Some Facts

If you are struck by lightning, your skin will be heated to 28,000 degrees Centigrade, hotter than the surface of the Sun.

If you trace your family tree back 25 generations, you will have 33,554,432 direct ancestors – assuming no incest was involved.

The average distance between the stars in the sky is 20 million miles.

It would take a modern spaceship 70,000 years to get to the nearest star to earth.

An asteroid wiped out every single dinosaur in the world, but not a single species of toad or salamander was affected. No one knows why, nor why the crocodiles and tortoises survived.

If you dug a well to the centre of the Earth, and dropped a brick in it, it would take 45 minutes to get to the bottom – 4,000 miles down.

Solar power facts

• 0.3% of solar energy from the Sahara is enough to power the whole of Europe
• Leonardo Da Vinci predicted the mass use of solar energy as long ago as 1447
• Enough sunlight falls on the earth in an hour to power our entire population for one year
• In 1990, a solar powered airplane flew over 4000km without fuel
• Weather related damages in 1998 alone cost more than those between 1980 to 1990 ($82 billion dollars)
• The United States of America accounts for 5% of the world’s population, but consume over 25% of its energy

French revolution and kings facts

• Charlemagne had a series of very bad omens before his death in 814AD. A fireball even fell from the sky causing his horse to buck
• In the crusade by Pope Innocent III, the youngest crusaders were  led by a 12 year old named Stephen of Cloyes. Most ended up sold as slaves or died from diseases
• King Louis IX was the only French king who, at his burial, suddenly sat back up and continued to rule for another 26 years
• The hundred year was started with victories for English archers but ended with a French archer, Michael Perunin
• Back then in France, the Catholics called their enemies/non-believers “Cathars” which actually meant ‘Cat worshippers’. This was because the Catholics said that their enemies had to kiss the bum of a black cat.
• When the pope moved from Rome to France in the 1300s, his palace at Avignon had 2 whole floors of toilets

Portugal facts

• Portugal’s capital used to be Rio De Janeiro.
• Lisbon has Europe’s largest casino in the Estoril Casino.
• Portugal is the world’s largest producer of cork
• Portugal has Europe’s longest bridge
• In Portugal, it is illegal to kill a bull in a bullfight
• The Japanese word for thank you “arigato” originated from the Portuguese word of “obrigato”
• Portugal showcased the world’s first balloon, but its inventor had to run away to Spain, in fear of being accused of black magic during the Inquisition.
• In aviation history, both inaugural Atlantic crossings departed/landed in Portugal
• Portugal is so peaceful that during their carnation revolution, less than 20 people died

Franklin Benjamin Facts

• Benjamin Franklin used to keep a list of “13 virtues.” If he violeted one, he would check it off, and use it as motivation to improv e his moral standing.
• Benjamin Franklin did not graduate from school but The Harvard and the Yale Universities awarded him honorary degrees. Later in 1762, the Oxford University awarded him a doctorate.
• Benjamin Franklin interestingly founded the a fire fighting company
• It is a fact that Ben Franklin once wrote in the newspapers under the anonym Mrs Silence Dogood.
• Franklin also invented the glass harmonica
• Ben Franklin did not like patents and so failed to patent many of his inventions

Barbie dolls Facts

• Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts
• 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
• Barbie was originally based on the “Bild Lili doll”, a prostitute in a comic strip drawn by Reinhard Beuthin and first sold in Germany in 1955. The doll was marketed to adult men in bars and tobacco shops, not to children
• Barbie’s boyfriend Ken was not sold in India until recently because it clashed with the traditional arranged marriage
• Ruth Handler, the co-founder of Mattel, was also the inventor of prosthetic breast implants
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Harddisk Facts

• The surface of a hard disk drive is so smooth that if it were the size of a football field, it would not have a bump more than 1/300th of an inch high
• Air rushes over a spinning hard disk at over 80kmh

Gladiators facts

• Gladiators were vegetarians
• in honour of Julius Caesars’ father’s death, 5000 pairs of gladiator and over 350 exotic animals were pitted together in a fight to the death.

