The word dog originates from the Old English docga, meaning “to eat of one’s own dung.”
Pennies are not actually round. To foil counterfeiters, they actually have 256 sides, visible only under a microscope.
Necco Wafers issued to Union troops during the Civil War contained two inedible “wafers” of pure alum per package. These could be crumbled in the hand and rubbed into minor wounds as a styptic.
The next edition of the psychiatric “bible,” DSM-V, will not include Asperger syndrome as a separate disorder, but will include model railroading.
The Statue of Liberty has compressed in height an average of 0.017 millimeters per year since its installation in 1886 because the architects failed to account for the weight of pigeon droppings.
The idea for Super Glue originated in the cafeteria at a General Electric research facility in Massachusetts when one scientist heard another remark about an unusually thick New England clam chowder: “Is this soup or glue?”
Hydrochloric acid laced into cottage cheese is undetectable by taste or odor until it reacts with the stomach lining. The resultant pH of the stomach contents, which also contain a certain concentration of HCl, typically causes irreversible internal bleeding and death within 72 hours.
Thanks to the widespread use of vaccines, more deaths each year are caused by infected hangnails than by tetanus.
The alum “wafers,” placed at either end of the Necco roll and stamped INEDIBLE ALUM in red ink, also served as a moisture barrier thanks to alum’s desiccant properties. Surplus Neccos remained mold-free and fresh as late as 1941, when the last remaining supply was issued to the Army’s Philippine command.
The pronunciation of the English surname Cockburn was changed to “Coburn” in 1513 to avoid disturbing Henry VIII during a bout of gonorrhea.
Before World War II and food rationing, red velvet cake was typically blue.
The special fuel used by the famous SR-71 spyplane required 5% spermaceti whale oil as an additive. A critical shortage of this contributed to the decision to retire the plane from service.
Astrophysicists now believe that there are exactly two magnetic monopoles - one north and one south- in the entire universe; and if they ever meet and annihilate each other, electric charge will vanish from the universe.
In ancient China, prostitutes who padded their bustline could be fined for fraud.
The American College of Ophthalmic Surgeons offers a $25,000 stipend to anyone capable of dislocating, then replacing, an eye. Subjects are much sought after as demonstrators in teaching programs.
The floor-cleaning robot Roomba is actually a cordless version of an appliance invented in 1934 to clean floors in the dynamo house at Hoover Dam. Some eight feet in diameter and weighing over 1,300 pounds, it was taken out of service in 1947 after its high-pressure water hose snapped and macerated a careless employee.
Churches in Italy stay open 24 hours a day because Pope Leo XIII could not say La chiesa è chiusa (“the church is closed”), invariably saying La chiusa è chiesa (“the closed is church”) instead.
During the COINTELPRO years, Ed Sullivan volunteered to relay coded messages to federal agents in the field using eye blinks during his weekly TV program. The project failed when Ed became confused and introduced Victor Borge as Eldridge Cleaver.
And if you think I’m on fire here, Steve Allen once made up 47 fake facts in 30 minutes before a live studio audience, several of which were leaked to the quiz show Twenty-One in order to stump champion Charles Van Doren.
So-called inkjet printers actually work by means of administering minute electric shocks to an array of very small octupi octopuses octopodes cephalopods, which then eject tiny jets of ink onto the paper beneath them. The reason cartidges for such printers are so expensive is that they actually contain Purina Octopus Chow, which the Purina company charges printer manufacturers high prices for in exchange for keeping quiet about the whole arrangement.
However, the corpse of the employee turned out so tender and flavorful maceration has been a culinary technique ever since.
The Hoover Dam has helped pioneer another technique sadly unknown in this country due to the high price of turbines and the reluctance of American home-makers to accept live fowl into the kitchen. Were it to ever catch on, our palates would be forever improved. (The beer is worked right into the fibers… )
90% of cells on Earth are technically cancer; in fact, in most cases the species that cancer came from is long extinct.
Beavers are the 401st largest mammal by volume, and 379th by mass.
Waterfalls are good examples of the Coriolis Effect, a fictitious force often mis-associated with hurricanes and typhoons.
Jupiter’s 36th moon, Taygete, is often found cavorting the solar system with Saturn’s 56th moon, Fenrir. Tabloids have so far been unable to settle on either Tayrir or Fengete as the celebrity couple name for these moons.