10 Random Facts

August 19, 2010

There are some things that you learn and they just stick with you. You might never need to know them, but they remain unforgettable.  When you want to find answers to questions, a library is usually a good place to start looking. Here are a few I went looking for, and some things that I already knew.

• The opening battle scene in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith includes a kitchen sink.  This came about during the editing process, when one of them remarked "We have everything but the kitchen sink!" – After it was added, they were able to say that they indeed, had everything in the scene, including the kitchen sink.
• Americans eat 48 pints of ice cream per year per person.
• The two states with the most bordering states are Missouri and Tennessee – they each border eight.  Missouri borders Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee.  Tennessee borders Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia. 
• The most popular major in college is Business. 
• The Library of Congress boasts of a collection of 142 million books.  That’s books only.  That number does not include their audio visual items, maps, manuscripts and sheet music.
• The highest seven letter word you can score in Scrabble is ‘muzjiks’ – its base score is seventy nine points.  (the word itself is an alternative spelling of “Muzhik” – a Russian Peasant)
• The video with the most hits on YouTube is the Evolution of Dance by Judson Laipply. (As of 4:15 on August 19, 2010 it has 149,906,639 views)
• Paul McCartney has written the most number one hits of any songwriter.  Thirty-two of them, to be exact.
• The Steel Dragon Roller Coaster in Japan holds four records – it boasts of being the longest, tallest, fastest and has the greatest drop of any roller coaster in the world.
• The Dictionary frequently appears on the list of banned books. 

Emily E.
Red Bridge