Someone's treasure is another man's trash

[1st - 18 monika]................. [2th - 15 Bailey].................. [3th - 13 Lastlifeinmyuniverse] [3nd - 13 vengelyne]............ [5rd - 10 Francis Marion]....... [6th - 8 Jnetsworld]............... [7th - 7 Gyrobo]................... [8th - 4 Elizabeth Bloom]....... [9th - 3 Instantiable]............ [10th - 2 Arront]................... [11th - 0 Everyone Else]........ Everyone else needs to get in gear. Come on people!

Friday, April 27, 2007

Good and Evil (and a dash of Morals) Chill, Mix Well, then Serve

The SHORT Post:
There is no 'good' and 'evil'. It's all relative. What's good for you, is bad for someone else. There is no 'good' without 'evil'. You apply for a job and you get it. Good for you. Everyone else who applied? Bad for them. Deal with it, it's all relative.


The LONG Post:
Good and Evil. We're always trying to do 'good', right? Do no wrong, nothing 'evil', because that's bad. But what is 'good', and what is 'evil'? Ok, let me paint you a scenario. And you tell me what's the right thing to do, what was good and what was bad, ok?

Situation A: You're walking down the street, on the way home from work. You happen to find a $20 on the floor. You pick it up, and look around. Nobody's around you. You don't really have anyone to turn it into, no way to report it. You decide, it's your lucky day. You slip it in your pocket and go about your day.

Verdict? That's a good one, right? You find some money! Sweet. You can save that money, or blow it on something. It doesn't matter, it was free. It was excess. It's an unexpected bonus. Right, so let's look at another situation now.

Situation a: You're rushing to get home, and you gotta find your keys. You reach into your pocket and pull out your keys, completely ignorant to the fact that the $20 that's suppose to get you through the day just slipped out of your pocket. You get in your car and go on your way. Hours later, you discover that it's missing, and you have no idea where you lost it.

Verdict? Shit. That sucks. You just lost some of your hard earned cash because you were a little careless. This is defiantely bad, right? But wait. How can the exact same situation be both "good" AND "bad" at the same time? Well, because good and bad, good and evil, it's all reletive. What's beneficial for you is 'good', and what's detrimental to you is 'evil'.

That's it. That's all there is to it. Don't think beyond that. No, don't pull religion into this! No, don't pull laws and morals into-dammit! How did I know you were gonna go there? How? *sigh* Ok, well, fine. Let's talk about that. I mean, 10 Commandments, Laws, morals, traditions, taboos, this, that, it's all fine and dandy. But it doesn't really determine what's 'right' and 'wrong'.

Well, it kind of does I guess but ultimately, it doesnt. Ok, I guess I need to elaborate. Let's start with a simple one. A man breaks into your house, he's wielding a knife, and intends on leaving no witnesses. You arm yourself with a handy firearm (that you legally own, of course) and remove the threat from your home. *bam*, a round goes off and it was quite a shot. The thug is taken down, dead. This is murder. And murder is wrong, right? Well, yeah. Sort of. Murder is ok, if the situation allows, right? Like, if we're going to war, or we're defending ourself, then it's ok. But outright murder is bad, right?

So that already shows that things are very situational, and relative to what the situation is. There is no 'absolute' right or wrong, good or evil in the case of murder. So, uh, yeah. I guess murder (the intentional and unlawful taking of another person's life) can be justified and allowed in civilized societies. Hurray! You hear that? It's OK to murder people! Well, if the situation is right.

And hey! In situation A and a, it already shows that 'good' and 'bad' can both come from the same thing. In fact, there will always be winners and losers for anything that happens. A lot of times, we (people) can agree that there are some 'bad' things that nobody wants. Wiping out humanity, for instance is bad. Or IS it? It's bad for us people, no doubt. But for everything else other than us, it should be pretty good, right? Insects will definately be taking over our old stomping grounds, along with some wild animals. So it's good for them... but damn, that's really bad for us.

[This is the "Big Paragraph"] Then again, we (as a religion) can agree that certain 'taboos' (sins) are bad and nobody should do them. And if someone does, they're wrong (until we change our minds, of course). Then again, we (as a ethnicity) can agree that certain things are good for us, and certain things are good for us, but bad for other ethnicities. Then again, we (as a Country) can agree that certain things are good for us, which may be bad for other Countries. Then again, we (as a city) can agree that certain things are good for us, which may be bad for other cities. Then again, we ( as a family unit) can agree that certain things are good for us, which may be bad for other families.

See how that works? There's lots of 'good' and 'bad' things to each of us. And in fact, there's tons of conflictions within each person because of all these different layers. There's no absolute 'good' or 'bad', but it all depends on (what, who, where, when, why). It may be good for our country, may be bad for our city. And that same thing can be good for our religion, but bad for our family unit. What a shame, huh? That one thing could be so good, good, and bad, bad, ALL at the same time?

