Trivia

The Meaning of Trivia

*Jet lag was once called boat lag, back before jets existed.
*Sirimauo Bandranaike of Sri Lanka became the world's first popularly elected female head of state in 1960.
*There are more beetles than any other kind of creature in the world.
*Polar bears' fur is not white, it's clear. Polar bear skin is actually black. Their hair is hollow and acts like fibre optics, directing sunlight to warm their skin.
*Orcas (killer whales) kill sharks by torpedoing up into the shark's stomach from underneath, causing the shark to explode.
*The only planet without a ring is earth.
*The raised reflective dots in the middle of highways are called Botts dots.
*The Amazon rainforest produces half the world's oxygen supply.
*A group of unicorns is called a blessing.
*Twelve or more cows are known as a "flink."
*A group of frogs is called an army.
*A group of rhinos is called a crash.
*A group of kangaroos is called a mob.
*A group of whales is called a pod.
*A group of geese is called a gaggle.
*A group of ravens is called a murder.
*A group of officers is called a mess.
*A group of larks is called an exaltation.
*A group of owls is called a parliament.
*Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
*Money is made of woven linen, not paper
*A rhinoceros's horn is made of hair.
*Warren Beatty and Shirley MacLaine are brother and sister.
*Jean Harlow was the first actress to appear on the cover of Life magazine.
*Jesus Christ died at age 33.
*Starfish don't have brains.
*Shrimps' hearts are in their heads.
*The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
*Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
*Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters.
*Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better.
*City with the most Rolls Royce's per capita: Hong Kong
*State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
*Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28.
*Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38.
*Barbie's measurements if she were life size: 39-23-33
*Cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
*Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.
*Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
*The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910.
*The youngest pope was 11 years old.
*First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.
*The derivation of the word trivia comes from the Latin "tri-" + "via", which means three streets. This is because in ancient times, at an intersection of three streets in Rome (or some other Italian place), they would have a type of kiosk where ancillary information was listed. You might be interested in it, you might not, hence they were bits of "trivia."

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2004