Fun Fact Friday

Every year, my health system has a "day" at Six Flags. We don't get the park to ourselves (unfortunately) but we get seriously discounted tickets and a free meal. Oh, and cheaper parking. So Matt and I have gone every year, because we love us a good rollercoaster. This Saturday is this year's day at Six Flags, and I can't wait. The last time we were there it was literally 103-degrees out and I thought I was going to melt into a puddle while we waited in line for some of the rollercoasters. This year, it looks like it's gonna be 80-something and chance of showers. Maybe that will keep the park a little emptier! Hands down, my favorite ride (probably ever) is the Superman Ultimate Flight. Once you get strapped in, it flips you over so you're face-down, on your stomach - you go through the whole ride feeling like you're flying! It's incredible.

So this week's fun facts are all about amusement parks!

~ There is a park in Korea called Love Land, that features 140 sculptures depicting various sexual positions. Grody.

~ Bon Bon Land, in Denmark, appears to be a park focused on disgusting bodily functions - vomit, farting, etc. Part of me kind of wants to see this.

~ Walt Disney wanted to keep an eye on his park when he built DisneyLand, so he had an apartment built for him above the fire department along Main Street. Employees and guests knew when Walt was in town because he would leave a light on in the window. These days, there is always a light in the window, in memory of the man who started it all.

~ Walt Disney World Resort is approximately the size of the city of San Francisco.

~ The fastest/highest/biggest drop awards all go to Kingda Ka, at Six Flags. It travels at 128mph, is 456 feet high, and has a drop of 418 from crest to bottom. I've been on this and it is sheer terror...and I loved it!

~ Cedar Point, in Sandusky, OH, has the most roller coasters of any park, with 17 coasters for thrill seekers like me to choose from. I've been to Cedar Point, and it is awesomesauce.

fun facts found here, here, and here
all images from google

Fun Fact Friday!

I'm writing this a few days early and setting it up to post on Friday because I won't be around to blog on Friday.  I have off Thursday and Friday (woo-hoo!) to spend some real quality time with my dad.  Wednesday night after work I'm hitting the Turnpike and heading to Hershey.  Early early early on Thursday morning, my dad and I are waking up and hitting the road to Bethesda, Maryland.  Why Bethesda, Maryland on a random Thursday, you ask?

Well, this week the U.S. Open starts!  My dad got tickets and I decided to go.  I thought a) it would be great to spend some time with Dad and b) how fun will it be to watch a real life golf tournament in person?  Unfortunately, no Tiger this year - he withdrew from the tournament last week.  But still, plenty of great golfers will be there.  I'm pretty excited! 

Anywho, this week's fun facts are all about - what else - golf!

~125,000 balls are hit into the water every year at hole 17 at Sawgrass Stadium Course.  Surprised?  Don't be.

 ~ Average driver speeds (speed of swinging the club): average woman golfer, 68mph; LPGA woman golfer, 96mph; average male golfer, 84mph; PGA male golfer, 108mph; Tiger Woods, 130mph.  Really wish Tiger hadn't dropped out.

~ There are 336 dimples on a golf ball

~ 22.8% of golfers are women.  I'm trying to join that statistic!

~ From September 14, 1963 till October 4, 1964, Floyd Satterlee Rood played golf across the United States.  It took him 114,737 strokes and cost him 3,511 balls to get across the 3,397.7 mile "course."

~ Americans spend more than $600 million on golf balls every year.  I'm guessin that's a lot of lost balls.

~ There are 3 golf balls on the moon.

~ The longest drive ever recorded is 515 yards (that's 5+ football fields!).  The longest putt is 375 feet.  What I'd like to know is who is 375 feet from the pin and decides to pull out their putter?!

~ The chances of making 2 holes-in-one in a single round is 1 in 67 million.

*facts from here, here, and here  
*all images from google

Fun Fact Friday

Today is the Opening Tap for Philly Beer Week 2011! 

PBW is a huge deal in Philadelphia and the surrounding area.  There are literally hundreds of events that occur throughout the city and the suburbs featuring all forms of beer - brewing lessons, meet the brewer sessions, food pairings...  You name it, you can find it in Philly during PBW.  It's one of my favorite times of the year! 

So, in honor of Philly Beer Week, here are some fun facts about beer!

~ In 1962, Iron City was the first brewery to try serving beer in pop-top aluminum cans.  8 years later, 90% of beer was served in self-opening cans!

~ President Teddy Roosevelt took 500 gallons of beer with him on an African safari trip. 

