-The seed of the redwood trees are so small that 123,000 of them weigh scarcely a pound.

-It is estimated that 4 million "junk" telephone calls – phone solicitations by persons or programmed machine – are made every day in the United States.

-Pieces of bread were used to erase lead pencil before rubber came into use.

-One-fourth of the people who lose their sense of smell also lose their desire for sexual relations.

-In Muddy, Illinois, the post office measures only 7½ by 10½ feet, about the size of a garden shed. If it wasn't for a sign hanging above the door stating, "U.S. Post Office, Muddy, IL., 62965," finding the tiny, wooden building could be difficult. It is believed to be one of the smallest post offices in the United States.

-The literary collections in the New York Public Library expand at the rate of approximately 10,000 items per week, in dozens of languages.

-A recent survey reveals that one in four Americans "believe in" astrology, up from 18 percent in 1988. One third (33 percent) of those in the 18- to 29-year-old bracket believe, to some extent, that horoscopes and the stars influence and predict events in their lives. Only 18 percent of those 60 years or older put much credence in astrology.

-Christmas trees are edible. Many parts of pines, spruces, and firs can be eaten. The needles are a good source of vitamin C. Pine nuts, or pine cones, are also a good source of nutrition

-A recent study conducted by the Shyness Clinic in Menlo Park, California, revealed that almost 90 percent of Americans label themselves as shy.

-When commercial telephone service was introduced between New York and London in 1927, the first three minutes of a call cost $75.00.

-If you add together all the numbers on a roulette wheel (1 to 36), the total is the mystical number 666, often associated with the Devil.

-In Sweden, it is a breech of etiquette for you to toast your host or anyone who is your senior in rank or age until after they toast you.

-The nursery rhyme "Ring Around the Rosey" is a rhyme about the plague. Infected people with the plague would get red circular sores ("Ring around the rosey"), these sores would smell very badly so common folks would put flowers on their bodies somewhere (inconspicuously), so that it would cover the smell of the sores ("a pocket full of posies"). Furthermore, people who died from the plague would be burned so as to reduce the possible spread of the disease ("ashes, ashes, we all fall down").

-Rafflesia flowers can measure 3 feet across -- the biggest flowers of any plant. They are also the smelliest flowers, reeking of rotten meat. This is a trick designed to attract flies for pollination

-A bucket filled with earth would weigh about 5 times more than the same bucket filled with the substance of the Sun. However, the force of gravity is so much greater on the Sun that a man weighing 150 pounds on our planet would weigh 2 tons on the Sun.

-Fire causes $15 billion in damage each year in the US.

-Before prohibition, Shlitz brewery owned more land in Chicago than anyone else, except the Catholic Church.

-Antarctica holds about 70% of the world's freshwater in its ice.

-101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan are the only two Disney animated features in which both the parents are present and don't die throughout the movie.

-Approximately 1 in 10,000 eggs has the Salmonella bacteria.

-60% of the world's geysers are in Yellowstone National Park.

-The world's largest fruit are giant pumpkins. The world record is 1061lbs (481.3 kg)

-In 1996 Americans bought $2.6 billion worth of gum.

-There are twice as many Kangaroos in Australia as people.

-Beelzebub is Hebrew for "Lord of the Flies."

-Alaskan citizens do not pay any state taxes; instead every person over the age of 6 months receives an oil dividend check of about $1000 per year.

-The US Mint makes about 20 billion coins per year.

-Only the US Mint produces money faster than the gambling industry in Las Vegas.

-Non-dairy creamer is flammable.

-80% of Publishers' Clearing House $10 million winners did not purchase any magazine subscriptions.

-The warmest temperature ever recorded on Antarctica was 3 degrees F.

-The bubbles in Guinness beer sink to the bottom - no one knows why.

-When possums are playing possum they are not "playing", they actually pass out from sheer terror

-according to the federal center for substance abuse prevention "for kids under 21, there is no difference between alcohol and other drug use and abuse", incredibly, it makes no distinction between a self reliant 20 yr old toasting his love at their wedding reception with a sip of champagne and a drug-addicted 20 yr old doing crack cocaine!

-There was only one pointer, the hour hand, on the first clocks made in the fourteenth century. The minute and seconds hands were added in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

-There are more television sets in the United States than there are people in Japan.

-Experts have come to the conclusion that additional U.S. freeways does not automatically ease vehicle congestion. An example was shown in Springfield, Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C. The 8-year, $434 million freeway construction project resulted in commuters shaving only 30 seconds off of their drive time. The conclusion was that motorists lost more time in delays during construction than they could make up once the construction was complete.

