauge.
43. Mosquitoes are most attracted to the color blue.
44. A pint of Guinness beer has fewer calories than an 8 oz. glass of skim milk.
45. The crack of a whip is caused by the end of the whip travelling faster than the speed of sound. It is essentially a small scale sonic boom.
46. It is impossible for a human female to have a menstrual period if she has less than 12% body fat.
47. Dried bananas have more than 4 times more nutrional value than a fresh banana.
48. Vodka has many diverse uses, including being an ideal cleanser for diamonds, and a solvent to remove adhesives.
49. The original Ford Model T was only available in Black.
50. Passing gas in an astronaut's space suit actually damages the suit.
51. When the Ancient Egyptians mummified their dead, they used a long slender hook to pull the brain out through the nose of the deceased.
52. Bubbles are round because the air pressure inside is evenly distributed, this causes all points of the bubble to be equally distant from the center.
53. Rain drops are not actually pear shaped as commonly depicted. They are flat on the bottom.
54. All polar bears are left handed.
55. Dolphins rest by shutting off one half of their brain at a time.
56. Rats can go longer without water than camels.
57. Camels do not store water in their humps, they retain water because of a membrane in the nose.
    
58. Cats have 3 eyelids per eye.
59. Yanni is a former member of the Greek national swim team.
60. The cement in the center of the Hoover Dam is still not dry.
61. Sound travels through solids and liquids significantly faster than it travels through air.
62. Water is a unique chemical compound that displays several scientifically notable unique properties. For example, hot water weighs more than cold water, water increases in volume when frozen, and hot water freezes faster than cold water.
63. The one hundred billionth crayon made by the Crayola company was periwinkle blue.
64. Kinkajous have a tail that is twice as long as their body. They roll it up every night and use it as a pillow.
65. The abbreviation for Chicago's O'Hare airport is ORD because until 1949 it was known as "Orchard Place."
66. Children grow more in the spring and gain more weight in the fall.
67. When sneezing, all body functions temporarily stop. Even the heart beat.
68. The loss of a toe would cause your body's sense of balance to be thrown off.
69. The Mona Lisa is painted on a piece of pine wood.
70. The entire island of Manhattan was purchased from the Native American tribe who lived there for an estimated cost of $24.
71. Presently pennies are been made with only a small amount of copper, if the coins were pure copper, the value of the raw material would be greater than the value assigned to the penny.
    
72. Leonardo DaVinci could paint or draw with one hand while wrtiting text with the other.
73. White chocolate is not really chocolate.
74. The liquid inside baby coconuts can be used as a substitute for blood plasma.
75. It takes over a week to make a jellybean.
76. The book of Esther is the only book in the bible that does not mention "God."
    
77. In the first Boston Marathon there were only 15 competitors. Ten of them finished the race.
78. Seventy percent of common house dust is actually human skin flakes.
79. The average I.Q. is 100. Mental retardation is quantified by an I.Q. of 70 or below, and a genius-level I.Q. is 140 or greater.
    
80. The world's most expensive spice is saffron.
81. The statistical probability that you will be murdered is one in 20,000.
82. The longest continuous game of Monopoly on record lasted over 70 straight days. The longest game of Monopoly in a bathtub lasted 99 hours.
83. The bible is the best-selling book of all time. Ironically, it is also the most frequently shoplifted book.
84. The lowest point in the US is Death Valley, CA.
    
85. The smallest independent nation is Vatican City. Geographically, the Vatican is one square mile, and politically they are a sovereign state.
86. When viewed from above, rainbows are doughnut shaped.
87. Brontology is the study of Thunder.
88. Diamonds will not dissolve in acid.
89. A cubic mile of fog contains less than one gallon of water.
90. (For Mel) The most popular item for tourists to bring back from Holland is a pair of wooden shoes, known as klompen.
91. The first ballpoint pens were sold for $12 each.
92. Most men with moustaches are allergic to their own facial hair, because the moustaches trap allergens.
93. Crocodiles cannot stick out their tongues.
94. (For Marcia) The corkscrew was originally invented in 1890.
95. The average toilet bowl has a life span of just over 50 years.
96. Statistics have shown that Monday is the favorite day on which to commit suicide.
97. In most advertisments for time pieces (watches and clocks) the time on the clock is 10:10. Market research showed that the angle of the hands resembled a smile, and caused consumers to associate the clock with a pleasant feeling.
98. (For Ciara) There is a law that requires every citizen in the state of Kentucky to bathe once a year.
99. The San Francisco cable cars are the nation's only mobile national monument.
100. (For Joyce) The Hawaii state fish is the humuhumunukunukuapu'a. (pronounced hoo-moo-hoo-moo-noo-koo-noo-koo-ah-poo-ahh)
101. An average roll of toilet paper has 333 squares of tissue.