The rarest coffee in the world is Kopi Luwak,
which is found in Indonesia. It costs about $300 a pound[1].
A four-engine jet can land safely on just one engine.
Bob Dylan’s real name was Robert Allen Zimmerman.
The typewriter was invented before the fountain
pen.
Built in 1967, the world’s only
flying saucer launching pad is in St. Paul, Alberta, Canada.
“MIDI” stands for Musical Instrument
Digital Interface.
The world’s oldest boxing publication is
Britain’s “Boxing News”, published continuously since 1909.
Neil Diamond’s birth name was Noah Kaminsky.
Swedish
people drink more coffee in a day (11 cups on average) than any other nation.
“Bangers
and mash” (sausages and mashed potatoes) were very popular in the UK during
(and after) World War II.
The saying
“lightning never strikes the same place twice” is false! The Empire
State Building is struck by lightning, on average, 100 times each year, and was
once struck 15 times in 15 minutes[2].
Time magazine named the computer its Man of the Year in 1982.
It is so
cold in some parts of Russia that milk is sold in frozen blocks.
Summit Barbie dolls were introduced in the
1980s to commemorate the end of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet
Union.
There are more Barbie dolls in Italy
than there are Canadians in Canada.
The speed of light is 300,000 km a second[3].
During the American Civil War
(1861-65) the Confederate General Jeb Stuart’s name was James Ewell Brown
Stuart, that is, J.E.B. Stuart, leading him to be known as “Jeb”.
JEEP! JEEP! JEEP!
The “jeep” that we know today was a four-wheel drive vehicle first
manufactured by the US Army in 1940. There is some suggestion that “GP”
(standing for General Purpose vehicle) led to its pronunciation as “Jeep”. This
may be only present-day speculation. The word “jeep” was already used in the US
Army for a new recruit or an ill-fitting coat in the 1930s. A Popeye character,
small but sturdy, was known as “Eugene the Jeep”. It’s thought that the jeep
was given its name because of its combination of utilitarian appearance and
great strength and staying power as an off-road vehicle.
A Forgotten First
The first Europeans to set foot on Australian soil were
apparently Dutch explorers. A captain named Willem Janszoon
and his crew came to Australia in the early 17th century, onboard a
Dutch vessel called Duyfken[4].
They beat Captain Cook and the English sailors by over 150 years.