HUMOR: More factoids waiting to be verified. . . but not by me

[Alice Yucht <AliceInfo@AOL.COM>]

the ultimate research assignment for the class with time to spare:
find out if these arcane bits of trivia are accurate or not

(and please don't ask me -- I do NOT know; I'm just sharing the "wealth")
Alice H. Yucht, Teacher-Librarian
Heritage Middle School, Livingston, NJ
Aliceinfo@aol.com

---------------------------------------------------------

>The concept of the spin cycle in a washing machine was invented in 1957
>by Jacques Renault, a French washing machine mechanic.
>
>The skin of the banana is poison to many tropical insects.  The chemicals
>which made the skins smokable also kill pests.
>
>If you drive behind an ordinary city bus for only an hour you will inhale
>enough exhaust fumes to lower the oxygen levels in your blood to dangerous
>levels.
>
>Shoes are a mixed blessing.  They protect your feet, yet they also deform
>them.  Peoples who do not wear shoes have much healthier feet structurally,
>though many more cases of foot worms.
>
>Average American use of steel has doubled over the last 80 years even with
>the introduction of plastics and polymers.
>
>The potato, much maligned, is a much better food than the favored, and
>fat filled, peanut.
>
>In 1893 over 70% of "gentlemen" kept diaries.  Today that figure has dropped
>below 10%.  Potential legal problems and a lack of time are most often
>given as the reasons for the drop.
>
>When Scotch tape was first marketed the North American Liquor Board sued
>for copyright infringement.
>
>To produce one year of the Washington Post, enough trees to cover Rhode
>Island are chopped down.
>
>Since Fabio first appeared romance books have increased in sales by 42%.
>The market for spray butter has not increased appreciably.
>
>Over the last 20 years sales of Christmas trees have increased by 17%.
>Population by only 11%.
>
>The Beatles sell more CDs now than they did LP records in 1970.
>
>Europeans use only 67% as much soap per capita as North Americans.  The
>French use only 24% as much.
>
>More baseball caps are sold today than fedoras were sold in the 1950s.
>
>The African Sand Beetle can live its entire life and never drink water.
>
>The wattage of electric light bulbs increases logarithmically, thus a 60
>watt bulb does not cast twice as much light as a 30 watt bulb.
>
>More books are published in a year in the United States than the average
>person will hold in a lifetime.
>
>7 days to a week, 52 weeks to a year equals 364 days.  If there are 365
>days in a year, where does the other day go?
>
>The analog recording disk is still the only permanent sound recording device.
>
>There are more kings today than there were 300 years ago.
>
>Modern automobile engines are much more efficient than those of just 30
>years ago.  To gain the same power a modern engine has, a 1968 Camaro would
>need a block half again as large.
>
>Rubber cement is neither rubber nor cement.  Rather it is a mucilage
manufactured
>from equine phlegm.
>
>Athlete's foot is not a rash.  It is a parasitic foot worm.
>
>Bowling, once the most watched sport on TV has fallen behind racing in
>all forms, wrestling and the newly resurgent Roller Derby.
>
>Massive climatic shifts can occur in periods of less than five years. These
>shifts are common (in geologic terms) and will happen again. Imagine living
>800 miles farther north or south next year.  This is not human caused global
>warming, but a natural occurrence.
>
>The Rat-tailed Beaver builds dams like any beaver, but does not slap the
>water with its narrow tail.
>
>The Golden-toed Skink has legs so small it must push with its tail to move.
> Scientists speculate it will someday be legless and locomote like a snake.
>
>#2 pencils were not the second to be invented.  They are a relatively new
>invention.
>
>St Culpepper is the patron Saint of jaywalkers.
>
>More people have read Jackie Collins then have read Hamlet.  Than have
>EVER read Hamlet.
>
>The Phillips and flathead screwdrivers were developed about the same time
>by competing screw manufacturers looking to dominate the market.
>
>Excluding hurricane and typhoon situations rain is likely to be heaviest
>in the early evening and the early morning.  No one is sure why.
>
>Dark walls absorb 32% more light than off white walls.  You will pay less
>for heating, more for lighting, and much more for air conditioning with
>a dark house or office.
>
>The kidney is more intricate than the brain.

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