• In a telephone survey of 50258 adult residents of the United States, 23 percent said they had participated in more that five telephone surveys.

• John Denver wrote "Leaving on a Jet Plane" while riding on a train.

• Among people who use alarm clocks, 27 percent use two; another 12 percent use three or more. A statistically insignificant number use seven or more.

• Analysis of data from a Microsoft customer service investigation suggests that 90 percent of MS Excel users use only about 12 percent of the features of the application.

• Less than four percent of the current world population has ever been on a ferry boat.

• In August of 1705, 449 ships were stuck in the Atlantic Doldrums for more than three weeks due to an almost-total lack of wind. That was the calmest period recorded during the sailing ship era.

• The earliest known example of John Hancock's famous signature dates from when Hancock was thirteen years old.

• The average age of students entering business schools in the United States has risen every year for the past 21 years.

• Approximately .045 percent of the world population have noses that are too flat to support regular eyeglasses.

• All tree leaves look alike when magnified between 118x and 847x.

• Raul Castro has the largest private DVD library in the Western Hemisphere.

• According to a 2006 survey by the Hospitality Industry of America, the average family summer vacation has shortened by 5 hours 42 minutes since 1995 and the vacation is taken 123 miles cloeser to home.

• Among men and women who have had more than ten tattoos for more than ten years, 90 percent regret getting at least three of the tattoos they have.

• In 1990, approximately four percent of American households had one or more so-called "power strips", also known as "multi-outlet, industrial strength extension cords". In 2005, approximately fifty-severn percent had two or more.

• More Americans can recognize a Baltimore Oriole than any other bird. The Canada Goose and Cardinal are in second and third place, respectively.

• The Chinese government has let it be known that anyone caught betting on any Olympic event will be sentenced to 10 years in a "re-education camp".

• The Finnish Olympic Team has the lowest average body weight among those nations competing in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

• The sport with the largest interntational fan base and yet is not included in the Olympics is Rugby.

• Thirty-four percent of the food consumed by the athletes in the Olympic Village at the 2008 Olympic games will be protein.

• The average age of the athletes who will carry the national flags during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics is 22 years 11 months and 3 days.

• Fidel Castro has smoked more cigars than any other person.

• Forty-three percent of all marshmallows are consumed after being toasted over a wood or charcoal fire; forty-one percent are consumed in a cup of hot chocolate.

• On average, an American adult male will get a haircut once every 37 days.

• More American office workers start eating lunch between 12:27 and 12:32 than any other five-minute period.

• The average pack of gum will be fully consumed 19 hours 16 minutes after it is first opened.

• The average American child will consume 5258 sandwiches before graduating from high school.

• The optimal temperature for water that is to be used to water cruciferous vegetables is 17 degrees Ceclius or 62.6 degrees fahrenheit.

• Worldwide, 4.3 people suffer from decompression sickness, also known as "the bends", on an average day.

• When given a choice, Warren Buffett prefers to use red-backed Bicycle brand playing cards when he plays Bridge.

• Jimmy Buffett estimates his cheesburger consumption increased by 25 percent after he wrote the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise".

• 478 pairs of shoes were discarded by athletes during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

• Groomers at the Beach Volleyball venue at the Beijing Olympics added approximately 125 kg of sand to the court after each day of matches. Most of the sand was removed on the feet of competitors and offials but a significant amount was taken by spectators as a souvinir.

• 6,872 kilos of chlorine were used in the various aquatic venues during the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

• Among Americans visiting China for the Olympics, four percent tasted sea urchin or starfish. Less than one percent of those who tried them will ever eat them again.

• In the 2008 Summer Olympics, eighteen events had at least one weather-related delay of at least five minutes.

• The average roll of adhesive tape in the UK is twenty percent sticker than the average roll in the U.S.

• Less than 18 percent of Americans under the age of 25 have ever sent or received a fax.

• At one point in the 1840s, .0558 percent of the water of the River Liffey that flowed past the St. James's Gate Brewery, was used in the brewing and bottling of Guinness Extra Stout.

• A person standing on the observation deck of the Empire State Building at 5 PM on a clear day would be able to see, on average, 32 jets, 12 helicopters and 4 propeller planes within one minute.

• Neither Barrack Obama nor John McCain have ever driven a stick shift automobile.

• The average olympic athlete has an annual income equal to 8.475 times the median income of the citizens of the country he or she represents.

• Only one in twelve households in Lithuania have a shoehorn.

• Andros Island in the Bahamas has the most fresh water per capita of any land mass greater than 1000 acres with the exception of Antarctica.

• David Letterman has a sculpture of a monkey on a rock in his suburban New York City estate.

• Several hundred years before the arrival of Europeans, Australian aborigines used small hot air ballons as targets when practicing throwing the boomerang.