"But Bitter old Anifanatic! We have MORALS to guide us!"

Hush you! Who let you back in here!? *KICK* Right, well, I'll still address your point. Morals. We invented morals, plain and simple. That does't mean they're good or bad, just that they can't tell us what really is good or bad. Only what's good or bad in relation to what these sets of morals come from. (Read the "Big Paragraph"). Because morals are relative also. I hope I don't have to go over that whole thing again, as I said (read the "Big Paragraph").

So, a lot of you are probably still wondering. "Well, if ALL this is true Mr. Fancy Pants, then how do we know what's good and bad?" Well, I'm glad you think I have Fancy Pants, and I'm glad you brought up that point. We, as people, decide what's right or wrong. Ok, this is gonna take a few steps of evolution so let' back it up a bit. So I think, murder is wrong. I don't like the idea of people running around killing whoever they like. I like not being in a place where my life is in danger. Then you come along. You feel the same way. We decide to live together, and work together. We have similar beliefs as to what we think is right and wrong, so we start a town, that grows as other likeminded people come to stay with us. These ideas become laws, for everyone to read because this is OUR town and we decided what we think is 'right' and 'wrong'.

Now adjust it a bit slightly different, and you can easily see how it works with other things. This is how countries are formed. This is how religions are formed. This is how clubs are formed, teams, companies, friendships, etc. I think _____ is good and ------ is bad. You agree. We join together to make one of the things I listed above. You know what, these things grow. My country might think something, and yours thinks the same. Our countries become freinds. We hang out and do stuff together. When we meet up with other countries, we're friends! We have each other's back, it's cool! It's the same as if we were individuals, and meeting on a school playground, right?

Right and wrong is taught to us by our parents because they believe something, and they want us to believe it too. We go to a school and we get taught what's right and wrong by them too, in their perspective. Then there's the government too. Well, then it gets complicated. Maybe our parents taught us something that school or the government disagrees with. Or I find a religion I like and it clashes with my parents because they disagree on what's 'right' and 'wrong'. Damn. For something that's suppose to be so easily distinguishable, it sure seems we've divided ourselves a hundred times over as to whats good and bad huh? See? There's no right and wrong. There's only what's right and wrong, for the individual. And from there, it can extend to other things like ethnicity, the family, city, governmnet, religion, etc. But it's ALL relative.

So when someone says "Hey, what the fuck are you doing? Don't you have any morals? That's so fucked up! Stop fucking that donkey!" Well, as much as I agree with no donkey sex, I have to say that there is no 'right' or 'wrong'. If he wants to fuck a donkey, who am I to tell him it's wrong? I think it's wrong, sure, but that's me. I'm not him. It's relative (but seriously people, don't go fucking donkeys). Now if you just switch "fucking donkeys" with "Abortion" then, the lines will be drawn and people will take sides because that's something more people are divided about (hopefully). Or if you switch "Abortion" with "Movie Ratings" and what people are allowed to see at what age.

People are different. What's right and wrong varies. If you think one way, and I think another. It doesn't really bother me. If it's that different, no hard feelings, but we're too different for my taste. We can part ways and you live your life according to you, and I'll live my life how I want to also. Don't take offense to it. Sure, we might be able to be friends if it's not that big of a deal, but if it is, we might not be able to be freinds anymore. This is where people get divided about things, and great relationships end because as great as the freindship, marrage, religion, government, etc has been in the past and might still be now, that one (or several) thing(s) that you're passionate about and really can't let slide... well that can break it up. You might be able to let "paper bags" and "plastic bags" slide, because it doesn't matter that much to either of you. But when it comes to critical topics (which I won't cover, but you know what they can be), it can be a 'deal breaker'.

No hard feelings, eh? We're still friends, hopefully. But if it's bad enough, hopefully not. Opinions, good and evil, and morals will divide people even further, with each passing day, with each generation. It's just how things are. There's no 'good', there's no 'evil'. There's only "Opinions".

What is Love (and Marrage)? (Or lack there of)

The SHORT Post:
What the fuck man. 48% of marrages end in divorce. Fuck. Have some foresight people! Where's the love? Where's the 'until death do us part'? Damn.


The LONG Post:
The National Center for Health Statistics - Divorce

According to this site (and it's a pretty official site):
------------------------------------------------------------
(Data are for U.S. for year indicated)

bullet graphicNumber of marriages: 2,230,000

bullet graphicMarriage rate: 7.5 per 1,000 total population

bullet graphicDivorce rate: 3.6 per 1,000 population (46 reporting States and D.C.)


