useless knowledge or great icebreakers...

1. Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was born on and died on days when Halley's Comet can be seen. During his life he predicted that he would die when it could be seen. 2. US Dollar bills are made out of cotton and linen. 3. The "57" on the Heinz ketchup bottle represents the number of pickle types the company once had. 4. Americans are responsible for about 1/5 of the world's garbage annually. On average, that's 3 pounds a day per person. 5. Giraffes and rats can last longer without water than camels. 6. Your stomach produces a new layer of mucus every two weeks so that it doesn't digest itself. 7. 98% of all murders and rapes are by a close family member or friend of the victim. 8. A B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building on July 28, 1945. 9. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper. 10. The dot over the letter "i" is called a tittle. 11. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top. 12. Benjamin Franklin was the fifth in a series of the youngest son of the youngest son. 13. Triskaidekaphobia means fear of the number 13. Paraskevidekatriaphobia means fear of Friday the 13th (which occurs one to three times a year). In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number. In Japan, 4 is considered an unlucky number. 14. A female ferret will die if it goes into heat and cannot find a mate. 15. All the chemicals in a human body combined are worth about 6.25 euro (if sold separately). 16. In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court he would swear on his testicles. 17. The ZIP in "ZIP code" means Zoning Improvement Plan. 18. Coca-Cola contained Coca (whose active ingredient is cocaine) from 1885 to 1903. 19. A "2 by 4" is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2. 20. It's estimated that at any one time around 0.7% of the world's population is drunk. 21. Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history: Spades = David ; Clubs = Alexander the Great ; Hearts = Charlemagne ; Diamonds = Caesar 22. 40% of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals. 23. Every person, including identical twins, has a unique eye and tongue print along with their finger print. 24. The "spot" on the 7-Up logo comes from its inventor who had red eyes. He was an albino. 25. 315 entries in Webster's 1996 dictionary were misspelled.