~ Prohibition began on January 16, 1920.  It lasted until December 5, 1933.  13+ years, you guys.  I'd have left the country.

~ Pabst Beer is now called Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR, a staple in hipster bars everywhere!) because it was first beer ever to win a blue ribbon at the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893.

~ The oldest known written recipe is a beer recipe.

~ The Pilgrims were supposed to sail the Mayflower further south, to the mouth of the Hudson.  But they were starting to run low on their beer supply, so they sailed into Plymouth Rock instead.

~ Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected partially because of his promise to end prohibition.  Boy, those Roosevelt boys sure loved their booze!

~ Cenosillacaphobia.  The fear of an empty glass.  May you never suffer from that awful phobia!

*facts from here, here, and here.

Fun Fact Fri(Satur)day

Yesterday was an absolutely insane day at work, and by the time I got home (2 hour late), I was so wiped, all I could do was collapse on the couch and have a glass of Bailey's on the rocks.  So I didn't get around to Fun Fact Friday, even though I totally knew what I wanted to write.

Matt and I are going to circus tomorrow!  Assuming, of course, that we survive the whole end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it hoopla.  It's the annual LuLu Shrine Circus.  I've wnated to go for several years, but just never got a chance to.  This year, I had a 1/2-off offer and we actually had a (semi)free weekend!  So we're going.  

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The LuLu Shrine Circus is near and dear to my heart not only because it's a circus (and who doesn't love a circus) but also because it's put on by the LuLu Shrine Temple.  What does that mean, exactly?  It's run by Shriners.  Ok, aaaannnd?  Well, I used to work for Shriners Hospitals for Children, and since then Shriners Hospitals has been my pet charity.  I donate money every paycheck through a direct deposit to Shriners Hospitals.  I donate all our soda can tabs to Shriners Hospitals because they recycle them and use the money to buy equipment for the hospitals.  Shriners is very very important to me. Read more about Shriners Hospitals for Children here.  It seriously is totally free care - regardless of income and insurance - and it's amazing care.  The things I saw when I worked there were so inspiring.

Anyway, every year, many Shrine temples around the country put on circuses or other such things to raise money for the hospitals.  The LuLu Shrine is the Philadelphia-area Shrine temple.  In Hershey, it was the Zembo Shrine, and I grew up going to the Zembo Shrine Circus before I even know what the Shriners were.

So, for this week's Fun Fact Friday, here are some fun circus facts!

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~ A basic balancing act = a base to lift/catch the flyer + a flyer to perform skills in mid-air + a spotter who assists the flyer.  We used the exact same terminology in cheering.  I was one of the lucky ones who did all 3.  (c:

~ Cary Grant started his career as an acrobat in a circus

~ It is statistically harder to get into Ringling Brothers School of Clowning than into Harvard Law School.

~ Sousa's march, "Stars and Stripes Forever," was usually played to quickly alert all circus personnel to an emergency in the tent (sound familiar, Water for Elephants readers?)

~ Human cannonballs travel at 60-70 miles per hour.  So the next time you're driving down the highway, imagine not being in a car.  Yikes.

~ The first circus in America was put on in Philadelphia (woohoo!) in 1793.  George Washington was in attendance.

~ The hamburger was born out of necessity at a circus in 1892 when a food concessions manager ran out of link sausages and instructed his assistants to grind the meat into patties.


~ July 4, 1944 - the tent at the Big Show catches fire.  Dozens are injured and killed.  It's the first big tragedy to happen at a circus.  Six officials were sent to prison.

~ Ringling Brothers Clown College started accepting female applicants in 1970.

*fun facts from here and here

Fun Fact Friday

The Kentucky Derby is on Saturday, and I'm pretty excited.  Actually, I'm just excited in general for the weekend.  Matt and I packed up the car this morning for a road trip to Hershey for the weekend.  Tonight we'll just chill at home with my mom and step-dad and my sister and her husband.  Our plan for tomorrow is that my mom, sister, and I are having spa day at the Spa at the Hotel Hershey.  We'll spend the day getting pampered - chocolate massage, pedicures, and laying around in our thick terry robes. 

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In the meantime, the boys are playing a round of golf.  We're meeting up with them later for a Kentucky Derby party at the Hershey Country Club.  I never used to watch horse races, until a few years ago when my parents became co-owners of a racehorse.  Because of that, I have a better understanding of racing, so it's a little more fun.  Plus, at the club, they are serving mint juleps - I've never had one, so I'm anxious to try it.  Saturday night, my mom, sister, and I are going to the dance show in Hershey that my sister and I performed in for 15 years.  I'm excited to see how things have changed since Callie and I left the dance school.  Plus, Matt's cousin's daughter is performing in several numbers, so it'll be fun to watch her.