This page last reviewed October 06, 2006
------------------------------------------------------------
Now if my math numbers are right, 3.6/7.5 = .48. That's 48%. And, that's only considering 46 States and the D.C. District, which means that 48% might be higher. (Note that all marrages are taken into account, but not all divorces, so the figures can be slightly skewed. It could be read two ways though. They're not counting those 4 states and the D.C. district at all for number of divorces only, or for both, number of divorces and population. In the case of the first, the divorce rate is MUCH higher, in the case of the second, it should be fairly similar to the current statistic).

So for every two couples that get married, one couple will get divorced. Until death do us part, right? Marrage is a sham, and has been for quite some time. It's origins of Marrage is uncertain, but it exists in nearly all societies. But, like nearly everything in this world, something that may have been born of powerful emotions and were intended to be used for good in one way or another, will be manipulated, twisted, and abused. Arranged marrages, political marrages, 'because it's tradition', 'it's financially safe', etc, etc. Love isn't the primary concern for these marrages, and these marrages are far more common than I'd like to believe.

And, those kinds of marrages aside, we have to consider the people. People can (and will) get together foolishly. They won't look to the future beyond a few days, weeks, maybe even months or years. And then, maybe they decide to 'take the plunge', as many people would say. Ok, great! They get married. Now they're part of the statistics. And from here, statistically, there's a 50% chance they're going to break up. Those are some pretty shitty odds man. 50%? I have better luck in craps than I do staying in a marrage. Is that what Love and Marrage has become? A bad game of craps?

That can't be it. There's plenty of things to factor in. People aren't just a random figure that's dependent on a roll of a die or two. Of course. But people are ignorant. Everyone is, myself included. Everyone is ignorant about something, because we're human, and we don't know everything. But sometimes, people choose to believe something, even if they have reason not to, even if they know it's a lie. They may turn a blind eye to other things, and just not see them, or maybe they'll think "they'll change" or "it's not a big deal", or fabricate something else to convince themself that it's a good idea.

They get caught in the moment, their emotions are flaring and their senses are failing them. Then, reality kicks in. For some. For those who don't, stay in your delusions, this post doesn't apply to you anyways. This is for everyone else (those 50%, and then some). You made a mistake. It's over. There's too much pressure. Pressure from family, from society, from friends, from your 'ideals'. Marrage is "x", and "x" is how it should be. If you're not like that, it's wrong. Because you know (KNOW) that it's suppose to be "x". But that's what you've learned from TVs, Movies, Society, maybe even family. Not saying it's wrong, but I'm also saying that it might not be 'right'. What do I mean by 'right'? They set you up. Set you up for unrealistic expectations. Being swept of your feet by prince charming, Ms. Right walks into your life. Fantasy shrouds your judgement and reality becomes a distant thing. Maybe, maybe one day it'll hit you, and hopefully that's not somewhere 25 years down your life when it's almost too late. But it's easier to believe a lie than admit your life has been wrong.

But you know what? We love tragedy. We do! It's easier to relate to tragedy. Everyone's had bad times and we share them together. We love to hear about the downfall of our fellow man (or woman). Tabloids, the news, gossip, they're all the same thing in that sense. "Hey, X and Y broke up." or "X was cheating on Y with Z!". Oh, and let's not forget "AB broke up. So did CD, EF, and GH!" Wow, what great news. We cling to to these things which do not matter to us very much for some reason. There's a war going on, important court cases, bills being discussed and passed, but what do you see on the news? "Who's the baby's daddy?" "Your life could be in danger! Tune in!" "School Shooting!" Right. VTech. That's another post, maybe. I feel that I'm ranting so I should move on.

So anyways, you tell me. What's the point of marrage? Failure rate of 50%? Those are some good odds. That's not to mention how many marrages stay together, even though they hate each other, or they want to stay together for the kids, or it's just 'taboo' or this, or that. The love is lost (what little there was), and it's a sham of a marrage. Marrage is just a term. It means practically nothing if there is no love involved.

For those of you planning to get married one day, more power to you. I hope things work out great. However, according to the statistics, you've just as much chance to end in misery and divoce as you do staying together. I hope you have more foresight than everyone else in this country has. And for my international readers, I can't speak for you, but at least here, I can assure you, Marrage has become a sham. Maybe it hasn't become a sham at all? Or maybe it's always been one since the beginning?

*Note: I do feel a need to state, that the idea of Marrage is great. I think it's a wonderful thing. Not all marrages are BS and not all will end in divorce. There are those that love each other and stay together, through thick and through thin, and it's a beautiful thing. I look up to you and what you have, and admire and love what you have. This post does not apply to you. You are what people should look up to and admire.

