Truely Unusual Facts Series 1

Australia - The Nameless Name

The Nameless Name Pre-18th-century maps show a large land mass labeled Terra Australis Incognita, "The Unknown Southern Land." Geographers had never seen the land, but insisted without it the world would be lopsided."

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Canada is a village

Canada is an Indian word meaning "Big Village". The name Canada has been in use since the earliest European settlement in Canada and most likely originates from a First Nations word kanata for "settlement", "village", or "land". Today, Canada is pronounced /ˈkænədə/ in English and /kanada/ in French.

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Cockroaches Survival Instinct

Scary thought Did you know that a cockroach will live nine days without it's head, before it starves to death.

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Consumption - Hungry, Anyone?

The average human will consume approximately 60,000 pounds of food during their lifespan; this is the the equivalent weight of 6 ELEPHANTS!!! By the way...did you know that you'll probably eat about 35,000 cookies during that time???

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Farting Power

If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

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Glass - Now That's FAST!!!

Breaking glass creates cracks that move in excess of 3000 MpH. That's so fast that it would require a camera to take a picture at one millionth of a second in order to capture the breaking glass on film!

Last Updated: 07-01-2006 @ 02:52 AM

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Graveyard tours

In the Victorian era, cemetaries in New York charged visitors admission fees for guided tours of the grave sites.

Last Updated: 07-03-2006 @ 02:49 AM

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Heavy eyes

A human eyeball weighs about one once.

Last Updated: 11-16-2006 @ 06:50 PM

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High Blood Pressure

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (Not one you should be challenging.)

Last Updated: 07-03-2006 @ 02:49 AM

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I will sue

In the United States alone, there is a lawsuit every 30 seconds.

Last Updated: 11-15-2006 @ 08:21 PM

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Left-handed people doomed

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people do. Very depressing for us lefties.

Last Updated: 07-03-2006 @ 02:48 AM

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Lefties - Poor Southpaws!

Annually, in excess of 2500 left-handed individuals are killed as a direct result of using products that were made for right-handed individuals.

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Longest engagement on record

As unusual as it is the longest engagement on record was 67 years. This couple lived in Mexico City, Mexico and were finally wed when they both were in their 80's.

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Los Angeles full name

Los Angeles's full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" ( "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciuncula") - and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: "L.A."

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Microwaves - Hot Chocolate

"The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket."

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Potatoes

The potato is about 80 percent water and 20 percent solids. The world's largest potato chip was produced by the Pringle's Company in Jackson, TN in 1990. It measured 23' X 14.5' An 8-ounce baked or boiled potato has only about 100 calories. The average American eats about 124 pounds of potatoes per year while Germans eat about twice as much. In 1974, an Englishman named Eric Jenkins grew 370 pounds of potatoes from one plant. Thomas Jefferson gets the credit for introducing 'French fries' to America when he served them at a White House dinner. The potato belongs to the family Solanaceae; all the plants in this family share certain characteristics, like having similar leaves and flowers. Other members of the family are the tomato, the chili pepper, the eggplant, poisonous nightshade, belladonna, the petunia, and the tobacco plant. Some parts of these plants are very poisonous. Tomatoes, Batatas, Potatoes, Patatas. . . The sweet potato belongs in the same family as the morning glory(Ipomoea batatas)and is not a relative of the potato. The Spanish who brought sweet potatoes back from the West Indies called them by their native name batatas. When white potatoes (papas) were introduced into Spain some years later, some people thought they were related. Soon papas were renamed patatas, but both were translated into the English as potato. Let's call the whole thing off! The potato skin changes its chemical structure after it is harvested. The outer layers thicken and harden, and their cells are converted to the same substance that is found in bottle cork. Less than 1 acre of potatoes can produce enough potato gasahol to fill up 25 cars.

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Roller Coasters - Going in circles

Six Flags claims that this was the first triple-looping coaster in the world. This is completely wrong, however. There are two distinct loops, but the third one is just a severely tilted helix where the train dives down and then back up.

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Smallest Plant

One of the smallest plants 'Cyclococcolithus leptoporus' has an elaborate outer shell of patterned scales. They are so tiny that 500 would fit on the head of a pin. - Strange Stories, Amazing Facts

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Smile!

Teeth are the only part of your skeleton that is exposed to the outside world.

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Sneezing with eyes open

It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open. Hmmm... sounds dangerous.