500 mostly useless facts...and still

...but at least the following among them are damn interesting... Obviously I cannot guarantee that they are all true, but you can check fast at least the chewing-gum-peeling-onions-no-crying hypothesis; do not, by any means, try the run-in-zigzag-to-lose-crocodiles-or-alligators or the push-thumbs-in-crocodile's-eyeballs-to-escape-his-jaws or the throw-a-cat-from-at-least-the-8th-floor-no-lower :-).

• When the French Academy was preparing its first dictionary, it defined "crab" as, "A small red fish, which walks backwards." This definition was sent with a number of others to the naturalist Cuvier for his approval. The scientist wrote back, "Your definition, gentlemen, would be perfect, only for three exceptions. The crab is not a fish, it is not red and it does not walk backwards."
• The word "Checkmate" in chess comes from the Persian phrase "Shah Mat," which means "the king is dead."
• To "testify" was based on men in the Roman court swearing to a statement made by swearing on their testicles.
• The dot over the letter 'i' is called a tittle.
• All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20, a national pot-smokers hour.
• Virginia Woolf wrote all her books standing.
• Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
• Emus and kangaroos cannot walk backwards, and are on the Australian coat of arms for that reason.
• When a Hawaiian woman wears a flower over her left ear, it means that she is not available.
• A bull can inseminate 300 cows from one single ejaculation.
• The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law, which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
• Crocodiles and alligators are surprisingly fast on land. Although they are rapid, they are not agile. So, if being chased by one, run in a zigzag line to lose him or her.
• To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, push your thumbs into its eyeballs - it will let you go instantly.
• The word "samba" means "to rub navels together."
• A pig's orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
• Studies show that if a cat falls off the seventh floor of a building it has about thirty percent less chance of surviving than a cat that falls off the twentieth floor. It supposedly takes about eight floors for the cat to realize what is occurring, relax and correct itself.

My favourite:

• Dr. Kellogg introduced Kellogg's Corn Flakes in hopes that it would reduce masturbation.