Facts To Toy Around With

Fa0 Schwarz toy store in New York U.S.A., has a giant piano keyboard you play with your feet.

 

A woman created CANDY LAND more than 60 years ago to cheer up kids who were SICK WITH POLIO.

 

the world’s best-selling board game MONOPOLY has been produced in 37 LANGUAGES and played by more than 500 MILLION PEOPLE.

 

A jeweler made an 18-KARAT-GOLD MONOPOLY BOARD, valued at $2 MILLION which included a set of dice with 42 specially cut diamonds for each dot.

 

BARBIE is named after the INVENTORS DAUGHTER BARBARA. Since her creation in 1950 she has had more than 100 JOBS.

 

SUPER MARIO BROTHERS is the second-best-selling video game of all time( it was pushed out of the number 1 spot by Wii Sports.

 

SCRABBLE was first named CRISS-CROSS WORDS.

 

In many parts of the world CHECKERS is known as DRAUGHTS.

 

Originally MR. POTATO HEAD PARTS went on a REAL POTATO  not a plastic one.

 

The EASY-BAKE OVEN was inspired by NEW YORK CITY U.S.A. PRETZEL VENDORS.

 

The name of the man on the operation game is “CAVITY SAM”.

 

SILLY PUTTY, the VIEW-MASTER viewer, the JIGSAW PUZZLE, the HULA HOOP and G.I. JOE, are in the U.S.A.’S NATIONAL TOY HALL OF FAME.

 

PLAY-DOH was originally used as WALLPAPER CLEANER.

 

In the past 60 years, LEGO has made more than 320 BILLION LEGO BRICKS. That’s 46 LEGOS FOR EVERY PERSON ON THE PLANET.

 

MORE THAN 1,000 TWISTER MATS were  once put together to form ONE GAME PLAYED ON A FOOTBALL FIELD.

 

Source: National Geographic Kids – 5,000 Amazing Facts (about everything)

Facts About Endings

Nostradamus, a 16th century French astrologer, predicted many things, including when the world might end. But since his predictions go to the year 3797, we will have to wait.

 

If you board the longest single-rail railroad, the Trans-Siberian Railway, in Moscow, Russia, the ride ends 5,772 miles (9,288 km) later in Vladivostok. The entire trip takes about 8 days.

 

On the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams died in Boston at age 91. Reportedly, he said, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”  What he didn’t know was that Jefferson had died a few hours earlier at his home in Virginia.

 

The most south westerly part of New England is Lands End. Basking sharks swim offshore and dolphins can be spotted from the cliffs.

 

A bridge in Sowerby, England is known as the “World’s End” bridge. It was built in the 1600s for packhorses to cross a river to a nearby town.

 

Our sun will end up as a white dwarf star when it runs out of fuel in a few billion years.

 

Why can you never reach the end of a rainbow? Because it moves as you move. The raindrops reflecting the sunlight that cause the rainbow aren’t located in one part of the sky.

 

At the end of the Indianapolis 500 the winner drinks a bottle of milk. The tradition began with winner Louis Meyer in 1936: he drank buttermilk.

 

Ushuaia, known as the most southern city in the world, is located on Tierra del Fuego in Argentina. Puerto Williams, in Chile, is also known as the southernmost city, but while it’s a little farther south it’s also smaller. Most travelers to Antarctica leave from Ushuaia.

 

Dorothy and her friends find Emerald City at the end of the yellow brick road in the movie The Wizard of Oz. Some people believe that a road of yellow bricks in Peekskill, New York, US, inspired the auther of the book that was later made into the movie.

 

For 30 years NASA’s Space Shuttle program sent astronauts into space. The program ended on July 21, 2011, when its 135th mission landed at Cape Canaveral, Florida, US.

 

The end phase of a forest fire is the glowing phase, when the charcoal created by the fire burns to leave a small amount of ash.

 

In May of each year the night ends for 84 days in Barrow, Alaska, US. The sun won’t set for 12 weeks in Barrow, known as “The land of the midnight sun.”

