Part (2) -100 Dazzling Facts Everyone Should Know

This is the 2nd part in a series of  World Facts Everyone Should Know, please read on. If you missed the 1st part, go check it out here: 100-Dazzling Facts Everyone Should Know (Part 1)

51. When he was younger, Jake Gyllenhaal got driving lessons from a family friend. That friend was Paul Newman Paul Newman, by the way, both a race car driver and a race car owner.

52. But speaking of celebrity friends, Larry King and Snoop Dog hang out.

53. Jeopardy contestants stand on platforms that are adjusted so they all appear to be the same height.

54. Richard Gere went to UMass Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship.

55. The light emitted by 200,000 galaxies makes our universe a shade of beige that scientists call "cosmic latte."

56. You can fit 75 New Jerseys in Alaska's area. But why would you want 75 New Jerseys? I'm just kidding, people from New Jersey. [mouthed: No I'm not]

57. In other geography news: Reno is west of Los Angeles.

58. Deipnophobia is the fear of dinner conversations. I have that one, but then again, I do have most of them.

59. Yawning is so contagious that it can spread from humans to dogs or chimpanzees.

60. In 1916, 4 years before the Constitution recognized her right to vote, Jeannette Rankin became the first woman elected to Congress.

61. Speaking of politics, in 1958 Larry King smashed into John F. Kennedy's car. JFK said he would forget the whole thing if King promised to vote for him when he ran for President.

62. The very first webcam watched a coffee pot so researchers at Cambridge could monitor the coffee situation without leaving their desks. Why don't we have one of those?

63. The last time a Republican was elected President without a Nixon or a Bush on the ticket was 1928.

64. For a time, Kurt Vonnegut was Geraldo Rivera's father-in-law.

65. In 1980, Detroit presented Saddam Hussein with a key to their city.

66. In a 1917 letter to Winston Churchill, Admiral John Fisher used the phrase "O.M.G." I personally believe that Abraham Lincoln coined the abbreviation "rofl," but I don't have proof yet. I don't know why I find Abe Lincoln inventing rofl so funny. I just- He's so tall. I picture him rolling on the floor, that stovepipe hat falling off.

67. A baby can cost new parents 750 hours of sleep in the first year. That seems low, actually.

68. Only two non-humans have ever testified before Congress: Elmo and Ben Affleck. What's that? No, he can't be human. He's too pretty.

69. On a slow news day in 1930, BBC Radio simply reported "There is no news," and then they played piano music. Oh gosh, imagine if Fox News did that today.

70. Speaking of slow news, ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen originally wanted to put on a Connecticut sports show featuring Hartford Whalers highlights. We wanted to make a joke here about the Hartford Whalers because Meredith's ex-boyfriend was a Hartford Whalers fan. But then we decided that the Hartford Whalers were enough of a joke on their own.

71. The last time the French government used the guillotine to execute a convicted criminal was in 1977.

72. In 2006 an Australian man tried to sell New Zealand on eBay. The price rose to $3,000 before eBay shut it down.

73. By the way, the first item sold on eBay was a broken laser pointer. A collector of broken laser pointers bought it for $14.83.

74. Canadians eat more donuts per capita than any other country.

75. There's a city in Turkey named Batman. In 2008, the mayor sued Warner Brothers for using the name without permission.

76. The necktie originated in Croatia.

77. In 1968, Wilt Chamberlain endorsed Richard Nixon for president saying, "It's intriguing to know I might have some hand in shaping the future of this country".

78. Before settling on the seven dwarfs we know today Disney considered Chesty, Tubby, Burpy, Deafy, Hickey, Wheezy, and Awful. I've also considered hickeys, or reconsidered really.

79. In development, Disney's Aladdin was drawn based on Michael J. Fox and then animators switched the model to Tom Cruise. 

80. The state vegetable of Oklahoma is watermelon. Pull it together, Oklahoma!

81. In 1493 Christopher Columbus thought he saw mermaids. He wrote that they were quote, "Not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men". They were probably manatees. Freakin' patriarchy. Person-atees!

82. The Scots have a word for that panicky hesitation you get when introducing someone whose name you can't remember: tartle.

83. The Beatles were offered the roles of the four vultures in the movie The Jungle Book.

84. The average American three year old child can recognize about a hundred brand logos which means that my child is above average.

85. John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men was almost called Something That Happened.

86. General George Custer graduated last in his class at West Point in 1861.

87. In 1998, a Georgia teen was suspended for one day for wearing a Pepsi t-shirt at his school's Coke 'n Education day.

88. In 1965, a Senate sub-committee predicted that by 2000 Americans would be working 20 hours a week with more than seven weeks of vacation per year. 

89. Film critic Leonard Malkin's complete review of the 1948 movie Isn't It Romantic: "No."

90. The Iron Man edition of Mr. Potato Head is named Tony Starch.

Okay, let's speed it up here at the end.

91. Why can Goofy talk but Pluto can't? Well according to Disney, Goofy was created as a human character as opposed to Pluto who was a pet... so yeah, they don't know either. 

92. Neil Armstrong's astronaut application arrived a week past the deadline but a friend slipped it in with the others.

93. On the 2011 Czech Republic census, 15,070 people listed their religion as "Jedi".

94. Charlie Chaplin once entered a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in San Francisco and lost!

95. Before Beverly Hills was known for rich people, it was known because its soil is great for growing lima beans.

96. It has been estimated that 10% of living Europeans were conceived on an IKEA bed.

97. After he won the Nobel Prize, Niels Bohr was given a perpetual supply of beer piped into his house.

98. By the way, in some European spas you can literally bathe in beer!

99. There are 293 ways to make change for a U.S. dollar.

100. And finally, I return to my salon to tell you that when Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase designed the first one dollar bill in 1862, he put his own face on it.

If you like what you have found out after reading this thread, please don't hesitate to leave your comment in the comment box. Thank you for your time.

Source:Mental Floss on Youtube.