**Note: Yes, I'm a bit bitter. Why? Those numbers don't lie, and my whole life I've seen it all around me. People can sing about it all they want, movies, books, TV, whatever. Emotions cloud our judgement. Bad ideas sound like good ideas. We believe these bad ideas because we want to believe them. Whatever. I'm a bitter old man and have been for a great many years. I'd take a ballpark estimate at oooooh, almost 13 years? Lucky 13 huh? (another post on that I guess).

***Note: On a side note, these statistics aren't taking into consideration marrages that: end with murder of the spouse [awwwww <3], style="font-weight: bold;">63%
? Yummy!

****Note: FUCK MAN. 48%!? Damn! UGH. Only something as emotionally powerful can a 'success' rate of 48% be acceptable. It's rediculous. Think of a school had a 48% failure rate, or your car's breaks have a 48% chance to bitch out, or just... UGH. It's a fucking joke. You throw money at it (liscence, wedding, etc etc) and half the time it's ultimately bullshit anyways. Way to live up to your vows. "Well, they did mean them when they said it", some people may say. Great. They REALLY meant it when they said it. Now we have to call their judgement into question ANYTIME they REALLY mean anything. Ugh... *COUGH* Er... yeah, had to get that out. Eh...

Riiight, well... Now I'll end this, 'downer' of a post with soemthing a bit more of an 'up'. This saying is well known, but only the first part. I will say though, it does say what it says quite well. Farwell for another post well done (I hope).

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

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

~ Reinhold Niebuhr

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

Thursday, April 26, 2007

One Site, Two Kids, Opposite sides of the "Whoa" Spectrum

"Mommy, there's a condom in my Happy Meal!" - Yes, just like it says. 7 year old finds a nice 'toy' in her bag. Quite a Happy Meal indeed! Wrapper Included.

"Mommy? Oh no! I'm going to call the police!" - Child, 4 year old calls the police when his mother colapsed. Name, age, address. What a Hero.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

10 Signs you're going to die in a movie

10. You are wearing a red shirt.
9. You announce that you're going to retire, right after you 'finish this case'.
8. You decide to rise up from your apparent death one more time to surprise the hero.
7. You betray Al Pacino.
6. You decide to stop following the hero and take a different route.
5. You declare "everything is safe" then step out from your hiding place.
4. A serial killer is on the loose and you reveal your breasts.
3. You're playing Jesus.
2. All your bullets miss the hero, even at point blank.
1. Han Solo owes you money.

*Blatently Stolen from this site, slightly altered*

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Movies of the Year

Spiderman 3, Shrek the Third, Ocean's Thirteen, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Live Free or Die Hard, Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bourne Ultimatum, Rush Hour 3. Other than Transformers, these are all sequels. Transformers, kind of fits in here, it's not a sequel or a remake (Ocean's Thirteen is both a sequel AND a remake of sorts), but it is an updated version of a classic. They're all coming out this year, and they are listed in chronological order. Interested?

Man cuts off penis in restaurant

A man cut off his penis with a knife in a packed London restaurant.

"Police were forced to use CS gas to restrain the man when they entered the Zizzi restaurant in The Strand on Sunday evening.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said the man was aged between 30 and 40 and that his injuries were self-inflicted.

The man was then taken to hospital in south London where his condition is stable. It is understood surgeons were unable to reattach his penis."

gjhajfdlsafjdfajklfjaslkj; WOW. Want to read more? (of course you do!) Well here you to.

Indian Superman II



Words cannot express how I feel when I see this. The subpar production, the insane storyline (from what I could gather), the music... It's so bad it's good. But not good enough for me to want to watch for over a minute or two. If you finish it, let me know how it ends. Does Superman die? Does Spiderwoman bite him?

301 Fun (But Useless) Facts

Blatently stolen from this site. I know this list is not 100% accurate, there's a few things like the past tense of "Dare" is 'technically' right, it's an archaeic form of the word, and hemp is not marijuana, and I'm sure there are several other discrepencies (did I spell that right? Who knows! Too lazy to look it up right now). Either way, from this point foward, no posts of mine shall have any of my personal life as a topic. Most of you can probably figure out why, or you actually know. In any case, very few people actually read this blog, but a few people who know about it I would prefer to, not get involved. Anyways, enjoy this list of 301 random facts (and I use the word 'facts' loosely).

------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

26. The “save” icon in Microsoft Office programs shows a floppy disk with the shutter on backwards.

27. Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin both married their first cousins (Elsa Löwenthal and Emma Wedgewood respectively).

28. Camel’s have three eyelids.

29. On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents every day.

30. John Wilkes Booth’s brother once saved the life of Abraham Lincoln’s son.

31. Warren Beatty and Shirley McLaine are brother and sister.

32. Chocolate can kill dogs; it directly affects their heart and nervous system.

33. Daniel Boone hated coonskin caps.

34. Playing cards were issued to British pilots in WWII. If captured, they could be soaked in water and unfolded to reveal a map for escape.

