• Monopoly is the best-selling board game in the world
  
• The nearest planet to Earth is Venus. It is about 40 million miles away.
  
• About 47% of sunlight is absorbed by the ground.
  
• During World War II, Uncle Ben's rice was the exlcusive supplier of rice to the U.S. Armed Forces.
  
• The German shepherd dog used to be known as the "Alsatian."
  
• Russian president Vladimir Putin is a judo champion. He could probably beat the heck out of any other president.
  
• For some species of frogs, only the males sing.
  
• Harland and Wolf is the name of the company that built the Titanic ship. God built the iceberg.
  
• It takes six muscles to move your eyeball in your eye socket.
  
• Dr. Zhivago's full name was Yurii Andreievich Zhivago.
  
• The city of Amman located in Jordan used to be named Philadelphia.
  
• Tokyo has had 24 recorded instances of people either killed or receiving serious skull fractures while bowing to each other with the traditional Japanese greeting.
  
• "Wait a minute...." was Pope Alexander VI last words in 1503.
  
• In October 1973, Swedish sweet maker Roland Ohisson of Falkenberg was buried in a coffin made of nothing but chocolate.
  
• The only X-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture was Midnight Cowboy in 1969.
  

quote:

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Originally posted by 4077th M*I*B:
[list

The German shepherd dog used to be known as the "Alsatian."
[/list]

MIB

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Not exactly. That was a 20th Century English phenomenon. Given that for a good part of the century England and Germany were declared enemies, it's no wonder that people wouldn't want a dog who was called 'German'.