After searching through a database of over 300 million worldwide newsworthy events from 1900 to the present day, a computer at Cambridge University in the UK decreed that April 11, 1954 was the most boring day in recent history.
Elapsed time for rabbit courtship and mating is between 30 and 40 seconds. And they are voracious breeders—in one season, a female rabbit can have as many as 800 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The “hold” might officially become a new Major League Baseball stat in the near future. A hold would be credited to middle relief pitchers who get at least one out and prevent any runs from scoring.
The Motley Fool, a financial services company, announced in 2000 that an exhumation of William Shakespeare revealed his previously-unknown stock portfolio—worth $18.7 billion. It was said that his “Horse, Inc.” shares were converted into Ford Motor Company shares. April Fool!
The proto-Semitic hieroglyph for “house” evolved over thousands of years to become the letter “B.”
A Recap of the Ten Plagues of Egypt from the Bible’s Book of Exodus that convinced Pharaoh to free the Israelites: 1) Water turned into blood, killing all aquatic life. 2) Frogs. 3) Lice. 4) Flies or wild animals (depending on the translation). 5) Disease on livestock. 6) Unhealable boils. 7) Hail and thunder. 8) Locusts. 9) Darkness. 10) Death of all firstborn humans and animals.
Not all Christians believe in the Easter Bunny. Sects such as Anabaptists, Quakers, Congregational and Presbyterian Puritans feel that if the traditions of such a holiday aren’t specifically outlined in the Bible, they are an abomination.
The first version of artificial turf for baseball was devised in 1915 by a fan concerned about player injuries. The patented idea was a field made of soft animal fur dyed green. In its exhibition game debut, everything was fine until the third inning, when rain caused a foul wet-dog smell to envelop the players. That was the field’s last game.
A bird’s nest is among the most expensive foods on the planet. The saliva adherent nests made by a type of swift are unstuck from cave walls and usually turned into soup. A kilogram’s worth can cost as much as $10,000.
If he hadn’t committed suicide, Adolf Hitler probably wouldn’t have lived much longer. By the end of his life, he was a mess—researchers concluded that he was afflicted with irritable bowel syndrome, skin lesions, irregular heartbeat, Parkinson’s disease, syphilis and tinnitus. He was on at least 90 different medications during WWII.
One theory about the linkage of the number “420” with marijuana is that there are 420 compounds in the drug. According to High Times magazine, the number is actually 315—420 more likely comes from “4:20pm,” a prearranged time to meet and spark up by San Rafael CA high school students in 1971.