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Strange Odd History & Facts
STRANGE ODD HISTORY & FACTS
The Atlantic Ocean is slightly saltier than the Pacific Ocean.
Contrary to popular belief, bagpipes originated in India.
New York City officials denied a request by Harry Houdini to perform a public stunt that involved a straightjacket, a hand grenade and a hive of bees.
Spike, the dog actor who played Old Yeller in the classic Disney film, was buried at sea.
A government laboratory in Beijing uses electric eels to predict the time and location of earthquakes. In 2005, its accuracy rate was 89 percent.
To conclude the Statue of Liberty's dedication ceremony, President Grover Cleveland broke a bottle of French absinthe on the statue's toe.
Pablo Picasso created some of his greatest works while wearing nothing but an apron and his favorite sandals.
Salt Lake City International Airport was built on sacred Native American (Shoshone tribe) burial grounds.
Elected officials in Mexico's Oaxaca state receive one free case of tequila every month for the duration of their terms.
Famed Italian explorer Marco Polo never learned to swim.
A random sampling of dollar bills from major U.S. cities found that more than 70 percent tested positive for the virus that causes genital warts.
The game of hopscotch originated as a mockery of the Catholic funeral procession.
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, was also the target of the first federal wiretap.
The U.S. military spends more money on condoms than bullets for U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
In 2003, after a visit to the American Southwest, the Crown Prince of Dubai had a Texas-shaped swimming pool constructed at his royal palace.
Bruce Lee was a third cousin of one of the Watergate burglars.
Every ant on Earth, queued up in single file, would form a line long enough to wrap around the equator more than 1,000 times.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was instrumental in the formation of the WNBA.
English Heritage, the body that oversees Stonehenge, considered selling the site to a Japanese conglomerate during a budget crisis in the 1980s.
There is no word for "yesterday" in the Eskimo language.
An ounce of pickled ginger can temporarily raise your IQ by as many as 10 points.
Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright was secretly commissioned to design key portions of the Pentagon.
The signature mixed drink served on board the Hindenburg was called the "Flaming Drop."
One module of the International Space Station is devoted exclusively to the manufacture of synthetic diamonds.
In Ireland, it's illegal to lie to your parents.
Andy Warhol painted his last will and testament on a 55-gallon drum of formaldehyde.
The first duct (or 'duck') tape, created for the U.S. military during World War II, could be boiled and eaten as an emergency ration.
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