 

J.K. Rowling knew how the Harry Potter book series would end when she wrote the first book.

 

Visitors to the southernmost point of the United States in Key West, Florida, find a concrete buoy that says it’s only 90 miles (145 km) to Cuba.

 

source: National Geographic Kids; 5,000 awesome facts (about everything)

 

 

Wonderfully Weird Facts

The largest s’more ever made used 40,000 marshmallows, 8,000 chocolate bars, and 55,000 graham crackers.

 

A Swiss man has collected nearly 9,000 do not disturb signs from different hotels.

 

A driver on Long Island, NY USA has driven his Volvo nearly 3 million miles (4.8 million km).

 

In Los Angeles, CA USA you can buy a hot dog wrapped in bacon and then fried and topped with mayo.

 

The big shot ride is Las Vegas, NV USA sits on top of a skyscraper and shoots riders 160 feet (49 meters) into the air.

 

A Canadian ice breaking ship weights 33 million pounds (15,000 metric tons) and can break through thick ice sheets that are 62 feet (19 meters) thick.

 

There’s a chili pepper so hot that 2 out of every 3 people who eat it throw up.

 

The Great Wall of China spans an estimated 5,500 miles (8,850 km) – that’s longer than the continent of Africa.

 

A church in Barcelona, Spain – The Sagrada Familia – has been under construction for more than 100 years. It’s one of Barcelona’s most popular tourist attractions.

 

In 2011, Samit Ijon achieves a new world record by walking a 49-foot (15-meter) high wire suspended between two hot air balloons about 100 feet (30 meters) in the air.

 

In 2009, more than 2,500 people dressed up as Smurfs and hung out in a town square in Great Britain.

 

In 1960, an Air Force pilot sky dived out of a balloon 102,800 feet (31,333 miles) above Earth.

 

The Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado, USA stretches more than 956 feet (291 meters) above the Arkansas River. The Royal Rush sky coaster takes riders at 50 miles per hour (80 kph) to hang over the river a thousand feet (305 meters) below.

 

In 2010, two men jumped from the tallest building on Earth, the Burj Kalifa in Dubai, using parachutes to slow their fall. The building is 2,717 feet (828 meters) tall.

 

Some people have a fear of slime, or agyrophobia.

 

source: National Geographic Kids 5,000 Awesome Facts (about everything)

 

 

 

 

Carbon Footprint Facts

Your carbon footprint is the amount of CO2 and methane gas you release into the environment by consuming energy.

Using paper adds to your carbon footprint because it takes 15 units of energy to make paper from a plant.

It takes 5 units of energy for a plant to grow into a tree.

It takes 4 units of energy to chop down a tree and bring it to the papermill.

It takes 6 units of energy to make the paper in the papermill.

Meat products have larger carbon footprints per calorie than grain or vegetable products because
of the inefficient transformation of plant energy to animal energy.

Just eliminating half the meat from your diet can save up to 1,600 pounds of carbon per year.

Heating and cooling account for about 56% of the energy use in a U.S. home.

Refrigerators are the largest user of household appliance energy

Washing clothes on ‘cold’ reduces CO2 emissions by 1.2-14.9 pounds per load of laundry.

Three fewer minutes in the shower can save 715 pounds of carbon and 5,500 gallons of fresh water per year.

The average passenger car emits 0.85 pounds of CO2 per mile driven.

Automobile fuel economy can improve 7-23% by simply observing the speed limit.

Every 5 mph increase in vehicle speed over 60 mph is equivalent to paying an extra $0.32 per gallon (assuming $3.85 per gallon).

sources: Center for Sustainable Systems, http://www.mocomi.com, http://www.eHow.com

United States Facts Part 2

North and South Carolina have an official dance called “The Shag”

Georgia is the nation’s leading producer of peanuts, peaches and pecans

Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia is home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Jim Henson was born in MIssissippi and later in life he was the guiding hand behind characters such as Kermit The Frog, Bert, Ernie and Elmo

Rayne, Louisiana is filled with statues, photographs and monuments dedicated to frogs

There are over 700 shipwrecks in the lakes and rivers around Wisconsin

A unique house in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia is made of coal

United States Facts

The Boston University bridge is famous because it’s the only place in the world where a boat can sail under a train, driving under a car, driving under a plane.