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Anyway, back to the Fun Fact Friday.  Since tomorrow is the Derby, here are a few fun facts about it!

~ The Kentucky Derby trophy is made of 56 ounces of 14 and 18 karat gold

~ The horseshoe atop the Derby initially pointed down until 1924 when they rotated it 180 degrees.

~ Early Times is the official Kentucky whiskey used in the mint juleps served at the Derby.

~ The Garland of Roses, which is presented to the winner, has been shipped to Danville, KY to be freeze-dried since 1996.

~ In 1896, the race was shortened from 1 1/2 to 1 1/4 miles because they were concerned that was too long for the colts to run in the Spring.

~ There has never been a winner out of post #15 (I already emailed that fun fact to Matt so we know not to ever place bets on that horse)!

~ The fastest Derby time was posted by Secretariat in 1973, at 1:59.40

And now I leave you with some pictures of some fun Kentucky Derby hats...

Have a great weekend, guys!
*facts from here.  hat photos from here.

Fun Fact Friday

It's Easter weekend, so let's discuss some fun Easter facts!


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 ~ How do you eat your chocolate bunny?  76% of Americans go ears first.  5% eat the feet first, and 4% eat the tail first.  I know that's only 85% - I don't know what the other 15% do.  Just look at it?

~ Americans buy more than 700 Peeps during Easter season.  Side note: when Matt used to drink coffee, he would drop a peep in it instead of sugar.  He called it a Peepacino.  I think he should market it to Starbucks.

~ 16 billion jelly beans are made for Easter.  I wonder of that includes Bertie Botts Every Flavor bean.

~ Pretzels used to be associated with Easter because the twist in the middle resembled arms crossing in prayer.

~ The White House has hosted an Easter Egg Roll since 1978

~ The world's largest jar of jelly beans weighed 6,050 pounds.  I might want to swim in that.

~ What do you go for in your Easter basket?  76% of kids go right for the chocolate bunny, followed by 18% for marshmallow treats, 17% for malted milk balls, and 16% for jelly beans.  I feel like that doesn't add up.  Anyway, I dove right for the peanut butter eggs and/or the Cadbury creme eggs.  Ugh, I'm drooling.

Have a great Easter, everyone!


This was emailed to me years ago.  No idea where it came from.

 *all facts from here and here

Fun Fact Friday

Every Friday, I treat myself to Starbucks.  Grande, sugar-free, soy caramel macchiato. 

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Yeah, I have to really think about it when I order it.  I used to get a grande vanilla soy mocha.  Then I realized that in that little 16oz cup I was getting 460 calories.  YIKES.  So I switched to the skinny caramel macchiato, only they can't make a skinny with soy milk (skinny means skim milk), so I have to order it as "sugar-free soy."  That clocks in at 230 calories - half the calories in the mocha.  SCORE.  Also, did you know that it's made with vanilla syrup and not caramel?  Basically, it's just called caramel because they drizzle caramel on top.  I just learned this like 2 weeks ago.  I've been drinking them since Christmas.  I'm not always so quick on the draw.

In honor of today being my weekly Starbucks today, today's Fun Fact Friday is all about coffee!  [I know, it's been a while since I've done one]

~ The world record for coffee consumption is 82 cups in 7 hours.

~ During WWII, there was a coffee-drinking competition between the branches of the military.  The Marines claim victory at 20 cups per day.

~ There's a tourist agency called Cafe Away for people who want to take coffee vacations

~ Norway drinks the most coffee per person.  The US is ranked #12 in the world.

~ In Saudi Arabia, a woman can legally divorce her husband if he doesn't serve her coffee.

~ The use of coffee as a beverage started about 700 years ago.

A few years ago, a guy who went to my high school challenged himself to hit as many Starbucks in Manhatten in 24 hours.  He made it to 171 in just over 20 hours.  Crazy.  If you want to read more about it, click here.



*Weird coffee facts fond here and here

Fun Fact Friday

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So the weather in PA this past week has been kiiiiind of ridiculous.  It was nearly 70 degrees last Friday, then on Saturday we were almost blown off the road on our drive to Baltimore (thanks, 60mph wind gusts!).  Then on Tuesday, it snowed 4 inches and was 22 degrees out.  Now, today, it's windy, rainy, and currently 56 degrees.  I can't keep up!  Neither can my poor immune system.  I always get sick when there are big weather changes, and I can feel something trying to get its hooks in me.  Not to mention, all the fluctuations in the barometric pressure are wreaking total havoc on my Migraine Brain.  I've had a headache for about 5 days straight. 


