Random Facts Take 6

An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire 50 miles long.

An owl cannot move it's eyeballs in its eye sockets.

An oyster can change it's sex a number of times during its life.

An oyster can change its sex once every seven days.

Anagrams amused the ancient Greeks, Romans and Hebrews, and were popular during the Middle Ages.

Ancient Chinese artists would never paint pictures of women's feet.

Ancient Egyptian priests would pluck every hair from their bodies.

Ancient Egyptians believed that "Bast" was the mother of all cats on Earth. They also believed that cats were sacred animals.

Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.

Andorra, a tiny country on the border between France and Spain, has the longest average lifespan: 83.49 years.

Andrew Jackson spent most of his adult life with a bullet no more than two inches away from his heart as a result of a duel he fought before becoming President.

Andrew Johnson, was the only self-educated tailor. He is the only President to make his own clothes as well as his cabinet's.

Andy Warhol based his 1964 series of silk portraits of Marilyn Monroe on a still photo from the 1952 movie Niagra.

Andy Warhol created the Rolling Stone's emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the 'Sticky Fingers' album.

Animals that lay eggs don't have belly buttons.

Anne Boleyn, Queen Elizabeth I's mother, had six fingers on one hand.

Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I, had an extra finger on her left hand.

Annually, approximately 46 millions Cokes, five million pounds of French fries, and seven million hamburgers are consumed at Walt Disney World Resort.

Another law in Helena, Montana, mandates that a woman can't dance on a table in a saloon or bar unless she has on at least three pounds, two ounces of clothing.

Another name for your pinky finger is Wanus

Antarctica has only one ATM machine.

Antarctica is the only continent without any reptiles or snakes.

Antarctica is visited by over 10,000 tourists a year.

Anteaters prefer termites to ants.

Ants are social insects and live in colonies which may have as many as 500,000 individuals.

Ants can live completely submerged underwater for up to 2 days.

Ants make up 1/10 of the total world animal tissue

Any free-moving liquid in outer space will form itself into a sphere, because of it's surface tension.

Any month that starts on a Sunday will have a Friday the 13th in it.

Anyone could come to Andrew Jackson's public parties at the White House. At his last one, a wheel of cheese weighing 1,400 lbs. was eaten in two hours. The White House smelled of cheese for weeks.

Apparently 1/3 of people with alarm clocks hit the 'snooze' button every morning, and from 25-34 age group, it is over 1/2. (Are you one of them?? I am, I purposefully set mine earlier than I usually wake up so I can have the satisfaction of thinking I slept in by hitting that button over and over)

Apple pie was brought to England from France sometime around 1066 by William the Conqueror. It made it to America when the Pilgrims arrived.

Apple pits contain cyanide.

Apples are more effecient than caffeine for waking you up in the morning.

Approximate number of facial expressions dogs can make: 100.

Approximately 125 people die in the United States from an anaphylaxis to foods each year.

Approximately 20% of Americans have a passport.

Approximately 200 pets are buried in a pet cemetery out of the thousands of pets that die each day.

Approximately 25,000 workers died during the building of the Panama Canal, and approximately 20,000 of them contracted malaria and yellow fever.

Approximately 40,000 tons of meteoric dust hits the Earth each year.

Approximately 850 peanuts make a 18 oz jar of peanut butter.

Approximately one out of four injuries by athletes involve the wrist and hand.

Arabic numerals are not really Arabic; they were invented in India.

Argentineans eat more meat than any other nation in the world an average of 10 ounces per person per day.

Aristedes won the first Kentucky Derby in 1875.

Armadillos along with humans are the other creatures that can contract leprosy.

Armadillos can be house broken.

Armadillos can have up to four babies at a time and they are always all the same sex.

Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves when they rode past their king. This custom has become the modern military salute.

Army doctor D.W. Bliss attended to two presidents after they were shot by assassins. In 1865 he was one of the 16 doctors who tried to save Abraham Lincoln. In 1881 he supervised the care of James Garfield.

Around 2,000 left-handed people die annually due to improper use of equipment designed only for right handed people.

Around 22% of Americans are teenagers.

