- The entire state of Wyoming only has two escalators.
- The ampersand symbol is formed from the letters in et—the Latin word for “and.”
- Ravens in captivity can learn to talk better than parrots.
- It’s a myth that no two snowflakes are exactly the same. In 1988, a scientist found two identical snow crystals. They came from a storm in Wisconsin.
- When Disneyland opened in 1955, “Tomorrowland” was designed to look like a year in the distant future: 1986.
- When the last official Blockbuster Video closed in November 2013, the final rental was the apocalyptic comedy This Is the End.
- In 1939, Hitler’s nephew wrote an article called “Why I Hate My Uncle.” He came to the U.S., served in the Navy, and settled on Long Island.
- On an April day in 1930, the BBC reported, “There is no news.” Instead they played piano music.
- Ben & Jerry learned how to make ice cream by taking a $5 correspondence course offered by Penn State. (They decided to split one course.)
- The word “PEZ” comes from the German word for peppermint—PfeffErminZ.
- In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel was spending $2,500 a month on rubber bands just to hold all their cash.
- The Vatican Bank is the world’s only bank that allows ATM users to perform transactions in Latin.
- The Q in Q-tips stands for quality.
- Editor Bennett Cerf challenged Dr. Seuss to write a book using no more than 50 different words. The result? Green Eggs and Ham.
- Reno is farther west than Los Angeles.
- William Faulkner refused a dinner invitation from JFK’s White House. “Why that’s a hundred miles away,” he said. “That’s a long way to go just to eat.”
- How did Curious George get to America? He was captured in Africa by The Man With the Yellow Hat — with his yellow hat.
- Fredric Baur invented the Pringles can. When he passed away in 2008, his ashes were buried in one.
- God and Jesus are the only characters on The Simpsons with a full set of fingers and toes.
- The sum of all the numbers on a roulette wheel is 666.
- Only one McDonald’s in the world has turquoise arches. Government officials in Sedona, Arizona, thought the yellow would look bad with the natural red rock of the city.
- Brenda Lee was only 13 when she recorded “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.”
- Dolly Parton once entered a Dolly Parton look-a-like contest—and lost.
- In Peanuts in 1968, Snoopy trained to become a champion arm-wrestler. In the end, he was disqualified for not having thumbs.
- The famous “Heisman pose” is based on Ed Smith, a former NYU running back who modeled for the trophy’s sculptor in 1934.
- Before settling on the Seven Dwarfs we know today, Disney also considered Chesty, Tubby, Burpy, Deafy, Hickey, Wheezy, and Awful.
- Herbert Hoover was Stanford’s football team manager. At the first Stanford-Cal game in 1892, he forgot to bring the ball.
- In 1965, a Senate subcommittee predicted that by 2000, Americans would only be working 20 hours a week with seven weeks vacation.
- There are roughly 70 ingredients in the McRib.
- Brazil couldn’t afford to send its athletes to the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. So they loaded their ship with coffee and sold it along the way.
- George Washington insisted his continental army be permitted a quart of beer as part of their daily rations.
- When Canada’s Northwest Territories considered renaming itself in the 1990s, one name that gained support was “Bob.”
- President Nixon was speaking at Disney World when he famously declared, “I am not a crook.”
- In a 1917 letter to Winston Churchill, Admiral John Fisher used the phrase “O.M.G.”
- Sea otters hold hands when they sleep so they don’t drift apart.
- Until 1954, stop signs were yellow.
- Garbage trucks in Taipei play Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” to let people know it’s time to bring the trash out.
- In 1991, Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, married Russi Taylor—the voice of Minnie.
- In the 1880s, a baboon worked as a signalman for nine years on a South African railroad. He was paid in brandy and never made a mistake.
- “Jay” used to be slang for “foolish person.” So when a pedestrian ignored street signs, he was referred to as a “jaywalker.”
- Duncan Hines was a real person. He was a popular restaurant critic who also wrote a book of hotel recommendations.
- The only number whose letters are in alphabetical order is 40 (f-o-r-t-y).
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