35. 55.1% of all US prisoners are in prison for drug offenses.

36. Most lipstick contains fish scales.

37. Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark’s stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.

38. Dr. Seuss pronounced his name “soyce”.

39. Slugs have four noses.

40. Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

41. The Three Wise Monkeys have names: Mizaru (See no evil), Mikazaru (Hear no evil), and Mazaru (Speak no evil).

42. India has a Bill of Rights for cows.

43. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out. (DON’T TRY IT, DUMBASS)

44. During the California gold rush of 1849, miners sent their laundry to Honolulu for washing and pressing. Due to the extremely high costs in California during these boom years, it was deemed more feasible to send their shirts to Hawaii for servicing.

45. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by taking out an olive from First Class salads.

46. About 200,000,000 M&Ms are sold each day in the United States.

47. Because metal was scarce, the Oscars given out during World War II were made of wood.

48. Over a course of about eleven years, the sun’s magnetic poles switch places. This cycle is called “Solarmax”.

49. There are 318,979,564,000 possible combinations of the first four moves in Chess.

50. Upper and lower case letters are named “upper” and “lower” because in the time when all original print had to be set in individual letters, the upper case letters were stored in the case on top of the case that stored the lower case letters.

51. There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

52. The numbers “172″ can be found on the back of the US 5 dollar bill, in the bushes at the base of the Lincoln Memorial.

53. Coconuts kill about 150 people each year. That’s more than sharks.

54. Half of all bank robberies take place on a Friday.

55. The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. There was never a recorded Wendy before it.

56. The international telephone dialing code for Antarctica is 672.

57. The first bomb the Allies dropped on Berlin in WWII killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.

58. The average raindrop falls at 7 miles per hour.

59. It took Leonardo Da Vinci 10 years to paint Mona Lisa. He never signed or dated the painting. Leonardo and Mona had identical bone structures according to the painting. X-ray images have shown that there are 3 other versions under the original.

60. If you put a drop of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go mad and sting itself to death.

61. Bruce Lee was so fast that they had to slow the film down so you could see his moves.

62. The largest amount of money you can have without having change for a dollar is $1.19 (3 quarters, 4 dimes, and 4 pennies cannot be divided into a dollar).

63. The first CD pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”.

64. IBM’s motto is “Think”. Apple later made their motto “Think different”.

65. The mask used by Michael Myers in the original “Halloween” was actually a Captain Kirk mask painted white, due to low budget.

66. The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

67. The phrase “rule of thumb” is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn’t beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

68. One in fourteen women in America is a natural blonde. Only one in sixteen men is.

69. The Olympic was the sister ship of the Titanic, and she provided twenty-five years of service.

70. When the Titanic sank, 2228 people were on it. Only 706 survived.

71. In America, someone is diagnosed with AIDS every 10 minutes. In South Africa, someone dies due to HIV or AIDS every 10 minutes.

72. Every day, 7% of the US eats at McDonald’s.

73. The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was Victrola, which Motorola got their name from.

74. In the US, about 127 million adults are overweight or obese; worldwide, 750 million are overweight and 300 million more are obese. In the US, 15% of children in elementary school are overweight; 20% are worldwide.

75. In Disney’s Fantasia, the Sorcerer to whom Mickey played an apprentice was named Yensid (Disney spelled backward).

76. During his entire life, Vincent Van Gogh sold exactly one painting, “Red Vineyard at Arles”.

77. By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you cannot sink into quicksand.

78. One in ten people live on an island.

79. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.

80. 28% of Africa is classified as wilderness. In North America, its 38%.

81. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.

82. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

83. Sherlock Holmes NEVER said “Elementary, my dear Watson”, Humphrey Bogart NEVER said “Play it again, Sam” in Casablanca, and they NEVER said “Beam me up, Scotty” on Star Trek.

84. An old law in Bellingham, Washington, made it illegal for a woman to take more than 3 steps backwards while dancing.

85. Sharon Stone was the first Star Search spokes model.

86. The sound you here when you put a seashell next to your ear is not the ocean, but blood flowing through your head.

87. More people are afraid of open spaces (kenophobia) than of tight spaces (claustrophobia).

88. The glue on Israeli postage is certified kosher.

89. There is a 1 in 4 chance that New York will have a white Christmas.

90. The Guinness Book of Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from Public Libraries.

91. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

92. Back in the mid to late ’80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn’t considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft’s Flight Simulator.

93. $203,000,000 is spent on barbed wire each year in the U.S.