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Anywho.  In honor of the wacky PA weather, this week's Fun Fact Friday is all about weird weather!

~The hottest temperature ever recorded was 136 degrees in Al'Aziziya, Libya in 1922.  The coldest was -128.6 degrees in (where else?) Antarctica in 1983.  July 1983.  The largest recorded swing in temperature over a 24-hour period occurred in 1916 in Montana when the temperature dropped from 44 degrees to -56 degrees.

~The most rain to fall in 1 minute was 1.23" in Unionville, MD on July 4th, 1956.  Bet that made for some interesting picnics!

~Silver Lake, Colorado once got 75.8" of snow in a 24-hour period.  The largest snow amount ever recorded for an entire season was in Mount Rainier, WA at 1122". 

~In 1986, Bangledesh had a hailstorm producing hail stones weighing up to 2.5lbs!  In January 2000, Spain had a "freak" hailstorm that lasted 10 days and dropped hail stones weighing up to 2.25lbs.  10 days!

~Mt. Washington, NH once experienced a wind gust of 231 mph.

~In Fort Keogh, Montana, a snowflake measuring 15" fell from the sky.

*Facts found here and here

Fun Fact Friday

Keeping with the travel/Italy theme, a few fun facts about Italy!


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~ Italy is only slightly larger than Arizona ~ The average Italian makes $26,700 a year, but residents of Northern Italy can make as much as $40,000
~ Italy's unemployment rate is 8.6%, but can be as high as 20% in the Southern part of the country
~ Italy is the 4th most visited country in the world with 40 million tourists per year
~ The average Italian consumes 26 gallons of wine per year
~ The area around Venice is the wealthiest in Europe
~ "Ars longa, vita breva" means "Art is long, life is short" and refers to the Italian's love of leisure.  (*I could totally adopt this way of life)
~ The colors of the Italian flag represent three virtues: Hope (green), Faith (white), and Charity (red)
~ Italy has 3 active volcanos: Vesuvius, Etna, and Stromboli
~ The Vatican City (at 108.7 acres large) is the only nation in the world that can lock it's own gates at night
~ There are currently more than 500 types of pasta eaten in Italy today

*facts found here and here

Fun Fact Friday

I work in a hospital.  Not sure if I've mentioned that.  So I see some absolutely craaaaazy stuff.  Seriously.  The human body is a weird, fascinating, scary thing.  Did you know...

I like how he/she is standing with a 'tude

Dimples are caused by the attachment of skin to a muscle.  Not so cute, now, are they?

The link between diabetes and sugar metabolism was first discovered by a French chemist in 1815 when he realized that the urine of a diabetic was similar to grape sugar.  I so don't want to know how he figured that out...

During one lifetime, the average human will grow 590 miles of hair.  Ewww...

A human thigh bone is stronger than concrete.

A sneeze generates a wind of 100mph.  A cough is 60mph.

Source, source, and source

Fun Fact Friday

Some weird facts about animals...

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Dalmations are the only breed of dog that gets gout.  This is because they are the only mammal, other than humans, that create uric acid.

Golfish lose their color in dim light.  Guess we're not the only ones who like to tan!

(Source)

Albatrosses only need to land once every few years to mate - they can travel hundreds of thousands of miles without stopping!

Dolphins can hear up to 15 miles underwater.

Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale.  The tongue.

Mosquitos are attracted to the color blue twice as much as any other color.  I know what color I won't be wearing anymore in the summer!

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Crocodiles can't stick their tongues out because they're attached to the bottom of their mouths.

Dude, animals are funny.

Fun Fact Friday

So you guys know the Hubble Telescope had is 20th anniversary in orbit last year, right?  [Don't worry, I didn't either] 

Here's a couple of crazy facts about the Hubble:

It completes an orbit of the Earth in about 97 minutes.

It travels at a speed of 5 miles per second.  If a car could drive that quickly, it would only take 19 minutes to drive from New York to Los Angelos. 

It uses 2800 watts of energy.  That's 28 100-watt light bulbs.  Less than it takes to run just the floor I work on in the hospital.

Check out some of the pictures the Hubble has taken over the years.

Saturn's Rings

Star Cluster NGC 290

Jet in Carina

*photos from here*
*facts from here*