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Interesting But Useless Facts
29% of us ignore RSVP.
71.6% of us eavesdrop.
Less than 10% are trilingual.
37% claim to know how to use all the features on their VCR.
53% prefer ATM machines over tellers.
56% of women do the bills in a marriage.
2 out of 3 of us wouldn't give up our spouse even for a night for a million bucks.
20% of us have played in a band at one time in our life.
40% of us have had music lessons.
44% reuse tinfoil.
57% save pretty gift paper to reuse.
66% of women and 59% of men have used a mix to cook and taken credit for doing it from scratch.
53% read their horoscopes regularly.
16% of us have forgotten our own wedding anniversary (mostly men).
59% of us say we're average-looking.
90% of us depend on alarm clocks to wake us.
53% of us would take advice from Ann Landers.
28% of us have skinny-dipped. 14% with the opposite sex.
51% of adults dress up for a Halloween festivity.
On average, we send 38 Christmas cards every year.
20% of women consider their parents to be their best friends.
2 out of 5 have married their first love.
The biggest cause of matrimonial fighting is money.
Only 4% asked the parents' approval for their bride's hand.
1 in 5 men proposed on his knees.
6% propose over the phone.
71% can drive a stick-shift car.
45% of us consistently follow the speed limit.
2/3 of us speed up at a yellow light.
1/3 of us don't wear seat belts.
22% leave the glob of toothpaste in the sink.
The typical shower is 101 degrees F.
Nearly 1/3 of US women color their hair.
9% of women and 8% of men have had cosmetic surgery.
53% of women will not leave the house without makeup on.
58% of women paint their nails regularly.
62% of us pop our zits.
33% of women lie about their weight.
10% of us claim to have seen a ghost.
57% have had deja vu.
49% believe in ESP.
4 out of 5 of us have suffered from hemorrhoids.
44% have broken a bone.
Only 30% of us know our cholesterol level.
14% have attended a self-help meeting.
15% regularly go to a shrink.
78% would rather die quickly than live in a retirement home.
Significantly more black women die from heart disease than any other group.
30% of us refuse to sit on a public toilet seat.
54.2% of us always wash our hands after using the toilet.
81.3% would tell an acquaintance to zip his pants.
It takes an average person fifteen to twenty minutes to walk once around the Pentagon.
The average life span of London residents in the middle of the 19th century was 27 years. For members of the working class, that number dropped to 22 years.
There are over 15,000 miles of lighted neon tubing in the many signs on the Strip and downtown Las Vegas.
The average IQ is 100, while 140 is the beginning of genius IQ.
12% of men never use their car blinkers.
44% of men tailgate to speed up the person in front of them.
4 out of 5 sing in the car.
Every minute 47 Bibles are sold or distributed throughout the world.
In a century's time Islam had converted one-third of the world.
In the United States, deaf people have safer driving records than hearing people nationally.
One-fourth of the world's population lives on less than $200 a year. Ninety million people survive on less than $75 a year.
In the famous Parker Brothers game "Monopoly," the space on which a player has the greatest statistical chance of landing is Illinois Avenue. This is followed by the B&O Railroad, Free Parking, Tennessee Avenue, New York Avenue and the Reading Railroad.
Burns are second only to traffic accidents as the cause of accidental loss of life in the U.S.: about 6,000 fatal burns a year.
The U.S produces 19% of the world's trash. The annual contribution includes 20 billion disposable diapers, 2 billion razors and 1.7 billion pens.
More than 63 million Star Trek books, in more than 15 languages, are in print; 13 were sold every minute in the U.S. in 1995.
New York City has the largest black population of any city in the United States. It is followed by Chicago and Philadelphia.
No one knows how many people live in the country of Bhutan. As of 1975, no census had ever been taken.
In the United States, five million teeth are knocked out annually.
Every year, over 8800 people injure themselves with a toothpick.
There are more television sets in the United States than there are people in Japan.
On a bingo card of ninety numbers there are approximately 44 million ways to make B-I-N-G-O.
Researcherd don't know why, but people living in mountain states eat 30% more cookies than other people.
According to the Texas Department of Transportation, one person is killed annually painting stripes on the state's highways and roads.
In 1993 there were an estimated 64 million cats in the United States.
Half a billion people - about one of every eight - are suffering chronic malnutrition today.
People are marrying younger today than they did before the turn of the century. In the United States, in 1890, the average age of men at their first marriage was twenty-six years, compared with twenty-three today. For women, the corresponding figures are twenty-two then and just under twenty-one now.
Per capita, Canada has more doughnut shops than any other country.
In 1977, according to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, there were 14.5 telephone calls made for every 100 people in the entire world.
The photo most often requested from the U.S. National Archives is that of the meeting between Elvis Presley and President Nixon in 1970. Presley had requested that Nixon make him an honorary drug enforcement agent and Nixon accommodated him.
Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying.
Lost time in traffic could cost American businesses up to 100 billion dollars per year.
According to NASA, the U.S. has the world's most violent weather. In a typical year, the U.S. can expect some 10,000 violent thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, 1,000 tornadoes and several hurricanes.
The chance of contracting an infection during a hospital stay in the USA is 1 in 15.
The number of births in India each year is greater than the entire population of Australia.
Li is the family name for over 87 million People in China.
Americans use over 16,000 tons of aspirin a year.
The typical person swallows 295 during dinner.
The most common surname in Sweden is Johansson.
France has the highest per capita consumption of cheese.
The voltage of most car batteries is 12 volts.
The typical person goes to the bathroom 6 times a day.
The most common Spanish surname is Garcia.
In 1969, Iowa State College conducted a survey indicating that a parent's stress level at the time of conception is a major factor in determining the child's sex. The child is usually the same sex as the less stressed parent.
An eyebrow typically contains 550 hairs.
Hawaii has the highest percentage of cremations of all other U.S. states, with a 60.6 percent preference over burial.
Two out of three adults in the United States have hemorrhoids.
The Japanese cremate 93 percent of their dead, as compared to Great Britain at 67 percent and the United States at just over 12 percent.
Nearly half of all psychiatrists have been attacked by one of their patients.
About 24 percent of alcoholics die in accidents, falls, fires, and suicides.
About 25 percent of all male Americans between the ages of ten and fifteen were "gainfully employed" at the turn of the century. By 1970, so few in that age bracket were employed that the U.S. Census Bureau did not bother to make inquiries about them.
About 60 percent of all American babies are named after close relatives.
According to a 1995 poll, 1 out of 10 people admitted that they will buy an outfit intending to wear it once and return it.
According to a poll, only 29 percent of married couples agree on most political issues.
According to a poll, 39% of the people interviewed admitted that they snoop in their host's medicine cabinets.
According to Scientfic American magazine: if you live in the northern hemisphere, odds are that every time you fill your lungs with air at least one molecule of that air once passed thru Socrates lungs.
Ten percent of frequent fliers say they never check their luggage when flying.
Ten percent of men are left-handed while only 8 percent of women are left-handed.
Textbook shortages are so severe in some U.S. public schools that 71 percent of teachers say they have purchased reading materials with their own money.
Retirement planning time: Adults spend an average of 16 times as many hours selecting clothes (145.6 hours a year) as they do on planning their retirement.
A 1991 Gallup survey indicated that 49 percent of Americans didn't know that white bread is made from wheat.
The tail section of an airplane gives the bumpiest ride.
North America's most popular snack food is potato chips.
69% of men say that they would rather break up with a girl in private rather than in public.
In 1916, 55% of the cars in the world were Model T Fords.
About 1 out of every 70 people who pick their nose actually eat their boogers.
Women shoplift more often than men; the statistics are 4 to 1.
For the 66% of American's who admit to reading in the bathroom, the preferred reading material is "Reader's Digest."
67.5% of men wear briefs instead of boxers.
57% of British school kids think Germany is the most boring country in Europe.
You are more likely to win the state lottery than to be attacked by a shark.
Statistically the safest age of life is 10 years old.
Automobiles take up about 24 percent of the total area of Los Angeles.
About 43% of convicted criminals in the U.S. are rearrested within a year of being released from prison.
There was a ratio of 35 women to one man in England mental asylums in 1971. However in England prisons, this ratio was the opposite.
Seven people have been struck by meteorite fragments.
Coffee is the second largest item on international commerce in the world.
People in Iceland read more books per capita than any other people in the world.
Odds that you'll be killed by a plane falling from the sky: one in 25 million. Odds that it will happen today: 1 in 7 trillion.
Boys who have unusual first names are more likely to have mental problems than boys with conventional names. Girls don't seem to have this problem.
Sweden has the least number of murders annually.
The 3 largest newspaper circulations are Russian.
Smoking accounts for at least 7% of all health care costs in the US.
The salt scattered on American highways each winter to keep cars from skidding on snow and ice represents 10 percent of the world's annual output of the mineral.
53% of high school grads and 27% of college grads "get most of their information from TV."
The one extra room new-home shoppers want the most is the laundry room, at 95 percent. Only 66 percent of new-home buyers request an extra room to use as an office.
Most shark attacks are not deadly. Less than 20 percent of those attacked are killed. Contrary to popular belief, sharks don't tear their prey to pieces. After the initial attack, they tend to circle around waiting for the victim to die from blood loss. This gives time for rescue. Before you start having shark nightmares, however, remember this: More Americans are killed each year from bee-attack than from shark-attack.
The only country to register zero births in 1983 was the Vatican City.
Seven billion gallons of water are flushed down toilets in the U.S. every day.
The average raindrop reaches a top speed of 22 miles per hour.
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