Read Online The World's Greatest Book of Useless Information by Noel Botham - Free Book Online

fifty-?cent piece in Australian decimal currency had around $100 worth of silver in it before it was replaced with a less-?expensive twelve-?sided coin.
    At the height of inflation in Germany in the early 1920s, approximately two dollars were equal to a quintillion German marks.

KISSABLY FRESH
    Colgate faced a big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish-?speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”
    More people use blue toothbrushes than red ones.
    Oral-?B is a combination of “oral hygiene” and the letter B, which stands for the word better.
    Some toothpaste contains antifreeze.
    Dentists recommended that a toothbrush be kept six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
    Americans spend $1.5 billion every year on toothpaste.

JUST A SCRATCH
    Four thousand people are injured by teapots every year.
    A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans. Every year, more than 8,800 people injure themselves in some way with a toothpick.
    On average, one hundred people choke on ballpoint pens every year.
    Forty thousand Americans are injured by toilets every year.
    In 1981, a man had a heart attack after playing the game Berserk—video gaming’s only known fatality.
    In 1990, there were about fifteen thousand vacuum cleaner–related accidents in the United States.

THE ROYAL THRONE
    A flush toilet exists today that dates back to 2000 B.C.E.
    About a third of people flush while they are still sitting on the toilet.
    Alaska has more outhouses than any other state.
    In 1825, the first toilet was installed in the White House.
    In true kingly fashion, Elvis passed away while sitting on the throne.
    Most toilets flush in E flat.
    Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was the first American to have plumbing installed in his house, in 1840.
    The first toilet ever seen on television was on Leave It to Beaver.
    The Soviet Sukhoi-34 is the first strike fighter with a toilet in it.
    Toilets in Australia flush counterclockwise.

SIMPLY SARTORIAL
    Bill Bowerman, founder of Nike, got his first shoe idea after staring at a waffle iron. He got the idea of using squared spikes to make shoes lighter.
    The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
    If you lace your shoes from the inside to the outside, the fit will be snugger around your big toe.
    North Americans spend almost $18 billion on footwear a year.
    Jeans were named after Genoa, Italy, where the first denim cloth was made.
    The YKK on the zipper of your Levi’s stands for Yoshida Kogyo Kabushibibaisha, the world’s largest zipper manufacturer.
    Neckties were first worn in Croatia. That’s why they were called cravats (cro-?vats).
    Most people button their shirts upward.
    The armhole in clothing is called an armsaye.
    The bra Marilyn Monroe wore in the movie Some Like It Hot was sold for $14,000.
    In 1955, one-?third of all watches sold were Timexes.
    The quartz crystal in your wristwatch vibrates 32,768 times a second.

TOYING AROUND
    Since the Lego Group began manufacturing blocks in 1949, more than 189 billion pieces in 2,000 different shapes have been produced. This is enough for about thirty Lego pieces for every living person on Earth. Five-?thousandths of a millimeter is the tolerance of accuracy at the Lego mold factories.
    Ninety-?four percent of all households in Belgium with children under the age of fourteen years old own Lego products.
    Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. Barbie’s measurements if she were life-?size would be 5 feet, 9 inches tall, 33-18-31½.
    There are more Barbie dolls in Italy than there are Canadians in Canada.
    Totally Hair Barbie is the best-?selling Barbie of all time.
    Slinkys were invented by an airplane mechanic; he was playing with engine parts and realized the possible secondary use of one of the springs.
    The Slinky is sold on every continent of the world except Antarctica. If you took a standard Slinky and stretched it out, it would