94. Every US president has worn glasses (just not always in public).

95. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

96. Jim Henson first coined the word “Muppet”. It is a combination of “marionette” and “puppet.”

97. The names of all the continents end with the same letter that they start with (not counting the words “North” and “South).

98. The Michelin man is known as Mr. Bib. His name was Bibendum in the company’s first ads in 1896.

99. About 20% of bird species have become extinct in the past 200 years, almost all of them because of human activity.

100. The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.

101. About 14% of injecting drug users are HIV positive.

102. A word or sentence that is the same front and back (racecar, kayak) is called a “palindrome”.

103. A snail can sleep for 3 years.

104. People photocopying their buttocks are the cause of 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide.

105. China has more English speakers than the United States.

106. Finnish folklore says that when Santa comes to Finland to deliver gifts, he leaves his sleigh behind and rides on a goat named Ukko instead. According to French tradition, Santa Claus has a brother named Bells Nichols, who visits homes on New Year’s Eve after everyone is asleep, and if a plate is set out for him, he fills it with cookies and cakes.

107. One in every 9000 people is an albino.

108. The electric chair was invented by a dentist.

109. You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

110. Everyday, more money is printed for Monopoly sets than for the U.S. Treasury.

111. Every year 4 people in the UK die putting their trousers on.

112. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds; dogs only have about ten.

113. Our eyes are always the same size from birth but our nose and ears never stop growing.

114. In every episode of “Seinfeld” there is a Superman picture or reference somewhere.

115. If Barbie were life-size her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet two inches tall and have a neck twice the length of a normal human’s neck.

116. Rats multiply so quickly that in 18 months, two rats could have over million descendants.

117. Wearing headphones for just an hour will increase the bacteria in your ear by 700 times.

118. Each year in America there are about 300,000 deaths that can be attributed to obesity.

119. About 55% of all movies are rated R.

120. About 500 movies are made in the US and 800 in India annually.

121. Arabic numerals are not really Arabic; they were created in India.

122. Title 14, Section 1211 of the Code of Federal Regulations (implemented on July 16, 1969) makes it illegal for U.S. citizens to have any contact with extraterrestrials or their vehicles.

123. The February of 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

124. The Pentagon in Arlington Virginia has twice as many bathrooms as is necessary. When it was built in the 1940s the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

125. There is actually no danger in swimming right after you eat, though it may feel uncomfortable.

126. The cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

127. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call.

128. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

129. There are about 2 chickens for every human in the world.

130. The word “maverick” came into use after Samuel Maverick, a Texan refused to brand his cattle. Eventually any unbranded calf became known as a Maverick.

131. Two-thirds of the world’s eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

132. For every memorial statue with a person on a horse, if the horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died of battle wounds; if all four of the horse’s legs are on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

133. On a Canadian two-dollar bill, the American flag is flying over the Parliament Building.

134. An American urologist bought Napoleon’s penis for $40,000.

135. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.

136. Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters “MT”.

137. $283,200 is the absolute highest amount of money you can win on Jeopardy.

138. Almonds are members of the peach family.

139. Rats and horses can’t vomit.

140. The penguin is the only bird that can’t fly but can swim.

141. There are approximately 100 million acts of sexual intercourse each day.

142. Winston Churchill was born in a ladies room during a dance.

143. Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

144. There are only four words in the English language that end in “-dous”: tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

145. Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

146. Every time you lick a stamp you consume 1/10 of a calorie.

147. “101 Dalmatians” and “Peter Pan” are the only Disney animations in which both of a character’s parents are present and don’t die during the movie.

148. You are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

149. Hedenophobic means fear of pleasure.

150. Ancient Egyptian priests would pluck every hair from their bodies.

151. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out.

152. Half of all crimes are committed by people under the age of 18. 80% of burglaries are committed by people aged 13-21.

153. An ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.

154. All polar bears are left-handed.

155. The catfish has over 27000 taste buds (more than any other animal)

156. A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death.

157. Butterflies taste with their feet.

158. Elephants are the only mammals that cannot jump.

159. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain.

160. Starfish have no brains.

161. 11% of the world is left-handed.

162. John Hancock and Charles Thomson were the only people to sign the Declaration of independence on July 4th, 1776. The last signature came five years later.

163. Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

164. Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

165. The national anthem of Greece has 158 verses.

166. There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

167. A healthy (non-colorblind) human eye can distinguish between 500 shades of gray.

168. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

169. Lizards can self-amputate their tails for protection. It grows back after a few months.

170. Los Angeles’ full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula”. It can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

171. A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

172. A honeybee can fly at fifteen miles per hour.

173. Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

174. A “jiffy” is the scientific name for 1/100th of a second.

175. The average child recognizes over 200 company logos by the time he enters first grade.

176. The youngest pope ever was 11 years old.

177. The first novel ever written on a typewriter is Tom Sawyer.

178. One out of every 43 prisoners escapes from jail. 94% are recaptured.

179. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

180. The average chocolate bar has 8 insects’ legs melted into it.

181. A rhinoceros horn is made of compacted hair.

182. The shortest war in history was between Zanzibar and England in 1896. Zanzibar surrendered after 38 minutes.

183. Elwood Edwards did the voice for the AOL sound files (i.e. “You’ve got Mail!”). He is heard about 27 million times a day. The recordings were done before Quantum changed its name to AOL and the program was known as “Q-Link.”

184. A polar bears skin is black. Its fur is actually clear, but like snow it appears white.

185. Elvis had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis middle name was spelled Aron, in honor of his brother.

186. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors.

187. Donkeys kill more people than plane crashes.

188. Shakespeare invented the words “assassination” and “bump.”

189. There are a million ants for every person on Earth.

190. If you keep a goldfish in the dark room, it will eventually turn white.

191. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

192. The name Jeep comes from “GP”, the army abbreviation for General Purpose.

193. Right handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left handed people do.

194. There are two credit cards for every person in the United States.

195. Cats’ urine glows under a black light.

196. A “quidnunc” is a person who is eager to know the latest news and gossip.

197. The first US Patent was for manufacturing potassium carbonate (used in glass and gunpowder). It was issued to Samuel Hopkins on July 31, 1970.

198. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors, the helicopter, and many other present day items.

199. In the last 4000 years no new animals have been domesticated.

200. 25% of a human’s bones are in its feet.

201. David Sarnoff received the Titanic’s distress signal and saved hundreds of passengers. He later became the head of the first radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).

202. On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year.

203. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than every Nike factory worker in Malaysia combined.

204. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the ’30s lobbied against hemp farmers (they saw it as competition).

205. “Canada” is an Indian word meaning “Big Village”.

206. Only one in two billion people will live to be 116 or older.

207. If you yelled for 8 years 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

208. Rape is reported every six minutes in the U.S.

209. The human heart creates enough pressure in the bloodstream to squirt blood 30 feet.

210. A jellyfish is 95% water.

211. Truck driving is the most dangerous occupation by accidental deaths (799 in 2001).

212. Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

213. Elephants only sleep for two hours each day.

214. On average people fear spiders more than they do death.

215. The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue. (the heart is not a muscle)

216. In golf, a ‘Bo Derek’ is a score of 10.

217. In the U.S, Frisbees outsell footballs, baseballs and basketballs combined.

218. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on a watch is 10:10.

219. If you plant an apple seed, it is almost guaranteed to grow a tree of a different type of apple.

220. Al Capone’s business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

221. The only real person to be a PEZ head was Betsy Ross.

222. There are about 450 types of cheese in the world. 240 come from France.

223. When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers plays football at home the stadium becomes Nebraska’s third largest city.

224. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

225. A dragonfly has a lifespan of 24 hours.

226. In Iceland, a Big Mac costs $5.50.

227. Broccoli and cauliflower are the only vegetables that are flowers.

228. Newborn babies have about 350 bones. They gradually merge and disappear until there are about 206 by age 5.

229. There is no solid proof of who built the Taj Mahal.

230. In a survey of 200000 ostriches over 80 years, not one tried to bury its head in the sand.

231. A dime has 118 ridges around the edge. A quarter has 119.

232. On an American one-dollar bill there is a tiny owl in the upper-left-hand corner of the upper-right-hand “1″ and a spider hidden in the front upper-right-hand corner.

233. Judy Scheindlin (”Judge Judy”) has a $25,000,000 salary, while Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has a $190,100 salary.

234. The name for Oz in the Wizard of Oz was thought up when the creator Frank Baum looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z.

235. Andorra, a tiny country on the border between France and Spain, has the longest average lifespan: 83.49 years.

236. The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

237. Mr. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister.

238. In America you will see an average of 500 advertisements a day.

239. John Lennon’s first girlfriend was named Thelma Pickles.

240. You can lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.

241. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

242. “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick” is said to be the toughest tongue twister in English.

243. There are 336 dimples on a regulation US golf ball. In the UK its 330.

244. The Toltecs (a 7th century tribe) used wooden swords so they wouldn’t kill their enemies.

245. “Duff” is the decaying organic matter found on a forest floor.

246. The US has more personal computers than the next 7 countries combined.

247. There have been over 600 lawsuits against Alexander Grahm Bell over rights to the patent of the telephone, the most valuable patent in U.S. history.

248. Kuwait is about 60% male (highest in the world). Latvia is about 54% female (highest in the world).

249. The Hawaiian alphabet has only 12 letters.

250. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all the world’s nuclear weapons combined.