Around the 16th century the Yo-Yo was used by Philipinos to stun prey from trees.

Arrowroot, an antidote for poisoned arrows, is used as a thickener in cooking.

As artists and traders in medieval cities began to form organizations, they instituted tough initiation ceremonies. For example, journeymen in Bergen, Norway, were shoved down a chimney, thrown three times into the sea, and soundly whipped.

As bananas ripen, the starch in the fruit turns to sugar. Therefore, the riper the banana the sweeter it will taste.

As late as 1820, the universe was thought to be 6,000 years old. It is now thought to be between 15 and 20 billion years old.

As much as 80% of microwaves from mobile phones are absorbed by YOUR HEAD! visit microshield

As of 14.10.2003, only 0.6% of people actually sign the guestbook. Its true. Over 120,000 visitors. Yes, the statistic did go down.

As of 1996, Hee Haw holds the record for the longest running weekly first-run syndicated show in the history of television. It spanned over 4 decades, from the late '60s to the early '90s, airing every Saturday night at 7:00.

As of Dec. 31, 2000, the number of climbers summiting Mt. Everest reached 1314, and the number of deaths on the mountain reached 167.

Aspirin was the first drug offered as a water-soluble tablet in 1900.

Aspirin went on sale as the first pharmaceutical drug in 1899, after Felix Hoffman, a German chemist at the drug company Bayer, successfully modified Salicylic Acid, a compound found in willow bark to produce Aspirin.

Assuming that all the offspring survived, 190,000,000,000,000,000,000 flies could be produced in four months by the offspring of a single pair of flies.

Astronaut John Glenn ate the first meal in space when he ate pureed applesauce squeezed from a tube aboard Friendship 7 in 1962.

Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper was so relaxed on the morning of his launch into space in May 1963 that he fell asleep in his space capsule while waiting for blastoff.

Astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon with his left foot.

Astronauts are not allowed to eat beans before they go into space because passing wind in a spacesuit damages them.

Astronauts become between two and three inches taller when in space.

Astronauts brought back about 800 pounds of lunar rock to Earth. Most of it has not been analyzed.

Astronauts grow taller in space

At 188 decibels, the whistle of the blue whale is the loudest sound produced by any animal.

At 4,145 miles, the Nile River is the longest in the world.

At -40 degrees fahrenheit,a person loses about 14.4 calories per hour breathing.

At 840,000 square miles, Greenland is the largest island in the world. It is three times the size of Texas. By comparison, Iceland is only 39,800 square miles.

At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the marriage only lasted a year. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother. If Bill and Mandy had remained married, Stephen would have been his father's father-in-law and his own grandpa.

At age seventy, 73% of men are still potent.

At Andrew Jackson's funeral in 1845, his pet parrot had to be removed because it was swearing.

At Arkansas State University two people cannot hold hands while standing in a doorway unless they belong to a union.

At birth, a panda is smaller than a mouse and weighs about four ounces.

At birth, bear cubs weigh between 1/2 1 pound.

At its center, the sun has a density of over a hundred times that of water, and a temperature of 10-20 million degrees Celsius.

At Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida, on June 26, 1985, organist Wilbur Snapp played "Three Blind Mice" following a call by umpire Keith O'Connor. The umpire was not amused, and saw to it that Mr. Snapp was ejected from the game.

At one time in India, a fiance was required to deflower his future bride if she died before the wedding. The girl could not be cremated until this ritual was carried out in front of the village priest.

At one time the earth consisted of one land mass and a huge body of water. Geologists today call the land Pangaea (from the Greek words "all land"), while the water was called Panthalassa (from the Greek words "all sea"). Between 180 and 200 million years ago, Pangaea split into two parts: Laurasia, which consisted of North America, Europe and Asia; and Gondwanaland, which consisted of Africa, South America, India, Antarctica and Australia.

At one time, there was a law in India that forbade lower-caste people from casting their shadows on a member of the Brahman (the upper class).

Yes! I got to 7 posts (I think) in February! I'm stepping it up again! I shall continue my random facts some other time, unless you peoples insist I keep on going.....