The first potato grown in the United States was planted in New Hampshire in 1719.

Maine is the only state with one syllable.

The first phone book was published in Connecticut in 1878. It had 1 page and 50 names.

Toilet paper was invented by Joseph C Gayetty in New York in 1857.

The official sport of Maryland is jousting.

Rhode Island is home to the countries oldest school house. The school was built in 1716.

There is a state shell of New Jersey called a Knobbed Whelk.

Vermont has the highest ration of cows to people.

Delaware is the first state to be a state.

Maine has more than 5,000 lakes.

Students at the University of Alabama believe the school to be haunted.

Missouri and Tennessee both border 8 other states.

In 1881, the Arkansas General Assembly resolved that the state was to be spelled “Arkansas” but pronounced “ArkanSAW”.

The Lake Murray monster in Lake Murray in Irmo, South Carolina is half-snake, half-dinosaur.

St. Augustine Florida is special because it’s the oldest continually occupied city in the United States.

Illinois official state snack food is popcorn.

John Dillinger escaped jail by using a pistol he carved out of wood.

In Iowa you will find the world’s largest strawberry in Strawberry Point and it is 15 feet high and 12 feet wide. It is made of fiberglass.

The thing that’s special about the Ohio state flag is it is not a rectangle. It’s called a pennant with a swallow-tail tip.

Story-like Nature Facts

Komodo National Park – which spans several islands – was founded to protect the elusive Komodo dragon

Puerto Princesa underground river is one of the world’s longest underground rivers. The Puerto Princesa winds through a cave before flowing into the South China sea

The highest point of the Iguazu Falls stands taller than a 20-story building

The Amazon includes more than half the world’s rain forests

Jeju Island is home to Korea’s largest rock pillar formation. Jeju is South Korea’s biggest island and smallest province

Halong Bay has thousands of tiny islands sprinkled throughout it’s emerald waters

Table Mountain is Cape Town’s iconic flat top mountain and it’s peak reaches 3,563 feet above sea level

Big Time Facts

The tallest known snowman was taller than a 12 story building.

The largest working yo-yo was more than 10 feet (3 m) tall and weighed almost 900 pounds (408 kg) – as much as a polar bear.

The tallest volcano on Mars is about 17 miles (27 km) high. That’s 84 times taller than the Eiffel Tower.

The world’s biggest flower – found in the Indonesian rain forest – can grow wider than a car tire.

About a million Earths could fit inside the sun.

You can see a 1,700 pound (771 kg) chocolate moose named Lenny in Maine, in the U.S.A.

The largest pumpkin pie weighed 2,020 pounds (916 kg)

A Slinky could stretch from a sixth-floor window to the ground.

 

Animal facts

Cheetahs can change direction in midair when chasing prey.

A sheep, a duck, and a rooster were the first passengers on a hot-air balloon.

Tia the Neapolitan mastiff gave birth to 24 puppies in one litter.

Some honeybee queens quack.

A bat can eat 3,000 insects in one night.

Cockroaches can survive underwater for up to 15 minutes.

A blue whale’s heart weighs up to 2,000 pounds (907 kgs).

Slugs have 3,000 teeth and 4 noses.

Number Facts

Google.com is named after the number googol-a one followed by a hundred zeros.

Girls have more taste buds than boys do.

167 letters are in the world’s longest place name. The city is in Thailand.

New York City’s Empire State Building was built with 10 million bricks.

There are about a billion bacteria in your mouth about now.

About 10,000 of the cells in your body could fit on the head of a pin.