The average American eats 286 eggs per year.

The Pet Rock was invented by Gary Dahl. Whatever happened to Gary Dahl?

Eyelashes usually last around five months.

Mulberry Garden was once the center of prostitution in London, England. Today, it is the site of Buckingham Palace.

Queen Anne of England (1665 – 1714) outlived all 17 of her children.

The tallest man in the world, Robert Wadlow, was 8 feet eleven inches tall. He died at the age of 22, in 1949, due to an infection caused by leg braces he needed to be able to stand on his feet.

Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin was the second man to walk on the moon. His mother’s maiden name was “Moon.”

Fidel Castro was voted Cuba’s best schoolboy athlete in 1944. He was a left-handed pitcher.

In Japan, Western Electric first sold equipment in 1890, then in 1899 helped form the Nippon Electric Company (NEC). This was Japan’s first joint venture with an American firm.

The use of telephone answering machines became popular in 1974.

In the first month of the Bell Telephone Company’s existence in 1877, only six telephones were sold!

On December 23, 1947, Bell Telephone Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J., held a secret demonstration of the transistor which marked the foundation of modern electronics.

In 1953, Sony Corporation obtained a transistor license from Western Electric Co. that led to its development of the world’s first commercially successful transistor radio.

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?”

Sometimes, early telephone operators would get to know their customers so well, the customers would ask for a reminder call when it was time to remove a cake from the oven, leave the phone off the hook near their sleeping child when they left the house, hoping the operator would hear any cries of distress, request a wake up call before taking a long nap.

Telephone is derived from two Greek words, tele + phone, meaning far off voice or sound.(Tele, far off + phone, voice or sound).

In Milan, Italy, when an operator dialed a wrong number, the phone company fined the operator.

Just like today’s computers, early telephones were very confusing to new users. Some became so frustrated with the new technology, they attacked the phone with an ax or ripped it out of the wall.

The first prototype of the sound-proof phone booth was built in 1877. Mr. Watson, Alexander Graham Bell’s trusty assistant, used a bunch of bed blankets around a box. He created the booth to prevent his landlady from listening in on his conversations.

Some callers didn’t like using the early phone booths because the doors would get stuck, forcing users to fight their way out.

In the early 1880′s some well-to-do telephone owners started the unusual trend of paying to have a theatre employee hold a telephone receiver backstage, transmitting live plays and operas into their living rooms.

When Alexander Graham Bell died on August 4, 1922, millions of phones went dead. In Bell’s honor, all phones served by the Bell System in the USA and Canada went silent for one minute.

The first transatlantic wedding took place on December 2, 1933.  The groom was in Michigan. The bride, in Sweden. The ceremony took seven minutes and cost $47.50.

In the late 30′s, a man named Abe Pickens of Cleveland, Ohio, attempted to promote world peace by placing personal calls to various country leaders. He managed to contact Mussolini, Hirohito, Franco and Hitler (Hitler, who didn’t understand English, transferred him to an aide). He spent$10,000 to “give peace a chance.”

In the Catholic church, St. Gabriel, an archangel, is the patron saint of telecommunications.

While the state of Ohio is listed as the 17th state in the USA, that’s really not true: technically, it is #47. Congress “forgot” to vote on admitting Ohio into the Union until August 7, 1953.

The tallest building in the world in 1885 was The Home Insurance Company in Chicago. It was nine stories tall.

A female praying mantis will devour her male sexual partner while mating.

A fly’s taste buds are in its feet.

Two of three Americans have hemorrhoids.

An ant has five noses.

At one time, all radio stations east of the Mississippi River had call letters beginning with the letter “W.” West of the Mississippi, they began with the letter “K.”

A cave man’s life span was only 18 years.

Each time you laugh you burn up, on average, 3.5 calories.

Rats cannot vomit. I know, it’s weird stuff, but I’ll be willing to bet most of you will remember this fact for the rest of your life.

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

When asked to name a color, 60% of any sample will name the color “red.”

The geographical center of Ohio is Delaware – a town 25 miles northeast of Columbus.

