Sunday, August 9, 2009

Interesting Facts about Indiana

Santa Claus, Indiana, receives more than one-half million letters and requests at Christmas time.

Five men from Indiana have been elected as vice president: Schuyler Colfax, Thomas A. Hendricks, Charles W. Fairbanks, Thomas Marshall and Dan Quayle. They have earned Indiana the nickname "Mother of Vice Presidents."

The first successful goldfish farm in the United States was opened in Martinsville, Indiana, in 1899.

In June 1972, Lowell Elliot of Peru, Indiana, was said to have found $500,000 in cash on his farm. It appeared as if the money had fallen from the sky. And in fact, it did. A skyjacker parachuting out of a plane had dropped his stolen profits over Elliot’s farm. Elliot returned the money to the authorities.

In a typical year, almost half of all cropland in Indiana is planted in corn.

Abraham Lincoln moved to Indiana at the age of 7.

Explorers Lewis and Clark set out from Fort Vincennes on their exploration of the Northwest Territory.

Did you know the movie "Hard Rain" was filmed in Huntingburg?!

The first professional baseball game was played in Fort Wayne on May 4, 1871.

The Indiana Dunes region provides habitat for many unusual plants, including prickly pear cactus, lichen mosses, bearberry, and more than 20 varieties of orchids.

During second world war, the P-47 fighter-plane was manufactured in Evansville at Republic Aviation.

Marcella Gruelle who was from Indianapolis created the Raggedy Ann doll in 1914.

The small town of Warsaw, Indiana, is home to three major manufacturers of artificial joints--Zimmer Holdings, Biomet, Inc. and DuPuy.


Source: Interesting Facts Blog

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Facts about Monkeys

Here are some really interesting facts about monkeys. There are many features of this mammal worth discussing, thus the long list of facts.


Monkeys make up two of the three groups of simian primates, Old World monkeys and New World monkeys. The other group is the apes.

The origins of the word monkey are unclear. It could come from Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape in a medieval animal story. It appears also to be related to manikin, from the Dutch manneken (little man).

Most primates share six basic features: forward-facing eyes, eye sockets, grasping hands, nails, fingerprints, and large brains.

Monkeys are most easily distinguished from apes by their tails. Apes have no tails.

Brazil has more kinds of primates than any other country, with 16 genera and 77 species. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is second, with 18 genera and 37 species.

A monkey is any primate that is not a human, prosimian, or ape.

The prosimians include lemurs, sifakas, lorises, pottos, bushbabies, and other primitive primates.

A group of monkeys is called a troop.

Monkeys use vocalizations, facial expressions, and body movements to communicate.

Grinning or pulling the lip is a sign of aggression in monkeys, along with yawning, head bobbing, and jerking the head and shoulders forward.

Monkeys express affection and make peace with others by grooming each other.

Monkeys live in trees, grasslands, mountains, forests, and on high plains.

All of Madagascar's native primate species are endemic.

As of 1999, 92 of the world's 192 nations have wild primate populations.

Twenty-one primate species are listed as critically endangered on the 2007 Red List of Threatened and Endangered Species. Forty-seven are endangered and 46 are vulnerable to extinction.

Apes and spider monkeys swing arm-to-arm in trees, but most monkeys don’t. Instead, they run across branches.

Monkeys peel their bananas and do not eat the skins.

Monkeys can grasp with both their fingers and their toes.

Most Old World monkeys have small, curved nostrils set close together. Most New World monkeys have round nostrils set far apart on flat noses.

Ten New World monkey species have been classified as nocturnal. All known Old World monkeys are diurnal.

Monkeys are seriously threatened by habitat loss--especially those that live in tropical forests, a habitat that is quickly disappearing.

The Pygmy Marmoset is the world's smallest monkey. It measures 117-159 millimeters (four and a half to six inches) in length and weighs 85 to 140 grams (three to five ounces).

The male Mandrill is the largest monkey. It is almost 1 meter (3.3 feet) long and weighs about 35 kilograms (77 pounds).

It is common for monkeys to carry tuberculosis, hepatitis, and simian herpes B.

Most monkeys eat both animals and plants. Some also eat dirt.

