• American explorer Richard Byrd once spent five months alone in Antarctica.
  
• In 1884, Hiram Maxim produced the first automatic machine gun.
  
• Close to 700,000 land mines were dug up from the banks of the Suez Canal after the 1973 war between Egypt and Israel.
  
• Flamingos can live up to 80 years.
  
• First Film to be given the title "Blockbuster", Jaws (1975)
  
• In Ethiopia, both males and females of the Surma tribes shave their heads as a mark of beauty.
  
• In 1995, Mike Tyson started boxing professionally at age 18.
  
• The Lion King is the top grossing Disney movie of all-time with domestic gross intake of $312 million.
  
• An avalanche is any swift movement of snow, ice, mud, or rock down a mountainside or slope.
  
• Fart sounds are produced by vibrations of the anal opening. Sounds depend on the velocity of expulsion of the gas and the
  tightness of the sphincter muscles of the anus.
  
• Sulphur dioxide is a major cause of acid rain.
  
• Pancreas produces insulin, glucagon, and digestive enzymes for the human body
  
• Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system. It has a diameter of 5,269 kilometres and is bigger than either Mercury or Pluto.
  
• A Pulsar is a neutron star and it gets its energy from its rotation.
  
• Three Mile Island is only 2.5 miles long.
  

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Originally posted by MIB:

In 1884, Hiram Maxim produced the first automatic machine gun.

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The Gattling gun predates this, but was not properly "automatics." But what about the Mitrailleuse? I believe it saw service in the Franco-Prussian War, cr. 1870.

Silas ("Rat-a-tat-tat-") Sparkhammer

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In 1995, Mike Tyson started boxing professionally at age 18.

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Doesn't this sound odd to anybody?

Here's an alternative bio:

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youngest (age 19) to win heavyweight title (WBC in 1986); ... found guilty on Feb. 10, 1992, of raping 18-year-old Miss Black America contestant Desiree Washington in Indianapolis on July 19, 1991; sentenced to 6-year prison term; released May 9, 1995 after serving 3 years; ...

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More specifics:

quote:

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On March 6, 1985, Mike Tyson made his pro debut with a first round knockout of Hector Mercedes.

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So he started boxing professionally at age 18. He restarted boxing professionally in 1995.

Yeah, that explains me Playing Mike Tyson's Punch Out in '87, not being able to kick his 10 year old butt...