Bugs Bunny facts

• Bugs Bunny was originally called ‘Happy Rabbit’
• The word ‘Bugs’ was actually a nickname for ‘crazy’
• The voice of Bugs Bunny, by Mel Blanc, is also shared with Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat and even Woody Woodpecker
• Some people say that Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny) was ironically allergic to carrots, but this is untrue
• In World War II, it is a true fact that Bugs Bunny was made an honorary Marine Master Sergeant by the U.S. Marine Corps
• Bugs was one of the few animations to receive his own star on the Walk of Fame
• In 1997, the Bugs Bunny stamps were even more popular than Mickey Mouse stamps

English Facts

• India has the most English speakers in the world
• It is a fact that there are 5 times more people learning English in China than there are people in England
• Of the worlds 2700+ languages, English contains the most vocabulary
• More than 75% of the world’s letters and cables are written in English
• 8 out of 10 of the world’s computers store data in English (not technically)
• It is an amazing fact that English is the world’s most widespread language, spoken by over 1 billion people

Harry Potter Facts

• Hagrid is said to be twice the height of a human but in the films he is mentioned to be 8 feet 6 inches.
• Hermione’s cat Crookshanks is no ordinary cat as he is half-kneazle. Kneazles are intelligent cat-like creatures who can sniff out suspicious characters and if a kneazle takes a liking to a witch or wizard, they make for excellent pets.
• Members of the Order of the Pheonix are the only wizards who know how to communicate using their patronuses. A wizard’s patronus is the individual’s unique spirit guardian and is effective in use against the dark arts.
• Dementors don’t breed. They grow where there’s decay, like fungus.
• The tattoos on Sirius Black’s body are borrowed from Russian prison gangs. These are to identify a person as one to be feared and respected.
• The command that makes the Dark Mark (the mark of the Dark Lord) appear is “Morsmorde” which appropriately means ‘take a bite out of death in French.
• Harry’s middle name is James, Hermione’s is Jane and Ron’s is unfortunately, Bilius.
• Garden gnomes are considered to be pests in the wizarding community because they eat the roots of plants and make little piles of earth, very much like moles.
• The ghost Nearly-Headless Nick was beheaded because a botched dentistry job. He was trying to straighten Lady Grieve’s teeth but instead she sprouted a tusk.
• Dumbledore has a scar in the shape of the London Underground above his knee.
• The secret code Arthur Weasley must dial into a telephone keypad to access the Ministry of Magic is 62442. The letters underneath those numbers on a standard phone spell out the word ‘magic’.
• You can only see a thestral when you can appreciate what death really means. This is why Harry could not see them until he witnessed the death of Cedric Diggory.
• The original snitch used in early Quidditch matches was actually a fat bird called a snidget. When some wizards thought this to be too cruel, the wizard Bowman Wright invented the Golden Snitch.
• Hogwarts’ school motto is ‘Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus’ which is Latin for ‘Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon’.
• Harry Potter, JK Rowling and the actor Daniel Radcliffe all share the same birthday – July 31st
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Nostradamus facts

• Nostradamus’ text ‘The Prophecies’ was the first book from France to be digitally preserved by Google
• Nostradamus treated plague victims with pills made of rose petal, which later made him famous
• Nostradamus also wrote books of recipes for perfumes and cosmetics
• He predicted the world would end in 3797
• According to legend, Nostradamus once encountered a young Franciscan monk herding pigs in Italy. To the surprise of onlookers, Nostradamus respectfully addressed the lowly monk as “Your Holiness.” In 1585, years after Nostradamus died, that monk, Felice Peretti, became Pope Sixtus V.
• Legend holds that Nostradamus was buried with a document containing the secrets to his prophecies. In 1700, officials in Salon-de-Provence decided to relocate his coffin to a more optimal location. In the process, they decided to look inside. No document was located; however, a medallion inscribed with “1700″ was reportedly found around Nostradamus’ skeleton, leading people to believe the prophet had correctly predicted the year his coffin would be opened.
• Although Nostradamus died in the middle of 1566, his 1567 almanac was published because he had the foresight to prepare it before his death.
• The house in Salon-de-Provence where Nostradamus lived with his second wife and their children still stands today and is open to the public as a museum. Every summer, the town holds a festival honoring its world-famous former resident.
• According to the New York Times, in the days following the 9/11 attacks, the top search term on Google was “Nostradamus.” (previous facts from www.history.com)

Reality TV facts

• UK show Strictly Come Dancing sold to 38 countries and had a peak audience of 13.3 million vieweds which was almost a 50% audience share
• It costs SGD$750,000 to make one episode of a reality TV show compared to SGD$3 million for a sitcom
• More than 3000 people auditioned for Afghan model in 2009. Only 10 were women
• 1 in 10 UK teenager would abandon their education to be on reality TV
• Susan Boyle’s audition on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009 was watched by over 120 million people on YouTube
• 1 in 4 show on US primetime is a reality show
• Gordon Ramsay said expletives over 80 times in one episode of Kitchen Nightmares
• In 2010, Malaysia casted for Imam Muda where contentents were pitted in tests of Islamic theory, and challenges included counselling teenagers, preparing corpses for burial and Quran reciting. The top prize was a new car, a job as an Imam and a scholarship in Saudi Arabia
• Reality TV actually started on the radio in 1947 with Candid Microphone
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