Some Old World monkeys, such as Drills, have sitting pads on their rumps, but New World monkeys do not.

Old World monkeys have 32 teeth. New World monkeys have 36.

There are 96 species of Old World monkeys.

Old World monkeys are divided into two subfamilies, generalists and specialists. Generalists eat almost anything, and specialists eat mainly leaves.

Old World monkeys often have large cheek pouches that enable them to feed rapidly and store their food, then chew and swallow it later.

As of 2008, there are 81 species of New World monkeys in the Amazon basin, and new ones are continually being discovered.

Many New World monkeys have prehensile tails, a feature not shared by any of their Old World cousins. Prehensile tails are used for grasping objects, swinging, and steadying the monkey by grasping limbs and branches when the hands and feet are being used in progression.

The Olive Colobus monkey and certain Red Colobus species are hunted for food by humans and chimpanzees.

Howler monkeys are the loudest monkeys. Their howls can be heard for about two miles in the forest and almost three miles in an open area.

Howler monkeys spend up to 80% of their time resting.

Many New World Monkeys, including the spider monkey, do not have thumbs. Capuchins and squirrel monkeys are the only New World monkeys with pseudo-opposable thumbs.

Proboscis monkeys are best known for the long noses of males, which grow larger as the monkeys age. Females have smaller, pointed noses. This distinctive feature might help to resonate the male's loud vocalizations.

Capuchins are skilled tool users. They smash nuts with rocks, insert branches into crevices to capture food, remove spines and hairs from caterpillars by rubbing them against a branch, protect their hands with leaves, and use large branches to club snakes.

Capuchin monkeys use different vocal sounds to identify different types of predators. They have also been seen banging stones together to warn each other of approaching predators.

As the name indicates, silvered leaf monkeys are silver to dark gray in color. Infants, however, are bright orange.

Twenty different vocalizations have been noted in squirrel monkeys.

Male squirrel monkeys sometimes assert dominance by urinating on subordinates.

Adult male guenon monkeys will sometimes rush after an eagle that has caught a family member, sometimes intimidating the bird enough that it lets go of its prey.

When a troop of guenon monkeys gets a new leader, the new alpha-male will sometimes kill all babies who are still being suckled, an evolutionary behavior known as kin selection, where the male protects his own offspring by killing the offspring of other males.

The Barbary Macaque is the only free-living species of monkey in Europe, which was once home to many monkeys.

South American Titi monkeys are rare among primates because they are monogamous. They mate for life and become distressed when separated. They show affection by remaining close, grooming each other, intertwining their tails, holding hands, nuzzling, cuddling, and lip smacking.


Source: facts.randomhistory.com , The Facts Blog

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Facts about Oregon

Here are some really interesting facts about Oregon. I liked them so sharing them with you all readers...


Oregon’s state flag is the only state flag to carry two separate designs, with a beaver on its reverse side.

In 1905, the largest log cabin in the world was built in honor of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

In 1971 Oregon became the first state to ban the use of non-returnable bottles and cans.

The Carousel Museum contains the world’s largest collection of carousel horses.

Formed more than 6,500 years ago, Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States. It is the only lake to be formed in the remains of a volcano and its crystal-blue waters are known around the world.

The Tillamook Cheese Factory is the largest cheese factory in the world.

At 8,000 feet deep Hells Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America.

Mill Ends Park in Portland, the world’s smallest official park, measures two feet across. It was created in 1948 for the leprechauns, and a place to hold snail races on St. Patrick’s Day.

During the 1820s Englishman John McLoughlin presided over a vast beaver trapping network centered at Fort Vancouver near the Columbia River.

Eugene was the first city to have one-way streets, and is quoted by “Bicycling Magazine” as one of the top ten cycling communities in the United States.

Oregon residents own one-fourth of the country’s total llama population.

The Klamath Mountains in southwestern Oregon are composed of volcanic rocks, which originally erupted under the ocean.


Source: jackieinpdx.com , The Facts Blog

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Facts

Here are some really interesting facts about the Thanksgiving...


According the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 45 million turkeys are cooked and eaten in the United States at Thanksgiving. That number represents one sixth of all the turkeys sold in the U.S. each year!

Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be our national bird.

President Abraham Lincoln established the original date for America's National Thanksgiving Day celebration in 1863.

President Thomas Jefferson scoffed at the idea of establishing a national “Thanksgiving Day.”

Congress did not declare Thanksgiving a national holiday until 1941.

Domesticated turkeys cannot fly, however wild turkeys can fly up to 55 miles per hour over short distances.

Only male (tom) turkeys gobble. Females make a clicking noise. The famous gobble is actually a seasonal mating call.

Americans feast on 535 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving.

A turkey's field of vision is 270 degrees--one of the main reasons they're able to elude some hunters.

The average age of the Mayflower passenger was 32. The oldest Mayflower passenger was 64.

The heaviest turkey ever raised weighed in at 86 pounds – about the size of a German Shepherd! (But turkeys are normally not used as police animals.)

A turkey under 16 weeks of age is called a fryer. A five to seven month old turkey is called a roaster.

The Turkey Trot, a ballroom dance in the 1900s, was named for the short, jerky steps of the turkey. It became popular mainly because it was denounced by the Vatican as "suggestive."

Contrary to popular belief, the Pilgrims did not have big buckles on their clothing, shoes, or hats.

Buckles did not come into fashion until the late 1600s – more appropriate for the Salem Witchcraft trial time period.

The average person consumes 4,500 calories on Thanksgiving Day. (Now that's a lot of turkey!)

There was no milk, cheese, bread, butter or pumpkin pie at the original Thanksgiving Day feast.

The cranberry got its name because the pale pink blossoms on the plant resembled a crane’s head and neck. The name craneberry stuck, eventually becoming cranberry.

Fresh cranberries are ideal for cranberry sauce. Cranberries of the highest quality will always bounce! (If you try this at home, please wash the cranberries before eating.)


Source: 1800flowers.com , Interesting Facts

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Facts about TV

Here is a bunch of some really interesting facts about television. I found these fun facts about TV really interesting and therefore I am sharing them with you.


In year 1926, J.L. Baird first displayed television which had only 30 lines and gave coarse image. Currently the digital signal of the television sends pictures with 1080 lines.

A 103-inch plasma TV from Panasonic is the largest plasma TV currently available in the market, costing approximately around $70,000 .

In 2008, the cost of 30 seconds advertisement was $2.7 million in the Super Bowl broadcast. It is the world’s most costly airtime.

NASA has announced that they have lost all of their original tapes of Apollo 11’s TV transmission in August, 2006.

The television advertisement first broadcasted on 1st July, 1941 in New York. The advertisement was for Bulova Watch for 20 seconds. It was aired before a game of baseball played between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Brooklyn Dodgers. The cost of air buy during that time was only $9.

Queen Elizabeth II has launched her own YouTube channel after fifty years when she first address for the Christmas to the public of UK.

The Late Late Show of Ireland which started in 1962 and The Tonight Show which started in 1954 are the longest running talk show in the world.

Sony began selling VCRs in 1970 that was capable of recording the television shows. However, Sony was sued by the film studios for copyright piracy. Later on, the Supreme Court backed Sony.

By the time the American child reaches 14, on an average they have seen around 11,000 murders on television.


Source: productusp.com , facts

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Facts about Washington State

While Surfing the web I stumbled upton some interesting facts about Washington. I gathered them and put them together her for my readers. Hope you will like these interesting facts about the Washington state.


It is America’s coffee capital, with more coffee bean roasters per capita than any other state.

“The Wave”, a popular fan cheer for the past 25 years, was started by Husky fans at the University of Washington.

Washington leads the country in technology industry employment.

Washington is home to thelarg est land mollusk in North America, a foraging banana slug that grows up to 9 inches long.

Petrified wood is the state’s gem, and there’s a petrified forest here that’s considered the most unusual fossil forest in the world.

Adam Morrison, a Washington State native and Gonzaga University basketball star, led the NCAA Division I in scoring last season.

The state is the nation’s largest exporter, representing $34 billion and 5 percent of all U.S. exports: forest products, aerospace products, apples, tulips, hops, mint, wheat and several other quality food products.

