Fascinating Facts and Trivia

Despite its thick, icy terrain and mountainous topography, Antarctica is actually classified as a desert.

The southernmost continent is a desert because so little moisture actually falls from the sky.

It is actually the coldest, windiest, and driest continent.

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

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

Warren Beatty and Shirley McLaine are brother and sister.

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

Daniel Boone hated coonskin caps.

In 2009, Scottish scientists searching for the Loch Ness Monster found around 100,000 golf balls instead.

The suffix ''-stan'' is Persian for “place of” or “country”, which explains why so many countries end with it.

The shortest war in modern history was the Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896.

Fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate, the military conflict lasted somewhere between 38 and 45 minutes.

January is next month, next year, next decade.

It will be 10 years until anyone can say that again.

Still not sure we can count it as a decade 2020 as I said no year zero but hey ho!
Here is my final post of the year. Enjoy and thanks to all the contributors over the last two years on here.

Most lipstick contains fish scales.

Dr. Seuss pronounced his name “soyce”. (I think I heard it was also pronounced Sowse!)

Slugs have four noses.

Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine.

India has a Bill of Rights for cows.

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

The longest time between two twins being born is 87 days.

The oldest condoms ever found date back to the 1640s (they were found in a cesspit at Dudley Castle), and were made from animal and fish intestines.

Casu marzu is a Sardinian cheese that contains live maggots.

The maggots can jump up to five inches out of cheese while you're eating it, so it's a good idea to shield it with your hand to stop them jumping into your eyes.