At the Atlanta Olympics, Michael Johnson ran the 200m in a world
record time of 19.32 sec. Donovan Bailey broke the world record
for the 100m with a 9.84 sec dash.

Although the track seems to produce the biggest egos, unassisted
human speed achievements are nothing to crow about in the animal
world. Both men had an average speed of about 37km/h....

An African cheetah, if starting 150m behind Bailey, would have
still crossed the finish line in front. It can sustain 100 km/h
speeds for more than 400m.

Even your average African ostrich can easily outrun these guys
with a top speed of 70 km/h, despite its non-figure-hugging
feather suit!

 50 Things you didn't know...
------------------------------
 1. The US interstate highway system requires that one mile in
    every five be straight. These straight sections function as
    airstrips in times of war and other emergencies.

 2. The Boston University Bridge is the only place in the world
    where a boat can sail under a train driving under a car
    driving under an airplane.

 3. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds, while dogs have only
    about ten.

 4. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our
    nose and ears never stop growing.

 5. In every episode of Seinfeld, there is a superman somewhere.

 6. February 1965 is the only month in recorded history
    not to have a full moon.

 7. The cruise liner, Queen Elisabeth II, moves only six inches
    for every gallon of diesel fuel that it burns.

 8. Isaac Asimov is the only author to have a book published in
    every major Dewey Decimal category.

 9. Columbia University is the second largest land owner
    in New York City, after the Catholic Church.

10. Cat urine glows under a black light.

11. Back in the mid-80s, an IBM compatible computer wasn't
    considered 100% compatible unless it could run Microsoft's
    Flight Simulator.

12. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

13. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

14. Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the
    child is 2-6 years of age.

15. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

16. If you have three quarters, four dimes and four pennies, you
    have $1.19. You also have the largest amount of money in coins
    without being able to make change for a dollar.

17. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

18. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all
    of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

19. No NFL team which plays its home games in a dome
    has ever won a Superbowl.

20. The first toilet ever seen on TV was on "Leave it to Beaver".

21. In the Great Fire of London in 1666, half of the city was
    burned down but only 6 people were injured.

22. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because
    cotton growers in the 30s lobbied against hemp farmers. They
    saw them as competitors.

23. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 years old.

24. The name Wendy was made up for the book -"Peter Pan".

25. The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named
    after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank
    Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life".

26. It was discovered on a space mission that a frog can throw up.
    The frog throws up its stomach first, so the stomach is
    dangling out of its mouth. The frog then uses its forearms to
    dig out all of the stomach's contents and then swallows the
    stomach back down again.

27. Armored knights raised their visors to identify themselves
    when they rode past their king. This custom has become the
    modern military salute.

28. Sylvia Miles had the shortest performance ever nominated
    for an Oscar, in "Midnight Cowboy". Her entire role lasted
    only 6 minutes.

29. Charles Lindbergh took only four sandwiches with him on his
    famous transatlantic flight.

30. Goethe couldn't stand the sound of barking dogs and could only
    write if he had an apple rotting in the drawer of his desk.

31. Stewardesses is the longest word that is formally typed with
    only the left hand.

32. Armadillos have four babies at a time and they are always the
    same sex.

33. To escape the jaws of a crocodile, push your thumbs into its
    eyes - it will release you instantly.

34. If you toss a penny 10,000 times, it will come up heads
    approximately 4950 times because the heads picture weighs more
    than the tails side, so it ends up on the bottom more often.

35. Hydroxydeoxycorticosterones is the longest anagram in the
    English language.

36. Los Angeles' full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la
    Reinae los Angeles de Pornciuncula.

37. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

38. Al Capone's business card said he was a furniture dealer.

39. The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds.

40. Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and
    Betty Rubbles' maiden name was Betty Jean McBricker.

41. A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

42. 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

43. The Ramses brand condom is named after the great Pharoh
    Ramses II, who fathered over 160 children.

44. If NASA send birds into space, they would soon die because
    birds need gravity to swallow.

45. Dueling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are
    registered blood donors.

46. The computer term "byte" is a contraction of "by eight".

47. The average ear of corn has eight hundred kernels arranged
    in sixteen rows.

48. The famous split-fingered Vulcan salute is actually intended
    to represent the first letter ("shin", pronounced "sheen")
    of the word "shalom". As a boy, Leonard Nimoy observed his
    rabbi using it in a benediction and never forgot it; he was
    eventually able to add it to Star Trek lore.

49. The idea that "the Boogey Man will get you" comes from the
    Boogey people, who still inhabit an area of Indonesia. These
    people still act as pirates today, and attack passing ships.

50. Underground is the only word in the English
    language that begins and ends with the letters "und"

FACTOIDS

1905 - America's first pizzeria opens in New York's Little Italy
1906 - Kellogg's Corn Flakes are introduced
1912 - The Oreo cookie is born
1921 - Wonder Bread is introduced in Indianapolis
1924 - Caesar Cardini names "caesar salad" after himself at his
       Tijuana, Mexico restaurant
1931 - General Mills introduces Bisquick
1937 - Kraft introduces its Macaroni and Cheese dinner
1939 - Nestle introduces chocolate chips
1949 - General Foods introduces Minute Rice
1949 - KitchenAid introduces the electric dishwasher
1955 - Tappan introduces microwave ovens for home use
1955 - Ray Kroc franchises McDonald's
1964 - Nachos are introduced at the Dallas State Fair
1978 - Ben & Jerry's premium ice cream is introduced
       in Burlington, Vermont

Ever since Henry Ford puttered about the streets of Detroit on
his first quadricycle a century ago, the company that bears his
name has put a lot of people on wheels. And before the end of the
Millenium, the car-maker which first brought motoring to the
masses will build its 250-millionth vehicle.

Consider this:
New Fords are rolling out of assembly plants at the rate of 20 a
minute.
The cars are estimated to have carried their owners in over 200
countries about 40 trillion km!
If all the Fords ever built were lined up bumper-to-bumper, they
would stretch 30 times around the world. Or, if placed vertically,
they would reach 1,250,000 km into space. That's to the Moon
and 800,000 km beyond.

The penis of an orangutan, when erect, is bright pink but
only 1/2 inch long.

If you were standing naked among a group of ancient Greek
athletes and you were circumcised you would be ... embarrassed.

Traditionally in Europe, a "hamlet" is a village without a church
and a town is not a "city" until it has a cathedral.

The King James Bible first appeared in 1604 when King James I
authorized a new translation. James I was the son of Mary, Queen
of Scots, and the only heir to Elizabeth I. When he ascended the
throne of England he was the first in the Stuart line and the
first to preside over a united kingdom.

If a child burps during a church service in Omaha, Nebraska, his
parents may be arrested.

In Vermont, it is illegal to deny the existence of God.