Random Fact Tuesday

• The name for the search engine Google is derived from the word googal, which refers to the number 1 followed by one hundred zeros.

• Genetically speaking, zebras are black with white stripes, not white with black stripes; they have black skin, even under the white hair.

• If the entire population of China were to walk past you in a single files, you would not live long enough to see the end of the line.

• Pepsi-Cola was invented by a young pharmacist named Caleb Bradham in 1898.  Originally called “Brad’s drink,” the beverage was first marketed as a digestive aid and energy booster; it was renamed Pepsi-Cola because of its pepsin and kola nut content.

• The basenji is the only breed of dog that doesn’t bark- it yodels.

• All swans in England are the property of the queen.

• Male bees, or drones, have only one job- to mate with the queen.  Those lucky enough to do so die in the act.

• A “jiffy” is an actual unit of time, most commonly interpreted as 1/100th of a second.

• The dot over the letter i is called a tittle.  Tittle also means “iota” or “little bit,” as in, “I don’t care on tittle.”

• Pop Tarts, introduced on September 14, 1964, were named as a pun on “pop art.”

• Cimex Lectularius, commonly known as the bed bug, is capable of consuming its body weight in blood in five minutes.

• Tootsie Rolls were introduced in 1896 by Leo Hirshfield; he named them after his daughter whose nickname was “Tootsie.”

• Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet.

• Chocolate syrup was used for blood in the famous 45-second shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie Psycho; the scene actually took seven days to shoot.

• Time magazine’s “Man of the Year” for 1938 was Adolf Hitler.

• A baby beaver is a kit.  A baby codfish is a sprat.  A baby elephant seal is a weaner. A baby fish is a fry.  A baby frog is a polliwog.  A baby kangaroo is a joey.  A baby swan is a cygnet.  A baby tiger is a whelp.  A baby shark is a cub.