Series ... Stupid facts :-)

Stupid Facts

• Yams and sweet potatoes are actually unrelated vegetables.
  (see Fruits and Vegetables)

• The lungfish can remain in suspended animation, without water, for 4 years.

• The horned lizard shoots blood 4 feet out of its eye for self defense.

• The Hippopotamus kills more people than any other African mammal.

• The scientific term for the belly button, or navel, is the "umbilicus."

• The word "shrimp" comes from "shrimpe" meaning "pygmy".

• Every major world cuisine has a form of crepe.

• Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, is the oldest university in the world, founded in 969 AD.

• "Duct Tape" was originally named "Duck Tape" because of its ability to repel water.

• Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

• Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.

• Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

• Upper and lower case letters are named 'upper' and 'lower' because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the 'upper case' letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the smaller, 'lower case' letters.

• There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

• The mask used by Michael Myers in the original "Halloween" was a Captain Kirk mask painted white.

• The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

• You can test positive for drug use after eating poppy seed bagels.

• Veal has less fat than boneless, skinless chicken breast.

• The largest operational pipe organ in the world is located in a department store in Philadelphia.

• Manhole covers are round so that they don't fall in the hole.

• It is possible for hot water to freeze faster than cold water.

• The anaconda it the largest living snake.

• The capybara is the largest living rodent.

• The hardest substance in the human body is the enamel of the teeth.
  (see Human Teeth)

• A & W root beer takes its name from the last names of business partners Roy Allen and Frank Wright.

• Atomic bombs release 50% energy as blast, 35% as heat and 15% as nuclear radiation.

• Paper money isn't made out of paper; it's made out of cotton.
  (see Coins and Currency)

• The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.

• Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of plaster.