The Best Interesting Random Facts
The time will come to each of us to chuck one’s weight around; to exhibit a period of ostentation, influence, or power. It may be long in the coming, but, according to the old proverb “every dog has his day”, everyone will at some time, at least once, be able to emulate the dog that, […]
The Jack Russell Terrier is a small terrier that originated from dogs bred for hunting in the 1800s using traditional fox terriers. It is commonly confused with the Parson Russell Terrier and the Russell Terrier with the term “Jack Russell” commonly mistakenly used for other small white terriers. Most historians say the pre-1900 fox terrier […]
There were once sheep grazing on the White House lawn. Woodrow Wilson had a flock there during World War I, and sold wool to help raise money for the Red Cross. The sheep produced almost one hundred pounds of raw wool for the war effort. The flock of eighteen sheep also helped with White House […]
Though it lives in the sea, the whale is a warm-blooded mammal. It must breathe oxygen from the air to live. When surfacing, the whale takes in oxygen through the blowhole on top of its head. Then, filling its large elastic lungs which are connected to the blowhole, the whale dives to feed. While underwater, […]
Sitting outside on summer evenings, you may have wondered how fireflies make those bright little flashes of light. To begin with, the firefly is not a fly, it is a beetle. And inside that beetle’s stomach are five chemicals. When oxygen enters the firefly’s body, it stimulates a nerve reaction which causes those five chemicals […]
Zebras and Horses can indeed mate and produce offspring, and they do this regularly. And Zebras can mate not just with horses, but with donkeys as well. Zebras and horses are crossbred, usually a zebra stallion with a horse mare, not just for curiosity’s sake but because they also make good pack animals. They’re usually […]
Many people use llamas for packing, and they are perfect for long backpacking trips. Because of the llama’s easy-going nature, many people are enjoying wilderness treks that they would not be able to with other pack animals. Most places don’t allow you to rent one of their animals without a guide and a specific trek […]
It is not its temper that makes a rhinoceros charge an intruder, but its poor eyesight. If it cannot recognize something, it will take no chances, but rush at it like a living tank, fast and furiously, ready to bite. The “horn” at the end of the rhino’s long nose, which can vary from 1 […]
In the early days of our country, there were many different kinds of coins in use. In the southwestern parts of the United, States close to Mexico, the Mexican peso was common, and so was a small Mexican coin called the real, which was worth 12.5 cents. When the 25-cent piece, or quarter, came into […]
In the play Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco, Berenger watches as the people in his life turn into rhinoceroses, including his coworkers, his best friend, Jean, and his secretary, Daisy. Berenger is left alone to fight all of the rhinoceroses. In the classic play that bolstered the playwright’s career in America, Engene Ionesco was illustrating his […]
The way most of us pamper cats, you could say that many modern Americans worship the feline. You’ll also find cat-based religions in past or present Thailand, China, India, and among the Incas in South America. It may be hard to believe, but the Bible doesn’t mention cats of any sort, not even once. However, […]
Meats, like wines, can be either red or white. Beef is red; fish and shellfish are generally white. Salmon are pink, rosé, if you like, because they eat pink-shelled crustaceans. Flamingos, if you care, are pink for a similar reason. In the kitchen, we soon learn that white fish flesh cooks much more quickly than […]
Most birds of prey have eyes on the sides of their heads, but owls have large forward-facing stereoscopic eyes that enable depth perception necessary for low-light hunting. The large eyes of an owl are for acute night vision, and they are also like pair of sunglasses. Being nocturnal, much of their hunting is done at […]
The bald eagle was chosen by the Second Continental Congress in 1782 to be the national emblem of the U.S. because the species was unique to North America. Other species were considered, however, Ben Franklin wanted the turkey as the national bird. It, too, was a native American species, but it wasn’t just the turkey’s […]
These days, only special time travel will provide a chance of becoming a samurai warrior. The samurai began as a class of warriors in feudal Japan and stayed in power through the 17th century. But even if you could transport back to the days of the samurai, chances are you wouldn’t have measured up. Few […]
Chameleons are lizards known for their ability to change colors. But contrary to popular belief, the chameleon does not change its color to match its background. It changes as a result of its mood, the temperature, or light conditions. Most chameleons have brown or green as their main color, but they can turn to an […]
Toto in the movie The Wizard of Oz was a Cairn terrier. Snoopy was beagle which often battled the Red Baron. There’s no denying the strong bond between human and canine. Mark Twain once said, “Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” What […]
Alfred Hitchcock had several nicknames. His folks called him Fred. His schoolmates and friends called him kooky. He referred to himself as Hitch. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 and he pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller film genres. Hitchcock directed over fifty feature films in a career […]
The word computer first appeared in the seventeenth century as the job title of a person who did calculations as an occupation. Most human computers weren’t paid very much, just like the Information Technology workers of today, even though their job descriptions are slightly different. Although slide rules were sometimes called computers, it wasn’t until […]
The term Ivy League has nothing to do with the ivy-covered walls of the prestigious schools to which it refers. Several Eastern U.S. schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia, became known collectively as the “Interscholastic Four League,” but the four was always written in Roman numerals, “IV”, and was pronounced “eye-vee.” By the […]
The mystery of the behemoth mentioned in the Bible has stumped quite a few. In modern Hebrew, the word translates to “cattle,” but it’s unlikely this is what the author meant, as cattle are named very specifically in other parts of the Bible. What do we know for sure? The behemoth was a large beast, […]
No one knows for certain where the game of chess was first played. Most likely, the game began in ancient India, where it was called chaturanga. This word refers to the four members of an Indian army: the foot soldier, the elephant, the chariot, and the horse. During the 6th or 7th century, the game […]
Unrefrigerated lobster meat turns bad faster than other types of edible animal flesh, including fish. This is why the cruel tradition of boiling them alive began centuries ago, before the refrigerator was invented. Nowadays they can be killed humanely without going bad before boiling. In fact, currently most lobsters are killed and frozen right on […]
Scientists in Kyoto, Japan, clocked the growth of a group of bamboo plants and watched as one of them set a world record. This plant grew 48 inches in 24 hours, two inches an hour. If you had been there, you could have watched it growing. In China, people used to listen to the bamboo […]
Have you ever noticed that the bottoms of ships or the supports of piers are often covered with white, shell-like substances with sharp edges? Perhaps you’ve even cut yourself on them while handling a rope or barrel that was in the water. These white substances are produced by tiny sea creatures known as barnacles. Barnacles […]
We’re not sure if you really want to know why female dogs keep cleaning her puppies all the time. Puppies are completely helpless at birth, even more so than human babies. They’re not able to hear for two to three weeks because their ear canals remain sealed. They don’t even open their eyes for at […]
Piggy banks are storage devices traditionally used for coins and are generally used by children of all ages. Piggy banks are usually made of ceramic or porcelain, and serve to teach children the value of money by encouraging them to save money. Money is inserted through a hole in the top and traditional Piggy Banks […]
Captain John Smith described this unattractive insect in 1624: “A certain India Bug, called by the Spaniards a Cacarootch, the which creeping into Chests they eat and defile with their ill-sented dung.” The Spanish name, however, is cucaracha, which the English, with usual disregard for foreign languages, converted to cockroach.
New York is called the Empire State not because of the Empire State Building, the state had its nickname long before 1931, when that famous skyscraper was built. No one knows for sure how New York got the nickname, but some historians think the name can be traced to George Washington, who once said the […]
No. Even though the part of the potato we eat grows in the ground, it is not the root of the plant. It is the underground part of the stem that has thickened. This part of the stem is called a tuber. Tubers thicken and grow big because they store the food supply for the […]