When Joseph Gayetty invented toilet paper in 1857, he had his name printed on each sheet.

The average caterpillar has sixteen legs.

Before 1814, Congressmen in the US House of Representatives were paid six dollars per diem when they were in session. They weren’t paid on those other days.

Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

There are only four words in the English language which end in “dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

Los Angeles’ full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.”

A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

According to Goodyear, who allegedly spent 10 years researching this, a person’s right shoe will wear out faster than your left shoe.

An average person takes 18,000 steps per day. In your average lifetime, you will walk the equivalent of three times around the world. I’m tired just thinking about it.

George Washington had a size 13 foot. Robert E. Lee had a size 4.5 foot. I have a size 12.5 foot, sometimes 13, sometimes 12 – it might depend on how much water I am retaining on any given day, but that’s kinda gross if you really think about it.

A hummingbird cannot stand on its feet as they are not strong enough to hold them up on a flat surface.  I also have a hummingbird feeder in my back yard.

Your feet swell during the day and can become 10 percent bigger at the end of the day than they were when you woke up this morning.

Eli Whitney made more money as a gun manufacturer than he did from the cotton gin.

The roller coaster was invented in the 17th century in Russia.

There are more sweat glands on the soles of your feet than on any other part of your body.

Speaking of feet, did you know African elephants stay on their feet for 35 to 40 years?

Abraham Lincoln died in a bed slept in by his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Chinese celebrate their birthdays only once every ten years.

A toad has no teeth.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

Almost half of the bones in your body are in your hands and feet.

Istanbul, Turkey is actually in two continents – Asia and Europe.

Your brain is approximately 80% water.

Your feet perspire approximately one-half of a pint of water per day. Here in Houston my feet perspire a whole pint, but that’s more information than you wanted to know beside it being damned hot here in Houston.

William Moulton Marston was the creator of Wonder Woman. He also invented the polygraph.

U.S. Patent # 3,593,345 was granted for the “whisper seat,” a toilet seat with soundproof lining to prevent noise from being heard by others.

The honey bee is the only bee that dies after stinging.

The bat is the only mammal that can fly.

Sharks are the only fish that can blink both eyes.

James Buchanan was the only bachelor US President.

Things your mother should have told you…. 

1. Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.

2. Use a meat baster to “squeeze” your pancake batter onto the hot griddle and you’ll get perfectly shaped pancakes every time.

3. To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.

4. To prevent eggshells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard-boiling.

5. Run your hands under cold water before pressing Rice Krispies treats in the pan and the marshmallow won’t stick to your fingers.

6. To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, bring them to room temperature and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before squeezing.

7. To easily remove burnt on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on the stovetop.

8. Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato-based sauces and there won’t be any stains.

9. When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won’t be any white mess on outside of the cake.

10. If you accidentally over-salt a dish while it’s still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant “fix me up.”

11. Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.

12. Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.

13. Place a slice of apple in hardened brown sugar to soften it.

14. When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corn’s natural sweetness.

15. To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh, but if it rises to the surface, throw it away.

16. Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead.  The throbbing will go away.

17. Don’t throw out all that leftover wine: Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.

18. If you have a problem opening jars: Try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.

19. Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.

20. To get rid of itch from mosquito bites, try applying soap on the area and you will experience instant relief.

21. Ants, ants, ants everywhere … Well, they are said to never cross a chalk line. So get your chalk out and draw a line on the floor or wherever ants tend to march. See for yourself.

22. Use air-freshener to clean mirrors. It does a good job and better still, leaves a lovely smell to the shine.

23. When you get a splinter, reach for the scotch tape before resorting to tweezers or a needle. Simply put the scotch tape over the splinter, then pull it off. Scotch tape removes most splinters painlessly and easily.

24. Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer. Clean a toilet.  Drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes, brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous china. Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets. Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes. Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka-Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary). Unclog a drain. Clear the sink drain by dropping three Alka-Seltzer tablets down the drain followed by a cup of Heinz White Vinegar. Wait a few minutes, then run the hot water.