Boulder Dam is as thick at it's base (660 feet) as a city block.

There are more than 40,000 characters in Chinese script.

It is impossible to sneeze and keep your eyes open at the same time.

Elephant herds post their own sentries.The sentry will raise it'e trunk when danger threatens and even if the herd is a half mile away they will be instantly alerted.

There is enough stone and mortar in the pyramids of Egypt to construct a 10 foot high and 5 foot wide wall from New York city to Los Angeles.

In the Chinese written language, the ideograph that stands for "trouble" represents two women under one roof.

The Colosseum of ancient Rome was occasionly filled with water and an entire naval battle was staged there. Complete with armed vessels and fights to the death.

The high roofs of London's taxi cabs were originally designed to keep gentlemen from knocking off their top hats while entering and leaving the vehicle.

A mole can dig a tunnel 300 feet long in one night.

The Kennedy International Airport has the largest stained-glass window in the world. Measuring 300 feet long and 23 feet high, it can be seen on the American Airlines terminal.

In 1800 only 50 cities around the world had populations of more than 100,000.

Of all the ore dug in a diamond mine, only one carat in 23 tons proves to be a diamond.

Teenagers are 50% more susceptable to colds than people over fifty.

Elephants are not the only source of genuine ivory. It also comes from the tusks of a boar and walrus.

The first man to fly the Atlantic was not Charles Lindbergh, he was the sixty-seventh. The first 66 made the passage in dirigibles and twin engine planes. Lindbergh was the first to do it alone.

Approximately 70% of the earths surface is covered by water. Only one percent of that water is drinkable.

If the Nile river were stretched across the U.S.A. it would reach from New York to almost Los Angeles.

Antarctica is the only continent without land areas below sea level.

A squirrel has no color vision. It only sees in black and white, but it has perfect focus in every part of it's field of vision.

A child, up to the age of six or seven months, can breathe and swallow at the same time. An adult is incapable of doing this.

In parts of Japan, if a black cat crosses one's path, it is considered a sign of good luck.

A Chinese bandit, Chang Hsien-chung, is credited with having killed 40 million people between 1643 and 1648. The population of the Szechwan province was completely wiped out by him.

Before the sixth century B.C. Chinese coins were made in the shape of miniature shells, spades and knives. Before the advent of coins those were the principal items of barter.

A man can easily be run down by an elephant or rhino. The elephant can reach 25 miles per hour and a rhino can hit 30 miles per hour. The fastest a man can run is 24 miles an hour.

Your nose cleans, warms and humidifies over 500 cubic feet of air every day.

If the coils of a French horn were stretched out they would measure 22 feet.

The female knot-tying weaverbird will refuse to mate with a male who built a shoddy nest. Spurned, the male must take the nest completely apart and rebuild it to win the affections of the female.

The salt in seawater comes mainly from the fresh water that flows into the oceans. As the streams and rivers flow over the land they absorb a great deal of salt from the rocks and earth and carry it out to sea. There the fresh water evaporates leaving the salt behind.

Found mainly in the American west, the Mojave ground squirrel hibernates for two-thirds of the year.

No high jumper has ever been able to stay off the ground for more than one second.

Albania once issued a stamp to commemorate the worlds greatest smoker. Ahmed Zogu, who repudately smoked 12 packs a day.

Flamingos are not naturally pink. They get that color from their food, tiny blue-green algae that turns pink during digestion.

More than one million earths would fit inside the sun.

The King cobra'a venom is so deadly that one gram can kill 150 people. Just handling the substance can put one into a coma.

False teeth are made radioactive on purpose. They are made of a porcelain compound laced with minute amounts of uranium to produce flourescence. Without the uranium the dentures would be a dull green color when seen under artificial light.

Contrary to popular belief the Mongoose is not immune to the venom of a cobra. Bitten, it will die just quickly as any othern animal. It defeats the cobra simply because it is faster and has quicker reflexes.

In Egypt, in 1500 b.c., a shaved head was considered to be the ultimate in feminine beauty. Egyptian women removed every hair on their heads with special gold tweezers and polished their heads with buffing cloths.

The Chinese did not invent the abacus. It originated in Egypt in 2000 B.C., almost 1,000 years before it reached China.

A completely blind Chameleon will still take on the colors of it's environment.

Henry Ward Beecher (when asked on his deathbed if he could raise his arm)  "Well, high enough to hit you, Doctor."

Ludwig van Beethoven  "Applaud, freinds, the comedy is finished."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe  "Please close the window."

Georg Wilhelm Hegel  "Only one man understood me and he didn't understand."

Samuel Johnson  "I am about to die."

John Keats  "I feel the flowers growing over me."

Roman empoeror Nero  "A great artist dies in me."

Carl Panxram (murdered 23 people)  "I wish the whole human race had one neck and I had my hands on it."

Edgar Allen Poe  "Lord, have mercy on my poor soul."

Francois Rabelais  "I am going to the great perhaps."

Arnold Rothstein (when asked who shot him)  "My mudder did it."

Henry David Thoreau  "Moose...Indian."