Last year, 2,997 Dutch students set a record for the world’s largest pillow fight.
Clemenceau said, “War is much too serious a matter to be entrusted to the military.”
Trivia
Early Fame
Marilyn Monroe was Miss Artichoke of 1948.
Proof of the Pudding
No functioning democracy has ever suffered a famine.
Duck
The average American has 1 chance in 3,000 of being struck by lightning during his lifetime.
Speed Limit
Light travels about one foot per nanosecond.
Size Matters
The world’s heaviest mammal, the blue whale, can weigh more than 90 million times as much as the lightest, the pygmy shrew.
Occupied
People who died on the toilet:
- Edmund Ironside, King of England (989-1016)
- Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese warlord (1530-1578)
- Arthur Capell, First Earl of Essex (1631-1683)
- George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1683-1760)
- Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia (1729-1796)
- Evelyn Waugh, English writer (1903-1966)
George Carlin said, “At a formal dinner party, the person nearest death should always be seated closest to the bathroom.”
Top Oscar Winners
Films winning the most Academy Awards:
Ben-Hur: 11
Titanic: 11
The Return of the King: 11
West Side Story: 10
Gone with the Wind: 9
The Last Emperor: 9
The English Patient: 9
Gigi: 9
From Here to Eternity: 8
On the Waterfront: 8
My Fair Lady: 8
Cabaret: 8
Gandhi: 8
Amadeus: 8
“There’s a lot of great movies that have won the Academy Award, and a lot of great movies that haven’t,” Clint Eastwood said. “You just do the best you can.”
Order!
The U.S. Senate used the same gavel for 165 years, from its inception until 1954, when the vice president splintered it during a heated debate on nuclear energy.
Who broke it? Richard Nixon.
A Tremor in the Force
George Lucas originally wanted Orson Welles to provide the voice of Darth Vader.
Finally he opted for James Earl Jones, whose voice was less recognizable.