Wanted some light reading for the weekend? I got your light reading right here! Fifteen facts that you probably never knew - heck, they just might save your life one day (I dunno how exactly they might save your life just yet, but, what the hey, throw me a bone here).

The following list is taken from the current Top-rated trivia in the Unnecessary Knowledge website:

1. 50% of female polar bears also have a penis.
2. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by taking out an olive from First Class salads.
3. Charlie Chaplin once won third prize in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
4. An adult giraffe's kick is so powerful that it can decapitate a lion.
5. The word “lethologica” describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want.
6. In ancient Rome, when a man testified in court he would swear on his testicles.
7. The average length of an orgasm for a pig is 30 minutes.
8. The brain continues sending electrical wave signals for 37 hours after death
9. Every year approximately 2,500 left-handed people are killed by using object or machinery designed for right-handed people.
10. Between 1902 and 1907, the same tiger killed 434 people in India.
11. During their periods, women's middle fingers shrink. No one knows why.
12. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp (marijuana) paper.
13. A raisin dropped in a glass of fresh champagne will bounce up and down continuously from the bottom of the glass to the top.
14. The longest word in the English language, with all of the letters in alphabetical order is "Almost".
15. It would take 1.2 million mosquitoes biting you simultaneously to drain all your blood.

I'm not entirely certain of the validity of some of these facts, but still, you can't help but wonder. My, my, my there's such a lot of things we don't know, eh? If you're willing to believe a mutant-pig with a monkey's face, then might as well be open to the idea that these trivia might be true too. Fact is stranger than fiction, after all.

There's at least one fact in this list that I'm positively sure of though: #6. I heard once that the Latin root of "testify" derives itself from the same root as that of "testicle". Meanwhile, fact #7, the one about the pigs, is something I've always known.

Some of the facts seem hard to believe though. While there is some documented evidence of female polar bears at Svalbard having a baculum (i.e. penis), I think it's only a small percentage of the population (somewhere along 1.5%).

The bit about the giraffe is quite cool too - I'm not sure if it's 100% real, but I'd definitely want to see some footage of it in action in National Geographic some time.

Any thoughts from you guys? Just as much, these might all be just modern day myths that may have been passed on or written off as fact somewhere along history though, but nonetheless, who knows? Some day, you may thank me for saving your life. *wink*

Happy weekend!

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