251. At the height of its power in 400 BC, the Greek city of Sparta had 25,000 citizens and 500,000 slaves.

252. Julius Caesar’s autograph is worth about $2,000,000.

253. The tool doctors wrap around a patient’s arm to measure blood pressure is called a sphygmomanometer.

254. People say “bless you” when you sneeze because your heart stops for a millisecond.

255. US gold coins used to say “In Gold We Trust”.

256. In “Silence of the Lambs”, Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) never blinks.

257. A shrimp’s heart is in its head.

258. In the 17th century, the value of pi was known to 35 decimal places. Today, to 1.2411 trillion.

259. The bestselling books of all time are The Bible (6billion+), Quotations from the Works of Mao Tse-tung (900million+), and The Lord of the Rings (100million+)

260. Pearls melt in vinegar.

261. “Lassie” was played by a group of male dogs; the main one was named Pal.

262. In 1863, Paul Hubert of Bordeaux, France, was sentenced to life in jail for murder. After 21 years, it was discovered that he was convicted of murdering himself.

263. Nepal is the only country that doesn’t have a rectangular flag. Switzerland is the only country with a square flag.

264. Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer are the only angels named in the Bible.

265. Tiger Woods’ real first name is Eldrick. His father gave him the nickname “Tiger” in honor of a South Vietnamese soldier his father had fought alongside with during the Vietnam War.

266. Johnny Appleseed planted apples so that people could use apple cider to make alcohol.

267. Abraham Lincoln’s ghost is said to haunt the White House.

268. God is not mentioned once in the book of Esther.

269. The odds of being born male are about 51.2%, according to census.

270. Scotland has more redheads than any other part of the world.

271. There is an average of 61,000 people airborne over the US at any given moment.

272. Prince Charles and Prince William never travel on the same airplane in case there is a crash.

273. The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad. The most common name (of any type) in the world is Mohammed.

274. The surface of the Earth is about 60% water and 10% ice.

275. For every 230 cars that are made, 1 will be stolen.

276. Jimmy Carter was the first U.S. President to be born in a hospital.

277. Lightning strikes the earth about 8 million times a day.

278. Around 2,000 left-handed people die annually due to improper use of equipment designed only for right handed people.

279. The “if” and “then” parts of conditional (”if P then Q”) statement are called the protasis (P) and apodosis (Q).

280. Humans use a total of 72 different muscles in speech.

281. If you feed a seagull Alka-Seltzer, its stomach will explode.

282. Only female mosquitoes bite.

283. The U.S. Post Office handles 43 percent of the world’s mail.

284. Most household dust is made of dead skin cells.

285. One in about eight million people has progeria, a disease that causes people to grow faster than they age.

286. The male seahorse carries the eggs until they hatch instead of the female.

287. The “countdown” (counting down from 10 for an event such as New-Years Day) was first used in a 1929 German silent film called “Die Frau Im Monde” (The Girl in the Moon).

288. Negative emotions such as anxiety and depression can weaken your immune system.

289. There are seven suicides in the Bible: Abimelech. Samson, Saul, Saul’s armor-bearer, Ahithophel, Zimri, Judas.

290. A mongoose is not a goose but more like a meercat, which is not a cat but more like a prairie dog, which is not a dog but more like a ground squirrel.

291. Stephen Hawking was born exactly 300 years after Galileo died.

292. Mercury is the only planet whose orbit is coplanar with its equator. Venus and Uranus are the only planets that rotate opposite to the direction of their orbit.

293. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe died on July 4th. Adams and Jefferson died in the same year. Supposedly, Adams last words were “Thomas Jefferson survives.”

294. The Baby Ruth candy bar was named after Grover Cleveland’s baby daughter, Ruth, not Babe Ruth the baseball player.

295. Dolphins can look in different directions with each eye. They can sleep with one eye open.

296. The Falkland Isles (pop. about 2000) has over 700000 sheep (350 per person).

297. There are 41,806 different spoken languages in the world today.

298. While many treaties have been signed at or near Paris, France (including many after WWI and WWII), nine are actually known as the “Treaty of Paris”: Seven Years’ War (1763), American Revolutionary War (1783), French-Swede War (1810), France vs Sixth Coalition (1814), Battle of Waterloo (1815), Crimean War (1856), Spanish-American War (1898), union of Bessarabia and Romania (1920), establishment of European Coal and Steel Community (1951).

299. Robert Todd Lincoln (Abraham Lincoln’s oldest son) was in Washington DC during his father’s assassination as well as during President Garfield’s assassination, and he was in Buffalo NY when President McKinley was assassinated.

300. The city of Venice stands on about 120 small islands.

301. The past-tense of the English word “dare” is “durst”.