Leading innovators — Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Starbucks’ Howard Schultz, wireless pioneers the McCaw family, and the Boeing family — live in Washington State.

Washington State is America’s gateway to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

Washington State defines innovation. Some of the leading employers include Microsoft, Amazon.Com, Nordstrom, Boeing, Costco and Starbuck’s.

Washington has hosted the World’s Fair twice: 1962 in Seattle and 1974 in Spokane.

Washington produces 70 percent of the nation’s hops used to brew beer. Co incidentally, to overcome beer breath, the majority of the nation’s mint is also grown in the state.

In Washington, a Seahawk is an athlete, not a bird. The closest thing to a Seahawk is an osprey hawk.

Grand Coulee Dam, the largest concrete structure in North America, is in Washington State.

Washington’s residents are educated; it’s the state with most residents holding high school diplomas.

Father’s Day was founded in Washington in 1910.

The state is home to the world’s largest private car collection featuring over 3,000 vehicles.

Washington’s entrepreneurial climate has made it the leading state for both startup and gazelles, or fast growing young companies.

Washington, the 42nd state in the union, is the only state named for a president.

Seattle gets less rainfall annually than Atlanta, Boston, New York, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Miami, with 37 inches.

Seattle has the highest concentration of aerospace jobs in the world, led by Boeing’s 50,000 workers.

The longest accessible beach is Long Beach, WA.


Source: valleybugler , Facts

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Facts about West Virginia

Here are soe really interesting facts about West Virginia...


Marshall University, located in Huntington, was named for Chief Justice John Marshall of the United States Supreme Court. Justice Marshall served as Chief Justice from 1801- 1835 and served as the presiding justice over the Aaron Burr treason trial in 1807.

West Virginia University, located in Morgantown, has had 26 students to receive Rhodes Scholarships to study at Oxford University in England.

Charles Town, in Jefferson County, was where slave abolitionist John Brown was convicted of treason, conspiracy and murder following his raid on Harpers Ferry, also in Jefferson County.

The world famous Greenbrier Hotel and Resort, in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, was used as an Army Hospital during World War II.

Tourism is the state's leading industry. For many years, coal was the leading industry.

The New River Gorge Bridge, in Fayetteville, is the longest steel-arch bridge in the United States spanning 1, 815 feet across the New River Canyon.

The total cost for construction of our capitol building was nearly $10 million in 1932.

The dome on the capitol is 292 feet high, higher than the dome on the Nation's Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

The Greenbrier Hotel is also the home of the famous springs which were rumored to cure various ailments.

West Virginia was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, by proclamation signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

Ironic to its name, the New River is actually one of the oldest rivers in the World and flows south to north, opposite from most rivers because it was formed before the mountains.

At 4, 861 feet above sea level, Spruce Knob, located in Pendleton County, is the highest point in the Mountain State. Dropping down to 247 feet above sea level, Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, marks lowest point in the state.

On January 3, 1921, and four buildings later, West Virginia's Capitol burned to the ground. A temporary office building, known as the "Pasteboard Capitol," and other Charleston buildings served as temporary offices for state government.

Cass Gilbert was selected as the architect to design the capitol building. Gilbert, whose offices were located in New York, designed other notable buildings such as the capitol buildings of Minnesota and Arkansas, as well as the United States Treasury Annex and the United States Chamber of Commerce Building.

On June 20, 1932, eleven years after the destruction of the downtown capitol building, West Virginia's permanent capitol building was dedicated.

West Virginia's first Capital city was located in Wheeling, Ohio County. It was later moved to Charleston, then back to Wheeling, and then back to Charleston.

Washington Hall, located in Wheeling, is known as the "Birthplace of West Virginia."

The first capitol building is known as the Linsley Institute Building, built in 1858 and served as West Virginia's capitol for seven years.

The first Charleston Capitol, built in 1869-1870, was located at Capitol and Lee Streets. Charleston remained the Capitol City until 1875 when the Legislature decided to return to Wheeling.

In the fall of 1877, as a result of a statewide election, Governor Jacob issued a proclamation declaring Charleston the permanent seat of government.


Source: legis.state.wv.us , The Interesting Facts Blog