3146. Fact

The original name for basketball, as invented by Dr. James Naismith, was indoor rugby. It was one of the game's first players that started calling it basketball because of the peach baskets that acted as the original goals.

3147. Fact

The chemical name for caffeine is 1,3,7-trimethylzantihine

3148. Fact

An ostrich egg would take four hours to hard boil.

3149. Fact

Draftsmen have to make 27,000 drawings for the manufacturing of a new car.

3150. Fact

Every year, Alaska has about 5,000 earthquakes.

3151. Fact

Watermelons are a popular gift to bring to a host in China or Japan

3152. Fact

The little circles of paper that are cut out after a paper has been punched by a hole puncher are called chad.

3153. Fact

The E. Coli bacterium propels itself with a 'motor' only one-millionth of an inch in diameter, a thousand times smaller than the tiniest motors built to date by man. The rotation of the bacterial motor comes from a current of protons. The efficiency of the motor approaches 100 per cent.

3154. Fact

The word Himalayas means the home of snow.

3155. Fact

Stilts were invented by French shepherds who needed a way to get around in wet marshes.

3156. Fact

October 1st is the official Coffee Day in Japan.

3157. Fact

Mickey Mouse is known as Topolino in Italy

3158. Fact

One-third pound stalk of broccoli contains more vitamin C than 204 apples

3159. Fact

In 1819, the USA purchased Florida from Spain for the cancellation of a $5 million debt

3160. Fact

Actress Michelle Pfeiffer was the first choice to play Clarice Starling in the movie Silence of the Lambs. She turned down the role because she found it too scary

3161. Fact

The nation of Monaco on the French Riviera, is smaller than Central Park in New York. Monaco is 370 acres and Central Park is 840 acres.

3162. Fact

Cranberries are one of just 3 major fruits native to North America. Blueberries and Concord grapes are the other two.

3163. Fact

Americans use over 16,000 tons of aspirin a year.

3164. Fact

Sir Isaac Newton was an ordained priest in the Church of England.

3165. Fact

The Tonle Sap River in Cambodia flows north for almost half the year and then south for the rest of the year

History Facts
In Palestine 8–9,000 years ago, a dead relative was buried under the floor of the family's house – except the head. The flesh and brain were removed from the head and the skull used as the base for a plaster mould of the person's head, which was decorated and kept.      .. More >>