-Over 180 million Cadbury's Creme Eggs are sold between January and Easter each year — that's more than three Creme Eggs for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.

-Crystals grow by reproducing themselves. The come the nearest to being "alive" of all members of the mineral kingdom.

-By law, Bourbon must be produced in America, made from at least 51 percent corn, and made from a fermented sourmash of grains.

-Miami Beach, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, Palm Beach, Pacific Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach — there are scores of U.S. coastal cities and towns with "beach" in their names. Surprisingly, there's only one city in the United States named merely "Beach." It is found in North Dakota, which is a land-locked state.

-The island nation of Cyprus is proudly reclaiming its ancient honor of being the birthplace of the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite, and now offers a tasteful re-creation of her ancient rites for visitors and locals.

-The Humane Society estimates that there are 800,000 dog bites that require medical attention every year. Dog bites rank second behind sexually transmitted diseases as the most costly health problem in the United States. Over 60 percent of those bitten are children, and 80 percent of the fatalities are also children.

-Migrating geese fly in a V-formation to save energy. A goose's wings churn the air and leave an air current behind. In the flying wedge, each bird is in position to get a lif

-Mary Shelly's Frankenstein is the most widely taught novel in America.

-the only member of the band ZZ Top without a beard has the last name beard

-clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their houses down - hence the expression "to get fired"

-When a journalist asked her what she wore to bed, Marilyn Monroe replied "Chanel No. 5."

-Baskin-Robbins introduced the flavor "Lunar Cheesecake" to commemorate America's landing on the moon on July 20, 1969.

-Irving Berlin never learned to read music or to write it. He hummed or sang his songs to a secretary, who wrote them down in musical notation.

-Sylvan N. Goldman of Humpty Dumpty Stores and Standard Food Markets developed the shopping cart so that people could buy more in a single visit to the grocery store. He unveiled his creation in Oklahoma City on June 4, 1937.

-In 1893, Chicago hired its first police woman. Her name was Marie Owens. While the city was progressive in its hiring practices, Chicago's female police officers were not allowed to wear uniforms until 1956.

-Eddie Arcaro, one of the greatest jockeys in horse race history, rode 250 losers before he won his first race. Ultimately, Arcaro won 4,779 races — including five Derby winners, six in the Preakness, and six in the Belmont Stakes, on such famous horses as Whirlaway, Citation, and Kelso.

-Ancient Egyptians regarded the heart as the center of intelligence and emotion. They believed the brain to have no significance whatsoever, and in the important process of mummification, the brain was removed through the nose and discarded.

-The names of Popeye's four nephews are Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye.

-The invention of typing correction fluid is credited to Bette Nesmith, the mother of former Monkee Mike Nesmith. In the 1950s, Mrs. Nesmith was a typist. One day, she brought with her to work a small brush and a bottle of white paint which she used to correct her typos. She shared her "Mistake Out" with other secretaries, and was soon approached by an office supply company to market her invention. She later renamed the product Liquid Paper, and in 1979, sold the rights to the Gillette Company for $47.5 million.

-Shakespeare spelled his own name several different ways.

-For golfing enthusiasts, Maricopa County in Arizona boasts the most golf courses in the country with a reported 168, followed by Palm Beach County in Florida with 150 and Riverside County in California with 145.

-Only men were allowed to eat at the first self-service restaurant, the Exchange Buffet in New York, opened in 1885. Customers ate standing up.

-Goldie Hawn is a direct descendent of Edward Rutledge, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence.

-According to poetic legend, Lizzie Borden used her ax and gave her mother 40 whacks and her father 41. In actuality, the police accused her of giving her father 10 whacks and her stepmom 19. Lizzie was acquitted at her trial of the double murder.

-People in Sweden, Japan, and Canada are more likely to know the population of the United States than are Americans.

-American actresses Sharon Stone and Lara Flynn Boyle both have appeared in Japanese ads for cosmetics.

-Penny Marshall was the first woman film director to have a film take in more than $100 million at the box office — she accomplished this with the 1988 flick Big.

-According to biographer Donald Spoto, Alfred Hitchcock had a fear of eggs.

-Anne Rice has stated that she is afraid of the dark.

-Country star, Lyle Lovett, is reportedly afraid of cows.

-Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.

-Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was allergic to carrots.

-Dr. Seuss pronounced "Seuss" such that it rhymed with "rejoice."

-In Casablanca, Humphre